The Real Assassin

It's been four days since the death of Cedric and the others.

The commander calls me to her office.

"How are you now, Hiro?"

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"I see."

"It's that all."

"No. Sorry if it's late but thank you."

"Huh?"

*What she's thanking for?*

"I know you're in a rough situation but you still manage to think of a plan to protect the HQ."

*Don't tell me...*

"Sorry, but I know you want to keep this secret."

"You knew it huh. How much to know?"

"You know that there's no way to save Cedric and his men other than killing them, but you thought that if they died the HQ will be in trouble. That's why you decide to kill them yourself. You even didn't let Leo do it. Well, that's what I think."

"You're right."

As expected to our Commander.

"Don't worry, I'll keep this secret but I think Ernesta and Darius already figure this out."

"It's okay."

Commander stands up and walks towards.

I'm surprise when she put her hands to my head.

"Sorry for letting you carry all the burden."

She gently pats my head and walks outside of her office.

________________________________________________________________________________________

All of us except Hiro and Ernesta running in the middle of the forest. There's a report here that some Outsiders are lurking around this place.

We search everywhere but we didn't find any traces of Outsiders.

"I think they already run away.", Rick said.

"We should search further to make sure."

"Hey, Lulu. Are you tired? Want me to carry you?"

"N-No. I'm fine."

Lulu is quieter than usual. She looks lonely and doesn't have proper sleep.

Maybe because of what happened.

"Hey, if you have any problem, you can come anytime to big sis Vinna. Okay?"

"Y-Yes."

"Hey look.", Rick pointed something.

I look in the direction he pointed and saw some birds flew away.

"Maybe somethings there. Let's go."

The grass is so tall that makes it hard to walk.

When we reach the location, we saw so many Outsiders running in one direction.

We hide to the tall grass and observe what's happening.

We look in the direction where the Outsiders running.

There's a woman who's holding some kind of weapon that she used to kill the Outsiders.

"What kind of weapon is that?", I asked.

"It's a kukri."

"Kukri?"

"Yeah."

*Amazing.*

The girl moves smoothly like she's used to fighting. She swings the two kukris in every Outsider the comes to her.

I try to look seriously to see her face.

Her clothes are so revealing but it helps her to move around easily.

She has short black hair and she's also wearing glasses like Hiro.

After few minutes, she already manages to kill all the Outsiders.

"That was easy... hmm?"

She saw us.

"Hello."

Darius is the first one to show up and followed by us.

"So someone's watching me huh."

"Sorry for not helping."

"Hmm, those uniforms."

She looks at our uniform.

"Oh, we're from A-1."

"A-1 huh, that means all of you are good at fighting?", she asked.

"Well not actually.", Darius said while scratching his neck.

"Ehhhhh. You should though. After all, I'm bored."

"Huh?"

*What is she talking about?*

"Come on, let me handle this.", Rick said.

"Huh?"

"I'll teach you how to makes a girl fall."

""This guy...""

He walks towards the girl.

"Hey, you're good fighting. You're also pretty and sexy, want to hang out with us?"

"Sure."

"See.", Rick looks at us.

"Huh?"

"Oi!"

"What is it?"

The girl dashes towards Rick and swings her kukri.

Darius immediately put a barrier to Rick.

"Woah! A barrier?"

"Hey! What's that for?"

"I told you, I was bored. And fighting is my reliever for that."

"This girl."

"We don't want to fight you."

"Oh yeah? But I want to."

"Get ready!"

She dashes towards Darius and swings her kukri at him. Darius use his staff to block her attack.

"Darius."

Greg jumps to her and swings down his katana.

The girl let go of Darius and step back to dodge Greg's attack. She spins around him and uses her elbow to smash his nape.

Greg fell to the ground.

"Greg!"

"Oh my, it looks like I'm going to have some fun."

"This is trouble!"

Rick starts shooting the girl but she just dodges it smoothly like it was nothing.

"No way!"

"Haha!"

The girl dashes towards Rick and grabs his collar. She pulls Rick to her face and kicks his stomach.

"Guh!"

Rick fell on his knee in pain.

"What? Where's your cool act earlier?"

I run towards them and jump.

Raising the two swords with my hands. I swing down towards the girl.

"Hey!"

The girl saw me. She holds Rick's collar tightly. She spins along with Rick and throws him towards me.

"Ah!"

Rick's hit my stomach and both of us fell to the ground.

"S-Sorry about that.", he apologizes immediately.

"Don't worry."

"Everyone!", Lulu shouted.

"My, my. I didn't notice that we have a cutie here."

The girl slowly walks towards Lulu.

"Hey!", I shouted.

I couldn't move my body because of the impact.

"Stay away."

Darius steps forward.

He pointed his staff to the girl.

"Oh, sorry handsome for forgetting you. Heh."

She dashes towards him. Darius raise his staff to create a barrier but before he could, the girl throw her kukri towards his staff.

The staff fell to the ground. Darius immediately grabs it but the girl is already on his front. The girl punches Darius's stomach.

"Guh!"

"You're good but too slow for me. So, let's get back to the kid."

She looks to Lulu who's trembling in fear.

"Oh my. Don't be scared."

She grabs Lulu with her two hands and lifts her.

"I'm not that bad to hurt you know."

Lulu brings her toy close to the girl's face.

"Hmm? A toy?"

"S-Sleep!"

"Huh?"

The girl immediately let go of Lulu and jump away.

*She's fast.*

Lulu's ability didn't reach her.

"Girl... that was close. Sleep huh. Maybe that's your amulet's ability."

"You!"

Greg gets up on his feet and dashes towards her. He swing his katana so many times but the girl just keep dodging it.

*Why she's only dodging it?*

"You know, my guts are telling me to dodge your attack instead of blocking. I don't know, maybe it's connected to your amulet's ability."

"Tsk!"

"I was planning to go now after lifting the girl but I think I will enjoy this fight more."

All of us stand up and ready our weapons.

"So... let's have some fun."

________________________________________________________________________________________

"To the last house!", Ernesta shouted.

She and I visiting Polos to apologize to every Polos warrior's family for what happened.

I was planning to go alone but Ernesta insist to go with me.

We're with the servant of the prince.

"The last house is..."

"Cedric's family."

"Yeah."

*In every house we visit I feel something not right.*

"Here we are."

Standing in front of Cedric's house.

I feel more nervous than usual.

"Come on, Hiroro, it's gonna be okay.", Ernesta said.

"Ahhh."

The servant walks towards the door and starts knocking.

"I'm coming."

A soft voice coming from the inside.

As the door opens. A beautiful girl appears in front of us. She has long white hair and pale skin.

"Oh my. If it isn't John."

She's talking about the servant of the prince.

"Hello. I'm here with this guy."

She looks at me with surprise.

I immediately bow my head and apologize.

"I-I'm sor-"

"Wait, let's go inside and have some tea."

"Huh?"

Ernesta and I look at each other.

We went inside and the girl offer us to sit.

Sitting on the sofa. The girl brings a cup of tea for each of us.

Ernesta and I take sips.

It's delicious.

"Woah, it's delicious. It's a hundred times better than what Hiroro give to me in the orphanage."

"Oi."

"Oh my, thank you. My husband really loves that."

"Well... miss..."

"You can call me Charlotte."

"Miss Charlotte."

"Charlotte."

"But you're older than me..."

"I see... okay."

"Miss Charlotte, we were here to apologize for what happen-"

"Thank you."

"Huh?"

"Thank you for being with Cedric when he's still living."

"Yeah... but he might still living if I didn't..."

"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault."

"But!"

"What's your name?", she asked.

"H-Hiro."

"Hiro... are you the kind of person who put your team in danger without reason?"

"N-No."

"Then that's it! That means that you didn't sacrifice Cedric and his team for nothing. You do that in order to save the others."

"Well..."

"Cedric is the kind of person who put the others before him. If you didn't kill them and got the kids and the others killed, he might blame himself even in the afterlife. Don't worry about what happened to them, they might thankful for you because you stop them from doing something that they don't want to."

"That's right, Hiroro, don't be sad now."

* You're the one who talks.*

I'm aware that Ernesta is more devastated by what happens than I am.

"I see, sorry for bothering."

"No worries. You can come again anytime you want."

Going out in Cedric's house. I feel something different from what I expected.

"It's weird."

"What's weird?"

"We visited all the family and friends of Cedric and his men but..."

"But?"

"No one gets mad at me. No one blames me for what happened. They more likely thanking me instead."

"Do you really think they would put all the blame on you? Those people know what's the meaning of being a warrior. They risk their lives in order to protect people. Their families, friends, lovers, and other people ready themselves in the time where what there fear most happen."

"I see..."

"Hiroro!"

"Yeah?"

"It's all good now so let go home."

_______________________________________________

Ernesta and I went to HQ immediately.

"We're here!", she shouted.

No one responds.

"Eh? I said we're he-"

"They're not here.", Commander said.

Commander walk down the stairs.

"They're on a mission."

"Ehhhhh... why they leave without us?", she asked.

"You two are in Polos remember?"

"Ugh..."

"They're in the mission huh."

For some reason, I feel restless.

"Hey, Commander, where are they right now?"

"You can look at the map on the screen in the meeting room."

"I'm going too!"

"No, you don't you're coming with me for your report."

"Ehhhh... Hiroro save me from this devil."

*Chop.*

Commander chops Ernesta his.

"Geh!"

She grabs her collar and pulled her to her office.

"Hiroro!!"

"Ahhh."

_________________________________________

After looking at the map and memorize it. I went immediately to their location.

The grass is so tall that makes it hard to walk.

As I walk, I heard some noises behind the trees.

I walk to it and saw Vinna and the others.

There's also a woman who's holding two kukris in her hands.

*What are they doing?*

The others are laying on the ground while Lulu, Vinna, and the girl are still standing.

"Are they fighting?"

"Come on! Entertain me more girl."

"Shut up! I'll kill you!"

"Oh, scary."

The girl dash towards Vinna. Vinna raises the sword in her right hand and swings down to the girl.

The girl moves sideward to dodge the attack and push her knee to Vinna's stomach.

"Guh!"

"That hurt already? I actually hold back a little though."

"You!!!"

"Now, let's end this."

________________________________________________________________________________________

"Now, let's end this."

"I'm dead!"

"Huh?"

Someone throws something at her.

She immediately grabs and looks at it.

"What is this now?"

*Boom!*

It explodes and creates smoke.

"Smokebomb huh. Interesting. So, who threw that."

"Vinna!"

"Hiro?"

Hiro steps out behind the tall grasses.

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

"Wind!"

Darius immediately cast a barrier on the girl.

"Yikes, you got me there...huh?"

The girl was surprised when she saw Hiro.

"Let's run for now."

We left behind the girl and went back to the HQ.

__________________________________________

"Hey, guys you okay?"

"Vinna, what happens to all of you?"

"Long story."

Before we got inside someone appear behind us.

"Hey!"

"You!!!"

"It's the girl we fought earlier."

"Hey, glasses boy. I have to ask you something."