Chapter 355.


    <strong>Chapter 355. Forming a Strategic Alliance. (7/10)</strong>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If I said I was a devil, and we could write a contract where my life would end if I betrayed your trust, would you believe me?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, I’d ask you to see a doctor.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What if I could prove it to you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Prove it to me? How?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How about signing a contract where a small circle cut will appear on the back of my left hand without either of us doing anything if a certain condition is met.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Is this supposed to be some sort ofme magic trick to deceive me?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I showed the back of my hands to her and asked, “Does it look like I have a fresh cut on the back of either of my hands?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No. But you could try something after.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You can hold both my hands the entire time to make sure I can’t do anything funny.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well… I guess I can entertain this.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’d like two chances with these contracts though.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Huh? Why?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“To be honest I don’t know if this will actually work. I’ve never tested this sort of condition in a contract before. It might require a soul being offered for it to work. I’d like to try it without any soul offering though.” Logically speaking, I couldn’t imagine how I could be hurt if there was no connection to her soul. Well, even if there was, the entire notion was absurd to begin with, but I''d already more or lesse to terms with the fact that souls existed.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Soul? You need me to sell my soul?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, if we do go the soul route we can fully flesh out the contract including the part with me getting a cut on the back of my left hand if a condition is met. This first one will just be a test.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I can’t believe I’m even bothering to entertain this.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, you’re stupid after all. Idiots people believe in stupid shit, right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re calling yourself an idiot, idiot.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, I know I am. I’m an idiot just like you after all. The only difference being, I’m a little bit lower than you on the idiot spectrum.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“An idiot’s an idiot.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“True enough.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Can I borrow some paper?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sure. Here you go.” She pulled a few sheets out from a drawer in her desk and slid them over the counter to me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I pulled out the pen from my pocket and started writing it up. It only took a minute since I was just testing the condition.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright so whenever you say abracadabra, a small circle cut will appear on the back of my left hand. Just sign the dotted line.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Abracadabra? That’sme, let me pick something I want to say instead.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Like what?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I want to keep it a secret.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So I can tell whether you’re somehow pulling any funny business. If you yourself don’t know what the phrase is, it will give you more credibility. Also rather than it being a circle, I want to choose that as well. That will make things even more impossible for you to pull a fast one if you don’t know what the shape is supposed to be.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Certainly, you make a very good point. Those two conditions aren’t a bad idea. However, it shouldn’t be something you may say often by ident. I don’t want to get a bunch of random cuts every time you say it. Also, the cut has to be small.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s fine.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright, I’ll rewrite it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">This time I wrote it in such a way with nk spaces for her to fill in what she wanted the trigger phrase or word and the shape of the cut to be.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright, you’re free to write what you want into the nk.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Okay. Leave the room for a bit, I’ll tell you when toe back in.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I stood outside for a minute while she wrote in what she wanted and signed it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You cane back in.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I took my seat in front of her and ced my hands t on the table for her to see. She grabbed my hands and said, “You’re a jerk.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The two of us stared at the back of my left hand waiting for something to happen, but there was no change.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey, it didn’t work.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“‘You’re a jerk.’ That was the phrase you picked?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah. There’s no star-shaped cut on the back of your hand. You’re just messing with me after all, aren’t you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, I’m not. I told you, it might not work unless you sell your soul.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If you expect me to sell my soul, there better be some damn good conditions in there. A lot more than just a little cut on the back of your hand for saying something.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course. Let me write it up.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I took a fresh piece of paper and began writing down the conditions while saying them aloud.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If I ever betray you, I will die. If you ever say _______, a small _________-shaped cut will appear on the back of my left hand. You will stop aging and be able to live forever so long as you are not killed.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hah? Stop aging? Stop messing with me. There’s no way you can do that.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You said you wanted a damn good condition. This is one of the best conditions I can offer.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Can I add in a condition of my own as well?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sure, what do you want me to add?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Just leave a line nk for me to add in my condition myself, I haven’t decided yet and want to think about it a bit.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alright then. In exchange, you will assist me to the best of your abilities, wholeheartedly, without anyints, with my n to destroy the Swastika gang. You will also keep Yuna and Alicia, the girl who works with Yuna, safe. You will immediately notify me if anyone tries to hurt, abduct, or make contact with either of them.” Yes, I’d made these arrangements not just to keep Yuna safe, but Alicia as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alicia? Why do we also have to protect another girl?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well… the thing is… Alicia is… also my girlfriend.” I exined with an extremely awkward look on my face. I’d decided to be honest with her about it. To acquire her trust, I couldn’t hide everything from her. If she found outter it could lead to unforeseen problems. She might start to think I’m hiding things from her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What the hell! You’re two-timing behind Yuna’s back?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yuna knows about my rtionship with Alicia. They’re actually really good friends.” But… it was far worse than just two though… there were even more. It was too awkward to say it, but I knew I had to.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Womanizer. But why should I agree to protecting this extra baggage?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m agreeing to let you add an extra condition of your choice. That’s a pretty big risk for me. So in exchange, adding one more person should be the price.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fine. I’ll ept that then. Are there any more women you’re involved with that I should know about who would be a concern?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Actually… there are… a few more… women…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Seriously?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m a bit afraid to ask, but… altogether… just how many girlfriends do you have exactly?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh…” Let’s see. Roll call. Rosa, Alicia, Irene, Ang, I guess Wisteria counts, and now Yuna. What is wrong with me?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sssssi…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Can’t even say it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“There are… six altogether.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaaah. I’m a bit astonished you have the gall to say such an absurd number. Six-timing? You truly are a womanizer to the core.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not! I swear! A lot of things just... sort of happened… and it turned out this way. It’s hard to exin. No, I can’t even exin it all if I wanted to. The story sounds too ridiculous to believe. Even I’m having a hard time coping and trying to ept how everything happened still.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Guys who make excuses are truly the worst. You didn’t force them or anything, did you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“They all know you’re involved with more than just them?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And they’re fine with that?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Somehow… things worked out that way.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What number is Yuna?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“She’s... the sixth.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And that Alicia girl?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“The second.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Who’s the first then?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Her name is Rosa. In a way, she’s the mastermind who orchestrated my disastrous web of rtionships with women. She had the hots for Alicia. Rose wasn’t very good at making female friends and Alicia was the first girl she ever became friends with on her own. After I started dating Rosa, she used me to tie Alicia down and keep her by her side.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It sounds prettyplicated like you said.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It is. Rosa doesn’t get along that well with Yuna though. Alicia is kind of like a bridge between the two of them. She befriends just about anyone, unlike Rosa.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, I won’t bother prying into it much more than that. But really though, the world isn’t fair at all. Here I am trying so hard to get a boyfriend then there’s this ungrateful bastard with six girlfriends.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Please… stop reminding me. I get headaches when I think about it too much. Having multiple girlfriends is a nightmare, it’s too exhausting. It’spletely overrated.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Go die. Really, just die.”