Infiltrating the Imperial Capital / Meeting Seryu

Akame and Sheele were responsible for protecting Mine. The moment they saw Koizumi leave the Imperial Capital, they were to retreat immediately.

They were to observe as they retreated to prevent any accidents, while Chelsea followed Koizumi.

Chelsea's Teigu ability was extremely useful and could play a significant role at critical moments.

Although Koizumi had complained about it many times, Mine and the others really did not need to help him. Najenda just liked worrying unnecessarily, though that was perfectly normal. Koizumi himself was also very wary of Budou. Not to mention Najenda, whose strength was fairly average—she knew Esdeath's strength well enough to estimate the strength of Budou, who was roughly on Esdeath's level.

Those two were probably the top experts in this Singularity, barring any surprises...

If possible, Koizumi did not want to fight those two freakishly strong people. It would be far too troublesome.

Reimu definitely did not want to run into opponents like that either. Even she would find them troublesome.

"Koizumi, Chelsea, you two be careful. Make sure no one sees you..."

Akame stepped in front of Koizumi and Chelsea. If it had been allowed, she would have wanted to go in with them. Unfortunately, with her strength, slipping past the Imperial Guard... no, General Bude's soldiers, would probably be difficult. If she ran into one of the Empire's great generals, escaping would become even harder.

So Akame understood that if she went with them, she would only become a burden during Koizumi and Chelsea's retreat.

Left with no choice, Akame could only stay here with Sheele to protect Mine.

Originally, Sheele alone had been assigned to protect Mine. But fearing that Sheele might not be able to handle it by herself—after all, General Bude's subordinates could not be compared to ordinary people—Akame decided to help Sheele protect Mine.

Mine insisted that she did not need to be protected like a princess and that she could fight too, but she was repeatedly shot down.

Even Koizumi said that her combat ability was no different from having no combat ability at all. If she did not need protection, then who did?

Even Chelsea, who could be considered near the bottom of Night Raid in terms of strength, had the ability to escape on her own.

But Mine... if she ended up alone, escaping from the enemy's grasp would be difficult, wouldn't it?

Still, to be honest, Koizumi did not believe that masters like Esdeath and Budou would be fooled by Chelsea.

If she managed to deceive experts like Esdeath and Budou, she could brag about it for the rest of her life.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen... At least, nothing will happen to me. As for Chelsea, she has tons of ways to save her own life. There's absolutely no need to be scared about that. Even if she's discovered, there's no need to worry that she'll be caught."

Koizumi rolled his eyes at Akame, then deliberately glanced at Chelsea beside him. Only then did he notice Chelsea puffing out her chest proudly, looking at Mine with utter disdain. Her face was brimming with smug satisfaction.

"Flat-chested shrimp, you don't even have any way to save yourself. All you know is relying on Akame and Sheele to protect you... Useless..."

Mine clenched her teeth tightly as she looked at the smug Chelsea. The grinding sounded like glass being scraped, making everyone shudder several times. Was she scraping glass? Were their relationship really that irreconcilable?

Still, Chelsea's words may have sounded harsh, but they were also hinting that Mine should improve her close-quarters combat ability. What use was an Archer who could not fight in close combat? That Archer from Fuyuki was a classic example. As an Archer, he had not forgotten an Archer's skills, but neither had he neglected to improve his close-combat abilities.

Koizumi glanced at Mine and helplessly shook his head. Forget it. With Mine's skinny arms and legs, even if she seriously trained in close combat, she probably would not become very strong. A true expert would still kill her in seconds.

If it were Koizumi, he could still take out Mine just by throwing a spear at her.

There was no helping it. That was the gap in their strength. Mine's talent for close combat was simply too low...

And speaking of Mine, Chelsea herself was not particularly talented at close combat either.

But her Teigu had helped her enormously. Otherwise, Chelsea would have died long ago during an assassination mission.

"None of your business... Sheele's help would have been enough to begin with... Of course, I'm not saying Akame isn't needed. It's just that Sheele and I have been partners for so long, so I thought Sheele alone should be enough to help me escape. I'm not saying you're useless, Akame!" Mine initially muttered under her breath, but then she suddenly realized that her tone sounded wrong and hurriedly explained herself, afraid Akame might misunderstand.

Akame merely smiled faintly and did not intend to say anything. She knew Mine did not mean it that way.

Mine was a tsundere, after all. As the saying went, tsundere ruined lives. It was perfectly normal for her to say the wrong thing because of it.

If Akame nitpicked over everything, then she would not be Akame.

Koizumi could not help but smile bitterly. Forget it. They should hurry up and carry out the mission.

"It's already late. Chelsea, use Transformation Free: Gaia Foundation to turn into some kind of bird and stay on my shoulder. I'll fly you into the Imperial Capital. Before we kill those people, I need to meet someone."

Koizumi's expression was grave, yet beneath that seriousness was a trace of nostalgia.

Come to think of it, how long had it been? Five days? About that. Counting today, it was the fifth day.

Five days ago, he had still been selling things in the Imperial Capital. Five days later, he had somehow become a member of an assassin organization.

Though they only had a cooperative relationship, the relationship between all of them was already obvious, wasn't it?

At that thought, Koizumi could not help but reveal a bitter smile.

Infiltrating the Imperial Capital

Although Akame and the others were puzzled when Koizumi said he wanted to find someone, they did not ask too much. It might delay their mission or even expose them, but since neither Akame nor Chelsea said anything, Mine and Sheele naturally did not plan to comment either. They only needed to handle their own part of the plan.

Besides, Koizumi had worked with Akame and the others before. If there was anything wrong with what he was doing, Akame and Chelsea would point it out. Since neither of them had objected, there was no need for the rest of them to say anything.

That was what Mine thought. As for Sheele, she was probably just airheaded to begin with, so she said nothing.

Chelsea cast a sidelong glance at Koizumi but did not say anything, tacitly accepting his actions.

Though she had known Koizumi only briefly, Chelsea had more or less figured out how he thought.

Koizumi was not the kind of person who would casually delay a mission. Therefore, Chelsea trusted him completely. At least, there was absolutely no problem leaving this matter to him. Chelsea had chosen to accompany Koizumi only to prevent any unforeseen accidents. In truth, she had great faith in Koizumi's ability.

After all, Koizumi had emerged completely unscathed from the assassinations of Hundred Personas and Serenity.

Well, if Koizumi had not possessed poison resistance, he would have been dead long ago.

Though the poison resistance inside his body was also part of Koizumi's own abilities, even he did not know where that ability had come from.

If possible, Koizumi really wanted to understand the issues with his body.

Unfortunately, because of his amnesia, Koizumi still did not know much about himself.

The next moment, Chelsea transformed into a bird and perched on Tianyang's shoulder, watching the surroundings in the sky.

A human being could actually fly. That was truly astonishing... Wasn't it a little too outrageous?

No wonder Ouka, the captain of the Imperial Guard, had considered him a half-breed Danger Beast. He really did look like one.

With such absurd flying ability, and without relying on any Teigu at all, what else could he be if not a half-breed Danger Beast? Then again, Koizumi and his group were mysterious to begin with...

In bird form, Chelsea silently watched Koizumi. Although she was currently a bird, that did not mean she had lost her human way of thinking. Transformation Free: Gaia Foundation allowed her to simulate the corresponding personality of her transformed form, but Chelsea's own thoughts still remained.

Koizumi glanced faintly at Chelsea on his shoulder. Though he was flying, he could feel her gaze. Why was she staring at him like that? Could she be deeply infatuated with him? Well... Koizumi was being narcissistic again.

Clicking his tongue, Koizumi looked down. The Imperial Capital lay below them. To avoid being noticed, he was flying at a height that ordinary people could not catch with the naked eye. Fortunately, Koizumi was not afraid of heights, or this would have been troublesome.

"The Imperial Guard's base... I'll have to look for it properly."

Koizumi frowned slightly, releasing his sensory ability to its limits as his blood-red eyes swept over the entire Imperial Capital.

From high in the sky, everything fell within his sight.

And indeed, from Koizumi's perspective, the Imperial Capital seemed so small. He felt as though his attacks could easily destroy the whole city... In truth, if Koizumi unleashed an attack at maximum power, he could probably really destroy the Imperial Capital. Of course, that was assuming no one stopped his attack. Under those conditions, he could do it.

But unfortunately, Koizumi had no interest whatsoever in destroying the world. To him, destroying the world was simply absurdly easier than investigating this Singularity and resolving its distortion.

All he had to do was mindlessly unleash his ultimate move. Neither Koizumi nor Reimu was weak by any means.

Aside from General Bude and General Esdeath, Koizumi had not sensed any other strong people in this Singularity. Even the experts in Night Raid could barely do anything to Reimu.

Back to the point, Koizumi scanned the inside of the Imperial Capital, an indescribable light flickering in his eyes.

The next moment, Koizumi flew toward a certain direction. To avoid being discovered, he descended very carefully, constantly guarding against the appearance of other Imperial Guard members nearby... After all, anyone only needed to raise their head slightly to notice Koizumi and Chelsea descending. The darkness of night could conceal them, of course, but it was better safe than sorry. If they were discovered, they would draw General Bude here...

After landing on the ground, Koizumi swept his gaze around. Once he confirmed that there were no Imperial Guard members in sight, he lightly patted the bird on his shoulder. His meaning was obvious enough.

The bird flew down from Koizumi's body, and in the next instant, transformed back into her original form.

With a lollipop in her mouth, Chelsea wore an expression of pure enjoyment.

Come to think of it, why did she like lollipops so much? Did it not make her seem too childish?

But eating lollipops was not necessarily childish, right? So did it count or not?

Uh... Why was he wasting time thinking about something so pointless? This was far too boring.

"Hey, why are you looking for the Imperial Guard's base? Is someone you know there?"

That was the only possibility Chelsea could think of. If he did not know someone there, why would he go?

Koizumi nodded slightly and did not deny it, because he really was looking for someone he knew.

"There really is someone I know in the Imperial Guard. Seryu Ubiquitous. She's the apprentice of Ouka the Ogre, the captain of the Imperial Guard. Ouka the Ogre has led her a little astray, but her nature is still good. This time, I plan to take her away. I really don't feel at ease leaving her in a place like the Imperial Capital..." Koizumi spoke slowly, his brows tightly furrowed.

Actually... Koizumi initially had not wanted to become too entangled with the people of this Singularity. But things were different now. He had realized that resolving this Singularity would require him to come into contact with many people. His greater reason for taking Seryu away was that he did not want to become enemies with her.

Chelsea was slightly stunned, but in the end, she said nothing. Seryu was Koizumi's friend, so it was not her place to say anything.

Though she and Koizumi had carried out missions together, their relationship was not actually that close.

Strictly speaking, they were more than acquaintances but less than friends.

Meeting Seryu

At this moment, Seryu was staying inside the Imperial Guard base. It seemed she did not have any work today.

In reality, her shift had already ended. Though the Imperial Guard claimed that its members were not allowed to sleep, it was actually a shift system.

Seryu's shift had ended, so naturally she returned to the base to rest. However, Seryu was the only woman in the entire base. In consideration of her, the whole Imperial Guard base was reserved for Seryu alone.

As for where the other Imperial Guard members lived, Serenity said she did not know either, because she had not followed them. She only knew that Seryu lived alone at the base. There was no helping it—Seryu might have to report for duty at any moment.

It had to be admitted that this shift system really was somewhat torturous. Staying awake all night while needing to be ready to fight at any moment was hard for ordinary people to endure. Koizumi was like that too.

To avoid being ambushed and killed by Assassins, he had to remain prepared for battle throughout the night. It was truly exhausting.

Fortunately, Koizumi was no ordinary person. Otherwise, he would not have accepted assassination work.

After all, assassins probably had to stay up every night, and even while asleep, they could not lower their guard. It would be terrible if they were assassinated by their enemies instead. People in the assassin profession definitely had many enemies.

Seryu sat at her desk with a dispirited expression. It was obvious that she had been in a bad mood lately.

She lay sprawled over her desk, her eyes slightly narrowed, as though she were resting.

But Koizumi, who was gradually approaching Seryu, could tell that she was not asleep. After all, she needed to take over a shift at any time. If she accidentally fell asleep, her hard-won tension would suddenly relax, which would not be good.

Then again, constantly remaining tense was not good either. It only gave her headaches.

Koro stayed by Seryu's feet, apparently on guard. The moment anyone came close, it would alert Seryu.

Unfortunately, Koizumi had already entered the Imperial Guard headquarters, yet it had not noticed him. Koro was not very capable.

Then again, Koizumi had concealed his presence, so it was only natural that Koro could not detect him.

Both Serenity and Hundred Personas were Assassins, so it was normal for Koizumi to ask them during training about how to conceal his presence.

Koizumi could now hide his presence to a certain extent. At least, someone of Seryu's relatively low strength could not sense him. Unless he stepped out himself, she would not even know he was nearby.

"Yo, Seryu. We meet again."

Koizumi was not here to spy on her this time. His purpose in coming was to persuade Seryu to leave with him.

Actually, it was not purely about persuading her. As long as he took Seryu to Reias's house, she would understand.

According to Leone, everyone in that family had a habit of keeping diaries. She said that at noble gatherings, they would sometimes laugh as they compared how many outsiders each side had swindled, treating it as some kind of special competition.

Koizumi was truly speechless. Why did they have to compete over something like that? Was something wrong with their heads?

Forget it. It was normal for there to be no common language between sane people and lunatics.

Seryu was instantly startled, and Koro began alerting her at the same time. In the next moment, Seryu looked toward the doorway.

A very familiar face immediately entered Seryu's sight, and joy emerged in her eyes.

It really was Mr. Koizumi. But... why was Mr. Koizumi here? Had he been captured?

After the initial delight, intense worry rose in Seryu's heart. In her eyes, Koizumi might have been arrested.

But then again, if he had been arrested, where were the Imperial Guard members who had captured Mr. Koizumi?

Seryu looked around Koizumi, only then realizing that he had entered alone. The only somewhat distracting thing was a kitten following beside Mr. Koizumi, but after noticing that Seryu had spotted her, it seemed to slip outside.

Well, that kitten was actually Chelsea. After Koizumi called out to Seryu, Chelsea had gone to keep watch.

If any Imperial Guard members approached, Chelsea would immediately use a cat's cry to warn him.

There were plenty of stray cats in the Imperial Capital. One or two cats meowing would not make anyone suspicious.

"Mr. Koizumi! Why are you here? Didn't you... didn't you leave the Imperial Capital?"

Seryu's eyes were full of confusion. Why had Koizumi suddenly appeared here?

"I did leave the Imperial Capital, but I was a little worried about you. Reimu and Hata no Kokoro thought the same, so I came to check on you. I was afraid that because you were connected to me, Reimu, and Hata no Kokoro, Ouka might punish you or something. How are you now? How have you been? You haven't been ambushed during patrols, have you? Reimu's protective charm can only work once, and you've already used it. You don't have it anymore..."

Koizumi's voice was full of concern, and it filled the recently dispirited Seryu with warmth.

Sure enough, I still hope I can sit outside the shop with Mr. Koizumi, Miss Reimu, and Miss Hata no Kokoro like before, drinking tea and chatting. That kind of life may not be the path of justice I seek, but it is peaceful and warm. That peace and warmth feel like when Father used to come home and eat with me.

This feeling is like having a family. It makes me yearn for it deeply.