The Sanguine Girl, Sasaki Yuina

‘You being serious right now?’

I turned around and faced her, and she nodded slightly.

‘You really want to go out – in that? Hell, you didn’t even take your jacket back!’

‘Oh yeah, forgot about that completely. I mean, wait, did you even bring one? You can just wear it home today; it’ll be my thanks.’

‘I can’t do that – look at the way it’s howling outside!’

‘You didn’t answer my question – did you bring a jacket?’

She looked sheepishly at me.

‘No… I didn’t. It was warm outside in the morning, remember!’

Well, she wasn’t wrong there – I’m lucky that I’m always caught wearing a jacket otherwise I likely would’ve been frozen on my walk over here.

‘Anyway, forget about the jacket. Come back inside. It’s cold.’

I normally don’t like listening to people – especially people who I don’t know. Normally, I would’ve turned her down and headed out that door, continuing on with my life. But something – something was different, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

So, I listened to her and turned around, closing the door behind me.

‘So, what do we do now? Isn’t your other coworker here? I didn’t see him leave.’

‘Nope, it’s just me. I told him he could take off early and I’d close the shop since he lives so far away. I just had a feeling that the weather would turn from bad to worse.’

‘Huh? But I never saw him leave.’

‘Oh, he took off through the back entrance – it’s easier since it’s closer to the lounge anyway. Speaking of – you want to go upstairs? The bleeding doesn’t look like it’s stopping.’

I touched my lower back and sure enough, I could feel the warm sensation of blood running down my fingertips. Honestly, it wasn’t too surprising that I didn’t feel much pain from the scrape – I’ve dealt with wounds that were much worse in my time as X54’s leader, but to an outsider like her, it was probably pretty surprising.

‘Ah man, you’re right. It’s probably not that deep anyway.’

‘Yeah, probably not, from the looks of things at least.’

Huh? She didn’t seem the least bit surprised. In fact, she seemed just as composed as me, and – mind you – the lower third of this white tee’s almost completely soaked in blood. So, as we started walking toward the backdoors and lounge, I nudged at her:

‘You used to this kind of stuff?’

‘Huh?’

‘Like, you’re used to fights and blood and all that? Usually, people would be freaking out at the sight of something like this.’

She turned around and leered at me, before smirking and laughing.

‘What… am I supposed to be all “Oh my God, he’s gonna die! He’s losing so much blood, oh my God! I can’t lose him after we just met – we were meant to be together!”’

She started laughing uncontrollably again and I just shook my head.

‘There it is again! You won’t stop with that!’

‘No, no – hold on, let me catch my breath.’

She took a moment to compose herself, and then slapped her cheeks together, wiping the laugh squarely off her face.

‘Like, I can tell you’re probably some high-ranking tough guy, right? If you’re the leader of some gang, and you’re not acting like that wound’s gonna kill you, why should I panic and make things worse?’

I raised my eyebrows and chuckled in agreement.

‘For all the nonsensical talking you do, you’ve definitely got a brain in that head of yours.’

‘Of course I do!’

‘But seriously – is this something you’re used to? Like, I get not overreacting to the blood, but the whole fight, the knife, everything – is that just something that doesn’t phase you?’

We hopped into an elevator and she hit ‘5’ on the keypad, the highest level.

‘Well, not really. Nothing around here ever happens – this is the first time I’ve ever had something like this occur while I’m on shift, and I’ve never really heard stories of it happening to my coworkers either. It’s kinda just a weird predicament for me.’

‘How so?’

The elevator door opened, and we walked into the lounge, which was just an open-ended area – in one corner was a television with two consoles and a nice sofa setup, a kitchen was available for use directly behind that, and there were also a couple of treadmills, ellipticals, and massage chairs for use on the other side, with a central fireplace warming the entire area up. The place was – naturally – deserted, but the lights were on upon our entry, meaning that someone – most likely the other employee – was up here recently.

Without thinking twice, I flung myself onto the sofa and sighed. I threw my head over the top of the sofa and looked directly up at her, and she was staring right down at me.

‘You look exhausted Tsukkun’.

‘When did we agree on calling me Tsu-Kun? And no, I’m not exhausted, it’s just nice to be able to sit down. Also – don’t dodge the question from before!’

She giggled and went to the kitchen. I kept my head resting over the top of the sofa, and she popped back over with something in her pocket and two glasses.

‘Water?’

‘Water’s boring – it’s apple juice. Drink up.’

‘Oh shit, you’ve got good taste – apple juice trumps any drink.’

She handed me the glass and we both drank quickly.

‘Well, except for mango juice.’

‘You’re crazy. Mango’s too thick. Apple’s easy to drink, good flavor; it’s perfect.’

‘I’m not even going to bother arguing with someone who says a juice is “too thick” – what kind of blasphemy! Anyway, anyway, lift your shirt up.’

I looked her straight in the eyes as she said that – she had already put her glass down and was beckoning at me to lift it up. I was perplexed.

‘Huh?’

She snickered.

‘What, are you scared of the girl you were leering at seeing your abs?! I don’t even care for that, I just want to wrap up that wound of yours and stop the bleeding. You’ll feel better.’

“Again!”

‘What, it’s true! Why else would I ask you to take off your shirt? Come on now – you’re the one who’s overthinking things here!’

She wasn’t wrong there, and that’s not like my normal self. I rarely get flustered, I only get annoyed or frustrated, if anything. Maybe I’m just tired.

I lifted my shirt up as she said, and tossed it beside me. Touching my lower back again, I could feel blood slowly dripping down my side – the wound itself was pretty shallow, but it didn’t have any pressure applied to it, so it kept leaking away. I looked at her again, and she had already pulled out the bandages from her pocket, but she wasn’t doing anything with them, she was just sitting there, deadpan, in front of me.

‘Kisasa?’

She snapped out of it.

‘Hey, it’s Sa-sa-ki! Remember that!’

‘Yeah, yeah Kisasa, whatever. What was all that about?’

I looked at her and grinned.

‘Could it be… you’re the one gawking now?’

She tried to hide her embarrassment, but her blushing shone through.

‘Well, naturally! I haven’t seen someone this ripped in – well, ever! It’s pretty neat!’

Even when she’s embarrassed, she’s straight-up and honest. I would’ve surely thought she’d try to hide her amazement from me, but I’d be guessing wrong.

‘Well, it’s hard work to get to this point. Plus, lots of fights will probably force you to have a good physique. Anyway, let me ask you again – especially now that it seems like you’re shocked to see a ripped dude – is this something commonplace for you? Like are you sure you don’t need some therapy, or something – not like I can offer that anyway.’

She looked back at me and smiled.

‘Nah, I don’t need any of that kind of stuff. It’s not that I’m used to this kind of thing – cause honestly, I’m not. I guess it was just kinda cool to see how someone like you fights? It’s so – what’s the word? – breathtaking? Like, those guys looked like they’d be strong and a challenge for you, but you handled them like it was a Thursday evening in the office.’

Well, it was a regular Thursday evening for me at least.

‘The reason I’m kinda numb to that kind of thing? No particular reason, but I’m not some “Violence is bad! Everyone should cooperate and love each other and go on with their day” kinda girl either – I guess I found watching you more exhilarating than anything, really’.

‘Hm. Interesting – you’re odd.’

‘That’s not very nice!’

She reached towards me with the bandages and wrapped them around me, and then she moved herself behind me.

‘You really should be nicer to me, y’know – look at what I’m doing for you!’

‘Hey, I never asked for this – you did it out of your own volition!’

‘Not wrong but still! It’s a kind gesture, no need to call me an oddity!’

‘Oh, I didn’t mean it rudely at all!’

‘How else could you mean it?!’

She pressed down against the wound deeply with the bandage, applying pressure to it, and then releasing her hands. She repeated this a couple of times, applying pressure to the wound and soothing it, which honestly felt like a massage.

‘Well, as someone at the top of this field, I’ve seen everyone and everything. I’m so used to everyone bending the knee for me and trying to not get in my way, unless they’ve got a problem with me, whether it’s turf-based, manpower-based, finance-based, whatever. When they see me fight, that’s normally the end of any even-levelled dialogue that I could have with them, cause they’re just naturally intimidated by me. So, you – you’re odd, but honestly, it’s cool to see.’

She gazed over my shoulder.

‘Narcissistic much?’

‘Well, no – I’m just being rational.’

‘Well, have you ever tried continuing conversation with them? Or have you just assumed that they’re bowing a knee to you?’

‘Obviously I keep talking to them – but the way that the conversation goes changes. I don’t feel like we’re on an even playing field anymore, and there’s a natural rift between us.’

‘Don’t you think that that rift’s partly on you too?’

‘How so?’

‘Like, you’re enabling it. Sure, they’re initially intimidated by you – but they don’t have to be, right? You’re the one who chooses to be like that, even if they fall in line afterwards.’

I looked at her, pensively, as I thought about what she said. It did make sense, but only on a small scale. Like, ideally, I wouldn’t want to intimidate the people that I meet, but I’ve got to – it’s how I’ve been successful all these years with X54. Violence has always been my answer and has always been the place where I’ve found solace. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

‘Let me ask you something.’

‘Shoot.’

‘Do you actually know anything about X54, or who we are, or what we do?’

‘Nope! Haven’t got the slightest clue!’

The winds howled outside, and the snowstorm didn’t seem like it was stopping at all – in fact, it looked like it was getting worse. The clock on the wall chimed as it hit ten o’clock, and she continued to look at me with intrigue. Normally, I wouldn’t talk any further, cause I’d assume it’d be a waste of breath, and hell, it’d be more than likely that she wouldn’t even care for or understand what I’d tell her. Yet something – something from deep within was telling me that opening up to her would be a decision that I’d never regret. And so, that’s exactly what I’d do.