Hello guys! I'm sorry for the lack of update. I... have nothing to say about that. Anyway, I hope you'll still enjoy this chapter ^^'
Oh, and thanks a lot to the people who favorited/followed and to those who left reviews! Really appreciated, I do my best (when I'm actually writing...)
Soul in the Dream
CHAPTER 16
(Hitomi's POV)
Morale surely have plummeted since that night two days ago... The atmosphere was pretty dark and no one really talked to each other... I guess that's the result of having a good friend die without us being able to do anything to change it...
Me and Tatsumi were doing the dishes, with only Mine and Akame in the dining room aside from us. The pinkette was desperately trying to eat, but with her dominant hand disabled, she had a lot of trouble.
"Ah!", she made when she dropped her spoon into her plate. She sighed and was about the pick her spoon again, but Akame beat her to it and gently took Mine's utensil.
"Mine.", the black-haired girl said while hovering the spoon near the pinkette's mouth, telling her to let Akame feed her.
"Leave me be,", Mine scoffed. "I can eat on my own, you know."
"I'm trying to help.", argued the raven-haired teen, still holding the spoon.
"... *sigh* Alright, alright..."
As Akame was spoon-feeding Mine, the Boss entered the kitchen. When her eyes landed on me, she perked up a little.
"Oh, there you are, Hitomi.", she said. "I was looking for you."
I put the dishes I had in my hands and removed my apron. "What for?", I asked. She smirked when I asked.
"You'll be happy.", she said. "Come to the meeting room, I have a mission for you and Bulat." Oh my god, I finally get to go out a bit!
"Well, it was fun watching Akame feed Mine but I gotta go.", I announced with a smirk as I left the room with Najenda, ignoring Mine's comment about me being an idiot.
Later this day, I was on a rooftop with Bulat. Our target was a blacksmith named Dwaine, but this was completely irrelevant. He was suspected of kidnapping people coming to his shop at night, but we didn't have confirmation, nor did we know what he actually did to them.
"I want you two to confirm if it's true.", had said the Boss. "If it is, well, you know what to do."
The blacksmith's shop was just below us. Since we were in the center of the Capital, we couldn't go Leone-style and break everything. We need to be real sneaky on this one.
"Ready to go, Hitomi?", Bulat asked me. He was wearing his Incursio armor and was about to turn invisible to infiltrate the building. "We need to see if he's really a kidnapper first. I'll sneak into the basement to take a look. You wait here and check the surroundings.", he told me his plan.
"You're really underestimating me.", I said with arms crossed. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he was confused. "Clearsight!" With these words, my Teigu activated and I could see the shop's wall and roof slowly disapear from my view. I could see our target calmly clean his counter, without a care in the world. I concentrated even more, and after a few seconds, the floor turned translucent. I let out a small gasp at what I saw; five young teens were strapped to poles in the basement. Their clothes were tattered and they looked beat up as well. Before I could look any longer, I felt a small pain in my head. Looking through multiple layers of solid objects was really tiring, but I managed to get the job done.
"There's five... teens down there.", I grunted as I deactivated Spectator. Normally, this Teigu wasn't very tiring, this being the first time I actually had a headache while using it.
"Oh, I'm sorry.", Bulat apologised with a small laugh. "I forgot you could do that... You okay?" I took a deep breath and nodded, the pain fading away.
"Yeah.", I nodded. "And why do you think the Boss sent me on this mission!? I can do more than sightseeing, y'know!", I scolded my comrade as he sratched the side of his head sheepishly.
"Hello! Welcome to Dwaine's Sword.", the blacksmith greeted me when I entered his shop. "How can I help you?"
'Did he really call his shop 'Dwaine's Sword'...?' I shook my head of my perverse thoughts and took a look a him. Smallish, red beard and hair, green eyes, this guy didn't really look dangerous to me... Behind me, I could sense Bulat sneaking towards the trapdoor leading to the basement. I needed to hurry up and kill this bastard before he noticed.
"Yes, hello.", I greeted with a smile. "Hey, how much would that blade cost?", I asked him while pointing to a random blade behind him. When he turned his head, Bulat didn't lose any time as he quickly went into the shop's basement to free the teens held there. Unfortunately, the trapdoor closing made a noise.
"Wh-What was that!?", the blacksmith jumped back when he heard the sound. He seemed nervous. He was even more surprised when he saw me pointing my sword at his throat. Before he had the chance to scream, I quickly jumped above the counter and placed my free hand on his mouth, muffling the blacksmith.
"Sorry, shorty.", I said in an apologetic tone. "I would love to stay and chat, but the people you have in your basement are a good reason to kill you, y'know?" When I mentionned the people he held prisoners, his eyes widened and he shook his head repeatedly. "So you admit it?", I asked him. No response from Dwaine. I sighed and jabbed my sword in his heart, killing him instantly. "That was a little easy...", I pouted as I wiped the blood off my sword. I then heard the trapdoor open behind me.
"Oh, good job, Hitomi.", Bulat gave me a thumb up as he got out of the basement. "I told the kids not to go up for a bit so they couldn't see your face.", he said. How thoughtful of him. "Well, mission accomplished, let's go." I nodded with a smirk and followed the armored man outside, ready to brag about a job well done.
"... You actually weren't needed in this mission.", I teased Bulat with a smirk.
"O-Oh, don't be like that, I helped free the kidnapped people! That's plenty!"
This night, I couldn't sleep, so I went to the kitchen to eat a little something. Akame was also here, preparing an offering for Sheele. Her favorite meal, to be exact.
"Akame, Hitomi...?" I turned my head and saw Tatsumi in the doorway. My guess is that he couldn't sleep. "A midnight snack?", he asked.
"No..." "Yes.", Akame and I answered at the same time.
"I'm the one eating.", I quickly added, stating the obvious.
"I'll be giving these to Sheele.", Akame said in a saddish tone, showing Tatsumi the plate of food. "Since we work in the shadows... Sheele's name will never be recorded in the history of the Revolutionary Army. So I have to remember more things about her than anyone else." She dropped her head, her bangs covering her eyes. "She may have done many foolish things, but she was the kindest one of us all."
"I understand.", Tatsumi nodded. "You're doing the same thing as me when I offer flowers to Sayo and Ieyasu, right?"
"Yes."
"But... you're amazing, Akame...", he continued in a sad voice, confusing our raven-haired comrade. "You keep composed even though one of our comrades have died.", the brunette explained. "I guess you're used to it by now though..."
'How can anyone be used to death!?', I yelled in my mind, honestly irritated by my friend's choice of words. I tried ignoring his speech and focus on my snack, but the sound of dishes shattering made me jump and turn my head quickly. I was surprised when I realised Akame dropped the plate and was lifting Tatsumi by the collar.
"I have seen many of my allies die before my eyes...", she grimly said. "However..." She lifted her head, showing some tears falling down her face. "One of our precious comrades died! There's no way you can even get used to this kind of pain!" She was yelling now, and it kinda scared me... "But these feelings will have an impact on our next mission! So I go around acting like I'm just fine about it! We work in the shadows! What would I do if I couldn't flip this switch...?! And you... call this being composed...", she continued. Her head was down again and tears were openly flowing out of her eyes. "I... How am I supposed to feel about Sheele's death...? How am I?!"
By now, I decided to act. It was a rare sight to see Akame's emotional side, but seeing her crying just made me want to cry, and I didn't like to cry. I got up from my seat and gently put a hand on her shoulder. Upon my touch, she released Tatsumi and turned her head towards me, her face red from crying.
"How about... we make a promise to you.", I said with a small smile. When I saw her confused look, I continued. "I don't want to see you sad like that ever again. So, on my magnificent third eye and my lovely personality, I promise that I won't die, no matter what! Oh, and Tatsumi too, I guess."
"Hitomi..." She wasn't expecting a comic relief character like me saying something like that, huh..? I'm actually surprised myself...
"He's right.", Tatsumi smiled. "We'll make a new country... where we can always see everyone's smiling faces."
Akame smiled and wiped the tears off her face. "Yeah, that's right.", she agreed. The level of sadness was pretty high tonight...
"Oh I can't take it anymore! Gimme a hug, now." That said, I wrapped my arms around Akame. She tensed up in surprise but didn't seem to complain as I felt her relax and hug me back. I didn't miss Tatsumi, who gave me a weird look with an eyebrow raised. I replied by flipping him the bird in the most polite way I could think of.
So? What did you think? I know this chapter was kinda short, but would you like more random missions like I did here? If I do make more, I'll make then longer, of course ^^
