**Episode 010: Searchers (Different Perspective)**

While Kotaro is reminiscing about Satoshi and Shuji.

■ Satoshi Takenaka’s side
Satoshi and I joined forces, maneuvering through narrow spaces between buildings to escape the black shadows. This was because we realized their movements slowed down when entering narrow alleys.
They weren’t actively destroying non-human obstacles. So, as expected, when we thought we could go through, they started entering the narrow alleys one by one, awkwardly chasing us.

Thanks to that, Satoshi and I were able to escape for now.
“Haa… Haa… What the heck is happening?”
“Haa… Haa… Yeah, it’s really hard to understand.”

While running, we grumbled about the incomprehensible situation.
In the midst of all this, I recalled today’s events.
An ordinary day with nothing particularly special.
Just one thing was different. It was Kotaro saying strange things.
As soon as he came to school, he muttered something about  his house doors leading to unfamiliar places. Now that I think about it, this abnormality might have started as early as yesterday.

I thought about such things.
I was going to school, then heading to cram school afterward when I got caught up in this incident. Immediately instructed to escape, I rushed out of the cram school.
At first, I didn’t know what was happening, but as soon as I saw the black shadows, I instinctively felt something was wrong and quickly distanced myself.
Running without thinking, I realized I was heading towards Kotaro’s house on the way after sending a message to my parents. It turned out Shuji was also doing the same, and we encountered each other on the way.

“Toshi!! Are you okay?”
“You too!”

We first shook hands, patted each other’s shoulders, and rejoiced in each other’s safety.
“What about Rokudo?”
“No response.”
“Well, I can’t imagine that pervert dying.”
I inquired Shuji about Kotaro’s whereabouts, but he seemed to believe Kotaro was safe.
I felt the same way.

“Where are your parents?”
“I’ve got in touch with them, at least.”
“Me too. So let’s go to his place.”

Both of us received responses to the messages we sent to our parents. We were told to prioritize our lives. Shuji seemed to have the same sentiment.
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”

Our opinions coincided, and we decided to head to Kotaro’s house. Along the way, we were spotted by monsters, leading to the current situation.

“Status has awakened.”

At that moment, a voice echoed suddenly in my mind.
“Oh?”
“Huh?”
I thought my head was finally going crazy and let out a silly voice, but the next window that appeared made the situation even more confusing.
“Hey, what do you think this is?”
“It looks like something straight out of a game, no doubt.”
“Yeah, it looks that way to me too.”
Apparently, Shuji also saw something similar in front of him, and he nodded in satisfaction at my response.
Talking about status meant quantifying one’s strength, a common feature in games. The fact that it appeared now suggested that, at least in this area, the situation might be similar to a game.

Moreover, I felt power surging throughout my body. Somehow, even the fear from earlier seemed to be fading away, and my breathlessness was settling.
Maybe my mind has been completely rewritten.
―――――――――――――――――――

Name: Satoshi Takenaka
Occupation: Assassin
Level: One
Skills: Assassination Technique, Interruption, Perception, Disguise
―――――――――――――――――――

My status looks something like this.
“I’m a samurai.”
“Oh, a samurai. It suits you.”
Satoshi and I have a relationship that seems completely opposite.
“What about you, Satoshi?”
“Assassin.”
“I see, suits you.”

Satoshi seemed satisfied with my answer.
“I told you.”

I also felt it was appropriate to proudly answer that spending time without going out into the sun is like my profession.

“With that cat-like attitude, sneaking into someone’s heart and going ‘ugly,’ you seem like you’d do it.”

“I don’t remember acting that cat-like, though.”

I shrugged my shoulders in dismay at Shuji’s laugh, and it’s strange, isn’t it? I try to avoid trouble as much as possible. If necessary, I secretly manipulate things behind the scenes to crush the opponent.

“What do you think? Wanna try fighting?”

“No, let’s continue like we have been, maneuvering through narrow alleys to separate them. It’s dangerous to fight without knowing anything.”

“Understood.”

We decided to run instead of fighting. With the gained status, we successfully used the narrow alleys to gradually distance ourselves from the black shadows, and the figures chasing us disappeared.

Thanks to the garden-like surroundings, we were able to take advantage of the terrain.

“Phew… It seems we’ve shaken them off.”

“Looks like it.”

“But don’t let your guard down. We don’t know where they are.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s stay alert until the end.”

We paused for a moment, looked back, took a deep breath, and then started walking towards our destination.