Class 3-4.
"Wow, Rei Ao got a perfect score in all subjects and ranked first!" Yui Yuigahama exclaimed, astonished by the rankings.
"Hmph." Yumiko's lips curled into a smirk. 'As expected of the man I'm interested in,' she thought, though she still crossed her arms and feigned indifference. "It's just one first place. It's no big deal."
"Uh…" Yui awkwardly scratched her head, then hesitantly asked, "Yumiko, about your confession last time…"
"Tch, don't bring that up. I don't want to talk about him right now," Yumiko huffed, pretending to be disinterested, as if she no longer cared about Rei Ao. In reality, she was just too embarrassed to discuss it.
However, Yui mistook Yumiko's attitude, thinking they had some sort of disagreement. 'Thank goodness!' Instead of feeling sorry for her friend, Yui found herself feeling relieved. She quickly realized that her reaction was wrong, so she suppressed the smile that nearly crept up on her face. 'Yui! What are you thinking?'
Looking at her friend's profile, Yui felt a sudden wave of guilt.
"Yui, why do you suddenly seem so interested in Rei Ao?" Yumiko asked, confused.
"Eh?" Yui panicked, waving her hands defensively. "No, no! It's just because of you, Yumiko. That's all!"
Yumiko didn't think too much about it and responded with a tsundere attitude, "Hmph, that guy's just a playboy. Don't get too close to him, Yui."
"Oh, okay," Yui replied obediently, though her thoughts weren't as easy to read.
...
Night Raid's secret base.
"What did you say? Mine was captured during the mission?!" Leone, a Night Raid member with golden hair, roared in anger.
Sheele, a purple-haired woman with glasses and a gentle demeanor, had a rare coldness in her eyes. "We need to rescue Mine."
The rest of the Night Raid members were also on edge: their leader Najenda, along with Akame, Mine, Sheele, Lubbock, Leone, and Bulat, made up the group. Of them all, Sheele was the closest to Mine.
Sitting at the head of the table was Najenda, a white-haired woman with an eyepatch over her right eye and a mechanical arm in place of her right arm. Her gaze was stern as she turned to Lubbock, the green-haired man.
"What's Mine's current situation?"
Lubbock replied seriously, "Mine's been imprisoned. Tomorrow… they plan to execute her publicly."
"Damn that Empire!" Leone slammed her fist on the table in frustration.
"Calm down, Leone," Bulat, the muscular man with the pompadour, said firmly. "It won't be easy to storm the Empire to rescue her."
"Does that mean we're just going to leave her?" Leone shouted.
Najenda shook her head. "We're comrades. We don't abandon our own. But we can't act recklessly. Esdeath is currently at the border fighting against foreign invaders, but General Budo is still stationed in the capital."
A full-blown assault on the Empire would be extremely risky for Night Raid. They didn't have the power to face the Empire head-on. A wrong move could lead to the entire group being wiped out.
"Damn it…" Leone gritted her teeth, reluctantly sitting down. She understood that acting impulsively would endanger everyone.
"..."
"What if we had equally powerful help?" Akame suddenly spoke up after listening in silence.
"Help?"
...
Back at home, Rei Ao was greeted by a familiar sight: Mai, with her sweet smile and a home-cooked meal. Ever since their relationship had progressed, Mai had become the epitome of a gentle and caring wife.
"You're back. Let's eat," she said softly, but before she could do more, Rei Ao wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.
Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, "Shouldn't there be a choice between eating dinner first or eating you first?"
"You pervert! You've been watching too much weird stuff. There's no such thing," Mai blushed, slapping his hands away playfully.
Feigning anger, she stammered, "Rei Ao, don't… don't mess around. What happened at noon was just me repaying you for solving my… physical issue. Don't force anything without my consent."
"Hehe, Mai, don't tell me you're going to say it was just a trade?"
"A trade, my foot!" Mai shot him a sharp look. "You've got trades on the brain, you wolf!"
"Haha, well, I am the leader of a trade group, after all." Rei Ao chuckled, though he wasn't actually planning to press Mai further. He was just teasing her. But that didn't stop him from picking her up and sitting her on his lap.
"Feed me," he said with a grin.
Seeing that he wasn't going to push things, Mai relaxed a little. She still had some fear lingering from earlier—it had hurt more than she had expected. Especially given that Rei Ao wasn't… average. Mai felt she needed time to adjust.
With that in mind, she obediently picked up some food with her chopsticks and fed him.
Rei Ao couldn't help but sigh in contentment. "Marrying someone like you, Mai, would make any man feel blessed."
Mai rolled her eyes. "Who said I was going to marry you?"
"Haha." Rei Ao didn't argue. 'If you weren't going to marry me, why didn't you resist when I held you just now?'
Just as Rei Ao was about to take a bite of some grapes, a notification popped up in the chat group.
[Ding! Akame has initiated a trade request!]
[Trade Request: Infiltrate the capital and rescue Mine.]
[Ding! Please choose your trade condition!]
~~~
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