SHIN SEKAI: SPARK OF THE NEW WORLD

A new friend

   When your life is weird enough that travelling half across the world by sea in a single morning doesn't freak you out, you know you need a break. But unfortunately for Shiro, the weirdness of his life doesn't allow for breaks either.

   As he laid on his bed to get some extra shut-eye, someone knocked on the front door of his house. He was too lazy to answer it and remained on his bed whining about it.

   "Oh, come on" he lamented

   "I just got back"

   "Can't someone just let me sleep in peace"

   "Even if it is just five minutes"

   Soon the knocking stopped and it was then that Shiro remembered that he had left the door open.

   "Oh, shit"

   By the time he realized what was going on, there was a stranger in his room and he was jumping out the window.

   "What's with the grin?" Shiro wondered as he looked back at the crazy looking guy that was after him.

   "Do these guys ever get tired?" He asked as he kept running.

   Shiro ran until the was far enough from him house and in an open area, then he waited for his pursuer to arrive

   As soon as the crazy guy came into view, Shiro felt a tap on his shoulder.

   "Hello, Anderson" a familiar voice said. Shiro turned around and saw Andrew.

   "What's up, Clipper" he replied.

   "Nothing much" Andrew answered

   "I'm here for the test" 

   "What test?" Shiro asked, wondering if there was any time he planned a test then the realization him.

   "Oh" he said

   "Orie sent you, didn't he?" He asked and Andrew replied "yes"

   "Well" Shiro said

   "For today's test..."

   "...beat up that crazy looking guy over there" he said, pointing to the guy that was just arriving.

   "You mean the one that looks like he obviously wants to kill you?" Andrew asked

   "Yes, that one" Shiro answered

   "Why don't you take him out yourself?" Andrew asked

   "He looks more like your problem than mine" he added

   "You wanna pass the test or not?" Shiro asked with a straight face

   "Yes of course" Andrew replied as he readied himself for battle.

   The enemy wasted no time in making the first move and going after Shiro. His dash was straight forward, fast, and full of killing intent. The blade in his hand was sharp and his swing went straight for Shiro's neck. But right before he could connect the attack, a gust of wind sent him flying to the side.

   The wonder in his mind was not for the gust of wind that pushed him away but for the young man that stood still and looked him in the eyes as he tried to make his move. 

   "Who smiles like that?" He wondered as he got from his fall. Then he turned his gaze to the one who hit him with the gust of wind.

   "I'll kill that one first"

   

   Andrew returned his opponent's gaze with a smile and took a stance. A gale surrounded his hands as he clenched his fists, a vortex of wind covered his feet as he spread them apart, and almost instantly after he took the first step, he landed a direct hit on the enemy's face. 

   Shiro was impressed by the move but he felt that something was off. Instead of continuing the attack, Andrew began to slowly back away from his opponent. Soon he noticed that blood was dripping from Andrew's hand, the same hand that he used to punch his opponent in the face.

   As the enemy stood up, Shiro got looked at his face and realized why Andrew's hand was bleeding.

   "Oh, I know this guy" he said

   "Kebab..." He added

   "Kebab the shredder"

   The name "Kebab the shredder" is one that makes everyone in the world of bounty hunters take a step back and think. With the exception of his nasty attitude, the reason people distance themselves from him was that he could pull out blades from any part of his body. 

   "The guy is like a porcupine" they say. And he was mostly known for cutting his targets to pieces; hardly recognizable pieces. They also said he could breath fire.

   Shiro called out to Andrew and told him to be careful.

   "He can bring out blades from all parts of his body" he said out loud.

   "Yeah, I can see that" Andrew replied

   "So how do I beat him?" He asked

   "Well I don't know" answered

   "Just don't let him hit you" 

   "Oh, great" Andrew said as he sighted Kebab coming towards him. This, time there were many short blades on his hand and Andrew knew that he should let those hands touch him.

   Kebab got close and threw a punch and Andrew was quick to evade, or at least he thought he was. As he distanced himself from the crazy knife guy, he noticed that there was a little more than a scratch on this face. A second attack came and the same thing happened. And it kept happening; everytime Kebab launched an attack and felt that he had fully evaded it, he discovered that it wasn't the case. This kept happening until Andrew began noticing that the blades grew longer at the instant of the attacks.

   "So that's how he does it" Andrew said with a smile.

   "Hmm"

   Before Kebab could launch his next attack, Andrew suddenly vanished from his sight. The next thing he saw was Andrew beside him ready to throw a punch.

   "They never learn, do they?" He said to himself

   "You're only going to hurt yourself" he said in his thoughts as he looked at Andrew.

   Andrew threw his fist hard but stopped right before it hit Kebab in the face and instantly, a strong wind blew in the direction of the punch a sent his opponent flying. Kebab was quick to recover but Andrew was quicker to launch his next attack and the direction of the punch this time was down.

   Kebab managed to move out of the way but Andrew was quick to follow him and launch the next attack. His fists were not punching directly but he could still land hits on his enemy.

   Though it appeared to be the case that Andrew had the upper hand, it wasn't. All his hits connected but their impact was minimal. He was also running out of energy and his opponent knew this.

   Kebab withstood the attacks and patiently waited for his chance. The attacks from Andrew were bearable even though they were very annoying. He knew that if he waited for the strength of the winds to reduce, we could easily win, and he waited.

   It wasn't long before Kebab saw his chance. A little misfire from Andrew mixed the realization of his loss of power gave Kebab enough time to close the distance between them.

   Andrew gave up. He was exhausted and had no energy left to defend himself. He could not think of anyway he could get himself out of such situation. All he could do was think about the inevitable.

   "THE TEST IS OVER" said a familiar voice that Andrew seemed to have forgotten. By the time he realized what was going on, lightning struck down the enemy before him and sent him to the ground.

   "Oh" he said in realization

   "I forgot Shiro was here"

   "What exactly was the test anyway?" Andrew wondered but didn't ask about it. Shiro told him that he passed and that was all he knew. 

   As what happened after that, they met up with the rest of the crew and had fun for the rest of the day. Shiro was the one paying, with Dave's card of course.

   As for Kebab the shredder, he was left to the mercy of whichever hunter that was lucky enough to come across him and collect the bounty on his head.

   SHIN SEKAI SECRET: Orie and Shiro both have a similar style of fighting. This is mostly because Orie was the one that taught Shiro how to fight.