Fragment #0
“How fucking dare you?!” A man screamed at the top of his lungs, his right-hand holding a knife. A pale woman calmly stood behind him as he charged at another woman, who repeatedly shrieked and walked backwards, seeking to distance herself from the man currently out of control. Amidst the current altercation, understatement as it may be, the sharp sound of objects falling and breaking could be heard. Yet, none of the parties present had a single damn to give about that.
“Why are you doing this?!” The distraught woman cried loudly. “W… why did you get like this?!”
“Why…? Why?!” He furrowed his brows even more intensely, the woman’s confusion being akin to an offense to him. “You fucking bitch, you know why! Doing that… doing that to me and your child…!”
“What are you t—” Her words were cut short by a gasp of her own, finally realizing it wasn’t just her and her husband at that place as her back reached the wall. No, there was another presence who got near the two of them, perhaps more terrifying than the fact she had no escape from the man anymore. A chill went down her spine and she fell to the ground. “You…”
“Hmmm... I’m afraid I am the reason.” Now at the man’s left side, she politely chuckled, crouching to take a look at the woman’s terrified face. The man looked at the pale woman, seemingly waiting for a signal from her. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Wait, wait!!” The wife was utterly desperate. “D… didn’t we have an agreement, Shizue?! I didn’t bet on my life…!”
“Ufufu… Exactly. Don’t you realize it? This is precisely why you’re in this situation right now.” She crouched a bit more, extending her cold hand to caress the woman’s cheek, who had no reaction to it, mortified as she was. For a second, the woman almost opened her mouth to rebuke Shizue, the outrageous expression on her face being cut off by the pale woman’s words. “…I’m very insistent on following contracts perfectly, you know. It displeases me to see you doubt this… Oh well. You see… You gave me the free reign to do anything with your husband’s life and your child’s. This is what I did.”
“…!!” The wife gasped, finally realizing what exactly was happening, and said nothing. There were no words to say as Shizue’s cold hand touched her cheek and her husband’s face somehow got even more enraged hearing the words Shizue said, although they weren’t new to him. “W… wait, darling, I can explain!!”
“Tch.” Shizue’s tongue clicked and she got up, an expression of disgust on her face, much unlike her usual, trademark serene expression. “People like you are scum. Throw to the thrash only your life next time.” She turned her back to the woman on the floor and patted the husband’s shoulder. “She’s yours… just don’t mess her up too much.”
The pale woman walked away, the screams and shouting resuming. The smell of blood still hadn’t come into existence, but it was only a matter of time before it’d waft out from that place.
BANG
“!!” The man almost fell himself, surprised with the sudden gunshot. The victim was his wife, who died immediately. “S-shizue?”
“Hah… Indeed.” She got close once again, putting something away and crouching towards the body. “You were going to make a mess. I told you, I’m preserving and selling some of this.”
“R-right… but what about your agreement? D… don’t you say you go out of your way to be just regarding them?”
“…you’re a good father, don’t get your hands dirty over this.” She touched the dead body, a faint glow of spellcasting coming from her own hands. “She was going to die either way, if not by my hand, by yours. So it doesn’t really matter… You’re a good father and I’m not a good person, so this works out. Now go away.”
Her tone of voice was cold, but not aggressive. The man did as she said, going away from the scene and leaving only the two women there. Shizue chuckled as the dead body was still much warmer than her.