ACCEPTING A TRUTH

The morning sun had just started to rise when Kohta woke up. "Shiro, it's time to get up isn't it?"

"Shiro? Shiro?" He called repeatedly but no one responded.

Kohta rose from the bed and walked to the couch at the other end of the room opposite the bed.

He found the couch empty.

He panicked for a second before he turned, facing the door. He wanted to go and inform everyone that Shiro had gone missing but when he opened the door leading outside, he saw Shiro approaching the door, covered in blood that had almost dried up on his body.

"Uhm, Shiro? Is that you?" Kohta doubted his eyes.

"Who else would it be? Yes, it's me." Shiro answered, continuously walking toward the door.

Kohta opened his mouth to ask Shiro a question but he ended up stammering. "Where are you co… coming from?"

Shiro arrived in front of the door and exhaled deeply. "I was out for about an hour." He entered the room.

Kohta was dumbfounded. "Out? You mean outside the estate? Doing what?"

Shiro had walked past Kohta who was still standing at the door, so he turned to look at him. "I was scouting the area around and came across some of those undead or whatever you guys call them…"

"Them!" Kohta interrupted.

"Pardon?" Shiro was slightly confused.

"We refer to those things as 'Them'." Kohta replied.

Shiro immediately understood and nodded. "Oh, I see. I was out, getting familiar with the area when I met a couple of 'Them'. They attacked and I had to defend myself. Good thing I went with my sword." Shiro raised his hand which held his sword.

"It's also stained red all over. Did you soak it in blood?" Kohta asked when he saw the sword's scabbard.

Shiro chuckled. "Actually, that's the color."

Extending his hand forward toward Shiro, Kohta asked. "Oh, can I see it?"

"Sure. Here you go." Shiro handed the sword to Kohta and walked away, heading for the bathroom directly.

Kohta pulled out the blade and when he saw it as clean as a mirror's surface, he spoke. "Pardon…"

Shiro stopped in front of the bathroom door and turned again.

Kohta didn't want to waste Shiro's time anymore so he directly asked. "How many of Them have you killed with this sword? It seems very new so I'm guessing the count isn't more than twenty."

"Oh, that? I don't know the exact count but it's over a hundred. It's quite a good weapon." Shiro answered before he opened the door to the bathroom and walked in, closing the door behind him.

Saeko's exact words replayed in Kohta's head when he heard Shiro's answer. "You can't say that for sure, even in the way of sword, numbers determine your strength. The swordsman's techniques, the quality of his sword, and his mental strength. If all three are at a high level, then you won't lose your fighting strength no matter how many people you fight with."

Kohta laughed and walked back to bed. "Well, I'll be damned."

Shiro had to wash himself more than twice to get the blood stains completely off of him.

He sat in the bathtub. "Player Status." He thought.

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Player Name: Shiro Kisuke

Player Level: 9

Player Title: Undead Slayer

Exp: 335/350

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HP: 142 STAMINA: 155

Strength: 25 Agility: 26

Intelligence: 24 Sense: 22

Vitality: 25

Points Left: 30

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Mission:

Primary Mission: Survive And Make Contact With Takashi Komuro, A Second-Year Student At Fujimi Academy. {Completed}

You Are To Reach A Kill Count Of 20. {Secondary Mission: Completed}

Skills:

Track (Active)

Teamplay (Active)

Immunity (Passive)

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"That's great, three more kills and I'd hit level 10. If only I had enough time to kill more, I would've leveled up but I had to return before most people woke up." Shiro spoke to himself in the bathtub.

He sighed, rose from the bathtub, and walked out.

He looked at himself in the mirror inside the bathroom. His muscles looked way better than they had been three days ago. His abs were solid like slabs of rocks.

'It's probably the rise in stats that affected me.' He thought and smiled. Now, he looked like a veteran athlete.

With a smile on his face, he walked out of the bathroom with a towel on his waist. He would never allow the incident with Hina to happen again.

"Hey, you never told me how you left the estate without the guards at the gate finding out." Kohta saw him and immediately asked again.

"Who said I left using the front gate? I just happened to see a blindspot and I used it to leave and return."

Kohta refused to agree with Shiro. "What? A blindspot in the estate? That's not possible, right? All exits are guarded."

"So was this one. It just happened to be that the guard patrolling that area was asleep." Shiro explained.

Kohta came to enlightenment. "Ohh, now I see how you did it. I'd love to sneak out too. Care to join me? Or just show me the place you sneaked from."

Shiro refused to go. "I just had my bath, and it's pretty late now. How about we go at night next time? Just me and you, no one else."

Knock! Knock!

Kohta, Shiro, the young lady has "requested for you to join the others in the dining room." After the knock on the door, a female voice sounded.

"Oh, sorry about that. We'll be there soon." Kohta replied the person.