Assassin Skills Required - Round One

22nd Kill - Finals

There's a knock as I'm putting the rest of my equipment on.

"Come in!"

Sugino opens the door. "Sorry, guess it's a habit now." He eyes me standing on my own. "How's it going?"

"You know, I was worried when he offered to take it away, but I am sooo happy it's gone." I chuckle.

"Yeah, I bet." He closes the door. "Honestly, if it was anyone else, I don't know if we would've managed."

I give him an unamused glare.

I better grow. I deserve at least a couple more inches.

Sugino laughs at my expression. "You seem a lot happier." He takes a seat on the single bed.

"You really think so?" I lean against the nightstand next to him.

"Yeah. I think that tracker stressed you out more than you think. It's almost like you're not going through what you're going through right now." He nods.

I gaze up at the ceiling, recalling Stag's words last night. "It's not that..."

"Well, come on man, spill!" He leans forward with anticipation. "What do you got?"

I bring a hand to my chin. "I think we're all on the same team after all."

"Hm?" Sugino squints his eyes. "Well, yeah. Just because we're doing this on our own doesn't mean we're against each other. Like Isogai said, we do our best and let the winner choose without resentment from the others. What do you mean?"

"I think..." I get up, walking towards the door, "I want to talk to Gerit."

"Are you crazy?" Just as I open the door, Sugino pushes it closed again. "He killed people!"

"I killed people." I counter.

"Well—, you didn't have a choice, right?"

"What if he didn't think he did?" Sugino looks away and I ask another question. "You were there when Yada asked him to stop killing people, and he did."

Sugino thinks on this. "But how do you just casually kill sixteen people? And who knows how many others! I don't care if he is compliant."

"Look, either way, he knows something." I pull at the door and he lets it go. "He's against the creator too."

Sugino relents, grumbling. "I'll go with you..."

I walk across the hallway to room one. We each got assigned based on our rankings and there were only ten rooms. I'm about to knock when the door opens. Gerit seems mildly surprised someone's standing in front of him.

"Uh, hey." I wave halfheartedly, also caught off guard. "Um, I wanted to ask..." I take a breath and calm down. "Do you know the creator from somewhere?"

Gerit lowers his gaze, stepping intimidatingly close so he can close the door behind him. Then he starts to walk away.

"It's fine! I just..." I reach after him. "I thought maybe we might be on the same side?"

He pauses, turning to face me after a thoughtful moment. He shakes his head a few times, eyes filled with anger.

"But, you're against the creator, aren't you?"

"Nagisa!" Sugino pulls on my arm. "Just leave it alone."

His eyes soften with pain and he shakes his head again, walking down the hall away from me.