That night, the city felt different. The air, usually filled with the hum of traffic and the never-sleeping glow of neon lights, was replaced in the old district where we operated by a heavy silence and deep shadows. The traditional wooden-framed buildings stood like ancient guardians, their curved roofs creating sharp silhouettes against the nearly full moon. It felt as if we had stepped back into another era, an era where samurai and ninja still roamed the dark alleys.
We were inside an unmarked van, driving slowly through the deserted streets. Inside, the atmosphere was tense and professional. Ryukyu's two pro-sidekicks, a burly man with a Quirk that allowed him to grow a protective shell like a turtle and a nimble woman with eyes that could see in the dark, were checking their gear with efficient movements. Ryukyu herself stood before a digital map, her face illuminated by the blue light of the screen, studying every nook and cranny around our target. I, Nejire, Uraraka, and Tsuyu sat in silence, absorbing the seriousness of our first real mission.
"Alright, listen up," Ryukyu said, her calm voice cutting through the silence. She pointed to a building on the map. "This is your position, Tatsumi-kun, Nejire. The rooftop of the Maruyama Office Building. It's three hundred meters from the target, providing a clear line of sight but far enough to not be detected by regular surveillance." She looked at both of us, her golden eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. "You are our eyes. Don't become a target. Report all movement, no matter how small. Nejire, your primary responsibility is Tatsumi's safety. If the situation goes south, get him out of there immediately. Understood?"
"Understood, Ryukyu!" Nejire replied with a firm, short nod. Her usual cheerfulness was gone, replaced by the focus of a Big Three hero. She turned to me and whispered, "Don't worry, I won't let that sword ghost touch you! But if you see anything cool, like ninjas jumping around, let me know, okay!" A little of her true personality still shone through, a reminder that behind the seriousness, she was still Nejire. I just gave a faint smile in response.
The van stopped in a dark alley. We disembarked one by one, moving like shadows. Ryukyu's ground team spread out, taking their positions around the Yozakura Teahouse. Nejire gently wrapped her arms around me. "Hold on tight," she whispered, before she shot into the air without a sound, carrying me up to the designated rooftop. Our landing was as soft as a falling feather.
From our perch, we had a perfect view. The Yozakura no Chaya Teahouse looked exactly as its name suggested—a deceptive oasis of beauty and tranquility in the midst of darkness. Soft paper lanterns illuminated its small, well-manicured garden, where a small bamboo fountain made a periodic, calming shishi-odoshi sound. Warm light emanated from behind the shoji paper windows, and occasionally, we could see the silhouettes of kimono-clad waitresses moving gracefully inside. Everything looked normal. Too normal. That's what made it feel so wrong.
I set up the high-powered binoculars on a small tripod Momo had gotten for me and began to observe. "No guards outside," I reported into the communicator in my ear. "No visible security cameras. They're very confident."
"Or they have surveillance methods we can't see," Ryukyu's voice came back in my ear. "Stay alert."
The first few hours passed in tense silence. Nothing. Just regular patrons coming and going, all of whom looked like wealthy businessmen or officials looking for a quiet place to talk. Nejire and I sat side-by-side, our shoulders almost touching, observing in silence.
"So," Nejire whispered after almost two hours of silence, breaking the monotony. "How did you know they'd be here? Your hunch is really strong, huh? Can you sense other things too? Like... someone's emotions? Or if danger is coming?"
I took my eyes off the binoculars for a moment. "It's not like that. It's more like... recognizing a pattern. The killer we're looking for is very methodical. So, their base must also be methodical. Hidden, but logical." I gave my prepared answer. But her question made me think. Was Incursio giving me more than just armor? Was that 'dragon's heartbeat' also sharpening my instincts to the level of a premonition?
My thoughts drifted back to my memories of Akame ga Kill!. I remembered the brutal training Akame and Kurome had to endure. They were raised not as humans, but as tools. They were forced to kill their own friends to survive. A chill that wasn't from the night air crept down my spine. I wasn't just hunting a villain. I might be hunting another victim of a cruel world, someone whose fate was just as tragic as my own, albeit in a different way.
Suddenly, I saw a movement. "Activity," I reported quietly. "Back door. Three people coming out."
Through the binoculars, I saw three figures dressed as chefs and kitchen staff come out into the back alley for a smoke. They looked normal, chatting and laughing. But the way they stood, the way their eyes constantly scanned their surroundings even while they were relaxing, indicated an unusual level of training. They weren't just staff. They were guards.
That's when I felt it. The same sensation as when I fought Tokoyami, but much stronger. A vibration in the air, a prickling on my skin. The dragon's heart in my chest, which had been calm, suddenly beat once, hard. THUMP. It was a warning. A proximity alarm. Something with an energy similar to my own was nearby. Very close.
"Someone's coming," I whispered into the comms, my voice tense. "I... I can feel it."
"From where?" Ryukyu asked, her voice sharp.
"I don't know. Everywhere. She's..."
Before I could finish my sentence, I saw her. On the rooftop of the building across from us, which had been empty moments before, a shadow landed without a sound, like a falling leaf. The figure was small and slender, her silhouette perfectly framed against the large, bright disk of the moon. Her long black hair fluttered in the wind. And on her back, a long katana was slung with a distinctive red hilt.
Akame.
My breath caught in my throat. Seeing her in the real world, as a person of flesh and blood, not as a two-dimensional image, was a soul-shaking experience. She was real. And she was incredibly dangerous.
As if she could feel my gaze from hundreds of meters away, her bowed head slowly lifted. She turned, and her ruby-red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. Her gaze wasn't on Ryukyu's team hiding below. Her gaze was locked straight onto the rooftop where we were. Straight at me.
I felt my dragon's heart beat faster, not out of fear, but out of resonance. The power within me recognized the power within her. Two Teigu, or at least two legacies from the same era, were sensing each other's presence across the silent city night.
On her rooftop, Akame tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable. She didn't seem surprised. She just seemed... curious. She felt the same thing. A familiar yet foreign energy. An anomaly.
The moment felt like an eternity, a staring contest between two beings from worlds that should never have met. But the moment was broken by Ryukyu's panicked voice in our comms.
"All teams, we're compromised! She can sense us! Fall back! Fall back now! That's an order!"
Ryukyu, as a veteran, knew when a reconnaissance mission had gone completely wrong. Against a target with this level of perception, their secrecy was shattered.
Akame, on her rooftop, gave us one last, long look, a look that seemed to hold a thousand questions. Then, as quickly as she had appeared, she turned and melted back into the shadows, disappearing as if she were just an illusion created by the moonlight.
The mission was a total failure. We hadn't just found the snake's nest. We had looked the snake directly in the eye, and the snake had looked back.
"You heard Ryukyu! We have to go!" Nejire hissed, the adrenaline making her voice tense. She grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the edge of the rooftop as the sound of Ryukyu's team hastily retreating came through the communicator in my ear. Tonight, we didn't get answers. We only got more questions and a terrifying certainty: we were being hunted by something far beyond our comprehension.