Assassins Can Be Heroes Too || Todoroki Shoto

|97| The Sickening Truth

"You go first."

"No, you."

"Why me?"

Itona stared outside the window, giving the other servants a hesitant expression on his face

"Who is it?" Isogai wandered over, opening the curtains to get a better look at the trio standing outside, arguing among themselves, "aren't they..."

"It's the Big 3, apparently they want to see Rie," Ritsu appeared on the television, a concerned expression on her face, "they want to talk to her about..."

Her sentence trailed off, though all the servants knew what she was going to say.

"Let them in."

Shocked, the servants turned to Nagisa.

"We'll explain the situation to them, and yeah, we know Rie doesn't want to see anyone now," he admitted, "but she can't keep avoiding them forever, there's a week left to work on the project. For her, it doesn't matter as much since she's only in the third-year class as an extension, but..."

"For the Big 3, it's an assignment that'll affect them immediately," realised Isogai, sighing as he turned to Ritsu, "let them in, then."

Ritsu fell silent, nodding and leaving the television screen.

"We can't guarantee you'll see Rie," Karma immediately began as the trio walked in, "but what we can do, is try to explain everything and answer any questions you lot have."

"Ehh?" whined Nejire, "why can't we see her?"

"She... isn't really in the mood for seeing people right now," Karma stated, his eyes narrow, "either we answer your questions or get out."

"Karma!" Nagisa lightly whacked his arm, smiling sheepishly at the third-years, "sorry about him, he's not really in the best mood today..."

"A-ah, it's fine..." Amajiki reassured, waving his hand, "can we..."

He awkwardly motioned to the couches, the seated servants humming and giving them their seats, to which they quietly thanked them for.

The room was hushed.

"So... what do you want to know?" Isogai questioned, leaning against the bench as he spun the knife around in his hands, ignoring

"How long?" Mirio's voice was low, much unlike, "how long has she been..."

"Her parents are both assassins... so it was obviously a given that she should become one as well..." the chef muttered, "not to mention her Quirk isn't actually called 'Knight'... it's... well, it's called 'Assassin'."

"B-but... why didn't she tell us?" Nejire's gaze directed down at the floor.

Karma snorted.

"Oh, yeah, brilliant conversation. 'Hey guys, by the way, I'm Japan's Highest-ranked Villain and probably the worst assassin to ever exist. Bye~'" he mimicked, his face becoming solemn, "that... isn't really the best way to go about it."

"I guess..."

Mirio's face fell as a sudden thought occurred to him.

"Wasn't... Crimson Death reported to be the one... who killed Raging Sword?"

The servants fell silent.

"A-and... isn't Raging Sword... well, wasn't... Raging Sword... her older brother?"

Nagisa hesitated.

"Yeah."

A heavy silence hung over them, letting the truth sink in.

The sickening truth.

Truth was a double-edged sword. On one hand, truth could tell you everything about a person and what they were really like. What their personality was, how they acted and behaved around certain people and in certain situations. On the other hand, the truth could destroy everything you ever knew - or at least, thought you knew - about a person. Their whole being was a lie, the truth could shatter what you knew of them, and... possibly-

"Whatever you're thinking, stop," Nagisa stated firmly, harsher than he intended.

The three stopped.

"So... which one's the real Rie?"

"'The... real Rie'?" echoed Karma, perking a brow.

"Which one is..."

"The real one... there's no fake," Isogai hummed, "Rie hasn't been acting. She's trying to figure out whether she should act as the cynical, bloodthirsty and cold-hearted Villain that is Crimson Death, or... Rie, the girl you've spent a long time with."

"In the beginning, she acted extremely extroverted, but found it too draining-" Amajiki quietly huffed as both Nejire and Mirio spared him a glance "-then she tried being introverted, which she found to be a, similar to her personality as Crimson Death, and b, easier to... I guess... socialise?"

How ironic...

"We all want Rie to..." Nagisa stumbled over his words for roughly

"What he's trying to say," Itona paused, "is that we all want Rie to talk to others and not be cooped up in her room all depressed."

Depressed...

"I have a plan!" Karma beamed, a Devil's tail and horns appearing, the third-years sharing a concerned glance as the servants backed away slowly, sweat-dropping as they tried to calm him down to no avail.

When Karma said he had an idea...

Nothing good ever came out of it.