---the Capital - Inside the palace, Akame's room---
"So you are planning to go together with them?" Green who was sitting at the table together with Akame while making origami asked with a serious tone while maintaining his carefree expression due to the window inside the room. Green was always a very cautious fellow, once he would think of a way for them to be discovered by others, he tried to prevent it even if the chance of that happening was almost none.
"Yes, but I wanted to talk about it with you first, hear out your opinion since you are the first and only person who started discussing this dangerous matter with me, and for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Green." Akame replied with a grateful expression while lowering her head and holding her hand close to her heart.
Green blushed a bit and immediately tried to mask it by adjusting his glasses.
"...Y-Yeah, no problem. Ehm, I think that we shouldn't include others in this matter." Green replied with a dead-serious tone.
"What? You want us to exclude Poney and Tsukushi? I understand why you think so in the chief's case since it's kinda hard to tell what he is thinking and not to mention that he is currently away, however, what about our other friends?" Akame exclaimed with a surprised expression but she managed to keep her voice down enough not to be heard by anyone.
"You can say that I am pessimistic but I am also pragmatic. It's unknown what Poney and Tsukushi would do once we tell them about our plans! Both of them are completely drowned in Gozuki's lies, although I treat all of them as my close friends and I still think of Gozuki as my adoptive father, however, I know that he wouldn't hesitate to kill me if I were to rebel. Please trust me, Akame. We can try to rope them in later once we build up some ." Green explained while frowning down, begging Akame to listen to him.
"...I can't, Green. Tsukushi is my best friend, I don't believe she would try to kill me, at most, she will refuse and let me go." Akame said while clenching her hands together with a complicated expression.
"...Do you have an escape route if things go wrong?" Green was aware that he won't be able to change her mind so instead, he asked if she has plan B.
"Green...Thank you! I have an escape route out of the palace and then out of the Capital but that route leads to the forest where we usually train and exterminate Danger Beasts that are endangering local farms...So, a few people might be there trying to stop us." Akame took hold of both of Green's hands and thanked him with a big smile.
'Tch! Why can't I just say "no" to her?! I already have a feeling that this will end very very badly!' Green blushed at first but he quickly recovered and thought with a slightly down expression.
"Do you have a role for me to play?" Green asked with a serious tone once Akame retracted her hands.
"To be honest, no... I will just talk to Tsukushi and after that, I will try to find Poney since she isn't currently in the palace. You should probably just go ahead of me." Akame replied with a slightly ashamed expression.
"I see. What about your sister? Why don't we ask for her help and perhaps even Akashi's help?" Green asked with a curious expression.
"Please listen to yourself, Green. You don't trust our comrades that spent 8 years together with us and you want to trust Akashi?! ...I am sorry, I overreacted there. We have absolutely no idea on which side he is on! As for my sister...I rather not put her in danger so I will try to talk to her only once we will be ready to leave." Akame replied with a slightly upset tone but she quickly apologized since she knew that Green was only thinking about her safety.
"...And if she won't be willing to come with us?" After a few seconds of silence, Green asked a question that was haunting Akame in her sleep all the time since she started preparing for their escape from here.
"...Then I will simply take her with me. She might not like it at first and she might even start to hate me but I believe that she will see the reason in the end and stay with us willingly." Akame replied with a complicated expression but resolve could be seen in her eyes. She could still remember the night she spent with her sister and their argument. She was aware of how much Kurome adores Akashi but Akame simply couldn't bring herself to trust him and let him have her sister's fate in his hands.
"...I will follow your escape route and wait for you outside the Capital in the woods. It's getting dark so I assume it's the best time for you to start so if anything goes wrong, you can hide in the shadows of darkness." Green said and Akame just nodded her head.
Both of them left her room and in the hall, they met Tsukushi.
"Hi, you two! Where are you going?" Tsukushi asked with a smile while looking at both Green and Akame.
"Hi! I was just about to go look for you, Tsukushi. I want to talk to you about something." Akame said with a friendly smile. Green only put up his hand as a greeting with a small smile.
"Huh? What about Green?" Tsukushi asked with a curious expression while looking strangely at Green.
"...You know, it's girl ta-" Akame wanted to reply but Green interrupted her.
"It's fine, I am going outside for a fresh breath. Have fun, you two." Green said and already started walking away from them while waving with his hand behind him.
"Well...alright. Akame, you wanted to talk, right? How about my room?" Tsukushi asked with a smile while ignoring a slightly awkward atmosphere from before.
"Yeah, sounds good!" Akame replied with a wide smile while following after Tsukushi.
"?!" Green who heard them stopped walking and froze in place while looking at the ground with wide-open eyes.
'Why would she want to go to her room when Akame's room is nearer to them than her own room? Am I overthinking things or is Tsukushi actually already suspicious of our actions? Should I stop them? No...that would be even more suspicious, not to mention that Akame wouldn't leave without trying to talk to her. Shit! Fuck! I must go quickly to my position, I am sure that Akame can take care of herself! I must trust her.' Green thought while increasing his pace while walking through the hall towards the exit. Once he exited the palace through Akame's escape route, he immediately went into a sprint with another escape route in his mind as a goal.
---A few kilometers from the Capital, inside the forest---
"What the hell did you just say?!!" Najenda asked while pulling Leone's hair with her metallic arm. She was quite upset after hearing Leone's report.
"Aw! Aw! Ouch! Please stop, boss! Everything I just said is the truth, is there anything wrong?" Leone replied in hurried tone while holding her hair and standing on tiptoes, doing her best in preventing Najenda from pulling them out completely.
"Haven't I warned you about the person named Akashi?! You could have died there, you idiot!! I am quite surprised that he let you walk away after bothering him so much and talking to him in such a way. *sigh*" Najenda shouted at Leone before she calmed down and released a tired sigh.
"Well...I must have been drunk at that time since I don't really remember...he-he" Leone replied with a forced laugh and smile while scratching back of her head since it was the first time she saw her boss being so upset.
"You-!" Najenda stopped herself from saying more and just light her cigar.
*inhale* *exhale* "You surely know about the infamous Esdeath, I have also told you a few things about her. That Akashi you have met previously is in terms of danger on Esdeath's level or even higher. He doesn't have such high fame as her for destroying numerous armies but that's because he isn't part of the Empire's army. I haven't witnessed his skills personally but when I still worked together with Esdeath, she was praising him quite often which was extremely rare...to get praise from her, not to mention to be praised constantly." Najenda explained while calming herself with her cigar.
"...You kidding, boss, right?" Leone asked with a slightly panicked expression to which Najenda only nodded her head with a serious expression.
"Shiiit! I should have accepted his invitation! Marking such a remarkable man would be my win!" Leone suddenly exclaimed while holding her head and looking up at the sky.
Upon hearing this, a deadpan expression appeared on Najenda's face while she dropped her cigar from the between her fingers.
"You-! Stupid! Cat!" Najenda shouted while using her metallic arm to beat Leone into her gut with one punch after each word. But the real reason for this outburst was the cigar Najenda dropped due to Leone's fault.
After the cat was punished, Najenda asked what she exactly meant with the "invitation".
"Ah, that...We were just playing around, speaking in playful way to express our intentions. It was kinda fun, or it would have been if I wasn't the one being chased." Leone replied with a carefree smile.
"*sigh* I guess Akashi doesn't hold anything against you since he let you leave but be careful around him. We can't afford to make him our enemy, Esdeath is already big trouble enough. Anyway, you have a job. Tonight is the night when Akame deserts the Empire together with the guy named Green and maybe a few more people. Here is a drawing of him so don't attack him if you see him alone." Najenda said with a tired tone before she handed Leone a paper with Green's face drawn on it.
"Alright! Leave it to me, hop!" Leone replied while leaping to her legs and brushing off the dust from her clothes.