A few seconds passed before Sai Akuto finally let a wry smile show. Akeno's words had been so explosive that, for those few heartbeats, he ran through every possibility and found the real reason she would ask him that.
"Akeno, why would you ask me that?" Akuto didn't answer her question. Smiling, he asked one of his own.
"Why would I ask, huh~"
Akeno pursed her red lips and shot him a helpless side-eye.
She knew—and he knew—that if Akuto didn't deny it outright, then the answer was already obvious.
"Akuto-kun, didn't you leave for a while to cultivate the Dragon Saliva Flower? During that time, I asked Rias a few questions."
"Oh? Rias would actually answer questions about my resurrection ability?" Akuto trusted the discipline he kept within his harem. He knew Rias wouldn't speak carelessly.
"Of course she wouldn't answer everything."
"I must admit, Shu-kun, you really did a number teaching Rias~ Only after she personally saw the scene from my memories—of me and you being… intimate—did she agree to answer some of my questions."
"Rias told me that to resurrect the dead, you need both the body and the soul."
"She also told me that after reviving Yumi's companions, you dispersed or sent the men back to their homes, but took in all the women as your own."
"At the time, I thought: if Akuto-kun had personal motives when reviving Yumi's companions…"
"Then… when Akuto-kun resurrects my mother, will he also have personal motives?"
…
"The answer is yes."
—Akeno answered for him directly.
"I believe Akuto-kun wants to use this to raise my affection—and may even want Mother for himself after she returns. Those are Akuto-kun's private desires."
"But… I don't mind."
Saying so, Akeno smiled in release.
A breeze combed through her long hair and tugged at her miko skirt, making her look all the more breathtaking.
…
Under Akuto's gaze, Akeno spoke softly:
"I don't care what private desires Akuto-kun has. I only care about what facts Akuto-kun achieves."
"I also don't mind whether Akuto-kun has thoughts about my mother. I only care whether Akuto-kun truly loves me—and truly likes Mother."
The next moment, Akeno brought her hands together, and a human-shaped image for discussion shimmered in the air.
"Akuto-kun, this is an image of Mother I condensed from my memories. As you can see, she looks more than ninety percent like me."
"I've set so many premises and bared so much of my heart, but this next part is what I truly want to ask Akuto-kun."
She gently pushed the image forward until its full figure was displayed before him.
"Akuto-kun, do you like my mother—whose face is so very similar to mine?"
"Can you protect Mother, so she never suffers such torment again?"
"Akuto-kun, can you… give Mother happiness?"
A single clear tear slid from the corner of Akeno's eye.
She never wanted to see her mother bullied, scorned, hurt—or killed—ever again.
…
Akuto pulled Akeno into his arms.
He had considered laying his cards on the table, even half-forcing Akeno to accept facts in some way.
But before he could act, Akeno had already realized—and accepted—the truth.
He gently wiped her tears, raised her chin, and looked into those violet eyes still brimming with water.
"If Shuri and Akeno look alike, then of course I can't not like her."
"If I like Shuri, then of course I won't stand by and let anyone hurt her."
"If I like Shuri, then of course I'll do my best to let her feel happiness."
Akeno had chosen honesty; Akuto answered with his own truth.
Because he knew Akeno had already understood and accepted—and even… planned to push this forward.
…
If Akeno hadn't accepted it, Akuto would have shelved the Church arrangements for now and first settled matters with Akeno herself.
As for Shuri, his prior plan had been to resurrect her in the Akame ga Kill world, tell her she had reincarnated into another world, cultivate feelings with her there, and only after sealing the fact between them would he lay it all bare to Akeno.
A bit underhanded and extreme, perhaps—but undeniably high in odds of success.
Of course, now, that no longer seemed necessary.
…
Hearing Akuto's answer, Akeno dabbed her tears away and smiled, finally at ease.
"Good. In that case—Akuto-kun, shall we make a promise?"
"What promise?" Akuto asked, already knowing.
"The content is… I will help you win Mother's true heart."
"But in exchange, until the moment Mother completely falls for Akuto-kun, you must not show her any sign that you and I share a close, intimate relationship."
"Because—I want to completely heal Mother's regrets!"
Akeno believed that the man who had given so many girls a home could surely give her mother one, too.
Ever since she conceived me, Mother had suffered for it.
Even if Akeno herself didn't live happily, she could never allow her mother to live unhappily.
Before, reality made it impossible. Now that it was possible, Akeno would give everything to make it so.
"Okay. If that's your wish, Akeno, I'll do my best to fulfill it."
Holding her, Akuto stood there and felt the mountain wind. He made no further move.
…
In that moment, Akuto felt keenly once more that this was a real world.
Many character settings from the original plot held true, but countless small differences had nudged events onto subtly altered tracks.
Akeno was one such difference.
In the original, Akeno missed her mother deeply and grieved her passing, yes—but her guilt and drive for atonement were never this heavy.
Akuto had already deduced why Akeno's guilt and need to atone had grown so deep.
Because she believed—she was the culprit behind Shuri's death.
Because of Akuto's involvement, in this world Shuri never had anything to do with Barakiel—and certainly didn't bear Akeno with Riya.
Akeno's situation was similar to Yuriko Takagi's and Rei Miyamoto's—conceived by heaven itself.
Since fate had decreed that Akeno Himejima would be born, when the time came, Shuri simply found herself pregnant, with no other reason.
Only after Shuri was killed did Akeno learn the truth from the Himejima clan's mouths.
Her mother had been a born Fallen Angel.
Her mother had not lain with any man to conceive her.
It was precisely because she carried Akeno that Shuri fled the clan that sought to force an abortion.
Once she knew, what Akeno could once blame on the world, she could now only place upon herself.
If not for her, Shuri—even as a born Fallen Angel—could have continued living alone in the Himejima clan as before.
If not for her, Shuri wouldn't have chosen to run.
If not for her, Shuri wouldn't have been killed.
All along, Akeno had thought so.
And all along, she had wanted to atone.
…
Today, when she sensed on Akuto the very same "born Fallen Angel" aura as her mother's, Akeno felt a sense of destiny.
Later, she learned Akuto could resurrect the dead—and that he did so for his own personal desires, too.
Thus, event by event, Akeno's mind closed the loop—and at last she reached the decision to help Akuto win over Shuri.
…
Akuto hadn't expected Akeno's "route" to diverge so far from his plan.
But fortunately, this deviation hadn't led anywhere bad.
Thinking that Akeno intended to help him court her own mother, Akuto's soul and body both trembled.
"As expected… I'm a complete scoundrel."
Still, Akuto had long since accepted his greedy nature.
After he helped tidy Akeno's appearance a bit, Akuto took her hand, and together they headed up toward the mountain shrine.
…
At the Himejima Shrine atop the mountain, the Church personnel had been waiting for some time.
Inside the shrine—
Sliding open the partition, Akuto and Akeno saw the Church members who had arrived half an hour early.
One could only say the Church folk were too well-mannered; Akuto himself would at most arrive ten minutes ahead.
Once they realized he'd come, all the Church attendants assembled at once.
Led by the head nun, they raised their hands in prayer toward Akuto together.
"Ah—Holy Son-sama—"
When the prayer finished, all eyes turned toward the woman in the center: Griselda.
She stepped forward, dropped to one knee, and bowed to Akuto with utmost respect.
"Sister Griselda, together with the Church members attending the Tri-Faction Summit this time, offers sincere homage to Holy Son-sama."
Because she knelt upon the floor, a few smudges of dust marked her white stockings.
She didn't care. She had only the pure intention to show her devotion to Akuto.
…
"'Holy Son'? So Michael has already told you?"
Akuto glanced at the surprised Akeno and simply acknowledged the fact that he was the Holy Son.
In name, he already stood as Heaven's leader.
But "my subordinate's subordinate is not my subordinate." For now, his direct command extended only to Michael and the other high angels.
Heaven and the Church might be superior and subordinate institutions on paper, but angels weren't suited to running organizations; much of the true authority lay with the Church's upper ranks.
In the original story, the Church didn't send representatives to the Tri-Faction Summit, and Heaven's high echelons sent only Michael.
This time, at Akuto's request, Heaven also demanded the Church dispatch many of its top brass.
Accepting the "Blessed Holy Sword" was only a pretext. Akuto's true aim was—subdue all the Church leadership, and bring both Heaven and the Church completely under his hand!
(End of Chapter)
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