Tiger continued walking through the city at night, making his way back toward his rental apartment. The streets had become quieter, and only the faint sounds of the city could be heard around him.
Suddenly, something moved in the darkness.
Tiger stopped.
A monster appeared in front of him.
Without hesitation, the creature attacked, but Tiger immediately reacted. The fight began suddenly in the middle of the night. The monster continued attacking him, but Tiger eventually managed to overpower it.
After a brief but intense battle, Tiger defeated the monster. Tiger threw the monster in near by a tree branch and he climbed in the tree branch too, and he sat on the tree branch. The monster stuck on the tree branch dead.
Then everything became strange.
Tiger's eyes slowly turned red.
Not just ordinary red—an extremely dark red glow began shining from them. The light reflected wherever Tiger looked, creating an unsettling red illumination around him. His appearance had become so terrifying that the entire atmosphere seemed different.
Suddenly it was looking like the Earth is coming close to the sun or the Sun was coming close to the Earth.
In the distance, someone was watching.
It was an assassin.
She stared toward Tiger in complete confusion.
What is that shield...?
Her eyes moved toward the strange sight around him.
Did he bring the sun closer? Did he bring the Earth closer to the sun? But if that's what happened, why isn't the entire Earth covered in sunlight? Is his shield preventing the sunlight from reaching everything?
She continued observing.
Is that even his shield? No... it doesn't feel like his shield.
Then she realized something.
Maybe that shield belonged to the monster Tiger defeated...
But before she could fully understand what she was seeing, something even stranger appeared.
A real tiger was standing beside Tiger.
Flames surrounded the creature.
The assassin froze.
The flaming tiger placed one of its paws on Tiger's shoulder before calmly walking along the branches of a nearby tree.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Tiger... with an actual tiger? How is that even possible?
Tiger eventually climbed down from the tree, and the moment he did, the flaming tiger disappeared.
However, Tiger never noticed the assassin watching him from a distance.
His shirt had been damaged during the battle with the monster, and as he continued walking, the mysterious girl finally decided to approach him.
"Hey," she called.
Tiger turned toward her.
The girl looked directly at him.
"My name is Rigarta," she said. "I'm an assassin."
Tiger looked at her with mild surprise.
"An assassin?"
Rigarta nodded. "Yeah. And I have a question for you."
Tiger waited.
"Do you want to become an assassin?"
Tiger looked at her for a moment before casually answering.
"Sure. I'll become one."
Rigarta froze.
"What? Seriously?"
"Seriously."
For a moment, Rigarta simply stared at him.
He agreed that quickly? she thought. Does he trust people this easily? If he had refused, I would've had to convince him... but he immediately agreed.
She quickly recovered.
"Alright," Rigarta said. "Can we talk at a café?"
Tiger looked confused. "Why?"
"There are still a few things I want to ask you."
"Alright."
As they began walking, Rigarta suddenly asked, "Did Icchi tell you that you would be working with one of her friends?"
Tiger began thinking.
"She didn't exactly say that. She asked me, 'Would you work with my friend?' When I asked her why, she just said I would find out soon."
Rigarta nodded.
"I'm that friend."
Then, inside her mind, she immediately panicked.
He can't find out that I'm actually Icchi...
Tiger looked at her more carefully.
"Wait... but you look exactly like Icchi."
Rigarta became nervous.
What excuse am I supposed to make now...?
She quickly responded, "Well... I'm her friend, so maybe that's why. You know, when two people are friends, sometimes they can look similar."
Tiger stared at her silently for a moment.
"...Alright."
When they reached the café and sat on near by chair.
Rigarta immediately changed the subject.
"Anyway, let's talk about the important thing."
She reached for something and handed Tiger a card.
"This is your assassin card."
Tiger took it and looked at it.
"You already made a card for me? And you made it before even meeting me?"
Rigarta casually answered, "Icchi told me about you, so I already had your photo."
Tiger looked at the card again before Rigarta continued.
"Now, let's get to the main point. We need to go to Assassin Quarter so we can officially confirm whether you really want to become an assassin."
Tiger nodded.
"Alright. Let's go.
The two of them exit the café and began walking together.
After some time, they finally arrived at Assassin Quarter.
Rigarta led Tiger through the area until they reached the main controlling room—the place where the organization was managed. As they entered, one of the assistants immediately looked toward Rigarta.
"Oh, you're back, Icc—"
Rigarta quickly made a gesture behind Tiger's back, silently telling her to stop.
The assistant immediately understood.
"Rigarta," she corrected herself. "You brought the new assassin?"
Tiger became slightly suspicious.
She was about to call her something else...
Before Tiger could think about it further, a chair slowly turned toward them.
The boss was sitting there.
"So," she said, looking directly at Tiger. "You're the one?"
Rigarta nodded.
"Yes."
The boss looked toward Tiger.
"You're Tiger, aren't you? The one who defeated Tigor... and Icchi?"
Tiger nodded.
"Yeah. That's me."
The boss stood from her chair and slowly began walking around Tiger, carefully observing him.
"Before you officially become an assassin," she said, "there are a few rules you need to understand."
She activated a hologram.
A list of rules appeared in front of Tiger.
Tiger began reading them.
"The first rule," he said, "is that I can only use my powers when there's an emergency."
He continued.
"Second rule: I can't reveal my real powers to anyone. If I have to fight in front of normal people, I have to fight like a normal human."
Tiger continued reading.
"Third rule... If I'm fighting alongside assassins, I can use my real powers. But I can't use them in front of normal people. If someone begins suspecting that I'm not a normal human, it could create problems for the organization, and I could be suspended from being an assassin."
Tiger finished reading the rules.
"Honestly, these rules weren't really necessary for me," he said. "My school already told me not to reveal my powers to anyone outside of school."
The boss looked at him.
"Even so, these rules exist for a reason."
Then she turned toward Rigarta.
"Rigarta. Give him his uniform."
Tiger looked confused.
Uniform?
Rigarta handed him a set of assassin clothes.
Tiger accepted them and looked at the outfit It was a black assassin outfit with red lining.
After everything was finished, Tiger and Rigarta left Assassin Quarter together.
As they walked toward Tiger's rental apartment, Rigarta gave him one final instruction.
"You need to come here starting next week. Be here at five in the evening for missions."
Tiger nodded.
"Alright."
Rigarta continued walking beside him, but inside her mind, she was thinking about something else.
Rigarta isn't actually my real name. It's my assassin code name.
She glanced toward Tiger.
If Tiger finds out that I'm Icchi, it could create problems for me.
No one had actually forced her to use a code name, but she had decided to create one herself.
It's for privacy... and there's another reason too.
Suddenly, Rigarta began imagining a terrifying scenario.
In her imagination, countless students surrounded her.
"Why didn't you tell us you were an assassin?!" someone shouted.
"Yeah!" everyone shouted together. "Why didn't you tell us?!"
Rigarta imagined everyone following her everywhere.
People watching her.
People constantly asking questions.
Then she imagined something even worse.
She was standing outside her own house, but a massive crowd had gathered directly in front of the entrance.
She couldn't even leave.
One student pushed closer to the gate.
"Icchi! You're so powerful!"
Rigarta immediately returned to reality.
Tiger had stopped walking.
"This is where I live," he said.
Rigarta continued staring ahead for a moment.
Yeah... that's exactly what would happen if people found out.
Tiger looked toward her.
"Rigarta?"
She didn't respond.
"Rigarta."
Tiger lightly shook her.
She suddenly snapped out of her imagination.
"Oh!"
Tiger looked at her.
"Did you hear me?"
Rigarta quickly looked around.
"Oh... so this is where you live?"
Tiger nodded.
"Yeah. I live here."
Rigarta smiled awkwardly.
"Alright then. Bye."
"Bye." Tiger replied.
The two went their separate ways.
Tiger returned toward his apartment.