Pearl guided me back inside her cabin, closing the door behind us with a soft click. The typewriter waited on the desk like a metal beast, the unfinished paper still lodged in place.
My pulse hadn't settled since Akira held my wrist.
Pearl didn't miss it.She leaned against the desk, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.
"So…" she said in a singsong voice, "…you two vanished. And you return looking like your soul left your body and came back with a love bite."
I flinched."No— it wasn't— like that."
"Uh-huh." Her smirk deepened. "Keep lying, but your face is screaming something happened."
It wasn't something.
It was everything.
Pearl motioned for me to sit again."Typing lesson, round two. General Stone Head might restrain himself from kidnapping another assistant if you learn fast enough."
I sat, fingers hovering over the keys.
Pearl leaned over me, her voice warm.
"Just press one letter at a time. Don't think. Don't overfeel. Just… type."
That was impossible.My thoughts were chaos and every one of them had a name.
A-k-i-r-a.
I inhaled shakily and pressed the first key.
T
The metal arm struck paper.
H
Another sound — sharp, loud, like a heartbeat hitting metal.
E
Pearl peered over me, reading the word forming on the page.
"'The'… Good. See? You're doing great."
For a moment, her praise brought warmth to my chest. But the second I paused, the weight of everything crept back.
I pressed another key.
Click!
The sound was painfully loud in the quiet room.
Pearl softened her tone."You're tense. Why?"
I didn't answer.
Pearl took the stool beside me, resting her cheek in her palm as she studied my face.
"You're scared of power. Of authority. Of being… owned." Her words weren't cruel; just brutally honest.
"A girl like you," she continued, "who's been ignored her whole life… suddenly someone pays attention. Someone dangerous. Someone intense. It confuses you."
I froze.
She knew.
Maybe she always had.
Pearl's voice dropped lower, not teasing anymore.
"But here's the thing, Amane: Akira doesn't give attention easily. If he lets someone into his world, that person becomes part of it. Whether they want to… or not."
A soft knock shattered the moment.
My heart stopped.
The door opened — slow, controlled.
Akira stepped inside.
He didn't say anything at first.Didn't need to.
His eyes found me instantly, and something unspoken passed through the air — a pull, electric and dangerous.
Pearl exhaled dramatically.
"Oh God, speak. You're suffocating the air with your silent brooding."
Akira ignored her completely.
He walked toward the desk… toward me.
He stood beside the typewriter, hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on the paper — the messy letters I had typed so nervously.
Without warning, he leaned forward, taking the edge of the paper between his fingers. His closeness forced me to inhale the faint scent of cedar and wind.
He read the sentence forming.SlowQuietly.
"The department is… requesting… supply… updates."
His voice brushed my skin like a dark feather.
"You typed that?" he asked.
I nodded.
Something shifted in his gaze — approval, faint and rare.
"Good," he said softly.
He placed the paper back into the roller and adjusted it — but his fingers brushed mine in the process.
Just a touch.
Barely anything.
Yet I felt it down to my bones.
He didn't pull away immediately.His hand lingered, warm and steady on mine, grounding me and unsettling me all at once.
Pearl cleared her throat loudly.
"Should I leave you two alone, or should I start playing violin music?"
Akira straightened, jaw tightening.
"We're working," he muttered.
Pearl grinned like a cat who had caught a mouse.
"Yeah. Working. Sure."
He ignored her again.
But then — quietly, without intention to be heard —
he said my name.
"Amane."
Just my name. But spoken like it meant something.
I glanced up.
Akira's eyes held mine, unreadable, dark, and unforgiving in their honesty.
"You're learning quickly."A pause."And I like that."
My heart knocked violently against my ribs.
I didn't know how to respond.
I didn't know how to breathe.
Pearl watched us with amused horror."Oh my God, he complimented someone. This is officially the end of the world. Should I alert the army?"
Akira shot her a glare sharp enough to kill.
Then, to me — soft again:
"Continue typing."
I lowered my gaze to the keys.
But his presence behind me…his silence.his attention…
It felt like a hand around my heart.
I typed the next word with trembling fingers.
U-n-d-e-r… y-o-u-r… o-r-d-e-r.
Under your order.
The room went still.
Akira's breath touched the back of my neck.
"That," he murmured, voice dangerously low, "might be my favorite sentence."