hello, I am back on the last few hours of NaNoWriMo 2020!

In between the tall bookshelves, the sound of air being sliced echoes, before several thuds swiftly follow.

Booted feet confidently walk towards the interrupter of the sweet silence, stopping in front of a green-haired man whose ridiculously long coat is pinned to the ground by two of the many fatally-sharp tools he'd barely missed.

He looks up to find a bespectacled brunette in a frilly cream-colored dress and white apron staring him down, her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised in amusement. "Ah!" he exclaims, pointing to her. "I told you to hide once someone sets the trap off!"

She giggles. "Mm-hmm, you sure did." The girl then treads through the maze of slicers, choppers, and dicers stuck on the cement floor. "But I know what your footsteps sound like." She reaches the free space between two knives dangerously close to the boy's feet. She looks up and pokes his chest. "So I didn't have to."

"Aww, Layla-chan, that makes me blush." His gaze on her finger raises to lock eyes with her.

As if the weight of the moment washes over her right then, Layla's smile turns watery. "Lubba!" she whines before tackling him in a hug – eliciting a pained groan from the boy – and buries her face on his shoulder.

A soft smile overtakes Lubbock's expression. He smooths her hair down and wraps his arms around her. "Yeah, I came back safe."

Suddenly, Layla grips the collar of his coat tight and looks up at him. "Is that right?"

The coat slides off his shoulders. Lubbock's eyes trail the girl's small, warm hands snaking up his arms and then in his sleeves to reach his biceps, shoulders, underarms. Her hands then lift from his progressively-warm skin for a short moment before diving under his shirt to move up and down, left and right his torso.

He could only gulp. This body check is nothing new, but damn it, he could never get used to it.

After what seemed like hours, Layla steps back and dusts off her hands. "Okay. You're clean."

You try hard to keep a straight face every time, but I know… Lubbock smirks. "How can you be sure? You didn't check the lower ha-"

"Oh, would you look at the time!" Layla spins on her heel and quickly steps over the knives to make her escape. He makes that comeback every time, and she never fails to blush at it. "It's time for you to actually do some work around here!"

He snickers, bending down to remove the knives pinning his beloved coat. "Did she forget I'm technically her boss?"

"I can't take a boss who gets caught in his own traps seriously," she replies, her voice traveling among the bookshelves.

Lubbock whines childishly. "Could you at least help me out, though?"

"You're on your own. I can't see your strings, so I might set off the one holding that hatchet up there."

Lubbock looks up at the deadly weapon remaining suspended right above him and laughs nervously. "So that's what's missing in here."

"To think that you'd get killed not because of a mission, but because of your own traps." A now-calm Layla pops back out of a nearby bookshelf, dramatically leaning on it and placing a hand on her forehead. "Oh, the tragedy!"

"Okay, cutie." Lubbock chuckles as he drops the last of the knives in the pile beside him. He stands up and holds out his coat to her. "May I?"

Layla exchanges it with the neatly-folded apron she'd brought.

"How about you just help me reinstall these instead?"

"And let you stand under the ladder and look up my skirt?" Layla scoffs. "No, thanks."

"It's fair trade." Lubbock grins suggestively as he ties his apron.

"What are you talking about? The only one who'd benefit from that is you again."

"Don't tell me you don't feel anything when you check me."

"Of course I do. I could feel your scrawny body."

"Wha-? I may slack off in training, but I'm fairly muscular!" With one smooth movement, he closes their distance and gently captures her chin. "Proof? You can't get your hands off me."

She raises her arms to push him away, but that would mean touching his chest or shoulders. She quirks up an eyebrow upon seeing him smirk. "Lubba," Layla says, dropping her hands back down to her sides and merely tilting her head away to break out of his hold. "Customers would be coming in soon. Do we really want them to see all these incriminating evidence of our ties to people whom society sees as dangerous?"

Lubbock laughs and fondly pokes her cheek. "Okay. I get it, boss."

Since then, the whirring of strings from Cross Tail is the only one that resounds through the book shop. When Lubbock finally looks up at the girl, he finds her already sitting beside him on the cold floor, which he assumes is a subconscious decision.

The various ways the teenage boy could use his Imperial Arm never ceases to amaze Layla, so she takes every chance she could get to watch him tinker with it.

But behind her awed expression, Lubbock could discern hints of longing. So instead of jokingly chiding her for not returning to her post, he instead says, "Let's go home together tonight."

Layla startles at his voice. But as his words register, she instantly brightens up. "Okay!"

Now, Night Raid's base lies 10 kilometers from the capital. Being a non-fighter, and therefore having lower stamina than the others, Layla dreads having to walk that far, especially after a long day of work. Until, of course, the oh-so-kind Lubbock would offer to carry her on piggyback the rest of the way. That's what she delights in.

At the entrance, a young man carrying a Danger Beast he'd hunted stops to take a second look at them, his eyes growing as wide as dinner plates by the minute.

Confused, Lubbock raises a hand in a cautious wave. "Yo, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi warily points to the girl still hanging off the green-haired guy's back.

"Ah, Layla-chan, we're here," Lubbock softly says, thinking the girl is already asleep. But his lips almost brush her cheek when he turns to look at her.

A wide-awake Layla had been staring at Tatsumi since she'd spotted him from a distance, and so focused was she on the boy that Lubbock had to crouch down so her feet would touch the ground. Her gaze still fixed on Tatsumi, she bounds over to him and bows in greeting. "Hello, Tatsumi! I'm Layla!" She smiles and turns to the green-haired man stopping to stand beside her. "Lubba's wife."

Tatsumi looks at them back and forth before falling on his knees. "Master Lubba!" he cries, holding a thumbs-up. "Good job!"

Lubbock gives him a smug grin and wraps an arm around Layla's shoulders. "We've been going strong for two years now, might I add."

Suddenly, Tatsumi shoots up and points an accusing finger at Lubbock. "But why do you still try to peek on Neesan and talk perversely about girls?"

Layla gasps. "What? Do you mean… he still does that?"

"W-w-w-what are you saying, Tatsumi?" Lubbock's voice rises in panic.

"Lubba, I…" Layla's voice breaks. Then she covers her face and starts sobbing.

Lubbock stands behind the girl to rub her shoulders, laughing nervously. "Layla-chan, you don't seriously believe this guy, right?" He glares at Tatsumi as he continues, "You trust me, your lifetime companion, more than a boy you just met, don't you?"

Tatsumi splutters. "I… I didn't mean to… I-"

"Don't worry, Tatsumi." A girl with flowing jet-black hair suddenly appears, with a Danger Beast even larger than Tatsumi's catch on her back. "That's just their cover in the Capital."

Layla raises her face, no signs of crying in her expression at all. "Aww, Akame-chan, you're no fun."

Lubbock laughs. "Right? You're really so gullible, Tatsumi."

With a roar, Tatsumi rushes forward, barely missing Layla's face, to grab Lubbock by the collar. The (fortunately) dead Danger Beast he'd caught lies forgotten on the ground. "You really get on my nerves sometimes!"

"Not my fault you're so naïve!"

The front door opens to reveal a well-endowed blonde. "Oi," she shouts, "what's with all the noi- oh! Layla!"

"Neesan!" Layla runs towards her, arms outstretched.

The older woman squeals and meets her halfway. "I missed you so much!"

"Leone," Akame says, "you've been together the other day."

"But that was for only a short while! Lubba keeps her to himself a lot, but doesn't even take care of her!" Leone then ruffles Layla's hair, ruining her half-ponytail.

Layla looks up. "That's not entirely tr—"

"It must have been lonely, huh?" Leone cuts Layla off by pressing the younger girl's face deeper into her chest.

Tatsumi and Lubbock stop arguing to watch.

"So jealous…" Lubbock mutters.

Tatsumi does not say anything, but a blush tinges his cheeks.

Lubbock then turns to him to take hold of his collar too. "Oh, of course you're not jealous because Neesan actually enjoys suffocating you with those boobs!"

Layla finally manages to break away from Leone and looks at the boys. "Shouldn't we break them up?"

Leone shrugs. "Nah, let them be." She then tugs Layla into the base. "Hurry and come inside instead! Boss arrived yesterday, so you should greet her next!"

The Boss. Layla purses her lips as she begins to get dragged along the hallways. So that explains why Lubbock had to stay an extra day in the base.

Leone suddenly slows down and matches her pace. "Hey," she speaks softly now, "we all didn't expect her to return yesterday. I'm sure Lubba didn't mean to leave you alone for a while longer. You know how things work."

"Huh? Oh no!" Layla laughs. "Come on, that doesn't bother me at all! The longer I stay in the Capital, the more information I could gather, right? It's just perfect that Boss is here. I could be useful right away."

Leone nudges her shoulder. "You know you don't have to hide it from me."

"I'm not hiding anything, Neesan."

Information is essential in this line of work. And this is where Layla comes in handy. Despite choosing not to be an assassin herself – and because Lubbock is strongly opposed to the idea – she works as an informant for Night Raid. Being able to stay in the capital for longer periods of time allows her to collect updates and secrets the group could use. Though it feels nice to be useful, Layla's information would also mean more dangerous missions for everyone. For Lubbock.

Sometimes, though, even if she doesn't bring home information enough to formulate a mission, Najenda herself would get requests from the Revolutionary Army, and those are always considered urgent.

"Layla," Lubbock softly calls, his reflection appearing behind the brunette standing in front of the window.

Layla stops biting her thumbnail and turns around in an instant. "Lubba." She pouts.

"You know I can't have you traveling alone to the Capital. Take a day off from work today."

"And you know I am not worried about that."

Lubbock smiles and opens his arms to invite her in, and she obliges. A promise to come back home is never uttered, because no one ever knows how a mission would turn out. Instead, he always says, "I'll try my best." And then he kisses the top of her head.

Layla looks up to smile back, and with her usual reply of, "Please," she'd kiss his cheek.

As Lubbock follows Bulat, Sheele, and Mine out of the base, Layla watches them until she can't see them anymore. When she turns around, she spies brown hair peeking out of a wall.

She giggles. "Come on out, Tatsumi."

Tatsumi steps away from his hiding spot and laughs nervously.

Layla raises an eyebrow. "So?"

"Huh?"

"You want to ask something, don't you?"

"Ah, well… you kind of confused me just now. Are you and Lubba actually…?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Layla waves her hands in front of her. "We're just… um, really close friends."

Tatsumi blinks. "I guess relationships in the Capital are really complicated."

Oh, right. He's not from the city. "Well, to put things simply, he basically saved my life. It just formed some sort of special attachment between us, but not in that way, okay?"

Tatsumi only frowns in thought.

"Besides…" she mutters, trailing off.

"Besides…?" Tatsumi prompts.

Layla startles, not expecting him to still be listening. "Nothing! You should go back in now, or else Akame-chan would actually kill you this time!"

At this, Tatsumi throws her a panicked thanks and rushes away.

Layla sighs and slides down the wall. "Besides, he's already so deep in love with someone else."

here is my contribution to NaNoWriMo 2020 (which, funnily, no one in my circle actually talked about, though that's not surprising) and to the Akame ga Kill fandom! I just love Lubbock so much, even if it hurts. the fandom's pretty much dead (like everyone in it) but this has been in my head for so long and I feel that it's finally time to share it.

and writing about unrequited love is something fairly new to me, so I'm excited to write this until the end! I hope you guys would enjoy reading!