Lucilfer (ChrolloxReader)

Chapter 22

"The boss didn't tell me a lot about you, just that I'd like you when I met you," she murmured, tightening her hand around Shizuku's when she shivered. "He was right."

Her gaze shone admiringly. My eyebrows raised slightly, and I tilted my head. I agreed with her, though—in turn, I definitely felt an inherent comfortable energy coming from her, even if her exterior was hard and aloof almost. Something about her aura felt similar to mine in a way, like some memory or emotion that we both shared. It was a strange sensation.

"I think I know what you're talking about," I said quietly, gathering my cards and flipping through them absently. "What about me makes Chrollo right, though?"

Shal piped up with the fact that he'd landed the Ace of Spades and set down his first hand, passing off to Shizuku. Machi pulled a few cards out in advance and spoke while still gazing at her deck.

"What you've been through," she whispered, and her voice sounded far away now, pained almost. "I went through something similar, though it wasn't near the extent of your experience."

My heart paused in my chest for a moment as I stared with shocked eyes as her suddenly very lost, very dismal expression. There was a regret there, a vengeful hatred burning in her tired blue irises, irises which wished to conceive the ability to finally let go and forget, but burned heatedly with the forever-memory of being broken. All of it was muted, however—I felt my brows come down in empathy; I felt the constricting pain in my own rib cage as it flashed barely across her face, flitting and changing her features for only a moment. Then, the hard exterior was built up again; but I knew this was the reason I'd felt a connection to her in the first place.

"What do you mean... n-not near the extent of mine?" I breathed, hardly paying attention as I dropped two fours down on the center pile.

"Is that only two, (Y/n)?" Shal inquired mischievously.

Shizuku snickered to herself. Again, I looked up with wide eyes at the peppy blond.

"Y-yes, two fours." I smiled.

"Hmm." His eyes narrowed as he studied me playfully. "M'kay. Three fives for me."

"Oh, I don't believe that," Shizuku stated, pushing her glasses up and releasing Machi's hand as she furiously dug through her own stack of cards.

Machi chuckled and sighed softly, looking back up to me for a moment, expressionless.

"I was sold into prostitution when I was young," she whispered in monotone—Shal and Shizuku's banter kept them from really paying attention to what we were talking about, for which I was grateful. I didn't know how secretive Machi was trying to be. "My mother died giving birth to me, and my father was a drunkard. He sold me when I was seven years old, and I didn't get out until the age of ten, when an anonymous woman 'bought' me and set me free."

I was still as I examined her body language—it was calm, relaxed, but there was an underlying tenseness about it. Clearly these memories were painful for her, but she'd spent long enough burying them that the firm facade was default. Her pink hair ruffled wildly in the careful wind as it picked up—I shuddered and gripped tighter to my deck. My eyes pricked, and I couldn't tell if it was because of the cold or sudden tears.

"Thank you for telling me." I looked down and sniffed, pursing my lips and trying to control my reaction. "And thank you... for volunteering to accompany me."

I heard her inhale through her teeth and sigh, and she sat a bit straighter beside me.

"Don't get emotional about it," she muttered, but I could hear the caring tone her words still carried, and it made me smile slightly. "Any excuse for me to murder a few assholes will do."