‘‘They were weaker than I’d had anticipated, the plan wasn’t really necessary. But it’s still great to be more cautious so I guess this isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Hah, though the mission did end up taking longer because of it.’’   

Rubbing the back of his head, Tatsumi sighed to himself.

But while he was sighing because the mission did take longer because of their plan that wasn’t totally necessary this time around, a smile still formed on his facial features. 

His second real mission after joining the Night Raid went smoothly and successfully without any unwelcome unexpected occurrence happening! 

‘‘What are you staring at and talking to yourself for? We have to quickly take our leave, an assassin shouldn’t linger around in the area of their victim for too long. It'll draw trouble!’’  

With her Teigu behind her back, the short pretty looking girl with long pink hair and dress folded her arms together and spoke with a snort. 

Noticing Mine's attitude that seemed oddly unhappy for some reason despite them successfully completing their mission without any casualty or injury on their end, Tatsumi lifted his brow, squatted one of his eyes, and asked.  

‘‘What are you not happy with? Our mission went without a hitch, didn’t it?’’

‘‘Hmph, I know the mission went without a hitch, but…’’ Mine paused, looking more displeased the more she was speaking. ‘‘But what?’’ Tatsumi urged her to continue. 

‘‘Aghhh! You seemed to perfectly understand those damn girls feeling toward you, so why are you clueless on this? C’mon, lean your face closer to me.’’ Mine became more displeased by his confused reaction, she then said, gesturing for him to lean his head closer to her.  

‘‘Huh? Lean my face closer to you?’’ Tatsumi's gaze became skeptical for a brief moment. Only for his brain to draw up a mental image in his mind the next instant, causing him to frown. She is not going to trick and kiss me, right?

After having his lips stolen twice by two other girls, he couldn’t help but become slightly wary of such requests. Moreover, he believed this girl before him was perfectly capable of such a trick.  

‘‘What are you waiting for, lean your head over already.’’ Mine grew impatient, she voiced out again. ‘‘Fine, I don’t have much hope for you but if you do anything weird your forehead will suffer a swelling.’’ Tatsumi heaved a breath, indulging the pink-haired request.     

‘‘What do you mean by doing something weird? Geez, why are you being so guarded?’’ Mine complained but seeing him doing what she asked, she didn’t dwell on the matter and instead took out a clean white handkerchief from her pocket.          

Tatsumi watches her action curiously as she grabs the left side of his face with her smooth soft hand, and then with her other hand holding the handkerchief, she begins to wipe away the cut he received from that guard with her handkerchief. 

As he continued to watch her action, Tatsumi noticed that Mine’s face was very focused when cleaning the cut wound, her hand wiped away at the already clean wound with care and gentleness. 

I see. So she was worried about me…  When he saw the look on her face, Tatsumi realized why she was unhappy even though their mission went well. 

Tatsumi let her clean the insignificant cut wound without saying anything after understanding her motive, and after only a dozen or so seconds passed did she stop and he pulled his face away. 

‘‘Thanks,’’ Tatsumi placed his hand on her head and said. The smile on him was enough to cause Mine, who was surprised by him suddenly placing his hand on her head, to flutter with joy. ‘‘Don’t just touch my head, I’m not a kid.’’ Though elated by his touch, she tried to show her displeasure by harrumphing at his action. 

Not anymore… Mine also added inwardly.   

‘‘Then I’ll stop,’’  

‘‘No, don’t!’’   

Right when he was about to take his hands away Mine grabbed hold of the hand immediately, wanting to feel his touch some more. 

‘‘No, you’re a kid without a doubt.’’ Seeing her action, Tatsumi teases with a mocking chuckle. ‘‘You…’’ Mine pouted angrily, hearing his teasing remark.  

... 

Far off into the North of the Empire, where the climate is mostly ravaged by cold and strong windy weather for most of the time during the year… 

The North was a special region that harbored a group of inhabitants that made their homes in these cold lands. 

These groups of inhabitants were called—The Northern Tribes.   

The Northern Tribes’ society was quite different from the Empire. Unlike the Empire, the society was thriving on a system where various small tribes occupied different parts of the land, scattering across the entire territory of the North.      

But while the tribes lived in such a manner, they were quite modern and not much different from the Empire itself in that aspect. They built buildings and steam-working shops that allowed them to live in a condition that was no different from the Empire.  

Forming a thriving and populating society in the North.

And somewhere in certain parts of the North, a large military fortress was built. The military fortress was full of soldiers moving about in a hurried manner, carrying rifles and other types of firepower as they proceeded to defend the fortress.

Though there were many who were heavily armed with firepower like rifles and the like, there were also many who were armed with weapons such as swords, spears, and maces. And those with shorter weapons like these were stationed at the forefront of the fortress.   

BANG!

BOOM!

DANG!

Outside the fortress wall, sounds of battle occurring echo throughout the cold snowy landscape. From cannons launching to explosions that threatened to tear apart the entire landscapes and rearrange the land itself where the battle was taking place.   

In this intense battlefield, the sounds of the cannons firing and explosions weren’t the only things that could be heard, countless cries of soldiers killing each other by the means of shooting, stabbing, and or just bare fists rang loudly.   

Many dead bodies could be seen piling up one by one and scattered across the battlefield, creating a startling sight of horror that could only be found in war.       

Not too far away from the warring battlefield, at a campsite filled with tents and dozens of men looking to be soldiers, standing guards around the perimeter of the campsite. 

A figure of a tall man with gray hair and a long ponytail running down the back of his head, with blue eyes and a mustache, strides toward one of the tents. He wore the standard black uniform, and when he arrived in front of the soldiers guarding the largest tent in the campsite, both greeted him with a respectful bow.  

Suggested that he possesses extremely high ranks among these soldiers.   

‘‘Allowed me entry, I’m here to report about the situation on the battlefield to the General.’’ The tall gray-haired man smiled at the two soldiers while ordering.     

When the tall gray-haired man asked to enter the tent, one of the soldiers immediately replied. ‘‘Right away, Commander Liver.’’ They opened the tent for him without hesitation, gesturing for him to enter. 

‘‘You guys are fine soldiers, continue to do your jobs well, standing guard for the General.’’ The tall gray-haired man, known as Liver, praises the two soldiers standing guard and calmly walks into the tent. 

After Commander Liver entered the tent, the two soldiers who were praised by him couldn’t but express a face full of joy.

‘‘We’ve actually been praised by Commander Liver! I never thought I'd have the chance to be acknowledged by one of the Three beasts under General Esdeath!’’

‘‘He had such an awe-inspiring aura to him!’’ 

Judging from the endless admiration from the two soldiers, it was obvious that not only did Liver have a high rank among the soldiers, but he was also well respected among them. 

After entering the tent, Liver bowed once in respect toward a woman sitting at a rectangular table, holding a pen and smiling while moving her hand, seemingly sketching something down on a piece of paper.    

‘‘I’m here to report on the situation on the battlefield, General Esdeath.’’   

The woman didn’t reply immediately and continued to draw in a happy manner. Not minding this fact, the tall gray-haired man waited patiently for her to shift her attention to him. 

The woman sitting on the table had a beautiful appearance with long light blue hair and ocean color eyes. Her figure was slender and voluptuous, arousing deep interest in those who gazed upon her at first sight.   

But despite her great beauty, when Commander Liver gazed at the woman, there was only a look containing deep admiration and respect.

‘‘Heh, just a little bit more and the picture would completely resemble him!’’ 

General Esdeath's hand came to a stop while gazing at her drawing with a satisfied smile. She then indulged in the unknown image for a bit longer, and only after moments passed did she put it aside and bring her attention to Liver. 

‘‘You can report the situation on the battlefield, now.’’ When bringing her attention to Liver, General Esdeath's smile didn't linger, she spoke with a composed and serious expression. 

Noticing that his general finally was in the mood to listen, Commander Liver began to report immediately. ‘‘In the front line, with Daidara and Nyau leading the charge, we would soon be able to crush the force led by the Hero Of The North and be able to breach their fortress at any given time. Would you be personally leading the charge to destroy their last line of defense, General?’’

Commander Liver quickly briefed their imminent victory over the north to General Esdeath with just a few lines, suggesting the battle with the largest fortress in the north was heavenly in their favor.   

 

And victory was right at the tip of their fingers! 

‘‘Hmm, to think our victory would happen so soon, it seemed the so-called Hero Of The North isn’t much to speak of.’’ Hearing her soldier report, instead of happy, General Esdeath's expression was slightly disappointing. ‘‘No matter, go join Deidara and Nyau on the front line and crush their wall. I won’t be leading the charge this time around.’’ 

Shaking off her disappointment over their foe being much easier to defeat then as expected, General Esdeath commanded Liver with the same composed tone.   

‘‘Yes, General Esdeath.’’ 

Having been given orders by Esdeath, without question Liver bowed one last time and turned around, proceeding to make his way out.    

Making his exit from the tent, the reason Liver didn’t have any doubt or question his General was, despite her strange order of not participating in the final charge in the battle, because of his unwavering loyalty towards her.        

That and because… She was always quite strange in his eyes.  

The General whom he was serving not only as a commander under but also as her personal bodyguard along with Deidera and Nyau, was always someone he couldn’t fully grasp the character of.

At times she was known as the most feared and ruthless General of the Empire. After defeating a foe in battle, she allows her soldier to pillage, murder, rape, and burn the homeland of the defeated foe. 

However, at other times she would not permit her soldier to do such barbaric things and willingly allow the homeland of the defeating foe to go scot-free, even a few times disregarding the order given to her to burn them down.  

At times she came out as someone who expressed a deep sadistic nature; torturing and doing things to the foes that would cause even him to feel a chill running down his spine. Freely allowing her nature to run wild without restraint…

However, at other times, even when she seems like she wanted to—General Esdeath would hold herself back, and utters words that sound incomprehensible to him.  

In fact, Commander Liver was able to catch this one line, mostly because it was a line she would frequently use during those times. 

‘‘No! If I do this, it would definitely disappoint him!’’    

But despite these contradicted aspects about General Esdeath’s action, Liver's unwavering loyalty toward her which stemmed from the fact that she once did him a great favor he would never be able to repay in full, allows him to never question her action.        

Back in the tent, after Liver left, Esdeath resumed drawing on the piece of paper held in her hands.  

A while later, she places her pen down on the table and scrutinizes the portrait, her eyes when looking at it filled with love and obsession.   

Then... 

Tears began to form in her ocean colored eyes, and then rolled down her slightly pale skin and fell down on the pieces of paper in her hand. 

The portrait shows a picture of a young boy with hair that had a cowlick on top and looked to be about 13 to 14 of age and grinned in a mischievous manner while seemingly looking straight at her. 

…

Back at the hideout of the Night Raid. 

After Mine and Tatsumi completed their mission together and arrived back at the Hideout, they were warmly welcomed home by Najenda and the rest of the members of the Night Raid. 

   

‘‘No noticeable injuries. I presume the mission went successful with no unexpected incident.’’ Najenda roamed around one good eye at the two and spoke. With Mine right beside him, Tatsumi nodded his head. ‘‘Mm, the five guard protected Iokal was weaker than expected so the mission wasn’t that difficult.’’ 

‘‘That’s great to hear,’’ Najenda breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.    

‘‘Never mind that I don’t trust you being left alone with Tatsumi. You better not do anything to him, you pink shortie!’’ Leone folded her armies and furrowed her brow, staring dead into Mine’s eyes.    

‘‘Excuse me! Who the hell are you calling short, grandma!?’’ Being bizarrely angered by Leone out of nowhere, Mine grits her teeth and equally replies back with a remark of her own.  

‘‘Who are you calling a grandma? I'm barely in my 20s you damn shortie!’’ Eyes surging with sparkly flame, Leone’s face twitching at the remark about being a ‘grandma’.

‘‘I’m sorry, grandma, but as far as I’m concerned you might as well being an old hag with that age of yours!’’ Seeing that she was able to arouse such a great reaction from Leone, Mine smirks mockingly.   

‘‘You. Damn. Shortie.’’ Leone struggled to utter the words as her expression contorted with uncontrollable anger.    

‘‘I wonder… are they always like this?’’ Looking at the sight that had become quite frequent lately during the course of his time in the Night Raid, Tatsumi asked the question that had been hanging at the back of his mind lately.  

Now that he thought about it; most of the female members of the Night Raid seemed to get into an argument often despite being united and being friends. 

Is it my fault...? But would their unnatural obsession toward me really cause them to butt heads all the time like this? Surely it can’t be completely because of me, right? 

While Tatsumi was pondering over this, Najenda stared meaningfully at him, causing him to tilt his head up to her in confusion. 

‘‘Hm?’’

‘‘Without me having to tell you, you should be able to come to an understanding of why they’re like this yourself, right?’’ Najenda’s gaze didn’t leave him for even an instant when speaking. ‘‘Is that so, thanks for enlightening me… But why is your face so close and seems displeased for some reason?’’ Tatsumi takes a step back while saying.     

‘‘I believe you should be able to understand that as well.’’ Najenda smiled in a manner that didn’t seem like one. 

‘‘Heh, yeah.’’ Feeling slightly helpless under her stare, Tatsumi weakly replies.     

‘‘Tatsumi, I’m glad the mission went without a hitch.’’ While facing an unknown pressure from Najenda’s stare, Kurome suddenly appears beside him and hugs his left arm. 

‘‘Thanks, Kurome.’’ With Kurome's sudden appearance the unknown pressure was instantly gone, thanking the girl who helped him, Tatsumi breathed out a breath of relief.       

At the same time, he also bitterly chuckled to himself inwardly. Ever since the kiss that those two forced on him, his once unbreakable steel-like defense against these girls was seemingly slowly being crushed by their relentless assault.

Forcing him to feel flustered and becoming slightly meek toward them easier than normally. 

Even if it was just by a little, it was still there. 

While he was busy bitterly understanding the change that was occurring in him, Kurome was glaring intently at her boss. 

Why her as well!? I thought she and Sheele wouldn't be a threat, damn it! After witnessing the expression that was on her boss not so long ago, Kurome immediately rushed over to grab Tatsumi to gain his attention.       

At the same time, she was feeling deathly bitter, knowing that another rival had appeared in her path. 

If her own sister and those other two weren’t enough, now it was her own boss!