210. Akame Ga Kill : Aika Strategy Meeting with Crocodile and Kaito Relaxing Days in Paradise City. (3)

A few days later, the situation around Paradise City had become more tense, even with all the effort that Team 2 made to reassure the citizens. There were no more visitors, merchants, or residents visiting the city due to the war that was about to start, and the city gates were temporarily closed until the war was over. 

Fortunately, even though Paradise City is isolated from the outside, they never feel dependent on food from outside and can produce it themselves, thanks to Kaito capable of creating fast-growing seeds that could bear fruit in a few days.

The chat group is also putting more effort into calming down the unrest... mainly with Uta's concert every single day, free distribution of necessities (food and clothing) for all citizens, and lastly, the creation of an "amusement park" area by Sakuya's clone (and material provided by Kaito), which is welcomed enthusiastically by the residents. Kaito heard she was ordered to do it, and Sakuya learned the knowledge how to build it from a chat group after paying some points, which were reimbursed by Crocodile.

Naturally, upon hearing that news, the three cursed children who had been around Kaito wanted to visit the newly opened amusement park, as they had never visited one before in the Black Bullet world. Since there's no reason to refuse and he basically had nothing to do, Kaito easily agreed to them, and thus, they were at the newly built amusement park today.

Well, it's mainly those three children trying the attractions like roller coasters, Ferris wheels, water rides, etc. As for Kaito and Yuu, they weren't exactly interested in those. After all, they would get no thrill from trying those, as their basic speed is even faster than a mere roller coaster.

Thus, Kaito and Yuu are currently waiting for them on the common bench at the amusement park, waiting for the kids to be done having fun.

...

"I didn't expect Crocodile would do something like this, too." Kaito commented with appreciation, "Although he is not exactly a good person, I admit he's qualified to lead a city under his governance."

Remembering his ultimate goal to govern his own area in the base world, Kaito now does not doubt Crocodile's ability to do it. 

In fact, he was impressed by him, as Kaito truly feels how "great" this city is with its security, benefits, and atmosphere after living here as a civilian for several days.

Previously, Kaito still doubted whether Crocodile could convince other chat group members to let him have his area in the base world, but now Kaito fully believes no one would reject his proposal at all if he wanted to.

*Nom*

"He is... really good at developing... this city." Yuu nodded in agreement, then offered her extra crepe to Kaito that she bought earlier with Kaito's money, "Do you want to have a taste of the crepe from the local, Kaito?"

"Is it good like other snacks, Yuu?"

*Nom*

"It's really good."

"A crepe from the local? Sure." 

Kaito accepted it easily and then also tasted it, "Okay, this is really good crepe too. I guess Hisako's program to personally train all food business owners in the city directly increases the quality of food in the city."

"Hisako is working hard. I feel like Hisako-chan is truly growing up and making her own identity, instead of being Erina's assistant."

"That's true." 

With Hisako's training program proven successful in this city, Kaito plans to implement the same program when Base World has permanent residents in addition to chat group members. After all, if all business owners can make delicious food, it will benefit all parties, both consumers (residents) and food sellers themselves.

While Kaito was still enjoying the crepe that Yuu gave to him, Scorpion suddenly appeared in Kaito and Yuu's sight, clearly looking for them together. Kaito guessed Scorpion had already had enough fun in this newly built amusement park, hence she stopped running with the other children. 

"That's a scorpion?"

"Brother and sister."

Noticing Kaito's location, this little girl with long black hair and black eyes quickly ran toward them, forcing Kaito to catch her in his embrace.

...!!

*Hug*

"Brother Kaito."

"Scorpion-chan? Why are you alone? Where are the others?" Kaito patted his head with a frown, "Did you not get along with Midori and Anna?"

After getting along with 3 cursed children for several days, Kaito was sure everyone was enjoying each other's company. 

Kaito has also been paying extra attention to Scorpion and knows she is just a good and quiet child who doesn't like to talk a lot. With such an introvert personality, Kaito admits it was surreal for her to be a good child despite her past being one of the strongest Gastrea creatures in the world.

...

"No, both of them are good to me." 

Scorpion shook her head, denying Kaito's word, "But, I am bored. I just want to be with Brother Kaito and Sister Yuu."

"Ah... Sure." 

Kaito moved his ass a little, making a small space between himself and Yuu so Scorpion could sit, "Here, sit with us while we wait for your sister."

*Hop*

"Um!" 

Scorpion immediately sat between them, but she then leaned toward Kaito, quietly enjoying his presence, "Well... compared to Anna and Midori, I feel you would have more common topics with Yuu. Both of you are the same type after all."

"Sister Yuu is the same as me?" Scorpion asked curiously.

"Yup. Yuu also doesn't talk a lot. Although she has been improving from that." Kaito answered with a smile.

"...I feel like you are scolding me, Kaito." Yuu expressed her unhappiness.

"Pffft..."

Both Yuu and Scorpion don't talk a lot, although Yuu has been chatting more compared to the first time when she joined the chat group. After all, current Yuu has no concern with her ability affecting her speech and has a lot of friends-- unlike in the past, where she mostly spent her time alone in the underworld.

Ignoring Kaito's rude remark, suddenly Yuu stood up from her seat and asked him again, "Kaito, I want to get more snacks. Give me money."

"I didn't expect you would become a foodies." Kaito complained, as it had been the fourth time since she asked for money, "If I don't have enough money, there's no way I can accommodate you in my house."

"But money has never been a problem for you. I can't waste my points for money of this world, right?" Yuu commented calmly.

"Touche." 

Kaito wryly smiled and couldn't deny her accusation since money is something Kaito could easily create on the spot. Kaito then gave her the money she asked for and then reminded her, "Don't forget to buy a snack for me and Scorpion-chan too."

"Sure."

After that, Kaito then chatted with Scorpion, while enjoying all the snacks that Yuu bought at the amusement park and waiting for Anna and Midori to finish playing. 

It was only towards evening that the girls finally finished and felt satisfied, so that in the end that day, they also had dinner outside the house.

Although he feels bad when he thinks about chat group members working hard, Kaito admits he really enjoys these peaceful moments as he essentially never stopped training or thinking since he became chat group leader.

>>>>>

On the same day, Kaito and Yuu enjoyed their day... Aika, who also had come to the Akame Ga Kill world to help Crodoile, observed Kaito's activities with a smile through a glass ball (with chat group points) like a witch stalking her crush. 

She was relieved that her strategy to make Kaito enjoy life seemed to have worked well for Kaito's mental state, and Aika hoped that this could make Kaito feel more comfortable and no longer desperate to become strong by any means.

"I'm really glad Kaito can enjoy life here." Aika sighed with relief, "Because I'm the one who forced Kaito to work often and was the main culprit often, why he became depressed in the chat group."

"It's not entirely your fault, Aika-san." 

Crocodile commented behind her, also smiling, glad their leader seems to be alright, "Kaito himself also always makes proposals that trouble all of us, like in the Naruto world."

Just remember Kaito's idea to create a village out of nowhere, Crocodile feels sometimes their leader is really childish. However, he didn't deny that having a "stationary" base in any world is a good thing for the chat group, and in the future, it should be common practice when they want to connect more worlds to the base world.

...

"Anyway, I think you have enough stalking our leader~" Crocodile grinned before he changed his expression to become serious, "We have something more important to do right now, which is to plan the right strategy against the Empire."

"Sure."

Crocodile then explained to Aika about the status of the army prepared for the war against the Empire, starting from readiness, number, to the strategy to be used. For readiness, Crocodile explained that 7000 Paradise City soldiers had been trained vigorously directly by Arturia, along with all the equipment made directly by Lizbeth. 

In addition, the food ration had been prepared by Hisako, as well as several artillery that would be ready to use in the war.

In preparation for the first war, Arturia praised the readiness of the chat group and was quite optimistic about winning the war with all the conditions of Paradise City. The city is basically unpenetrable as long as Crocodile is here and connected to the earth, where he would absorb energy directly from the planet to maintain the wall.

Not to mention, even though the city had only been established for less than 2 months, Paradise City managed to gather thousands of soldiers ready to defend their city. 

However, the disadvantage is clear: they were vastly outnumbered. Their soldier also lack experience, compared to Imperial army soldiers that might have trained for years, their Paradise city soldiers only train for weeks!

"So the main problem is that we are quite outnumbered," Aika said in concern, "I remember in her expedition to the north, Esdeath brought a hundred thousand soldiers from the Empire... compared to 7000, that's a really big difference."

"Unfortunately, that's the situation we need to face." Crocodile sighed, "Although we don't need a big number since strong chat group members could take on the armies of the Empire alone... the number difference between our army and enemies still makes me feel desperate."

Aika nodded and then suggested, "Then the only way is to concentrate the army into a single point, which is the entrance gate of the city. Facing the hundred thousand-strong Empire army head-on is out of the question."

"That's a good idea. I will deliver your message to Arturia later." Crocodile accepted his proposal, "Although I could defend the entrance too for obvious reasons, our army still needs the sense of participation; otherwise, our plan to make people of this world feel their hard work earned by themselves would fail."

"Well, you are the one who is going to work the hardest, whether the city will be safe or not, definitely depends on your 99% work," Aika said in a joking manner.

"I know that. But I still do need all the help I can get, you know?"

...

Naturally, as the one who holds the "wall" of the city, Crocodile knows he's going to work the hardest among all of them-- otherwise the city would have fallen if he failed to withstand the attack.

Although he doesn't take a hundred thousand Empire soldiers seriously at all with his current strength, the Empire has a dozen strong Teigu users, and he is not confident able to take care of all of them alone if they wanted to do a concentrated attack.

..m

As Crocodile was thinking about how he should do in this war, Aika then just shrugged and calmly requested, "Crocodile, can you lend me some chat group points? I want to ask the chat group something to help you."

"Huh? What do you want to do, Aika-san?"

"I want to cheat." Aika smiled viciously and stated, "I want to ask the chat group what the enemy's strategy is in this war. I don't think Esdeath would simply brute-force in the front, especially after facing Kaito head-on before."

...!!!

Crocodile was shocked hearing what Aika said and asked, "Using points to reveal enemy strategy... can the chat group do that?"

"You need to remember that the chat group points are omnipotent, Crocodile. It can even easily resurrect a dead person." Aika answered.

"Ah, how I didn't think any of that," Crocodile admitted her idea was simply perfect. Instead of going blind, it would be much better if they knew the strategy of their opponent so they could adapt their strategy perfectly.

"Give me 25.000 points."

"Alright then."

Although 20.000 points are a lot even for him, Crocodile still gives it to Aika. On top of making sure nothing goes wrong in this war, Crocodile himself also respected Aika as co-leader of the chat group and wanted to make a good relationship with her.

After that, Aika quickly paid the points to the chat group system to see what kind of strategy the Empire comes up with to win the war.

...

"Oh...!! As expected of General Esdeath, if we are not cheating, I admit she would give us a lot of trouble." Aika said with an excited tone, which made Crocodile stunned.

Sure enough, her decision wasn't wrong to cheat against the Empire. 

Although Paradise City would still win the war regardless of their strategy-- the casualties of civilian on their side would be really high if they let Esdeath do her 'infiltration' plan. After all, Esdeath's strategy was quite effective since she was immediately aiming at their obvious weakness, which is the civilians who get protected inside the city, and Crocodile, who probably couldn't defeat Esdeath.

...

"What kind of strategy did the Empire come up with that could make you feel that excited?"

"It's a very effective plan. Even I can't help but admire Esdeath's sneaky and yet effective strategy."

After that, Aika told Crocodile the strategy Esdeath wanted to use against them, which is utilizing one of the most busted Teigu in this world, Dimensional Array Shambhala, to teleport directly into the city. Aika admits she genuinely forgot such a great Teigu exists in this world, and there's no way a Crocodile sand wall could prevent them from getting into Paradise City and creating chaos.

Unfortunately for them, their opponent, the chat group team, was a cheater, and their great plan would end in failure. To counter Esdeath's strategy, Aika naturally informed to let Yuu and Kaito to stand by during the war to stop Esdeath... while the rest of the chat group members who are willing to participate in this 'war' go to the front line to attract the attention of Teigu users from the Empire.

The only exceptions were Saitama and Misaka, who got their task changed from handling Esdeath and participating in the front line directly. They were sent out alongside Night Raid to Imperial Capital to handle any unexpected situation in there.

After all, Kaito has told them before that he has a feeling that Est's soul fragment in this world is residing in Imperial Capital. And Aika wouldn't take any chances that something goes wrong during the last Est soul fragment retrieval.

Crocodile is also prepared to contact his spy and prepare for a massive rebellion when Night Raid comes to overthrow the Empire and defeat the little Emperor. For a month, Crocodile has secretly been successfully infiltrating and gaining a reputation among many people who live in the slum of the Imperial Capital, and promises a better future when it's time for them to take over the Empire.

After all, while Night Raid is doing their assassination job, it would be best if the remaining Imperial Guard gets distracted by something like rebellion from their people. Although Saitama and most good chat group members don't like this idea, they were convinced by Aika that it's a necessary step to make things more 'controllable'.

After all, Aika argued, there would be more chaos and destruction if they just overthrew the Empire and took it over without any of the citizens' support. Although their Paradise City reputation is outstanding now, it wasn't solid evidence to convince people who live in the Imperial Capital for their entire lives to let them take over the whole Empire.

Besides, those 'controlled people' would also greatly assist their team after it takes over the Empire later on, helping to influence and control public opinions about them and establish their presence quickly throughout the entire Imperial Capital.

...

And then, just like that, four days later, when the Empire army arrived near Paradise City, the war between the Empire and Paradise City officially broke out, with chat group members ready to finish the group task and the Empire in a single day.