Chapter 28 What a Wonderful Morning

"I am thoroughly excited toward what lies in front of me! It does not matter what we do, it does not matter how we do it. What matters is that we are doing what is necessary and right. We may bear blame to what we do not deserve, and we may be treated without fairness, but the world needs people like us, and I believe we can make our society a better place. In the end, we are the protector of men's future, and we are the dark knights!"

Speaking enthusiastically, Tatsumi extends his right hand into a firm fist. His eyes are reflecting the light of the shining sun of the clear morning. His voice is filled with inspiration and commitment. The gesture of the young boy precisely resembles that of a proud knight, and his words of revelation encourages his own spirit to rise above everyone else's.

"…"

"Poor boy, what has Hei done to you?" Leone is the first one to find herself a reaction to the situation in from of her. Tatsumi has… changed. Of course, the usual enthusiastic, positive, and naivety have not escaped from the boy, but she is certain those green eyes of his are convincing everyone that he is capable of taking lives.

"He did not do anything spectacular, he only attended my wounds like a friend."

"Wait… what? Did you say 'friend'?" It is Mine who now finds this answer unbelievable, those pink eyes of hers are not giving into what the young boy is saying.

"Yeah, of course! We met each other on the way to the capital. He helped me all the way before we depart for our own goals. Man, when I saw him in that demon Aria's warehouse, I thought he was going to kill me. Now I think about it, I'm rather certain he came to get me out of that hell. Last night, he even healed all my wounds from the beating Aria gave me. Isn't that friendship or what?"

First of all, Hei never really helped Tatsumi to get to the capital, he merely led the way. In addition, Hei did come to kill Tatsumi, but a certain sense of danger and the strange silver light that night made him change his mind. Furthermore, when did Hei ever think of Tatsumi as his friend again?

"No way! How can that gloomy bastard be friendly to anyone? All he thinks about is himself, and he might even be using you the entire time! Look at how incompetent you are – you can't even detect the true intentions of that duke's family, and you are saying that heartless killer is your friend?"

You know, Tatsumi, sometimes Mine has a point.

"How can you talk about him like that? He saved my life!" The green-eyed boy is not going down without a fight.

"I'm saying that he is a heartless bastard, what can you do about it?" The pinkette is also not going to let her pride be tainted by losing an argument.

CLICK.

The door to the meeting room opens at just the right time to tame the tension between the two arguing assassins. Reflecting the sunlight, the mask of the Black Reaper quickly finds its way into everyone's point of view.

"Hei, you are here!" Seeing his proclaimed "friend" upon Hei's entrance to the room, Tatsumi jumps to greet him with a wide smile, "They don't believe we are friends, Hei, but I don't care. You saved my life, and I will always see you as my best friend!"

"Paramecium."

"What?"

"No, even a paramecium knows the dangers of its environment. Your actions regarding the duke's family shows lower intelligence than a paramecium." Examining the young boy, Hei lets his logic complete his first statement of the morning.

"…" Being rejected by Hei, Tatsumi is currently feeling extremely stupid.

Hei, what are you doing? Tatsumi is currently on your side…

"See? He doesn't care about you!" Grinning at the embarrassed boy, a strong emotion of accomplishment takes over the pink-haired girl.

"Judging without absolute understanding of preconditions and parameters, your words also proved to be meaningless."

"You…" If it were not for Leone's strong arms, the Pumpkin is going to wreak some havoc today.

…

Walking toward the other side of the room, Hei casually takes out a notebook covered with convoluted symbols and expressions that nobody understands.

"Umm… Hei, today is the day for food gathering… so…" Trying to break the awkward silence in the room, Lubbock finally speaks out the young assassins' true intentions, "all of us will need to go to the small river under the waterfall to catch… catch fish."

"…" Switching his view from the paper to the green-haired boy, and switching his view back to the paper, Hei finally replies with his usual monotone, "Understood."

"Oh… Okay. We will be leaving very soon." Swallowing heartedly, Lubbock regains his focus on their plot of revenge.

"Perfect." Looks like a certain pinkette completely forgot about Hei's intolerable response a few minutes earlier, a wide smile quickly develops on her face, "then let's begin."

"…"