Page 126 of A Soul to Touch

Mayumi watched her, only because she was trying to reign in her anger.She has the hide to call me a bitch?She placed the back of her cool hand against her radiating cheek.

She was still being stared at.

“What the fuck are you all gawking at?!” she yelled, turning to the witnesses. “Want me to cut off your clothing instead?”

The crowd scattered, not wanting to piss her off. Mayumi was known for getting into fights and winning them – even if there was more than one opponent, even men. She’d also bite and scratch if she was held back like a feral, untameable beast.

The guards nearby who overheard the commotion did nothing to intervene. They didn’t truly care what happened in this town so long as it wasn’t truly criminal, like murder or severe assault. Other petty crimes, like causing a disturbance, were seen as nothing – even if someone actually needed help.

All they cared about was that people didn’t steal from the rich and that there were no riots. Riots meant bloodshed, and bloodshed meant an army of Demons.

It was one of the reasons the poor didn’t revolt against those within the inner rings.

A bell rung in the distance, informing the town’s residents that the gates would soon be permanently closed for the day. They didn’t want a Demon scuttling its way in at night.

I want out of this hellhole.

Mayumi stormed her way out of Colt’s Outpost.

When the gates shut behind her, she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, this time to make sure it wasn’t bleeding. It wasn’t, but her face just hurt a whole bunch.

I only left her money because I stole a bottle of her booze while she was asleep.She’d just been making sure she paid for it, not for her time with Clara. Mayumi was many things, but she wasn’t a thief.

Her eyes scanned the meadow in front of her, trying to remember where Faunus was in the trees beyond it.

This is what I mean,Mayumi thought when she started crossing the meadow.I just try to do something nice, and people take it the wrong way. Yeah, sure, I should have been upfrontwith my intentions with her, but for fuck’s sake. I’m sure plenty of men have done the same thing to her.

It'd happened to Mayumi many times in the past, men skulking away before she could.

She’d always just shrugged it off, made sure he hadn’t come inside her, then moved on with her life. Sex for her had been nothing but a transaction of release, wanting to feel something good.

I’ve spent my whole life training.

She’d tired her body out with exercise and worked to make herself strong. Demonslayers also went to towns that had been destroyed by Demons to help them rebuild and protect them while they did.

They were also hired to fight against human bandits.

Mayumi had been shot with arrows, marred by claws, and bitten. She’d almost lost her life a handful of times.

Is it so bad to just ask for a good time occasionally?Nobody was perfect. So what if she made a few mistakes?

When she entered the forest, she found Faunus waiting for her. The trees weren’t the same as earlier, so she figured he must have followed her approach.

She paused when she saw his yellow orbs.

That’s why I like you. Because you’re not like them. There is no expectation with you, Faunus. Everything is decided by me.

He took her brattish behaviour and her superiority complex and pushed back with his own brand of playfulness. She didn’t have to hide, didn’t have to pretend.

In just the little time he’d been here, he’d made Mayumi content in his presence. He’d moulded himself around her, not the other way around.

She continued to walk to greet him. When she got closer, his snout bounced up and down as if he was sniffing.

His orbs turned green, and an echoing growl bounced off the trees and snow as he approached. The little hairs on her body stood on end with a thrill, the sound like music to her damn depraved senses.

“You smell terrible,”he snarled when he was right in front of her.“There are too many scents on you.”

He swiped at his snout in disgust.

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