Chapter 3:

The sun guffaws high and brightly in the sky and begins its descent as Berlin tensed with anxiety. Most
particularly, the border to its east that sectioned off 1/25 of the capital city and a single shopping mall.
For therein lied the monstrous Kishin that’s scared the entire city away, with all of the casualties being
described as their souls being taken.

Right now, Samuel Bronwynn and Pippin Sloan were getting ready to leave to hunt the wounded Kishin
down. See, before them, police reports state that there were two other more experienced meisters that
came before them and managed to weaken the Kishin, dubbed as the Tiger, and pushed it back to the
shopping mall but at the cost of their own strength. Fortunately, they did not die and were able to be
sent back to the academy. A relief to Sam’s ears when he heard about it.

Sam nevertheless searched within and called out his undead horse, Vane. A whinnying cry before the
specter forms from black smoke solidifying into the only horse that Sam can trust. Vane chuffs as Sam
petted him and scruffed the hair along his neck. He softly says to Vane, “time to shine, Vane.” To which
Vane huffs wind at Sam able and ready.

Sam’s ears pick up a gaping awe beside him. He looks to his side and sees Pippin with stars in her eyes as
she saw Vane. “waaahh~” She murmured with a sparkle in her eye at Vane. Sam spots this and raises his
right brow at her with a smirk. Upon his smirk, Pippin tenses with a glare and averts her eyes. To which
Sam chuckles off.

“We’ll stroll in with Vane to where that creature is and scurry in there, all quiet-like and unopposed.”
Sam sums up the plan to Pippin, glancing at her thereafter. He sees that Pippin was breathing through
her mouth and paces herself to calm. “… And,” Sam spoke out of turn, getting Pippin’s attention. Sam
turns his head to look at her. “, It will be just fi~ne and dandy.” Sam spoke comedically, making a silly
face with a grin and raised brows and with the silliest impression of a Southern accent that Pippin will
ever hear.

“Pft!” Pippin holds back then explodes with laughter and glee. Her hand hovers over her mouth to bar
her breath from spreading. “Hahaha! Huhuwhat? Buwahahaha!” Pippin guffawed, bracing herself from
her stomach. Sam smirked once more at the sight of Pippin enjoying her impression of (some)
Americans/ “Now that was hilarious! Thanks for that, Sam.” Pippin graced thanks to Sam.

“Hehe. Now, we’re catching on.” Sam panned out, proudly keeping the smirk on his face. “We’ll be fine.
And besides, I am – experienced with the whip.” Sam assured, and placed his past lightly after a pause to
find the right words. To say he only had experience would be an understatement.

“Hehe. *sniff* Alright.” Pippin sniffed and wiped away the water from her eye from laughing.

Sam nods at Pippin before facing to the saddle and hops on. Sam gazes down to Pippin and she stares up
to him back. Without any words, Sam offers a hand for Pippin to hoist up to the saddle. She quietly
gasps as she pauses and reluctantly grasps it. Sam grabs hold of her and pulls her up onto the saddle.
Vane twiddles around onto the cement, taking the weight of both Sam and Pippin before they both find
their center. Pippin grasped onto Sam’s shoulders to steady herself.
“Whoa, now, Vane.” Sam steadied the horse as it slows its hooves’ step and the horse stopped its
rocking. Sam glances back to Pippin and wanted to say something but failed to notice the police
commander walking up to them

“Oi!” Sam and Pippin turn their heads to the police commander walking up to them. “Just setting things
straight, two squads will storm in the mall with riot shields and free the captives but only after you give
the signal. Alright?”

“Right, commander. And if we haven’t fired the signal flare in three hours, storm in and we’ll grant you
time to get them out. Yes sir?” Sam stated to the commander highly on his horse.

“Right. Happy hunting then.” The commander parts for Sam and Pippin to their meister business.

Sam then glances back to Pippin, with her hands still placed onto his shoulders. For a moment, their
eyes met and Pippin’s eyes ticked at how she was diving into his eyes and how darkly green they were.
“W-What?” Pippin’s fluster began to show as she furrowed her brows at Sam.

“Nothing, is all.” Sam shrugged this off and clicked his mouth. Vane whinnied and trotted through the
gate. Sam kept his eyes forward but Pippin’s purple eyes never left his. Pippin giggles through her nose
as Sam’s eyes looked onward.

The horse passes through the gate and with that, the duo pass through the gate atop Vane. Sam was
actually feeling pretty high with himself right now. A finger prods into his neck, and Sam tenses up with a
shiver from his neck up to the hairs on his head.

“B-Bloody hell!” Sam barks then turns to Pippin, pouting directly at him. “W-what’d you do that for?”

“Just curious.” Pippin starts. “Why is someone like you even learning at DWMA in the first place.”

“Ah. I’m fitting myself up for my village. O’er at Ireland.” Sam simply said, coincidentally spilling his Irish
accent.

“You’re working out?” Pippin guesses, missing the point. Sam whips his head in credulous surprise.

“No. I’m training myself.” Sam corrects Pippin.

“Ah. My bad. What for?”

Sam glances back to the front then lands back to Pippin’s eyes. “Because there’s a blight that comes
there every ten winters or so. At least, that’s what me mum said to me.” Sam summed up his reason,
and the short version made Vane snort and whinny in laughter. “Hush, Vane!” Sam chides Vane for
exploding, earning a snort in return.

Pippin’s eyes began to wander as she went back to whistling a tune. Pippin’s lighthearted tune made for
a good ringer in Sam’s head. But something etched into his head. As he thought how this fight was going
to go, Sam thought of one possibility. In one way or the other, Sam will have to use Pippin’s whip form.
And he knows all about using the whip.

In silence, Sam’s will drops but not totally. It was not something he’d lightly think back on. When Sam
said he had experience, Sam had more than experience. He had the image of it. The harshness of the
bosun when rage overtakes him. It was something of a dilemma for Sam over the past three weeks, and
the fear of losing himself embiggens when he’s settled into his dorm. Sam tries to convince himself that
he will not lose himself to the madness of his own power, but if he was trying to be logical, that same
power is his main goal and he’ll just have to drive through the madness. But Sam cannot blow his cover
in DWMA, of all places.

“… !“ Pippin sensed a pain in her head through the connection she had with her master. Her purple eyes
went to Sam. “H-hey.” Pippin called for Sam, and he looks back to her. “I-I hate to say this but, I can feel
there’s something troubling you. Is there anything?”

“ng!” Sam’s jaw locks in shock at Pippin’s astute senses. After delving into the Pippin’s question, Sam
bricks himself up. “Ridiculous! Have I made such a stride in our friendship?” Sam joked about it and tried
to change the subject. However, Pippin could tell that he was trying to change the subject indeed.

“Sam.” Pippin tones his brick wall, and Sam felt the guilt in hiding it.

“*sigh* I uhh… suppose I am afraid of something.” Sam admits and he feels like a load started to spew
out his chest.

“… What is it?” Pippin softly asks, and Sam let the sound of Vane’s hooves clacking along the cement as
they converse about his dilemma.

“W-Well… I came here to fit myself to ward my village… and I fear that I might lose myself to my own
strength when it comes to – to using you.” Sam’s confession made Pippin’s heartstrings tingle. “There,
said it.” Sam finished, leaving Pippin to dwell in her thoughts.

So, he was thinking about my safety? Even when we still do not know each other very well? Pippin
developed a sincere blush by the tips of her ears. Pippin was still thinking on how she should respond to
that conversation bomb.

“Well? It scares you, don’t it? That I could lose control? That I could go overboard?” Sam provokingly
asked, but Pippin does not flinch and just gazed at Sam.

“… For now… use me however you’d like.”

Sam faces Pippin with an agape expression, picking up how sincere and soft that sounded. “Hah? D-Did
you hear yourself? You’d give yourself up for me? My strength?” Sam says in a panic, staring straight at
Pippin in a fluster. The question took Pippin a while to answer.

“… yeah. I know. And that’s what being a weapon at DWMA is about. We’re there for each other.”
Pippin answered with resolve, making Sam flinch for a better view of Pippin. “Don’t worry, Sam. Make
my strength yours and we’ll make it in the end.”

At this point, Sam was impressed at how mature Pippin’s answer was. Sam felt as if he was becoming
closer to her than he was right now. “Thanks for that.” Sam squeezed out from some confine inside him,
eliciting an airy giggle from Pippin.

“You’re welcome.” Pippin said, alleviating the mood to an upbeat tone. Sam’s breathing felt more
flowing as his shoulders started becoming lighter. “… You’re surprisingly mature, for someone your age.”
Sam spurted out, making Pippin burst to a fluster.
“M-Yeah!” Pippin squeezes out, averting her eyes away from Sam’s and bats her short blonde hair at
him. At that point, Sam took to heart what she said and will come to remember that at least one person
has his back. That reassured him that even a person like him can have a friend. In risky times like his is
where support from friends come in handy.

The gait to the shopping mall was, in a way, peaceful despite this gait to be a walk to demise or their
fortune.

Line

A few moments of scoping over the roads and Vane has reached the mall’s entrance. When they dubbed
the Kishin to Tiger, it can be seen why. Sam surveyed the claw marks scattered from the cement leading
to the mall as Vane passed over them. Pippin’s purple eyes sees the entrance and within, a dark hallway
that is riddled with shards of glass, claw marks that ran deep and bullet shells. Pippin steels herself at
the sight, but Sam felt her hands gripping onto his shoulder. Sam glances back at Sam’s eyes, still
lingering upon the broken doors.

“… Hehe. Not to worry. We’ve got your back, right?” Sam reminds Pippin, his green eyes landing onto
her purple irises. Pippin nods to him in agreement, managing to relax as Sam’s horse clacked hooves
arrive to the entrance. “Right. Let us be off.” Sam says and they both dismount Vane together. Sam sighs
before he pets Vane. “Carrots await for you once I’m done.” Sam says, dangling a reward for Vane and
eliciting a whinny from him. Sam swipes his hand over Vane, and he returns him to black smoke and
evaporates like dust in the wind.

Pippin spectated as Sam talked to Vane, slightly amazed and wierded out that he talked to his own
horse. “Just how rich are you, Sam?”

Sam’s face scorns Pippin’s question as cringey. “Oh, nonsense. Vane’s a hand-me-down, nothing more.”
Sam says, dismissing the appraisal. “Shall we?” Sam says, coming up to the mall’s entrance beside
Pippin. The two of them, meister and weapon, stare down to the mall and its eerie gloom of doom. “…
How cheerful.” Sam surmises the mall’s atmosphere with sarcasm.

Suddenly, a scream echoes and shatters throughout the mall and to their faces. “Yeep!” Pippin squeaks
from the scream, taking a step back from her startle. Sam only shivered from the screen and exhaled
some trapped air in his lungs, gazing at Pippin as she was startled. “W-What?” Pippin chirps with a pout
directed to Sam.

Sam chuckled at the state of Pippin, knees shaking. Sam covers his mouth from exploding in laughter
whereas Pippin went to a fluster and glared at Sam giggling at her. “Y-You! We’re on a mission and
you’re laugh? Now!” Pippin accused him as she flustered to Sam’s face. With each sentence, Sam’s
giggling turned to muffled laughter as the air was squeezed out of him to which Pippin grinded his teeth
in her fluster.

“Hehe Alright. Since I’m such a courteous bastard, how’s about you turn to you weapon form and I’ll belt
you?”

“Er! Sadist.”
“Oi. No time for quarrelin’ and just turn to the whip.” Sam shuts Pippin’s disgust for another day, and
without words, forms into her whip form. Sam glances down to Pippin’s whip form, starting gazing at its
features. Pippin catches him just staring.

“W-What?” She squeaks up to Sam, feeling exposed.

“… with the benefit of hindsight, maybe a whipper isn’t so bad after all.”

“You realize that now?”

“Well, sorry that I was scared of a whip! Jeez.” Sam ticks off at Pippin’s panning, amking as if Sam was a
bit mentally challenged. Without further delay, Sam loops the whip into his palm and grips it tight
before entering the mall. “Maximum effort.” He psyches himself up before descending into the dark
confines of this shopping mall.

His eyes get used to the dark as he traverses through the decrepit hall, barely seeing a thing. Under
Pippin’s watch, Sam sighs before he does a risky move. One slip-up and the entire DWMA might know.
Sam closes his eyes and focuses on channeling his ancestry’s power within. His eyes flash awake,
changed to see in the dark from green to yellow surrounded with the black. Sam sees rubble and
pebbles scattered along the floor, the stores’s window panes reduced to shards and its contents
ransacked and destroyed to messes like the rest of the mall is now.

“… *gulp* you think that the Kishin’s really a tiger?” Pippin whispers to Sam in curiosity as they inched
deeper into the mall. Sam’s ears tense up, ready to act on any small noise or movement that crosses his
senses.

“… I don’t think finding out what the jack-in-the-box is without actually seeing it will help us for
anything, so let’s halt on any queries until further notice.” Sam shut down Pippin’s curiosity, eliciting a
humming nod from her. Sam focused on his power over vision and kept his ears up for anything. Pippin
kept her nerves between the line of readiness and serenity.

Sam stepped lively to the turn where four halls met. Messy design, Sam judged the mall’s interior to be
equal to the stores inside. Hiding behind the wall, Sam stares down one hallway, seeing that none lie in
it then to the next and the next. Seeing only rubble and debris in all of them. “… This mall is turning out
to be a maze, isn’t it?” Sam panned out as he stepped out to the middle of this intersection, which
confused him even more.

“You’re right.” Pippin agrees. “We should have seen a sign of the Kishin by now.”

“Yeah… want to make some noise?” Sam muses, with a small grin to Pippin.

“Are you stupid?!” Pippin blares into Sam’s head, the whip shaking Sam’s hand to meet with his ear.
“What happened to scoping it out first?! We won’t go anywhere near it, are we?!!”

Sam prepares his counterargument. “Firstly, we are going to scope it out, but secondly, we could go
closer to it but should maintain distance. Furthermore, we need to actually know where it is.”

“Egh~ Arguing with you gave me a headache.” Pippin said, the whip drooping into his palm. Sam comes
back to surveying the hallways, finding something different. Then to his right, Sam saw another hallway
that turns to the right. Using his vision, he peers into the hallway to be slightly different. Along to the
second floor, there were webs and scratches that way and the debris were larger than those that they
passed by in the last hallway. “… I think I see something… Stay frosty.”

“Yup.” Pippin assures, and indeed readies herself as Sam, with Pippin in hand, walks to the hallway in
question. The ringing in Sam’s ears gradually rising, making him walk through the hallway closer to the
walls and below the second floor balconies. Sam was being cautious now as he inched closer to danger.

A gulp escapes his throat before Sam passes through the larger debris and takes cover behind it.
Another intersection, Sam looks down to his left, where the webs were splayed along the walls and
balconies. That was where Sam saw it. The webs stuck along like a cylinder and down to a massive hole
that went through the roof, the sun bearing down through it. Within the web were corpses and
carcasses that scattered along the web. Sam deduces that there will be more in the webbed hole.

“okay.” Sam exhales, scratching the nape on his neck, not sure what to do.

“What is it?” Pippin chimes quietly into his head.

“I see a web… seems that there are our hostages.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Pippin turned to Sam as he scoped out the web, taking a peek at it. After
taking a look at it, his eyes wander to many other stores. Specifically, a hardware store. “… how do you
fare with yodelling, Pippin?” Sam asked as he stands up, walking for the shop.

“er… Not much, but I don’t see the point.” Pippin awkwardly says, confused.

“We’re going to holler at the Kishin here.”

“… Err… excuse me?” Pippin squeaks as Sam went towards the shop, no hesitation showing in his step.
“O-Oi! Whatever happened to scoping it out?” Pippin said, her worry outwardly shown by the whip in
Sam’s hand shaking violently and the skull around its pummel glares back at Sam. However, Sam did not
pay attention to her ranting, not even a bit as he dragged out a microphone and some speakers, and
rolled them out the store. “Oi! Are you even listening to me?” Pippin started to raise her voice, the
whip’s skull on the pummel gouging a glaring eye at Sam.

“Yeah, I heard ya.” Sam informed, rubbing his ear hole of any pain. “But at the pace we’re going, we’ll
overshoot our 3-hour mark. Firstly, let’s see if we can get its attention. Yeah?” Sam said, seeing if Pippin
understood.

Pippin relented at the idea, but inevitably nodded after seeing that removing the Kishin was their top
priority. Sam went around the hallway for anything that resembles a plug. After a quick minute, Sam
drags the speaker with mike in hand to a plug he found in the hallway by the funnel web. He plugs it and
places the speaker beside him and places Pippin onto his belt. Plugging the mike into the speaker, Sam is
ready to holler the Kishin to their location.

“I may not be Poland or German myself but I do know what a yodel sounds like. I watch those MeTube
videos about ‘em.”

“Er, yodelling takes more than that, I think.” Pippin pointed out, with a sweatdrop. Sam inhaled,
gathering breath for a good yodel.
“…YOO-ELE-EEE-HOOO!” The speakers vibrate from the sound as it echoed throughout the hall and
beyond. Pippin’s ears tensed at how loud that was. “YO-ELE-YO-ELE-YO-ELE-EEE-HOOO!” Sam once again
yodeled from within his breast, making Pippin’s ears pop from his loudness as he never stopped.

“G-Geez! Were you raised by hard metal fans?!” Pippin shouted, whip wriggling, at Sam and his loud
voice. Sam stopped to answer Pippin’s question.

“Nah. I was just a rowdy kid.” Sam answered straight, making Pippin sweatdrop even more.

Just how are Irish people raised, anyway?

Sam prepared for another good yodel. Until Sam senses something. A quake beneath his shoes. “… You
felt that?” Sam asks Pippin. “Yeah. I felt that.” The both of them had their guards up now, and Sam
focused his sights to where the rumbling xame from. After looking at one hall of shops, his senses were
right as the rumbling sound came from there. “There!” Sam locked his foothold to the ground, his eyes
set for the rumbling sound as it came closer. Sam peers his eyes into the darkness and to the turn to
where the Kishin will be coming out while Pippin just kept her eyes peeled.

Out of the shadows, A figure started to take form. “… Let’s kick its ass, Pippin.”

“Yeah.” Pippin simply replied as the rumbling turned to stomping steps.

Sam caught sight of eyes that pierced through the darkness. He was starting to hear its growls, sounding
like a tiger and he tensed up at it. A grunt and the Kishin hurls a string of web at Sam, prompting him to
evade. “Keh! I’ve seen better throws than that!” Sam belittles the Kishin, annoying it. “Like – SO!” Sam
said, letting loose the whip and hurling it at the Kishin. It dodges the first throw, making Sam scoff at it.
“like – SO!” Sam repeats, hurling the whip at the Kishin multiple times. Sam saw that it still dodged, but
he simply upped the ante by swirling the whip in his throw. The whip swirled as it slicked through the air
and its tips stung the Kishin. Pippin aimed for the Kishin’s limbs, anywhere important and hit its
shoulders and lower torso. The whip’s spikes crack through the bone and flesh, cutting through the
Kishin.

The Kishin sprinted for Sam, sensing that he made holes through it. Sam draws back the whip and swirls
it in the air. Pointing the whip’s handle skyward, Sam swirls the whip high and twisting it to a twister as
the Kishin made its way to him. “… Odd that no blood made it out of you yet.” Sam surmised before
hurling the whip down to the Kishin. The whip bends before cracking the air and through the Kishin’s
head.

Seeing that the walking corpse’s momentum was still directed to him, Sam only steps aside and lets it
trip past him and fall to the ground. Sam stares at the Kishin as it crashed to the floor. Getting a good
look at the Kishin, it was smaller than what Sam expected. The holed Kishin started crumbling inside,
bones cracking before the Kishin withered away into the air, turning back into nothing but ash. Sam
eyed off the ashes before they disappeared.

“… That was anticlimactic.” Pippin panned out the atmosphere, and Sam simplified. “I’d say that’s a job
well done. Wouldn’t you a-“ Sam said before he hears another sound, and craned his head behind him
and into the hallway. “…gree?” Sam’s unfinished sentence peeped out as he stared into the dark hall,
seeing that the Kishin was actually standing above an army of other crony zombies like the first one.
The real Kishin was a cut above the rest, having more muscle. Its mouth jammed with fangs as it glared
at Sam, its tiger-like legs and paws standing upright. Even if it was about ten feet away, its growls can be
heard amidst its horde of sub-Kishins. “*sigh* … ready to take ‘em on with me, Pippin?” Sam says,
channeling his power into Pippin. “Yeah.” She said, harnessing Sam’s power as it seeped into her. Too
much of Sam’s power was poured in, and Pippin improvised.

The whip burst in flame while still maintaining its form, setting it ablaze. To go along, Sam’s unnaturally
blackened eyes caught fire, glaring at the Kishin. The Kishin grinned with its fangs before the horde
howled before rushing to Sam.

Sam hurled his fiery whip at the horde, and it swirls through and cracks open the horde with every
strike. He repeatedly throws the whip at the horde, and striking them on fire, letting none pass him and
not one step back. With every strike the horde burnt and burnt and the fire spread throughout. Sam can
feel his rage set loose as the fire ensued and spread, but he kept on striking. The Kishin, seeing that its
forces were diminished to ash and dust, jumps above Sam in anger. Seeing an opening, Sam draws back
his fiery whip and hurls it at the Kishin. Pippin wraps herself around the Kishin, grappling spikes into him
before Sam pulls it down and crashing it back down to earth. A crater formed into the floor as the Kishin
grunted in pain.

With no time, Sam sprinted to the Kishin to subdue its movement. The Kishin stood on its knees before
Sam quickly banded its neck with the fiery whip and stomping on its back. Mercilessly, Sam tightens the
whip and constricts the Kishin’s windpipe. The Tiger beast struggled below Sam, but he just made the
hold over its neck even tighter to the point where Sam could hear the bones in the Kishin’s neck crack.
“Ng! DIE!” Sam barks down the Kishin, his fiery whip burning through his neck. Pippin sees an opening
and pours Sam’s energy into the Kishin. Its body bursts into flame beneath Sam’s heel and he grimaces
at the sight of its carcass turning into ash before him.

As the Kishin’s insides burnt, Pippin stared at Sam and remarked on his power. It felt more ancient. It
was as if he came from somewhere else. Pippin could only describe it as a meteor shower, or as a giant
asteroid impacting to Earth. “… First job – well done – Pippin.” Sam said with brisk, an exhale with each
pause from lack of breath. “… Yeah.” Pippin squeezes out, just looking onward to Sam. How his eyes
blazed like the whip, withheld anger emanating from him that could not be visible from his icy glaring
face alone. It loomed over him like a cloud, to which he made himself simply by breathing. It seemed to
dissipate with every breath Sam continued to inhale, along with the raging fire that once seeped into
Pippin both from his eyes and from the whip, returning them both to their former state.

“Fooooo~” Sam exhaled through his mouth, letting the steam escape him. His eyes wander to the
Kishin’s smoking corpse. From its chest rises a ball of red, its demonic aura swirling like fire. “… The fuck
is that then?” Sam barks at the sight, pointing to the demonic ball.

“Oh! My turn.” Pippin chirps before manifesting to her human form. She scurries to crouch by the ball.
Sam eyes her looking at it before she grabs it. “Ahh~” Pippin opens her mouth and chomps onto the
Kishin in one gulp. Finishing it off, Sam stands there absolutely dumbfounded by the display he was
seeing before him. “Right.” Pippin dusts off the germs from that Kishin as she stood and turned to Sam,
still dumbly astonished by what she did. “W-What? Weapons need to take souls for us to become
stronger. Don’t roll your eyes away from me.”
“… I’m… not, though.” Sam says slowly, his brain processes just as fast as a snail to everything and how
Pippin just ate a demon soul. Sam stays silent as his astonishment is clear from his face alone. Like an
idiot. He shakes off his small disgust and, “Right. Let’s get going and get those Jerries in here.” with a
mustered poker face as he walks away. Pippin lags behind him, dusting off the dirt on her legs. With
that, the meister and weapon make their merry way.

Line

“Now, that was an adventure. Wasn’t it, kids?” Lord Death spouts, a grin beneath the skull mask, toward
both Sam and Pippin. After their ‘small’ errand in Germany, they were so tired and their groans were
starting to drip from their voices.

“We just came back from halfway around the world, Death.” Pippin lazily retorted, feeling the tiredness
impacting her entire being. “I think we deserve something more than just thanks.” Pippin pans out, but
her groan was left unchecked so it flowed out until it was empty.

“Yeah.” Sam agrees. “I think we deserve a day’s rest, milord.”

“*sigh* Fine. I guess you kids did do me a solid.” Death reluctantly admits defeat. Sam and Pippin give
each other a grimacing stare before they high-five each other. They walk away, leaving Lord Death to
mumble. “Fine. Oh! And Pippin!” Lord Death reached out, and Pippin looked back to him and sam;s step
lags before awaiting Pippin. “All of your things have been moved to his place. Kinda forgot to tell you
that meisters and weapons are to be living together.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Sam and Pippin blankly said simultaneously to Death, and the principal staggers in surprise. “Oh? I
thought that you two will have a more dramatic reaction.” Upon Death’s guess, Sam and Pippin give
each other a glance before their brows furrow a wrinkle at each other.

“Yeah, it would be grand if she were to bunk up with me.” Sam openly admitted, granting a blush onto
Pippin’s cheeks. Gathering composure, Pippin placed one hand on her hips as she batted her blonde hair
behind her at Sam’s direction.

“Oh, ya think? You should be graced with the presence of one such as I.” Pippin haughtily said towards
Sam.

“Right then, yer Majesty.” Sam complimented as he walked away, hiding the sarcasm on his face. “We’ll
be leaving then, milord.” Sam waved as he walked. “Let us be off, Pippin.” Calling for her, Pippin catches
up to Sam and they walk side-by-side through the gateways. Lord Death just looks on to the two with a
smile on his face, feeling high on himself that Pippin Sloan now has one friend on her list. It was clear
when Pippin was jovially talking, smiling along with Sam as they walked away from him and out of
Death’s room.

In his eyes, a year after Asura’s death, this was a step in the right direction.

“Now” Pippin states, wagging an index finger around Sam in their step. “, since I, a pretty girl, will be
staying with you, a boy, let’s establish some rules.” Pippin states and Sam hummingly nods at her.
Samuel just dumbly listened under a grimace. If he tried hard, he heard something about cleanliness and
toilets. Two very different things that aren’t even on the same level, Sam thought as he itched a digit by
his cheek.

Being honest with himself, Sam was feeling lighter than he was in his hometown. And this was going to
be a good year until the coming plague his village will come to face.