Jessica pulled her hand away from his, wrapping her arms around herself. "I understand. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. This is my problem, not yours."
"Jessica, you have nothing to apologize for," Satou said. "You can't control how you feel. None of us can. But I need you to know that just because I can't return those particular feelings doesn't mean I care about you any less. You're still incredibly important to me."
"I know," Jessica said, though her voice was thick with unshed tears. "I just need some time to figure out how to deal with this. Can we not talk about it right now? Please?"
"Of course," Satou said. "But Jessica, I need to tell you something important. Something that happened at the summit."
Jessica wiped her eyes and looked at him. "What happened?"
"I was accepted to the demon lord council provisionally," Satou said. "But one of the demon lords, Chronus, challenged my worthiness. He's forcing me to fight his champion in one week. If I lose, I die."
