Before you start reading this chapter, let me inform you that the rewrites for previous chapters are now completed. There are some additional contents that I added in the previous chapters so there is no need to thank me. Enjoy them. I did change some details in the story.

I will inform you guys of some news at the bottom of the story so do read them, if you want, after you have read the story.

Also, let me apologise here and now for the delay for this chapter. I am currently enjoying my holiday. It felt like it was just yesterday when I just started publishing this story. Man, times flies by too fast. The rewrites for the previous chapters are done.

Also, just a heads up. '...' represents a scene change. It could either be like a time skip, which I'll label, or a change in perspective. I would often change from Hikari's perspective to Tatsumi's perspective and vice versa. I would only label for characters which seldom have their perspectives change. I will commonly write for Tatsumi, Hikari since they are considered important to the plot. If you guys are easily confused and want me to label, do tell me. I do leave many significant clues as to whose perspective it is.

Let's get on with the story.

Kimi no Na Wa was a very good anime movie. I highly recommend you guys watching it.:)

Volume 2: Chapter 2: Hunter or Hunted II

Once again I was plunged into the dark world where nothing exists. I drifted around. Time and space are concepts which doesn't exists here. I only exists if I want it to. Sometimes the surroundings would change, showing me different scenes of either my past or my delusions. Sometimes I would wake up with tears in my eyes, other times I would wake up cursing the world. I had been accepted into a group of assassins, and ever since then life has become very weird. I always find myself in my bed even though I have no recollection of ever getting into one. I seem to notice that I constantly find myself in this world of nothingness. I would be gradually shown more and more scenes which came from neither my memory.

Slowly, light began to pour into my world of nothingness as my eyes were opened. I stared at the ceiling of my room. I find myself back in the room I was offered at Hikari's house. Today would be my last day here. Hikari had requested for me to stay that our base, helping to tend the shop and learn the ropes. Well, I don't mind, since the only time these lessons would be put to use would be when the others are gone for missions that requires them to travel elsewhere.

Getting up from my bed, I went to the toilet to wash my face. Once I am fully awake, I made myself some coffee to ensure I won't fall asleep during the day. I have been falling unconscious for the last few days more often. I had blamed it on me being exhausted and having inadequate sleep. I do hope this kind of thing would be cured soon.

I looked around the room, making sure I did not leave anything behind. All of my belongings were packed into my bag, the same one which I used when travelling to the Capital from my village. There wasn't much things to pack to begin with. A few sets of clothes. Some mementos from the village. My equipment, which was already left at the shop. Other than these, there wasn't anything else to bring over.

(A/N: I'll refer the base where Tatsumi and the others commonly gather at as a shop, since it is a shop to many people.)

Hikari was no longer in his house. He must have left early. I pushed open the door, letting the cool morning breeze rejuvenate my senses. It was pretty early. There wasn't much people on the streets. Other than the usual officers from the Imperial Police on patrol, the streets were practically empty.

I locked the door to his house. I won't be coming back here in awhile. Though we do have a base, most of the others in stay elsewhere. As a safety precaution, Hikari made keys for everyone, so we can seek refuge at his place should anything happen that made the base inaccessible.

I begin to traverse the currently empty streets of the Capital. Other than an occasional civilian that would appear from the door of various houses, there was nothing interesting to see. It was really quiet. I could hear how loud my footsteps were as it resonated throughout the Capital.

Eventually, I arrived at the shop. The surrounding shops have already begin to open up to welcome a new day of customers. It won't be long before people start flooding the streets, going about their usual activities.

I pushed open the door and made my way upstairs. I was told to take any one of the rooms that are available. There were plenty of rooms upstairs, considering how this shop was initially an inn before it was bought over and converted to whatever it was now.

I entered the furthest room down the left corridor. I pushed it open. It relatively small. There was a simple bed, a table, a wardrobe and a shelf. It should suffice. Since there is still time, I went into the gym to get my training done. The gym was pretty impressive. It had pretty much everything, considering how even my mentor did not have such extensive equipment to use. I begin my usual workout. I have yet to complete what Hikari had wanted me to do. Since I was unable to accomplish it, the workout just kept increasing in intensity. It had already been 3 weeks. Although I did manage to do half of the current amount, it is still going to take quite a while before it gets to that amount. For now, I can only hope that the day I settle this punishment comes sooner.

By the time I have finished, I was already covered in sweat. I wiped them away with the towel that I had brought along and proceed to head towards the showers. I pushed open the door to the showers.

"Eh..?"

Apparently someone else was also in the showers. I turned towards the direction where the sound came from. My eyes landed on the the nude body of a pink haired girl. She must have been surprised. I hastily turned away. Muttering an apology, I rushed out of the showers, hoping to avoid any other confusion that may arise should someone else see us.

"Sorry."

I closed the door. I leaned on one of the walls. My face felt hot. I desperately tried to suppress the blush that is arising. It isn't working, since my mind decides to constantly replay what I have seen in the bathroom.

I forgot that there were others in the building. She was one of the three that I saved the other day. I have no idea what her name was, nor did I bother to ask. There should have been a sign on the door that shows whether if anyone was using the showers. It was displayed as available. Could they have not seen it?

For some reasons, the image of someone that lives in this building flashed in my mind. This could have been one of his pranks. Joker was known for his pranks after all. Since I was easy target, I was constant victims of his pranks. I don't really mind, just it tends to get annoying.

My thoughts were interrupted by a high pitch scream that came from the bathroom. It lasted for a moment. It served well to attract the attention of everyone in the shop. I sighed, mentally preparing myself for the trouble that I would have to deal with.

I patiently waited for whoever was in the bathroom to stop screaming. I should really be more wary of Joker. His pranks would be the death of me. I think I need to apologise to that pink-haired girl.

I knocked on the door, hoping to get the attention of the person inside.

"Look, I'm really sorry for entering when you were inside. I didn't do this intentionally, so…..will you forgive me for this?"

An apology should be the best course of action, or that was what I assumed. Back in the village, Ieyasu would always get himself into such situation. Since Ieyasu is rather perverse, he would always suggest to peek on the girls. Of course, he would always be beaten up and punished, with the former consequence personally handled by Sayo. Since what just happened wasn't done on purpose with perverted intentions, I should be fine if I just apologise, right?

I bowed, hoping to express my sincerity in apologising. No sound was heard for a few moments, before the door was opened and the pink-haired girl walked away. She did not say anything and just walked away, with her face red. Perhaps she was still angry at me for what just happened.

I walked into the bathroom, not before checking that the sign on the door was flipped to the correct side. I really don't want to deal with this again. I really hope I can just bathe in peace.

Nothing abnormal happened throughout the bath. Thank goodness. I went downstairs, going over to Blade's workshop to learn from him the know-hows of crafting. He was in the basement, surrounded by an assortment of tools scattered throughout the vast room.

"Oh, you're here." Someone spoke out, notifying me of his presence.

There are a variety of things in this place. I could see a container with legs in the far corner of the room. God knows whatever that was supposed to be used for. For the next few hours, he was giving me a lesson on science, telling me of the different things that we should utilise to help reduce wastage and increase productivity. I had no idea why I was made to listen to this, and whenever I try to question him about it, he would just retort that it is important to know this. I could only let myself. By the end of the session, I had no idea if I was taught anything about crafting, or if I had just attended school.

I glanced up at a clock that was hung on the wall. Oh crap, I'm got to get to work. I said my thanks and goodbyes, before rushing out of the building I was in.

…

I yawned. Having to wake up early in the morning isn't something I enjoy.

I had to scout for a location where we could establish a new base outside of the Capital without being found easily. There isn't much options. I had a map of the surrounding area around the Capital memorised, yet there isn't any location that fit the criteria.

Ah, I really wish I had been dispatched somewhere else. The Capital was interesting at first glance, but eventually it will lose color and starts to get boring. Someone walked into the clearing I was at. Heavy armor covers every part of his/her body. It isn't very bulky, but it doesn't expose any skin.

Juggernaut seldoms talks. From the time I have recruited him, he had never spoken a complete sentence that consists of more than 10 words. Adding that to the fact that his/her gender was not known. Well, it was a fact that Juggernaut is a very capable soldier. In terms of chess, Juggernaut would be the rook. He/She is a very major piece in the overall capabilities of the team. He/She makes a good soldier, but not a good assassin. I usually send him on missions that deal with defending our allies or guard our base. We can't have him/her trying to kill someone when his outfit would already catch the attention of the his/her target.

"There isn't much place to set up a base. The best location I can find would be this clearing. Located in the middle of this dense forest. Did you find any other place?" I asked.

Juggernaut shook his/her head, implying a no.

"So I guess we'll just make our base here. I may need your familiar's help, if you don't mind."

Juggernaut took out a whistle, and exhaled into it. Nothing happened for several moments until something came into the clearing we were in. The earth trembled with each step it took. It towered over the both of us. Till this day, I would always wonder how Juggernaut was able to being such a creature under his/her control.

It was at least three metres tall, with a huge hulking figure. Its body was covered in vines, with some part of its body made of what seems to be stone and dirt. It looked like one of those Ents that commonly reside in the forest, disguised as trees. Elder Ents are classified as B-Class Danger Beasts, while normal Ents are considered to be a C-class Danger Beasts. This creature before me trumps them, even though they look very similar in terms of appearance. The creature is classified as a A-Class Danger Beasts, since it was almost impossible to take down with only a sword. Even I would experience difficulty when fighting against such a creature. An Earth Golem. Though it isn't the strongest being in the forest, it is still pretty high up on the food chain. Earth Golems are also very rare, since they can disguise themselves to blend in with their surrounding and dig underground.

"Okay, I need him to dig an area underground. Make sure it is large enough to fit about thirty hundreds of people. Maybe we can also create a maze while we're at it, to keep outsiders from finding our base." I had wanted to add more details to this base of ours. One of them was to have the golem reinforce the earth, making the earth impossible to dig through. Earth Golems have a trait called the 'Blessings of the Earth', which grants them the ability to manipulate the earth to a certain extent.

This reminds me of those fantasy stories I have read in my spare time to relieve my boredom. I am essentially building a dungeon. It wasn't my intentions to do so, but hey, since we're doing something similar, why not just enjoy myself. Making a dungeon. I wonder if I should have Danger Beasts in it. They could serve as bodyguards, and maybe even become part of my army.

I started to laugh, before I caught myself.

Seriously, what am I thinking? This is stupid. Such a plan would definitely garner attention. I sighed.

Sometimes I should really stop getting wild ideas.

…

{Esdeath's Perspective}

It had already been a month. A month since the Jaegers was established, yet we have yet to apprehend any Revolutionary spies or Night Raid. I have been very patient. I was waiting for Night Raid to strike at any moment, so we could intercept them and hopefully fight each other in a death battle. Yet, a month has passed and none of the members of Jaegers have even met a member of Night Raid.

They were still conducting murders on nobles every other night, yet every time we arrive on scene, the only thing left were dead bodies, which littered throughout the premises. It was hard. Everyday, my body yearns for direct combat against them. Initially, it was only a bother. However, over time, this feeling starts to spread throughout my body. We were able to determine their skills in combat. Every member are very skilled and are highly efficient as a team. It was frustrating.

Is having a simple combat against them so hard to grant?

"General Esdeath, I have received a report on the incident a few months back." Run stated.

Oh yes, that incident. Seryu was a direct witness. That incident heavily crippled the already lacking manpower the Imperial Police faced. Although it was mostly resolved by issuing recruitment notices, it was still a incident that showed how weak the Imperial Police actually is. I have questioned Seryu personally about what had happened.

According to her, a man confronted her in the middle of her battle against two Night Raid members. Although her Imperial Arm had consumed the man, he seem to be still alive, with the help of his Imperial Arm. He wasn't affiliated with the Empire or Night Raid, since he had attacked both side indiscriminately. He was taken away by someone with white hair. No one around who survived the incident could remember how he looked like.

The appearance of a third party.

Honestly, this doesn't faze me in any way. It would just be one more battle that I would have to deal with, something which I would thoroughly enjoy. All I have to do is to constantly crush all opposition I would have. Should they fall, it would just proved that they were weak. If someone out there is strong enough to challenge me, I would make sure to enjoy my battle with them. It is hard to find worthy opponents.

"Okay, tell me if there is anything we don't know." I replied lazily.

"According to the report, the person which had attacked Seryu wielded an armor-type Imperial Arm. On the approval of the Emperor, I had went to the Imperial Library to see find out which Imperial Arm he was using. The descriptions of his Imperial Arm had not matched any of the features of the Imperial Arms recorded. Though we are unsure of which Imperial Arms were destroyed, the descriptions of the 48 Imperial Arms were still recorded. For there to not be anything similar to what he wielded, there could only be two possibility. Either he wasn't using an Imperial Arm, or there was someone out there who is able to make an Imperial Arm." Run reported.

"Not possible. The First Emperor had destroyed every record out there that contained the methods of making an Imperial Arm. Also, the craftsmen he hired were all assassinated after the production of the 48 Imperial Arm was completed, together with their families. It was confirmed that none of them had survived. The First Emperor had claimed that the chances of someone being able to find a way to make an Imperial Arm again, no matter how much of a genius he is, is zero percent." I rebutted lazily.

Rather than spend my time doing administrative work and discussing, I rather spend my time in the torture chambers or on the battlefield. Everything else is boring. The only thrill that I seek lies in these two places.

Apparently, Run is a capable subordinate. I would sometimes let him handle most of the work I had to deal with but hate doing.

"I had also known this fact. That was why I had also consulted on the opinion of Doctor Stylish, who was one of the researchers in the Advanced Research Foundation. I had inquired whether there was any way of a 49th Imperial Arm created, or someone figuring out how to make an Imperial Arm. He had said that the latter was impossible. However, he was skeptical whether the former was impossible. Only 48 Imperial Arms was announced to the Imperial Court of that time. There could be other Imperial Arms made that were not disclosed, or even defects that was not destroyed."

By now I was already bored. It doesn't matter to me if there were more than just 48 Imperial Arms. At the end of the day, they are still tools to be used. How powerful they can be relies heavily on how the wielder wants to wield it. I also caught the words of that group in Run's words. Advanced Research Foundation. A group of researchers that was brought together by the Sixth Emperor of the Empire. Why this group was formed was unknown. They were brought together to research and develop on everything. The group considers themselves as a separate entity as the Imperial Court of the Empire. They have little interest in politics, and care only about their research. They have many divisions. I am very good friends with one of their division leader. He was in charge of the Biological Division. We would often talk about the human anatomy and how to deliver maximum amount of pain during torture without having to kill the person. His division does yield very interesting experiment results.

"Excellent. I would like you to investigate more on this case. If possible, try to get Doctor Stylish on board. He might be interested about it. He could provide you with valuable information, given his expertise."

"Right away." Run said as he went back into his office that I assigned to him.

I sighed. Honestly, I really hate office work. I really wish to be fighting someone strong. This Black Knight guy seems strong. Even Seryu comment about it. He might be able to stand his ground against me. I really anticipate our fight, whenever it will be.

For now, we have to deal with both Night Raid and this third party. I really wish something fun would happen, like an enemy decides to confront me right now so I could have a good fight.

…

Work was uneventful, which was good.

The last thing I wanted is for my source of income to be cut. Work ended after a few hours. All I had to do was to make some swords. It was pretty simple once I got the hang of it. The only thing I couldn't handle was the heat. I grew up in an area where it snows for most of the year. This difference in temperature is really unbearable.

I walked back to the shop I had moved into. Upon opening the door, my eyes landed on Manic talking to the three girls. She was giving them a tour of the place, telling them about where everything is. Apparently, they have plans for them to work at this place, and look after it when some of us are away.

I walked past them, hoping to go to the kitchen to make myself something to eat.

"Tatsumi!"

Once again, my plans were disrupted by Manic.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Is it okay for you to show them around the Capital? I can't go out since I have some other things I need to do." she pleaded. She walked closer towards me and leaned into my ear.

"I won't tell anyone about what happened this morning. I may even speak up for you~" she whispered. I was frozen solid. What happened this morning should not get out of this building, and having as little people knowing about it is ideal. Yet, why would she use this as a bargaining chip. Is what she's going to do really that important?

"S-Sure. I could show them around in your stead."

"Really? Thanks a lot! I'll treat you to something next time!" and with these parting words, she dashed out of the building, leaving me with these three girls before me.

There was a moment of awkward silence, before it was interrupted by my coughs.

"So….do you girls have any place in mind?" I asked.

"N-Not really…." The blonde girl said.

"Okay…..I guess I should introduce myself. I am Tatsumi, who hails from a village in the North. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Fal" the blonde introduced herself.

"Luna….N-Nice to meet you." the blue haired girl said.

"I'm Air. We came from a village in the South."

I'm not sure if it was me or something, but these girls seemed pretty tensed when they were talking to me. Especially Air. Her face are slightly red. It must have been the incident this morning.

I mentally sighed. This is going to be troublesome to deal with.

Thanks for reading!

This chapter was shorter than my previous, so sorry about that. Once again, I would bring up this issue. Would you like me to label the perspectives of the different characters that I would be writing? In this chapter, the perspective changes from Tatsumi to Hikari to Esdeath to Tatsumi. As you can see, I did not label for the perspectives of Tatsumi and Hikari. Of course, if you are confused before reading this message, please tell me. Like review my story tell me this and I will label from now on.

So let me announce a few thing.

One: I am helping a fellow author on with his story. It's called 'Truce Force' and it's written by Yui-kun23. I would really appreciate it if you could check out his story. It's a Danganronpa fanfiction and has a pretty interesting concept. Like, Naegi-kun is a half-vampire. Anything else i need to convince you? Just please don't mind the grammar errors for the first few chapters. I helped him out at around chapter 4, so I did not help to edit his previous chapters.

Two: I would be releasing another fanfiction soon. It would be an Oreimo fanfiction. I adopted the story from another author. I would release it around next week, together with the next chapter of this story. I have no experience writing up stories in a modern setting. And since my life is boring, nothing interesting ever happens in it that could be used as content in my chapters. If you guys don't mind, you can send me interesting stories that happened in your life or you heard about. Of course, make sure it's nothing sensitive to you. Send it to me via PM if you don't mind having it put into the story.

Three: Since I would introducing more and more things into this story, I may set up a wiki page, which contains everything that I fail to explain in the story. Of course, this was only a whim that I thought up and I need to see if there is a need for it.

Four: ChaosOmega8, here's a half a cookie. I won't say what's it's for. But nonetheless, take the half a cookie.

Five: Here's a conversation I had with one of the characters recently. I won't tell you who he or she is. This person will be revealed in the next arc. So for now, just keep this in mind.

[Start of Conversation]

?: HEY! Are you gonna have Onii-sama go on a date with me?

Me: Calm down. Yea, I will let you go on a date with him. But just one.

?: Really? Great, I gonna have him do everything with me. There's so much I wanna do with Onii-sama. I'll [-Omitted due to spoilers-]. Maybe at the end of it, I can ha-

Me: And nothing indecent will happen. (NO!) It won't be fair for the others. Also, though I am fine with excessive sibling love, there should be a limit somewhere.

?: B-But love knows no bounds! And I love him with all my heart, I'll even-

The rest of the conversation was omitted to prevent the reveal of future plot.

[End of Conversation]

Okay, that's everything. I see that everything has been progressing steadily. Hope you liked that cliche romance anime scene, featuring Air and Tatsumi. To ensure equal amount of chances for the candidates, I will write up a romance scene for every girl.

I brought in an organisation called the 'Advanced Research Foundation'. If you didn't get what they do, just think of CERN. Basically, they are in charge of researching on…...well, everything related to science. Also, I tried my best writing the part for Esdeath. I made her into a battle maniac. She seeks only a good fight and the thrill of battle. Maybe it was accurate, maybe it wasn't. I'll leave you guys to be the judge.

Okay, I'm done.

Merry Christmas Guys. Enjoy this festive season.