Saikō no Chitsujo

Chapter 6: The Search Begins

“Good work everyone.” Najenda stated to the resting Akame, Hijiri and Lubbock. Hijiri groaned and rolled over to face down on the couch, his unusually sweaty back a source of concern for his teammates.
“Hijiri-san, to think you would beat Esdeath. I can imagine the look on her face after she got her ass kicked.” Mine laughed, earning a weak thumbs up from Hijiri, his hands dropping lazily afterwards. He sat up and drank a glass of water, raising a brow at the concerned glances of his colleagues.
“You sure you’re ok, Hijiri?” Leone asked, placing the top of her hand on his forehead as she flopped on the couch beside him.
He leaned forward with a sigh, replying tiredly. “I just need to get some rest and I’ll be ok. Besides, we have a bigger problem.”
“To think that the strongest of the Supreme order would be on the empire’s side.” Tatsumi stated solemnly.
“Huh?!” The Night raid turned to Hijiri, surprised at his sudden exclamation. “Who the hell are you calling the strongest?!”
“Uh…that’s what you said, right?” A confused Tatsumi stuttered. Turning with a frown, Hijiri spotted Lubbock whistling shadily at the corner of the room.
“Tch…there is no weaker or stronger one in the Order in the terms of power. It all depends on skill and experience and in that Arata and I are about equal.” Hijiri ruffled his hair in annoyance, “…and there’s the oath we took to never battle each other.” He leaned back, resting his arm on Leone’s shoulder.
“Rest up you three, we’ll figure something out later.” Najenda sighed, dismissing the assassins.
“I’ll head in first.” Hijiri muttered, rising from the couch.
                 …
 
Arata strolled around the camp, unconsciously searching for the absent Esdeath. Upon reaching the cliff that oversaw the entire encampment, he spotted her slender and beautiful figure, the moonlight reflecting off her light blue hair.
“Can I help you, Arata-sama?” She asked, her cold tone freezing Arata in place. Walking slowly to stand beside her, Arata said. “No, I was simply wondering where you were. But never would have I had imagined that you would be up here brooding.”
“I’m just contemplating everything that happened today.” Esdeath said with a sigh, rubbing her left arm.
“Does your body still ache?” Arata asked, glancing from his nightshirt to her gown.
“It’ll pass.” She said quietly, earning a slight frown from Arata. Sighing, he patted Esdeath’s shoulder and turned away. “Be sure to get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow.”
                            …

“Couldn’t sleep?” Leone playfully asked Hijiri as he climbed the roof.
“Nah…. I’ve slept enough.” He replied, taking a seat beside her.  The two sat in comfortable silence, Hijiri’s slightly tense posture easing. Stealing another glance at him, Leone poked Hijiri’s arm. “Has your body cooled down a bit?” He raised a brow at her, chuckling afterwards.
“I didn’t think you’ll remember or bring it up.” He smiled wistfully and turned away, gazing at the starry night sky. Staring at Hijiri until he turned to her, Leone flicked him on the forehead, gaining a baffled expression.
“Of course I would remember, even Akame’s been bothering me about it since you returned and it’s never been this bad.” Leone held his tired gaze, searching. She knew what she wanted to or rather, needed to find. Of course she considered the ever-playful attitude of his as a mask, the guy talked about the death of his entire tribe like it was an event where he was simply a spectator and had nothing to do with it.
Hijiri had his issues too… yes, she could tell, but Leone wished he would share just a little of his worries as well. She wasn’t completely sure why she wished for this, but one thing she did know was that if Hijiri could rely on her, she would be pleased.
But I bet he’d spill everything to the boss if she asked. Leone jerked in surprise at her covetous feelings.
“I’m sorry for worrying you.” Hijiri’s quiet voice interrupted her train of thought, as she turned to him, surprised. “Was it that bad?” He questioned playfully, staring at Leone’s baffled expression.
“N-no…I just…” Leone paused as she noticed Hijiri’s smug smile. She stuck her tongue out playfully and turned away with a huff. Her emotions switched from surprise to a form of satisfaction as Hijiri’s rich baritone laughter rang out through the night.
“Thanks…I really needed that.”
“So you can be really honest when it counts, well it can’t be helped. After all that’s one of the reasons I like you.” The two sat in a comfortable silence, smiles on both faces.
“I was berserk for… I dunno, two or three days, just going from camp to camp killing anyone who tried to pick a fight with me.”
“Are you talking about after the massacre?” Leone’s face fell at his statement.
“Yeah. I’m not sorry for it, it’s not an excuse but in the end, I wasn’t the only one to blame.”
Leone glanced at Hijiri, solemn expressions replacing the previous melancholy. “What do you mean you weren’t the only one to blame?”
HO. TO THINK YOU’VE BECOME SO TRUSTING.
Hijiri sighed, locking eyes with Leone and gesturing to his right arm, he muttered. “The demon bastard that’s part of me.” Leone blinked, confused. “Huh?”
“That’s the drawback for my ability. I get far stronger and faster, but my bloodlust grows. I’ve been able to suppress it most of the time but sometimes, like during the fight with Esdeath, I drew out too much of its power and it started to leak out.”
He leaned back and laid on the roof, his hands holding up his head. She stared down, gathering her bizarre thoughts before facing him.
“It’s just as you said, you did it so there’s no use in drowning yourself in guilt or playing the role of the tragic hero. Just do what I do… eat, drink, sleep and have as much fun as you can.”
“Wow, just how do you come up with such brilliant advice, Leone-sama?”
Leone laid beside him, smirking. “When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you just know these things.”
“Is that so?”
There it was again, the silence that bordered between comfortable and awkward. The two didn’t seem to mind it, rather to them it showed just how much of themselves had been bared out before the other.
“But if you do go berserk again, I’ll stop you myself.” Leone said quietly. Hijiri smiled, contented as he shut his eyes.
He sluggishly rose from his bed, a dull throb running through his right arm as he slowly clenched and opened it. Running his hand through his bed hair, he walked towards the voices and ran into Najenda, Akame and Leone in the common room.
“Morning Hijiri.” Najenda greeted with a smile.
“Yea… morning Najenda.” Hijiri yawned, waving sluggishly.
“I was just telling Akame how soon I’m planning on tossing you back into the fray.”
“I was wondering when we would start the search.”
“Before that…” Najenda interjected. “…can you give us a little hint on how you plan to track them down.” Hijiri gestured to the common room and stated. “They went into hiding after their clansmen were massacred, but I’ve been keeping tabs on them long before I came in contact with Night raid, so I’ll track ‘em down.”
“That’s good. I don’t mean to strain you, but the earlier we find them before the Empire does, the better.” Najenda stated. Scratching the back of his head, Hijiri waved it off. “Nah… I totally get it. Who’s assisting me this time?”
“I will join you Hijiri-san, but only on the condition that I can spar with you whenever I request.” Akame stated, standing beside Najenda.
“Oh, so you finally recognized your big brother’s skill huh?” Hijiri grinned smugly at Akame’s nod.
“I’ll accompany Hijiri too.” Leone’s smirk changed to a misty-eyed expression as Najenda smacked the top of her head with her mechanical arm.
“You’re supposed to be on your way to meet the contact.” Najenda folded her arms, frowning.
“Huh? Is there an issue?” Hijiri asked, brow raised.
“Some of our imperial arms that were being transported have been highjacked, so Leone and a small group will observe another transport to move in a few days from now.”
… Do they have anything to do with that group who kept popping up everywhere we operated? Hijiri pondered, his hand on his jaw. “Anyway…” Hijiri looked up at Najenda, who said, “…Tatsumi will be the other person to accompany you this time.”
Nodding and turning to Akame, Hijiri said. “Get Tatsumi and let’s head out.”