Once again, Kirou was staring at the roof of his apartment. This was the second day in a row he was doing this. Although he was good at adapting to situations, Kirou still felt it weird for him to wake up in his room, completely refreshed, while he spent the entire night, in-game, hunting monsters, doing quests, and teaching Reya how to work in manual mode.
'I guess this is one of those perks of being able to play a game that puts my body to rest while I'm active in-game,' thought Kirou as he released a deep breath.
Kirou remained in bed for another five minutes before getting up and starting a series of weird movements. Each movement stretched his limbs as far as they could go and he kept this up for a good ten minutes before he stopped, completely covered in sweat.
'This body truly is too weak. Just doing these joint stretches has already exhausted me to this degree. It seems like it'll take a while before I can use my favorite ability.' That was Kirou's thoughts as he released a long sigh in depression.
Kirou rested for a minute before strapping on some weights on his arms and legs, then he left the apartment to do a long-distance jog. He left the apartment at 5:30 and returned at 6:20, having done a ten-mile run. As he entered, Kirou, from head to toe, was covered in sweat. It seems like he pushed himself too hard and this was the consequence of his actions.
"I'm starting to resent Wang Xu a bit. Just what the hell was he thinking, joining a security firm with a body this weak?" complained Kirou as he went to the bathroom to clean up. If the previous Wang Xu had heard his words, he might have choked to death in anger. It wasn't that Wang Xu was weak. On the contrary, Wang Xu's body was very fit. It was just that Kirou's standards were just too damn high.
As a former assassin, while Kirou's main job was to kill as quickly and silently as possible, there would always be occasions where he would have to fight it out with strong individuals, such as Lady Shiva and Alladin whom he fought on his last mission. Granted, his opponents weren't normally that strong but he needed to make sure he was strong enough to put up a fight while looking for a means to escape or to land a solid sneak attack mid-battle. If he had to use Wang Xu's current body during those moments, Kirou couldn't list the number of times and ways he would have died over the years.
Releasing a long sigh, Kirou entered the shower and washed off the excess sweat that had built up on his body during the morning exercise. Twenty minutes later, Kirou left the bathroom and prepared a simple breakfast. The preparations took roughly fifteen minutes and it took Kirou another ten to finish his meal. Kirou spent five minutes to clean up and another five to get dressed before he walked out of the door.
******************
It was approximately ten minutes later, at 7:20, that Kirou got to the subway station. As he was waiting on the platform, he allowed his eyes to roam around. He could see many persons, adults, and students alike, waiting at their respective position on the platform for their trains to arrive. While his eyes roamed, he noticed an action that caused his eyes to narrow slightly.
"Looks like regardless of the age, there will always be a thief roaming about areas congested with people." As Kirou said this, he was currently looking in the direction of a bespectacled woman in a business suit, or rather, at the person currently behind her.
The was a man wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans, and a pair of sneakers walking up to the woman. His actions were calm and gave nothing away to the people around him but Kirou could tell what the man planned to do. Kirou watched the man as he approached the bespectacled woman and saw him 'accidentally' bump into her. The man gave a quick apology in order not to attract any suspicion and the woman said nothing about it, but Kirou saw when the man removed a few items from the woman's bag. It was swift and clean, signifying that this man is experienced and the man was currently heading in Kirou's direction.
By all rights, Kirou had no reason to put his nose in this since he could understand why the thief targeted that woman. That being said, Kirou wouldn't leave it alone as he knows the woman. Though their meeting wasn't long, Kirou still recognized the woman that had been waiting for him when he woke up in the hospital that day. It was because of this woman why Kirou still had his job, even after getting into that accident.
'Let's just say that this woman is lucky enough to have me recognize her.' As this thought flashed through Kirou's mind, he started making his way over to the woman. Of course, in doing so, he had to walk by the man who robbed her.
Just as the man did to the woman before, Kirou also bumped into him and gave the man a quick apology. Not noticing anything amiss, the man ignored Kirou and continued on his path, not realizing that he was a few items lighter. Kirou watched him walk away from the corner of his eyes and couldn't stop himself from releasing a sigh.
'It seems that this is a skill that will follow me wherever I go.' As the thought flashed in his mind, Kirou finally arrived in front of the bespectacled woman.
"Hello, Miss. Do you remember me?" asked Kirou as he tapped on the woman's shoulder to get her attention. Feeling someone tap her shoulder, the woman turned around and was greeted to the sight of a smiling Kirou.
"You are..... Mr. Wang, right?" queried the bespectacled woman as she gave Kirou a once over.
"It's good to see you again Secretary Yin. I thought I made a mistake earlier when I saw you but it seems like my eyes weren't deceiving me." Kirou had a smile on his face as he said this to the bespectacled woman now addressed as Secretary Yin.
"Likewise, Mr. Wang. Is there anything I can help you with at the moment," asked Secretary Yin while looking at Kirou in a lukewarm manner. Secretary Yin wasn't all that close to Kirou in the first place but she didn't think bad of him, especially given how cooperative he was with her during the after-effects of his accident earlier that month.
"I've just come to inform you that I have a package to deliver to you when we get into the office and I hope you don't mind me dropping it off after I start my shift." This was the answer Kirou came up with to return Secretary Yin's missing items. Some of them were a bit sensitive and in this way, he can just leave a note with the package and walk away without ever looking back.
"That will be fine. You can turn it in during your daily rounds. I'll be with the boss during a meeting for most of the day so I'll tell my assistant you are coming," responded the woman in a cool manner.
Kirou gave Secretary Yin his farewells before turning around to head back to his original position on the platform, a few meters away from her. Less than ten minutes later, the train leading to their destination arrived and both boarded on different cars, no longer interacting with each other.
******************
Kirou arrived at Sanming Gaming Studio at 8:15. Due to him and Secretary Yin taking the same train to work, both arrived at the same time. This caused a few of the studio's gossip mongers to start whispering to each other here and there. Secretary Yin ignored them outright while Kirou pretended to be oblivious.
Kirou greeted the others as he passed them while heading to the security station on the second floor. After punching in, he went to the locker room to change and a few minutes later, Kirou was donning his security garb. He spent an hour watching the building's surveillance when a coworker reminded him that it was time for him to do some rounds.
Remembering that he still had Secretary Yin's items from earlier, he placed them in a big enough box and wrote a note addressed to Secretary Yin. After this, Kirou left the security station and went to the 4th floor where Secretary Yin's office was located.
Having been told about it from earlier, Secretary Yin's assistant allowed Kirou to enter the office and place the box on her desk, along with a very conspicuous note placed on top of that.
Having done what needed to be done, Kirou left the office to continue his rounds for the gaming studio.
*******************
Yin Jia Rong, or Secretary Yin as addressed by her coworkers, was currently in a very bad mood. This all started after she got to work this morning.
Due to her showing up at the same time as Kirou, a few of the other secretaries in the office has been giving her weird looks and whispering about her when they thought she wasn't listening. At first, she ignored it as she had other things on her mind but that started to change after she cleared up her morning work.
Next was the fact that she had to put up with a member of the gaming department, Shen Jiang, bothering her by consistently asking her out after she has clearly been rejecting him for the last few weeks. Added together with the previous whisperings about her arriving with Kirou, a rumor was started about her rejecting Shen Jiang for a security guard, further irritating her.
And now finally, she was in a meeting with the studio's boss, gaming staff, and other relevant staff and she cannot find the thumb drive with the document she's supposed to give to the boss for a presentation on their accounts in Immortal Era.
Currently, she was heading to her office to search, in case the thumb drive fell out while she was working on her morning files. She highly doubted that that happened but at this point, she was hoping for a miracle.
As she made her way to the office, she had to pass by quite a few people, so instead of the scowl she wanted to make to express her current emotions, she had a frosty mask on in its place. Those that saw the mask knew that she was angry and immediately made way for her, but there was always one idiot who wanted to play with fire.
"Hello, Beauty Yin. Would you like..." started Shen Jiang as he approached Secretay Yin, only to be interrupted.
"I'm currently in the middle of something, Coworker Shen. So I lack the time to deal with you at the moment," said Secretary Yin in a frosty tone that sent a chill down Shen Jiang's spine, along with the frosty look she gave him. Following this, Secretary Yin walked away, leaving Shen Jiang with a scowl on his face that turned into a smile.
'Soon woman. You won't be able to escape from me for much longer. Let's see how you get out of this mess.' These were Shen Jiang's thoughts as he watched the retreating figure of Secretary Yin, with a disgusting smile on his face that was quickly hidden when a few female coworkers approached him out of 'care' from facing Secretary Yin's wrath.
*********************
Secretary Yin had finally returned to her office and flipped it upside down, searching for that thumb drive. In the end, she wasn't able to find it and was now in an even fouler mood as she needs that document for the presentation.
She finally sat down at her desk and released a deep breath, letting all her built-up anger escape from her body.
'I guess I'll have to apologize to the entire boardroom for my mistake and postpone the meeting until tomorrow. And with this, the boss might just demote me back into the gaming team as a means of punishment, where I'll have to deal with that insufferable ass all day,' lamented Secretary Yin as she released another deep breath before her eyes landing on a box with a note on her desk.
Curious, Secretary Yin reached for both items before taking a look at the note first.
It said, 'You were the victim of a pickpocket this morning. He took a few things from your purse while you weren't paying attention. Good thing I was nearby to see all this happen, otherwise you'd probably get in a whole lot of trouble. Please do your best in watching your surroundings from now on. :)'
Secretary Yin was so dumbstruck after reading the note that she unintentionally opened the box. When she returned to her senses and looked inside the box, she found the missing thumb drive, along with a few other personal items in the box.
Looking inside the box, Secretary Yin was both embarrassed and relieved. Embarrassed due to some of her personal items that she never noticed missing being in the box. Relieved that she now had the item she was looking for. Secretary Yin spent a good minute to calm down before storing away the items in the box and making her way to the door. After exiting her office, she made her way back to the meeting room with newfound confidence.
'Looks like I really do owe Mr. Wang for his help this time. I wonder what I should get him as thanks.' Those were Secretary Yin's thoughts as she made her way back to the meeting room, unaware that she had a ghost of a smile on her face.