A TOUGH DAY

Slice.

Shiro cut an undead that tried to pounce on him from behind in two.

"Phew." He sighed. "Pretty annoying job for me." Shiro complained to himself.

"Thirty more to kill and I'll level up." He smiled and looked up.

"Problem is, I'm out of time. Either way, I'll level up tomorrow." Shiro gauged his EXP counter.

He cut down one last undead crawling toward him. "Now I'm one short for tomorrow's quota." He smiled as he walked back to the estate.

If he found one approaching him, he would eliminate it, reducing his requirements to level up.

By the time he arrived at the estate's gate, he had successfully added ten more kills to his kill count.

He walked through the gate smiling while greeting the old men at the gate. He headed for his room directly, not bothering to check on the others who might as well still be trying to settle the issue of the wagon.

A few meters away from the room, he spotted Kohta opening the door to go in. He arrived at the door not long after and walked in.

*****

Kohta was first stunned to hear the door click open just after he entered. Who could be entering?

It was definitely not anyone from the group. He had been with them all day till a few minutes ago.

With a curious turn, he saw Shiro walking in. Kohta was covered in sweat but Shiro was covered in blood as usual.

"I seem to be getting used to seeing you covered in blood. Makes you look fiercer." Kohta spoke as he took off his clothes.

"And it's odd to see you covered in sweat. Did you pull the wagon all the way to the Humvee?" Shiro asked in a mocking tone.

"Nah, but I was busy almost all through the day. They were gonna kill me with more work if I stayed longer. Something about helping me keep in shape. They know, and I know it's bullshit." Kohta started complaining.

"Sounds like a tough day." Shiro smirked.

"Doesn't sound like one. It was one." Kohta corrected Shiro.

"My bad. How's the wagon coming up by the way?" Shiro diverted the topic.

Kohta held his chin for a while before he answered. "If things go well, we'll be done by tomorrow. If they don't, we'll have two more days to stay here." Kohta walked into the bathroom.

"I guess I'll have to go hunting by myself tomorrow again. I'll level up so it's not totally bad." Shiro murmured.

Shiro was naked the next minute.

"That was fast." Kohta commented when he saw Shiro enter.

"I can't let the blood on me completely dry off now, can I?" Shiro walked toward a small chair and sat on it.

He washed from head to toe before he stood up. "Oh, I won't be going anywhere tonight." Shiro informed his roommate.

"What brought about the changes?" Kohta asked, not surprised by Shiro's new information.

"I don't think I have a valid reason. I just wanted to sleep as long as possible without getting woken by someone else. Once I'm done with the bathroom, we'll talk tomorrow morning." Shiro walked into the huge bathtub in the bathroom.

Kohta nodded. "That's not bad at all. You deserve it once in a while. Every day since you got here, you've been killing…"

"No, I've been hunting. Killing makes it look like a forbidden thing." Shiro intercepted Kohta's statement.

"But that's what you've been doing, isn't it?" Kohta asked.

"Yes, but still, hunting does more justice to what I've been doing." Shiro replied.

"Hmm… not bad." Kohta agreed.

"All set. Tomorrow, we'll continue our discussion from where we stopped." After spending minutes in the hot bathtub, Shiro rose and walked out.

He cleaned his body with the white towel Saya's family had provided him with when he arrived.

It didn't take long for Kohta to also leave the bathroom but Shiro was already asleep by the time he came out.

*****

Kohta didn't bother to wake Shiro up when it was morning.

Breakfast went without him and when they asked about Shiro, Kohta just told them he requested not to be disturbed while he slept.

This time, Kohta decided to return to the room with Shiro's share of breakfast. With a little bit of everything served for breakfast, Kohta returned to the room.

"Thank you." Shiro spoke the moment Kohta opened the door to enter.

"For what?" Kohta asked.

"You didn't wake me up. This is the best sleep I've had since this nonsense began." Shiro answered.

"Ah, then you're welcome. I brought food back for you. You better not tell me you've had something to eat." Kohta stared suspiciously.

"No, I haven't had anything for breakfast." Shiro shook his head as he received the tray of food from Kohta.

"Now eat up. I'll be meeting the others soon. You should visit when you're done. Stay for a while and then head out if you plan on doing so." Kohta advised.

Shiro put the first spoon into his mouth and savored the food. "Yeah, I'll check in and spend some time before I head out." Shiro nodded.

Kohta just smiled and walked out of the room. He had won his bet against Takashi who said Kohta would fail to make Shiro visit the place where the wagon was being remade.

Kohta arrived where the group was, smiling like someone that had just won the lottery.