"Kurome." Kaede pushed open the door to the room where the members of the Reinforcement Squad were kept and looked at the figures there. Now, only Kurome was sitting there; the others were lying down, tears streaming from the corners of their eyes uncontrollably, their bodies twitching. This was the side effect of using the drugs; they had to take them regularly, otherwise, this would happen!
"Kaede!" Kurome's eyes lit up after seeing Kaede. As for the state of her companions, it might have terrified any normal person, but Kurome was long used to it. Seeing them in this state, Kurome had rejoiced countless times that she had such a powerful sister who could protect her.
However, Kurome herself was also working hard, wanting to grow to the point where she didn't need her sister's protection.
Kurome knew that the consequences of Kaede helping her were not light. Countless assassinations made it very difficult for the sisters to see each other.
Moreover, for Kurome's sake, Kaede had no way to disobey their orders. Countless assassinations, some simple, some incomparably difficult, had several times been life-and-death situations. For them, they were constantly squeezing out the value Kaede possessed.
"Come back with me," Kaede said.
"But..." Kurome hesitated.
"Bill won't say anything," Kaede said, her face without a hint of fluctuation, like a zombie. Even in front of Kurome, she could no longer smile.
No, it should be said that she could no longer smile normally. A cold smile, a mocking smile, a crazy smile she could do, but to let her smile purely, she had forgotten—forgotten how to smile.
Kaede once thought, isn't smiling simple? But now, every time she faced the mirror, looking at her tugging mouth corners and stiff face in the reflection, Kaede understood that smiling wasn't so easy after all.
Since then, Kaede stopped smiling, only revealing that specific smile at specific times.
"Kurome, how have you been?" Kaede asked.
"Hmm, I'm fine. The companions take good care of me. How about you, Kaede?" Kurome looked at her sister's emotionless face. When did it start? Every time she saw Kaede, she would find her face becoming colder and colder. If Kurome couldn't feel the doting in Kaede's eyes for her, she would have thought she was a stranger in front of her.
Thinking of this, Kurome couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache; it was all her own fault.
If she only had Kaede's strength, if she could become as strong as Kaede, things wouldn't be like this.
"Don't overthink it, silly girl."
Seeing the fleeting look of dejection on Kurome's face, Kaede knew exactly what she was thinking and couldn't help but vigorously ruffle Kurome's small head.
"Sister is just that kind of character, after all~"
As she said this, Kaede thought of Asuna, and her whole body paused.
A look of sadness appeared in her eyes; if the current her were seen by Sister Asuna, she would definitely be scolded severely, right?
"Mm-hmm, I love Sister the most!"
Kurome didn't notice the sadness in Kaede's eyes; after all, not everyone had such keen observation skills.
However, feeling the doting tone in Kaede's words, even though Kaede had that expression on her face, it turned out Kaede was always concerned about her!
Suddenly, Kurome threw herself into Kaede's arms.
"Stop messing around!"
Kaede's stiff face seemed to soften quite a bit with Kurome's pounce; indeed, the feeling of being with Kurome was the best.
Kaede couldn't help but think this.
As she thought about it, she couldn't help but think of Akame.
How would she be on her own?
As for Akame, there would definitely be no problem; Kaede believed in Akame, there was absolutely no problem.
"No~"
Kurome nuzzled into Kaede's arms. This was her favorite embrace.
Her sister—it was so great that she had two sisters!
At this moment, the pair of sisters couldn't help but think of the one person who was missing, and they both fell silent.
"Sister, she'll be okay, right? Kaede?"
Kurome couldn't help but ask.
"Mm, she'll be fine."
Kaede knew that the few members of the Elite Group seemed to have all passed the test successfully, so Bill from the Reinforcement Squad was very dissatisfied that several of them had died, which was why he locked them up and punished them by withholding their medicine.
"Kaede, will you still leave?"
Kurome couldn't help but hug Kaede tighter.
She had already qualified and could accept missions; perhaps she could act with Kaede now.
Kaede's body stiffened; she didn't know how to answer.
Should she answer that she would soon have a mission to assassinate a Governor alone?
And that she had to kill that Governor before those seven from the Elite Group?
Feeling Kaede's change, Kurome understood the answer.
A look of obvious disappointment appeared on her face; as expected, even if she had qualified, the gap between her and her sister was insurmountable.
In the end, Kurome could only force a smile, "Kaede, it's fine, you go do your own thing, I will work hard too."
"I'm sorry, Kurome," Kaede said.
However, she didn't regret it.
At the very least, Kurome was completely fine right now, and that was enough.
"No, it's Kurome who is sorry to Kaede. If it weren't for me, Kaede would be very free and easy, right? Very cool, right? It was Kurome who dragged Kaede down."
"How can you say you dragged me down? This is what I should do as a sister, and Kurome, you are my entire motivation now, so don't get hurt, don't belittle yourself, you must survive!"
Kaede's eyes flickered.
She knew that Bill would definitely not arrange for them to be together; the greatest possibility was that one of them would be left behind, or they would be assigned to different places for missions.
"Mm, I know, Kaede."
"Mm."
At this moment, Kaede felt a gaze, frowned, and then walked into the room while holding Kurome.
"Heh heh, what a lovely pair of sisters."
Bill stood there laughing, his smile very sinister.
"Kaede, you think you can use your strength to escape all this, but, as long as Kurome is here, you can only be at my mercy!"
Bill thought, the smile at the corner of his mouth becoming increasingly sinister.
Naturally, he wouldn't argue with Kaede, because he had already seized Kaede's greatest leverage.
Not needing to worry about Kaede rebelling, he could naturally let Kaede do what she wanted to do.
Moreover, the most important thing was that he couldn't plant a suggestion in Kaede's mind, but Kurome couldn't resist it.
So, what did he have to be afraid of?
In fact, Kaede knew about this matter too, but she couldn't stop it.
Why? Because she had already stopped Bill from giving Kurome drugs, and this was Bill's bottom line.
If she opposed him any further, Kaede knew that even if her value was great, she would be wiped out without hesitation.
An uncontrolled weapon, no matter how sharp, was useless.
Of course, there was another reason for not stopping it: Kaede believed in Kurome.
Her sister was definitely not someone who could be manipulated!
At this moment, Kaede and Kurome were lying on the bed, hugging each other, pouring out their inner thoughts to one another; actually, it was mainly Kurome talking.
Kaede, who originally wanted to say something, listened to the words Kurome kept telling her and withdrew the thought of speaking.
As long as she could hear Kurome's voice, it was enough; as long as Kurome could be healthy, it was enough.
Hadn't she done all this just for this moment?
Fortunately, she had succeeded.
At this moment, holding Kurome, nuzzling against Kurome's head, and listening to Kurome's voice calling out that it was ticklish, Kaede felt that even if she were exhausted, it was all worth it.
At this moment, Kaede felt as if she possessed the whole world!
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