"I was quite shocked because I didn't receive any notifications."
Then Hayato told me, looking at his tablet, "Itsuki, I got a special task."
Sigh...
"The task is I need to group up with someone."
"What?"
"Wait, there's more. I need to protect the cat for this night. I can group up with one person to make it easier. But..
Our location will be revealed to other groups, and they will try to hunt us. The reward is a total of 100 points, but if I group up, it will be split so both of us will get 50 points."
"That sounds like a good deal, but we can't sleep for the night, though."
"Itsuki, will you be my partner for this task?"
"Yeah."
"It will be good for both of us. I will also get 50 points just for protecting a stupid cat."
"Then, Hayato, how do we group up?"
"It says we can group up by sending and accepting the group-up request."
"Then, send me the group request; I'm going to accept it."
But before that, my tablet buzzed.
"Wait a second."
"Let me check that."
"Hayato... it is saying, 'A global task: Hunt the cat. Your location has been revealed on the map.'"
"Let's group up and leave this place fast."
"Check, Itsuki; I have sent you the group request."
"Yes, I am checking."
There it was—the request. I quickly accepted it.
"Hayato, pack everything and take the cat. We are going to leave now."
"Okay."
"Also, give me the knife."
"Uhh. Okay."
I took the knife and put it in my right pocket. I started to pack the tent.
The global task paid a measly 20 points. Who'd risk a night of sleep for that?
Also, our location will be delayed by five minutes, so it will be very hard to find us.
After finishing, I looked at Hayato. He was holding the cat against his chest.
"Well then, Itsuki, let's get out of this place."
"Yeah, let's go."
Meow~~~
"Hayato, aren't you afraid it will bite you?"
"Don't worry. I'm used to it."
"I see."
"Let's go now."
"Yeah."
We started to walk at a faster pace than before. The forest was scarier than ever. There was barely anything visible.
"Itsuki, I think we should have bought a flashlight."
"You're right. Should we order it right now?"
"We don't have any time to wait. We need to walk like this for now."
Then, an unexpected thing happened. A student jumped in front of us.
"Wait, what, wait! Guys, give the cat to me!"
Itsuki: "Why?"
"Do you know who I am?"
Hayato: "Sorry, but who are you?"
Itsuki: "Maybe he's just a monkey jumping over students."
Hayato: "Then we should ignore him. Let's go, Itsuki."
Itsuki: "Yeah. Sorry, Mr. 'Monkey,' you're wasting our time."
"Stop calling me that!"
Then he pulled out a knife. "Give me the cat, or you will be killed!"
While pulling out my knife, I said, "'Kill,' huh? Are you sure about that? Let's fight then."
"Itsuki! What are you doing? Let's just give him the cat!"
"Just watch, Hayato. You just need to hold the cat tight while I finish this monkey."
"Oi! Stop calling me that!"
The student became angry and ran towards me, waving his knife like a toddler. He was clearly inexperienced. I just moved a little to the right, and boom. He fell on the dirt.
"Hey, random fella. You are not on my level. Do you still want to fight? I mean, if I were in your place, I would have died in shame. Just look at yourself. You need to stab me, not the dirt."
"I haven't unleashed my true power!" Saying this, the boy stood up again.
"Do monkeys have power too?"
"Stop calling me that! I am going to kill you now!"
"You said the same line earlier!" Hayato shouted.
Finally, I got serious and said, "Then, I have no choice. Now you will be killed, monkey."
"Let's see." The boy tried to attack again.
"Hey, have you ever killed someone?"
"Why are you asking me this?"
"Because a mosquito can kill more people than you."
"Stop mocking me! Then I will do something so no one can ever mock you."
Then both of us ran towards each other with the knives.
(Blood drops)
"Ahhhhh!!!!"
My knife tore straight into his chest. He screamed in pain.
"See. I told you not to fight."
He was still conscious, but he had no chance to stay alive. I had torn his vital organs; if he was unlucky, his heart was maybe torn too. "Your knife hasn't even touched me. Next time, at least do some training before coming to fight. Well, I forgot you will not be alive for training."
I pulled out my knife. He was still bleeding.
"I... I... Itsuki... You just murdered someone. How are you so calm?" Hayato was shaking.
Meow~~
"Well, if I didn't kill him, we would both die, so you should be grateful that I killed him."
"But... but... You are a murderer."
"Hayato, we need to survive. If I hadn't killed him, he would've killed us. You need to understand."
Hayato will be traumatized for some time.
But then..
My wristband screamed.
SECRET TASK: COMPLETED. CHECK YOUR TABLET.
The screen flashed then went blood-red.
"Wait, a secret task? What is it? I need to check my tablet."
"Itsuki, I just got a warning on my wristband."
"What? A warning?"
{I should not check my tablet in this situation.}
"A large number of students are coming towards us to kill the cat."
Meow~~
"Then we should better change our location."
"Yes."
Saying this, we started running again. Hayato didn't seem to be experiencing that much trauma.
Well, it's good for me.
But I an still worried about one thing.
"Will we be able to complete this task or not?"
But.. The worst thing is.
I don't know will we be able to complete this task or not?