Satisfactory Farewell

Akuma couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t get it. Nor could he understand why he couldn’t. To him, it was no different from someone crying over receiving a good grade on a test, or after taking a bite into their favorite meal.

Yet, as much as he wanted to question the girl whose actions he could not understand, it was his own actions that truly puzzled him. After all, he had also done something totally irrational.

By breaking the rules to their little game, Akuma had subsequently surrendered his advantage. It wasn’t just then—since meeting the girl named Sha Wujing, Akuma had made numerous actions that in the past he would have considered “irrational.”

“Well, this is me…”

Wujing wiped the residue of the tear in her eye before springing out of the wooden bench, grabbing her suitcase beside it.

“It is most unfortunate, but it seems that our worst fears have come to pass. This game will have to be cut short… And to think that things were finally starting to get interesting too,” Wujing sighed, her shoulders dropping with the gesture. “I had even thought of the best question. What a shame… You are a lucky one, human.”

Crashing into the heavy tension was the sound of exhaust and powerful machinery. The hunk of metal that had been carefully crafted to assume the shape of a bullet forced its presence onto the entire station.

“Don’t you think you’re stretching this ‘human’ thing a little too much?” said Akuma, also rising out of his seat. “I gave you my name, it’s Akuma Tiryns. I’ve been using your proper name, so wouldn’t it be rude to not use mine?”

Wujing barely gave it any thought before answering.

“But I like ‘human’ more! I think it suits you a lot more than the name ‘Akuma’. You are the hero today, remember?”

The memory of swiftly taking down the thief came back to him. A crowd of people had chanted his name, swearing him to be a hero.

Akuma scratched the side of his cheek, embarrassed.

“No, it’s nothing like that…”

“Oh?” Wujing grinned at Akuma’s adorable denial of it. In a way, she sort of looked like the angel.

“I–I mean it…! I’m not that kind of person, really.”

“Hmm… Well, if you plan to take it that far, then we might as well just reveal our answers, no? That way, we can see for sure!”

Akuma blinked as if for a moment the game had slipped his mind.

“Oh, that… Um, well, yeah I guess so… If I remember correctly, this is the part where we reveal which of us got the most answers correct.”

“Indeed! So, then, who shall go first? Hm? Hm?” Wujing asked with wide, enthusiastic eyes.

It was a simple move, but an effective one.

Effortlessly, Wujing had taken all the burden in the air and forced it onto Akuma. She knew that he couldn’t deny it if asked so intently.

“...Fine.” Akuma answered reluctantly before thinking over his strategy.

Rigged or not, Akuma had no intentions of losing this game. Problem was, in a game like this one, he who starts, fails. His only real way of winning was fabricating a lie convincing enough to go unnoticed by her of all people—which could only be done by working around her initial answer. That was the plan, anyway.

Perhaps sensing Akuma’s intentions, Wujing had blocked that route thus greatly limiting his options.

Factoring out that free point I gave her for the last question, that leaves three possible truths or lies. Wait, no, I also have to factor out Wujing’s third question of whether or not I killed someone close to me since I’m certain she already knows the answer.

That left the first two.

Why did he save that woman?

Why does he hide away his face?

Assuming he were to lie about both, then he could walk away with giving her a 2/4 score. Except it wasn’t that simple. Wujing was no idiot—if he were to lie about the only two possible choices he could lie about, then it’d be the same as admitting he was cheating. Of course, Wujing knew that too.

So, regardless of whether he gave her a 1/4 or 2/4, she’d know he was lying.

Backed into such a corner, Akuma couldn’t help but feel impressed by Sha Wujing. She played him. She played him well.

“...Unfortunately for me, out of the four questions you asked… you got all of them right.”

Wujing feigned a bewildered look.

“Truly?! You mean it?! ”

“...”

Grabbing the hems of her pleated skirt, Wujing twirled and hopped around the station in an elegant fashion. If memory served Akuma right, then it was the exact same dance she had done before.

“...And what about me?” Akuma asked, feeling slightly frustrated. “How much of it did I get right?”

Wujing stopped dancing, an ominous light bulb flashing above her head.

“Oh? Curious about your score, are you?” she placed a hand over her wry smile. “My, my, someone is just desperate to know all about little ol’ me, isn’t he? But I wonder… Should I give it to you?”

“...”

Akuma’s eyes were dead, lifeless. He did not so much as flinch while standing beside that wooden bench.

“Gah! No reaction? Aww, where is the fun in that?” For a moment, Wujing looked like she was surrendering her stance. Until Akuma noticed another dangerous spark in her eye. “Say, human, would you be interested in a trade?”

The station's atmosphere dampened a bit.

“What kind of trade?”

“No need to fear, it is a simple one really. As promised via agreement, I will reveal how many answers you managed to guess correctly. In exchange, could you show me your face?”

“!? M–My face?”

“Yes! You have kept it hidden this entire time!” pouted Wujing. “You have seen my face, have you not? Yet, you still insist on keeping yours hidden. I do not see how that is fair.”

Akuma glanced around the station.

He could probably count on both hands how many other people were inside that train station. Meaning, if he wanted to, Akuma could very well show himself without causing too much of a commotion.

“Don’t you think that's kinda a big ask? I just told you that your assumption of why I keep my face hidden was right. So aren’t you being a dick by asking that?”

“I care not!” Wujing shouted so loud that nearby people were starting to look at them. Akuma wondered if she had done that on purpose. Knowing her, the chances were far from zero.

“Alright, alright! I’ll do it… Just please stop causing a scene.”

“Truly?!”

“Yes, so just stop shouting already…”

With childlike wonder in her eyes, Wujing rushed over to Akuma, leaving her suitcase in the middle of the path to the incoming train. Akuma couldn’t see the hype behind it. Nevertheless, he grabbed the sides of his front hoodie and removed the veil. His dark hair—which was quite long for a boy—fell down like dangling ropes and his crimson eyes glinted beneath the station’s lighting. He could immediately hear whispering in the distance, but nothing too heavy that it caused a commotion.

“T–There. You happy?”

Wujing took a step closer and studied Akuma’s face. She got so close that he could feel her every breath dramatically puffing against his skin.

“This again?”

Akuma felt a nasty sense of Deja Vu. The only difference was that this time, Akuma seemed more open to it.

“...”

With her face still pressed closely to his as if she were begging for a sweet kiss, Wujing continued to analyze every corner of Akuma’s face.

“How can you still act like that after seeing what I look like? Aren’t you scared of me?”

“Eh?”

Finally, his words reached her.

Wujing blinked a few times. She looked like she’d just heard a foreigner speak an unrecognizable language.

“I’m not sure how long you’ve been in this town, but surely you’ve heard the rumors…” Akuma continued. “How there are demons living in this town? I mean, there are thousands of reports. They described them as having crimson eyes, y’know… So shouldn’t you be scared of me?”

“...Scared, huh. Well actually, now that you mention it…”

Wujing’s eyes narrowed as they swept over Akuma’s face. He could feel it. This was it. Judgment. Akuma braced for the cruel remark that was sure to come.

“Are you what people call a ‘pretty boy’?”

“...!?”

Taking a few steps back, Wujing continued, “It’s just that this whole time, your face has been covered. I was beginning to suspect you were hiding something ugly… To be honest, I thought you had a third eye or something. Or long, pointed ears…” Wujing stuck out her ears, as if to imitate a fantasy elf. “Who would have guessed it was something so anti-climactic… How boring.”

“H–Hey now, I’m right here!”

“What about it?”

“Erhg–!”

This girl. Could it be that in a past life, they were something like friends? It was the only explanation for why fate had brought them together like this. It would surely explain the freeness of Sha Wujing.

She then headed towards the train’s entrance before Akuma stopped her.

“Hey, wait a moment. Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?”

Wujing turned around like a child who’d been caught stealing a jar of cookies.

“Eh? Oh, erm… yes, your deal, that’s right. Crap, I was hoping I could make a swift exit before it came to this…”

His suspicions were right—she was stalling. Asking to see his face was simply a means to that end.

“I had hoped this would be the moment I brag, but I unfortunately cannot… You had a perfect score of four points!”

Considering half of his answers had been rough guesses, that was pretty surprising to hear.

“It looks like we tied then…” Akuma said with closed eyes.

“Yep!”

“I see… Although, that wasn’t why I called out to you, Wujing,” Akuma pointed at the Pandota she coincidentally seemed to have forgotten about. “I was referring to that.”

“……………………………….”

The two stared at one another for a moment—Akuma with an empty look, and Wujing with sweat rushing down her face.

“G–Goodness me, was I about to leave with your panda?” Her smile was innocent, but her tone and sweat betrayed it. Wujing, feeling as if her legs were glued to the ground, forced them to walk over to Akuma. “H…Here…” Her arms trembled dramatically.

Akuma nervously scratched the back of his head.

“Y’know what? Never mind, you can keep it.”

“R–Really?! O thank you, human! Thank you! …But wait, I thought it was supposed to be a gift for a friend of yours?”

“Nah, I changed my mind. Actually, for a while now I had realized that I really didn’t think it through. Besides, I never said she was my friend now, did I?”

“Are you certain?” Wujing asked curiously with a hint of worry.

“Seriously, it’s all good. I’d be surprised if she didn’t already have a million of those things. The girl’s obsessed with pandas.”

“Hm… Well, if you say so.”

Choosing to take the lucky opportunity before her, Wujing quickly retreated back to her suitcase and turned to say one last thing to Akuma.

“Thank you again, human! It is my deepest wish that Buddha places just as much fortune in your life as you do for others!”

“...”

With that, the fairy-like foreigner by the name of Sha Wujing, made her leave.

Akuma could no longer feel that intense feeling in his gut. He took that to mean they had given each other a satisfactory farewell. That being said, it’d take much more than that for her to leave Akuma’s mind. She had made a permanent impression on Akuma, for reasons good and bad…

“A perfect score of 4 points, huh…” Akuma muttered to himself in thought. “Either she’s the world’s best liar, or she just admitted to being a demon.”

Thinking about it was pointless. Both options were equally likely. In this world, anything and everything was possible—Akuma learned that the hard way. Thus, Akuma simply fixed his hoodie over his head once more and promptly left the train station. His mind calmed bit by bit and eventually there was only one thing on it.

The question of friendship, or rather, the future of such blessings.

“Even if she is a demon, it’s not like she’d be the first one I met. And she surely won’t be the last… Isn’t that right, Donte.”

The name rolled off his tongue like a spiked ball.

How much had he sacrificed for that name? For that boy? What lengths had he gone through in hopes of finding the truth? Would any of that ever amount to anything? He didn’t know. He didn’t know if he’d ever know. Maybe, maybe not.

All he could do was push forward. To continue to hope as he took each step.