The journey back to the agency was the longest torture of my life. The van sped along in a total silence that was more deafening than any shout. I sat in the corner, not daring to look at anyone. I could feel their gazes on me, even without seeing. Uraraka's confused stare, Tsuyu's analytical look, Nejire's curiosity now mixed with something else, and heaviest of all, Ryukyu's silent glare from the front seat. The air inside the van was so thick with unspoken questions I could barely breathe. Every second felt like an hour, my mind racing, trying to prepare myself for the inevitable storm.
When we arrived back at the silent agency building in the dead of night, Ryukyu was the first to speak, her calm voice now laced with a cold, steel edge. "Uraraka-san, Asui-san, Hado-senpai, wait in the recreation room. Do not speak to anyone about what you heard tonight. Do not leave that room until I come for you." It wasn't a request, but an undeniable command.
The three girls gave me one last mixed look before nodding and leaving, leaving me alone in the lobby with Ryukyu. She stared at me, her expression unreadable. "My office. Now."
Her office felt different than before. What once felt like the command center of a wise leader now felt like an interrogation room. She sat behind her large desk, and I sat in the chair opposite, feeling like a defendant awaiting his verdict. She said nothing for a long time, just staring at me, as if trying to see through the layers of lies and secrets I had built.
"I'm going to give you one chance," she said finally, breaking the torturous silence. "One chance to tell me everything. Not the filtered version you gave the police. Not some clever strategic hypothesis. I heard your conversation with her. I heard your name, her name, and words that made no sense. Now, you will tell me what it all means."
I looked at her, the Dragon Hero, my mentor, the one adult in this world who had shown me any trust. I couldn't lie to her anymore. I owed her the truth.
"You're right," I said quietly, my voice barely a whisper. "What I told the police and what I told you before... it wasn't the whole truth." I took a deep, irreversible breath. "To understand, you have to believe in something impossible. You have to believe that I am not from this world."
For the next hour, I told her everything. I told her about my life on Earth, a world without Quirks where she and all the other heroes were just characters in a story. I explained about manga, about anime, about how I knew all their secrets—about One For All, about All For One, about the dark future that awaited. I told her about my death, about my confusion upon being reborn, and about the terrible burden of the knowledge I possessed.
Then, I told her about Akame ga Kill!. I explained about Teigu, about Night Raid, about the Empire. I explained who Akame was and who the original Tatsumi was. I explained my theory about how the original Tatsumi's soul was likely tied to Incursio, and how the echo of his soul was what created the strange connection between Akame and me.
Ryukyu listened without interruption. Her face remained expressionless, but I could see the struggle in her eyes. She was a logical woman. Every word that came out of my mouth defied every law of physics and reality she knew. She must think I'm insane.
When I finished, silence once again enveloped the room. She stared at me for a long, long time, so long that I started to tremble. 'This is it,' I thought. 'She's going to call the Commission. They'll take me away, lock me in a lab...'.
"The resonance," she whispered finally, her voice incredibly soft.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"The draconic resonance," she repeated, looking at me with a new intensity. "When I first met you, I felt it. An echo within my own Dragon Quirk. It felt like meeting the same species but from a different lineage. I dismissed it as a Quirk anomaly. But it fits your story." She leaned back in her chair. "An armor that doesn't register as a Quirk. Regeneration that defies medical logic. Tactical knowledge impossible for a boy your age. And a supernatural connection with a killer."
She closed her eyes for a moment. "Your story is the most insane thing I have heard in my entire career as a hero. But it is... terrifyingly, the only explanation that ties all of these impossible puzzle pieces together."
She opened her eyes again, and I saw something new in them. No longer anger or suspicion. It was a heavy, frightening understanding. "If what you say is true," she said, "then you are not just an intern. You are the most valuable intelligence asset... and the greatest security risk on the planet."
She stood and walked to the window, looking out at the waking city. "I should report this. My oath as a hero demands that I report a threat or an anomaly of this magnitude to the Public Safety Commission." She turned to face me. "They would take you. They would dissect you, both physically and mentally. They would drain every drop of knowledge from your head, and then they would lock you away somewhere you would never see the sun again, because you are too dangerous to be left free."
A cold dread ran down my spine.
"But," she continued, "you came to me. You chose to trust me with a secret that could destroy you. And I... I have seen your heart, Tatsumi-kun. I saw you at the Sports Festival, winning with your brain when your power wouldn't work. I saw you at the USJ, leaping into battle to protect your friends. And I saw you tonight, trying to save the soul of a lost killer. You may have the knowledge of another world, but you have the heart of a true hero from this one."
She sat back down. "I am going to take the biggest risk of my career. I will not report this. For now, this secret will stay between us in this agency. We will handle this Yozakura and Akame problem ourselves. But in return, I demand your absolute loyalty and honesty. No more secrets. No more solo acts. You will tell me everything you know about the threats in the future. And you will train under my supervision until you can perfectly control that monster inside you. We will face this together."
A wave of relief so immense hit me that I almost started to cry. I could only nod, speechless.
After that, she called Nejire, Uraraka, and Tsuyu into her office. With a slightly edited version (omitting the details about manga/anime and focusing only on the concepts of 'another world' and 'a bound soul'), Ryukyu explained my situation to them.
Their reactions were a storm of emotions. Uraraka cried, not out of fear, but out of sympathy for my burden. Tsuyu, with her logic, tried to comprehend the implications of my existence. And Nejire... she was filled with a million new questions, but underneath it all, there was an expression of understanding and unwavering loyalty. The wall between us wasn't completely gone, but now there was a door, a bridge of understanding.
As dawn broke, we all left Ryukyu's office, exhausted but with a new understanding. My internship was coming to an end soon, but my relationship with this agency had transformed into something much deeper. This was no longer just an internship; it had become my secret headquarters, my fortress.
As I walked down the corridor to my room, Nejire caught my arm. "Hey, Tatsumi-kun," she said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "So... if you have the soul-echo of the original Tatsumi... and he liked Akame... does that mean you also...?"
I looked at her, and for the first time in a long time, I let out a small laugh. "It's complicated enough without thinking about that, Hado-senpai."
She smiled, her genuine smile returning. "Fine, fine! But it's a valid question!"
I entered my room, exhausted but no longer feeling alone. Outside the window, the sun was beginning to rise, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple. It was a new dawn, not just for the day, but for my second life. The road ahead was still long and fraught with danger, but now, I was no longer walking it alone.