What shakes Kurome out of her stunned state isn't Akame's words, but the young boy tugging at her dress. "Mama, what's wrong? Who is that?"

She regains her composure just in time to gently pat his head. "...It's someone Mama has to talk to. You two go straight home, okay? Don't talk to anyone we don't know." The new Empire is, after all, not exactly paradise. Still, sending children even a few yards out of sight unattended would have been unthinkable ten years ago. And though the old her would hate to admit it... she knows who she has to thank for the fact that things are getting better. She waits for the kids to get out of earshot.

"I didn't know... if you were still alive."