Taku Itakura had guessed the young man's identity without needing an introduction.
When that utterly unscrupulous young man had guaranteed that he could solve Itakura's problem and offered terms he could not refuse, Itakura had not been particularly interested in the so-called terms.
When those men in black had spoken of cooperation, they had offered plenty of money too. The moment he refused, they had turned hostile and begun threatening and harassing him.
Could he really expect people who clearly were not law-abiding citizens to understand cooperation and sincerity?
So when that arrogant fellow showed a condescending smile tinged with arrogance and pity, not only was Itakura unmoved, he began reflecting on whether he had been too careless, what areas he needed to strengthen, and how to escape this even more terrifying new threat.
Who would have thought...
If Tangze had been the one to put it, Taku Itakura had been wronging him.
How had he been condescending? He had merely worn a perfectly ordinary, perfectly sincere smile, all right? Itakura was afraid of him because of what had happened before and had added his own filter to it. That was Itakura's problem.
"Will it... relapse?"
Itakura pressed his fingertips back and forth against his eyelids for a while, feeling the unmistakable pressure on his eyeballs.
Real, healthy, completely intact eyes...
"If you keep staying up and working your eyes without restraint like you did before, then yes." Asai Narumi's answer was utterly calm. "We can only give you a pair of healthy eyes. At most, because they are in good condition, they may be slightly more durable than your old ones. But if you ruin them again, I'm afraid you won't be able to pay the price next time."
That was not a threat. It was simply the truth.