FAMILY HEAD'S RETURN

Shiro smiled as he walked back to his room early in the morning. He had just finished his morning hunts.

Saya's father would be arriving today.

Shiro walked back to his room whistling and when he opened the door, he saw Kohta awake.

"It's too early to be awake." Shiro scolded his roommate.

"Says the one who woke up over an hour earlier." Kohta snorted.

Shiro chuckled and walked into the bathroom to wash up. "Don't mind me then."

*****

"Hey, Shiro…" Kohta called out to Shiro the moment he exited the bathroom.

"What is it?" Shiro asked with a towel around his waist.

"Saya's father returns today. You'll have to introduce yourself and Hina. You think you can do that?" Kohta asked.

"Sure. I don't see a problem with that. In fact, I think it's easy." Shiro nodded.

"Even though he's very strict and cold?" Kohta asked again.

Shiro turned to look at Kohta and smiled. "As long as he won't kill me or interrogate me, I'm good."

"I see. The problem now is who gets to tell him that we're leaving. It's definitely not me. I don't wanna end up without a head."

Shiro turned till he was facing Kohta. "I thought Takashi was your team leader. I'm guessing he would take the responsibility and do so."

Kohta thought for a moment and nodded. " True, but I can't seem to be at rest."

"We'll all be called for breakfast in about two hours. It's the same thing for me. I can't attend. I need to sleep." Shiro finished putting on his clothes and fell on the couch he seemed to have made into his bed.

*****

"So he skipped breakfast today as well. I'm guessing he went out again." Saya was the first to complain when Kohta reported that Shiro wouldn't be joining them.

"Yeah, he did." Kohta replied as he couldn't lie.

He remembered and turned to Takashi. "How was the hunt yesterday?"

Takashi, who was already eating, swallowed the food in his mouth and answered Kohta's question. "I don't see him swing his sword even once. The moment we got there, he vanished leaving me to myself, but he said something about only allowing a limited amount of undead to get to me. I think he did that because they didn't attack in hordes."

"The first thirty minutes were hell. I wished we went home after it ended, but he returned and gave me an energy drink. My energy level soared and remained at its peak state till the hunt ended. I can't say anything about his fighting style but he was covered in blood both times he returned." Takashi explained.

Kohta nodded at Takashi's last statement because he had seen Shiro return with blood all over him.

The others gasped. "You… you went out with Shiro alone?" Saya stammered when she decided to ask Takashi a question.

"Yup."

"And you didn't think of the danger of going with him alone even after hearing the story of our hunt with him?" Saeko asked.

"I asked Kohta to come along but he refused." Takashi confessed.

"Hey, I know what was gonna happen so I chose to back out!" Kohta hurriedly defended himself.

"Now, only three of us are left that haven't seen Shiro's strength." Shizuka stared at Saya and Alice.

"Make it four. I didn't get a glimpse of his fight last night." Takashi suggested.

"He's better than all of us together. Except when Kohta holds a gun though." Hina said with a proud face.

Saeko nodded and Kohta did too. The others seemed rather unconvinced.

"Let's just have the meal peacefully. We'll see him fight very soon." Saeko placed a spoonful of potato soup in her mouth.

*****

"I still can't believe it. I know it keeps things in a paused time, making them retain their characteristics before they were placed in the inventory, but it's amazing." Shiro blew a spoonful of hot rice. The food he had prepared in his home days before still retained its heat and taste as if he had just made it.

Shiro shoved the spoon into his mouth. "Hmmm. It really is amazing. Next time I leave for a store, I'm putting cold drinks in here instead of normal ones. Quite lucky that the Inventory's size has doubled, but I'll still raise the size with points."

"System." Shiro commanded and the panel opened up.

"I need to allocate these points."

"Point Exchanges." Shiro requested and a new panel appeared, replacing the former one.

It had a list of things Shiro could exchange his points for. He smiled as he looked at the options. He could scroll down to view more options but what he was looking for was right in front of him.

"One Free Point equals four Stamina Points. Quite a fair trade. Since I have over fifty points, let's exchange forty points first. A total of one hundred and sixty stamina points. Two points should go to each of my stats, and the rest… I'll just keep them till I have a need for them." Shiro put another spoonful of food in his mouth.

*****

"So you're saying he'll arrive this morning? Why didn't you say it sooner?" Kohta and the others asked Saya.

"I only found out before breakfast. My mum had been tight-lipped and only decided to inform me this morning." Saya replied.

Kohta turned and stared at Takashi. "Fuuu… Takashi, you'll be our spokesman. You'll have to be the one to explain our departure to Saya's father."

"What the hell? Why me? It's not like we're enemies or anything but why me?" Takashi was tense.

As they were busy deciding who would speak, they heard a knock on the door.

"Who's there?" Saya asked.

"Your mother has sent me to inform you that the Estate and Family Head of the Takagi family has returned." The servant replied.

"Shit. We have to wake Shiro before we head there." Kohta rose up and walked to the door. He was heading back to their room.

********************

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