c7 (2/2)

He took out a key from the inside pocket of his suit and pushed it inside the keyhole.

— then he noticed something strange.

“Hm … ?”

He didn’t feel the lock coming open.

The door wasn’t locked.

s.h.i.+zuru thought, did he somehow forget to lock?

The security in this world was bad. Even in the s.h.i.+ning capital, there were criminals like thieves, robbers, kidnappers, and rapists all over the place.

He would never have forgotten to lock the door even if he were half asleep.

“Uuugh … please not a thief …”

s.h.i.+zuru weakly grumbled, then opened the front door.

There was a bell at the door, but if one knew the trick one can enter without ringing it.

He also used good hinges on the doors, too, so they didn’t creak.

s.h.i.+zuru gently laid down his bag and took out the knife from its side.

He put his hand down on the floor and held his breath for several seconds.

“… one person. The bathroom”

Even if half unwilling, he wasn’t an a.s.sa.s.sin for seven years for nothing.

He could figure out the number of people in a simple one floor building like this and where they were from the vibrations they make.

It was a skill s.h.i.+zuru didn’t want to have, but it’s his principle to use what he had.

“Fuh …”

He exhaled and erased his presence.

Unlike the battle experts Casca, Lady, and Richelieu, s.h.i.+zuru did not have great fighting abilities, but he made up for it with tricks.

Due to the fact that he’s a doctor, he could stop the sound of his heartbeats whenever he wanted, and even temporarily appear dead.

Without making any sound, he went straight through the hallway to the bathroom.

The house wasn’t big to begin with, so he quickly arrived.

“(Why do I have to even use the knife outside of a job …)”

s.h.i.+zuru hadn’t sharpened his knife since he used it last night, but it was already sharper than an ordinary knife.

He had grown used to the knife, it was already a part of his own body. s.h.i.+zuru gripped it, he pushed the bathroom door open and snuck inside.

— he saw a human shape.

He continued onwards, aiming the point of his blade at the back of their neck.

But right at the same time, something took up half of s.h.i.+zuru’s field of view.

The muzzle of a gun. The business end of a gun painted matte black and obviously well maintained at just a glance.

Both s.h.i.+zuru’s knife and the other person’s gun were pointed at one another.

And because of that, both people stopped in their tracks, giving them both a chance to see the other’s face.

Then he noticed.

“Ah …”

The other person was a young woman.

To be more precise, a young woman he knew well.

She had a well-groomed face, only to be ruined by her severely stagnant eyes.

She was wearing black lace underwear, and had a toothbrush in her mouth.

Her long blue hair was wet, she had likely just came out of the bath. Droplets of water fell making a twink sound.

s.h.i.+zuru observed for some time, blinking several times.

He then muttered the name of the woman holding the single shot rifle.

“… Ludmila?”

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