The sound of the increasing heartbeat was easily noticed by Ash, who had her face on Everlearn's chest.
She had noticed it arise after the ntion of her death, and even though it had quelled in less than ten seconds, the sight of it made her smile as she turned an eye to him.
"Are you that worried about dying?"
She mused teasingly, and he rolled his eyes.
"I'm not. But… what did you an you died?"
"What do you consider living, Everlearn?" She asked, continuing, "Is it your heart pounding within your chest?"
"I an, if the heart still beats, then you surely live, right?" he asked in return as she smiled quietly.
"That's logical. But for … it is defined by death."
"And death is when the things you live for are all of a sudden taken away from you." She mused, and he noticed her hands quietly folding into a fist.
"Twelve years ago, my family was killed by the Nakros."
She whispered, and he felt her already cold body suddenly drop by a couple more degrees.
"My mom, my dad, and my little brother were all killed."
"People say I was lucky to live, and maybe they're right, because I was the only one who survived in a little city of 3,000."
"What they all don't know is, I died that day, when everything I thought I would live for, to make proud, was taken right before ."
"My heart never beat the sa again, and ever since, I've lived for just one thing."
She said, finally parting from his embrace, her hands reaching for her coat and bringing out a cigarette.
"To kill every last Nakros that exists in this world, n, won, old, young."
"Every single last one of the Nakros."
She said, trying to light up her cigarette with the crimson-coloured Dupont, but failed due to her hands quivering repeatedly.
She tried harder and harder, but it only agitated her, and the lighter finally fell, only to be picked up by Everlearn, whose hands seed already in wait.
SCHIP!
The Dupont made a crispy sound as he lit it up, placing it beneath her cigarette.
It burned quietly, and Boss Ash took a deep inhale before exhaling in relief.
"Was that how you got the scars?"
He asked, as she stared at him quietly before shrugging.
"They don't hurt."
"Are you sure you could feel it even if they did?"
He mused quietly, watching her eyes faintly quiver in their sockets before they dimd, and she forced a smile.
"It's not sothing you have to worry about."
She slid off his thighs and down to the other seat.
Smoke puffed through the air as Ash exhaled once more before turning to Everlearn,
"So I took your first kiss, and you took my only secret. I guess we're cool then?" She asked, and he nodded quietly.
"Hey, Everlearn?"
She called, her voice this ti holding a quiet seriousness.
He turned to her, though he found her looking up at the jet's ceiling.
"Do you really want out of the deal?"
She asked, and quiet silence followed.
"You don't even have to worry about being an X-Guardian or X student."
"I can just tell the Boss that I killed you, and you'll be off the radar. You can get all the freedom you've always wanted."
She said, and he watched her exhale deeply, cigarette smoke filling the air, and imdiately her hands brought out another cigarette from the box.
As she lit it up, he noticed her hands still quivering lightly, though this ti she was able to keep them steady enough.
"You an to ask if I wanted to leave you, too?"
He asked, watching her exhale, pause, though she still didn't turn to look at him.
"Wasn't that what you've always wanted?"
"No."
He said, and she froze.
"Maybe I wanted to be alone when I escaped that jungle in chara."
"I thought having the world think I'm dead, when I'm obviously not, would sohow be cool, and I'll be...free, so I hated to take the deal."
"But now… no. I don't really want out of the deal."
"I just don't want to be seen as that naïve kid that I once was."
"I'm giving you a chance to be free, dummy. To start the world on a new blank piece of paper. Choose who you want to live the rest of your life—"
"I choose you."
He said, and he watched her cigarette stick fall from her hand as she turned to him, her face reddened.
Everlearn only then seed to recognize how his own words had co out, and his face flushed pink once more.
"I...I don't an it in that way!"
"I an it like… I want to spend my life right now creating an impact on the war, and you live just for one thing, which is making all Nakros dead."
"In a way, we share a similar life trajectory for now, so I choose you."
He explained, and he watched her shock grow into an amused grin.
Her hands reached out to his hair, and this ti he didn't flinch back, leading her fingers to sink into those blue strands that she scattered wildly.
"You're a weird one," She said, and he rolled his eyes, turning to the window.
'I could say the sa for you…' He thought quietly.
"Just heard recently from the Boss that you got your X-Guard card and permission from him to leave X-Guard Academy."
"What did you do to get him to change his mind?" Boss Ash said, crimson eyes gleaming with quiet curiosity.
Her aura had returned to that calm, moody version, though Everlearn, in a way, felt sothing was quite different this ti.
Sothing he couldn't exactly lay his hands on.
Still, he was happy that they had managed to understand each other, and he went on to recount his encounter with the Boss, how he had obtained his X-Guardian card, and even his mission in Cornando City.
However, he deliberately refrained from ntioning the CHO tailing gang, instead using the excuse that his auto-jet had crashed due to a system error.
Revealing the chara Organization would also expose the fact that he had killed cha Eva, which would, in turn, uncover how he had previously died.
That was a secret he would want no soul apart from himself and the system knowing about.
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