With his new sword in hand, Kairo stands ready to fight against the Fissure. His body is pumped with a familiar yet intense energy.
"Okay, Masako, what do I do now?"
But before Kairo could look over to Masako, the Fissure instantly leaps at him, its featureless face morphed into a jagged jaw. Kairo feels a command from his blade as he pulls it back and ducks simultaneously. As the Fissure closely hovers over Kairo, he sweeps upwards with a swift slash that decapitates both of the Fissure's legs. Kairo's body flows like water as he appears behind it in a calm stance.
The Fissure falls onto what's left of his legs as he crawls around to face back at Kairo.
But with another decisive and concentrated swing, Kairo delivers a strong vertical slash, starting from the top of the Fissure's head and downwards through the center of the body. It's decaying skin, flaking away as the remains slowly slide into two pieces, falling in different directions.
With the pieces of the Fissure hitting the ground, the corpse fully decays into flakes that dissolve as they rise to the sky like ashes from a campfire.
Kairo watches with relief as he can feel the demands of his sword and the intensity of the Fissure fading together.
"Masako, sir! I did it! I beat the—." Kairo happily exclaimed as he approached Makaso's body, but Kairo was quick to bite his tongue as he noticed Masako's eyes were wide open and lifeless.
Yet with one look at his face, he could tell he had witnessed the quick battle. As he died with a smirk on his face. Kairo held up the sword he was given, observing it as he looked back at Masako.
Guilt crept into his body as he felt responsible for the death of this swordsman. Gripping the sword, he bowed his head and prayed for Masako.
Thirty minutes later
Kairo decided to bury Masako's body and made sure he was taken care of, still feeling guilty about his death. Kairo placed a white-leaved flower onto the grave as he restlessly turned to head home.
Walking home with his sword, he felt nothing but unease. Questions began filling his head, like, what do I do from this point on? Are other swordsmen going to come looking for Masako? Will they hunt me down if they find me? How am I going to hide this thing away from people?!
Kairo stopped in the middle of the street and roughed up his hair with his hands. But even with his head filling with thoughts, he continued to have this unusual feeling coming from his sword. Like it was trying to speak to him.
Quickly shrugging it off, Kairo quickly walked off and continued heading home.
The Next Day—Morning
WHAM
A door is busted open as a loud female voice fills the room.
"Get your ass up now, Kairo! You're going to be late for school, you delinquent!" Nasaki demanded as she rushed over to the bed and began shaking Kairo roughly.
Kairo, dazed and exhausted, tries to fight her off. But continues being shaken around like a rattle.
"I-I'm up, p-please stop shaking me." Kairo pleads as he feels his brain about to shoot out of one of his ears.
As Nasaki lets Kairo go, she pats her hands together.
"Breakfast is getting cold. Get downstairs and eat, then leave. Oh, and if I find out you skipped school again, I will put you into the ground." Nasaki says as she walks out of the room.
"Understood..." Kairo holds up a shaky thumbs-up as he feels terrified.
With Nasaki out of the room, Kairo hops out of his bed and begins looking for clothes to get changed into. While looking through his closet, the sword from last night appears before him again.
"So... it wasn't a dream." Kairo feels a bit hesitant as he looks at it. But quickly picks out an outfit.
Karakami Town Streets
"Kairo!! Wait for me!!" A female voice shouted from behind as Kairo continued walking to school.
With a turn to see who it was, a sudden bump throws him slightly off balance, as the female who was chasing after him accidentally bumped into him. While he catches himself, the female begins tumbling towards the ground, but not before Kairo swoops in and grabs her around the waist to stop her from hitting the ground.
"T-Thanks! That would've been bad." The female's face is bright red as she hunches over Kairo's arm.
Kairo quickly sets her up and sighs as she continues walking.
"You have to be careful, Marin; I won't always be there to catch you." Kairo spoke with care in his voice as he continued walking.
"Haha, you'd be right; I'm just clumsy by nature." Marin laughed as she walked beside Kairo.
But it wasn't long until something caught her attention.
"Whoa, what's that on your back??" Marin started darting around Kairo, trying to sneak a peek and figure out what was on his back wrapped up in a light blue cloth with string around it.
"It's nothing, just a project I'm working on." Kairo said reluctantly as he kept from making eye contact.
"A project? What's the project?" Marin continued darting around him asking questions, still trying to see the so-called project.
But once again, without paying enough attention, her foot catches a part of the sidewalk, and she begins tumbling down towards the ground again. Kairo quickly catching her once again.
"Marin..." Kairo said calmly.
"Y-Yes, Kairo?" Marin responded worryingly.
"Let's focus on getting to school in one piece, please?" Kairo said, holding back any potential frustration.
"Y-Yes sir..." Marin said with her face puffing up in anticipation.
Marin and Kairo continue walking, but Marin continues staring at the wrapped project Kairo was carrying on his back. Yet again, as they reached the school entrance, Marin's foot caught another part of the ground; she smiled while holding her backpack straps. Thinking to herself, well, this is the end, isn't it?