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I am Ichiro Hamada, 19, and a ninja assassin for Gen Yamashita. I used to swoop into military convoys and containment units and sliced them down with my katana, and I sometimes fired my silenced pistol with zombie virus-laced bullets or fired my arrows at them with my bow. I was brutal back on those dark days. I was called the "Demon Ninja" by the government. I also a handheld voice changer on my bulletproof vest to broadcast terror on my targets in a demonic-like voice before ending them. I still remembered how the heads of my enemies in green military attire rolled down the blood-slicked pavements, one of the things I get haunted every day.
Now, with my bullets cleaned up, I had regretted everything I had done to humanity, like every were in the YKY. In my tactical vest pouch, my red A6-sized agenda journal, which contained my kill counts per day and notes on the city map, mocked me on my atrocities. To be honest, I wanted to throw that book into the incinerator, yet I did not. It becomes a cross (as Shu had once remarked) for me to bear.
But seeing how Shu-kun suffered as much as I am, I was motivated to atone for my sins and started turning on the zombies and slaughtered them down. I used my voice changer on these infected undead to recite my vows of atonement before striking them down. "Hear me, biological victims of the undead…" I bellowed at the twitching zombies while raising my katana up high while my feet are on the roof of a ruined sedan, "…I shall give you rest from this life of suffering brought by my own hand!"
I then descended down to the horde and started dancing around with my katana and combat skills as the Demon Ninja.
SLASHED! SLICED!
Heads of the undead sent flying around, and limbs got slashed and sliced up.
THWIP! THWIP!
Some of chests were holed by my silenced pistol, rendering them dead.
This morning, it was 9:28 a.m. when I cleared that block full of zombies. I also did a prayer for all the fallen military personnel and survivors in this block.
I wrote down the approximate number zombies I had slaughtered in this block, before flipping through the previous pages of my former kill counts, where red inked-apologies filled half the margins of each page. Lines like "I am sorry" and "forgive me" are among the most repeated lines in red ink alongside others like:
"I will use my blade for good…"
"I will do your unfinished business for you…"
"My life will be filled with service and less for myself…"
I know writing one's name in red ink is taboo here in Japan, but I chose that ink color as a sign of my atonement. I still remembered that digital photo of Shu-kun's notebook entry that was like an epitaph for a tombstone. We were ghosts bound by our own sins, but we were determined to claw our way back from the abyss.
With these, I continued my patrol duties against the zombies in this area. I was still part of the YKY, and I would be a brother to Shu as well. I also planned to regroup with Shu and the others.