The sexual relationship between Liohime Kitagami and Jolene Aurora was certainly active, spanning from either once a week to a daily occurrence during a span of a few days.

However, with the both of them using each other for sex, they still managed to talk about various things now and then, and slowly, their friendship was coming back.

Granted they most likely would not ever have something like what they had initially, but it was good to be friends with benefits in both of their eyes.

Well, that was until their chief had found out about it.

"No sexual relationships with workmates, so no means no, guys."

"Hey, what the fuck is this bullshit?"

"C-Calm down, Jolene, let's listen to the chief…"

While in the car of the Shinigami Soldiers chief named Matsuo Yamamoto, both Liohime and Jolene had to be reminded of the rules that he set in place, and the latter grumbled.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me."

"J-Jolene.."

Leiohime tried to calm her down, but Matsuo simply chuckled.

"It's alright, Lio, it's alright. I know that you two might think that it's restrictive, but that's just the way that it's gotta be, okay?"

"O…kay."

Therefore, their relationship had been stripped down to only one where they were….friends? Maybe?"

Honestly at that point, Jolene was not really sure that she could call Liohime her friend. There was still an air of caution around him when Jolene arrived, and it was as if she could sense it so clearly.

She had not really sat down and apologised for what she had done to him before, and the longer that they remained together, the harder it took for Jolene to bring up what had happened so long ago.

Either way, Jolene returned back to her main focus, which was the not-so-fun job of assassination, while Liohime went back to robberies, larceny and stealing.

Some days, Jolene would ask Liohime about sex, but the latter would reject her, wary of his boss. Soon enough, it was as it her requests had become a running gag in a television show.

And of course, Liohime, being the introverted person that he was, was not really active at all other than leaving the house to go to his job, but Jolene had no courage to go to him.

Surely enough the relationship between the two had deteriorated slightly towards a formal connection through their work, which was not bad in itself, but it was a shadow of what they used to have together.

Jolene's thoughts were now trapped to herself, with no one to really talk to.

Harvey Hallvack, who had just recently joined the fray, was fun to tease and annoy, but was not a good candidate to just accept everything that she was worried or interested about, and none of the other Shinigami Soldiers were either. Also, she had just about the same social connection as Liohime- very little, thus limiting herself.

While alone, she could feel the walls closing in sometimes, as she longed to spend time together with someone. She would sometimes dream of her past trauma, about her horrific father and her stupid mother who went along with his every command, and she felt like breaking down all over again-

The phone rang, all of a sudden, while she was lying down in her bed late at night, and she looked at the contact name.

Utterly surprised, she picked up the phone, and spoke.

"L….Lio?"

"Hey, Jolene. What's up?"

"I-I'm fine," she lied.

It was like when people ask you how you are doing and you just naturally answer 'I'm good' or 'I'm fine' within a split-second, without taking the time to properly process if you truly are based on the day's events.

"Are you sure?"

Jolene paused, and then froze completely, as she had been caught off guard with that question.

"What?"

"Are you sure that you're fine?" Liohime repeated. "I asked that because you looked a little down today, at the Month-End Status Report Meeting."

For the first time, Liohime had taken his time to call her just to check up on her, leaving her stunned.

She pursed her lips, and then bit down on her bottom lip.

"I…..I'm alright, for now. Not bad, I guess."

"Not bad, huh? Alright then."

"Y-You really called me…just to ask that?"

"Eh? What, you think I should have called for something more important-"

"No!" she cried out, but she quickly calmed herself. "Uh, I mean, no. This was a very important call."

She still could not believe it. Liohime Kitagami, the one who barely showed his face nowadays unless it was an emergency meeting or his job, taking the time to talk to her like her used to do a long time ago.

She wondered what made him do this, but she did not ask, not knowing the scenes that were going on at his home.

After all…

"Thank you, Lio, for calling me, and happy birthday."

--Liohime had just finished celebrating his birthday on the 28th of September at home with Shihon, his Magical Beast Girl, after his Month-End Status Report meeting with the rest of the Shinigami Soldiers as well as the discussion about the details of the Paradisus Legion mission.

"Anytime. Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

Liohime had ended the call, and Jolene removed her cellphone from her ear with a faint smile.

She had not decided to tell him about everything that was going on with her, but nevertheless, her mood had certainly improved after that conversation.

But it was at that moment, when her heart had felt lighter that night, when she exchanged glances with him while running off into the first layer of the Paradisus Legion about a month later, when she looked into his eyes as they both sat on the gorgeous flower bed as he told her that he was going to leave Polar Town…

It was at that moment that she realized.

Oh, shit.

That feeling that she currently had, was very real.

I…love him.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.