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Arc 2: Fall from Grace

(One week later)

"I'll see you tomorrow, thank you for today, everyone! Don't forget to do your homework and study hard!" the teacher said, waving her hand goodbye.

"Goodbye, sensei!" the whole class of 2-A sang in unison, and the moment the older woman stepped out of the room, all of the students were back to minding their own business. It was nearly lunch period, and their teacher simply chose to dismiss them early because of an appointment later on. Most of the girls were chatting amongst themselves, the boys resorting to using their phones, while a certain duo were excited at the prospect of once again peeking at the girls of the Kendo Club later on.

Akame looked over towards Chelsea, who was busy using her phone. A few days after they began going to school, Tatsumi gifted her with a cellphone, feeling that the gadget would be perfect for Chelsea. The auburn-haired girl accepted it happily, giving Tatsumi a small peck on the cheek afterwards for being so thoughtful, making the young man blush in embarrassment. Mine, Leone, Akame, and even Esdeath looked on with jealousy in their eyes but Tatsumi quickly snapped out of his embarrassed state before anything could happen. Lubbock, Bulat and surprisingly Sheele all asked for a phone of their own as well but Tatsumi didn't have any spare ones. However, he did promise to eventually have everyone bear their own cell phones (yes, even Sheele). Akame and Kurome felt like they didn't need one of their own, so they didn't bother to ask but if Tatsumi was planning on giving them one anyway, well then so be it.

Looking towards Sheele, the purple-haired woman was sleeping on top of her desk, drooling slightly. It was slightly confusing, since everyone in the house get the appropriate amount of sleep every night but okay, she would attract less attention this way.

Akame then turned towards the clock on the wall. "It's almost lunchtime… maybe I could just buy some meaty sandwiches and head straight to the club." she smiled with sparkles replacing her eyes, just the thought of eating meat gave her enough motivation. Yeah, she would just go on ahead of Sheele and Chelsea, they'll show up at the old school building later anyway.

Standing up, she headed straight for the door, only to hear two voices call out for her.

"Akame-san! Akame-san!"

Turning around, she saw two of her classmates approach her. One was a girl with short brown hair while the other had light pink hair and Akame knew them as Murayama and Katase. It had been a week since they joined this class, of course she would get to know who she's going to be with for the whole year.

"Yes?"

Murayama was the first to speak. "Akame-san, before you leave, we want to offer you something." she spoke and Akame nodded as a sign that she was listening. Hmm, what could they possibly give her right now? Maybe share some food with her since it's almost lunchtime? If so, then she would definitely accept meat. Yes, some tender and juicy grilled meat~

It was Katase who spoke after her brunette friend. "W-We would like to extend an invitation for you to join the Kendo club, Akame-san!" she spoke, bowing her head slightly.

All thoughts of meat in her mind immediately left the moment she heard what Katase said, and Akame blinked a few times to process everything. "Eh?" she voiced out, tilting her head slightly to show her confusion.

"We want to invite you to join the Kendo club, Akame-san!" Murayama spoke again, with her bowing this time. "We heard about what you said last week when you introduced yourself, that you liked to train with a sword and as members of the Kendo club, we would be honored to have another practitioner in our ranks!"

"Oh, um…" Akame didn't know how to answer at first, since apart from school works and group activities, this was the first time one of her classmates approached her about issues outside of the classroom. "Murayama-san…"

"Please call me Risa, there's no need for honorifics when it comes to my friends." the brunette shook her head and pointed to herself, before pointing to her pink-haired friend. "And please refer to her as Kaori."

"Then… Risa-san…" Akame was just too polite for her own good, more so that she was in an environment where there are no scum around. Being the introvert that she is, Akame looked down and avoided their gazes, not wanting to hurt them with her next words. "I'm sorry, but I can't join. I'm… already a part of another club…"

Katase raised her eyebrows. "Oh, is it about the Journalism Club that Chelsea-san and Sheele-san are also a part of? If so, we already know about that."

Yeah, not long after the first day of classes, the news about the academy having its own Journalism club emerged, being already composed of some selected students the moment it was formed. It was a bit suspicious that the members were all students who were new to the school, hell even the club's advisers, Bulat-sensei and Eri-sensei, were also new to Kuoh Academy. There were some students who wanted to join and contribute to the club, but for some reason, they didn't accept any more members, adding more to that building suspicion. However, the club's president was none other than Tatsumi Hinogawa of Class 3-B and thanks to his presence, suspicions and murmurs regarding the club slowly faded away. Their first week as an official school organization went fine, as they provided a weekly newspaper for the students and accepted requests for any suspicious/out of the blue events happening around.

"If you already know, then why are you asking me this?" Akame asked, clearly confused.

Murayama raised an eyebrow. "Oh, didn't you know? A student can join up to three clubs at max, provided that he/she is capable of maintaining school grades and perform club activities without trouble."

"Meaning?"

It was at this time that both Kendo girls sweat-dropped. Was Akame a bit of an airhead like Sheele? If that was the case, then that would make things harder. They could only hope it wasn't like that at all. "I-It means you can join up to three clubs of your choosing, but only if you can keep your school grades above or along the passing grade and balance that with your club activities." Risa explained.

Katase spoke again, hoping this would seal it. "In other words, you can join the Kendo club and be a part of the Journalism club at the same time, as long as you keep being an active student here in class."

Akame was in deep thought afterwards, finally getting it. The thought of being able to train with others in the Kendo club sounded like a good idea, that would help maintain her body and skills in tiptop condition, and she could also pass on some of her knowledge since she knew that she was the only one with real experience if she did join. But then again, what would Tatsumi say about it? Will he even allow her to join another club? He was her king so, she should follow what he says, right?

Finally having her answer, Akame turned back to the two girls before her and spoke. "I'm not sure what to say regarding this, maybe I should ask Tatsumi first. Is it possible for me to come back to you with a proper answer after I talk with him?"

Kaori slammed her fist into her palm in realization. "Oh right, I almost forgot about that! Your club president is Tatsumi-senpai, right?" Akame nodded. "Well then, go talk to him about what we said, okay? I'm sure he won't mind it since he's too much of a gentleman, but it's better if you confirm it with him first. We'll be waiting for your answer anytime, Akame-san."

Risa bowed her head again with a smile. "Yes, the invitation is open for you to accept anytime."

"Thank you for understanding, Risa-san. Kaori-san. I shall give you my answer tomorrow morning." Akame bowed towards each of them in return, before walking out of the room.

After grabbing a lunch bag filled with tasty meaty sandwiches (yum~!), Akame headed towards the old school building where the club room was located. Although Tatsumi has been telling her since last week that it was fine with him if she spent her lunch at the cafeteria rather than eat at the clubroom, Akame still kept on doing it for who-knows-why. While the others spent their lunch at the cafeteria, including Tatsumi, Akame can be always seen eating her meat sandwiches either outside of the old school building or on one of the couches inside.

Either way, it was fine as long as she would be present for, shall we say, "club activities". And so far, she was already in the long run for being the most active member.

As she went inside, few of the members were already there. Leone was sleeping peacefully on one couch, Esdeath was sitting with Kurome (still eating her candies) while reading a book on the other, and Tatsumi was behind his desk sorting out freshly-created newspapers. Since they were supoosed to be the Journalism club, they had to maintain that image, right? This was the case most of the time. The third-years had an earlier dismissal period, giving Tatsumi and Leone enough time to enjoy eating. The first-year students had their classrooms at the ground floor of the academy, making it easier for them to have their lunch. Bulat and Esdeath's shifts end around the same time too.

Speaking of Bulat, he probably waited in the cafeteria for Mine, Lubba, Chelsea and Sheele so they could eat together. That drew the suspicions of some people due to the weird scenario of a teacher casually having lunch with a specific group of students, but it wasn't anything big.

Tatsumi looked up from his desk when he heard someone come in, and he could only roll his eyes playfully upon seeing it was Akame.

"You're still not going to do as I say about eating your lunch at the cafeteria, are ya?" he crossed his arms and smirked.

Akame noticed the tone in his voice and decided to play along by simply showing him an innocent smile. "No," she answered with a shake of her head.

Esdeath sneered to herself; she liked it better when Akame wasn't around, since nobody would annoy her like she did, anyway. The raven-haired assassin was something else, always making pointless threats at her even when she knew that there was no point in doing so, first would be that Esdeath still had her powers, and Akame didn't have Murasame. Maybe Akame just did it for the fun in getting on Esdeath's nerves or something…

Meanwhile, Tatsumi just sighed in defeat and continued to organize the newspapers on his desk. "I'll make a mental note never to bring this up again, then. It's been a week and it looks like you're not really going to change at all." He let out a slight chuckle in the end, causing Akame to do the same. "What, are you going to stand there all day? Take a seat and eat up, because once you're done, I need your help organizing these papers. Normally, Leone helps me with this while you're with the others distributing these papers to the students but today, she's out of it."

Akame nodded and headed towards the couch where Esdeath and Kurome were, before she sat comfortably beside her sister and started to gobble up her lunch.

After Akame was finished eating, she went on to assist her leader in organizing the school papers. It wasn't hard, since all she had to do was just keep in notice of how many newspapers that each year level needed. While her and Tatsumi were busy working on arranging everything, the other members of the peerage had walked in, finished with their lunch.

It took the next 30 minutes for Tatsumi and Akame to finally finish organizing all the newspapers, which afterwards he told Mine and the rest of his peerage members (except for Leone, Esdeath, Bulat and Kurome) to go distribute the different stacks of papers to eqach classroom in the school. Although he told her that she had done enough, Akame still volunteered to help out even in giving out the newspapers and since he knew there was no stopping her if she wanted to do something, Tatsumi let her go.

Now it was only him, Esdeath, Bulat, Kurome and Leone remaining in the clubroom. The blonde Lionelle user was still sleeping, and now it was only a mystery on what got her so tired. Bulat was paying close attention to reading a yaoi romance pocketbook that he had 'confiscated' from a student earlier, while Kurome simply leaned her head on Esdeath's shoulder with a blank look since she had no more candies left to munch on. Esdeath didn't seem to mind at all, since she seemed to be deep in thought about something.

Tatsumi stood up from his seat and slowly walked towards Esdeath. The sound of his footsteps was enough for her to snap out of her thoughts and turn her head towards him.

"Do you wish to tell me something, Tatsumi?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'm heading out to buy some groceries. Until I get back, you're in charge of things around here, Esdeath."

Esdeath frowned at him for a few moments before huffing. "Well that shouldn't be too hard, since everybody else is out delivering the stupid newspapers while we are doing nothing." she answered in a sarcastic way, but making sure to show how much she disliked this club. Ever since its formation, Esdeath immediately hated the fact that she, as the teacher appointed as the adviser of the organization, needed to stay after classes in order to keep an eye on the club's activities. She would rather go home and take a nice hot bath to relax after a day of teaching maggots and training them to their full potential, but no, they had to stay here and do their job while she had to watch over them.

Can't Bulat be the one to do it instead?

"Um… just keep things under control here, will you? I'll be back as soon as I can…" He sweat-dropped slightly, knowing full well that she didn't like the Journalism Club one bit. "She'll get used to it…"

Almost immediately, Kurome stood up from the couch and looked up at her senior. "Tatsumi-nii, can I come with you?" she asked in the same monotone voice as her sister. There was no doubt she wanted to come just so she could have some more candies to eat.

"Of course you can, come on." Tatsumi smiled at the girl before inviting her to his side with a simple gesture. Kurome walked towards him, grabbing the hem of his uniform as the two walked out of the building.

Esdeath kept a close eye on them as they left, all while having personal thoughts of her own, particularly at this strange decision by her king just now. "Tatsumi already bought fresh groceries about two days ago, so why does he need to go out again? He couldn't have forgotten to buy a few items, could he? And he always goes out when it is the weekend, not when it is a school day…" she tried to theorize in her mind.

Bulat looked up from the book he was reading and noticed the conflicted expression on Esdeath's face. Being the person who was supposed to keep her in check, he needed to find out if she was planning something and if it was good or not.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

Hearing Bulat's voice brough Esdeath out of her thoughts, but in turn, it made the woman turn towards him with an idea in mind. Perhaps he could help give answers to Tatsumi's strange decision.

"Tell me," the way Esdeath sounded menacing while saying those words made the Incursio user flinch slightly, and he prepared for the worst in the case that she had something sinister planned. "...did Tatsumi forget to buy something when he went out shopping for groceries last Saturday?"

"W-Wha…?" It took a moment for his brain to process what Esdeath said, causing the bluenette to roll her eyes at Bulat. She had heard of this man through Liver, one of her former subordinates, and she heard nothing but respect and praise for him but now that she was seeing the real deal before her…

...perhaps her subordinate was wrong, after all.

"Oh! Uh… I don't think so?" Bulat's eventual answer wasn't convincing at all, and it only made Esdeath narrow her eyes further at him. He waved his hands in front of him desperately. "Wait, wait, I just remember Tatsumi buying the usual stuff, you know? Food and cleaning stuff for the week, that's all. Nothing more!"

The woman's frown lessened, but she remained skeptical nonetheless. "But if that was the case, then why would there be a need for him to go buy groceries again today? It doesn't make sense, and I can sense that Tatsumi is planning something." she thought out loud.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it." Bulat waved her off and leaned back on the couch as he continued to read the book in his hand.

Esdeath then sent him a look of confusion as to why he would say that. Wasn't he at the very least concerned that his friend might be up to something?

"He probably just forgot to buy something so he went out to get it. That's how Tatsumi is back then, he can be all serious for one second, and then the next thing you know, he messes up. It's nothing to worry about though, so let's just wait until he gets back with Akame's sister. They'll be back before you know it."

"You don't get it at all…" Esdeath shook her head in disappointment at Bulat's ignorance. "When will you people understand that Tatsumi isn't the same as the one you came to know in the past? He's hiding many things from you, and yet you dare to call him your friend." She looked down and clasped her hands together, breathing into it slowly. "Am I the only one among his peerage who thinks this way? If so, I will have to find a way in order to make them notice how ignorant they are, not that I care about them in any way. I simply want Tatsumi to see that he cannot be a proper King while being like this, unlike me. It's a rank befitting someone with the power and experience, and Tatsumi is far from achieving those two." she thought with pride.

"And who knows? Once his friends from Night Raid finally see the error of his ways, they'll have no choice but to leave and that is when I will make my move."

Just as what Bulat stated, Tatsumi had forgotten to buy some extra meat for the following week. He knew of how Akame was like when it came to eating meat, being the carnivore she was, so it's best to be sure and grab some extra ones from the market. Of course, he would make sure that this fresh batch he'd buy would be hidden from Akame, just to be able to prevent her from having a bite.

Because once she does get a bite, it's unlikely that she would stop.

Wait, scratch that. She definitely won't stop.

Right now, him and Kurome were on their way back home. The girl held a brand-new jar of candies in her hand, munching on them silently as she followed Tatsumi. Meanwhile, the Raum heir glanced at the little girl walking beside him. For the past week, he was troubled with the thought of how his peerage felt about all this, and this wasn't anything like when Leone talked to him in the bath. He realized that her words had a deeper meaning to it, and he was worried.

She remained silent the whole time, until the young man turned to her with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Kurome?" he called out to her.

"Hm?"

"Um… I know that… you and I didn't really see eye-to-eye back then…" he rubbed the back of his head as he spoke. "You know, because of the Empire, the war between the Jaegers and Night Raid and all… but I just wanna ask, how do you feel about all of this?"

Kurome tilted her head in confusion.

"It's just… it's been a week since all of you came back to this world, and you're not humans anymore too… I'm just wondering how you feel about being alive again." He took a deep breath. "I feel like you're the only person I can talk to about this without taking this in a personal way. If I talk to your sister or my other friends in Night Raid, they'll likely give me a biased answer but if I go for Esdeath, it'll be complicated. As your King, I'm worried that I may not be acting like one, is all…"

"Tatsumi-nii… wants to know how I feel?" she asked, before pondering over that little question for a bit.

"Yes… and why are you calling me that, anyway? I'm not your brother or anything." He said, sweat-dropping. "I didn't mind much last week since you were just brought back into the world that time, but now I'm afraid that it might turn into a habit."

"Do you… want me to call you 'Tatsumi-sama', instead?" she asked with her eyes turning into single black pupils, just like how her sister would at times.

"Ahh, no! No, I was just curious on why you keep referring to me as your brother! You don't need to call me that, please!" he quickly exclaimed with a nervous grin, and Kurome looked at him blankly afterwards. Tatsumi sighed, realizing this was going nowhere and simply continued on walking. "J-Just forget what I said…"

There was silence between the two of them for a few moments before Kurome spoke up once again.

"I'm happy."

Tatsumi heard her words and quickly turned his head to the young girl, raising an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

"I guess… I feel happy with all this." Kurome stated bluntly, gazing at the jar of candies in her hand with a small smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Tatsumi was worried that she might just be saying this because she had all the candies she could eat now, because if that were the case, this would go nowhere.

"I'm sure Big Sis already told you this, but we were sold to the Empire at a young age and trained to be mindless weapons. We grew up as assassins, and while she rebelled against the Empire, I stayed and we eventually became enemies."

"Y-Yeah, she told me that…" Tatsumi nodded, remembering how Akame told him about her past. It was honestly one of the bigger reasons why he chose to revive his friends from Night Raid. Compared to all of them, Akame had a very dark childhood, and Tatsumi believed that nobody deserved such a fate whether it be a human, a devil, an angel, or a fallen angel.

"We were robbed of our childhood, and we never had the chance to experience what it was like being happy. For assassins like us, emotions are just hindrances."

"Tell me about it…" he sighed.

"But now that I'm in a whole new world, everything changed all of a sudden. The last thing I remember… was fighting Big Sis and… we were trying to kill each other…" she said in what Tatsumi could only make out as a voice that showed sadness. "I died, and then… I woke up here. Everything was so confusing at first… but thanks to Tatsumi-nii, I was able to understand. Tatsumi-nii is a friend of Big Sis, and that's all I need to see you as someone I can look up to."

"But how can you say that you feel happy with this? Doesn't it bother you that… I brought you back to life? As a devil too, mind you."

"At first, it did." she answered honestly. "I should've stayed dead as a way to atone for everything I did back then. But like I said, I understood your reasons and… you even brought back Big Sis… so we can be together…" her voice trembled slightly with emotion which made Tatsumi nervous. He didn't want to make her cry or anything! "I understand that Tatsumi-nii wanted us to have a second chance… even the General… and… I can't be more thankful for it…"

"K-Kurome…" he muttered in shock, as he never saw the girl act like this before, not even when he through his short time spent with the Jaegers.

She looked up at him, her lips forming a small smile. "I'm not used to emotions because of what happened in the past, but I think that can be changed now… since the Empire is gone… and the same thing goes for Big Sis." she said, before she flashed a full-blown smile with her eyes closed. "Right now, I feel… happy that I was given a second chance… I feel happy that I can be with Big Sis from now on too… if Tatsumi-nii is still doubting himself, then I will do my best as a member of your peerage to make sure you never regret your decision."

Tatsumi was left wide-eyed after she spoke, to the point that he wondered if this girl was really Kurome. Anyway, he made sure to listen to every word she said and he eventually found himself smiling afterwards.

"Thanks, Kurome… t-that makes me feel a lot better honestly…" he said with an embarrassed smile. True enough, he felt that a large weight was somehow removed from his chest and now he felt that he could breathe normally. "Then… I'll do my best as well. Thanks again for being honest with me, Kurome."

The girl only nodded and the pair continued on their way, only for Tatsumi to see a girl running towards him. Even from afar, he could see her slender figure, long black hair, and violet eyes. She was wearing a uniform that wasn't anything like the one that Kuoh Academy uses. The only thing he needed as evidence was the scarlet vest and the green skirt that she wore.

"So this is when she decides to show up…" Tatsumi thought, narrowing his eyes. For the past week, he had sensed a foreign presence following him around, and he deduced that it was anything but good. He quickly turned towards Kurome as they stopped walking. "H-Hey Kurome, can you sit on that bench over there for a moment and wait for me? I'm just going to talk with a friend. Don't worry, I won't be long!" he said, pointing to the nearby wooden bench.

Kurome was confused. Why was there a need for her to go sit somewhere and wait for him? She could just stay with him and meet this 'friend' he was talking about, she's not even a 'chatterbox' type of person. Regardless, Kurome nodded and walked over to the bench and sat on it, just as Tatsumi's 'friend' appeared in front of him and at first glance, she thought it was her Big Sis.

"Um… excuse me…" the girl took in deep breaths from running all the way as she looked up at the boy before her. "Are you Tatsumi Hinogawa?"

Tatsumi only smiled and scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed that a beautiful girl from a different school knew him. Of course, he knew how to make his emotions genuine so that nobody can figure him out. "Y-Yeah, I am… do you need something from me?" he replied.

"My name is Yuuma Amano and I was wondering… would you be my boyfriend?" the girl named Yuuma said, blushing heavily in the process.

"W-What…?" Tatsumi said in disbelief. He never thought this would happen, especially with the real nature of this girl before him.

"You see, I've been watching you from afar because I'm… a bit shy. You seem like a nice guy, and well, I figured I'd go for it." Yuuma said, smiling warmly at him.

"She's been watching me from afar… and decides to ask me out all of sudden? Well, at the very least, she chooses to go for me and not my friends… even though Kurome's with me…" The Raum heir thought to himself. He had discussed this issue with Sona already, and he volunteered to look more into it until he figures out why they were here in their territory. For that, he decided to play along. "Sure, I'll be your boyfriend!" he returned her smile with one of his own.

"That makes me so happy! I'll see you soon, Tatsumi!" Yuuma said with a big smile, before skipping off. Tatsumi kept his gaze towards her retreating form and thought about her possible intentions, before he felt something tug on his hand.

He turned his head to see Kurome holding his hand while looking up at him with a blank face.

"Can we go back now?" she asked, obviously bored having to wait for Tatsumi to finish his 'conversation' with his 'friend'.

"Yeah, let's go…" Tatsumi rubbed the back of his head, feeling embarrassed that he had to make the girl wait for him. He held Kurome's hand tight as he led the way back to the academy, failing to notice the look of suspicion that the girl was giving him.

Due to having his attention to his 'friend' earlier, he was unable to see that Kurome was actually listening in on his conversation, and the raven-haired girl heard everything. Being an assassin, she was trained on how to eavesdrop on a discussion without getting detected, so this was pretty much child's play for her. She raised an eyebrow at Tatsumi, wondering what he was up to. She had never seen that person before, and she was sure that her Big Sis, the General, and the others had no clue who the girl was.

And yet, Tatsumi accepted being the girl's boyfriend like it was nothing. If she knew anything about her King so far, it's that he doesn't have any interest in pursuing romantic relationships, since he rejects any advances made by the girls who have a crush on him in school. He even gets flustered when he gets into, uh… embarrassing situations with her sister, and the other members of the peerage. What happened just now had her both confused and suspicious with what Tatsumi had in mind. However, Kurome decided that she needed help in dealing with this matter, and she knew just who to consult.

"The General and Big Sis would want to hear about this…" she thought to herself, making a mental note to tell those two about what she found out today.

Well, that starts this new arc. Sorry if it's too short for your taste but save your complaints until next chapter. For this one, I had Akame making the first interaction with DxD characters, namely the members of the Kendo Club, while Tatsumi and Kurome have some development which will make their bond stronger than before. They didn't interact much in AGK canon, so yeah. And from that person that just showed up in the end, you guys all know who that is, so like I said, save the complaints for next chapter.

Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*

-Lance