snip
The sound of scissor cutting hair woke Haruki up.
yaaaawn~
"What the..."
Haruki was stretching after waking up from the bed.
"Good morning Haruki-san!"
Hori greeted with a warm smile.
"....aaaghhhghhahhassgwhaaahhahhahhahhwhhahahhahhahhhahgaahhhhaahhga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?!!???!!???!!!"
He yelled at full volume! Hori had ruined it with a scissor!
"Oh, pay no mind to this Haruki-san, it was simply time for my yearly trim"
She answered casually.
"What the hell is a yearly trim?!"
He asked coming closer.
"you see...my father always cut my...."
Hori dropped her scissor.
"He usually does it on my birthday, each year. Thus the name 'Yearly trim' "
Hori said with beautiful smile, contrasting the terrible haircut she had given herself.
".... so if you would excuse me...."
sigh
"You should've asked for my help."
Haruki said disappointedly.
"I shouldn't trouble you for every little thing. Surely I can cut my own hair!"
Hori said confidently. Ignoring the disaster on her head.
Narrator - but....it looks....like crap....
It's not that bad...
She thought to herself.
Haruki let out a slight yawn, still shaking sleep from his body.
He said tiredly.
"Give me the scissor."
Hori complied with no hesitation, she actually wanted to ask Haruki for help but was worried about being a nuisance, she hands over the scissor.
"Follow me."
He brings a stool to the bathroom.
Hori trailed behind him.
Haruki dropped it on the tiles and pointed.
A warm smile appeared on Hori's face.
She diligently sits down on the stool facing the bathroom mirror, Haruki spreads a towel over her chest and ties it at her neck.
snip. snip.
The scissor cut Hori's hair elegantly and swiftly.
He seemed to be used to cutting hair.
After some time Haruki removes the towel revealing the hair cut.
"What do you think"
He asked gently combing it.
".... wow, I look like a different person."
She said in awe touching her head.
Her once silky let down hair surprisingly turned spiky.
"I'm.... beautiful...."
Hori said in astonishment.
The hairstyle was an extremely short boyish design that contrasted with Hori's beautiful face, it gave her a confident look and looked a little odd being dark blue.
It simply reeked with personality, much more memorable than her original one.
"....thank you Haruki-san, again I am in your dept..."
She said bowing down.
"Your welcome."
He said with a big smile caressing her head.
"But woah, you look so different, you asked for a simple trim but I think I overdid it"
He said worryingly, girls do not joke with their hair.
"It's okay! l can feel so much fresh air entering my head!"
She said as she fluffed it up and down.
"Now let's go bathe, get dressed and head to SHO!!"
Haruki yelled.
"Yes sir!"
"Don't call me sir! So do you wanna bathe first?"
"Of course not, you go first!"
Haruki stood for a second wondering her quick decline, but soon entered the bathroom.
Hori went to sit on the bed to wait for him to finish.
Her posture was elegant and face neutral, she slowly put her hands on her face not obstructing her eyes.
This is terrible!!!! I don't have any clothes to wear!!!!
She panicked.
Narrator - Why don't you wear the clothes you wore yesterday?
Those are dirty!i can't walk alongside Haruki-san looking unkempt!
She argued.
Narrator - What will our protagonist do now?
sigh...i don't know, wait who are you talking to?
Hori's eyes scanned the room for a solution, before stumbling on Haruki's luggage.
Haruki was whistling as he came out of the shower tying a towel and drying his hair. He was finally done.
He stopped as he entered the living room seeing Hori.
"Are those my clothes?"
He asked dropping the towel used to dry his hair on the couch.
"Oh... I should have asked for permission first! You see, my clothes were dirty so I hoped you'd let me wear yours."
She said fidling with her hair.
"....aight"
He said casually.
Hori was dressed in a white sweater with dark green lines, she also wore a black simple short nicker. Basically looking like a guy with a pretty face.
"But shouldn't you take a bath first?"
"Of course!"
Hori takes her bathe, and they head out of the hotel.
The reservation Haruki payed for was from last night to this afternoon.
The time was 10 AM so they still had some time.
They were going to register for SHO then carry their luggage back to Haruki's house, the damaged inn.
"So do you even know where to sign up?"
He asked.
"SHO registration is extremely easy, they usually have several stands that collect aspiring members names and addresses."
"The compiled list is then collected and the applicants are notified by Mail when the date arises."
"To partake in the 'Sabbath exams' "
Hori spoke fluently.
"So we just write our names and addresses then submit it?"
"That is correct, SHO spends 1 full month each year to collect new applicants."
"Conveniently enough, the month for this year's collection is September, so we still have time.
"The dates 28th."
Haruki said after checking his phone.
"That means we will be notified to partake in the "Sabbath exams" 7 days from the end of this month."
"That's....2+7, that's 9 days from today!"
Hori answered.
"... your really knowledgeable of SHO, your dad really worked there huh?"
"oh yes he's the founder-
Smack! Hori immediately slaps her self.
"Are you alright?! why'd you do that?!"
Haruki asked.
"As I've already told you. He was just a high ranking priest at SHO."
Hori answered ignoring what happened.
That was close!i almost told Haruki-san about father!
Narrator - Hori's Father, Father Tabata Jiro is not only the prime minister of Japan, but also the founding executive of SHO, at least in Japan.
Narrator - He is believed to be the strongest priest known to mankind.
aha!
Hori said as she spotted a stand that was working for SHO.
"Wow, that's easy."
"Good day ma'am!"
Hori said whilst bowing.
It was a middle aged woman with black hair wearing a suit,a simple formal attire.
"Please we would like to take part in this year's Sabbath exams!"
She wasted no time and stated their goal.
"Okay please write your name here, sign here and fill in your address."
Hori picked up the paper requiring signing and quickly read it.
Please sign this indicating official agreement in the case of forfeiting your life to the Sabbath exams.
She signed and was about writing her address but stopped.
She looked at Haruki and asked for his house address since she would be living with him from now on.
He did so and as well filled his own form, but wrote his email address instead.
The Woman collected the two forms and put them in a folder that had many more.
"Thank you for putting your lives on the line for the Sabbath exams. In the continues effort of battling sinners and sins, Priests are highly respected."
That being said, don't these two look two young to enroll at SHO?!!
She thought to herself, sure the rate of minors becoming priests was high but they looked too young!
Hori bowed once more and they left.
"That was pretty easy..."
Haruki said putting his hands in his pockets.
"That is the ONLY easy part Haruki-san. The Sabbath exams are.... quite difficult."
Hori said with a trembling voice, as if now regretting registering.
"Don't worry!"we
Haruki reassured.
" We still have 9 days till then, so I'm gonna train you!"
"Really?!"
"yup, I'm already pretty strong cause I'm an assassin and a sin, but you'd probably die if you said the Sabbath exams are really tuff"
"What's an assassin?"
Hori asked innocently.
"Ehmm...we file taxes"
Haruki said.
"Is that so, then I shall be in your care Haruki-san"
She said while bowing.
growl
Her stomach once again ruined the moment.
"We didn't eat breakfast yet so it can't be helped..."
Why do I always embarrass myself!!!!
Hori cursed.
"I'm broke right now, so I should probably just buy some ingredients and whip-up something."
He placed his hand on his chin and thought for a second.
snap!
"Okay Hori! I have good news and bad news! The good news is, you get to eat my cooking today!"
Hori brimmed with excitement!
'but the bad news is, you have to carry all my luggage back from the hotel to my house!"
Her smile immediately faded.
"c'mon! trust me, it'll be worth it! My cookings pretty good."
They both headed back to the hotel, Haruki checked out.
Hori brought his plentiful luggage down trying her best not to damage it.
They exited through the door and began walking to the forest.
"This is...so heavy! It wasn't as heavy yesterday!"
Hori whined, carrying the luggage on her shoulder.
"Oh, that's because I asked a friend of mine to drop off female clothes."
"huh?"
"You said you didn't have clothes right? you gotta look pretty now don't you."
Is that why he said he was broke?
Hori went silent for a bit.
"Your so kind Haruki-san, thank you for the clothes."
She appreciated with her heart racing.
"She even helped getting underwear."
"ehhhh??!!!!!!"
Hori yelled with a flushed face.
They arrived at the forest where Haruki's house was located.
Haruki suddenly stopped walking.
"What is the matter-
shh
He whispered cutting Hori off.
"for the wages of sin is deeeeeaaaaath....."
A haunting but familiar voice came from the inn.
"Sinners of Idolatry! about 3!"
Hori yelled, shifting to Haruki's side.
A sinner of idolatry resembles an ordinary man or woman making a prayer hand sign.
Of course with the usual black and red poko-dot design sinners are iconic for having.
Narrator - The reason Hori can easily identify sinners is because she is very literate in their kind.
Narrator - Her father, Father Jiro, being the head of SHO was often involved with sins and sinners.
Narrator - Hori as a child will even sometimes read his books about identifying them based on features.
Narrator - Quite the strange kid you were.
"Really not the time narrator!!"
"Who is Narrator?!"
Haruki yelled telling her to keep quiet.
tch, what do I do!i really don't feel like eating THREE sinners!
Narrator - An ordinary human can never kill a sin or sinner. But a sin like Haruki can, through eating them.... however, they taste like rotten meat.
"Gross!"
Hori said.
The 2 were hiding behind a bush, calculating what to do.
....hmmmm
A devilish grin appeared on Haruki's face.
"Hori! I have a job for you!"
He said,half whispering.
"What is it, Haruki-san?"
Hori also whispered shuffling closer.
"I want you to fight those sinners!"
Haruki whispered.
"What the hell?"
She said as if not hearing well.
"I wanna see what you can do, besides ordinary people can't kill sinners so it's the perfect sparring opportunity!"
".... are you serious?!???"