Today's an incredibly boring day as almost none of the bands has come by CiRCLE to practice, so it's just me, Marina and the cafeteria workers here right now.

The entrance bell soon rings, and it was none other than Touko, though I had expected her as she had told me she would accompany me and help me find smaller jobs that I can earn some quick bucks from, which will be needed to pay for the sudden entry fee that got introduced.

Guess I just had a trial period of assassination, and now the real deal begins, me having to pay a shit ton of money to be able to press on with this bullshit to become number one and save my parents.

Heading to the lounge, I sit down with Touko on the comfortable couch, though she soon sits on my lap on the side and hugs me, telling me that this is a much more comfortable seat.

Scrolling on our phones, we both are dead set on finding jobs, which can to many be new that Touko out of all people do this, considering that everyone just see her as this flashy and trendy girl with no care in the world and only goes for the things that will apparently get big, but she is way beyond just that, really...

"Hey, I found something!" she suddenly tells me as she shows me a picture of a building, almost as big as CiRCLE. "This job center is not so far away from where we are, we can probably head there once you are finished for the day-"

"About that!" a familiar voice suddenly says, making me and Touko look to the direction were the voice came from, and turns out it was Marina. "It's so quiet today, so I think I can handle everything here! So go and do what you want to do!"

"Oh, thanks Marina. But I will make sure to work twice as hard next time!" I thank my co-worker as me and Touko get up with her clinging to me while I have an arm wrapped around her waist.

"It's unusual to see so much love from both sides... Usually these kinda situations are so one sided of them with the boy always being so oblivious to the love he gets." Marina ponders to herself, thinking about some manga and novels she used to read when she were younger, while watching the couple soon exit CiRCLE.

As me and Touko walk towards the job center, she shows me the various jobs that I can apply to once there.

"I would want to apply to some jobs as well, but I don't think I have as much time with school and helping my parents already, sooo..!" Touko tells me as she keeps on scrolling. "Some jobs they are offering are very easy though, so I might consider it as well~"

"Take your time, Touko. You at least don't need to pay a ridiculously high entry fee just to kick someone's ass." I tell Touko as she giggles before clinging harder on me, which I return with holding her closer to me.

Soon enough we arrive at the job center and enter, being greeted by a very calm atmosphere as we walk up to the reception desk.

"Well, this is unexpected: teens." the man by the desk says as he taps his fingers. "Hmm, young woman, you look like you are in the Kirigaya family."

"E-eh, how did you figure that out?" Touko asks the man, surprised that he even would know.

"Your family is first class people after all, doing kimonos that are bought by many. I see them around quite often." he says before he turns to me. "You however appear to be a third classer, young man."

"Well, yeah, my parents don't have their own shop or anything. Besides, they are being held hostage as we speak, so yeah." I tell him straight up as I shrug my shoulders.

However, after I say that, he looks at me almost wide eyed, as if he realized something with what I said.

"I see what you are here for then..." he suddenly says as he hands me a checkboard listing up some jobs that... gives shit ton of money?!

"And if you do good, you might receive introduction tickets from your clients that you can use for K-Entertainment that lays a little further down the block." he continues as he snickers. "The fact that you would just be a teenager... UAA really steeps low at times."

"Right..." I reply to him as I check the jobs. "Lawn moving, graffiti removing, filling gas for cars, coconut collecting... What the hell, these really are simple like you said Touko!"

I guess I shouldn't complain, the simpler the better, but so much money for such simple jobs?

Guess UAA is more rooted in it all than I had imagined, and introduction tickets, huh? Let's see what's that about later.

As me and Touko exits to head to the first job of mine, my girl insists she want to stay with me still, and honestly, I don't mind it, these jobs are harmless after all and won't get her hurt like my assassinations could possibly do.

"I gotta do a lot of jobs though to even amass the required amount of money to pay my entry fee, and I have no idea if I even have that energy." I mutter as Touko seemingly begins thinking before giggling.

"How about a ton of kisses from me as a reward after you finish the jobs~?"

Holy..! This feeling... I'm-!

"Yeah, you bet that I will make it through with these jobs!"

"Hehe, you always get so excited over anything with me involved~" Touko says as she lays her arms around my neck. "...Thank you for being the one you are..."

"I- Well, I'm just a mere dork really, and I might be vulgar of me at times, but I try restraining myself..." I tell Touko as I caress her hair, with her blushing from it.

"But yet you are who you are, and that's what I love about you~" Touko replies, only making my own face heat up as we look at each other.

Without a second thought, we share a kiss on the lips before looking at each other again.

"I'll make sure to kiss you at every possible spot on your face and neck~" Touko tells me as she grins at me.

Oh man, having Touko hug and kiss me all over is just the best..!

Anyways, gotta do this now, it's now or never with getting enough money for the entry fee.

The first client we go to is the one handling coconut collecting. At least ain't nut collecting, because that's what you do in hospitals and donate it to other people.

"Here for the job?" the client asks as he looks at me, which I nod in reply to. "Good, good, I've been waiting for someone to help me with this."

I begin thinking for a moment before looking at Touko.

"Hey Touko, want to help me? We can split the money-"

"W-wait, you are the one who needs the money!" Touko says as she gets flustered. "I will help, but I only want you to have the money~"

"Oh, uh... Well, I can still treat you with something after we finish up for today with all these jobs." I tell her as I think for a moment. "How about those 'rainbows' you mentioned the other day? They still in?"

"Oh, quite so! Thought you would never ask, as I don't want to drag you into too much things!"

"Meh, don't worry about it, Touko. I love being with you, so I always appreciate you inviting me." I say as Touko smiles even brighter. "I dunno though how you can handle being with me when I take and do more... lowkey things compared to what you do."

"I only really do more laid back things because it's with you. I can't just disrespect my boyfriend and only drag you into doing my things~" she tells me as I just can't help but to blush. Man, she adapts so much just to make me comfortable, she's... she's so perfect...

Job #1: Coconut Collecting

As we finally take and begin with collecting in the coconuts by shaking on the trees the client has, we amass quite a good chunk of the fruit, seed, nut, whatever the hell coconuts are!

Anyway, so the client thanks me and Touko for the help, and surprisingly he gives us both the exact amount of cash, as he thought that we did so good and he tipped us solely for being a lovely couple.

"And all of it for my Stephan~"

"Touko please, at least have some of it for yourself, you did as much hard work-!"

But she suddenly pulls me into a kiss while I feel her putting her cash she got into my pocket, before she let's go and look me in the eyes.

"This is your fight, Stephan. And I do not want to be a hindrance to you..." she tells me as she smiles at me again. "I believe in you that you will manage to save your parents. You do want to save them, right?"

"I... Yes, I do."

"And... I know you might die, but do know that I believe in you, okay? Always..!" she tells me as her eyes slightly begins tearing up. "I maybe am a bad girlfriend for not stopping you from doing something that can potentially have you getting killed, but-!"

"Touko please calm down, this is not like you to get so emotional. As I promised the first day of my assassination days, I will always be careful." I tell her as I embrace her in a hug. "I wouldn't want to disappear from a world where the most amazing person exists in..."

Touko remains quiet, but I can feel that she is hugging me back as tightly as she huddles against my shoulder.

"I love you so much Touko, I will always be there for you as you are for me." I tell her as I let go of the hug and hold her shoulders. "There just ain't someone like you. So... thank you for coming into my life..!"

Man, she is probably noticing that I'm getting moved from all this in my voice. I have just never experienced being this in love with someone, but here I am...

Touko suddenly takes and does a quick peek on my cheek before looking at me with her bright smile she has around me, still having teary eyes. She soon wipes the tears off with her arm and grabs my hand.

"Alright, no more crying for us now. We aren't breaking up or anything, haha~!"

"I'm not crying..!"

"I'm just joking Stephan, of course it's okay to cry~ A couple can cry over much they love each other, that's honestly the strongest form of love you can have, in my opinion at least!"

I chuckle a little from what Touko said as she giggles herself, before I nod and she wipes away the tears almost on the way running down from my eyes.

"Well, let's go then Touko. Gotta keep on going with getting that money for that darned entry fee!"

"That's the spirit, darling~!"

Arriving at the next client, it's the one handling the lawn moving which I realize is an one person job. Luckily the are quick to offer Touko an extra lawnmower, which she accepts without hesitation.

"I mean, you don't need to do help me with everything, you can just look on-"

"And just let my boyfriend get exhausted from all this working? Nu-uh, no way!" Touko tells me while our client hands our hearing protectors. "I am more busy nowadays either way, you know, with guitar practice, being online on social medias and such, but for today I can set that aside and help you~"

"I-I see... Well, again, thank you Touko, I really appreciate that you want to be my side." I reply as I begin blushing again. She really is doing everything for me to make me reach my goal...

Well, I'll make sure to help you as well Touko, no matter what.

Job #2: Lawn Moving

The lawn moving goes all good as well, and due to us working together, we get a lot of the grass cut under a short time.

Yet again, this client is nice to us and gives us a payment that is just as much for both, only for Touko to give me her pay afterwards, but I decided to not protest this time. If she wants to help me, I shall not stop her, I appreciate and care a lot about her just as much after all.

While we are on the way to the last client for today to rake up the last money needed for the entry fee, I began pondering on what the man at the job center said about getting a so called introduction ticket from one of the clients to use at K-Entertainment, but so far nothing has been given to us.

"Something the matter?" Touko asks me, grabbing my attention.

"Oh, it's just that we still haven't gotten that introduction ticket for K-Entertainment that the guy from the job center mentioned about."

"Oh yeah, you're right! I had so much fun helping you that I totally forgot about that..!"

"Easy now Touko, not the whole world. The main thing here is the jobs, we'll see about those introduction tickets when any of our clients finally mentions it."

Arriving at our final client, we can already see that they have prepared the backpack I am apparently going to use to pick up all the garbage lying around.

Even this time there is an extra backpack like how there was an extra lawn mover, which means Touko yet again can join me in my misadventures.

Job #3: Garbage Collecting

"The final stretch, and soon I already have enough to pay my entry fee. It's mainly thanks to you, babe."

Touko giggles in reply as we continue on with picking up trash from the ground and chatting with each other.

"Holy shit, this is like Death Stranding."

"Oh, another video game of yours that you play?" Touko asks me from my sudden non-serious comparison.

"O-oh yeah, that's true! That game with Norman Reedus in it and where you can have blood guns and piss grenades..."

"You so gotta show me it sometime~" Touko says as she giggles again while using her long pliers in her hand to fetch the can laying in front of us.

She soon turns around, only to... bend over in front of me..?!

"Sorry Stephan, this paper is a little stuck, give me a minute!"

T-Touko, bending in front of me..! I know it's probably bad t-to look even if it's your girlfriend, b-but..!

Oh crap, major nosebleed, fuck! I-I gotta wipe it away-!

"Phew, no wonder it stuck the ground, old gum was beneath it!" Touko says as she stands up and turns around and faces me.

"O-oh hi, that was fast..." I say as my nose is still running with blood. Damn it body, I were so wholesome with Touko just an hour ago... But we will do it, just not today!

Touko blinks a little at first from the sudden surprise that I would get such a strong nosebleed from her suddenly bending over, before begins she seductively smiling at me...

Crap, while I fell in love with Touko for her personality the most, everything else about her is so amazing as well. I really hit jackpot with Touko Kirigaya, my beloved!

As we finish up with the garbage collection, we get handed the cash while the client is laughing, amused over what he had witnessed.

"Oh yeah, one more thing." the client says as he brings out something else. "Heard from the guy at the job center that you are one of those UAA assassins, and a quite low ranked one as well at that, so here."

As he says that, he hands me what appears to be a ticket... No wait, this man actually gave me ticket for K-Entertainment for once!

"You will be able to take on shadier business with that sole waste of paper. Just head down this street and you will find K-Entertainment." the client tells us as he takes a hold of the filled up backpacks and begins walking away, waving goodbye to us.

"Yay, you finally got the ticket~!" Touko cheerfully says as she wraps her arms around my neck from the side and begins repeatedly kissing me on my cheek.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you, Touko..." I tell her as she soon stops and looks at me, before smiling that seductive smile again.

"Now, now, it was you that did the majority of the work, so of course praising for you only should be done!" Touko tells me before giggling. "But praise me more, and you are getting your reward with having it all over your cute face earlier~"

"What, I can't praise the one whom makes my life the best- HOLY SCHMOLY!"

"I'm glad we will be able to hang out more after your band is taking a temporary break, Kanon." Chisato says as she and Kanon are heading towards Hazawa's to take the usual coffee.

"Mhm, it's always so nice being more with you too, Chisato!" Kanon replies back to her friend, before she spots some familiar people, ahem, us in the distance. "Oh, isn't that Stephan and Touko?"

"Oh? Well, well, you happen to be correct Kanon." Chisato replies as they see us come closer and closer. "Oh my, what have they been up to..?"

Yeah, as we approach them, the two friends can clearly see me being absolutely covered with kissmarks, courtesy of Touko smothering me with them earlier.

Not that I mind it, but considering we don't have any sort of cloth to wipe it off with, I have to walk downtown like this until we reach that place where they sell the rainbow drinks, and so a lot of stares are being done...

"Before you two ask... Yes, Touko has kissed me all over my face, not the first time either."

"It's the second time I get him covered with lipstick like this~" Touko tells Chisato and Kanon as she does a peace sign at them while giggling and leaning against my shoulder while holding my arm with her empty one.

I just can't help but to moan out from Touko being so close to me, especially with her having just kissed me like this..!

"I would cuddle with you on-spot, we've got a date ahead of us, don't we~?" Touko asks me teasingly as I nod. "Again, sorry if it was so sudden, but I couldn't help it, I just love kissing every inch and square of you, you are literally so cute-!"

As Touko kept on praising me, Chisato and Kanon waves goodbye at us as they continue on towards their destination.

"Welp, you and I better head to our destination as well. We can do that before I pay the entry fee."

"Yay, you are the best in the whole wide world~!" Touko says to me as she tightly hugs me.

I hug her back as we continue standing on the same spot, while my head can only be filled with... Touko... Oh my, do I really have a Touko Kirigaya brainrot?!

A few minutes later and we have finally arrived at our destination. But as we are ordering, Touko decides to either way pay for it.

"T-Touko, I told you this would be my treat-"

Touko puckers her lips at me as she teasingly invites me to let myself get kissed by her again, before she grins at me.

"It doesn't always have to be the guy in the relationship that buys the stuff, you know~" Touko says as the barista is fast with mixing together the smoothie we are gonna have.

Soon enough we sit down and begin slurping on our smoothies, which surprisingly tastes pretty good! I kinda doubted first that a drink with all sorts of fruits would taste good, but hey, this is Touko, she knows her stuff.

While I am drinking mine, Touko is helping me with wiping off all the kissmarks she left on me from the smothering earlier. While it is euphoria to have her kiss me, we really should've thought of the fact that we were going to head downtown afterwards...

Regardless, I am not mad at her by any means, but we gotta pay attention a little more to where and when we show our affection.

We spend the rest of our time chatting with each other about various thing, and soon enough we finish up our smoothies and stand up to head out.

Holding hands, we exit from the cafeteria and begin walking to the nearest ATM to drop of the cash me and Touko have earned. I also decided I won't look into K-Entertainment today, as I think the "shadier" business involves me having to assassinate people, and that is something I do not want my beloved to become harmed from.

After the deposit of cash has also been done, I decide to walk Touko home, we both wanted to be with each other for a little longer at least. And not long after, we are at her home.

"Thank you again, Touko, for helping me today with amassing the cash needed. I... I appreciate you so much..." I tell her as I am getting emotional again. Damn it, why does she literally have to be so perfect... "I love you Touko, I love you so much..."

"And I love you even more..." Touko tells me as she hugs me, which I return as well. "I am always here, so just hit me up anytime~"

We share one final kiss for the day, making sure to make it a long one before we say our goodbyes in person.

As I walk home, I can only anticipate the acception of my entry fee, as it would apparently take one day max to process it all.

The next day approaches fast as we have an extra day off today, hence why I decide to head to the area where I will fight Dr. Peace soon enough, just to perhaps cheat a little and get a general idea of what to do.

But when I arrive, I see that a bunch of high schoolers my age are playing baseball currently, one of them being Hagumi.

"Oh, oh, hey everyone! That is Steph who I talked about!" Hagumi suddenly says as she stops and points at me, catching the attention of her friends. "Hey Steph!"

"Oh, hi Hagumi, you and everyone else having fun?" I ask her and the rest, not really wanting to draw much more attention to myself. Knowing the band girls and my classmates is good enough, no strangers thank you.

"Yes we are! We are practicing for our upcoming match!" Hagumi says as I nod.

"That's cool, anyways, I gotta keep on going, see you and the others around!" I tell to Hagumi before walking away with fast steps.

I know that was a half-assed meeting, but I am here to plan, not chat! Anyways, the stadium itself I can't seem to enter, so that's a bummer.

Ah well, for now I'll just head back home and have to await the answer- Oh, speak of the devil, a message, and from the UAA nonetheless.

"Later today you will get to fight your target. Good luck."

Yeah no, no need to tell me good luck when Touko already says to me every time and I get way more motivated from her either way.

I begin heading straight back home to begin preparations. Putting on my assassin clothes and holstering Blood Berry, I am ready to kick ass!

After another long wait, I finally get the message I waited for; Finally time to fight Dr. Peace at the stadium.

Getting there on my bicycle, I come to a screeching halt as I almost fall of my bike, before I let it lay on the ground and I go to the backside of the stadium and enter through there.

"Alright, let's do this..!" I say to myself as I take out Blood Berry and activate it, as I begin hearing fast footsteps.

"Holy shit, the brat is already here! Get him!" one of the henchmen says as he alongside the rest comes at full sprint towards me, but I ready myself.

Slashing through the first few henchmen with ease while avoiding their bat swings, I soon continue on progressing through the corridors of the stadium.

"There he is!" I hear from another dozen of henchmen as I just roll my eyes and begin fighting with them as well, mixing in some moves I've learnt from watching Youtube videos.

"Have... this!" I yell out as I jump up a little and kick one of the henchmen in the face, causing him to fall onto the floor as I stab his abdomen with my beam katana, killing him, before I quickly remove it and swing at the other people.

At this point, I've learnt that no mercy should be taken with these people, and as I have the desire to live for the sake of Touko, I think it all through in more detail so I won't hit a roadbump and potentially lose this fight.

Continuing on, more and more henchmen appears, most likely all supporting this Dr. Peace guy just so I won't kill that bastard and claim my 98th rank!

After what felt like an hour or two, I finally reach the door that will lead into the stadium's play field, and where Peace Ass is most likely waiting at.

"Just have to go on the toilet first though..." I tell myself as I quickly enter the toilet and do my business, before finally feeling refreshed.

I breathe in and out, before I open the door and step outside, and as I enter the playfield, I can hear music, and soon someone... singing.

https://youtu.be/i_P7MNQtSRc

As I look to whom is singing, I can see him standing there and singing; Dr Peace. In all his royalty.

I stand still and take in the song he is singing, being kinda freaked out be the lyrics, but hey, these kinda songs usually doesn't have the most upbeat lyrics from what I typically hear.

Wouldn't be surprising if it got wo twisted because this is being sung by a literal assassin, a person that kills, most often for money, or fame, or whatever the hell other assassins fight for.

But hey, still gotta give this man credit for his singing voice, also a little different from typically hearing my girlfriend and the other band girls singing, especially the vocalists. But they are all girls so... not a fair comparison.

As Peace finishes singing, I can't help but to clap in a rather satirical way, as I am not here to listen to him sing, I am here to listen to him die.

"Thank you. Mighty kind, mighty kind of you." he says as he keeps his sight in front of him, but he definitely direct that at me after I clapped.

I couldn't help but to notice his golden revolvers, which looks even more shiny in person than on the image I quickly searched up the other day after having been making out with my girl.

"Nice set of pipes you got there, old man." I say as I smirk at him, which he just chuckles off like nothing.

"It has always been my dream to perform in a stadium such as this." he tells me as a big smile fills his face. "A gentleman from the Association told me I could have any stage for today. How could I possibly decline such a kind offer?"

"Huh, a whole stadium for yourself? Being a little too confident that you will kill me, old man?" I reply to him as I shake my head. "Courtesy of me and my entry fee, no doubt."

Peace seemingly ignores what I just said as he keeps on going.

"My ex-wife called me the other day and I met my daughter for the first time in ten years." he continues, still with that dumb smile plastered on his face. "We dined at a fancy restauarant, you know, one of those impossible to get ones. And then afterwards, karaoke..."

"And who got you the reservation?" I ask him before he can continue mumbling on about his luxurious happenings.

"The Association took care of it, of course."

W-what?! How much of my fucking entry fee did the UAA even use on this old guy?!

I could've been to a fancy restaurant and karaoke together with Touko for all that money if I didn't have to do this assassination shit!

"Young man, what's important is not the fact that reservations are hard to get. In fact, no one 'gets' reservations." Peace begins telling me as he looks a little at me. "The words 'Reservation Only' applies only to those outside the circle. It's getting into that circle that matters."

"I- What does that even-?! Ugh, and the food? Good?!" I aggresively asks him, because at this point I'm too fed up with hearing what great stuff this guy got... from my hard earned money!

"...Unfortunately, the atmosphere was a façade. Not once did my daughter look me in the eye." he begins, looking at me a little once again. "Oh, the food? Tasted like blood..."

Heh, as expected from an assassin...

"You're a junky for blood, old man!" I say to him as I finally step forward, as I can only assume this is where our cue begins, our fight!

"Sadly I can't disagree. There's only one way to live-"

"Shut it already, Peace!" I yell out at the old man, not caring about what else he has to say. "Save that shit talk for someone who is as blood thirsty as yourself. I am just here to climb the ranks and save my parents."

As I am now in front of Dr Peace, I unholster my beam katana and active it, readying myself for the ensuing battle.

"Well, straight to the point... Don't die on me too quickly." he replies as he takes up one of his golden revolvers. "I want to gorge myself on this sense of fullfilment till I vomit."

"Tch, as if I will die! I already have someone to live for, so I ain't dying today or tomorrow!"

"See you on the other side."

As he says that, he shoots out a bullet as shiny and golden as his revolvers, and as I prepare to swing at it with my beam katana, the shit fucking explodes, sending my flying back into a wall, denting it with the shape of my body.

And yeah, it hurt a lot flying so hard into it, ouch...

I fall onto the ground before quickly getting up and readying my beam katana again.

"Serious business now, huh, Peace? Let's fight then!"

https://youtu.be/l_3Incmmkt0

He immediately begins shooting at me from afar, as that exploding bullet after all made me fly back with such force, so he probably predicted I would with no hesitation swing at the bullet so there would be distance between us. What an asshole!

Making sure to roll out of the way from his gunshots, I progressively make it towards him, with me having to occasionally block some of his incoming shots, but it's not too bad that I will have to recharge my beam katana anytime soon, though when I strike at him, that shit will definitely drain as usual.

I am soon even closer to him, as he keeps on camping from the same spot with his gun shooting, and occasionally trying to blast me with an exploding bullets, but not this time, old man!

I begin slashing at him as flinches from the hits before trying to block the swings with his revolvers, only for me to hit him with my foot instead, which greatly catches him off guard and making him somewhat dizzy from the hit.

I launch at him with open arms and grab him in a way so I can do that wrestling move I did on Naozumi the other day, should make this old bag dizzy enough to let me slash on him a little more.

It isn't much else excitement to this battle, as he keeps on missing me with his gun shots, with me just shaking my head at every miss.

I begin rushing up towards him again to deliver a few more slashes, but all out of sudden he rolls out of the way and manages to shoot me, that bastard!

Luckily enough the bullets didn't hurt me too much, but enough for me to be caught off guard and making me fly back a little, and also enough for there to be distance between me and him. Social distancing in a way, I guess?

As I am beginning to stand up again, Peace holsters his revolvers while looking at me.

"Don't kid yourself..." he says to me, almost mumbling it.

"Playtime, is over..." I mumble back as I holster my beam katana as we suddenly do a game of draw.

We stand still for a moment, before I am the first one reacting, and he apparently was not ready with it as I slash him at his abdomen, fatally wounding him and also making the microphone he sang into earlier fly up from it's stand and fall down with a thud.

-music end-

Heavy breaths and coughs comes out from his mouth as I kneel down on one knee and grab the microphone laying next to him and hold it in my empty hand next to his mouth.

"Next song I sing, I know my daughter will love. Won't you, darling?" he begins as I keep on holding it next to his old man face. "Better practice my rap. Rap with me, Jennifer..."

Falling lifelessly onto the ground, I look at him for a moment before bringing the microphone close to me instead.

"It's open mic night in hell, old man. Sing all you want down there."

No mercy, that's what I have told myself. Yet even so, I don't feel victorious with this.

But heck, why would I feel victorious, I am literally an assassin, there is nothing to win or lose about that.

At the end of all this are my parents, but for now, every "victory" of mine will just be tasteless, and just feel like nothing.

Maybe I just wouldn't have cared if not for Touko, I maybe would've gone on with my student life hadn't I come across CiRCLE...

But, it's really just her I truly care about now. I love her with all my heart, and I can at least feel something thanks to her.

Perhaps I would've become a blood thirsty assassin as well if I had never met her. She keeps me from bursting and falling apart from all this going on.

I were sitting down with all these thoughts surrounding me, with me not even realizing that the UAA employees that take care of the body had arrived.

I do wonder if they set up cameras here and there to be able to know whenever an assassin has finished their dirty job.

Makes me wonder if this is all recorded, maybe even livestreamed to a special kind of audience, the kinda audience that have nothing better to do than to watch people kill each other. Sounds like Danganronpa...

At last I decided to stand up after being so lost in thought, and let the UAA people handle the corpse of a man that just minutes ago were alive and well, if not quite twisted.

But hey, at least he had more manners than the other ones I've fought so far, can't expect it to remain like this for the rest of the time though, all assassins acts different after all, no matter their rank.

"Hey kid, congratulations on reaching rank 98." one of the men tells me before he goes back to helping the other dispose of the body and clean up the blood splattered everywhere around the body of Dr Peace.

"Thanks, I guess." I reply as I exit, being quick with bringing up my phone to text Touko that I am all okay.

Just don't want her to worry, because if I don't say anything, she might too worried and also begin panicking that I might've died. Perhaps I should tell the UAA to message her as well whenever I finish a ranking battle, in case if I don't have the time to text her right after.

In any case, it will be fun seeing her, and probably the others, tomorrow again. Gotta have a normal life as well after all, if you have access to that that is, can't speak for protagonists that can only fight on non-stop without being able to have a regular life.

I am at leasst glad to have it a little mundane at times, it always gets better with Touko anyways. Perhaps I should try hanging out with the other bands, but I dunno, don't have the motivation for that unless my girlfriend comes along.

No matter, I am just going to go back home and rest up, I think I do need that...

As I come back home on my bicycle, I put it more properly at the bike stand we have outside the apartment.

But as I enter, I see someone familiar rush up to me.

"Oh, hi Reona. Having been out and bought more jerky for Chiyu?" I ask her as she approaches me.

"Mhm, mistress Chu² demands that a lot, but I don't mind doing the shopping if needed!" Reona replies to me, all cheerful over basically just buying stuff demanded by others.

Man, I hope she doesn't want people to depend on her too much, it's kind of her to go out of her way to buy stuff for others, but just not too much.

We both get into the apartment complex and soon part halfway as the penthouse is of course on top, which is where Reona is heading, while I go back into my apartment.

I just go at once to my room that is just lit up with my table lamp and lay down on my bed, as I just feel exhausted from it all, not even bothering with taking of my attire I use during assassinations.

But just as I pull in the blanket, I begin realizing that apparently someone is under it, and as I pull it off, I see...

"Touko?!"

"Surprise~!"

"How did you get in here? I mean, I don't mind at all having you over here, but I haven't been home since 2 pm."

"Sorry, just wanted to surprise you! I did ask Chiyu about a possible extra key to your apartment, and voilà~!" she says as she brings out a key from one of the pockets on her shorts. "Also, I did get your message and of course you managed to win that fight as well, I believe fully in you~!"

"Heh, thanks my beloved..."

"Oooh, that's something new of you to say~" Touko replies to what I had called her as she grips onto me and inches closer to me. "I do hope you don't mind getting a lot of pampering from me too much~"

"Wait, you mean-"

But before I could say anything more, Touko covers us both with the blanket as she begins kissing me all over.

Yeah, Touko is my paradise alright~

https://youtu.be/wWbG5-oEXY8

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☆☆ UAA RANKING LIST ☆☆

NO. 98:  ̶D̶R̶.̶ ̶P̶E̶A̶C̶E̶

NEW NO. 98: STEPHAN KLAUSCH
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To be continued :P

(Author's Note:)

Well, that took forever for me to finish.

Been a lot really, and it's maybe bad of me to focus more on this book than any else, but I like this one, hence why I even update it.

I used a new video for the NMH2 track "Level Up Man" as this one is more high quality, I will try to use more high quality videos for the various tracks from the NMH series.

Anyways, hope to see you guys around for future chapters in this book and other books.