CHAPTER 6: LESSON FOR THE DAY

Mine managed to find the next town over, and then she rode on through the countryside after acquiring her direction. At that point, it took her one more day to finally get back to Night Raid.

The reunion was an emotional one. Everyone was grateful that Mine made it back safely. In fact, Bulat, Leone, and Lubbock weren't even on site at the time since they were out searching for her. The next day, everyone returned, and the reunion was complete.

After the two weeks, things had essentially returned to normal… but Mine was unable to fully accept that. She left a part of herself back there in the woods, thinking back to Sanfred. In fact, while she did tell her comrades about being captured and brought in for the reward, she had left out the part where she had a crush on her kidnapper. It didn't seem like the kind of detail she wanted to share.

But now, as a result, Mine was lonely. There was no one else she could talk to about this, and that didn't help absolve her of the heartache. Strange as it was, she still thought about Sanfred quite often. What made it even more aggravating was how she wondered if he was thinking about her as well. Most likely, he barely even cared, while her insides were infested. It upset her how much weaker she felt in that regard.

Najenda gave out missions for the team, but she gave Mine extra time to rest. Even so, Mine demanded to get another mission constantly, hoping it would restore her feelings of normalcy and get her mind off Sanfred. After another week of resistance, Najenda finally agreed to assign a mission to Mine. However, she sent Akame and Tatsumi with her, to make sure she was well looked after.

The mission brought the three assassins to a small town just outside of the Capital. While there, they sought to find out what information had been released on Mine. Sure enough, there was no shortage of wanted posters for the young woman. After a few jokes about how Mine looked like a fierce criminal, the assassins pressed on through the town.

Their destination was a building in the center of the town. There, a man named Krimon was selling drugs to the Empire, using children as mules. The mission objective was to kill Krimon and to set the children free.

"Ready to get messy?" Tatsumi asked, smiling warmly.

"Time to slay," Akame uttered calmly. She was the one who shoved the door open, while Tatsumi and Mine fanned out to the sides, ready to deal with the enemies.

Across the room, Krimon stared in shock. "Um… what's going on?"

"We're here to slay you," Akame announced.

"Wait, really? Shit." Krimon was wearing a white suit and black hat, in some kingpin sort of fashion, minus the bald head. "Well, then I'm going to order my men to kill you all."

The guards stared in disbelief, suddenly realizing who they were up against. Unsurprisingly, they dropped their weapons and fanned out the exit doors in organized fashion.

"Wait? Where are you going? I pay you people!" Krimon huffed in disappointment.

"Good thing you're a cheap boss," Tatsumi said with a grin. "Now we don't have to kill them."

"Just you," Mine declared, taking aim with her gun. She was about to fire a shot right into Krimon's heart, but she felt her body tense up. Instead of opening fire, she had to hesitate. It reminded her of when she took aim at Sanfred, only to miss by inches. That moment played through her head again and again.

Apparently, Akame noticed that Mine was hesitant. "Allow me, then." With no further delay, she gave a fierce swipe which removed Krimon's head in a flash. The mission was complete.

"Nice work," Tatsumi said in congratulations. He held his hand behind his head, somewhat nervous in the presence of a no-nonsense Akame. However, he did notice that Mine had hesitated back there, so he walked over to her. "Hey… you okay?"

"I'm fine!" was all she said. She turned away, crossing her arms, avoiding letting her eyes be seen.

All Tatsumi could do was sigh and accept her response. Soon after, Akame walked over and motioned to the other side of the room. "Where are the children?"

"Let's check," Tatsumi suggested.

"I'll go," Mine volunteered, eager to contribute to the mission. She somewhat unceremoniously pushed Tatsumi aside and stomped toward the side door. When she opened it, there was a passage, which went farther than expected. At the end of it, there were about a dozen children huddled together, hiding. When Mine saw them, she felt her insides grow soft. Even with all that was bothering her, she couldn't overlook the horrible visual of children being forced to do a drug dealer's bidding.

"It's okay," she told them in a sweet voice, even though she hardly recognized herself. "We're getting you all out of here."

Eventually, the children began to return to their feet, and then they approached Mine. One by one, they were filed out of the passage, and Akame led them all to the exit. None of the children had parents. Unfortunately, that was going to make things difficult, since Night Raid didn't exactly have a good method of taking care of them.

In the end, Akame led the children to some soldiers who could escort them to an orphanage. The soldiers recognized Akame, but they refused to acknowledge it, instead being more focused on saving the children. It was a strangely uplifting moment, and Mine thought about it the rest of the day.

In the evening, she was back at the hideout, resting on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "What did I learn today?" she asked herself out loud.

There were a few things. One, she learned that her emotions could cause her to lose focus on what she did best with her weapon. Two, she learned that the evils of the world didn't take days off for her to recuperate. Three, she learned that even enemies would be willing to do what was right, because every population was filled with good people.

Therefore, even Sanfred could be justified as a good person.

"Dammit," she swore again, unable to help herself. He popped up in her mind once again. Maybe she didn't really learn anything after all.