"Hey, Lio."

"Hm?"

"By chance, have you actually fallen for me?"

".....By chance, can you just go to sleep?"

"Hehe, why don't we chat for a few minutes…?"

"Ugh, you're such a baby."

While lying down comfortably in a bed of beautiful white and green flowers, Jolene Aurora giggled at Liohime Kitagami's comment.

In a sense, he was right, although she never showed her childish side that much.

In fact, pretty much only Liohime and Harvey Hallvack knew about her true self, and she felt the most comfortable when with the both of them.

"Why the fuck did you ask that question, anyway?" asked Liohime.

"Huh? Oh, that. You never really tried to advise me on things to do better at, I guess. It was as if…you took a personal interest in my livelihood all of a sudden. Of course, I was still joking, though, I wasn't expecting you to still be attached to me…"

Liohime flinched.

"...Not after I rejected you as your first love."

The young man paused for a while, then exhaled lightly before responding.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Jolene averted her eyes, as an awkward silence crept in the atmosphere.

"Thanks for your hard work in keeping me alive, Jolene," Liohime muttered to her, trying to break the tension. "I'm serious, by the way."

"O-Of course. You're acting as if I'd let my fuck-buddy die so easily. Please change that mindset of yours."

"Good grief."

"Actually, speaking of which…"

She licked her lips as her endearing eyes stared at his pelvis as she twisted her ody around, and her fingers playfully slid towards his pubic area.

"...I definitely found a way for you to thank me properly for saving your life!"

Slap.

"Eh?"

Liohime had slapped her ass instead of her hand, and she remained silent with her mouth gaping wide in shock.

"Go. To. Sleep. Every hour counts, dummy."

"U-Uh, sure…"

She lay on her back, facing upwards with an expressionless face.

He never even did that when we used to fuck. What the fuck?

Her left eyebrow twitched.

Taking notice of her health, slapping her ass for some reason, and-

A gentle hand rubbed against her forehead while Liohime spoke up.

"Is everything alright?"

"..."

"Huh? Um, Jolene-"

"Who are you?"

"Wait, what?"

"You're so different from how I knew you before," Jolene finally answered, leaving Liohime speechless for a bit with that sentence. "It's like your entire personality and actions changed in just a couple of months….what caused that?"

As if immediately, he knew the answer, and the young dark-skinned woman with beautiful light green eyes remained at the forefront of his memory.

"A-Actually, nevermind that," Jolene said as she changed her mind. "I've been yapping. I should really be going to sleep."

"Hey, Jolene."

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna write farewell notes?"

"....Well, that went south pretty fucking fast," she replied. "What, are you not confident that you'll make it out alive in the third layer?"

"H-Huh? No, I'm not talking about that. I just…well…I had to let you know eventually, that…you know…"

"Know…what?"

The rest of the words were caught in Liohime's throat, but as the mission was most probably coming to an end soon, he had to let her know about what would happen to him afterwards.

"I…I will leave the Shinigami Soldiers."

".....Seriously?"

Her voice dropped low, unable to comprehend if he was joking or not, and she sat up in a flash.

"Like, seriously, seriously?"

"Y-Yeah. Seriously."

"Can you even do that? With how the organization is, those who try to leave are at risk of telling outsiders about the intel from the inside, and….and…"

Her voice trailed off, but she quickly continued:

"And…why? Why do you want to leave?"

"....Look it's a bit complicated, okay? But basically, I've been in this organization almost all my life. With this monetary reward, I simply want to move away from my town and enjoy the rest of my life elsewhere, without suspicious eyes being trained on me from time to time, you know?"

"I…see…"

Jolene's gaze faced downwards as she was pondering about what he had just said, but it was clear that her mood had worsened a bit, so Liohime edged closer towards her.

"Jolene, you've been someone who's been a bit close to me for a while. Therefore, I will miss you. I know that you might have so many questions, but I promise that when this is all over, we'll have a deeper chat about it. Okay?"

Liohime held out his right pinky finger, and Jolene scoffed slightly, a bit amused by the child-like binding process of a promise, but she reluctantly accepted it with her own pinky finger.

"Tch, it better be a promise then."

"Alright."

"I have pens and a notepad from my storage ring," Jolene continued. "Let's write farewell notes."

As she retrieved the list of things that she had mentioned, Liohime took a few pages from the notepad and began to think of who to write to in Polar Town, and what he should write.

I'll definitely write to the chief, he decided. Oh, actually, I'll just write one to the entire Shinigami Soldiers group, except for Jolene here, who will get a personal letter. Then there's….oh, Billy Milly! I'll do one for that edgy ass kid. Although she might not be kinda kinda pleased with seeing me face to face, Tisha Marsey should be informed. The bar owner too, and that should be it.

As he was reminded just how small his social group was, he awkwardly smiled, but then his smile disappeared as he spotted Jolene looking straight at him with wavering pupils.

"Jolene…?"

"Huh? O-Oh, it's nothing," she answered quickly, and handed him a folded sheet of paper."

"A-Already? You're done already!?"

"Yes, but please don't open it now, okay!?" she said with a raised panicked voice. "Only view this when you're done with the mission and return to Polar Town with me. I want to tell you something before you go."

"-hk, uh, okay."

"Good. I'm going to sleep now."

"Alright."

Thus, Liohime placed the folded paper in his pants pocket, while Jolene hid her face from him as she slept, with a face of distress.

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