Chapter 11

A month had passed since the battle between Mine and Seryu which resulted in Seryu's and Koro's death. Minosha thanked the heavens that she was able to take her down; that girl was as much as a nuisance as Kurome and just as evil as Esdeath. Being rid of her was like cleansing some of the world of its inherent darkness. Now with just 4 Jaegers left, life seemed a bit easier for Minosha. He finally got to relax a bit.

While he knew his fight with Esdeath was coming, he also knew and felt that his death match with her wasn't for a long while. It might have irritated him when he first joined Night, but now it just made him train harder in anticipation.

For now, he would relax until they actually had to put their plans to use. It would be good for him, and heavens knew Evangeline was aching for one as well.

Minosha raised an eyebrow at Mine who ran through the hideout to get outside where Suu and Akame were seeing Lubbock and Tatsumi off. He could feel the anticipation and giddiness radiating off of her ever since she recovered enough to start training again. He just wondered why she was in such a hurry to see the boys.

Not even five minutes later did Lubbock, Akame, and Suu come back in the house. The red head pulled the spoon from his mouth, gazing questioningly, "What happened? Where's Mine?"

"She took my place," Lubbock grumbled, sitting down on a stool with Suu behind him. "She said since it wasn't a big mission, she would do a better job than me."

Minosha shrugged, going back to his stew that Suu had prepared for him. When Akame sat next to him, he scooted the bowl over to her. Akame flashed him a bright grin before devouring the meal with gusto. He shook his head amusedly, "You went through that faster than my brother used to."

Akame glanced at him, her eyes a bit wide, "Was your brother always starving?"

"He acted like he was," Minosha chuckled, resting his arms on the table. He smiled nostalgically, "Every day he would come home and just tear through any meal our mom made. He worked as a laborer in the village. My mom told me our father was one as well before he died."

"Did he die by the Empire's hand?"

The red head shook his head, his smile fading a bit, "No. He was killed by a falling rock. He pushed another worker out of the way and it landed on him instead. My mom was pregnant with me, so I never got to meet him. Everything I learned from him was either from my mom, my brother, or the villagers." He scratched his shirt covered shoulder, "I think that's also a reason why I want to kill Esdeath; she killed the last thing I had of my father."

Akame poured herself another serving of the stew, sitting back down next to her fellow swordsman, "He must've been a brave man."

"That's what everyone said," Minosha said. He turned around to find Suu and Lubbock gone. He turned back, his eyebrows raised high on his forehead.

"Suu took Lubo into the next room to tend to his healing wounds," Akame supplied helpfully. "He sustained a lot of injuries in the fight with the Rakshata demons."

Minosha smirked, "Yeah, but he took them out; two of them at that. I hold that Lubbock in high regard despite how perverted he is."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that." The two shared a laugh. Akame lifted her spoon from the bowl, but kept it from her mouth, "I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me this. You don't talk about your family much."

He shrugged, leaning his head on his hand, "Evangeline said it was best to talk about it, and I didn't really feel like telling anyone else."

That may have been partially true. While he didn't feel comfortable telling Leone, Lubbock, Suu, or Najenda, he felt that he could've also talked to Tatsumi, Mine, or Chelsea. But a part of him didn't feel that close to Mine, he didn't think Chelsea would be that empathetic, and he didn't want Tatsumi to try and cheer him up. He just wanted someone who would listen, and that's why he felt Akame was the best option.

The girl may seem a bit thick headed and food crazed all the time, but she was great friend and a great listener. At this moment in time, he felt closer to her than he did anyone else.

The two turned towards the door when Tatsumi and Mine walked in, talking amongst themselves. Minosha waved, "How was the investigating?"

"Fine," Mine answered airily, walking into the next room with Akame following her.

Tatsumi blinked at their quick departure before turning to the red head of the group, "Wanna train with me before dinner?"

"Sure," Minosha replied, walking outside with him. "I didn't get to train much yesterday, so don't get too scared if I'm going harsher than I used to."

Tatsumi shivered in fright at that. He and the rest of Night Raid trained with Minosha, and his idea of light training was worse than when Tatsumi first had to be whipped into shape to become an assassin.

Later that night, they all sat at the dining table while Suu brought out all the food they had asked him to make. He stared at them firmly, "This is my best of the best. Are you ready, all of you?"

He placed a steaming bowl of in front of Najenda, "For Najenda, salt flavored ramen with slightly harder noodles. I have utter confidence in its chicken flavor and the zesty salt."

He placed a cup in front of Mine, "For Mine, strawberry parfait. There's a secret ingredient in it as well."

He placed another bowl in front of Lubbock, "For Lubbock, Bokkai shrimp fresh from the water."

He placed three bottles on the table and a plate in front of Leone, "For Leone, Oden and chilled alcohol, a very expensive local product.

He placed a giant plate of meat in front of Mine, "For Akame, an assortment of meat. It's cooked with my ultra-secret special sauce."

He placed a plate in front of Minosha, "For Minosha, a plate of meat with my secret sauce. I hope it's too your liking."

He placed a bowl in front of Chelsea, "For Chelsea, curry and rice made to perfection along with chocolate covered strawberries."

He placed a tray in front of Tatsumi, "Tatsumi said anything is fine, so a special Susanoo lunch set."

"Isn't this just a kid's meal?" Tatsumi muttered irritably while Mine and Chelsea giggled at his dark expression.

Najenda smiled, her eye closed as she spoke, "Well, now that we've gotten our favorites from Susanoo, let's eat well, be in high spirits, and…" She opened her eyes to find them all shoving the food in their mouths, "You all starting eating before I even began to speak, huh? Good to see you all in high spirits already."

"Mmm, so sweet," Mine said happily as she ate her parfait. "It's so good." She turned to Tatsumi, "Hey, Tatsumi. Do you want to try some of-"

Leone cut her off by grabbing Tatsumi, pulling him to her side roughly, "If your sis' cup is empty, what are you supposed to do?"

Tatsumi rolled his eyes but began filling up her cup, "Fine, fine. I'll fill it up."

"Good, good!" Leone drunkenly gushed. "Good job, Tatsumi~"

Mine huffed indignantly, turning away while Leone kept groping the poor brunet. Minosha happily ignored all of it as he ate his delicious food. He didn't know how long he'd have left on this earth, so he'd make the most of life's simplest pleasures.

"Your cooking is awesome as always, Suu," Akame complimented, having finished her food the moment Najenda started talking.

Tatsumi nodded, "Yeah, I don't know what we'd do without you."

Suu smiled in satisfaction, "I'm happy to hear you say that." He then narrowed his eyes, pointing at the youngest male at the table, "But Tatsumi, don't just leave a single grain of rice."

Leone leaned back in her chair, her arms behind her head, "He'd be perfect if he weren't so nit-picky."

Moments later, when everyone was done with their food, Najenda began speaking again, "The tunnel to the cathedral is complete. We will finally commence the Borick Assassination Mission."

"So we're going to target him at the cathedral and not his mansion, huh," Tatsumi stated.

Mine sipped her tea, "We've heard reports that Borick's mansion has been riddled with traps. It's better not to target him there, don't you think?"

"Looking at that rough layout of the cathedral, there seem to be a lot of decorations and objects there too," Lubbock added as he looked over the blueprints. "It's a great setup for us assassins since we can hide ourselves easily."

"According to an insider's information, the target offers a night prayer once every month," Chelsea said, rubbing her hands on the warmth of her cup. "It'll be the day after tomorrow. It matches the intel from our spies as well."

Akame nodded, "We make our move that night."

"Is he really praying?" Tatsumi mumbled questioningly, a hand on his chin.

Lubbock grumbled, "It's just an act to gain popularity. I bet he's playing around with women every day."

"But boss, don't you think they've already anticipated an attack from underground?" Mine inquired.

Tatsumi stiffened, "What? Seriously?"

Suu hummed, "Objectively speaking, they must already consider it to be a possibility."

Najenda nodded in agreement, "Of course, but that's why we'll split into two teams. First, a diversion team from underground. They will charge head on, creating a great commotion and attracting the attention of our enemy. Susanoo, Leone, Tatsumi, Minosha, and I will be this team."

"Since it's a team that needs to be defensive, all the members have great defense or a high recovery rate," Leone explained with a grin.

"The Jaegers will most likely respond to the attack, but don't take them head on," Najenda continued lowly. "We'll lead them on a rabbit chase and focus on surviving. And shortly following the initial attack, the rest of the members will use the air-manta to infiltrate the cathedral from the sky, and assassinate Borick in the midst of the chaos."

Tatsumi gasped in the silence of the room, "Air manta? That thing we rode when we were in the woods?"

Najenda nodded slightly, "I asked the HQ to send it our way. It could arrive as soon as tonight."

The brunet key sword wielder grumbled, running his hands through his hair in frustration. The boss moved her gaze up, "Akame, Mine, Lubbock, Chelsea, I'm counting on you."

"Roger," Mine smiled. "Our only target is Borick, right?"

"Yeah," Najenda replied, her metal hand clenched in a fist. "We'll go in with a specific goal. If our goal is to assassinate Borick and not eliminate Esdeath, we can complete that objective even with our forces."

"If that's the case, how much of their forces we've whittled down until now will play a huge role," Suu commented.

"Yeah, we'll have much fewer enemies to worry about," Tatsumi smirked.

"Protecting a target isn't Esdeath's strong point because her forte is attacking," Najenda informed, taking a puff from her cigarette.

Leone sighed lightly, "She might leave an opening."

"Borick will be eliminated," Akame stated with finality.

Later on in the night, while Najenda, Chelsea, and Mine were in the baths, Minosha watched Akame build a small ship with Leone and Tatsumi.

Tatsumi gaped, "Akame, I didn't know you could make stuff like this."

"A comrade taught me," Akame mumbled as she continued to work on the sails.

Leone raised an eyebrow, "You didn't know?"

Tatsumi smiled, "It'd be fun to go on a trip on a ship like this."

"Yeah, I'd like to see what it's like outside the Empire," Leone chuckled.

That sounds lovely, Evangeline whispered wistfully.

Minosha inhaled deeply, leaning back in his chair, "Yeah, I would've liked to have seen that as well."

Akame stood, softly smiling at her ship, "Yeah. Once the country is at peace, let's go with everyone."

The door opened, revealing Mine who was drying herself with a towel, "Boss and Chelsea are still in there, but there's room in the bath now."

"Oh?" Leone stood. "Then let's go in. Akame, wash my back."

"Yep," Akame grinned, leaving with the blonde.

Leone turned to Tatsumi with a wicked grin, "Wanna come, Tatsumi?" She cackled, walking away from the shocked boy, "Just kidding. It's always fun teasing you."

Tatsumi sighed grudgingly as he sat down, "Geez, Sis is always like this."

Mine sat next to him, commented airily, "Well, you say that, but you seem to enjoy it."

Minosha snorted amusedly while Tatsumi glared at her, his face slowly becoming red in his embarrassment, "Shut up."

The red head grinned, standing from his seat, "I'm going to bed. Night, guys." He waved to Suu who had Lubbock in a headlock. He didn't even want to question that.

2 nights later, Minosha was climbing out of the tunnel with Tatsumi, Leone, Suu, and Najenda to the cathedral after Tatsumi took out the guards. They scaled up the side of it and landed in the garden of the cathedral where many guards were stationed.

Without any prompting, Night Raid flew at the guards, easily taking them out of commission without breaking a sweat. Not even five minutes later, they stood over the bodies of the guards, gazing around the garden.

"She's not coming out even after we've made this much of a commotion," Najenda sighed.

"Could she have fled?" Suu questioned.

"No," Leone shook her head, staring ahead. "She's still here. I feel a repulsive, murderous aura coming from the cathedral. It's definitely Esdeath. She's eager to hunt us down."

Minosha grinned wolfishly, rubbing his chest that seemed to cave in at feeling Esdeath's presence so closely, "I can't wait to sink my claws into her."

Suu turned to his owner, "It's almost time for Akame's group's aerial assault, Najenda."

Najenda stared at the ground, her thoughts churning in her head before she spoke, "Change of plans. We'll charge into the cathedral instead."

"Roger!" The rest of them nodded firmly.

"Susanoo, is the trump card ready?"

Suu nodded, "Yeah, it'll activate as soon as you say the keyword."

The five of them took off, running towards the cathedral's entrance. Minosha felt his body heat up as flames whipped around his legs and arms. Finally, he was going to see that woman's face after she destroyed his village.

He couldn't wait to kill her.