Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Forty Five: Kill the Sister

Early in the morning, Tatsumi and the other members of Night Raid are having breakfast together. "Man, this sucks..! When I woke up, you guys were already back and the mission was already over.", Tatsumi says to himself in disappointment. Leone snickers at him before saying, "Even if you were awake, we would've just left you behind." Minazuki glances up from his bowl of noodles before saying, "Your Melding isn't like any of ours. If you continue to transform without finishing your Melding, Tyrant will overpower your consciousness. If that happens, you'll die. So, I'd suggest you take some time away from the battlefield and try to understand your other half to a greater extent to prevent your certain death.", which causes the boy to sit there in a combination of fear and despair. Esdeath, who's eating a piece of sweet chocolate pudding cake, looks over to Tatsumi and says, "I believe in your skill, Tatsumi. You'll prevail, I'm certain." "E-esdeath..?", he asks nervously as he smiles at him. She simply snickers to herself before saying, "You're strong, not just physically, but also mentally. I believe if anyone were to be able to go through this and live, it'd be you. Since I first saw you, you've improved so much. It's truly astonishing." "Esdeath has a point. You've really changed for the better, Tatsumi. Bulat would be proud of you.", Sheele suggests as she smiles to him from across the table. With this, Tatsumi smiles before eating a piece of bread. After a few bites, Chelsea sighs before saying, "You're upset they left without you? I haven't been able to go on a mission in months! I've been stuck here at the base doing nothing but cleaning with Susanoo. Do you know how boring it is to play a secondary maid?" This causes Tatsumi to laugh, earning a smile from the rest of the team. He looks down at his plate with a saddened look before saying, "It's just...it feels like everyone's working their asses off, but I'm just left sitting here twiddling my thumbs, doing nothing." To his surprise, he feels a gentle hand touch his head and pat his hair, and when he looks up he sees it's Najenda. "B-boss..?", he asks in disbelief at the sight of her kind smile. "Don't worry, Tatsumi, when the war comes there'll be plenty of work to be done. For now, just wait. We can't risk losing you, not at such a vital point in the war.", she says in a oddly kind way, causing him to smile. "You were badly damaged after the events at the execution platform, and dealing with the last of Wild Hunt probably didn't help much.", Akame says before standing up from her seat. She picks up her tray of food and leaves the room, heading to her room after saying, "Thanks for the meal, Suu." As she disappears into the hallway, Tatsumi looks on with a confused tilt of his head. "Looks like the pressure's really getting to her. I never thought I'd ever see Akame like that...", Lubbock says as he continues to mix his drink. Susanoo nods and replies with, "It seems even the most well trained assassin is still human in the end." "Well, that's to be expected. Her mind's focused on her sister.", Budo points out before cutting into a thick, juicy steak. "Yeah, she's meeting Kurome tonight. I hope she's prepared to do what she must.", Esdeath replies as she holds her head up with one hand and stirs her drink with its straw. Tatsumi looks over to Najenda before asking her, "And she's doing this with your permission, right?", to which she nods. "Kurome was one of our original targets, along with the rest of the Jaegers. If we can remove her from the Empire, then their ability to assassinate our key players falls significantly. Though, if I'm being honest, Kurome's presence in her current condition is less than likly to be much of a defining factor in the coming battle, but we simply can't allow our Supreme Commander to be assassinated. We have to force this situation to eliminate her. That's the cruel reality we find ourselves in.", Najenda explains with a saddened glance. Tatsumi seems to give her an equally sad look before asking, "But, why would you send her of all people? She's Akame's sister!" Najenda lets out a sigh before saying, "When Akame joined the Revolution, she did so under very strict conditions. But out of all those things, one rained supreme over them all." She raises a finger and says, "I want to be allowed to act according to my own discretion regarding anything involving my little sister. Those were her exact words. Now, it appears as if the time has finally come, so I gave her my blessing." Tatsumi then turns to the rest of Night Raid and asks, "And what about you guys?" Leone simply crosses her arms and says, "Let her do what she wants. Whether she kills Kurome or saves her, it doesn't matter to me in the slightest. No matter what, I'll do anything and everything I can to help Akame." "And if she does find some way to save her, the Revolution will not pursue her for her crimes and Akame will be responsible for looking over her. That was officially approved last night by the Supreme Commander. This is all according to Akame's wishes for her sister.", Najenda adds as she lights herself a cigarette. "This whole time, Akame's been working nonstop for this very moment. She knew this moment would come...", Minazuki points out, causing Tatsumi to clench his fist. Under his breath, Tatsumi mutters, "..Then..Akame is...", but before he can finish, Minazuki says, "She isn't going to eliminate a threat to the Revolution, she's going to fight a one-on-one battle with her sister. No sides are involved, no outside interference are in the question, simply two warriors' souls clashing. Maybe...maybe this way she'll be able to reach Kurome's heart and finish all this without being forced to kill her..." Leone simply shrugs before saying, "Like I said, even if she tries to save her, we're okay with that. If she helps her, then Kurome won't be a part of the Imperial Army, and that works in our favor. But Tatsumi, you should go into this knowing that her sister will more than likely refuse any kind of help and there'll be no other option but to kill each other. If Akame really could've convinced her so easily, she wouldn't have needed to go so far to meet Kurome alone." "Exactly. All we can do now is support Akame no matter what the outcome is. That's all we can really do now.", Sheele adds before taking a sip from her water. Minazuki nods in response before saying, "And that's exactly what we're prepared to do. Akame knows what she's doing." This causes Tatsumi to grab his chin, thinking heavily about this situation before Chelsea brings him back to reality by saying, "You shouldn't be so eager to rush head first into this kind of fight, Tatsumi. You should try to keep your nose out of her personal business." "That's not it..!", Tatsumi suddenly exclaims, earning everyone's attention. He clenches his fist and passionately says, "I share the same feelings as you guys. Whatever Akame has decided on, no matter what the outcome, I'm going to do whatever it takes to help her in anyway I can!" This surprises everyone and even causes Najenda and Minazuki to grin. "Tatsumi...you've grown up so much...if he was as he was when he first joined Night Raid, he would've shouted about how we should stop her and how we need to talk her out of it... But now, he's come to realize that this outcome was inevitable...", Najenda think before looking down at her drink and continuing to think, "I guess that's what you call maturing... or so they say. I just want to hurry and bring this all to an end... this entire disturbing era."