Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Forty Seven: The Brink of War

It's roughly noon as all the members of Night Raid and their four Godly allies sit around the large dinner table. The table is covered in all kinds of foods and drinks for all of them to enjoy. "Let's enjoy today while it lasts and just kick back and cut loose for the rest of the day.", Najenda says as she pours herself a drink from a bottle of sake. Leone greedily rubs her hands together as she says, "Damn, Su, you went all out on this meal!!!" "Yeah Su, you're the best!!", Tatsumi exclaims before he starts digging into a bowl overflowing with white rice. As the boy shovels the rice goodness into his mouth, he starts to choke and Lubbock suddenly panics, somewhat drunk, and starts to pound on Tatsumi's chest, drunkenly shouting, "Don't worry, Tatsumi! I'll save you!!! Just stay with us bro!!" He nearly crushes Tatsumi in his drunken state before saving the boy's life, causing him to cough uncontrollably. "What the hell, Lub!? I could handle that!! It was just some rice!!!", Tatsumi exclaims before punching Lubbock on the top of his head. Lubbock gets in his face and slurs, "Hay, I sush shavd your lefe!! You shuld be greetful!!" As the two boys bicker back and forth over who was really at fault, Chelsea and Sheele snicker at them. "It's always something with those two. Jeez, what kids.", Chelsea says as she goes back to her piece of cake. Sheele just smiles through it all and says, "It's just how those two express their feelings to one another. Boys are quite complicated.", before taking a sip from her shot glass. On the other side of the table, Leone is downing bottle after bottle of alcohol, taking only a short moment to say, "This is what I'm talkin about~ Hell yeah!!" "I don't know if you should drink that much, Leone. You might end up with a hangover.", Minazuki says and she only smiles at him. She gets mere inches from his face and she says, "That's the fun part of drinking this early, Partner. You don't have to deal with the hangover in the morning. You just deal with it in the afternoon and sleep it off~ Besides, your girlfriend is getting hammered! You should be enjoying the benefits while they last~", as she presses her chest against his. "You all should drink up. I don't want to see a single drop of booze left in any bottle once we're done.", Najenda adds with a smirk on her face as she downs another glass of alcohol. "See, even the Boss thinks it's a good idea! Now drink up, Partner~", Leone says as she hands Minazuki a bottle of well aged sake. He shrugs before taking a large gulp of the drink, sending half of the bottle's burning liquid down his throat in one go. As he slams the bottle down on the table, his face turns a bit red as he says, "That, tasted really good." Susanoo simply nods before saying, "That's a rare form of sake made in the most peaceful parts of the Empire. It's incredibly rare and valuable." "You have to try some of this, Partner.", Minazuki suggest as he turns to Leone and she only grins at him. She nods and says, "I think I'll take a tiny taste~", before pulling him close for a passionate kiss. As she tastes the inside of his mouth, she tastes the rich and oddly soothing flavor of the sake, which causes her to only deepen the kiss, cupping his face in her hands as it deepens. Run only watches with a confused look on his face before glancing over to Esdeath and Budo, who seem to be enjoying their drinks, Budo drinking out of a large mug while Esdeath is drinking from a fancy wine glass made of ice. "This is...odd...", Run says as he looks back to the couple. Esdeath stirs her drink in her glass while saying, "Minazuki and that one's relationship is a bit odd, but you get used to it once you've been here long enough." "Don't worry about such things, boy! Just enjoy the moment while it lasts, for you never know what tomorrow might bring. Drink up and enjoy this day with your comrades!", Budo adds as he hands Run a smaller mug, one that seems to fit his hands perfectly. Run takes the mug and sees it's already filled with what looks like red wine before Budo holds his barrel shaped mug out to him and says, "Come on, drink up!" Run looks to Esdeath, who seems to be watching him out of the corner of her eye as she takes a sip of her wine, and Run complies. The boy takes a sip of the wine and finds its taste to be quite interesting, saying, "This wine...it's amazing! I've never had a beverage quite like it!!" "See? Susanoo is a master when it comes to both meals and strategies!!", Budo says as he downs more booze. "Good to see that nothing's going to go to waste.", Najenda says with a smile on her face as it starts to become flush from all the drinking, downing another glass for good measure. As Leone and Minazuki finally break apart for air, Leone laughs and says, "Don't worry, Boss! I'll be sure that not a single drop of alcohol leaves this table!" Najenda simply chuckles at this before pouring herself another glass while saying, "You know, it's times like these that your free-spirited optimism really shines through, Leone... I always liked that about you..." "Oh, is that praise I hear? That's rare coming from you, Boss.", Leone replies with a smug look on her face. Najenda just takes a sip from her drink before saying, "It's the last day before the war. I guess I'm just getting everything off my chest while I still can." "Okay! If we're getting things off our chests, then I might as well come clean now!! I've actually been sneaking into your secret stash of booze!", Leone says in her tipsy state. Najenda lets out a heavy sigh before admitting, "I thought it was drying up rather quickly far too often. Ah, well, I guess I can let bygones be bygones..." Sheele then puts her glass down and lets out a heavy breath before saying, "I...I have something to admit to as well..." With everyone's eyes on her, her face turns a bright red and she's overcome with shyness. "I..I...", she begins to sheepishly mutter before blurting out, "Sometimes, while you and Minazuki were away, I'd sneak into your room and try on your clothes!!" As the her face turns a darker shade of red, she says, "It just...felt nice to be able to wear something like that..." Leone snickers at the girl, but before she can say anything, Chelsea adds her two cents in, saying, "Well, you aren't the only one who did that kind of thing." This earns everyone's attention and as everyone seems to stare at her for an answer, she sheepishly mutters, "I..might have used my Imperial Arm to make myself look like Mine so I could cuddle with Tatsumi...", which causes Tatsumi to dramatically spit out his sake all over her. "You did what!?", Tatsumi exclaims in disbelief, but Chelsea quickly goes on the defensive, saying, "It was only a couple times! And we didn't even do anything that weird, honest!! It was just cuddling and hand holding, honest!!" Leone simply snickers before saying, "Such lewd conduct, Chelsea! I thought you were above doing such lewd things! To think you'd actually hold a person's hand, unbelievable!!", and bursting into laughter. Esdeath chuckles before saying, "She wasn't the only one to do that kind of stuff with Tatsumi." "On a few occasions, I managed to sneak into Tatsumi's room and cuddle him while we slept together. It was quite nice.", the ice queen admits, causing Tatsumi to spit out his sake again, this time at Lubbock. "Why do all of you like me that much!?! I'm already in a happy relationship, damn it!!", Tatsumi exclaims, which only causes Esdeath to laugh in response. As she smiles to the enraged boy, she simply replies with, "It's your fault, really. If you didn't want me to cuddle with you, you shouldn't be so cute all the time~" "I'm not cute!!", he shouts in frustration, but Esdeath fires back with, "Of course you are~ A God said so~" Everyone seems to jump at the sound of a loud thud as something shakes the table, and when they look for the source, it's a box sitting in front of Lubbock.He lets out a heavy sigh as he opens the box, revealing it to be polaroids. Sheele, who's sitting right next to him, reaches a hand into the box as she asks, "What are these? Photos?" As she pulls one out and looks at it, her face is covered in embarrassment before she frantically tosses the photo back into the box and cover her red face. Chelsea snickers at her before asking, "Come on Sheele, how bad could these pictures be?", but as she pulls out a photo from the box, she sees what the photos are. "T-these are-", Chelsea begins to say before Najenda finally takes a look for herself and her eye widens in disbelief. She quickly punches the boy in the back of his head before shouting, "You were taking photos of everyone while they were bathing!?!" "Yeah, these are all the photos I've gathered over the years. And now that I've got this weight off my chest, there's only one thing left to do...", Lubbock says as he takes the photo from Chelsea and carries it and the box over to the nearby burning fireplace. He looks to the box and hesitates for a moment before tossing the box of nude photos into fire. "Years of beautiful, curved, naked babes, all gone!", Lubbock exclaims in despair before falling to his knees and bursting into tears. The girls all glare at him while Run looks to Minazuki and asks, "Where was he even keeping those? In his jacket?", to which he shrugs. "You think you can take advantage of this situation to get away with years of peeping, Lub!? I think you deserve a proper beat-down. Right Akame!?", Leone exclaims as she stands up, but Akame stays silent. With no response from the assassin, everyone but the crying Lubbock turn to see that she's simply sitting there with a saddened look on her face. "Is...is something wrong, Akame?", Tatsumi asks with a worried look on his face. Leone flinches at the sight of Akame's sad face before saying, "Yikes, that's a pretty grim look you've got there..!" Akame seems to snap out of her thought and says, "It's nothing...sorry... I apologize for spoiling the mood, but I was just...reminded of Bulat and Mine. They would've loved being together like this, though I doubt Lubbock would still be alive if Mine were here." "Because of their sacrifices, we're all still standing here now. And we're able to follow through with our final mission, eliminating those who have rotted and corrupted this country, at any and all costs! It's all because of them that we've made it so far! And for that, I'm forever grateful...", Akame says as she stands up from her seat. She quickly picks up an entire plate of meat and starts dumping them all into her mouth as she shouts, "Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's eat!!!" "Now the floodgates open!!!", Tatsumi exclaims as he laughs uncontrollably. Leone finally relaxes and says, "That's my bestie for ya.", as Najenda says, "How very Akame..." As Akame puts down the now empty plate, she looks to Tatsumi and says, "It's funny, isn't it?" "Eh? What is?", Tatsumi asks as he wipes away the tears in his eyes caused by his intense laughter. Akame quickly pats her face down with a napkin before saying, "I'm sorry, you've always been exceeding my expectations from the very start, Tatsumi. You're much stronger than I ever gave you credit for." Tatsumi simply scratches the back of his neck before saying, "Thanks. Honestly, you're still much stronger than I can ever be. You're really strong too, Akame." "He's right Akame, your resolve and resilience on top of your unmatched skill are far greater than any of us could have ever hoped for. That said, you two better make sure you come home alive, okay?", Najenda adds as she gives her two Akame nods and says, "Yeah, when this is all over, let's all take a boat to some foreign country together. We made that promise back at Kyoroch, remember?" Minazuki nods and says, "I doubt anyone would forget that. We could even bring Mine once she gets better." Akame smiles at this and says, "If it's possible, I want to bring Kurome too. Wave would probably help me convince her. If that trip actually ends up happening, it would be the most amazing trip ever..."