"So... you weren't planning to kill all non-sorcerers?"
This time, Suguru Geto froze.
He stared at Qingxiao for a few seconds as though looking at someone whose brain had broken, then laughed and said with a hint of exasperation:
"I'm not insane. Kill all non-sorcerers? Come on. You explained it clearly that day, and I thought it through."
He took a step forward. Moonlight shone into his eyes, clear as could be. Their old gloom had vanished, replaced by anticipation for his dream:
"The people I want to kill have always been those who do evil.
"With each one gone, there's a little less malice in the world, and a little less in the way of cursed spirits."
"You made yourself perfectly clear that day. I thought we were on the same page."
Silence hung in the air for a few seconds.
Qingxiao stood where he was, his mind buzzing. The original story's plot and Suguru Geto's face before him overlapped again and again, before slowly drifting apart.
He had made a monumental mistake.
He had spent the whole journey on edge, thinking he had to stop his closest friend from going down a dark path, even preparing himself for a falling-out. Yet Geto had never intended to take that extreme path at all.
More ironically, he had been blaming himself for not acting first, thinking he was the reason Geto had crossed the line.
But to Geto, this wasn't "crossing the line" at all. It was something they had agreed on long ago.
It was absurd, laughable, and somehow a relief.
The boulder weighing on his heart suddenly crumbled by half, and the tightness choking his chest eased.
Qingxiao sighed, rubbing his brow in irritation:
"Leave that aside for now. You killed so many people this time. How are