Yoriichi X Akame Ga Kill [2]

“After all, I’m already dead. I’m not even sure what kind of help I would need.”

The moment those words left his lips, Sayo and Ieyasu exchanged startled glances. But almost immediately, they burst into laughter.

“Mr. Yoriichi, you’re really funny!”

Sayo covered her mouth, giggling softly.

“If you were dead, how would we be talking to you right now?”

Her laughter carried a lighthearted warmth, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Yoriichi found himself questioning his own assumptions.

“I’m… not dead?”

Staring at Sayo’s cheerful expression, Yoriichi felt a flicker of doubt.

Slowly, he raised his hands and stared at them in disbelief.

They were young—smooth and full of life. Gone were the wrinkles and frailty of his aged body.

When he had first arrived in this empty void, his senses had been dulled, as though he were drifting in a dream. Even when the environment shifted and light appeared, his thoughts had remained sluggish, unable to process the change.

But now, Sayo’s words had jolted something awake inside him, forcing him to take a closer look at himself.

….

The first thing he noticed was his skin.

What had once been loose and weathered by time was now firm and radiant, brimming with youthful vitality.

His hair, which had turned ashen gray with age, was once again a sleek, jet-black cascade that shimmered under the light.

He wasn’t the frail old man who had stood on the brink of death—he was young, vibrant, and filled with energy.

And yet, none of it made sense.

Why had his body reverted to its younger self?

More importantly—how was he alive?

Yoriichi stood there, completely dumbfounded, unable to piece together what was happening.

“You must be from a small village, Mr. Yoriichi.”

Sayo’s cheerful voice interrupted his spiraling thoughts.

“It’s your first time in the capital, right? Feeling overwhelmed?”

She smiled as if her explanation had solved the mystery, her tone lighthearted and friendly.

“Ieyasu and I just arrived here too. We’re from a village way out in the countryside. Compared to where we grew up, the Imperial Capital is like another world—it’s so busy and crowded!”

Yoriichi blinked, her words slowly sinking in.

So that’s what they thought—he was just another country boy, dazed by the overwhelming grandeur of the city.

To Sayo, his quiet demeanor and disoriented behavior weren’t strange at all. She had felt the same way when she first arrived—lost in the endless streets, unsure of where to go or what to do.

“The capital, huh?”

“I’ve never seen a city this prosperous before.”

Yoriichi looked around carefully after hearing Sayo’s words. His deep, contemplative gaze swept across the bustling streets and towering structures before he gave a slow, deliberate nod.

“A city this vibrant… it’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed.”

Coming from the Sengoku era of Fusang, Yoriichi’s understanding of urban development was vastly different. To him, a city with a population exceeding ten thousand was already considered a flourishing metropolis.

A city boasting thirty thousand residents could easily be counted among the top ten most powerful domains in his homeland.

But here, in the Imperial Capital, the permanent population alone numbered in the millions, with hundreds of thousands more passing through at any given time. For Yoriichi, this level of scale and prosperity was utterly inconceivable.

After all, during the Sengoku period, the total population of Fusang barely reached a few million.

The Imperial Capital, modeled after the sprawling megacities of Yanhuang, was simply in a league of its own.

“Yeah, I heard stories from my elders too—about how grand and dazzling the Imperial Capital was.”

Sayo giggled softly, covering her mouth with her hand as her eyes sparkled with amusement.

“But even though I thought I was prepared, I was still completely overwhelmed when I actually stepped into the city.”

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze falling back on Yoriichi, who stood there with the same dazed expression as before.

“So, Mr. Yoriichi, what’s your plan from here? Ieyasu and I are waiting for a friend we got separated from.”

“Once we’re reunited, we plan to join the military.”

Sayo spoke of their ambitions with a cheerful resolve.

Faced with growing economic hardships in their village, she, Ieyasu, and their lost companion, Tatsumi, had journeyed to the capital, hoping to make a name for themselves.

If they could secure stable incomes, they could send money back home and ease the burden weighing down their families.

Unfortunately, as Yoriichi vaguely recalled from fragments of his new knowledge, Sayo and Ieyasu had tragically underestimated the darkness lurking beneath the Imperial Capital’s glamorous façade.

In the original timeline, they barely survived long enough to see the story’s main events unfold.

“My plan?”

Yoriichi’s expression darkened as memories of his brother—now a demon—surfaced once more. His voice softened, tinged with quiet sorrow.

“I suppose I’ll continue searching for demons.”

He clenched his fists slightly, his resolve hardening.

Even if he didn’t understand how he had returned to life, Yoriichi felt that his second chance couldn’t be wasted.

He would hunt demons.

Even if it took his entire life, he would track down the source of their corruption and eradicate it.

That was the least he could do—to honor the gifts bestowed upon him and atone for his past failures.

But deep down, Yoriichi couldn’t deny his doubts.

Would he truly be able to find them again?

If the demons chose to hide, Yoriichi knew all too well how powerless he would be to locate them.

The last time he had encountered the progenitor was an accident—one fleeting moment that had given him a chance to end it all.

And he had failed.

“A demon?”

Sayo’s eyes widened slightly as she processed the unfamiliar term.

“Is that the name of some dangerous species?”

Her brows furrowed as concern flashed across her face.

“But, Mr. Yoriichi… are you planning to look for these ‘demons’ all by yourself?”

“The world’s enormous, you know. Tracking down one specific dangerous creature would be next to impossible.”

It was clear their thoughts weren’t aligned. While Yoriichi spoke of demons—creatures of supernatural terror—Sayo interpreted them as merely another kind of dangerous beast, something akin to the monsters and predators rumored to roam the empire’s outskirts.