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“Shut up.”

I love…lo…? …ve? …love…love…love…love?

“I said, shut the fuck up, stupid eye!”

The echoing words of love inside of him abruptly stopped.

At the same time, there was a click, a snapping sound from around his right eye.

The first was merely a mental sound; the second was a physical process in his retina.

“…!”

It was actually the slasher who was most surprised by this change.

He had reached up to the eye that was just cut—and gouged it out with his own hand.

Then he crushed it in his palm and stood boldly before the slasher. The fear from moments ago was gone now, and in what light could be gleaned from the now-stabilizing streetlight overhead, his remaining eye glared fiercely.

An ordinary person might have yelped in the face of that glare. But the slasher chose to speak to him instead.

“…You’re really something.”

“…”

“I’ve never seen someone escape from this girl’s voice before. Saika was so shocked that she drew back inside of me. Maybe she’s feeling like she just got dumped,” the woman said, her voice soothing, perhaps even relieved.

It certainly didn’t sound like the voice of a mad, indiscriminate attacker. She walked closer to him. The countless blades were gone from her skin, leaving only the one katana in her hands, now its ordinary length.

“I’m happy… I thought no one would ever try to stop her…”

Large tears spilled from her glowing red eyes. The droplets caught that red light, making it look as though blood was dripping from her tear ducts.

“Are you going…to finish me at last?” she asked. It sounded like a request to die.

He shook his head. “No…sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Then he started striding forward, no fear of her deadly sword. “But…I had something I wanted to tell you. I had to shut up that annoying noise first—that’s all.”

Already he was within the katana’s range. But she did not slice at him.

“What’s your name?”

“…”

“Actually, never mind. I don’t need your name.”

Then he was close enough to reach out and touch her. He came to a stop there.

And as the red-eyed woman watched in surprise and confusion, he spoke.

—Spoke the words brought by that other impulse within him, spoke his mind in a way he had never done before.

“…I’m in love with you.”

“…Huh?” she said, red eyes wide.

Those simple words represented his entire life being staked on a gamble.

He had built himself through the scars he’d inflicted on others. And now the words tumbled out of him as if he were trying to eject all those ugly red marks at once.

“For the first time in my life, I believed a woman was beautiful. I wanted to hug and squeeze one.”

“…”

“I don’t care if you’re human, or a monster, or even some kind of Buddhist goddess. All that matters is that I love you as a woman,” he said, his speech getting gradually faster as his self-control failed to hide his agitation. “Even I know that this is crazy to say, comin’ right after we just met, and you sliced my damn eyeball…but I ain’t pretending it’s based on logic. Please—marry me!”