You can find the directory here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQGmHdZAGdY3t-6cSyiZ4r2PvZiKatKs2gRk6JyxTK1lWIyVBcS88SLGoOmFeuj4zXDUJ15eX2VsJ65/pub

You rub your eyes as you awake from your slumber. It was a peaceful one, comparatively speaking. No nightmares, no waking up in a cold sweat, just a warm sleep with a decent awakening. Turning to your side, you find Fubuki still peacefully asleep, her ears twitching every now and then. You gently stroke through her hair, and see her murmur in her sleep. You admit, this was what you would envision to be peak happiness in your life, waking up to someone next to you, and to see them smile with you no matter how bleak it may seem. Putting your hand on her exposed shoulder, you shake her gently to wake her up.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” you say. She mumbles incoherently as she stirs, rubbing her eyes as she finally gets up.

“Mmhmhmm- Morning,” she yawns. Her eyes finally opens and you see her ocean blue eyes looking at you, as she gives you a genuinely content smile.  Pulling the comfortable blanket along with her as she sits up, she nuzzles into the nape of your neck, gurgling happily at being able to wake up next to you. Your arms instinctively wrap themselves around her petite waist, bringing her closer to you. She had spent the night with you, and while you were still embarrassed to admit the circumstances that lead to her waking up next to you naked, you genuinely appreciated her concern for you, and her presence did ease you of your worries. Well, most of them at least.

Truth be told, there were still a million things on your mind. Your history with Fubuki, the other girls, the incident with Ina and the Ancient Ones, and finally to what had happened with Polka. Originally, you only helped the girls as it was your job and you wanted to get close to them, but now it came from the honest desire within yourself to help them be better, to see them smile and achieve their full potential. The smile that Fubuki was giving you right now, that’s what you want them to achieve, with or without you. That’s why you were so hesitant to indulge them excessively. But right now, in this moment, you felt a semblance of peace and happiness being next to her.  You put your hand in hers, interlocking your fingers. She squeezes your hand in response, and your heart flutters. She loved you. Truly, madly, deeply.

And yet, your heart was telling you that this was wrong. This wasn’t the path you were meant to take, and one that you did not earn. Not yet anyways. Yes, she loved you, but you don’t want her to put all her happiness within you. What would happen when you eventually had to leave? You loved her, but not in the same way as she did you. You wanted to see her succeed, and be happy on her own terms. You just wanted to push her, and the other girls, in the right direction. Not fix them, not make them happy, but make them see that their brilliance was always inside them. It wasn’t going to be easy, but you were determined to try.

Fubuki looks at you with some concern as you sigh out loudly.

“You OK?” she asks. Putting a hand on your cheek. It was warm.

“Yeah, just… a lot of things on my mind.”

“Is it about… us?” she asks tentatively. You let out another sigh and nod. Her expression turns to worry and regret upon hearing your words.

“Ah, I didn’t mean as in me and you! Just the girls in general.” You rectify, seeing her ears droop. It perks back up upon hearing you correct yourself.

“If it means anything, I would like to help you.” She offers.

“Thanks, Fubuki. I was just thinking about yesterday and I remembered seeing Ayame, who I hadn’t seen for a long while,” you tell her while reminiscing the events that had occurred. You could only hope your words had got through to Polka, and now your thoughts lingered on Ayame, who’s last expression was one crying.

“Ah, Ayame. She’s always been a little socially reclusive, and she does occasionally disappear off-radar, but like you said, lately we have been barely seeing her. Not streaming, nothing on her social media. Just radio silence. It was only recently she resurfaced, and she doesn’t seem too happy about it.” Fubuki tells you. You ponder her words, but no good idea comes up.

Shaking the thoughts off, you get out of bed to the bathroom, intending to get ready for the day.

“Hey!” Fubuki calls out to you angrily. You turn around to see her pouting. “You just gonna leave me just like that after what you did last night? My legs feel like jelly!”

“What do you mean? I’m just getting ready for work, and this is my house, in case you forgot. Do you need me to princess carry you to the bathroom or something?” You retort. Fubuki just scrambles out of the bed to hug you from behind.

“You could at least wait for me!”

--

You tap your feet in boredom as you lounge about in the office, with nothing much to do. Most of the girls were having offline collaborations elsewhere, so none of them were in the office. The Gen 5 girls were also busy with helping Polka recover, so not even Botan was around to ambush you. The Holostars boys themselves were preparing for their 3D concert later this year, so most of their schedule was filled with dance and singing practice. That just leaves you to your own thoughts alone at the office, notwithstanding A-chan or YAGOO, which you don’t exactly interact with on the daily.

As usual, when one is alone with nothing much to do, their thoughts tend to wander. You keep thinking about why you’re here, why you put yourself on the line countless times, why you suffer as a consequence, and why you kept doing it even when you knew what it cost you. Was it worth it to see the girls cry and apologize to you? To see them worry endlessly over you? You wanted to help the girls grow as individuals, not be a crutch for them. You find yourself wandering around your office as you mull over your motivations endlessly. Suddenly you hear the sound of a crash coming from the pantry nearby, so you rush over to investigate.

Inside, you find Ayame on the floor, rubbing her arm while around her the contents of the first aid kit were strewn all over the floor, alongside a toppled stool. You surmised that she was probably reaching for it and had tripped. Why did the office have to put it at such an inaccessible spot in the first place? You kneel beside her and offer a hand to help her up, but she just scowls and ignores you.

“Out of all people to discover me, it had to be the errand boy.” She spits.

“Hey, just trying to help, that's all.” You reply, keeping your extended, your offer still valid. She clicks her tongue but eventually takes your hand. She winces as you help her up and sit her on a chair. You give her a quick one over and find that her hands were covered in bruises and scar tissue, some wounds looking awfully fresh. She notices you scrutinize her wounds and pulls them away.

“Those wounds don’t look so good.” You tell her as you reassemble the first aid kit. Whatever it was, it seemed that she wasn’t keen on letting you know.

“You humans are always so annoying, butting into things they shouldn’t,” she huffs. You just give a small ‘heh’ as you set the first aid kit on the table in front of her, pulling out antiseptic wipes, iodine solution and bandages.

“Yeah, admittedly I can be a bit of a busybody sometimes, but from the looks of it, you’re the one who needs a hand.” You wink at her. Even through her haughty princess façade, she couldn’t help but crack a chuckle at your lame pun. You smile back at her as you gently grab her hand and dab her wounds with some antiseptic wipes, and she yelps in reaction.

“That hurts, human!” she hisses.

“It’s supposed to hurt, and I’m surprised that for someone to suffer all these wounds, you still can’t take a little stinging.” You reply, continuing to clean and dress her wounds. Ayame winces every now and then but doesn’t give you any further lip. While you weren’t a certified first aid responder, you had gone through enough injuries to know how to clean and dress wounds. You wrap the remainder of the bandage around her arms and pat her shoulder, indicating completion of the procedure.

Ayame inspects the bandages for a while, and seemingly satisfied, gives you a big grin. The legends were true, Nakirium was a dangerous drug.

“So, you wanna tell me how you mysteriously gained these wounds?”

“Oh, and you’re gonna tell me how you disappeared for a whole month without notice?”

“Touché, but I could say the same for you, Ayame. I’m seriously concerned here. What happened?” You ask, taking on a slightly sterner tone. You had always thought those with haughty attitudes need to be treated with a no-nonsense attitude.

She turns to you and you see her mood sour, her red eyes glaring straight through you. “Don’t push it, errand boy. I am not beholden to anyone, much less a human like you.” She sneers.

“Hey, I don’t appreciate being talked down to in that matter,” you tell her, genuinely annoyed.

“Well, I don’t need to tell you anything!” She cries out, shoving you aside as she stands. Unbeknownst to the both of you, she didn’t control her strength and you were sent flying across the room, crashing against the wall.

“Uuurrrghhh,” you grunt out. Gods, an oni’s strength was really something. You blink a few times and look at Ayame, who had a look of shock on her face.

“Oh nononononono. NO! This wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for that cursed Demon Army job!” she goes, before her eyes widened in realization of what she said. She put a hand to her mouth, glanced at you, and ran out the pantry, leaving you to pick yourself up from the floor.

--

That night’s training bout with Oga and Temma didn’t go so well, thanks to the injuries you suffered earlier today with Ayame.  You had to call it quits early, and honestly, you were glad as what Ayame had blurted out was distracting you. Something about a Demon Army? You had to keep telling yourself that Cover Corp. hired a hodgepodge of freaks from all over, and you yourself had recently survived a meeting with eldritch beings. Wait a minute, if it was about demons, there was one right in front of you.

“Hey, Oga!” You call out. He looks at you with a raised eyebrow. You jog up to him before asking,

“Your old job was with the Demon Army, right?” Oga’s eyes widen, and he gives a particular look at Temma, who leaves the two of you alone.

“Yes, I served the Demon Army for about 5000 years, then retired. That’s why I’m here now.” He answers, satisfied that it was only the two of you right now.

“Well, I, uh… managed to get some info from Ayame that she’s also apparently doing something with them? I was just wondering if you had a better idea.” You continue. Oga sighs and puts a hand on your shoulder.

“Come on. If you really want to hear the truth, then you can’t hear it from me.” He tells you, as he starts heading to the locker room. You’re confused for a moment but follow along.

In the locker room, Oga starts to change his clothes, but speaks in a loud tone.

“Ayame is an accomplished student and unparalleled warrior from the Demonic Realm Academy. In fact, she is, or perhaps, was, the student council president. The only reason she was allowed to come to this world was that she agreed to the condition that when the Demon King summoned her to serve the Demon Army at any time, she would answer, no questions asked.” Oga says to his locker. You keep silent as he explains the situation, and it starts to connect in your mind how she got the wounds on her arms.

“So, on a completely unrelated note, how would, say, someone like me, be able to meet and talk to the people in charge of the Demon Army?” You say out loud. Silence greets you. You look at Oga and see him giving you an incredulous look.

“Are you nuts? You can’t just waltz in and meet the Demon King like he’s an average business man. He rules Hell. And I myself can’t just walk in there, ever since I retired. Do you even have a plan for this, Anon?” He asks you in a raised tone.

“Not exactly. But after what I say happened to Ayame, I can’t just sit idly by. Look, I’ll think of something, but do you think you can get my foot in the door or something?” Oga just sighs and turns back to his locker.

“I’ll try to get in touch with some of my contacts, and I’ll let you know if anything can be done. But Anon, I can’t stress this enough to you, please reconsider this.” He pleads. You answer him with silence, and he takes it as your resolve, closing his locker door shut.

--

You go home that night thinking of how in the hell you would be able to convince the Demon King to let go of Ayame. You had a strong feeling that she genuinely enjoyed working under Hololive, because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have agreed to that accursed deal in the first place.

You exhale in frustration as your thoughts hit a dead end. You don’t have a soul bind to save you this time, and likely no such backup from Fubuki. Gods, you could survive being hunted by the Ancient Ones, but you couldn’t even have a single idea on how to help Ayame.

And from all the thinking of your past events, you can’t help but find similarities between Ayame’s and Ina’s circumstances. Both enjoyed their lives streaming, and both served under a greater power. And perhaps the most important to yourself was that you wanted to help them.

It was all so ironic how you would throw yourself so easily for the sake of others, yet when it really mattered, you couldn’t do much. You wanted to beat yourself up for being so weak and stupid, for not being able to do anything about it. That’s when your phone rang.

“Hey Anon, Amelia here. I, uh… just wanted to give you a heads up alright. It might be a bit traumatizing but just hear what she has to say alright?” the speakers of your phone blar out as you answer the call.

“What?” you say, as you hear the sounds as if Amelia was passing the phone to someone else.

“Hello, Anon.” You hear the voice say. Your heart immediately sinks as you recognize the owner of the voice. It was Ina.

“Just wanted to remind you of the value of your soul. Don’t forget that, alright?” She says, before the phone call ends. You find yourself shaking, your heart rate skyrocketing as you try to process what had happened. Why the hell did she call you? And what about the value of your soul? What the heck was going on?

You steady yourself with a few deep breaths, clenching and unclenching your fists to try to stop the shaking. You were not prepared in the slightest at what had just occurred, and you were more than inclined to curse Amelia for what she pulled on you. Once you had resolved this issue with Ayame, you were going to set things straight with her and Ina, one way or another. Closing your eyes, you unwittingly prayed that you wouldn’t be haunted by the same nightmares again.

--

A week passes and you find yourself standing in front of the Cover Corp office building. It was already evening and a varied bunch of people passed by you. Tired salarymen, teenagers laughing and couples walking hand in hand. People who were happy, people who were normal. In comparison to you, and what you were about to do, these people were going to live their whole lives unbothered by things they couldn’t control. It almost disgusted you.

You shake your head to recollect yourself. There was no point in spiting the lives of others. Why would you feel so bitter in the first place? As you try to shake away your internal conflict Oga walks up to you and gestures to walk with him, which you do.

Crossing a few streets, Oga tells you he managed to secure a meeting with a contact of his, and the two of you would meet him tonight. Eventually you find yourself at a lakeside park, where a man with faded brown hair and silver eyes leaned under a lamppost, the light shining down on him as if he were an angelic being. Beside him, a white-haired man with red eyes tapped his foot impatiently, as if eager to get this done with.

“Anon, this is Kanae. He’s our ticket to meeting with the Demon King.” Oga introduces. The man known as Kanae gives you a smile and extends his hand out for a handshake. You take it, and while it seemed normal on the surface, you couldn’t help but feel that he had a lot of secrets held within him.

“So you are Anon, the person stupid enough to do something like this. Although, I am impressed with your resolve, so I would like to offer a hand in this,” he says. His tone was gentle, but you could tell it was more of a refined act, rather than a natural manner of speaking. This man was an expert at it, it seemed.

“I know it’s stupid, but I’m still going to try. It’s… for a person I really care about.” You tell him.

“Oho, I see. Such selflessness. A rare thing to see these days.” He answers, looking into your eyes. His silver eyes stare through you, as if reading your very soul.

“I see now.” He mutters. “Well, I don’t want to keep you waiting, so take these.” He hands you a sealed letter as well as a business card. You look at the card, where it reads;

Louis Cyphre, Naraka Solutions, as well as what seemed to be an address of sorts. You kept the letter sealed for now.

“Those two things should help you at least in getting your foot in the door. The rest is, well, up to you. Now I must bid you goodbye. Come on, Kuzuha, we’re going.” He bids you goodbye while taking the other man’s hand, disappearing into the night.

“Who the hell was that?” You ask Oga as you hand him the card. He winces upon seeing the name on it but continues walking.

“Just a guy with a lot of connections. Less questions asked, the better.” He answers. You nod and follow him to your next destination.

--

Eventually the two of you find yourself in front of an almost unnaturally tall office building, one that towered over it’s neighbouring office blocks. You gulp as you walk in, Oga taking the lead.

Inside, you were greeted by a long, ornate welcome desk, and a lone woman sat there, the clacking of her keyboard echoing ominously as you two approached. She doesn’t even look up as you walk up to her. Oga nudges you and gestures to your letter, so you just silently place it in front of her. She stops typing, and tears open the letter, reading its contents.

She lets out a singular laugh, and looks up at you. You now see her eyes were yellow, but her irises were singular, vertical slits rather than rounded like normal people. She smiles, as if in an almost reptilian manner and points to a life down the hallway.

“That will take you where you need to go, sir.”

You just nod and quickly walk away, jarred by the unnatural experience. Oga still keeps silent, which only serves to fuel your anxiety further. The elevator door opens automatically, and as you step in, you notice that there were no buttons other than the open and close ones, which you assumed were for the doors. Nonetheless, the doors close behind you and elevator music started to play, not that it helped in making you feel relaxed. What did surprise you, was that the elevator wasn’t moving up as you had initially thought, rather it was moving down.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, the elevator stops with a ding, and the doors slide open. You were greeted by a long hallway, where you couldn’t even see the end of it. Oga walks ahead of you, and you hurriedly follow after him, afraid to be left behind. The elevator doors close behind you silently.

Walking down the hallway, it was sparsely decorated other than the velvet carpet beneath your feet. There were some large, ornately framed photos of what you could only assume were members of the same family. You see a young child holding the hand of a woman dressed in black, her face covered in a veil. A woman in a summer dress, her feet bare. An old man in a wheelchair, holding a goat-headed cane, and finally a young man, dressed in a double-breasted suit. They all had blond hair, and most strikingly, eyes that seemed to follow you as you walked past them, although you were sure you were just imagining things.

Finally, a great double door greets you, flanked by two... humanoids. They were human from the shoulders down, but one had the head of a horse, while the other had the head of a bull. Both of them held large axes with long handles, which crossed in front of you as you approached.

“Halt,” calls out the horse-headed man.

“We have permission to meet with His Highness,” Oga finally speaks out. The bull-headed man smirks at his words.

“His Highness had granted audience with only one of you, as per the letter received, and I am sure it was not referring to you, deserter,” he spits at Oga, who just clenches his fist. You look at him with concern and fear, but he just nods at you.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Go, Anon. It was always meant to be you.” He reassures you. You nod back and take a step forward. The two guards pull their axes and open the door, letting you through. As the door closes behind you, you hear the voices of the two guards,

“We’re going to have fun with you, Oga.”

--

The office you were in wasn’t grand per se. Sure, it fulfilled all the assumptions one would have of a tycoon’s office. Nice desk and chair, weird paraphernalia, and shelves around filled with books. What did feel jarring was a great framed painting of a winged figure falling from the skies. You knew this painting.

Paradise Lost.

“Welcome, son of Man.” A voice calls out to you. Walking from behind the chair, a blond man which you recognized from the paintings in the hallway greets you. What you didn’t realize, was that his eyes were heterochronic. One red and one blue.

“I am Louis Cyphre, and I hear you wanted to meet me?” he says, extending his hand out for a handshake. An irresistible force urges you to accept it, but you push it down. He smiles at your apparent struggle and puts away his hand.

“A struggler, it seems. Not to worry. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? What can I do for you, Anon?” he says, and you’re shocked that he even knew your name. You steel yourself to tell him what you came here for.

“I’m here because of Nakiri Ayame. I want to renegotiate her terms of agreement.” You find yourself saying. You couldn’t think of anything better at this point, so might as well spit ball it. Louis raises an eyebrow at you, and smiles.

“Oh, you mean this girl?” He speaks, as a door behind him that you didn’t notice earlier opens, and in walks a brute of a man, wearing a tiger print toga, dragging heavy chains behind him. Bound on the side of the chain was Ayame, who looked battered and beat up. Her legs could barely carry her anymore, as she fell to her knees. This sets off the other man, who pulls the chain roughly.

“Get up, you whore! We are in the presence of His Highness!” Ayame struggles to stand, and looks up, now seeing you and Louis.

“Anon?” she cries out softly. Her eyes looked tired, yet fresh tears still burst forth from them. You were shocked yourself at seeing her in such a sight.

“What the hell?!” You cry out. Louis simply chuckles, and waves his hand for all of you to be silent.

“As you have probably known, Ayame is a prized warrior for us. Well, she was. As it stands, she had broken the terms of the deal we had made and thus will be punished accordingly.” He explains as he walks closer to you.

“But I thought the deal was just that she had to serve the Demon Army at any time!” you shout at Louis. The other man growls angrily at you, but you ignore her. Louis, on the other hand, laughs loudly.

“Oh, she didn’t tell you? The whole deal was set under the terms of complete secrecy. Nobody was to know of what she did, no matter who. And thanks to your very persistent snooping, she was found out. We’re only doing what’s fair, son of Man,”

His words hit you like a truck. You were the cause of her being beaten to an inch of her life. She had refused to tell you in order to prevent such a thing from happening. She was protecting you, and here you were being the sole reason of her torture. Your fists clench at the realization of your folly, at how once again, your foolishness had only led to the hurting of those you were supposed to help.

“So tell me, son of Man, what are you here for?” Louis calls out once more, in a piercingly sinister tone. Your mind was hitting dead ends upon dead ends. Was there anything you could do, anything you could barter at this point? Come on, there must be something! You couldn’t leave Ayame like that, not when it was your fault in the first place! Think, Anon! Think!

“I’ll barter my soul for her. Not just from punishment, but for her complete freedom!” You find yourself blurting out. Ina’s words echoed inside your head once again. “Don’t forget the value of your soul”. You curse yourself for heeding her words, but what choice did you have? If this could save her, even at the cost of your own soul, so be it. You were a hypocrite, you knew that. But you’d rather see yourself burn in hell than let Ayame suffer for your own mistakes.

“Are you sure about that, Anon? Your soul isn’t something that can easily be replaced, and it’s the essence of your whole being. Are you completely sure you want to throw it away for this girl, Anon?” Louis tells you, as if to throw further doubt within yourself. You take a deep breath, steeling your resolve.

“Yes. And I know the value of my soul. Even the Ancient Ones seek it, so I’m sure that it’s more than equal to her freedom,” you say out loud. Louis’ expression hardens upon hearing your words, and in that moment Ayame cries out.

“No, Anon! You can’t! You don’t know what that means! Please, just save yourself! It’s alright, Anon. I-I’ll be fine.” Her words crush your heart even further. How pathetic of you, making her beg you to step away.

Louis puts a hand on his face and laughs. He laughs long and loudly, and the room starts to shake. The walls of the office move apart, as if pulled by large invisible hands, revealing yourself to be on a stage set, surrounded by countless beings, all demonic and hellish in essence. They laughed at you, mere comedy of suffering for them. This was Hell, you realized, and you were being made a mockery.

“Son of Man, you are indeed amusing. Your soul is worth nothing to me. You humans sell your souls to me on the daily, so what is another to my tally? Your soul is not worth one of my greatest warriors, and once I am done with her punishment, I will send her to even more terrible battlefields.” He sneers at you. You fall to your knees, your strength leaving you. Not even your greatest ace had worked, and now, your own self doubt was made manifest, as the laughter of Hell’s denizens echoed around you.

“However, since you had made such a daring and entertaining statement, I will divine your future, and truly see for myself the value of your soul. Berith, come!” Louis tells the crowd. You look up and see an armoured knight on a red horse galloping forth from the crowd, bowing in front of Louis before going to you.

“Stay still, puny child,” the demon says as you feel it stare into your very soul intensely. You couldn’t even bring yourself to your feet at this point, the weight of your failures crushing you. Chuckles and murmurs surrounded you as the demon known as Berith divines your supposed future. After what seemed like forever, the demon brings his horse to Louis and whispers to him in a tense tone. Suddenly the crowd goes deathly silent, as you hear the footsteps of leather shoes walk up to you. You look up and see that it was Louis Cyphre himself.

“Stand, Anon, son of Man. We accept your offer for your soul, and will let Nakiri Ayame free to go where she pleases, until the end of her life.” He was deathly serious. You look up and scramble to your feet, looking around you. The crowd was completely silent, all staring intently at you. Ayame herself was silent, her expression stunned beyond belief.

Louis Cyphre himself held out his hand to you for a handshake, and you knew this was what would consecrate the deal. You stretch your hand out, but self-doubt kicks in at the last moment as the images of Matsuri, Oga, Fubuki and the rest of the people you cared about flash through mind. You take one last look at Ayame, and with a tear in your eye, tell her;

“I’m sorry.” You take Louis Cyphre’s hand.

“And thus, the agreement between Anonymous and Lucifer, the Morningstar, the First Archangel, the Lightbringer, and the King of Hell, is now in effect. Your soul is forfeit at the moment of your death, and will forever be under the jurisdiction of Hell.” Louis, or Lucifer, declares. The crowd erupts in a massive cheer at his words, and he signals for the chains to be released. You rush over to Ayame and help her up, as she clutches on to you, sobbing.

“Why, Anon? Why did you do that?” You bite your lip and carry her out of the room, watching Lucifer smile and wave at you as you leave.

Outside, you see Oga, bruised and battered, but thankfully still alive, sitting on the unconscious bodies of the two guards. He looks at you bringing Ayame along and helps you carry her. The trip back to the elevator was surprisingly shorter than you had imagined. Perhaps Lucifer really wanted you out of Hell, for now at least.

Once inside the elevator, Oga looks at you, smiling. “Looks like you did it, eh? So how did you pull it off this time?”

You continue biting your lip, unwilling to answer. Oga looks at Ayame, who turns away, keeping silent as well. Only the elevator music kept playing, uncaring of the tension inside.

“Anon, what happened?” Oga asked once more, his tone turning from jovial to one of worry.

“Oga, whatever I say in this elevator doesn’t go out of it, alright? Please promise me that.” You say through gritted teeth.

“I don’t like where this is going, but sure.”

“I-I traded my soul for Ayame’s freedom.”

“You WHAT?” Oga shouts. “Anon, do you realize what you’ve done? After all the things you’ve been through, after everything we’ve done for you! Why? Why do you treat your own life and soul like it’s expendable?!” Oga continues to lament. He punches the elevator wall, and it shudders as the elevator music warbles and fizzes out, leaving the three of you in complete silence.

“Oga, it wasn’t his fault. I-It was partially my own mistakes that forced his hand to trade his soul for mine!” Ayame tries to interject but Oga ignores her. He grabs you by your shirt and lifts you up.

“Is it all worth it, Anon? Is it worth endlessly putting yourself in the firing line just to see those around you worry endlessly?” he screams in your face. You couldn’t form an answer, and as tears fall down your face, you could only say;

“I’m sorry.”

--

The next day you went through your day as if it were on autopilot. The company as a whole was excited when Ayame announced she would return to streaming like normally, and even Fubuki excitedly congratulated you over it. You could just give her your best fake smile, hoping she wouldn’t look past it.

Ayame herself told you that she was in your debt, and no amount of apology could make up for what you had done. She just swore herself to serve you until the end of your life, perhaps as a penance for the price you had paid in her stead. You could only tell her to live her life as happily as she could, and not to worry about yourself.

Oga had texted you to come for training tonight, despite having stormed off after you had left the building last night. There, you met him in the boxing ring, where he was already prepared for you.

He lay down a brutal beating, one worse than you had ever faced, even against the likes of Korone. He didn’t let up even as you fell to your knees countless times, demanding that you stand back up. You did. If he was going to beat you up as punishment for your mistakes, then you accepted this penance.

Another punch sends you reeling to the ground as Oga breathes heavily. Your eyes stare emptily at his shoes, your arms struggling to lift your body back up.

“Can you feel it, Anon? Can you feel the pain that we all feel for you, whenever you get yourself hurt? Can you feel the strength of the love we have for you? If you can’t bear that weight, bear that strength, what makes you think we can when you selflessly sacrifice yourself?” He shouts at you.

His words hurt you more than his blows. More than anything you’ve felt. You knew it hurt them whenever you stuck your neck out, when you put yourself at risk. You’ve always known, yet you are compelled to give your all for them, regardless of the cost upon yourself. That was just who you are. You pick yourself up, shakily standing up. You see Oga tower over you, and you close your eyes, expecting another brutal blow.

But Oga hugs you instead, and you hear him sobbing, his whole body shaking as he embraces you. How cruel, you think to yourself. You were the cruel one, ironically. In your selflessness, you had hurt those you cared about more than you helped them. The road to hell was indeed paved with good intentions.

You hugged him back, muttering endless apologies, but you knew that it was for naught. What’s done was done, and there was no turning back now.

At the end of training, you cleaned yourself up and headed back to the office to grab a few things. In your rush to head back, you accidentally bumped into someone, and as you fell, you grabbed on to the other person, twisting your body as to ensure that you would break their fall.

“Ouch,” you mutter out as you hit the floor. “Sorry about that,”

You sit up and check the person you were holding on to. It was a girl of a surprisingly small build, her weight lighter than you would have assumed. Her short green hair covered her face, but you knew who this was.

“Ehehe, you’re so warm, Anon-kun,” Rushia says to you as she wraps her hands around you.