By the ti Aka and Kuro returned to the Night Raid base, it was already quite late.
For Blayn and Kuro, this was their first ti visiting the base.
Nestled in the mountains, the Night Raid base was well-hidden from the back, shielded by towering peaks. However, from the front, it was completely exposed.
Even so, the Empire had yet to discover its location.
"It wouldn't be surprising if your base got discovered one of these days..." Blayn remarked.
Leone laughed heartily. "Don't sweat the details."
"But are you really fine with knowing where your base is?" Blayn asked.
After all, he wasn’t part of Night Raid or the Revolutionary Army—his cooperation with them was only temporary.
"No problem," Najenda replied. "After today's mission, we all agree that you and Kuro are trustworthy allies, so bringing you here isn’t an issue."
"But don’t forget," Blayn reminded her bluntly, "once Honest’s regi falls, our ideals will clash."
"That’s fine. We’ll just move to a new base," Najenda said nonchalantly.
"...Alright then."
Blayn didn’t push the issue further. There was no need for him to worry about their affairs.
"Speaking of which, Aka and Kuro should be back by now. It's already this late," Sheele comnted.
Najenda nodded. "It’s about ti. I told them not to linger in the Imperial Capital too long, even if they couldn’t find Zanku the Beheader."
Then, glancing at Blayn and Kuro, she added, "Since it's so late, why don’t you both stay the night? We have plenty of spare rooms."
"Works for ."
Blayn had no reason to refuse, especially since Kuro hadn’t returned yet—he wasn’t about to leave without her.
Just then, Leone felt sothing was off. After a mont of thought, she realized what it was—Mine hadn’t said a single word.
At a ti like this, Mine not voicing her opinion felt oddly unnatural.
Leone grinned and sidled up to her, whispering, "Hey, Mine, don’t you hate Blayn? The boss just invited him to stay the night, but you don’t seem to mind at all."
Caught off guard, Mine instinctively tensed. "I-I’m not so unreasonable person, okay? Besides, that guy did pretty well today, so... I guess I can acknowledge him a little."
Hearing this, Leone’s grin widened knowingly.
She seed to have figured sothing out—but she chose not to say anything.
…
After a while, Aka and Kuro returned as expected.
"How did the mission go?" Najenda asked imdiately.
"The mission is complete. Kuro killed Zanku the Beheader," Aka reported.
"As expected, Kuro is impressive. You two working together make for an unstoppable team," Najenda remarked.
Before this, Kuro had been one of the Revolutionary Army’s most feared enemies, a top assassin of the Empire. Now, she had more or less beco one of their own.
"Commander, Zanku the Beheader is now part of Yatsufusa. His abilities seem decent, but unfortunately, they’re useless against ," Kuro said as she walked over to Blayn, looking like a child awaiting praise.
And she wasn't wrong. Spectator’s abilities were almost entirely countered by Kuro.
Insight, which allowed Zanku to read his opponent’s thoughts, was ineffective against Kuro’s corpse puppets—after all, they had no thoughts to read.
Farsight and Clearsight weren’t suited for combat to begin with.
Foresight was similar to the Sharingan in function, but Zanku’s physical abilities were no match for Kuro’s. Foresight alone couldn’t bridge the gap between them, especially when she had Yatsufusa.
As for Illusion Sight? That was completely useless. If Kuro ever needed to kill Aka, she would do it without hesitation.
"Well done," Blayn said, recognizing that Kuro was looking for praise.
But she still seed unsatisfied.
She slightly lifted herself onto her toes, clearly expecting a head pat.
Blayn hesitated for a mont. Seeing her eager gaze, he finally raised his hand and patted her head.
"Hehe~" Kuro bead with joy.
Aka, watching from the side, froze in place.
The relationship between Blayn and Kuro… this wasn’t normal, was it?
Would a simple superior and subordinate act like that?
Then again… maybe it wasn’t impossible.
She recalled how, despite Kuro’s usual cold deanor toward outsiders, she was actually quite warm at heart. Back when they were in the Imperial Assassination Unit together, Kuro often clung to her.
Aka wasn’t the best at reading people, so even though she initially felt sothing was off about Blayn and Kuro’s interactions, she quickly brushed aside her suspicions.
...
anwhile, the others had also taken notice.
No one said anything, but certain individuals were deep in thought—particularly Mine and Chelsea.
Watching Blayn and Kuro’s close interaction, Mine felt an inexplicable irritation welling up inside her.
"No, wait! Why am I getting annoyed? Who cares what that guy does!"
She lightly patted her own cheeks, trying to shake off the feeling.
Compared to Mine, Chelsea was much more self-aware.
She had already noticed Blayn and Kuro’s unusual relationship back when she infiltrated the Assassination Unit disguised as a black cat.
Now that she had acknowledged her own feelings for Blayn, seeing him interact so intimately with Kuro did make her a little jealous.
As much as she hated to admit it, she had broken one of an assassin’s biggest taboos.
She, soone who could die on a mission at any ti… had actually developed feelings for soone.
It was reckless, it was foolish—but now that it had happened, she had no intention of regretting it.
Soday, if she got the chance… she wanted Blayn to praise her too.
...
"It's getting late. Blayn, Kuro, pick whichever room you like, but fair warning—most of them haven’t been used in a while, so they’re probably covered in dust," Najenda said.
"If you need help cleaning up, just let us know."
"Uh..."
Aka was the first to speak. "I want to sleep with Kuro, so she can stay in my room."
"Of course. As long as you're fine with it," Najenda said with a nod.
"It’s fine," Aka affird.
"I want to sleep with my sister too!" Kuro said happily.
"Alright then… let's clean up Blayn’s room."
Najenda suddenly gave Blayn a look of sympathy.
"...You don’t have to worry about that much," Blayn muttered, feeling a bit exasperated.
Before long, his room was tidied up.
But while the others left, Chelsea remained.
"Chelsea? Not heading to bed?" Blayn asked.
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