Chapter 14

Operation: First Blood (Pt. I)

Mine sat upright on top of a brick-roofed building, her eyes focused through the lenses of her binoculars. Once she was sure that Tatsumi was headed back to that policewoman's home, she immediately got up and began to shadow him from the rooftops.

Still, getting involved in a bar fight with Leone and ending up in the care of the Nakamura brothers nonetheless? Although his actions seemed to be that of a genuine country bumpkin, she had to admit: his activities did begin to seem quite suspicious.

"Nah, there's no way!" Mine thought to herself as she jumped across the silhouettes of the Capital's night. "There's no way somebody that inexperienced and naive could be a spy, right? Plus, if he really was a spy, wouldn't it have been easier for him to create a backstory wherein he wasn't related to the Police Force at all? I mean, it does just place a whole lot more suspicion on him."

Or maybe that was just what he wanted her to think. Either way, her assumptions didn't really matter as of the moment. They would only matter once she reported her findings back to the Boss the following day, in which case her thoughts may have already changed for the worse.

As Tatsumi reached the house and entered its wooden door, Mine sighed as she sat cross-legged on the roof of an adjacent building. Picking up her binoculars, she hastily unscrewed the right eyecup to reveal a partition that held a small earpiece. She placed the earpiece into her right ear before pressing a button on her binoculars' focusing knob three times. In a split second, static came over the channel before transmitting clear audio directly into Mine's ear.

Being an assassin for a few years naturally meant that you had experience in eavesdropping on other people's conversations. When Tatsumi wasn't looking, Mine was able to stick an audio transmitter under his collar before disappearing from view. Considering that she had done it that morning in front of the Police Station, it was a feat that she was especially proud of.

"-mi, where have you- Oh my gosh! What happened to your shirt!?"

"Oh well, it's a long story. I sorta got into a nasty bar fight today."

Mine was sure of those two voices. The second one was obviously Tatsumi, with his masculine yet timid voice which she was sure that a lot of girls would love. The first one was who people referred to Seryu, an Imperial Police Officer and the only one of her kind known to hold an Imperial Arm. Mine knew that she was somebody who was to be watched closely.

"Nasty bar fight? Then what happened to all of your bruises?"

"I don't actually know either. All I know was that I was rescued by a swindler and some shopkeepers and they allowed me to rest in their shop until I recovered."

"That sounds...interesting, but I'm sure that we'll be able to discuss that some other time. For now though, we have to focus on our plans as to how to bring justice to the Empire!"

Justice to the Empire? Mine scowled as she began to look at the house more sternly. That was a red flag right there. Just what exactly were they-

"Huh? Felix? Is something the matter?"

"Why're you-"

Bzzzt. Static resounded within Mine's eardrums, her reflexes telling her to cover her ears. Immediately, she removed the earpiece and placed it back into its casing.

Even more to her surprise, a teenage boy suddenly stepped out of the house and surveyed his surroundings. If it weren't for Mine hiding behind the shadows of the roofing's clay curves, she was sure that she would've been spotted, especially since the boy immediately looked up to where she was seated.

It was the black spiky-haired boy who was referred to as Felix, his brown eyes gazing intently upon Mine's previous post. After a few moments, the boy shook his head as he headed back inside and closed the door.

Mine released her breath as she crawled back to where she once was. It was exactly the same as a few days before: once Felix was about to leave Tatsumi to comfort Seryu on his own, the audio suddenly got cut off before the policeman walked out to scan his surroundings. He examined the area for a few minutes, with what seemed to Mine as her almost getting caught a couple of times, before finally giving up and going on his way.

Felix seemed to know that Tatsumi was being bugged, meaning that he may have already begun to formulate his own suspicions. Mine didn't want to try to bug Seryu, as if what the manual said was true, her Imperial Arm would spot her right away. Mine decided that if she was to bug Tatsumi once more, she would have to make sure that Felix wouldn't notice anything suspicious, else it lead to her cover getting blown.

It was now obvious to Mine that Felix was no ordinary police officer. Aside from the unnatural speed that he showcased to Tatsumi the day that they met, Mine knew that no ordinary police officer would be able to detect a bug right away and then be able to nearly catch the culprit within the next few seconds. And considering that it was a special camouflage transmitter created by the Revolutionary Army specifically for high-ranking officers, to be able to detect it almost instantly meant that he needed to already have some prior knowledge of the technology.

Mine gritted her teeth. Just who was this guy?

With no chance of listening in on their conversation, Mine decided to just lie on the rooftop and wait. "Who knows?" she thought to herself. "Maybe they're all planning something big and are just waiting for the right time to leave the house."

She immediately sighed at the thought however. "Yeah, like that's going to happen. With a boy like Tatsumi? Pfffffft. No way."

It was then that she remembered the Boss' words: "On any sort of mission, always assume that your target has done something worth dying for." Of course, this wasn't always the case, but it was a great way of saying that looks can be deceiving. She shouldn't let her guard down when spying on somebody, no matter how innocent they may seem.

"This boy though...Ugggghhhh! What the hell am I doing?! Akame and Bulat are probably kicking some Empire ass right now while I'm just…Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

In the middle of her wailing though, she suddenly felt a presence within her proximity. Turning around, she was suddenly face-to-face with a dark shadow.

"Gah!" Mine rolled out of the way as she pulled out Pumpkin and aimed it at the shadow's face. The shadow didn't seem threatened however. If anything, it seemed like it-no, she was giggling, her fingers raised to where her mouth was supposed to be.

"How's the mission?" the lady whispered sheepishly, leading Mine to scowl as she could barely hear her. The lady then began to slowly walk towards Mine's lying body before crouching to place her face closer to the light.

Mine's eyes widened as she realized who the shadow was. With her long purple hair and similarly colored eyes, Sheele's bespectacled face gave a warm and timid smile. She was wearing her usual outfit: a sleeveless cheongsam coupled with a pair of arm sleeves, all of which were colored lilac like the lilies.

If Mine had squinted past the light of the streetlamps and behind Sheele's white boots, she would see the light glinting off of Sheele's shiny and impenetrable weapon, the unbreakable pair of human-sized scissors partly gleaming in the moonlight. With its blades being forged from the strongest of scales and hides, it is said that the Cutter of Creation: Extase could cut down any object in human existence without fail.

Mine chuckled as Sheele helped her back to her feet. "Bo-ring," Mine said as she rolled her eyes, much to the amusement of Sheele who giggled a bit more. "This kid that I'm following: some country bumpkin who just happened to stumble near our base. At first me and Boss thought that he might be a spy. Now though, I'm not so sure."

"But you never know, right?" Mine asked Sheele jokingly. "I mean, I do still have a night left before I go back. Who knows? Maybe in that amount of time, Tatsumi does turn out to be a psychotic asshole after all."

Mine then saw Sheele look upwards in a confused look before placing a finger to her chin. Mine sighed, remembering how airheaded Sheele actually was. "Of course she wouldn't be able to figure all of that out on her own," Mine thought to herself as she shook her head and smiled at how slow her best friend's mind worked.

"Sorry 'bout confusing you Sheele," Mine apologized. "Tatsumi's the name of the guy who-"

Sheele's eyes lit up in an instant as she pounded her fist into the palm of her hand. "I just remembered something," Sheele said to herself, stopping Mine mid sentence and giving her her turn to pass on a confused look.

Sheele giggled as she now focused her eyes onto Mine's face. "Sorry for having to break it to you," Sheele said apologetically whilst giving a low bow. "But Boss is asking us to spy on someone else now."

"Huh?" Mine gave Sheele an even more confused look, although it didn't seem to faze Sheele who was staring off into space. "But what about my mission?"

"Hmmm…" Sheele thought for a few more moments before pounding her fist once more. "She said something about you reporting your findings once you returned after the mission. I think. She said something like 'your current mission wasn't as important.' Or something."

Mine couldn't help but cringe at Sheele's report, especially at the "or something" portion. "Hey Sheele?" Mine asked. "Are you sure about what you're saying?"

It took a few seconds for Sheele to respond. "Yes...Somewhat."

Mine now began to bite her lip. "Hey, Sheele? I know that you're my partner and all, but was there anybody else at base that Boss could've sent to deliver the message?"

"Hmm...I don't think so. To be honest though, I don't remember." Sheele then sheepishly knocked on her head as she giggled. All that Mine could do was give an exasperated sigh.

"Are you okay with leaving your target early though?" Sheele asked inquisitively. "I mean, Boss did say that this next mission is probably more important, but if your current assignment is really urgent, then…"

Mine turned around to look at the two-storeyed house. The trio just seemed to be cooped up inside, probably chatting and telling silly stories like other normal teenagers. No wait, scratch that: Mine knew that they weren't normal. One of them had to bury two of his dead friends, one of them almost caught her red handed, and one of them had an Imperial Arm as a pet.

Mine ended up sighing and turning back towards Sheele. "Let's just do what Boss says," Mine said to Sheele. "This mission was boring anyways."

Mine had to admit, they did seem more suspicious than the regular bunch of teenagers, but considering how much of their activity she could deem as suspicious, there was little to no chance of them being Imperial spies on Night Raid. Just from watching Tatsumi alone, Mine already knew that although he was faster and stronger than a lot of boys his age, his skill was nowhere close to that of an experienced fighter. As for Seryu and Felix, they may have been dangerous enough for Mine to take note of, but it did genuinely seem like they had just met Tatsumi a few days before, so they probably wouldn't have been cooperating with him if he was indeed spying on Night Raid. For Mine, this meant that if Tatsumi really was an Imperial spy (which he probably wasn't), all it would take was a single well-placed shot to end the problem.

Besides, who said that she couldn't request Boss to allow her to continue spying on him after the mission just to make sure of his innocence? To be honest though, if ever she did choose to do that, she would probably only last a couple more days. Watching a pitiful boy like Tatsumi day in and day out was already a form of torture for Mine, knowing full well that she could be joining in on the action.

Before long, Mine had taken one last glance at the house on its lamp-lit street before dashing across the rooftops right behind Sheele. Their silhouettes were barely visible, save for when their forms were shined upon by the moon.

"So...where to?" Mine asked casually, a bit relieved to have been reunited with her partner-in-crime.

Sheele looked behind and smiled in the darkness. "Boss wants us to check out an abandoned dungeon in the Capital's outskirts. There have been reports of strange activity and...something about experimentation..."

Mine couldn't help but smile as her friend struggled to remember the details. "It's okay Sheele. We'll just see the place once we get there."

Tatsumi hesitated a bit before opening the front door. He was worried about Seryu and Felix's reactions to his extremely late arrival, not to mention how they would react once they saw his banged-up clothing.

Tatsumi walked in on his two friends seated on the couch in the living room at the entrance of the house. Seryu was seated on one end, trying to calm down an aggravated Koro who was angrily kyewing in Felix's direction. Felix sighed as he released his arm around Seryu's torso and slowly began to scoot over to the other end of the couch. Seryu then began to play with Koro whilst Felix was left sulking on his own.

Tatsumi watched this scene unfold before a depressed Felix noticed him a few moments later. "Yo, Tatsumi, how's it going?" Felix waved as he asked in manner that Tatsumi didn't quite understand just yet. Tatsumi timidly greeted back, alerting Seryu and Koro to his presence at the front door.

"Tatsumi," Seryu greeted cheerily as she stopped playing peekaboo with Koro. "Where have you-" Seryu's expression changed from joy to shock as she pointed to Tatsumi's shirt. "Oh my gosh! What happened to your shirt?!"

Tatsumi nervously chuckled as he placed his hand behind his head. "Oh well, it's a long story," he said timidly. "I sorta got into a nasty bar fight today."

"Nasty bar fight?" Seryu seemed confused. "Then what happened to all of your bruises?"

"I don't actually know either." Tatsumi managed a weak smile in response to all of the confused expressions in the room. "All I know was that I was rescued by a swindler and some shopkeepers and they allowed me to rest in their shop until I recovered."

Felix and Seryu both exchanged puzzled looks before facing Tatsumi. "That sounds...interesting," Seryu said skeptically. "But I'm sure that we'll be able to discuss that some other time. For now though, we have to focus on our plans as to how to bring justice to the Empire!"

Tatsumi smiled at Seryu's enthusiasm which instantaneously lifted the mood. There was a good reason as to why he was supposed to return early that night. They had all decided that they would carry out their first mission, and they had all agreed to meet there early as to make their final preparations. Tatsumi was relieved though, because instead of getting mad because of how late he had arrived, Seryu had instead chosen to become excited due to how they could finally start their operation.

Out of the corner of his eye, however, Tatsumi noticed Felix staring at him with a rather curious expression. After a couple of seconds, Felix's face compressed to form a scowl as his curious stare turned into an intense glare.

Felix suddenly stood up from his seat and began walking briskly towards Tatsumi. Tatsumi couldn't help but retreat a little as Felix got closer and closer. Seryu soon took notice and stopped her smiling as she turned her attention towards Felix and his confrontational look.

"Huh? Felix? Is something the matter?" Seryu asked as Felix was now standing right in front of Tatsumi, his look deadly and locked onto the face right in front of him. Tatsumi began to sweat and gulp, feeling the extreme intensity of Felix's eyes reverberate throughout his entire body. The panic and fear that he was feeling was unlike anything that he had ever experienced before; it felt too refined and too dangerous to even be considered within the realm of anger.

Without warning, Felix suddenly placed both of his hands on Tatsumi's shoulders, causing Tatsumi to involuntarily shudder. Slowly, Felix brought his left arm up to Tatsumi's forest of hair before seemingly plucking something out of it.

"Why're you-" Before Tatsumi could finish, however, Felix clenched his fist and ran out of the door. Outside of the house, he then began to scan the clay and stone rooftops, his face all tensed up as a powerful aura could be felt emanating from his being. "What happened to him?" Tatsumi thought to himself, his feet barely being able to move from where he stood. The atmosphere in the house had suddenly tensed up from that of enthusiasm and cheer.

After what seemed like days, Felix sighed as he walked back in, closing the wooden door behind him. The tension in his face and body had disappeared as his body relaxed to the point that he just looked tired. The powerful aura that had once enveloped him had also effectively dissipated from his being, allowing for a more casual atmosphere to once again rule over the space wherein they were staying.

Felix slumped back down on one end of the sofa before letting out another sigh. "There was a bug in your hair," Felix said before laying his head on the armrest beside him.

Tatsumi let out a nervous chuckle. His feet now allowed him to walk stiffly towards the dining table to get a vacant chair, a bit shellshocked with what had just happened. "What happened to the Felix that I met yesterday?" Tatsumi asked himself. "First Haru, now Felix: does everybody here in the Capital have some kind of split personality disorder?

With the three of them now gathered in the living room's center, Seryu cleared her throat before beginning the long awaited mission briefing. "A year or so ago, me and Felix, seeing the lack of justice that the evildoers of Night Raid had, decided to carry out activities unknown to the police in the hopes of stopping Night Raid dead in their tracks. We called ourselves the Night Watch."

"Night Watch?" Tatsumi asked curiously, unaware that they even had a name for their team.

"You can ask Felix about the name later," Seryu said as she turned towards Felix, his head still lazily resting on the sofa's side with a seemingly uninterested look on his face. Seryu exasperatedly sighed before continuing. "Anyway, as I was saying, we executed our operations by staking out locations where we suspected Night Raid to show up. We would sometimes end up busting a Revolutionary Army meeting in the process, and on a few lucky occasions, we were able to engage Night Raid in combat."

Although Tatsumi had already been told about this in their prior meeting, he still couldn't believe that they could meet Night Raid simply by spying on certain areas night after night. The info that Felix would "borrow" from the police was apparently still limited due to Night Raid being almost untraceable, so this truly was their only way of possibly catching them.

With as much deduction that was placed into narrowing down Night Raid's whereabouts though, it was plain for Tatsumi to see that ever since before, Night Watch was essentially a gamble. They would only get to meet Night Raid if they were all lucky enough.

Either that, or they had to be unlucky enough to meet the mass murdering demons of the Revolution.

Tatsumi was still hopeful, however, as Seryu did mention something about her and Felix having engaged Night Raid in a couple of chance encounters. In the prior meeting, Felix even energetically boasted about placing a poisoned slice in one of the assassins' abdomens without them noticing, leading Felix to presume that the boy had died in action.

The Felix right now, however, was much more different from the Felix back then. While the Felix Tatsumi was familiar with was flamboyant and lively and loved to crack crude jokes left and right, the Felix seated in front of him was tired and depressed, his rapid and sometimes almost incomprehensible speech now replaced by unnerving silence. It scared Tatsumi that the hyper Felix that he once knew was now looking at him with what was either a pair of sad or indifferent eyes. Then again, he barely knew Felix, but to be frank he barely knew anybody in the Capital.

"But we aren't going to engage Night Raid in combat just yet, right?" Tatsumi was surprised to see Felix speak, albeit with him barely opening his mouth. Seryu nodded gleefully in Felix's direction, seemingly unfazed by the difference in his attitude.

"Uh-huh! Since we haven't been doing this for some time, tonight's mission will entail us storming a suspected Revolutionary Army outpost and shutting it down for good. It is said to be a minor supply and weapons storage with just a few guards, so it should be good practice for us."

"Not only that…" Felix then raised his head and sat upright before focusing his gaze onto Tatsumi. "This will also act as a sort of test for you, Tatsumi Yukimura."

"Huh? A test?" Tatsumi asked whilst wearing a confused expression. He was never told anything about a test!

"Yes, Tatsumi: a test." Felix then bent forward, placing more tension into his stare as it started to drill into Tatsumi's skull. "You being our friend doesn't instantly make you just as skilled as either one of us. If I may be so frank, I'd say that only very few people can match the skill that me and Seryu have worked hard for for a major portion of our lives. You've also got to understand that killing requires much more than skill: it requires the ability and will to end a life, and considering what we plan to accomplish as a team, we'll have to be able to do it on a moment's notice. Without hesitation."

"Tatsumi," Felix's said in a firm voice, his eyes still locked onto Tatsumi's. "You have to understand that we won't just be fighting Night Raid by doing this: by vowing to kill Night Raid, we'll essentially be taking on the entire Revolutionary Army. You may have to kill people who may not be as heartless as the infamously skilled assassins. They may even be people who you've met and may have even become friends with you if you didn't have to kill them on the spot."

Beads of sweat were beginning to drip down Tatsumi's temples as his thoughts began to wage war within his mind. It had only just dawned upon him that fighting Night Raid would entail him to kill revolutionaries who he might not have known to be evil: people with their own loved ones, people with their own friends, people with their own aspirations, people who when they weren't fighting were continuing on with their own possibly hope-filled lives.

And he would have to do it whenever the operation required it, and he would have to do it without fail.

Tatsumi began to imagine the different people whom he had come to know as good-hearted throughout his entire lifetime as targets who he would have to kill one day. The faces of the village folk back at the province swirled within his consciousness, making Tatsumi question whether it was possible for them to be part of the revolution. Would he be able to raise his sword against the people who had cared for him for his entire life?

These thoughts were then coupled by the images of the kind people whom he had met on his journey towards the Capital up until now. There may not have been many, but the thought of having to kill people like the Nakamura brothers and Captain Gudmund threw Tatsumi into a deeper state of worry. Even Leone briefly popped up in his head, who he now knew cared for others (even if it was in the slightest) due to her having saved him back at the pub. Tatsumi hurriedly dismissed the notion, however, for he thought at the very least that the Revolutionary Army had no need for useless drunkards like her.

Although he was pretty sure a few nights before, the thought of mercilessly killing multiple people, people who he may even know and love in the name of justice frightened him. "You should do it," one voice said. "Night Raid's a bunch of sadistic murderers who would kill anybody and everybody if asked to. Just ask Seryu and how they killed Ogre without any reason, despite him being a kind man. Hell, they might have even killed Ieyasu and Sayo if given the chance."

"But doing this won't bring them back," another voice cried. "Besides, if Tatsumi does decide to go against the Revolutionary army, he may have to kill people who were misguided into seeing Night Raid as heroes, but at heart were just as kind as Ogre, whether he got to know them or not. Don't you get it? He may have to kill the very same people who he wants to keep alive after Night Raid is defeated."

Tatsumi was shivering with worry and with fear as the moisture on his face rapidly increased by the minute. This was all evident to both Seryu and Felix, with both of them being seated right in front of their friend.

Seryu had a concerned look on her face. She leaned forward before warily placing a hand on Tatsumi's shoulder. "Hey Tatsumi," Seryu said with a soft and kind voice. "You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." Seryu grudgingly bit her lip before continuing. "It was wrong for me to use your friends' deaths to get you to join us, so I can't really blame you if you never had the heart to do this in the first place."

"I-It's not that," Tatsumi said shakily. His fists were clenched on his lap as he tried to avert his gaze from Seryu's concerned look. "I just...I just don't feel comfortable with killing people who aren't Night Raid. These people who we need to kill... they could be upright people who believe in justice just in much as we do who were only misguided by the wrong people. I can't just be asked to kill revolutionaries indiscriminately. How will I know who's good and who's not?"

"Aren't we doing this to prevent the loss of innocent and good-natured lives? Won't killing people who could be good defeat that purpose? Wouldn't that just make us like Night Raid, who kill the good-hearted without reason or remorse? Wouldn't that just make us like the ones who killed Captain Ogre?"

Seryu winced at the sound of Ogre's name, leaving her speechless and in shock. Her gaze frozen onto Tatsumi's drooped head, she tried to fight back against the tears that she knew would soon be swelling up in her eyes.

"Tatsumi!" It was Felix's loud voice that brought Seryu out of her trance, turning to see her boyfriend with a stern look on his face. Tatsumi also seemed to have woken up, his face now raised to meet Felix eye-to-eye.

"How can you be so insensitive!?" Felix's harsh tone asked, his face exuding anger. "Seryu, the girl who is also taking care of you may I add, is trying to convince you to join us kindly, and you reward her with what!? Grief!? You're a spineless bastard if I've ever seen one!"

Tatsumi was stunned by Felix's outbreak, although he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for what he had just done to his friend Seryu. Felix was right: he was being insensitive. No matter how you looked at it, Tatsumi had absolutely no right to say that.

"Felix, th-that's enough." Seryu tried to get her words across to the person beside her, but it ended coming out as mumbled nonsense. As much as she (and Tatsumi) thought that Felix would do something extreme though, Felix just continued to glare straight into Tatsumi's eyes. Without making any more actions, he was able to instill an indescribable fear within his subject.

After a few long seconds, Felix dropped his gaze as he ended up sighing and slouching back on the couch. Both Tatsumi and Seryu just watched him warily, expecting him to lash out at any moment.

"I have no time to educate naive fools like you." Felix then leaned forward, causing him to tilt his head towards Tatsumi's level as he gave him a serious look. He clasped his hands together, lost as to what he was going to say next.

"Tatsumi…" Felix paused for a moment before deciding what to say next. "Have you ever heard of the Jackaleo Dilemma?"

"Huh?" Expecting harsh reproach, Tatsumi was surprised by Felix's suddenly calm demeanor. More than that though, Tatsumi was confused by the sudden question, one which he didn't know how it related to their conversation.

Upon seeing his blank look, Felix pursed his lips. "You haven't heard of it, have you?" His question was answered with Tatsumi nodding slowly, leading Felix to take a deep breath before beginning his explanation.

"The Jackaleo Dilemma is a hypothetical situation meant to test somebody's moral code." Upon seeing Tatsumi's confused look, Felix rolled his eyes at Tatsumi's lack of comprehension. "It is a 'what-if' problem meant to test somebody's sense of justice." A near silent "ooh" signaled Felix that he could continue. "It goes a bit like this: suppose that you are being dragged on the ground by a poisoned Jackaleo headed towards a village of 30 people or so. Considering your current situation and lack of stamina, your only option is to divert the Danger Beast towards another path. That other path, however, leads to the house of a family of 5, a family who you've known for your entire life. If the Danger Beast were to kill everybody who stood in its way, and if you knew that the poison would kill the Danger Beast immediately after killing everybody on a certain path, who would you make the Danger Beast kill: the 30 villagers or the 5 friends?"

Tatsumi began to ponder over the question in his mind. Logically, he knew that it would be best to choose the choice that killed the least amount of people, but he also knew that by doing so, he would be willingly killing people whom he had known for his entire life.

"Um… Is there a choice where I can prevent all deaths from occurring?" Tatsumi tried to force a smile as he asked such a childish question. All it did was increase Felix's bewilderment at his naivety.

"Are you seriously this...this…" Felix placed a hand over his eyes as he tried to recollect himself from his own disbelief. "No, Tatsumi: there is no choice where nobody dies. In life, tragedies and violence always take something, usually that something being lives, hence the events being called 'tragic' in the first place."

"Oh. Well, if that's the case..." Tatsumi said with an embarrassed look on his face. "Then logically, the right choice would be to divert the Danger Beast towards the family, saving lives in the process. Am I right?"

"Exactly!" Felix said this with a voice filled with relief, although his face showed annoyance more than anything. "Now, replace the family with revolutionaries and Night Raid, the villagers with the people of the Empire, and the Jackaleo with the chaos bred by the revolution."

"Do you get it now Tatsumi?!" Felix asked irritably. "All that the revolution has brought the world is needless violence: the unnecessary disruption of everyday life. The Danger Beast in the problem is their very own creation, which when not stopped will destroy many innocent lives. By killing them, we are simply 'diverting' the violence they have given us back to their owners. This makes the decision to kill them not only logical, but also justified."

"Think of what would happen if we just let the revolution continue as is, if we just let the 'beast' do what it was planning on doing from the start. Aside from the many lives that would be lost in the fight to overthrow the government, many more would be be sure to follow in the ensuing anarchy. By the time that the revolutionaries do finally take over the Empire, most of their citizens would already be dead, along with their leaders of society and the social structures that helped the Empire to function in the first place. Essentially, the Empire that they wanted to take over would end up in ruins, everybody's dreams burning up in flames."

"And with the Empire in such a vulnerable state, which country wouldn't want to take advantage and try to take over the largest civilization in the world? A sudden shift in power of the entire regime would still take some getting used to, leaving the Empire open to attack long enough for many other countries to try and invade. Besides, is the Revolutionary Army naive enough to think that after the revolution succeeds, their allies will not try and take advantage of the situation?!"

"Is that what you want Tatsumi?! Is your lack of courage telling you to allow such calamity?!" Felix was now pointing and shouting at Tatsumi with an aura forged out of fire and brimstone. His tone and mere presence was provocative, challenging Tatsumi to answer his question with an intensity that he couldn't muster. He was sweating from his temples, as if Felix's mood was somehow able to change the temperature within the room.

"In bloody rebellion, nobody wins. You best be sensible enough to remember that!"

After a minute of silent stares between the two, Seryu walked in between them and put her hands on both Tatsumi and Felix, alleviating the tension and making them both turn and look at her smiling face. "Felix," she said in a gentle tone, looking directly at her boyfriend. As if he knew what she meant, Felix sighed and released Tatsumi from his gaze before leaning back against the couch.

With the source of discomfort gone, Tatsumi turned his head up to thank the cheery Seryu, but was instead greeted a serious expression written all over her face. She then crouched down, making sure that she was on the same eye level as Tatsumi, their faces were only a few inches apart.

"Tatsumi, inasmuch as you want to believe that there are kind hearted people within the revolution, the truth is that there are none." Seryu's voice was much softer than Felix's, but the words that came out of her mouth stung Tatsumi just as much, if not even more. "People who join the revolution are well aware of what they are doing; they all knew of the violence that they would be asked to help nurture, for that has always been the revolution's goal: destruction of everything and everyone necessary in order to overthrow the government."

"You may say that many people who join the revolution believe that there won't be any more bloodshed needed after their goals are completed. You may say that many people who join the revolution believe that the Revolutionary Army can immediately assert control once the old regime is taken down, therefore destroying the possibility of anarchy and invasion. But it isn't that belief that makes the revolutionaries evil, whether it really is false or not."

At this point, Seryu placed both of her hands on Tatsumi's shoulders, her face inching closer towards his. Her gaze was intense and made Tatsumi focus on nothing in the room but her.

"It is the fact that they are open to the revolution killing many in order to get the selfish power that they want: control over the entire kingdom. It is the fact that they joined the revolution in the first place, which supports Night Raid, thereby making them supporters of the evildoers themselves. By supporting Night Raid's activities, even if they didn't directly kill Night Raid's targets, isn't it safe to say they too are guilty of unjust murder?"

"Once somebody is open to the idea of using murder in order to simply gain power, their hearts become just as dark as Night Raid's. They may look kind and compassionate, but if that is what they really believe, then on the inside, they truly are evil and unjust. In essence, even if they haven't necessarily killed anybody directly, those who join the revolution have at least indirectly participated in the act itself, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they are open to doing it themselves in the future. Such volatile elements threaten the innocent around them."

"But what are we going to be doing then?" Tatsumi retorted. "Aren't we also committing murder for our own ideals? Why is our murder so different from theirs?"

It was Felix who once again spoke up from where he was seated, this time in a much flatter tone. "Even if what we are doing is still considered murder, unlike the revolutionaries, our purpose is not self-centered, nor is it out of malice. We aren't killing to cause destruction: we are killing in order to prevent further destruction."

"Remember the Jackaleo Dilemma? Remember how the beast was the creation of the villagers? What we are doing is simply diverting the revolutionaries' evil intentions back to their masters. Doing nothing or not actively choosing their demise is basically passively choosing the death of innocents."

"Although I ain't as big of a fan of the concept as Seryu," Felix commented, "isn't this what one would call 'for the greater good?' Isn't this what one would call 'justice'?"

Tatsumi was then reminded of his time at Aria's mansion. If he hadn't snuck out that night, he wouldn't have known of the atrocities that were happening within that twisted warehouse. Although the family was mostly to blame, he realized that the guards were also guilty of the crimes, hiding any evidence of the torture and killings behind their innocent-looking faces. Tatsumi thought that although they may not have enjoyed the family's activities and while there is a possibility that they were blackmailed, the fact still stands that by not telling the guests about anything, they were indirectly supporting their deaths. In fact, if the guards had warned Sayo and Ieyasu, then maybe the two could have avoided the slaughter altogether.

Tatsumi's blood boiled the more that he thought about it. Those guards, by doing nothing, had killed his best friends. If he wasn't lucky enough, their silence would've killed him too. It was their inability to act that made them murderers.

"They may seem like small fry," Seryu said, the tension in the air loosening and her smile returning to her face, "but if we want to completely neutralize the threat, we can't even allow a single stain of evil to exist within the Empire. We have to be just after all, whether they are famous or not, for by doing nothing, we're killing the wrong people too."

"Besides, killing many of the less prominent members of the revolution will definitely have an impact on the support that Night Raid will receive, thereby also making it easier for us to end their massacre, isn't that right?"

It was here that Seryu stood up and reached out her hand towards the seated Tatsumi. "Tatsumi Yukimura," she said with the warmth of an angel, "do you accept the invitation to prevent the death of the innocent? Do you accept the invitation to put your life on the line for the greater good? Do you accept the call of justice?"

Tatsumi's determination flooded out of his heart and spread throughout his entire being. He was now convinced on what he had to do: he wasn't going to become passive like the mansion guards and allow death to reach the innocent. He would have to kill the killers before they killed anyone else, even if that included everybody who had helped them thus far.

Tatsumi reached out and grasped Seryu's outreached palm. "I accept," he said firmly, standing up to make her see the resolve that was in his eyes.

Time seemed to slow down as the two teenagers just looked each other in the eyes. Their expressions were warm and soft, their faces filled with childlike joy. In what seemed like an hour gone by, a sense of naive bliss breathed life into the room where the two stood, their dumb smiles expressing renewed hope for the future.

"Pssst. Pathetic."

The paradisiacal mood was broken by sounds of contempt coming from the edge of the sofa. As the two looked over towards the third member of their party, they could see a look of annoyance on his face, albeit having been turned away out of disbelief.

"I expected a bit more Seryu," Felix said in a disappointed tone. "I knew that this new kid was making you soft."

"It's not that…" Seryu tried to continue reasoning, but no words seemed to come out of her mouth.

Seeing Seryu's discouraged look provoked Tatsumi to retort. "What's wrong with you Felix?" Tatsumi asked in an irate tone. "I just confirmed right in front of your eyes my resolve to take down Night Raid with the two of you, so shouldn't you be happy?"

"Happy? Don't make me laugh." Felix stood up as he gave Tatsumi a cold sarcastic smile, sending the blood rushing to Tatsumi's face. "The fact that you hesitated in joining this team in the first place already means that you lack the strength to do what's right when needed to. Honestly, if it was entirely up to me, I would've kicked you out as soon as you showed us that you weren't sure."

"But it isn't entirely up to you, now is it?" Seryu changed to a look of ferocity as she approached and challenged Felix's stature. Although she was a few inches shorter than him, her unwavering glare made them look equal in size.

"Tatsumi just resolved to join this operation knowing full well of its accompanying responsibilities and repercussions. I believe that anybody who was the willpower and determination to fight for justice should be given the chance to, and that includes Tatsumi over here. Isn't his word enough for you?"

"No, it isn't Seryu," Felix responded harshly. "In this world, actions speak louder than words. Tatsumi can go talk all he wants about his beliefs and whatnot but the true test always lies in the battlefield."

"Remember his signs of hesitation that I just pointed out? That wasn't me being an asshole: that was just me being safe. If for whatever reason Tatsumi over here hesitates in killing even a single one of our enemies, that opportunity could be enough to bring our night to a swift end. Instead of becoming a part of the team, a member who wavers in his resolve would just become a heavy burden."

Tatsumi shook in place as his knuckles turned white from how hard he clenched his fists. "I'm not a burden," Tatsumi said through the rage building up in his spirit. "I can kill when needed to."

"But can you really?" Felix was now snickering at the agitated Tatsumi, finding his temperament amusing yet appalling. "Have you ever been on a mission like this before? Have you ever killed anybody based on your own beliefs and not just based on your own barbaric impulses? Have you ever killed a stranger in cold blood without any reason except for the fact that it's 'for the mission'? Because if you haven't, then I suggest that you once again think over what you're getting yourself into."

"This isn't some sort of fairy tale where you become the hero and everything turns out alright. We are neither part of a fantasy nor are we heroes; as soon as we step out there, we become murderers. Out in the field, the only assurance of survival that we'll have is executing the mission perfectly and as quickly as possible, without doubt and without emotion, without our humanity and without our souls. Now do you understand?"

After a few moments, Tatsumi responded to Felix by showcasing his own menacing glare, his head raising but his body not moving from its spot. It seemed as if something inside of him snapped.

"Felix, do you think that I accepted Seryu's offer without understanding what the fuck I was getting myself into!? How low do you fucking think of me!?"

Tatsumi was now shouting at the top of his lungs, surprising both Seryu and Felix. Unlike Seryu though, Felix hid his bewilderment behind a mask of indifference.

"I came to the Capital with my two best friends in the hopes of making the lives of our village folk better. The three of us wanted to serve the Empire: we were willing to risk our lives for it by fighting on the front lines. A few nights ago, the two of them were killed by the same piece of trash, her sadistic methods showing me everything that was evil in this Empire. She showed me a world filled with nothing but death and suffering, and out of anger, I killed her entire family. Do you not think, that with everything that I've been through, I'm not ready to sacrifice my life to destroy the same death that she showed me!?"

"I came to the Capital with high hopes but the knowledge that I could die in the line of service. As of now, I have nothing. NOTHING! I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE FELIX! IF I WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP MY LIFE BACK THEN, WHAT MORE AM I WILLING TO GIVE IT UP NOW?!"

"Night Raid's purpose is death and destruction; that's what the both of you have been teaching me ever since we met. Killing them will avenge Sayo and Ieyasu, who died brutally by the same evil, and don't you think that for one second, I lack the resolve to avenge my friends, who were always with me through the toughest of times. If at any point my mind hesitates to allow me to deal the finishing blow, my anger against this country's evil will be more than enough to get the job done."

"I may have never killed somebody based on orders alone, but that also means that both of you know NOTHING about what I'm capable of. So if you really are so intent on proving that I'm nothing more than a piece of shit, you better be ready to get your expectations crushed as I'm going to fucking destroy them."

The room was completely silent for the next couple of minutes. Tatsumi still kept his glare, while Seryu ludicrosity written all over her face. Felix too was stunned by Tatsumi's outburst, his mouth slightly agape with him not knowing what to do. After a while, he smiled at Tatsumi, before saying in a flat tone: "we'll see on the field."

With that, he turned towards Seryu, who after a few more seconds snapped out of her trance and pointed towards the kitchen. "It's in the usual place," she said quickly. First looking back at both teens, he then hastily turned and walked towards whatever Seryu was referring to in the kitchen. Felix had just left the room, leaving Tatsumi and Seryu to continue on in their awkward positions.

"Hey Seryu," Tatsumi asked, desperately wanting to break the silence. "What exactly is Felix getting?"

Seryu placed a finger to her chin, thinking for a few moments before lightly pounding her fist on her palm. "Oh yeah, that's right!" Seryu said this with much enthusiasm, her overflowing energy now allowing her to move out of her space and into Tatsumi's.

"I forgot to show you our uniforms!"

This story should just be called "The Fanfic of a Million Unfulfilled Commitments."

That aside though, I'm so happy that I'll finally get to upload this next chapter. It was originally meant to be 30% longer, but I decided that it was already long enough as it was. I'll probably add the info originally meant to be in this chapter through events in the next few chapters.

Believe it or not, I actually spend more time debating with myself over what I should put/remove/replace/improve in this fanfic (both past, present, and future chapters) and proofreading than I actually do writing. Now considering the gap between when the last chapter was published and now, that's a lot of time debating with myself.

A big part of me has been wanting to revamp the previous chapters (both plot points and how they were written), but I always end up planning for the future chapters that I'm far from even reaching just because it's more fun to plan ideas ahead than it is to proofread or to write down every single detail. That's actually also why it takes me so long to publish a single chapter now that I think about it; I'm just a procrastinating SOB in the end.

Now that I think about it though, maybe I should start doing what a lot of the other writers on the site are doing: focusing more on plot as they go along, not paying so much attention to the littlest of details or to the grammar. I mean, I enjoy a lot of fanfictions on this site even if the conventions aren't impeccable, so why should I use up 2 hours of my precious time to proofread a single fucking chapter?

Anyways, just some things that I want to clear up:

1) I'm thinking of changing Lubbock's/Seryu's backstory in one of the previous chapters (or at the very least, how it's told). Just make sure to read the changes IF EVER I DO update that chapter.

2) I'm probably not going to be writing chapters that reach up until 8k words anytime soon. Probably. I ain't good with commitments.

3) In previous chapters, I carelessly likened Seryu and Felix's personalities to that of one with bipolar disorder. After a bit of research, I now realize that bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that makes people's lives a lot harder than I made it seem like in the story. I apologize to anybody who was offended by my light use of the term and promise to correct the previous chapters when I do get the chance. That being said though, there are actual bipolar characters in the story, although I will be sure to describe them as accurately as possible this time around.

4) As you can already tell, I am trying to make Seryu's character somebody whose side you can actually be on. I honestly think that the authors of both the show and the manga could've made her seem a bit more human-like.

5) If you couldn't already tell, I am also trying to make the decision of suppressing the revolution seem like a feasible idea (because I feel like the authors could've also done a much better job with that). That being said though, don't completely trust anything that the any of the characters say, including Tatsumi. I want this fanfic to emphasize that their views are influenced by a lot of personal factors and thus are always really subjective (but then again, is there such thing as an objective point-of-view?) Try to decide for yourselves which set of beliefs is the most rational one in this story, and don't just pick the side of revolution just because the show and the manga did.

And with that, I bid farewell. Adieu 'til the next chapter.

-WritingAmateur0604