As the laughter swept through the hall from one corner to another, the emptiness itself caused a ripple effect of echoes to round' about.
As much as R.R wanted to ridicule R.J for his unkept enthusiasm, he still openly said in a clear voice that swallowed the echoes of R.J's laughter.
"Before you laugh, how about you read the full diagnosis?" R.R said, the wrinkles of his face wiggling about into a disgusting expression underneath the mask. Even with his face hidden, the volume of ridicule in his tone was almost visible to the naked eye.
R.J's laughter dimmed down, his eyebrows joined into a frown as black lines illustrated his face.
He looked deeply at the so-called diagnosis provided on the second page of the digital screen.
After a few minutes of silent skimming, R.J's eyes gradually lost their luster, his wide smile slowly receded into a grim, downcast crescent moon.
"What kind of a prank are you playing on me?" R.J asked, not even bothering to tilt his head and glance back at R.R.
R.R's eyebrows alleviated underneath his jade mask, his tone was earnestly surprised, almost startled as he asked rhetorically, "What do you mean, old friend?"
"Friend my god damn ass, R.R! Your report implied that this one passed the surgery!" R.J's face flushed red, veins pulsated along his robust arms and colossal palms, almost fuming with rage.
R.R sighed, he shook his head and said, "Over the past one thousand years, failing the surgery meant absolute death. This young man is the only one who lingered behind, that's 'passable' if you were to ask me." R.R casually shrugged, turning around to leave as he gestured with a snap of his fingers at his own agents.
R.J stumbled the silver tiles with his elastic high-boot as he said in a desolate voice, "So you simply came around to toss garbage at my doorstep and leave? Good, very good!"
R.R's silent footsteps halted, he didn't even glance back, yet in a single breath, he meaningfully said "I gave you no garbage, I merely provided you with a gamble, old friend." Like this, R.R's pace resumed, his steps silent and calm.
"..."
'Gamble...' R.J silently recited this word like a mantra as he gazed back and forth between the hospital's diagnosis and Eddison's cryo-chamber, an inexplicable feeling brewing in his heart.
"Sir! Subordinates await instructions!"
Behind R.J, the few white-clothed agents felt a bit tense, R.J stood there silently for almost ten minutes, motionless. Although they didn't mind standing for an extensive amount of time, they can't leave the cryo chambers in a room without the necessary medical equipment.
"Mm? Oh yeah..." R.J sighed in a dejected manner, he closed the display screen before impatiently waving his hand and saying, "Take them in and arrange their rooms. Except for him, however..." R.J tapped over Eddison's chamber for a moment before his breathing stabilized once more, the rhythmic tapping taps stopped a split second later before R.J said, "Ship him to the wilderness with group M-98, that's all."
....
"Fu fu fu fu...~"
"Aiya! Tsuki, stop acting like a vacuum machine! You'll drop me off the bench!"
Tsuki lazily brought her dim amber gaze onto the woman by her side after getting reprimanded, this woman who claimed to be her best friend, yet...
Tsuki's eyelashes trembled lightly, she had to blink nearly a dozen times per second to shake off the repetitive accumulation of dusty snow. She would sheer off the layer of translucent frost occupying her round face if she wasn't desperately coiling her arms around her lower ribs.
She clung tightly to a silver trench coat as she glared at her friend.
"Don't give me those puppy eyes, everyone in this room is suffering just like you." The woman sighed, and as she did, her breath condensed into visible vapor in front of her face, whizzing away like a nebula, brushing against the crystallized frost on Tsuki's face.
"Ahh- ptiu!" After she inhaled this mass of vapor, Tsuki's nostrils reddened as she sneezed out.
"Hey, you Asian beans! How about this? Either speak English, because you know... common sense? Or, just shut up altogether, the creepy screeching of this worn-out hut, these whistling winds outside, and not to mention those snoring bags of dead meat, it's already beyond annoying!"
As the two women were minding their own business in a remote corner of the hut, some racist punk decided to pass the time by bullying them, Tsuki thought.
She gnashed her teeth to bark back at him, only to sneeze out once more.
Seeing this, her friend contributed the sleeve of her dark trench coat to brush off the frost layering on Tsuki's face.
Tsuki sniffed lightly before whispering, "Thank you, Akame..."
Tsuki's words were spoken in her native tongue; Japanese.
She also had no intentions of concealing her intelligence. As she thanked her friend, she intentionally or unintentionally eyed the intruder proactively.
"Tsk, to think a proud assassin can speak but a single language, and it so happens to be the most common language throughout the globe. They've probably picked him up from a dumpster somewhere. Don't worry Tsuki, speak in Japanese if you wish." Akame said in a light, comforting tone.
However, unlike Tsuki, Akame spoke in fluent English.
For a moment, those teens scattered throughout the hut began to tune in with their own taunting gestures, to the point where the condensed coldness of frost seemed to alleviate little by little.
"You!" The youth shouted in a low voice before he leaped off his seat. However, he had his palms tucked so deep into his pockets his knuckles bulged out from the fabric.
He gloomily looked Akame in the eye before saying, "Good! Just wait until our unit is dispatched, I'll hunt you down across the rivers and seas!"
The youth spat out these words, coupled with his unstable footing and trembling knees, he left any profound expression other than dangerous.
Tsuki didn't even bother with his nonsense anymore, she closed her eyes and nuzzled into Akame's palm.
Akame swept her eyes across the gathering teens, her hues glowing as shades of light cascaded down from the shattered walls to bathe her visage.
Under the shimmer of this cold moonlight, Akame noticed a certain youth.
This youth was the only one who maintained a calm demeanor amidst the seething atmosphere.
Some rioted, some cheered out loud, some whistled, some spat murderous remarks.
Yet this youth laid dormant in a corner.
From this distance, Akame had no way to tell whether he was asleep, knocked out, or simply ignoring the chaos.
Tsuki was nuzzling into Akame's palm when she felt Akame's palm suddenly halt.
"Mm?" Tsuki looked up at Akame, a little bewilderment flashed across her face. Tsuki then traced Akame's line of vision to spot a malnourished-looking male.
He was endowed with a fragile body, messy white hair, pale skin, and even his trench coat were in a mess. Tsuki frowned, by now, she also germinated similar curiosities in her heart.
"Is he even alive?" Tsuki asked, though rhetorically.