Soul for a Girlfriend?

Chapter 284 - She Doesn't Like Going Out?

It was Christmas Eve, and I was sitting on the bed while buttoning the sleeves of the shirt I was wearing. I glanced outside the window and it was prominently dark outside as I picked up the long coat beside me and walked towards the door.

"Hoo… you're getting ready?" I heard Lilith's voice from behind me as I turned around and noticed her staring at me with a grin on her face, "Got plans?"

"Yeah… going to hang out with my friends." I replied as she tilted her head in confusion, "Friends? What about that girlfriend?"

"Well… she said that she already had plans with her friends."

I remember asking Suzuha about going out on Christmas Eve out of obligation because I read on the internet that going out with your partner on Christmas Eve was a rather necessary thing to do.

Though she told me that she had plans with Moriko and others. I wasn't interested in her anymore, so I was searching for ways to turn her down and not waste my Christmas Eve with a girl I don't even like.

I thought about striking up a deal to break up with her, but then I decided not to ruin her Christmas Eve because of my selfish wish to cut connections with her as soon as possible and she didn't appear to be in the mindset to let me go.

Even though she loved me because Asmodeus manipulated her to do so.

It wouldn't take long to wear down the effects of his brainwash. And even if it didn't, that wouldn't concern me anyway because I'll cut my ties with her sooner or later because she would end up hindering my work.

I was actually relieved when she said that she was busy and couldn't spend time with me.

"Aww… that must suck!" I could feel the sarcasm was dripping from that statement as I narrowed my eyes at her and replied, "Don't play with me."

"Jeez… why so cold?" She said, punching my shoulder lightly with furrowed eyebrows, but soon her lips curved into a smug smile as she asked, "Perhaps you're pissed that your girlfriend rejected your date offer on such an auspicious day?"

After staring at her for a few moments, saying nothing, I took a deep breath and asked, "Do I really look like that sort of guy to you?" 

"I don't know… you tell me."

"Well I'm not interested in Suzuha anymore." I told her exactly what was going in my mind and before she could make any dumb comments, I added, "She is basically useless to me."

"Well… that's not what the frown on your face says."

"I'm going for Adachi now." I stared into crimson eyes but she was in a rather light-hearted mood that day as she chuckled and continued, "Ah… an uncommon setting, where the…"

"Stop…"

"...boy ends up falling for his girlfriend's bestie…" She laughed and strolled around me while holding my hand and pulling me towards her, "How romantic!"

"Yeah, cut it out." I said, and a frown formed on her face as she complained, "You're no fun… how are you even popular among girls?"

"I don't know." I shrugged, getting my hand out of her grip subtly, as she puffed up her cheek and let out a sigh, "Those girls must have a really foul taste then."

She is saying that as if she didn't just kiss me a few days ago. 

Maybe I was overthinking about that incident and she did it in the heat of the moment without giving it much thought. But every time I looked at her, I couldn't help the memories from that day being washed over inside my mind.

"You seem quite cheerful today… what's the matter?" I asked, as she stopped smiling for an instance and her eyes shifted towards me, "Not really… I'm usually like this.

She was quite bad at lying.

For the past couple of months, she has been way too stressed and I could tell that by looking at her behaviour, worrying about every little thing and carrying the weight of her past while I was being rather considerate of her.

But I wasn't wrong from my perspective because she was just a stranger to me at that point and I was under no obligation to be considerate about her, especially when she dragged me into her problems.

"You look like a person who forces themselves to smile…" I said as my sentence trailed off at the end and she chuckled softly, "You're imagining things… give your mind some rest."

"So… what are you going to do?" I asked, walking towards the door as it was a rather joyful day and she was going to spend it inside, locked out from the outside world.

"Ah, I will probably sleep or read a book." She laughed and stared at me for a moment as I asked, "Don't you wanna go out once in a while?"

"I do… but then I think it's pointless."

When she said, I reminisced about all the times she had been confined in this tiny little apartment. Instead of going out and roaming around, for some reason, she enjoyed staying here except for that one time she went shopping with me.

"Wait a minute… don't tell me you're feeling bad for leaving me alone today?" She asked, nudging me in the stomach with a smug smile as I brushed it off, "Are you sick?"

"...of this life… ha ha ha!"

That was such a terrible joke.

"But always staying inside the house is bad for you… you really need some fresh air." I said, and she replied with a plain, "I'm alright."

"Yeah, say that to the bags under your eyes… hag."

"The fuck you called me?" She glared at me as I gulped down hard and turned away from her, "Nevermind… please yourself."

I walked towards the door. Wearing my shoes, I was about to turn the knob as she said, "By the way, remember what I said."

"Don't worry, if I get the chance… I'll take it.." Turning around, I nodded at her and she smiled softly while waving her arm at me, "Alright then… see you later, I guess."