A second later and we were outside the dojo. I honestly not expecting him to be able to do that. That was totally my fault. I should never underestimate a ninja. Even one that looked like the twins. Hibiki just set me down with a cheeky grin and said "Alright newbie. Let's see if we can find them today and get this over with." I nodded and looked on as he took out a list. The list had been provided with the photograph. It was all of the things on her normal schedule and her favorite places to go. Hopefully we could find them sooner than later. It was my first mission, but I did not want to be on a wild goose chase all over the city. Hibiki hummed out loud as he thought of where to go first. "It says that she should be at the bookstore downtown by now. We can go check it out if you want." he offered. I was fine with that. I had no clue where anything was yet. After the first 2 failures, though, I would start picking it out. He led the way and started some small talk. He was mostly interested in how long I've been doing ninja things. I told him that I was just starting out when I saw the thugs attack Eiji.
Being somewhat truthful was not going to put me in any jeopardy, so I saw no reason to lie. I even wound up telling him how I kicked Eiji in the balls to win the fight. That sent him laughing hysterically and needing to catch his breath as we walked down the street. "No way!" he got out before wheezing!" I nodded with a small small. His big reaction was a bit contagious. Even I was starting to chuckle. "No one at the dojo has been able to beat him in a fight before. Like ever." he said when he could calm down. "Don't tell anybody about it. I'm the only possible person that could know that. He'll kill me." I told him, barely able to keep from breaking down. "Don't worry. I won't tell until we have a fight. I want to win for once." he said as he straightened up. He let out a big sigh as he stretched his back. "Alright. That was fun, but we have a thing to do Shiro. The bookstore is up ahead. Get your ready face on. Anything can happen during a mission." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah ri-" was all that I got out before he crouched low and swept both my legs from under me. He stood up in time to grab me.
Centimeters from the pavement, he looked down at me as he yanked me back up. "Anything Shiro. You could die on any mission you take. Hell, someone might have a mission to kill you when you are just relaxing. Never let the successes you get make you complacent. You're one of us now." he said seriously as he looked in my eyes. It certainly was a rude awakening to how the world worked. Even if death was not permanent since I was a Player, it could strike at any moment if I was not paying attention. Especially if I got some notoriety in the ninja world. Now focusing on it, he was an inch and half taller than me. I nodded and he smiled as he smoothed out my clothes. "If something happened to you, I'd feel like it was my fault for not warning you. Sorry." he apologized. I accepted the apology and we made it to the bookstore. It was a large store with several rows and a small cafe for snacks while one read. He looked at me again and then at the photograph. "We have a lot of places to check. I'm just going in to take a quick look. If I see her, I'll get you. I shouldn't take a couple minutes."
