Being stared intently by Kurome, Najenda neither flinched nor backed her gaze away, staring right back at the black-haired girl.  

For a moment there, an unseen spark seemed to shoot out from both their eyes and collided with one another as their gazes hardened in a furious manner.  

The deadlock between them would have continued, but unexpectedly, someone interrupted them...   

‘‘You have a graze here,’’ Akame appeared in between them and stood right in front of Tatsumi while saying. 

Her expression contained worry when gazing at the right side of his cheek that had a small graze, although it wasn’t clearly visible after the wound stopped bleeding and after Mine meticulously wiped the blood stains away, Akame was still able to notice it.    

Disregarding her sister and her boss altogether, she strode close to him and raised her hand to touch it. 

Sobering up after bitterly thinking about the slight change in him, Tatsumi came face to face with the red-eyed girl touching his cheek with a worried look. He released a small sigh and removed her hand, ‘‘It’s just an insignificant graze. There’s no need to worry.’’    

‘‘...’’ Akame's gaze didn’t leave the small graze nor did it leave his face. 

Like the other time, her worry over my well-being is a little excessive. I wonder what would happen if I’d somehow get a large injury during a mission? 

Troubled by the way she was looking at him even though he just suffered an Insignificant graze wound on the mission, Tatsumi felt slightly curious about what Akame's reaction would be like if he did actually get hurt badly one day.      

Of course, that was just a casual thought on his part. The future may be unknown but he at least hopes that wouldn’t ever happen to him.   

       

While the rest were just glad their two members were okay and back from their mission. A certain green-haired and somewhat unruly-black-haired duo who has become the closest because of their shared interest only watches on in their lonesome.

The two were naturally Lubbock and Ieyasu. 

‘‘After watching this scene so many times now, I don’t even know if I should feel jealous out of envy or just sigh at our sad fate.’’ 

Observing the all too familiar scene by now, Ieyasu's eyes were wide as he looked upon the sight of Tatsumi being fought over by most of the ladies in the Night Raid. A subtle and tiny teardrop rolled down his left eye.  

‘‘...’’ 

While Ieyasu was shedding tears because of how unfair things were like usual; Lubbock was focused on Najenda. When looking at her and seeing her previously gaze at Tatsumi in a way that seemed like jealousy—his expression was very complicated.  

‘‘Ha…’’ A deep and bitter sigh escaped from his mouth. 

…

As the hours passed, after the Night Raid celebrated their teammates' successful mission by making a great feast for dinner, all of them proceeded to make their way to bed.   

Lying in bed with a blanket over him, Tatsumi shifts himself to the left and looks fixedly at an uninvited guest with a frown. With twitching lips, he said. ‘‘Do you have to do this every night?’’ 

The uninvited guest—with her short jet-black hair and dark-colored eyes, wearing a pinkish-white pajama and staring intently back at him. 

She was of course none other than Kurome.  

Kurome snuggled closer to him and stubbornly nodded her head as she said. ‘‘Yes. To make sure you never disappear.’’     

‘‘Disappear? Why would I disappear?’’ Tatsumi's face twitched at her incomprehensible words that didn’t make sense at all. ‘‘You're gonna have to go more in-depth as to why you think I would disappear, therefore care to elaborate further?’’ Tatsumi asked.  

Hearing his question and instead of responding to it, Kurome only chooses to make a blank face while covering her head with the blanket. 

Seeing her action of avoiding his question, Tatsumi only sighed and gave up on her saying anything. 

By now, he was quite used to these girls sometimes saying things he couldn’t understand or the fact that when he asked them about it, they always tended to avoid the question altogether. 

‘‘At this point, I would be wasting my breath by asking you to leave and go back to your room, so don’t make noise or mess around when I’m ‘asleep’, alright? The punishment for that is very steep, I can guarantee you that.’’  

Tatsumi utter, staring down at the girl still covering her head with the blanket. When saying the last line, an unnatural smile forms on his face. A reaction from the girl under the blanket was clearly visible.  

‘‘What are you talking about? I never disturbed nor messed around while you were sleeping.’’ Kurome popped her head out from the blanket and pouted as she said, not liking the implication he was making with that statement. 

‘‘Oh, then a few nights ago, why did I feel my body being touched repeatedly? Care to explain why that is?’’ Tatsumi deadpanned at her while inquiring.      

‘‘Th-that, m, m—maybe it’s just your imagination or you’re dreaming about being t-touch. It was definitely not me!’’   

     

The moment Kurome heard the words that came out from his mouth, losing her composure, her face flushed deeply red, avoiding his gaze at all costs, she said while stammering.     

‘‘Is that so…’’ Tatsumi gazes knowingly at her. ‘‘I didn’t know my awareness was that low. Then if you say so, it must be true, right?’’  

Unable to meet his gaze at the moment due to extreme embarrassment over what she did a few nights ago, Kurome could only meekly nod. 

With her meek nod, Tatsumi's unnatural smile grew deeper. He then said, ‘‘Okay. Since we establish that the feeling of being touched was all in my imagination or me dreaming about it, let's go to sleep. And this time I hope nothing like that happens again. Even if it's all in my head.’’           

With that said, Tatsumi shifts himself around and closes his eyes, trying to fall asleep. As for Kurome, her expression was a little weak. She couldn’t help but feel that the last words were meant for her.   

Feeling more embarrassed the more she thought about it, Kurome held her palms to her face to try to hide her embarrassment. 

I can’t believe I was caught touching him in the night! I feel so embarrassed right now!      

Indulging in the waves of embarrassment that comes with being caught doing what she shouldn’t. Kurome spent a while in a restless manner, unable to fall asleep nor calm her mind.   

Only after a long time passed in the silent dark room did she manage to suppress her embarrassment and regain her composure.      

When regaining her composure the first thing she did was peek through her palms to look at the young man sleeping next to her. Is he completely asleep? Looking at his back and hearing a low sound of him snoring, Kurome tried to check if he was pretending to sleep or not. 

But uncertain if he was really asleep or not, she waited for a little bit of time before stretching her index finger forward and gently poking his back repeatedly. After a few pokes, noticing that he was still asleep without awareness of what she was currently doing, Kurome released a breath of relief.

However, in the next instance, her expression turned into a pout while sticking her tongue out, expressing her annoyance. 

When dealing with the waves of embarrassment, she questioned many times how he could have noticed her touching him without her noticing back that he was waking up. 

The only conclusion she could draw from that was that he was actually awake the whole time and was only pretending to be asleep.   

‘‘You're so mean, fooling me like that.’’ But the moment she said those words, another thought came to Kurome. ‘‘Hold on, if he didn’t pretend to sleep and called me out on what I was doing. Wouldn’t it be more embarrassing?’’ 

Realizing that fact, Kurome couldn’t help but blush deeply again.   

Indeed! It would feel 10 times more embarrassing for her if he called her out on what she was doing in the middle of doing it.   

‘‘Phew,’’ Kurome felt relief that didn’t happen. 

Shrugging off all that embarrassing stuff, Kurome propped herself up slightly and looked at Tatsumi's face. Looking at every detail of his facial features, a smile formed on her face for a while until it suddenly grew downcast.  

Kurome's eyes then grew misty and tears suddenly unknowingly threatened to fall from her eyes. 

‘‘W-why can’t I tell him!? Why is my mouth refusing to speak every time...!?’’ She murmured, her voice choked with emotion and barely audible to even herself. Gazing at him with those misty eyes of hers, Kurome's hands tightened on the bed sheet.  

Kurome always knew that Tatsumi was curious about why she showed so much interest in him for no apparent reason. To him, the way she acted around must have been strange and beyond comprehensible.

Hence the reason why he would sometimes try to probe her for an answer... 

Unfortunately, every time he tried to probe for an answer, he would be met with disappointment since she couldn’t tell him.   

It was not that she didn’t want to tell him the reason or anything of the sort. No, it was because she couldn’t! 

Whenever Kurome wants to desperately tell him about the dream she has had since she was young, and if he also has recollection of those. Her mouth wouldn’t move an inch, as if some sort of force forbade her from uttering those words altogether. 

Tatsumi had no idea how much that hurt her more than anything else! For Kurome, he meant the world to her. 

When she was forcefully taken away from her Sister after the survival exam and was taken to train in different assassination divisions from each other. 

In that nightmarish period of her life in the Execution Faculty, where she was faced with cruel treatment and away from her beloved Sister, the only ray of light in that nightmare was his existence.    

His existence was the sole reason that prevented her from falling into despair and allowed her to power through that period of her life filled with endless gloom and darkness.  

His presence, gentle voice, encouragement, and bright smile always directed at her; gave her the will to never lose hope. 

Eventually, in her heart, Tatsumi was even more important than her sister, occupying her thoughts most of the time.   

As long as he was with her, she never felt alone nor was there anything she felt she couldn’t handle. 

So when his presence disappeared from her side one day, nobody could comprehend the pain and feeling of despair that had befallen her. If she hadn’t reunited with her Sister, nobody would know where she would be right now—Not even herself.      

Kurome lowered her head, trying to make sure not to make a single noise while wiping away her tears and suppressing the overwhelming emotion surging in her.

‘‘I-it’s fine now… because he’s here now…’’

Unbeknownst to Kurome, the person who she thought had fallen deep in sleep, her eyelid slightly twitched without her noticing.       

...

     

The morning ray of light was beautifully bright while disturbing at the same time; causing Tatsumi’s eyelids to continuously twitch in discomfort. Eventually, unable to continue to face the abuse anymore, his eyes which were once shut tightly were snapped wide open. 

‘‘Ah…!’’ 

The instant his eyes were open, Tatsumi immediately let out a surprise gasp after coming face to face with a situation beyond his understanding. 

Lying on top of his arm was Kurome, her face barely an inch or two away from him, and even her soft and warm breaths could be felt clearly by him as they were closely in contact with each other. 

When facing such a strange situation the first thing in the morning, even Tatsumi couldn’t stop himself from falling into a state of deathly silence momentarily while a tint of red surfaced across his cheeks.  

How…! Why…! Unable to make head or tail of why they came to be like this when they have slept together many times and situations like this have never occurred before, Tatsumi rapidly questions in his mind.    

After Tatsumi fell into endless questioning over the cause of this strange situation he was facing, he could only sigh and calm himself down a little while later. Looking at the delicate face close to him, he bitterly mumbled.  

‘‘Instead of dwelling over this for too long, I need to first get myself off from this situation before she wakes up.’’ 

With that said, propping his right side up first, he touched his chin in thought for a brief instant, thinking about ways to get her off his arms without waking her up.       

Whatever, I’ll just be careful. With those final thoughts, Tatsumi moved his right hand to touch her head, making sure to be careful of waking her up. 

After laying his hand on her head he then gently lifted her head up. Tatsumi felt a little jumping and his heart raced quickly, worrying that she would wake up at any moment.   

Thankfully, she was still unmoved and deeply asleep without a sign of waking. Thereafter, when he was done cautiously lifting her head up in a gentle manner, Tatsumi then quietly and carefully slid his arm back.  

Phew. Successfully sliding his arm back, Tatsumi let out a breath of relief and gently placed Kurome's head back down on the pillow. 

Watching the girl who was still quietly asleep after all that, Tatsumi’s brow furrowed and he said. ‘‘I don’t know how we end like this but I have a hunch it has something to do with you.’’ He moved his hand toward her forehead, pinching his index finger and thumb together, about to flick her forehead with it.      

However, before he could, his expression softing suddenly… And a muffled sound from last night entered his mind and refused to leave. 

‘‘Haa…’’ Tatsumi let out a sigh and got off from the bed without saying a thing. Reaching the door, just when he was about to twist the handle, he stopped and looked backward.   

‘‘Your acting needs some work, Kurome. And next time this happens, if you’re awake the whole time make sure to get off my arm yourself, it’ll save time and make it easier on my heart.’’ 

Leaving behind those words, not waiting for a response, Tatsumi twists the handle and opens the door, immediately making his way out of the room.  

Bang! The door was shut close right after he left, with only one person remaining, still lying her head on the pillow and seemingly still fast asleep. But after he left Kurome's eyelid twitches for a brief time and immediately snapped open.   

    

As Kurome's closing eyes snapped wide open she directly propped herself up with her hands. Her face was beet red, and a sign of embarrassment was writing all over her. 

‘‘Mhm…’’ 

The embarrassment stems from the fact that what she did last night was found out by him. Very deep into the other night, while he was fast asleep, and shifted himself to lay on his back instead of his side. Seeing the chance she couldn’t hold herself back from snuggling even closer to him and laid her head on his arm.  

And this morning, she was actually awake even earlier than him but not wanting to distance herself from him because of how comfortable she was feeling laying on his arm, she chose to continue lying on his arm.   

But before she realizes it, she has continued to lay in his arms longer than expected, despite already being awake long ago. When she was finally going to distance herself, he was suddenly awake, catching her off guard, she without thinking instinctively pretended to still be asleep. 

Not truly understanding why she is pretending to sleep in the first place. But for some unknown reason—maybe due to shame or embarrassment—she didn’t want him to find out.      

Kurome used her best acting skill to make it look like she was really sleeping, but her heart did pound rapidly the whole time though.      

She was feeling really relieved when she thought she had fooled him, therefore it caused her to experience deep and overwhelming embarrassment when hearing his last words before exiting the room. 

‘‘In the end, I couldn’t fool him.’’ Facing such embarrassment from being found out, Kurome felt like digging a hole to hide herself in.     

While still experiencing the embarrassment, the door was suddenly pulled open with a loud bang. Completely startling Kurome, causing her to instantly shift her attention to the door.

‘‘Kurome, how did I guess the first thing in the morning that you were going to be here!?’’ 

A woman's voice laced with annoyance sounded in Kurome's ears. And upon laying sight on said person who rudely slammed open the door with no manners, Kurome beet red face filled with embarrassment instantly ceased to exist, replaced with expressionless containing frosty coldness.          

‘‘Oh, it’s just you. Why do you always have to show your hag face every time in the morning like this, last I recall this isn’t your room.’’ 

‘‘That’s rich coming from you, after always sneaking into Tatsumi’s room. What? Can’t sleep by yourself? Oh, I must have forgotten you are still nothing more than a brat that formerly always needing to sleep next to your Sister.’’ 

Leone smirks and replies back. 

Kurome gnashed her teeth from that statement. Her expression couldn’t be any more expressionless and frosty at that moment. 

And then their daily routine of bickering in the first thing in the morning went on about as scheduled. 

...     

Steams rise up as warm water showers down from the tube. Tatsumi twisted the knob to stop the water, he then swept the curtains to the side and dressed up with new clean clothes.   

Afterward, he took out the toothbrush and toothpaste to brush his teeth… ‘Spit!’ Rinsing his mouth, he looks at himself in the mirror and frowns while clutching tightly at his chest. 

‘‘She was… crying wasn’t she.’’ Although he didn’t see it with his eyes since he didn’t want her to find out he was pretending to be asleep, even so, that muffled sound was no doubt her crying. ‘‘Why...? And most importantly, what the heck is this aching pain…!?’’  

Whenever the memory of what he heard last night surfaces through his mind, Tatsumi feels metaphorical pain shot through his heart, causing his frown to deepen further.    

His frowns didn’t just come from the metaphorical pain he was feeling, it also stemmed from his confusion over why he was reacting so much over this in the first place. 

‘‘Ha…’’ Tatsumi sucked in a gulp of breath and exhaled, calming his thoughts. ‘‘Even if I mull deeply about this… it’s no use, I can’t understand. Thinking more would be unless.’’ 

The reason he was able to brush aside this matter so easily despite how strange it was to him was because that—was far from the only strange thing that occurred since meeting these girls.

In the first place, him finding himself feeling familiar and close to them when meeting them for the first time was far odder. And the fact they showed extreme interest was also something he still hadn’t solved, so this matter was just another thing he needed to uncover from them.  

With a normal plain white towel around the neck, Tatsumi turned around and strode while mumbling to himself. 

‘‘They’re avoiding my question so far, but I’ll eventually pry open their mouth one day and find out the truth.’’ 

With those words, he made himself completely stop dwelling on the matter of last night.