Chapter 29: The Weight We Carry

The rain had stopped sometime during the night, leaving the air cold and heavy. Inside their new hideout — a cramped, half-abandoned safehouse Sai had scouted out — silence hung thick between them. The kind of silence that didn't need words, because everyone knew the weight they were all carrying.

Hotaru sat by the window, her hands wrapped around a mug of lukewarm tea. Her reflection stared back at her, but all she could see was the past — Sai's past, the team's scars, her own shattered pieces trying to hold together like cracked glass.

Mira sat cross-legged on the floor, absentmindedly tying and untying her shoelaces. Ryuuji was sprawled across a dusty couch, tossing a knife into the air and catching it, over and over. Even Kuro, usually the loudest in the room, was curled up in the corner, tail flicking once in a while but making no sound.

Sai stood near the door, his back to them all. His posture was tense, like he was holding himself together by sheer force of will.

"I'm sorry," Hotaru said suddenly, her voice soft but clear.

Sai didn't turn around. "For what?"

"For making you relive all that." Her fingers tightened around the mug. "I didn't know."

"It's not your fault." Sai's voice was calm, but the cracks were there if you listened closely enough. "It's just... when you fight for so long, you forget what it's like to stop and feel it all."

There was a long pause.

Then Ryuuji, ever allergic to too much silence, tossed his knife at the wall — missing Sai's head by about an inch. "Okay, mood time over. We all have scars, yeah? Some of us more than others." He grinned, though his usual flirtiness was absent. "But we're still breathing, which means we've got work to do."

Mira looked up. "What now? Kurogane's not gonna wait for us to emotionally heal before sending more assassins."

Hotaru's eyes sharpened. "We hit back."

Sai finally turned, leaning against the wall. "With what? We barely have weapons, no solid base, and half the city's under Kurogane's control."

Hotaru smirked. "We have something better — us."

"...That's cheesy," Tora's voice crackled from a speaker on the table. He was still off-site, running surveillance, but clearly listening in.

"Shut up, Tora." Hotaru's smirk grew. "Cheesy or not, it's true. We've all been through hell — we've lost homes, families, even parts of ourselves. But somehow, we're still standing. And if Kurogane thinks a bunch of broken people can't burn their empire down, they've got another thing coming."

Mira stood, cracking her knuckles. "I'm in."

Ryuuji sat up, grin back in full force. "Obviously."

Kuro stretched lazily, yawning. "This sounds exhausting, but fine."

Sai's eyes softened, just a little. "Then we make a plan. A real one."

"And this time," Hotaru's voice was steel wrapped in fire, "we don't just survive — we win."

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End of Chapter 29