Chapter 10: Home, Control, and Friends

Makima's home.

Located in Minato Ward, it looked luxurious at a glance, starting with its exterior. The halls were carpeted, and even the elevator had speakers playing soft classical music.

"The first floor is the front desk. The second and third floors are our home. It's a duplex. I'll use the third floor, and Eigo can use the second. Is that all right?"

"Yes. But..."

Eigo trailed off and looked around once more. Even as the elevator doors shut and the numbers slowly rose, his eyes unconsciously swept over the walls, the floor, and the cameras.

"Isn't this place way too big? Does Public Safety really pay that well...?"

Makima spoke while looking at her reflection in the elevator mirror.

"It is a little large for one person to live in."

With a ding, the elevator stopped on the second floor. The doors opened, and the moment they stepped into the hall, silence flowed over them.

"It's company housing provided by Public Safety. More precisely, it was assigned to me according to my rank. Housing is part of Public Safety's employee benefits, too."

The two finally entered the apartment. Only a few pairs of dress shoes and neat loafers were lined up in the entryway. There was nothing unnecessary in sight.

"Then only Public Safety people can live here?"

"Public Safety personnel and their families."

"Oh, families. Right... I hadn't thought about that."

The living room was spacious, but somehow it felt empty. Just like their conversation.

Eigo took off his shoes and examined the living room more closely. A sofa and table, a few framed pictures hanging on the walls, and a dust-settled bookshelf.

There was hardly any sense that someone lived here. Eigo naturally came to one conclusion.

She hardly ever comes home.

Perhaps noticing what Eigo was thinking, Makima spoke with an unconcerned expression.

"That's right. I hardly ever come home."

Eigo turned his gaze toward her.

"Makima, do you have some kind of mind-reading ability? How did you read my mind so perfectly?"

Seeing an opening to freshen up the cold, awkward atmosphere, Eigo tried making a joke. Yet Makima cut off the conversation with the same faint smile on her face.

"It's written all over your face, Eigo."

"Well, even back in school, people used to say I was the kind of guy who could keep his mouth shut but had no secrets. Haha..."

"..."

"Ha..."

This person is difficult....

Makima took off her coat and hung it beside the sofa. Every movement was orderly, the sort of motion that had become ingrained through habit.

"...A home is a place to rest, but for me, it's closer to a waiting room. Somewhere I can leave immediately whenever I'm called."

Eigo let out a small breath.

"So you leave this huge home empty most of the time..."

"I don't get more attached than necessary. Rather than the bleakness of being alone, I find it more entertaining to stay at Public Safety and watch the employees working overtime."

"Heh... Is it like watching dogs do tricks? Hehe..."

Makima walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Inside, several kinds of drinks and only the bare minimum of ingredients were neatly organized.

"Would you like some water?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

Makima poured water into a glass and handed it to Eigo as she continued.

"But from now on, you'll be coming home every day."

Eigo took a sip of water. He was not someone who could tell the difference in the taste of water, but for some reason, it tasted familiar.

"As of today, Eigo, you belong to Public Safety and you've become my buddy. Both your status and your life have changed drastically. In a situation like that, people can become stressed. And when that happens, stress is bound to manifest externally one way or another... In any case, I judged that staying together twenty-four hours a day would be efficient, if only to manage that."

"Efficient..."

"Yes. Efficient."

Makima filled her glass with water, then sat on the sofa. Even the way she neatly put her legs together was refined.

Hearing that, Eigo gave a quiet laugh.

"You're quite honest too, Makima. Twenty-four-hour close surveillance by the strongest Devil Hunter isn't exactly comforting... It means you could take me out anytime, doesn't it?"

"I merely stated the facts."

Makima maintained her smile.

"Then I want to become friends with you, Makima. At the very least, that means you're not someone who puts on airs or lies."

At that moment, Makima's body stiffened. It was so brief that Eigo did not notice.

"Is that not allowed...? Are you worried that getting close to me will make you develop unnecessary feelings, and then you won't be able to take me out when the time comes?"

Makima rose from her seat and walked toward the window. The lights of nighttime Minato Ward spread beyond the glass.

"You want to become friends..."

As though savoring its meaning, she repeated the words, very quietly.

"Eigo is the first person to ever say that to me..."

Eigo leaned back against the sofa and shrugged.

"Really? You seem like you'd be incredibly popular, Makima. That's surprising. And, how should I put this..."

He paused to choose his words, then continued honestly.

"You're the person who holds the power of life and death over me from now on. I figured it'd be better if we were close enough to smile when we see each other. Besides, Makima, we've had such a long-standing connection ever since we met at lunch today... There are more than enough reasons for us to become friends!"

Makima slowly turned her head to look at him. She was still smiling, but only very faintly.

"Eigo... You speak as though you don't calculate things, yet there's something strangely calculating about you. Perhaps I should say your exterior and interior are different..."

"Me?"

"In a good way, of course."

Eigo thought for a moment, then smiled.

"I'm not sure how having a different exterior and interior can be a good thing... but if you say so, Makima. I look forward to working with you. As both my buddy and my friend."

At those words, Makima's eyes trembled ever so slightly. But they soon returned to their usual temperature.

"Eigo."

"Yes."

"I've never let my judgment be clouded by emotions. Nor do I intend to in the future."

Leaning her back against the window, she continued calmly.

"Even if we become friends, if necessary, I can deal with you myself."

The air grew heavy.

"You said you wanted to become friends even knowing that, didn't you?"

Eigo nodded.

"Yes."

There was not the slightest hesitation.

"Either way, whether we become friends or not, I'll still get taken out if the time comes. So I'd rather..."

He did not finish the sentence, simply smiling it away.

"When the end comes, I want to die by a friend's hand, not Public Safety's."

Makima looked at him for a moment, then let out a very quiet breath.

He really is a strange human....

He was completely unlike the humans she had seen thus far as the Control Devil. He had no obsession with anything, no desperate will to live.

Makima stepped away from the window and returned near the sofa. She perched on the armrest of the sofa opposite Eigo.

They were close, yet separated by a subtle line where their hands could not reach.

"You want to die by a friend's hand..."

She tilted her head slightly.

"That's quite a selfish wish."

Eigo smiled and shrugged.

"Still, as someone who's going to die someday, shouldn't I have at least that much choice?"

"I wonder... Most people would first look for a way to survive, no matter what."

"Hehe, is that so?"

Makima looked into Eigo's eyes for a moment. Those eyes were clearly directed at her, yet they were looking somewhere else.

He hasn't resigned himself to death. He lives with death as a premise. Why...?

That fact stirred a strange interest in her. At the same time, it made her deeply uncomfortable.

Without looking away, Makima fell silent for a moment. It was not so much time spent organizing her thoughts as it was time spent concealing her emotions.

To live with death as a premise....

Makima disliked that attitude. More precisely, she disliked the fact that she did not know how to handle it.

The humans she had encountered until now had been simple. They wanted to live, to be acknowledged, to be protected.

So all she had to do was give orders, grant permission, and possess them. But Eigo was different.

For some reason, that made Makima uneasy. Slowly drawing her gaze away, she spoke.

"People who think like that... don't live long."

Eigo nodded.

"I suppose not. But humans die someday anyway. It just comes a little sooner, that's all."

He accepted it far too easily. Makima's fingertips twitched slightly.

He was not frightened by the threat. Nor did he seem to be seeking comfort over having become someone who could die at any moment.

Then what am I supposed to do?

She could neither soothe him nor make him cling to her. She could not control Eigo.

Without realizing it, Makima took a step closer.

"Eigo."

"Yes."

"If you don't want anything like that..."

She stopped. The next sentence would not come to her.

"It's not that I don't want anything."

"...What?"

"Like I said earlier, I want to become friends with you, Makima. That's what I want."

Makima averted her gaze. The lights outside reflected against the window and briefly hid her eyes.

"That is..."

She opened her mouth, but the words did not continue. The phrase becoming friends was too ambiguous.

There were no rules, no hierarchy, not even a clear scope of responsibility. It was the area she found hardest to handle.

"Ordinary people..."

Makima chose her words in the calmest tone possible.

"When they say they want to become friends, they expect something afterward. Dependence, protection... in the end, they want to get something from the other person."

Eigo nodded.

"That may be true."

"But Eigo..."

Makima looked at him again. Her gaze held analysis, wariness, and the faintest confusion.

"You don't seem to want anything to gain."

"Yes."

He agreed too quickly. Makima lightly pressed her fingers into the sofa's backrest. She was not exerting any force, yet she did it anyway.

"Then why?"

This time, she asked.

"Why do you want to become friends with me?"

Eigo thought for a moment. He looked as though he was genuinely thinking.

Then, as if it were nothing, he said,

"I've only seen you briefly today, but even in that short time, Makima, you seemed terribly lonely."

For just an instant, Makima stopped breathing. She felt as though something inside her had dropped with a small thud.

Lonely? Me...?

It was an emotion Makima, the Control Devil, had never felt even once. Yet why was it that...

"...That is."

Makima slowly drew a breath. Why could she not simply say no?

"You're mistaken."

"Maybe I am."

Eigo responded gently.

"But... even when a hand is easy to reach, if you don't take it, you end up regretting it enough to die. I hate that, so I take it. So you don't need to be wary of me. Like I said, I want to become friends not for your sake, Makima, but for mine."

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