Chapter 012: I'm Fine

"Neikan would never die so easily!" That's what she said, but it seemed as though she was trying to convince herself as well as them. They were all surprised to see tears running down Okami's face, and realized that she missed this boy, Neikan, more than she had originally let on. It seemed so strange to see her crying, and none of them knew what to say or do. She was an assassin, but, in this moment, she seemed so fragile, as if she could shatter at any moment, like a glass teacup hitting tile. "Five years... It's been five years since he left, and I haven't seen or heard from him since..." she sounded so grieved, as if she had been trying to forget about him, but had given in when Maou brought him up. Ren looked around at the others in the room and realized that all the others were just as shocked as he to see such a feared assassin crying. It had never once occurred to any of them that, although she was an assassin, she might feel the same types of emotions as them. Fear, grief, pain, longing, betrayal, all these emotions that she must be feeling, yet none of them seemed to be able to comprehend what was happening. A moment later, she collected herself and said, "I apologize, it seems I lost control of my emotions there for a moment." When she said that, Maou seemed outraged. "Why are you apologizing?! Your only human, of course your going to feel things like that! It's nothing to apologize for!" he exclaimed. Okami flinched, as though she thought he were going to strike her, but then relaxed a moment later when she realized he wasn't. "But, I'm an assassin, I'm not supposed to get emotional over such feeble things. Now then, there's no reason to kill you, so if that's all, we'll be taking our leave now." Without waiting for a response, she turned around and began walking towards the door yet again, and Ren and Ryu followed. Maou didn't try to stop them as they left and instead just watched them leave. Once they had walked a short distance from the schoolhouse, Ren quickened his pace to catch up to Okami. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I'm fine." her voice sounded cold and he figured that he should let it go for now, as he figured that she might grow angry if he asked her any questions now. "What do we do now?"