Chapter #34

AN: Hello, for those who are wondering. My father is fine, he'll be going under another operation later in the month but he is fine.

I on the other hand got slumped at work... Well, I will try to release daily chapters but don't keep your hopes up.

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Currently, Zeno was clad in training gear, while he held a wooden sword in his hand.

In front of him stood a young girl around the ages of 12-13, She had purple hair and blue eyes.

She was Saeko Busujima. Her father had finally decided she is ready to spar with Zeno. Zeno naturally didn't object to his request.

Master Busujima didn't want his daughter to lose the chance of fighting someone that can perfectly replicate her moves and see her own mistakes.

In order to produce the best results Zeno even shape shifted his body to be similar to Saeko, minus the female parts of course.

Seeing Zeno not showing any signs of moving, Saeko made her move and swung her sword towards Zeno's head.

Zeno acted at that moment and took a step forward, he parried her attack before he countered her which was blocked by Saeko.

They traded more blows for a couple minutes before Saeko stopped. She was drenched in sweat and out of breath, while Zeno was perfectly fine.

"Why are you holding back? You could have taken me down yet you held back." Saeko frowned as she said.

She felt like she was being mocked, she knew Zeno took lessons from her father and her father had nothing but praises when it came to Zeno.

She naturally expected better than this, no he was better than her. Yet he held back, this was an insult to her pride as a swordswoman.

"It is called sparring for a reason." Zeno sighed, he had seen this coming but he still went through with it.

"I refuse to acknowledge a warrior that won't use their full power." Saeko said as she left for the changing room.

Master Busujima approached Zeno at that time, he seemed apologetic from his expression. "Zeno-dono, please forgive my daughter. She is unable to see the opportunity in front of her."

"Well, I don't mind, she'll understand eventually." Zeno waved his concerns off and went back to his own training.

While Zeno said this, Master Busujima couldn't just accept it. He used his authority as a parent to request Saeko to keep the training sessions going.

After a couple years Saeko slowly but surely realized why Zeno was holding back and why her father was so insistent on her sparring with Zeno.

Saeko even offered a traditional apology which was really awkward for Zeno.

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Saya Takagi was a genius, everyone said as such and she knew that as well. While not comparable to her brother Saya was aware of her intelligence thanks to her friends at school.

She naturally didn't miss her own feelings towards her brother especially after reaching puberty...

'When did this happen?! Was it his headpats or the desserts he's been baking?!' Saya screamed in her mind.

Saya was anguished by her own emotions, she had fallen for her older brother of all people.

'Why must it be him?' Saya sighed while looking at their family photos with sadness welling up in her heart.

Until a light bulb turned up in her mind. She looked at the photo more intently, especially the facial structures of her parents and Zeno.

"The hair colors and eye colors don't match... Still it could have been a dormant gene." Saya muttered to herself.

Saya Takagi felt like she was on the right path and decided to get their family register to see whether there was a relative that could match Zeno's appearance.

The next week at the diner table, Saya brought out a whiteboard and several boxes containing old family photos of her grandparents and a stack of papers that were filled with math equations.

Yuriko, Souichirou and Zeno just watched Saya as she explained her hypothesis about Zeno's parentage.

"...In conclusion I had discovered that my older brother was actually adopted!" Saya finished her explanation as she gazed towards her parents.

"Well, leave it to our daughter to complicate something so simple and obvious." Yuriko sighed while looking at the whiteboard.

Saya even proved Zeno being adopted mathematically, Yuriko checked the math trice and it checked out.

"Then why wasn't I informed of this?!" Saya asked in agitation.

She wouldn't have to suffer this long if she had known about her older brother being adopted.

"Well, it was kind of obvious. With your intelligence we figured you knew about it." Souichirou shrugged.

"I cannot believe you all. Next, what Zeno-nii is actually not human in the first place?" Saya said with mockery in her voice.

She still remembered the times she thought she was some scales on her brother's arms.

She was really suspicious at one time when she saw his eyes changed but thay can't be real.

Yet, she was only met with silence while her brother was smiling wryly at her.

"Why aren't you saying something?" Saya asked, she had a terrible feeling in her chest.

"Why don't you sit down first, little sister?" Zeno promptly sat Saya down.

Soon she was bombarded by revelations after revelations. She wasn't told about the apocalypse but she pretty much learned the rest.

And, oh boy. Saya was furious...

"How could you keep something this big from me!? I hate you all!" Saya screamed and left the room.

Yuriko and Souichirou ran after Saya while Zeno just put his feet on the table with an 'I told you so.' expression.

[We got news from the machine... It's about Saeko.] System put all the calculations in front of him at that time.

According to the calculations made by this person of interest rip-off machine. Saeko will get molested in the upcoming month, by calculations Saeko won't have her sword with her that day

Meaning Saeko's chances of fending off the molester was drastically lowered. Zeno naturally wouldn't let that happen, he decided to kill the guy before he even gets close to her.

{Wait! Maybe he'll stop his attempt if you escort Saeko that day. After all, the only reason this is going to happen is because she was alone.} Ouryuu said suddenly.

[Huh, what's up with you?] System felt something was weird with Ouryuu.

{Buddhist Compassion...} Ouryuu sighed, he was getting tired of this as well but he was the one that got the biggest impact from it.

Zeno thought to himself while still sitting, he made a sombrero from his biomass before he said. 'I'll allow it!'

[...]

{...}

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Saeko had a pleasant surprise when she left school today because she found her training partner Zeno waiting for her at the entrance.

Saeko had some feelings towards Zeno, this was natural. He was someone her father approved, his swordsmanship was exquisite and he was definitely handsome.

Saeko still felt ashamed about their first spar and would regularly apologize for her rude behavior.

Seeing him waving at her she couldn't help but blush and walk towards him with fast steps.

"Zeno, what are you doing here?" Saeko asked while suppressing her blush.

Her friends were all pointing at them while whispering things to each other.

"Well, your father said, he'll be busy with something urgent. He asked me to take you to my house for dinner." Zeno shrugged.

"A message would have sufficed." Saeko felt something was weird with Zeno's reasoning but she didn't mind it.

Her father traveled a lot, she is used to staying alone. She figured it was Zeno's awkward attempt to get to know her better.

Soon they started walking while talking with each other. They were both having a good time chatting while System was watching over them through the cameras.

[He's coming.] System said all of a sudden.

Zeno didn't react outwardly and kept walking as a drunk businessman came towards them. Saeko suddenly held his hand while looking towards the businessman.

It seems she kind of knew the guy, enough to be wary of him. Zeno suddenly sighed because he saw the man reaching for the gun at his back.

"Stop right there and move to the side!" The man suddenly yelled while drawing his gun.

Zeno could feel Saeko stiffening and he clenched her hand tighter while whispering to her. "Trust me."

Saeko who heard him wanted to scream at him but she didn't have the time.

"Didn't you hear me!?" Man yelled again, he felt something was wrong.

He had been eyeing the girl over a week but the kid wasn't in the plans. Still he had lost everything he had, his wife, his job, his home. He figured he'd go out with a bang.

"Heaven has a path but you chose not to take it. Hell has no doors, yet you still insist on barging in." Zeno sighed while moving forwards.

The man was clearly drunk and didn't mind shooting a child. He emptied the whole magazine on Zeno while Saeko screamed.

Yet, Zeno kept moving and headbutted the man, knocking him out.

"Zeno!" Saeko moved towards Zeno.

She was stunned to see the bullets stuck on his chest, seemingly unable to penetrate his body.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Zeno sighed.

Turning to the side he saw Saeko was looking at him with a stunned expression.

"So, do you want to turn him over or should I just kill him?" Zeno asked, his hands had already turned into claws.

"I think we should have a serious talk." Saeko sighed.