Chapter Text
When An Shiraishi was taken into Yui's care after both her mother died she stopped singing due to the trauma she witnessed after seeing her father, Uncle Taiga, and Aunt Nagi's bodies burning that very day
Of course she was given therapy sessions where she slightly recover from the trauma and from there she started to sing some songs she listened and play games that got her interest when she's alone and had some time to ponder with her thoughts with one of those thoughts in her head telling her how stupid she was at that time where she stood there and didn't move that day as some random ginger boy pushed her out of the way and took the hit that caused him to be blind the last time she heard what happened to him
And with that she decided to thank and apologize to him once they meet in the near future if possible
Her wish was granted of course they met again with her hearing the boys name is Akito, Akito Shinonome but she failed to apologize to him because she's still recovering from the trauma of killing Kohane's Uncle because he raped the latter
But despite that she decided to help him by preventing him from getting into a crossfire with the problematic duo in Kamiyama High School as a part of her giving thanks to him for saving her that day despite the latter not remembering her because of course he got blind and a long time has pass since then
Additionally she got into a fight with some of the classmates in the same grade as her because of what they are saying about Mizuki who she managed to befriend with and putting two and two together after hearing the rumors she decided that no one should bully her friend which accidentally caused her to be thanked by Akito the next day since he was sick and the other students in the school stay silent when he's around because of his reputation on teaching some of the students a lesson when they tried to bully Mizuki and despite them telling it was him who did it he wasn't punished for it as he was blind and it was impossible for someone like him to do that to them and before there 1st year in highschool ended she became friend with him and she joins him and Mizuki and talk about different thing and helping each other out when they are struggling in some subjects
When she have another chance for her to thank and apologize to him properly came during there 2nd year in high school she failed to say it because shit started to happen with her aunt seemingly involved which led Akito and Mizuki to leave to another country to finish there studies hoping things will settle down soon so they can return and go to college back in Japan to which it happened until a certain extremist group put Mizuki into a comatose state thanks to her aunt giving the order almost 2 years later when they return
Thus An ultimately decided to not thank and apologize to Akito as whenever she had the courage to do it, bad things happen along with the fact it was her aunts fault why this is happening to him
And that is also one of her reasons why she decided to join Akito on stopping her Aunt as an alternative way to give her thanks and apology to him instead of doing it in the proper way
November 11, 2026
Port Said, Cairo, Egypt
Meters away from Warehouse that close to the Port of Port Said
10:30 PM
At one of the abandoned buildings away from Port Said we can see An wearing a wearing a black assassin hooded robe and underneath that she is wearing a grey modified medieval tunic with throwing knives, a tanto, and combat knife securely fastened to her belt, along with a few smoke grenades, and was lastly wearing a pair of fitted dark grey trousers tucked into black knee-high leather boots with black tactical fingerless gloves on her hands that was attached with a modified bracer where there are a pair of hidden blades hidden in it so she can use her knowledge of hand to hand combat incase the hidden blades got destroyed during this mission
What mission?, Well An is tasked by Akito to kill Michael Warui who is currently on a warehouse close to the port for an arms deal transactions with an underground group that the House of Neutrality's intelligence managed to intercept and tracked down here and with that it was decided that Akito and Kohane will be the one's who'll provide her cover from afar while An does most of the work
While An also brought a katana with her for this mission to, she was forced to give it to Akito due to how it's restrict her moving and it'll make other people notice her despite parkouring which might get her into trouble to which Akito said it with a smile on his face
An: *mumble* Somehow I can feel that's not the only reason why Akito took my katana away from me
Suddenly an earpiece in her left ear started to crackle to life to which she touches it and spoke
An: An here have they already arrived at the warehouse?
Then Akito's voice can be heard with him saying
Akito: Yep the ones who are about to transact with Michael Warui are about to head to the warehouse you may start heading there so you can check the area you know the drill after that
An: Hai, Hai, just make sure tell Kohane-chan to assist me far away incase I was in a defenseless position
Akito: Got it. . .don't die there alright
An: *giggles* You worry to much Akito, I can't die yet remember I have to aid you on finishing my Aunt's scheme's remember
Akito: I know, but still
An: Yeah, Yeah I'll be going then
The call ended, and from there An moved silently from her hiding spot after putting on the hood of her robe, blending into the night. She navigated through the dark alleys and rooftops, her agility and parkour skills allowing her to move swiftly and unnoticed. Within minutes, she reached the perimeter of the warehouse and found a concealed spot to survey the area
As An done this she pulled out binoculars given to her and from there she scanned the surroundings. She counted about 20 guards positioned at strategic points around the warehouse, armed and alert
From there she noted their patterns and weak points before formulating her plan and after awhile she put it into motion
With precise movements, she approached the nearest guard and in a swift, fluid motion, she incapacitated him with a hidden blade to the throat and dragged his body into the shadows. She repeated this process albeit in different ways as she makes some whistles or throw scattered objects in the warehouse to get the guards attentions
Nevertheless she managed to take out all the guards one by one either by using her hidden blade or throwing knives that she also picks up for future use, using the darkness to her advantage along with her movements that were quick and silent, like a deadly dance in the night
After neutralizing the guards, An scaled the side of the warehouse, reaching the roof where she found a large hole, likely from past damage, which provided her an entry point as she entered, assessing the situation from below upon entering
When she entered the warehouse she noticed it was dimly lit, with Michael Warui and his associates gathered in the center, discussing the arms deal with the underground group providing them the weapons they seemingly needed while An crouched near the edge, as she listen intently to their conversation
Apparently they needed the weapons and explosive for future operations and since the weapons that are offered to them are starting too get high they decided to buy in the black market where they establish communications with the underground group
As a few minutes have passed from there talking about the deal, the leader of the underground group and Michael stand up and was seemingly making a handshake with it ending the deal with both sides satisfied until a gunshot rang out, with the leader of the underground group's head snapped back, blood spraying as he crumpled to the ground. Causing An to recognize the precision of the shot as the signal to strike
Without hesitation, An pulled the pins on her smoke grenades and tossed them into the warehouse, filling it with thick plumes of smoke that caused confusion and panic among the men below
Using the chaos to her advantage, she leaped down and started to kill the nearest person when she landed and from there Kohane started to guide her in the smoke as the sniper Kohane is using is attached with a infrared attachment used for the sniper she had with An lowering her head and hiding in the warehouses steel beams to avoid getting hit but gunfire after she kills some men while Kohane takes out many men when An is hiding
However as the situation drags on, Akito informed An that Michael and a few of his men escaped and tasked her on following them to finish the job as Kohane will handle the rest in the warehouse
With no time to waste An dashed to the exit of the warehouse and tailed Michael and the others where An climbs in some of the shipment containers to get some advantage as she parkoured and started to kill some of the Michael men until she ran out of throwing knives that caused her go faster and land on one of his men killing them and then she also started to engage at the other men that stayed behind for Michael and a few others to escape by heading to the port
Meters away from the Warehouse
In an abandoned rooftop in the building
We can see Kohane reloading her sniper rifle as she continued to kill more of the men in the warehouse and those who managed to exit it
However Akito feels something is amiss after hearing about the explosive and from there he goes hear a bird cage where a Golden Eagle that belongs to one of the members of the Akiyama Family and was specially trained in it and from there he opened the bird cage and presents An's Katana that ha rope tied to prevent the blade from falling to in it's sheath and from there he spoke
Akito: Head to the warehouse and give this to the owner
With that the Eagle's claw picking the rope of the sheath and started to fly towards the warehouse and as it headed there an explosion occurred close to the port
Back at An
Before the explosion
As An managed to catch up and kill the rest of Michael's surviving men after handling the others that stay behind to engage her, she was forced to darted between shipping containers as Michael manages to pick up a loaded assault rifle that is close to a crate containing a few magazine's of the same assault rifle he's holding and started to shoot it at her to which she narrowly avoided and as he continued to fire and reload it, she moved quickly and quietly to stay ahead of his line of sight as he continues his sporadic gunfire
After a few more minutes Michael's assault rifle finally ran out of ammo and magazines to use, An saw her chance and attempted to kill him from behind using her tanto or combat knife
But just as she closed the distance between them, Michael clicked something and then an explosion erupted near her side, with the force of the blast throwing her off balance
As she tumbled to the ground, with her tanto and combat knife slipped from her grasp and skittering across the pavement, Michael uses this as a chance to get revenge from the her by kicking her and punching her causing him to realize who caused the mess that made him more furious
Michael: You fucking bitch!
Despite An feeling pain all over her body she managed to avoid some of Michael's blows and attempted to use her hidden blades to kill Michael
However Michael found a steel pipe to block those attacks and also used it to remove the blades in the bracers which caused An to gasp in pain as her wrists were also hit
Then suddenly Michael creates some distance away from An and clicked something again with An realizing that she is close to a container that might have explosive and with that she tries to distance herself from it to try and minimize the damage to which she did but sent her ever further away as she fell into the ground with blood dripping from her head while she was still conscious
As Michael is waiting for the smoke to clear to avoid giving An the chance to ambush him, he spoke as he slowly goes near An as the smoke slowly cleared
Michael: So this is where you went after you left the boss. Trying to play hero to stop our operations, leaving the boss in worry and grief. She thought you died in that building that exploded where you meet your missing friend after discovering her dark secret about killing your parents. I’ll bring your dead body to her in one piece, and hunt down those who helped you along with your missing friend. Then Yui will punish them for dragging you into this mess and then-
As he continues to speak, An slowly crawls away to get away from Michael and hide so she can recover a little and retreat as she knows she failed her mission and if she died here-
Suddenly An's thoughts were caught off when she heard an eagle's cry and from there she saw an Golden Eagle that she saw prior when she gave her katana, heading towards he holding her katana that was tied to a rope to ensure the blade won't fall being dropped in front of her dropping into some of the rubble, perfectly masking it's presence for Michael not to see
And as Michael approached her with the pipe in his hands ready to bash her skull to deal the final blow, with the last of her adrenaline, she pulled her katana from its sheath, blocking the pipe and kicking Michael away as he was caught off guard by what just happened
With a that opportunity, she used the sheath for support to stand up, and from there she fought Michael using her katana's sheath, with him starting to panic as he know he's screwed the moment he didn't get the timing to dodge her katana's blade
Seeing this, An spoke
An: Oi, oi what's the matter your acting a little cocky awhile ago
As she says that, Michael tries to go to the offensive to put her off balance, until An saw what he's going to and managed to deflect it and with that she finds and opening and used her katana to stab and plunge the blade deep in his chest shocking him with An saying
An: However what I see now is a coward who uses his authority given to him and does his job too much that it caused some incidents in Vivid Street and manages to get away from it
Michael: I-I
After the RADder Tragedy with the people in the Vivid Street knowing Yui is seen one of the suspects, she sends Michael to make them shut up which made him kill a few of the known and respected residents in Vivid Street until the Formation of the House of Neutrality and the intervention of Akiyama Family protected them from Michael's plans on keeping the street silent and with that some of the residents of Vivid street decided to volunteer to aid them on stopping Yui's Shiraishi
An: Go to hell for what you've done asshole
With that she pulled out her blade from Michael's falling body, with it dropping and eyes being lifeless, confirming she killed him
And with that An manages to contact Akito through the earpiece that luckily wasn't destroyed and told him that she killed their target and was about to say something more until she started to black out and fall unconscious
But before that even happened she saw Michael's remaining brother, Gabriel seemingly witnessed everything that occurred, decided to retreat, with the look at her swearing vengeance for his brother's death
When An woke again she groaned softly as she slowly became aware of her surroundings. The sterile smell of antiseptic and the soft beeping of medical equipment made her aware that she was in a hospital room with the sunlight being visible in one of it's windows indicating it's morning giving her the chance to see some parts of her body covered by bandages
She then turned her head slightly and saw Akito, who was on the phone. His face was etched with concern, with the latter noticed her stirring that caused him to quickly end the call
He then walked over with a glass of water, carefully placing it on a nearby table and bringing a straw to her lips. An took a few sips, the cool liquid soothing her parched throat
And from there Akito spoke
Akito: How are you feeling?
An: I feel my body is about to fall apart, but despite that I feel the pain lessening a little
As she said this, Akito’s expression softened and then he took a deep breath before speaking
Akito: I'm glad, I’m really sorry, An. I should have realized sooner that you not bringing your katana back before you start your mission was a mistake as well and because of that you ended up with multiple broken ribs and other injuries
An: I-Is that so?
Akito: But despite that your injuries are not that critical and you can recover albeit slowly so we can ensure you can fully heal
An: That's good to hear. . .by the way I wanted to say sorry
Akito: For what?
An: For making you stay here when it's also your birthday
Akito: *Eyes widening as he realize it was his 22nd birthday* Ah I didn't notice
An: Of course you didn't idiot, Yuuki and I planned to surprise you when we get back since Yuuki was free today
Akito: I see, even Yuuki nee-chan planned for my birthday as well
An: Yep
As Akito smiled at An’s attempt to lighten the mood, An’s mind started racing with ideas. Despite her current predicament, she was determined to make sure that Akito didn’t let his birthday pass in silence
Then an idea comes up into her mind and with that she spoke
An: But since it's your birthday I want you to celebrate it back at the House of Neutrality with Kohane joining you in my stead
Akito: Huh but what about-
An: Don't worry about me, Kohane was also there during our planning and beside I'm sure you take me here safely and be protected incase Yui sent someone to find me right?
Akito: R-Right but-
An: You need to unwind and let others handle things for a change you know, so please?~
As An used her puppy like eyes to an unfazed Akito he sighs and finally agrees to return with Kohane back to the House of Neutrality
When Akito left An felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing that she had managed to arrange something for Akito brought her a measure of peace in her mind as she knows he deserves this for all the things he's done and to ease up his burdens with her taking some of it
And with that she closed her eyes, with the hope that the coming days would bring better times and a chance for her to make things right when everything is over after they finally stop her Aunt
End of No Glory