Chapter 12: Cold Hands, School, and a Desk

In front of the apartment door.

Wearing her heels, Makima placed a hand on the doorknob and paused for a moment. It was something she did every day.

Turn the knob, open the door, walk outside. That was all. Hesitation had never once slipped into the process.

For the first time today, Makima halted just as she was about to step outside. It was because of the footsteps approaching from behind her.

"Let's go together, friend~"

Makima swallowed for a moment. Her face in the entryway mirror was as composed as ever.

There was no smile, no sign of disorder. Yet the fingertips gripping the doorknob were a little cold.

Let's go together.

It did not simply mean leaving the place where they had been waiting. It meant aligning herself with someone else's path. From now on, she would not be going alone.

That fact made the corners of Makima's lips rise. For some reason, her chest felt warm.

And in proportion to that warmth, she became more conscious of the cold in her fingertips.

She turned the doorknob. The door opened, and the outside air seeped in.

The morning had not yet fully awakened. The streets were quiet, and thin sunlight lay between the buildings.

"My hand..."

At Makima's quiet voice, Eigo turned his head.

"My hand is cold...."

"Your hand is cold?"

Eigo spoke as if it were no big deal.

"It's getting to be autumn, so mornings must be a little chilly."

He rummaged through his old bag and found a pair of gloves. Then he held them out to Makima.

"Put these on—"

"No...!"

Makima quickly cut him off. Her voice was so urgent that it startled even her.

"Then...?"

Makima shut her mouth for a moment. Countless words flitted through her head.

Avoiding Eigo's gaze, Makima worked her lips. For some reason, tears welled up in her eyes.

"Not that...."

Her words trailed away. It felt as if she were about to say something too childish, and her tongue would not move properly.

"...Just."

Say it. If I don't say it now... I might never be able to again.

Makima drew in a deep breath.

"...Hold it for me."

Eigo's eyes widened slightly. Only very slightly, truly.

"My hand."

Only then did she look at Eigo. She tried to keep her face calm, but Makima's eyes must have been trembling wildly.

"It's cold... that's why...."

It sounded like an excuse. No, it was an excuse.

Makima herself knew that. Eigo looked at her for a moment, then smiled.

"Okay."

He put the gloves back in his pocket.

"Let's hold hands as we go."

Eigo held out his hand first. Makima's heart began to pound fiercely.

Now.

Very slowly, she laid her hand over Eigo's. It was far warmer than she had imagined.

The two stood side by side and waited for the elevator. Normally, Makima would already have gone down alone at this hour.

There was only one reason they had not gone down yet. Makima had been too distracted by holding hands to press the button.

They arrived on the first floor. Passing through the lobby, they opened the door and headed outside.

Eigo greeted the security guard making his rounds.

"Good morning."

"Yes, good morning~"

The guard's gaze traveled very openly from their hands to their faces, then from their faces back to their hands.

"Looks like you're heading to work together? I saw you come in together yesterday, too...."

Makima froze on the spot.

Eek...!

She sucked in a breath, utterly unlike herself. Several possible responses were already chaotically surfacing in her mind.

Subordinate. Surveillance target. Cohabitation is necessary for security. If she opened her mouth, she had any number of ways to put this situation in order.

Why are these thoughts suddenly coming to me...? I could just say we're friends....

As Makima pondered that sudden question, Eigo spoke first.

"Yes. We live together."

Makima's fingers twitched reflexively.

We live... together?

The guard's expression changed at once.

"Ah~ I see! This building is company housing provided by Public Safety, isn't it? So even someone like me, who has absolutely nothing to do with Public Safety, hears things here and there. Haha, for Ms. Makima to...."

The guard trailed off with a meaningful grin. He even gave his shoulders a needless little shake.

"Anyway, congratulations. Quite an unexpected happy occasion."

Makima did not smile. She did not know what he was thinking... no, it was too obvious, so she needed to correct him.

Right now. But....

Do I really need to...?

Her mouth would not open.

We're friends anyway... so living together is only natural... right? You see it in movies all the time.... And... if we keep living together, we really might end up in that sort of relationship... It's a cliché you see in movies all the time.... Me and Eigo... that kind of... heh... heheh....

The guard looked back and forth between them, then nodded without asking anything further.

"You two look wonderful together. Though I do wonder when Ms. Makima, who they call Public Safety's Ice Princess, picked up such a fine young man...."

You two look wonderful together. Those words remained in Makima's ears, echoing over and over.

"I shouldn't keep you any longer on your way to work, so I'll get back to my patrol. Take care~"

"Yes."

Eigo replied. The two got into the car waiting in front of the building and headed for the Public Safety offices.

Even until they reached her office, Makima did not let go of Eigo's hand.

*

The office.

Makima stood before her desk, organizing documents. More precisely, she was pretending to organize them.

The papers were already neatly arranged, and the map was perfectly straight. Even so, Makima did not stop moving her hands.

If she did not do something, her pounding heart simply would not calm down. And the culprit responsible for making it pound, Eigo, flopped down into a chair and looked around as he spoke.

"Wow, this is the first time I've really looked around in here, and it's amazing~ Seeing all of Tokyo at a glance feels totally different from seeing it at home."

Makima's hands stopped.

"Eigo. This is a workplace, so if possible, please speak formally..."

"But with an office this big, don't you get lonely being here by yourself?"

Leaning back in the chair, Eigo spun around. When their eyes met, Makima needlessly turned over another sheet of paper to avert her gaze.

"...There's no time to be lonely while I'm working. There's too much work...."

"I see."

Eigo nodded.

"Still, it'll be okay now."

Makima's heart dropped. Eigo, who had been spinning in the chair, was suddenly sitting on top of Makima's desk.

"...What will?"

"Because you've got me now, too. I dropped out before I could even finish my first year, but... I did go to Waseda University, you know? I don't know how difficult the work of a Devil Hunter directly under the Chief Cabinet Secretary is, but I can probably handle odd jobs, at least."

Makima's mind instantly became a cacophony.

Because you've got me now, too....

"Why bring that up now...?"

Eigo smiled as if it were nothing.

"Since we're going to be working together now, it's like introducing ourselves? We get to know each other, starting with little things. That's what friends do."

Makima's pen made a click.

Sharing. Sharing... personal information....

"Eigo."

Makima spoke as calmly as she could.

"For breakfast, I prefer Western food to Japanese food."

"I see. Then starting tomorrow, I'll make Western food. Bread with jam and butter... Oh, then this morning's breakfast was...."

Makima sprang to her feet.

"I-it was delicious...!!! I-I absolutely wasn't f-forcing myself to eat it or anything... I'd be perfectly fine if I never ate toast again for the rest of my life...! Th-th, thuh... th-that's why...."

Startled by Makima's intensity, Eigo, who had been perched on the desk, tipped backward. Fortunately, he did not fall.

"Whoa... I almost cracked my head open."

"A-are you... are you okay...? B-because of me...."

With her head lowered, Makima murmured in a tiny voice. She stood frozen in place, and tears could be seen filling her eyes.

"Why are you crying again? It's nothing."

Eigo carefully pulled Makima upright. He sat in the chair she had been using, set Makima on his lap, and hugged her tightly.

How was someone this prone to tears a Devil Hunter directly under such an important figure...?

"You're such a crybaby and a little kid, aren't you? My friend."

"I don't know... This is my first time experiencing something like this...."

Like a child in her mother's arms, Makima rubbed her face all over Eigo's chest.

"I'm not a crybaby...."

Only after a long while did Makima whisper in a tiny voice. Her face was still buried in his embrace.

"And I'm not a child, either...."

"Okay, okay~"

Eigo stroked Makima's hair. Was this how it would feel to have a little sister...?

"Hng...."

Eigo's shirtfront was becoming damp when there came a very quiet, polite knock-knock at the door.

It was so quiet that neither of them heard it.

"Excuse me."

The door opened. A young employee entered, holding a stack of documents.

"Ms. Makima, we just received word from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—"

His words stopped there. The employee wore quite a remarkable expression.

Inside the office, only Makima's sniffling could be heard.

"Hey, friend? I think that employee is calling for you...?"

At Eigo's call, Makima looked at his face once before turning her head. Her mind went completely blank.

The employee was still standing there with a face that did not understand the situation. The hand holding the documents hung awkwardly in the air.

"...Uh, well, um...."

What the employee saw before him was....

The new guy is sitting in Ms. Makima's chair. Ms. Makima is on top of him. Uh... they're hugging each other really tightly.... Ms. Makima is making these strange little moans... and the new guy is comforting her... whoa....

"There's a car waiting outside, so—huh?! You'd better go quickly... I'll be going now... have a good tiiime...!!"

The employee, who bit his tongue, fled the office as though running for his life. The door closed.

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