Chapter 173 : The Trail to the Forest

Tatsumi's return from the mission at Hosu Port was met not with celebration, but with appreciative silence. He arrived at the villa as dawn was breaking, his body heavy with sea salt and deep fatigue. Akame was already waiting for him at the door, not with words, but with a warm towel and a steaming bowl of hot miso soup. It was their language—a wordless understanding forged from shared experiences on the battlefield, both in this world and the one before.

As Tatsumi ate in silence, he reflected on the mission. The sensation of the cold water, the darkness under the pier, his heart hammering when Slither's boots stopped inches from his face. He had succeeded, but Akame's lesson—"you would have been dead"—kept replaying in his mind. He understood now. This wasn't a game. Every mission was a life-or-death gamble, and victory wasn't measured by how many enemies he defeated, but by whether he could return to fight another day.

After a few much-needed hours of rest, he was summoned back to the war room. The atmosphere there was completely different. The pre-mission tension had been replaced by a crackling energy of anticipation. On the main screen, a thin red line moved steadily across a digital map of Japan.

"He's on the move," Hawks said, his eyes glued to the screen, a wide grin on his face. "The truck left Hosu and is heading north on the Chūō Expressway. The tracker is working perfectly."

He then activated the audio from the listening device. The sound was muffled and filled with the roar of the engine, but they could catch snippets of conversation. Most of it was unimportant chatter between the drivers. But then, a different, sharper voice came through the truck's intercom.

"...confirm final destination, research facility in Aokigahara Forest Sector. Ensure delivery arrives before 08:00."

Aokigahara. The name sent a chill through the room. The dense, infamous forest at the foot of Mount Fuji, a place shrouded in myth and darkness. The perfect place to hide a secret facility.

"A research facility..." Tatsumi murmured. "So the weapons from Humarise aren't for direct distribution. They're probably going to study or upgrade them there."

"Exactly," Hawks said. "This is bigger than just a weapons shipment. We may have found one of their main nests. A research and development hive."

In a luxurious penthouse overlooking the endless night lights of Tokyo, Esdeath moved an ivory chess piece across a marble board. Checkmate. She smiled faintly. On the floor before her, several of the city's most feared Yakuza bosses were prostrated, their faces pale with terror. Their former leader was now a life-sized ice statue, a gruesome decoration in the corner of the room.

"As of today," Esdeath said in a terrifyingly calm tone, "all your assets, networks, and loyalties are mine. You are now part of the Apex Front."

The bosses nodded frantically, not daring to meet her eyes.

Esdeath ignored them, her mind drifting. Conquering this underworld was too easy. Its 'rulers' were so fragile and easily broken. She picked up the black king she had just defeated, twirling it between her fingers. But to conquer one stubborn soul, whose fire refuses to be extinguished even by my eternal ice... ah, that is a true challenge. A game worth playing. Her thoughts returned to Tatsumi. All these conquests, all this power she was amassing, were just ways to build the perfect stage for their next encounter.

Back in the villa's war room, the red line on the map finally stopped moving, blinking at a single point in the middle of the sea of green that marked the Aokigahara Forest.

"They've arrived," Hawks said. "The audio signal picked up the sound of an underground warehouse door opening before it finally cut out. We've found the location."

The three of them stared at the blinking dot in silence. The next plan began to form.

"We can't send you in there alone again, Tatsumi," Hawks said seriously. "A research facility will have layered security, both technological and personnel with sensory Quirks. Getting in there will be much harder than sneaking onto a ship. We need a team."

He enlarged the topographic map around the location. "We need more than just eyes in the sky for this. We need a ground team that can move silently, and possibly long-range fire support if things go south."

Hawks looked at Akame. "Akame, you'll lead the ground team. You understand how these kinds of secret facilities work better than anyone."

Akame nodded, her eyes already glinting with tactical calculations.

"But you'll need support," Hawks continued. "Someone who knows the underworld, who can get local information, and who can fight in a dense environment like a forest."

He switched to another screen, pulling up a file from the hero database. A photo appeared, showing a woman with long, slightly messy blonde hair, a confident smirk on her face, and eyes that seemed full of mischief.

Tatsumi read the name under the photo: "The Lioness Hero: LIONEL."

As his eyes fell on the photo, a strange and powerful sensation coursed through him. It wasn't the complexity or annoyance he felt when he thought of Mine. Nor was it the tragic connection he shared with Akame. This was something else. An instant wave of warmth, a sense of comfort, and a deep familiarity as if he had just found a long-lost family member. The echo of the original Tatsumi's soul within him was reacting in a completely new and bewildering way.

Hawks noticed the change in Tatsumi's expression. "Why, kid? You know her?"

Tatsumi could only shake his head, still feeling the strange echo of warmth. "No... I don't know. But I feel... I have to meet her."

Hawks smiled knowingly. "Good. Because she's our next step."