Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Six: Ice Cream With The Ice Queen

When Minazuki wakes up, he sees he sees it's early in the morning and Leone is still sleeping, cuddling with one of her many pillows. Minazuki heads downstairs, leaving his mask and Quake behind. When he reaches the training yard, he sees Tatsumi and Akame sparring. It seems Akame has come out victorious once again as Tatsumi rises from the dirt and says, "Again! I want to go again!" "You've lost five times now, isn't it about time you take a break?", Akame replies with a cold look. Tatsumi lifts his wooden sword while saying, "Why would I need a break? I don't have time for breaks. I need to get stronger so I can help protect everyone! I'm not losing anyone else like I did Sayo and Ieyasu! Now come at me AGAIN!!!" He rushes toward her, ready to start another round, but Minazuki quickly moves in to intercept him. He's surprised to see Bulat has done the same thing. Minazuki quickly disarms Tatsumi as Bulat punches him in the face, sending him flying back on his ass. "Minazuki? Bro? What are you-", Tatsumi begins to ask before he's cut off by Minazuki putting the blade to Tatsumi's neck and saying, "You should always stay aware of your surroundings. Treat even simple sparring sessions like a real battle, otherwise they're meaningless." "You never know when an enemy will attack or where they'll attack from, so you should always be on your guard in a real fight, Tatsumi.", Bulat adds as he crosses his arms. Tatsumi pulls himself off the ground again with a burning fire in his eyes that both Bulat and Minazuki can both see. "What's with you? You seem more determined than usual, Tatsumi.", Bulat says with a confused look. Tatsumi wipes the blood from his lip and says, "I have to hurry and get stronger. I made a promise to Akame, that I wouldn't make her worry about me in battle and that I'd always come back alive. And to do that, I have to get stronger! I will survive, no matter what!!!" As she hears this, Akame's face turns a bright pink and a smile comes across it. "You sure have grown! You're talking like a real man now!", Bulat praises him with a pat on the back. "How about this, you, me and Minazuki here all go and hangout? We can go into the mountains and train, like men! What do ya say? Interested?", Bulat suggests with a grin and a thumb up. "Bro, that'd be awesome!!!", Tatsumi shouts with a fascinated look on his face. "Come on Minazuki, Tatsumi! Our destination is the mountains to the north east! We'll hunt various danger beasts like real men! Let's go!", Bulat shouts as he grabs his spear off the nearby weapon rack. "Yeah, I'm right behind you, Bro!", Tatsumi shouts as he follows close behind Bulat. "You're coming, right Minazuki?", Bulat asks with a smile. Minazuki sighs before saying, "Let me grab my things. I'll be down in a moment." Minazuki quickly runs upstairs to his room and sneaks inside to retrieve his equipment. But when he opens the door, he sees Leone snooping through his bag, though she hasn't noticed him yet. He clears his throat with a cough, causing her to jump and say, "I wasn't doing anything, I swear!" He just walks over to his bag and pulls out his mask and Quake before saying, "I don't care if you rummage through my things, as long as you put everything back where it belongs, understood?" She nervously laughs it off before thinking, "At least he's not mad about it. I just wanted to see if he had any booze in there." As he goes to zip up his bag, she see a bottle inside and quickly snags it while asking, "Oh, what's this~" It's a glass bottle with a cork keeping it shut, but there isn't a label saying what it is. Minazuki snags it from her hands and pops it open with his thumb. As soon as the cork comes off, the scent of strong liquor fills the room. He points the top of the bottle at her and says, "It's probably the strongest alcohol you'll ever have in your life. It's strong enough to put a man twice the size of the Prime Minister on his ass with just a sip." She starts reach for the bottle, but he just puts the cork back in and shoves it in his bag before saying, "I'm saving it for when this is all over. That way I can forget all this and pretend it never happened." He zips up the bag before heading to the door and saying, "I'm heading out with Bulat and Tatsumi. I don't know when we'll be back, so let the boss know that we'll be somewhere in the north east mountains training." Leone just sighs and says, "That smelled really good too. Can I just have a little sip?" He glares at her before saying, "Just leave it be. When this war is over, maybe I'll let you have some." He puts on his dark brown jacket that was hanging on the back of the door and heads out the door. As he leaves the room, Leone goes to snag the drink, but decides against it, thinking, "If he wants to save that for later, then it probably means an whole lot to him. I'll just follow my instincts and keep my hands off it, for now at least."