Ch 296: Learn to think for yourselves!

"I'm hungry." grumpily said Akame.

"That's the sixth time you say it this morning, Akame." sighed Tsukushi. "Unfortunately, I do not have any food in my pockets, so…"

"…Cover your ears, guys. I'm trying again." said Poney.

Akame and the others did as Poney suggested, and after hyping herself up for a few seconds, she sprinted toward the door with as much momentum as she could gather in the not so large cell, and kicked the bars of the door near the lock with both heels, producing a great clanging noise.

But the door held firm, not even showing the least bit of deformation.

"Tsk!" complained Poney as she massaged her soles. She had trained her feet for years, but this was still painful. "What are those damn bars made of? It can't be just steel. they would have bent after just two or three times!"

"Only materials processed from a danger beast is that though, but who in his right mind would use something so valuable to make prison doors and bars instead of weapons?" asked Green, shaking his head.

"I couldn't even dig the walls or floor with my Shingu before they took it from me." said Gai. "This whole room is abnormal."

"…Since escape is impossible for now, we should conserve our energy for when they open the door." decided Najasho.

"Yes, Chief." nodded Poney.

"It should be morning by now. They will likely come soon."

"I hope they'll bring food." wistfully said Akame just before her stomach growled.

"They better, before Akame starts seeing us as food." joked Cornelia. But her heart wasn't really in it, and she sighed as she thought back about their father.

For a while, they all remained silent, thinking about the disastrous fight of the precious night, and its consequences. Their luck really had taken a turn for the worst, between those freakishly powerful women and Night Raid and Oarburgh coming for them. And now, their father was gone.

Cornelia occasionally wiped her eyes, refusing to voice her grief, but she wasn't the only one.  They all wiped their eyes to one degree or another.

"…I'm hungry." repeated Akame, trying to distract her companions, even if only for a minute or two.

"Seventh time, Akame." said Cornelia. "Should we take bet on how many times Akame will say she's hungry before they come? I say twelve times."

"You're optimistic, Cora." said Tsukushi with a weak smile. "Eighteen times."

"I would say ten… Wait, I think I hear someone coming." said Green.

Akame had already started hearing footsteps as well.

They could all hear it now, and they tensed.

They heard a door being unlocked and opened, and several people walking down the hallway. They came into view, and the captives saw the four women who had defeated them earlier.

"Good morning, everyone." said Miwa. "We are going to take you out of your cells one by one and shackle you before you get breakfast. Do not try anything stupid, we made it clear yesterday night that you cannot fight us and win when you have your weapons, much less without them."

"You got us by surprise last time!" protested Poney, incensed.

"Do you want to give it another try?" asked Miwa with a raised eyebrow, and Poney nodded defiantly.

Darkness smiled as she opened the cell's door that had mocked Poney's earlier efforts, and Poney burst into motion…

…Only to be easily handled like an unruly child and have her hands shackled in front of them. Darkness added more steel shackles to Poney's ankles, then let her stand.

Poney fumed, but the chain now linking her ankles was too short to even attempt hitting Darkness's crotch with a knee, and she forced herself to calm down.

"Next." said Miwa, pointing at Cora. "We won't add ankle chains if you are more reasonable."

Cora nodded reluctantly and allowed Miwa to put steel cuffs around her wrists, binding them in front of her.

One by one, the others got shackled as well.

"Very well. Now follow me outside." said Miwa, and the seven prisoners, with their captors keeping a vigilant eye on them, walked out of the basement and the house.

In front of the house had been erected a long table full of food, from fruits to meat, and Akame's stomach growled. But neither she nor her friends paid any attention to it, as there were already many people sitting at the table, facing them. The members of Night Raid, as well as three girls in maid outfits, and two more she suspected were part of Oarburgh. The old woman, however, wasn't there.

"Where are we?" asked Akame.

"Far from the capital." shrugged Miwa. "Sit down, everyone, and start eating. After you are done, we will have a talk."

Najasho was the first to sit and examine the food with obvious suspicion.

"No, it's not poisoned." said the one with neck-length, pinkish blonde hair. If Akame remembered correctly, her name was Okita. Of all four of their captors, she was the one Akame was the most wary of. Okita had the smell and eyes of a battlefield veteran who could cut down someone without hesitation. "Your lives are already in our hands, and we do not use poisons."

Akame nodded, taking a chunk of grilled meat, still hot. She still sniffed it carefully, not finding anything suspicious, and tentatively bit into it. The meat was good, tender and well-seasoned, and she took a second bite.

For a while, not one said anything as they ate, the captives wanting more energy to sustain their future escape, and Akame helped herself to more and more meat.

"Alright." said Miwa when Akame finished. She would have eaten some more, actually, but eating under the gazes of close to twenty people waiting for her would have been too embarrassing.

"Let's start with properly introducing everyone." smiled Miwa. "Air, Luna, Fal, please tell them about yourselves, and how you came to be part of our little group."

Akame saw the maid girls exchange a glance before the blonde-haired one stood.

"My name is Fal. Luna and Air are my childhood friends, and we are from a remote village near the Empire's southern border. Because of the heavy taxes, our village had been forced to sell nine girls to slave traders this year. The three of us got a little luckier, or at least we thought so at the time. We were selected to become apprentices at the capital under a local Lord…"

Akame listened carefully as the girl related her experience in the capital, about Bach, and how their day had turned into a nightmare, before Miwa and her bunch suddenly appeared and saved them. When she was done, she sat down, slightly embarrassed by the attention and sympathetic gazes she and her two childhood friends were receiving.

Akame didn't think the girl was lying. She knew there were many criminals in the capital. The Elite Seven had been asked to deal with them often enough.

"Now, we have accepted their offer to become their disciples. They will teach us how to become stronger, and we will use that power to help other people in the future."

"Thank you, Fal. Can you also tell them what you did since then?" asked Miwa.

"Yes, Miwa-sama." nodded Fal. "The three of us have gone on many errands in the streets of the capital, acting as bait. Six times now, we were followed by criminals who only saw two or three maids without any visible escort. We lured them into some back alleys, and when the criminals revealed their evil intentions, Okita-sama or Nero-sama took action and killed them. We may be weak right now, but we are still doing our part to make the capital safer for everyone!"

The members of Night Raid and Oarburgh nodded with obvious approval, smiling. Akame didn't smile, but she nodded as well.

"Thank you, Fal." smiled Miwa before turning to the captives.

"Do you guys have any comments to make about Fal's story?"

"…Assuming this is all true..." frowned Najasho. "…Monster like Bach are exactly the type of people we fight against. If the Revolutionary Army wasn't taking so much of our attention, causing trouble everywhere and threatening the Empire, less people like him would exist."

"No." cut in Miwa, shaking her head. "You did not kill people like Bach. You killed whoever Gozuki designated as an enemy of the Empire, never questioning if he was right. Never wondering if your leader might be lying to you, using you. Never thinking for yourselves. You simply trusted the word of the man who sent over a hundred children into a forest full of Danger Beasts. Have any of you ever tried to ascertain with your own eyes and ears if your targets really deserved to die?"

"Don't you dare talk ill of our Father!" shouted Cornelia, jumping to her feet.

"Did I say anything about him that isn't true?" asked Miwa. "Or maybe you forgot how the Empire sent you and the other kids into that forest?"

"He took care of us! When I got sick, he fed me porridge and made sure I recovered! He's not some unfeeling monster!" exclaimed Cornelia, starting to sob in mixed anger and grief.

"…Let's put the matter of Gozuki aside for now… Bulat, your turn. Can you tell us why you joined Night Raid?"

The tall, fit man with a very… distinctive hairstyle, a heart-shaped pompadour, nodded and stood, looking at Akame and her companions.

"I am Bulat. A few years ago, I was a member of the Imperial Army. I trained under Gensei, the strongest warrior of his generation, became a high-ranking officer, and even gained the nickname '100 Man-Slayer Bulat'. But as time passed, I noticed that too many people in the army cared more about bribes than merit."

"One day, my superior, General Liver, one of the few generals who refused to send bribes to the Prime Minister, was framed with a crime I know he didn't commit and sentenced to execution. I protested and was thrown into prison for a few months. I had a lot of time to think, sitting there alone in the dark, and I understood one thing. That the Empire's corruption would only keep getting worse over time, and that the only way for things to get better was to kill Prime Minister Honest and his puppet of an Emperor, as well as every corrupt officer in the Army."

"Eventually, I was let out. At the first opportunity, I deserted and joined the Revolutionary army, then Night Raid. As part of Night Raid, I have participated to many assassination missions, and our targets were always people who deserved death tenfold."

Bulat sat down.

"Thank you, Bulat. Does any of you Elite Seven have any comments about his story?"

"He's a deserter and a traitor, and traitors deserve death!" bluntly said Tsukushi, glaring at Bulat.

"I know what you are trying to do." said Najasho with a glare of his own, directed at Miwa. "You are trying to feed us lies, to make yourselves look more heroic, to make us join you and betray the Empire."

"That is our goal, yes, although you are wrong about it being lies. How do you determine which things are lies and which are truth about events you haven't witnessed personally? Are they lies because they are inconvenient? Because they challenge your view of the world and make you uncomfortable?"

Najasho was taken aback, and Akame searched for a way to refute Miwa's argument, but she was right about one thing. Whatever their motives, Najasho had no evidence that Fal or Gulat had lied.

"…you think mere words will be enough to turn us into traitors?" asked Tsukushi.

"No. Mere words won't be enough, we are aware of that." nodded Miwa.

"I already know that bad things happen in the Empire!" said Green. "But as long as people strive to make things better, the Empire will self-cleanse itself! And the current situation is still much better than war! If the Empire collapse, the barbarians at the borders will invade, and it will be chaos everywhere!"

"And what form will this self-cleansing take?" angrily retorted Mine, jumping from her chair. "You think people haven't tried that already? Did you not hear what Bulat just said? All those who try to reform the Empire from the inside end up murdered or framed with false charges! And it's idiots like you who are doing the murdering! You guys are preventing the Empire from self-cleansing and are only prolonging the misery!"

"Please calm down, Mine." said Miwa, lifting her hand in a placating gesture. "I share your opinion, but a shouting match won't help undo years of indoctrination."

"…Mmfft!" snorted Mine, but she sat down.

"Let's continue the introductions." said Miwa with a nod.

"Guess it's my turn." nodded the blonde woman with an impressive chest as she stood.

"My name is Leone. I grew up in the capital's slums. Life was hard, and even as a kid, I had to contribute to earning money. I found work in a massage parlor. I didn't do anything perverted, mind you. But I did minor tasks and ran errands, and the customers were fond of me. One day, I found two nobles who bullied two kids, just because they could. They had no guards around, and I carried a stick. I snuck up on them, stuck the back of their knees, and ran with the kids. We knew the back streets better than they did and managed to escape."

"Someone from the Revolutionary Army had seen me, and they approached me later, offering me some serious money. I started as an informant, witnessing more and more of the empire's corruption, then became a soldier and climbed the ranks. Then I joined Night Raid."

"Thank you, Leone." nodded Miwa as Leon sat down.

One by one, the others introduced themselves.

Mine had been bullied for being half-foreigner when she was a child, and wanted a better Empire, one where her children wouldn't suffer like she did.

Lubbock had fallen in love with Najenda, Night Raid's leader, when they were both in the Imperial Army. When Najenda, disillusioned with the empire, deserted, Lubbock followed her.

Sheele, born with a talent for killing, had killed a criminal to protect her childhood friend, only for the criminal's gang members to kill her family in retaliation, and Sheele had exterminated them all. The childhood friend, scared of Sheele, had abandoned her. Alone in the streets of the capital, her home burnt, Sheele had been found by a member of the Revolutionary Army who had quietly investigated the gang's massacre.

Cheslea had worked under a cruel viceroy who liked to hunt. But he didn't hunt deer or foxes. He hunted people. She had stolen a Teigu that had been stored away for lack of any compatible user, and used it to kill the viceroy, then joined the Revolutionary Army. Later on, Babara Oarburgh had noticed her and taken her as a disciple to nurture her as an assassin.

Taeko was an orphan that Babara stumbled upon. Babara saw potential in her and took her as a disciple as well.

"Miwa-sama, what is a Teigu?" asked Luna when Taeko sat down.

"Another name for it is 'Imperial Armament'." replied Miwa. "According to our information, the first Emperor, the one who founded the Empire, hunted some of the strongest Danger Beasts he could find. Using their corpses as materials, he created 48 Teigus, very powerful weapons giving their yielders powerful and unique abilities."

"Later on, Imperial artificers attempted to replicate his work and created many Shingus. Potent weapons, but still significantly weaker than the Teigus."

Akame nodded instinctively. Her own sword, a Shingu named Kiriichimonji, inflicted wounds that wouldn't heal no matter how much time passed or what cures or remedies were applied. Gozuki's sword, Murasame, was a Teigu that would inflict a killing curse on anyone who received even the slightest scratch. While both weapons were similar in their concept of killing after one wound, there was no question as to which one was the most powerful.

"Alright." nodded Miwa. "Now that introductions have been made, we will start on our actual plan to convince you. You guys may dismiss everything we say as lies, but it will be harder to deny the truth if we make you see with your own eyes."

"What are you going to do?" asked Tsukushi, her voice full of suspicion.

Miwa didn't answer and stood. Suddenly, a large, black, flat thing appeared in her hands, and she set it on the table, facing them. Some strange wires and a box followed, and she connected them to the large black thing.

"What is this thing?" asked Akame.

"It's called a television. A tool to see things from a distance. I need a few minutes to set it up correctly." said Miwa as she fiddled with the smaller box.

"Ok, I'm done." finally nodded Miwa as the 'television' displayed… them? It was like a distorted mirror, and the view suddenly changed when Miwa moved a small hairpin.

"This hairpin has the equivalent of an eye hidden inside. What the eye sees will be transmitted to the television, and it can transmit sounds as well. Now, I want one of you to volunteer and come out with some of us, wearing this harpin. That person is going to come with some of us and speak with the villagers of the nearest village. We want you to experience by yourself how the citizen of your empire are treated. You need to start thinking by yourselves."

"Assuming we go along with this, what proof do we have that the people we will speak with aren't members of the Revolutionary Army acting like villagers?" glared Najasho.

"We will let you decide on the destination." shrugged Miwa. "Feel free to move to another village if you wish, as long as you can reach it within a day. Every day, we will choose a different one amongst you to be out and speak with whoever you want."

"What if we use the opportunity to run?" asked Akame.

"You can run, but we run faster, and we won't let you out of our sight." replied Miwa. "Also, you are not to harm anyone outside. It doesn't matter if you suspect the villagers to be spies or not. If you kill any civilian, we will change our methods, and your stay here will become a lot less pleasant. This warning aside, I do not think you would run and abandon your friends."

Akame nodded slowly. Miwa was right about that, at least.

With no one volunteering, Miwa ended up choosing Cornelia, placing the hairpin on her hair and removing her shackles. Then Okita, Cornelia and Mine disappeared.

Akame stared at the 'television', now showing trees. She could hear and see Okita speak to Mine and Cornellia, pointing in a direction and saying the closest village was over there.

Minutes later, they emerged from the forest, and Akame saw a village on the television. As the three girls walked to the village, Akame reflected that those magic eyes were perfect tools to spy on people. The Empire would have many uses for those things.

Akame shook her head, focusing on watching carefully the faces and body language of any villager to search for signs of duplicity. Mine, Okita and Cornelia entered an inn. Okita and Mine introduced themselves as adventurers, Cornelia choosing to get along, and they asked the innkeeper for news.

Mine subtly guided the conversation toward the empire, and the innkeeper spoke carefully. He avoided any outright criticism of the Empire, but his very caution was telling.

For twenty minutes, the three young women chatted with the innkeeper and drank, then left the inn and walked to visit the two other merchants in the small village, selling curios and clothes. They, too, were very careful about their words whenever the Empire was mentioned. They complained about heavy taxes, or the roads growing less safe year after year, but made no direct criticism against the Prime Minister or the Emperor.

Once, Cornelia mentioned the Revolutionary Army, implying they might be the cause of the safety going down by drawing the soldiers away, and the merchant didn't contradict her, but clearly wasn't impressed by her argument.

As Akame kept watching, her uneasiness grew. Those people clearly feared the Empire. Would they fear her as well, if they knew she was a trained assassin in the Empire's service? Even though all this time, she had worked hard for the happiness of the people?

…

"And strike again! Three in a row!" grinned Aya as she walked off the bowling track.

Akeno and Aya were on a date. They had eaten in an Italian restaurant, watched a horror movie featuring zombies, and were ending it with bowling. As it was near closing time on a workday, they had the place almost to themselves.

"Good job." smiled Akeno. "How often do you go to this place?"

"Rarely. I do not really have any friend. And I don't miss it." shrugged Aya.

"Well, you have some friends now." reminded Akeno, taking her hand, and Aya nodded with a smile.

"Akeno-sama, tell me more about your adventures in other worlds."

"Gladly." nodded Akeno, taking her ball and sending it down the track, resulting in another strike. "Let's see. I told you and Maya about the first and second worlds I visited. Let me tell you about the last one. An alternative Earth in the middle of world war 3, where Japan and a good third of the planet had been conquered by the local equivalent of… imagine a country with the resources and territory of the United States, but ruled by British nobility. A world where tanks had become obsolete and been replaced by five meters tall mechas…"

"Mechas?" exclaimed Aya, her eyes wide in wonder, and Akeno grinned as she showed her a few photos she had taken on her smartphone.

"Yes. Me and my friends piloted some, and we liberated Japan and put an end to that world war. Funny how much you can achieve just by putting a leash on one or two key individuals. When we left, the peace treaty and another about forbidding further development of weapons of mass destruction had been signed…"

Akeno paused as she noticed a slightly strange expression on Aya's face.

"Putting a leash…" muttered Aya, blushing slightly, then smiling at her. "Somehow, I can easily imagine you doing that literally, not just figuratively. You have that air about you, Akeno-sama."

Akeno raised an eyebrow at Aya's tone. Unless she suddenly went stupid, there was an undercurrent of something behind her words. Something Akeno was very familiar with.

"…And why do I get the feeling that you wouldn't mind me putting you on a leash, Aya?" purred Akeno, putting an arm around Aya's waist.

Aya shuddered slightly and lowered her gaze, her cheeks reddening further.

"…Are you into… that kind of things, Akeno-sama?"

"I am." nodded Akeno. "Does that disappoint you, Aya?"

"…No." replied Aya with a quiet voice. "The women of the Natsume family give their all to their husbands. Well, wives, in my case… That also means accepting everything about them."

"That isn't really an answer to my question, Aya. I want to know how you feel about the idea of me sexually dominating you." said Akeno in a low, sultry voice, both of her arms now around Aya in a loose hug.

"…I am not sure… What would it be like?"

"That would largely depend on your own tastes and limits. I can be quite flexible about it. But it would involve some bondage and fetish outfits. Nothing public, nothing hardcore or overly painful, and no piercings. Maybe a black butterfly tattoo on your lower back, but only if you agree to it."

"I… think I could give it a try, Akeno-sama." smiled Aya.

Her smile, however, disappeared, and was instantly replaced by anger as she suddenly looked over Akeno's shoulder.

Akeno turned, seeing an attractive young woman walking to them. She had red eyes, crimson-red hair styled into a mass of drills with two ahoges, a shapely body, and the gait of a martial artist. She was dressed in a black top, white skirt, open yellow jacket and knee-high black leather boots.

"Emi! What are you doing here?" glared Aya.

"Still nursing your grudge, Aya? This is a public place. I have every right to be here." nodded Emi.

Without asking, she took a bowling bowl and sent it down the alley, making eight pins fall but missing two, and sighed as she turned back to Aya and Akeno.

"You have, but you interrupted a sweet moment, and that was quite rude. The least you could do is apologize and introduce yourself." frowned Akeno.

Emi nodded, conceding her point.

"You are correct. I apologize for interrupting you. I mostly wanted to confirm if the rumors were correct, about Aya suddenly showing an inclination toward the fairer sex. I am Emi Isuzu, Vice-President of the Executive Council."

"I am Akeno Himejima." nodded Akeno. "It is nice to meet you, even if the timing could be better, but I accept your apology. Did you want anything from us?"

"One member of the Enforcement group was assaulted by one of your friends, and we heard that Maya is teaching you Ki techniques." bluntly said Emi, looking past Akeno's shoulder at Aya. "We can ignore what happened with Ryuzaki, but I am here to issue a warning to your sister, Aya. Stop it, or the Enforcement Group will inflict an unlimited punishment on all four of your friends."

"Ryuzaki was in the process of raping a girl. As far as I am concerned, he got off far too easily, and he better not show his face in front of us. And what does 'unlimited punishment' mean?" frowned Akeno.

"It means regular, long stays in the hospital for you and your friends, until you leave school and relocate far away. We will do anything it takes to avoid another tragedy… Really, how foolish can Maya be? Is she trying to get revenge after all this time?"

"It's not that! It's…" exclaimed Aya, but Akeno stopped her with a hand gesture.

"The leader of the Executive Council is Mitsuomi Takayanagi, am I correct?" quietly asked Akeno.

"Yes."

"Good, please tell him that we challenge him and three of his lieutenants, you included, to a fight. He can pick the time and place." smiled Akeno, making Emi's eyes bulge in outrage.

"You fool! You don't reali…"

"I am aware of his health issue, so I will declare forfeit if the fight exceeds three minutes." cut in Akeno. "And I would have challenged him with or without Maya's help. He stands at the top of Toudou Academy, and I want the spot. Whatever business there is between him and the Natsume family is unrelated."

"…I see." nodded Emi, her anger disappearing. "As a martial artist, I can respect that. If this isn't about what happened three years ago, I will convince him to retract that threat of unlimited punishment, And we will fight you fair and square. Prepare yourselves."

"Thank you." nodded Akeno, and Emi turned without another word, walking away.

Akeno turned to Aya and hugged her again.

"The mood is ruined, so let's resume out previous conversation another time. But we need to have a talk, about the tragedy this girl referred to. Let's go to a quiet place, Aya."

"…Yes." sighed Aya, her eyes down. She let Akeno take her hand and lead her outside, and Akeno found a public bench in a nearby park.

They both sat down, and Akeno kept an arm around Aya's wait to comfort her.

"…I do not have every single detail." started Aya. "I was kept away from it, and I was too young to really notice, too absorbed in my own teenage dramas. And my sister doesn't like to speak about it. What happened was centered around her, my older brother Shin, and Mitsuomi Takayanagi."

"Neither you nor Maya mentioned having an older brother before." nodded Akeno. "It must be a sensitive matter."

"Yeah. Mitsuomi killed him." sighed Aya.

"Oh. I am sorry." said Akeno with sympathy, already thinking about giving Noah a call.

"I can't really blame him, even if I still do, a little. My brother had killed several people, and he tried to kill Mitsuomi as well. It was him who gave him this Ki injury."

Akeno nodded, discarding her previous idea.

"…I'll start from the beginning. Shin had started a gang named Katana, and Mitsuomi was a member and one of Shin's two closest friends. The other was Bunshichi, one of those you want to fight. Emi was an attendant of Shin's fiancée, Mana Kuzunoha, and similar to a modern kunoichi or bodyguard. Things started going wrong when Mitsuomi met Maya."

"They were attracted to each other. And my brother… Shin was very protective of Maya, but… not in a healthy way. I think you would have called him an… obsessive siscon. Maya was picking fights with martial artists in the school, to prove herself and to get out of her older brother's shadow. She wasn't always winning those fights. And Shin hovered there, not coddling her to avoid injuring her pride, but also making sure that anyone who insulted or mocked her sister would later end up with crippling injuries. Some would have died, if not for Mana being an acupuncture specialist and giving them first aid…"

"As the weeks passed, Mitsuomi and Maya grew closer, and my brother… started going mad. He attacked the other members of Katana, causing the gang's dissolution. He held Maya hostage by saying to her that if she ever took Mitsuomi as her boyfriend, he would go on a killing rampage, starting with Mitsuomi himself."

"My sister was scared, both of him and for him, and she agreed, keeping everyone at arm's length. She was too weak to defeat him, and she knew that if Shin and Mitsuomi fought each other seriously, one of them would die."

"Before I continue about what happened next, I need to speak about the Takayanagi family's goal. Dogen Takayanagi, the previous Head and Mitsuomi's father, along with the Heads of most of the other Feather families wanted to produce what they called the 'perfect warrior', the culmination of the pursuit of martial arts. At that time, Shin was their favored candidate. They had invested years of effort into him, and they had given him Reiki, a ceremonial katana with a very long blade."

"Reiki isn't a normal weapon. The woman who forged it, an ancestor of the Natsume family, imbued her Amaterasu's Dragon Gate into it, giving the blade the ability to counter all special powers. However, Reiki also influences its yielder's nature. Shin was a strong martial artist, but his will… wasn't strong enough. With Reiki in hand, he started going on a killing spree. Which was exactly what Dogen Takayanagi wanted. To him, this was the last push to unlock the rest of Shin's potential and transform him into the perfect warrior."

"Bunshichi and Mitsuomi stopped him, knocking him unconscious with serious injuries, but not before Bunshichi got his legs mangled, and Mitsuomi received that injury... Reiki was taken away from my brother."

"For the next two weeks as they recovered, Shin was repentant, and things calmed down. And as a result of that injury making his heartbeat faster, Mitsuomi became the 'perfect warrior' that the Heads had pursued all along."

Aya's shoulders shook as she laughed softly, but there was no humor in it.

"It's ironic, really. After the bloodshed, after ruining my older brother, they got what they wanted. The perfect warrior. But for three minutes only..."

Akeno nodded, silently waiting for Aya to finish.

"Then came the school tournament. In front of every student and teacher, my brother and Mitsuomi fought each other... I wasn't there, so I can only relay what others told me about it, and Maya refuses to talk about it. Shin let out his resentment toward Mitsuomi, aiming at his vital organs. And Mitsuomi kept a calm expression as he… dismantled Shin. He countered his moves and responded with ones meant to severely injure my brother. Not to kill him, but to end him as a martial artist. The fight was going overwhelmingly in Mitsuomi's favor, until my brother used the Forged Needle technique and accidentally hit Mana who had been standing near, ready to provide first aid."

"It was a fatal injury. Shin held her in his arms, crying, telling her he was sorry, and… He decided to… end it. Mana and my brother… held one of her long acupuncture needles together, and…"

"You don't need to keep going, Aya." softly said Akeno, and Aya nodded. She remained silent for a few minutes before concluding her tale.

"When I heard about my brother's death, I… hated Mitsuomi. Shin had always acted like a perfect big brother with me. I learned about the details later, and I now know this is mostly my brother's fault, but I can't help it… And Maya retired from the school for a while. When she returned later, she didn't want to see Mitsuomi or speak with him. It's… complicated."

"I understand. What happened to Reiki? A dangerous sword like that shouldn't fall into the wrong hands."

"Locked inside the Natsume house..." sighed Aya. "Moving on, Mitsuomi secretly hired foreign mercenaries and performed a coup inside his family, forcibly taking over and becoming the new Head. he exiled his father, who now lives with his younger brother Masataka. He also forced into exile the Heads of the other families who had cooperated in the perfect warrior project, replacing them with talented people from the younger generation."

"That doesn't sound like something I disapprove of." nodded Akeno.

"Yes… And now, you know."

"Thank you, Aya, for telling me."

Aya nodded, and they stayed silent for a few minutes, simply appreciating each other's presence. Then Aya met Akeno's gaze.

"Akeno-sama… When we will do… that, I want you to be rough with me."

"Rough?" repeated Akeno, an eyebrow raised, and Aya nodded.

"Yes. When my brother needed me, I wasn't there for him. I do not know if I could have stopped things from reaching that point, but maybe if I had shown him that I loved him more when I was a child, that Maya wasn't the only one caring about him… Maybe he wouldn't have grown obsessed with her, and nothing would have happened."

"When my sister needed me, during those events, and after… I wasn't there for her either. I didn't support her properly when we both grieved. Instead, I became another burden to her… For the last year or two, I have felt a lot of guilt about my selfishness. So I am thinking… maybe I will feel better, if I feel like I am punished for it."

"…I understand, Aya." nodded Akeno. "Let's go home. I want you to think it through for tonight. If you still want me to be rough with you tomorrow, I will give you not only my affection, Aya, but also pleasure and pain, as much as you need."

"Yes, Akeno-sama." said Aya, blushing.

Her blush increased when Akeno kissed her tenderly.

"A promise of things to come, Aya." smiled Akeno as she stepped back, and Aya nodded.