Chapter 8: Good news and a terrible night

Arriving at the secret hiding spot that I built, I pressed a remote button and waited for HQ to receive my message. I untied the target and removed his gag. I turned my back on him to tend to the wound on my back but to my surprise it was already healed, there was a scar but that was not something I'm worried about.

"W-What do you want f-from me! I can give you all of my money but p-please don't kill me!" He said, on the verge of crying.

"Relax. I'm not your enemy. I just want to know your name." I looked at him with concern. My look seemed to calm him as he began clearing his throat slowly.

"I-I'm my name is Tadashi Mi-Miyamoto, Owner of the GamerControl...It's a company about video games..."

"I see, do you have any reason why you were attacked?"

"I don't know...wait...I think I might have something..." Tadashi shows me a chip, it was small, smaller than a grain of rice. I looked at it with interest and Tadashi without a care handed it to me.

I inspected the chip but I can only make assumptions that it was important. if I wanted to know what was inside, I needed a computer and someone skilled in using it, but that would be impossible in my current state due to the masters keeping an eye on my movements. I can't even leave this area due to the reason that we were still in range of the HQ and I knew how fast they could move...so I still have to train a lot to surpass them before I could escape this place.

"Can I leave now?"

"Sorry, you can't I still need you to turn you in. After that, you're done."

"That's great, so are you a police working as a spy for the shady organization that wanted me?"

"I am, sort of. I don't really talk about it too much."

"I see, I just want to let you know that I would repay you for saving my life and my guards after I return to my company. I can't remove the thought of being indebted to someone while I work, so maybe for now I could do something for you at least?"

"Well, I had something in mind for some time. I just want to ask about the news outside, I'm a bit outdated after I became a spy you see."

"I was expecting something more secretive to be honest but if we're talking about news outside...that's just daily gossip for me."

"That's good."

"It would be a pleasure to tell you hahaha."

After a few hours, we talked a lot about mundane stuff related to the outside world and I was a bit surprised at the actions the government made when they knew of the tragedy that happened on the borders of Z-city. Tadashi said that the officials who ignored the threat of the monsters got arrested and also that someone there eliminated the monsters before they could rampage to another block of Z-city. 'It was likely him' I thought as I remembered the face of the man who approached me when I was dying.

Tadashi also mentioned that the attacks didn't end there. There were also reports of kidnappings and missing children which tightened the security of cities.

I didn't hear anything interesting from Tadashi after that, though we did know each other more as he opened up to me about his goal.

"You know what, I want to contribute more to society after I return. I don't want to do things like shady dealings like these anymore..."

"That's a good ambition, I would actually support you if I ever had the chance."

"Thanks, I needed that."

"Sure, by the way. If you're tired you could rest on the bed."

"Finally!" He shouted, massaging his arms before taking his rest. I had a smile the whole time we talked, it was refreshing. Unlike Silent Bear who was unreasonable and crazy. Tadashi here was a healthy human and I appreciated talking to him a lot, being unable to talk to anyone for years is torture.

'I just have to escape here as soon as I can.' I thought as I felt a breeze approach me, I shivered.

'Wait...there's no window here...' Suddenly shadows appeared behind me, I instinctively threw kunais but it was stopped mid-air by a hand.

"Have you been having a good time here...Trailing Frog?" A voice echoed, every word he spoke made my body tremble in fear.

"..." I was not eligible to say anything and nor would I do it due to the reason that I was in front of the leader of the ninja village. The person who people call "That Man".

"No words you'd like to say? That is fine, I won't do anything to you. I just need to claim a head here." He averted his eyes from me and looked at Tadashi, I knew what he meant by that gaze but I couldn't do anything.

'Move! Come on! Do something! Don't let this happen again!' My face distorted in seconds

'I know I had to do something but I would die if I moved, I knew.' That Man unsheathed his weapon, its dark blade shined even at night and hissed with deadly sharpness.

"NO!" I moved, I didn't know why but I did. I had to do something. I knew I should.

It happened too fast, my hand, it got cut, blood squirted and another blood rained on my face. It was Tadashi, he no longer had a head. The leader and the shadows disappeared too, and all that was left was silence and a bloody scene with a shaky bulb hanging above before everything went dark.