"What is it?!" Kurome almost shouted with a panicked expression when she noticed Akashi's strange expression.
"...They managed to get away but that Green guy is really something else..." Akashi replied with a forced smile.
*sigh* Kurome sighed in relief.
They were still on the edge of the forest and Akashi used his Wrigglers to watch over the situation. His Wrigglers on their own aren't exactly intelligent and they can only perform primitive tasks but once he is focused on a certain group or only 1 of them, he can see whatever his spy sees. When he directly control them, they are much more powerful and more dangerous.
"Looks like you are not so angry at your sister as you described." Akashi tried to tease Kurome a bit.
"T-That's not it...As I already mentioned, I want to fight her on my own for what she has done to me today...I wouldn't be able to fight her if she wouldn't have been able to escape." Kurome replied while avoiding eye contact with Akashi.
"Sure, let's go home, shall we?" Akashi said with a knowing smile while patting Kurome's head.
"Mm!" Kurome nodded her head with a bright smile but when Akashi started moving, she remained standing at the same place.
"Hm? Is something the matter?" Akashi stopped and turned at her with a confused expression. Upon his question, Kurome's cheeks became slightly red, however, it was unknown if it was due to shame or embarrassment
"Well, since Akashi Nii-sama asked...Would you mind if- um, could you please carry me back home the same way you did when we parted ways with big sis? You know! I am still slightly tired and my sight is still slightly blurry!" Kurome started playing with her both index fingers while saying this with her head down and once she was done saying her request aloud she quickly raised her head and raised her voice, justifying herself.
Akashi looked at her act with a slightly dumbfounded expression.
'Uuuu, why is it so hard to ask him of this?!!' Kurome put her head down in shame once she noticed Akashi looking at her with a dumbfounded expression.
"Sure if it won't embarrass you, you can even fall asleep. I will carry you straight to your bed." Akashi replied without even thinking about it and just took her once again into princess carry.
"T-Thanks, Akashi Nii-sama." Kurome replied with her head down but her blushing cheeks were still visible under the moonlight.
Akashi has returned to his mansion with Kurome in his arms. She kept talking with him on the way but just before they arrived, she fell asleep so Akashi went into his room and put Kurome on her bed.
'...Maybe I should really convince her to accept her own room because she is no longer a kid. I have no idea how it is with woman's "needs" but I doubt she would do anything here with the danger of me walking in anytime. I don't even knock since this is my room to begin with so she practically has no privacy...' Akashi thought while standing next to her bed and looking at her cute sleeping face.
*sigh* 'I guess I will go to my study to look at some reports. I doubt I can fall asleep after what happened today, plus it would be better if I am ready for any emergency.' Akashi thought and scratched back of his head before walking out of the room.
Once he closed the door behind him, Kurome opened her right eye to check out the perimeter and once she saw that Akashi really left, she smiled gently. By the sigh Akashi released, she was aware that he was worrying over her. Thankfully Akashi didn't mutter aloud his thoughts or Kurome's act would be discovered by her face turning fully red like a tomato. And the entire peaceful situation would turn into an extremely awkward one.
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Akashi went to check on Ichika before doing anything else.
"Do we have enough rooms for all those kids or do we need to accommodate them outside of the mansion?" Akashi asked with a stoic expression while leaning his back against the wall with folded arms.
"Young lord, you sound like you don't even know your own mansion..." Ichika said while throwing Akashi a weird look.
"...I don't. There was never a need to check on each guest room so I actually never explored this entire mansion. But judging from your response, there is more than enough space for them." Akashi replied while shrugging his shoulders and Ichika nodded with a smile in response.
"They have told me about your travels and about what happened to them and I can't say that I am surprised by that. The Empire sometimes doesn't even bother looking for a reason to start trouble and exploiting its citizens. I have a very similar past to those kids so I know very well how they feel. They must be feeling quite restless right now, the first night is always the hardest. Even though they bonded with the young lord through that journey, it still doesn't change the fact that sleeping in an unknown location full of unknown people is hard." Ichika said while looking down at the ground with a sad nostalgic smile.
"..." Akashi didn't say anything and only continued listening to her with his eyes closed.
"Then you can train them...You can become their new mother and help them to get accustomed to this situation." Akashi opened his eyes and said after a few seconds of silence.
"? Me...a mother? Hihi, that doesn't sound bad but I always wanted to start at 1 kid and not more than 15 at the same time, haha" She was slightly surprised after hearing Akashi's suggestion but she quickly giggled while covering her mouth and replied to Akashi's suggestion and at the end, she no longer bothered to cover her mouth and started laughing aloud.
"You said yourself that you know how they feel so use that to your and mine advantage. Train them for me, be it education, business, cooking, combat, or whatever. Let them have a choice of what to do and then help them. Are you willing to do that for me?" Akashi asked with a gentle smile while looking straight into Ichika's bright violet eyes.
"Y-Young lord-" Ichika muttered while looking tenderly at Akashi with a sweet smile.
"Don't. I know that look, I am not a good person. I simply try to balance my karma plus if I am to turn this country into a better place to live at, I need to start somewhere even if it is making lives of more than 15 children better." Akashi replied while waving his hand in denial in front of him.
"Hihi, of course, young lord. Please allow me to continue aiding you!" Ichika giggled after seeing the reaction she already expected from Akashi and then she suddenly kneeled on one knee in front of Akashi while taking his hand into her hands.
"? Please stand up, Ichika...You are already part of the family. You only make me feel weird by doing this...but thank you for your loyalty. Please continue being by my side and you have my word that I will never sell you out even if the entire world turned against you." Akashi raised his eyebrow upon seeing Ichika's act but he quickly replied and then it was his turn to take hold of her hand as he promised her while gently caressing her hand.
"...*sniff* I-I think it's time for me to go to the bed. Have a good night, young lord!" Tears welled up in her eyes when she heard his honest promise but she quickly wiped them away while getting up and excusing herself.
"Yeah. Good night to you too." Akashi replied and as he saw her leaving, he shook his head with a small smile.
'What was with this entire situation? Well, I should finally go to the study to read reports of past few weeks. I guess Aiko is already asleep so I won't be reviewing business reports without her.' Akashi thought and silently went his way without waking anyone up. The guards he met in the halls just quickly saluted him before returning to their duties.
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As Akashi was reading through not so interesting reports, he suddenly recalled something as he lightly smacked the table with his hand.
'I completely forgot about Esdeath...Shit, she must be quite angry at me for not returning for so long. *sigh* I said that I will owe her but I am thinking of backing on my word since she must be quite angry and her request will definitely be crazy!' Akashi thought with a sour expression on his face.
*knock* *knock* A subtle sounds of knocking on the door bought Akashi back from his thoughts.
"Come in" Akashi replied and one of the guards from the main entrance walked in and bowed to Akashi.
"Lord, there is a young woman that wants to meet you. She is saying that she knows you, we wouldn't normally bother you about this but she looked...really down so I thought I better report this to you...I am sorry if I am bothering you." The guard explained the situation and apologized once he noticed Akashi's still sour expression.
"Don't worry about it, I am annoyed by these reports, not from your report. What's the name of that girl?" Akashi denied his worries while pointing at the stack of documents lying scattered across his entire table.
"Well, she didn't want to tell us. She said that it would be better for us not to know. Normally I would chase someone rude like that away but she seemed really sad and genuinely sorry so I let it slide. In my opinion, I suspect her being one of those assassins who escaped tonight from the palace." He replied with a respectful tone and smile formed on his stiff expression when he heard that he isn't bothering.
"I see, escort her here but be quiet and don't wake anyone up." Akashi replied while he started cleaning his table of the mess on it.
"Understood!" The guard saluted and left the room in silence.
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*knock* *knock*
After a few minutes, they finally came and lightly knocked on the door once again.
"Thank you for your hard work, let her enter on her own." Akashi said and guard didn't say anything and only left.
*Creak* The door opened and Akashi raised his head to look at who could it be and was shocked to see the person in front of him.
"Poney?!" Akashi muttered with a dumbfounded expression.
"...Hi, Akashi" She greeted Akashi while looking at him with red puffy eyes. It was apparent that she was crying just recently.
However, her ragged and depressed appearance didn't shock him since he already expected this but he would have never expected her to come to him. To be honest, he wasn't even sure why is she here, he couldn't make a guess except for asking for Akame's location.