CHAPTER 6: PAIN IS JUST A MINDSET.

"R.. Rokuro!" The Whisper gets louder as it’s stilt like arms fall back to the ground.

I blocked it’s attack somehow and it seems like it doesn’t know how to react to what just happened. This is my opportunity to attack it so that I can make it back to the shop in one piece.

I swang the wrench with as much force as I could muster, smashing it into its shoulder. A strange sound came out from it before I could feel this sharp pain in my gut.

I don’t want Ghost to die from these monsters and I especially don’t want to die to them... Pain is just a mindset, I can do it.

Ignoring the pain in my gut I lift the wrench up once more and slam it down into the whisperspawns skull. Crack! I can hear the crack of its skull before it falls backwards.

Thud! The damn things long sharp claw ripped out of my gut before it hit the ground.

It really tried to call out my name before I could strike it the first time, why would it do that? A pointless thing to do while I’m already fighting against them.

But my mind scattered as a cold, wet pressure bloomed in my gut, too slow to be adrenaline, too warm to be anything but...

Blood.

My blood.

I looked down and saw the thick, dark crimson trickled out around the wound, soaking my shirt and slipping past my belt in sluggish streams. Each drop hit the floor with a soft, sick rhythm. tap... tap... tap... like some hellish metronome.

I staggered, hand pressed tight to the wound, but the pain flared sharp and electric, cutting through the fog in my head like lightning. It was the kind of pain that made you forget your own name for a second.

"Shit..." I hissed, knees buckling as the world tilted.

Not one, but two wounds from these low ranking monsters. But what does rank matter when I’m not even strong enough to be given a rank. Talentless garbage who is destined to die in this godforsaken world.

"Rokuro! I’ll get you back to the shop..." Ghost shouts from behind me.

I knew she didn’t run back but she got lucky that they wanted me and me alone. It’s rare that such monsters would leave someone alone while there’s two of them.

This cyborg has been full of surprises so far, I should’ve known that she was close still when I didn’t hear her running. She hasn’t mastered the use of everything enough to be silent with it so she’d be pretty loud.

It didn’t matter since my body hit the ground before I could react any further. Everything was getting darker around me, maybe it was better off this way.

Death wasn’t something that scared me when this all started, it was the loss of my sister that made everything so awful. She was the one who made life a bit more bearable.

What a terrible last thought to have.

The last thing I heard was Ghost’s voice barely cutting through the whispers and static in my skull.

Then...

Nothing.

Just black.

A faint hum.

I didn’t hear anymore whispers or anything scattering about, only the eerie buzzing, a buzzing I was all too familiar with. I was back in my shop...?

My eyes cracked open. The sharp fluorescent glow above stung like needles, and my whole body felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry on rusted wire. The taste of copper still lingered in my mouth.

Ghost, she had to have dragged me back to the shop. She was the last thing I heard before everything went dark and silent around me.

I moved to sit up, and a bolt of pain screamed through my stomach. My hand flew to the bandages, rough, haphazard, soaked through in places but tight enough to keep me alive.

She actually patched me up, even if it’s a bit sloppy. The pain was still lingering in my gut from where that asshole stabbed me but at least I’m alive.

I thought for sure that the wounds would’ve been way too fatal for me to get back up again. Especially from the blood I saw...

Looking up from my wounds I saw Ghost sitting at my side, she appeared to be resting.

Cyborgs... I need to stop thinking of her like this since she seems to act more like a human. Is it safe to say that I owe her now or does this just make up for my repairs I did on her?

Gah, this damn pain is irritating. Working on anything is going to take a lot longer than usual with these kinds of injuries.

It’s definitely different waking up on the very table that I worked on with all my projects.

I watched as ghost lifted her head and let out a yawn. "R-R-Rokuro!" She shouts with relief as she realizes that I’m up.

I felt her wrap her arms around me lightly as the tears went down her face. This warm feeling was something that I didn’t think existed anymore.

The warmth of someone, a person who isn’t even a real human, it’s something I can’t ignore. Even with her hugging me I could feel a bit of the pain but it was bearable.

Pain is just a mindset, pain is just a mindset. There’s no reason for me to let it interfere with my work or with any developments with Ghost.

I’m definitely shocked that she cares about me like this when she hasn’t been with me that long yet. She only woke up here a bit ago after I got her hooked up to the computer.

She’s like me in one way, death can’t seem to take us.

Death. Something that has followed me since birth. My grandparents, my parents, and eventually Minami.

Yet.

Death won’t claim me.

I’ll figure out why God wants me here so badly one day... He could’ve at least given me a damn talent, magic, something.