"What did you want to talk about with me, Akame?" Tsukushi sat down at the table, her back facing the wide-open window.
'She is acting a bit strange...Well, whatever.' Akame also noticed something strange about her friend but she decided to ignore it and sat down at the table, facing Tsukushi.
Akame started talking about her plans to escape and Tsukushi's smile gradually lost its radiance.
"Akame...You are my best friend, I can't let you do this against the Empire and father." Tsukushi said with an almost stoic expression while putting up her hand.
Akame frowned at that just to see behind the Tsukushi a few figures of people standing on top of the wall, looking straight into Tsukushi's room.
"?! Tsukushi! You-!" Akame eyes widened in shock, seeing how her best friend just sold her out.
"Both father and I already suspected this outcome but you can still apologize. I will make sure that father will give you only a light punishment! Please, you don't have to-" Tsukushi said with a sad expression, trying to convince her best friend, however, before she could finish, Akame already moved forward.
"I am sorry, Tsukushi!" Akame said while hitting Tsukushi's neck with a light chop. Tsukushi had no time to react, not to mention that in terms of close combat, Akame was much superior to her.
Akame used this chance to throw a smoke bomb under her legs and made a quick escape from the room. The people who saw the unexpected outcome with a cloud of smoke coming out of the room instantly moved and jumped into the room through the opened window.
"Tsukushi, are you alright?" Gozuki crouched down while resting his hand on her shoulder.
*cough* "Y-Yeah, it's nothing. We need to catch Akame before she will be treated as a traitor! I have no idea if Green is aware of this but there is a high chance that he is helping her after all, he has feelings for her." Tsukushi coughed out, short of breath before she replied with a hurried tone.
"You wait here and take some time to recover. I will go look for her. You can come after me once you are feeling fine." Gozuki patted her shoulder a few times before getting up and turning his attention to a people dressed up in the Dark Squad's uniforms with masks.
"Look for Green, if possible subdue him but don't kill him unless he will be resisting. Tell him that I want to talk to him first and if he refuses, only then you can attack him." Gozuki ordered.
"Understood!" Members of the Dark Squad replied in unison and ran out of the room.
"Father?" Tsukushi asked with a slightly worried expression.
"Don't worry, they won't kill him unless he really resists. After all, I can't risk lives of other people just to subdue him without killing him. If he isn't involved in this, he will go with them willingly since he knows their uniforms" Gozuki consoled Tsukushi before he ran out of the room, following Akame's trail.
'You think that I have no idea about what you were doing the entire time? I don't know the specific location of your escape route but I know where it leads to. The most important thing is...Does she have any helper? Green has our highest priority due to his feelings for Akame. To think that I selected him to keep an eye on her...Maybe that was my mistake, not taking his feelings into consideration.' Gozuki thought while running outside of the palace.
'I can either go to that location or I can go after her since there is only one place where she still needs to go to...But I guess I won't be welcomed there. Actually, it might even do me a favor if I let her go for her sister. If Akashi gets involved in this, everything will be much easier.' Gozuki thought with a sly smile before he decided to leave beyond the Capital's walls to arrive ahead of Akame.
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Akame who narrowly escaped from the Palace used darkness to her advantage while traveling through the streets and alleys of the Capital.
'Thankfully no one heard the disturbance so the guards of the palace only looked strangely at me when they saw me sprinting out of the palace. Still, hiding my tracks from Gozuki is extremely hard.' Akame thought while traveling to the certain mansion.
She easily sneaked through a small checkpoint leading to the Phoenix's territory. Unfortunately, she was unable to sneak successfully inside the mansion and once she climbed over the fences, she found herself surrounded in the middle of the garden.
"Stop where you are! Who are you and what you are doing here?!" The guard wielding a spear took a step forward and asked her while pointing his spear at her. Other guards only made sure she can't escape from any other side without taking any further initiative like the first guard.
'Guards here look slightly weaker than the ones inside the palace...If I can get past this guy in front of me, I will be able to get to where Kurome is!' Akame thought and suddenly dashed forward while drawing her katana, completely surprising the guard.
*Clang*
"Wha-?" Akame exclaimed when her attack was blocked by the guy in front of her.
'Shiiit! How fast is she?! I was out of the balance to block her strike, I have to thank that we have such quality of weapons!' The guard who blocked her surprise attack thought with wide-open eyes in shock the same as Akame. He was aware that he wasn't her match at all and only managed to block her attack due to his experience and high quality of his equipment.
'Doesn't matter, one more time and I have him!' Akame calmed down and prepared to attack once again before others decide to rush in at her.
"Stop! All of you stand down!" Kurome appeared in the garden and shouted at the guards with a stern expression.
"But...y-yes" The guards wanted to say more but when they noticed how Kurome was glaring at them, they just put their weapons down and dispersed, leaving surprised Akame standing in the garden alone.
"What the hell are you doing, big sis?!" Kurome immediately ran up to her sister and asked her while shaking her shoulders. She also noticed her hastened breathing and her disheveled and torn clothes.
"Kurome, what is Akashi doing right now?" Akame hurriedly asked.
"What? Why? If you want to talk to him then you should wait until tomorrow, he is sleeping since he hasn't slept for a few days already due to his work." Kurome asked with a confused expression before replying with a slightly apologetic tone. She didn't want to say that he is tired from the journey so she simply changed the reason.
"I see...I need you to go somewhere with me! Quickly, please!" Akame said and before Kurome could say anything she already started running towards the streets of the Capital.
"Wait!" Kurome had no idea what is happening and why is her sister in such a hurry so she decided to follow her for now.
'What the hell is going on? Did anyone find out about her connection with rebels?' Kurome was thinking about all possibilities while catching up to her sister.
.
.
.
"Akame STOP!" Kurome shouted and stopped running altogether when they already run through more than half of the Capital.
"Kurome..." Akame also stopped and looked at her with a complicated and sad expression.
"Big sis, unless you tell me what's going on, I won't follow you anymore. I have a right to know what is going on!" Kurome demanded with furrowed brows.
"I- They found out about me and I need to run away from the Capital...I want you to go with me, please Kurome!" Akame admitted while looking down before she raised her head saying her sister how much she needs her.
"...Big sis, I think that we already talked about this matter...I won't just leave Akashi Nii-sama because if I was to leave, I would be named as a traitor and no longer be able to spend time with him. Not to mention that my desertion might also cause him and his family problems! I can't go with you big sis, I am sorry..." Kurome replied while shaking her head with a sad expression while holding back her tears. She was aware that this time would one day come but she still wasn't as prepared as she thought.
"Kurome...please! He is strong, he will deal with any situation somehow." Akame still tried to convince her sister but tears already formed in her eyes.
"Then why don't you join him?" Kurome asked while avoiding eye contact.
"...If I were to join him right now, it would only cause him more trouble, do you want that?" Akame said with a sad smile and Kurome slowly shook her head in response.
"...You should just go, big sis. Unless you want them to find you..." Kurome bit her lower lip and said with a depressed tone while looking to the side, avoiding eye contact with her sister.
"Kurome..." Akame upon hearing her answer finally let those tears out and all she could do was to spread her arms, expecting goodbye hug from her sister.
"..." Kurome looked at her and at first, she thought that Akame was planning something but when she saw her tears pouring down her cheeks, she ran up to her and tightly hugged her.
"You know, you will always be my big sis, no matter what you choose to do!" Kurome said with closed eyes while forcing out a smile.
Kurome's words took Akame by surprise as her crying only intensified.
"I-I am sorry, I truly am sorry, Kurome!" Akame said while Kurome frowned down and found her words weird so she tried to break off from the hug but before she could, she felt something hit back of her neck.
"Big sis, you-!!!" Kurome's vision blackened but before she lost her consciousness, she managed to shout in disbelief. Akame quickly caught her from falling down.
"I really am sorry! I didn't want to do this!" Akame said while tears were pouring down her cheeks despite knowing that Kurome no longer could hear her. The guilt she felt for doing this was on the extreme level, not to mention how Kurome shouted at her in such disbelief and anger. Akame was aware that what she has done was bad, taking advantage of Kurome's guard being down.
She was even having second thoughts about all of this but since she has already done it, there was no room for regret anymore. She put Kurome over her shoulder and started running towards her escape route while wiping her tears away.