Chapter 2: Uranometria
Where the stars are
The message they had gotten was something they had never expected to see. It came out of nowhere and seemed like some kind of sick joke that one of the more annoying squads would send.
Even so, it wasn't just them who had gotten the message. They knew this because they were being swarmed by multiple agents, all of whom were asking what was going on concerning their former captain. The swarm had appeared only moment after receiving the message.
The team's official leader - Kotowari Takeshi - was shrinking into his large clothes and scarf. The people gathering around were a bit too much for him to handle at the moment. Knowing the reason behind this message was important to him, but he couldn't focus too much on it when there were people who were crowding around.
To his right was their main Attacker - Toby Awdry. He was pushing everyone back, yelling one thing or another. His words got mixed in with the other voices that surrounded them. It was clear to see that his patience was running thin as he started reaching for his Trigger while grabbing people's faces.
The other person who was busy getting crushed between their teammates was Taiyōko Hoshi. She wasn't using as much force as her wild teammate, but she was still trying to push everyone else away from them. She, like Takeshi, was finding it difficult to handle this many people.
The three were stuck back-to-back as they dealt with the many voices that came at them.
"What's going in with Tsukiko!?"
"Are you guys really gonna track him down!?"
"It's an order! You better follow it!"
The voices were loud and mixing together, making it difficult to hear who was saying what. Everything was being said at such a loud volume, and with little breathing time, that it was all just starting to sound like insects at night.
The three Kotowari Squad members were just about ready to use Teleport to escape from everyone while they figured out what was going on.
Just before they could get their Triggers, something happened that made everyone shut their mouths.
"Hey! If you don't honestly get away from those three then I'll honestly shoot you all!"
One voice rang out over all the others as a sharp clicking sound was heard.
Everyone turned towards the voice to see Misaki Suzumebachi standing straight and tall, her special sniping Trigger in her right hand while her Lightning was in the other. The expression she wore was one of pure irritation.
Some were quick to heed her warning while others thought nothing of it and went back to questioning the other three members,
That was their mistake.
After all...
"What the hell did I honestly just say?"
She wouldn't let others torment her teammates and underclassman like that.
Following through with her threat, she brought up her Lightning to point it at the ones who still stood there.
She pulled the trigger and fired the gun.
The shot had missed everyone, but she would make sure that the next one wouldn't.
"Get away from them. Now. We honestly don't have time to deal with your crap. Yuki-san is no longer our captain, so anything particular you want to know about the message we honestly don't have the answer too."
That was all that needed to be said for the rest of the crowd to leave.
With a sigh, Suzume put away her guns.
She flipped her hair once before crossing her arms under her breasts.
She turned to her teammates with a worried look. They were all strong in both mind and body, but that didn't stop her from worrying about them at times like this.
They seemed fine enough as they walked up to her. Toby looked just as irritated as her, but the other two seemed to just be thinking about everything.
"I've been trying to get in contact with Yuki-san or Mei-san but neither one is answering. I decided to honestly call the Yagura Branch. They're having issues and don't know where Yuki-san is, so they're also out of the question."
This really was troubling.
Yuki not answering was one thing, but Mei was a different story. She was always there for any of them and would always answer their calls.
Mei was the one who stayed with them when they were at the low point after the Aftokrator Invasion. She was helping them when it came to fighting and general studies. If she wouldn't answer them then they would feel like they were losing someone important again.
"Come on, you three."
Even so, they knew better. They all knew that she would not leave them like their former captain had. So that brought to question what exactly she was doing. If she was not answering then there was a good reason for it.
With that kind of thought in mind, Suzume turned around without another word and started to walk away.
The other three followed her.
"Senpai, what are we doing?"
"Isn't it honestly obvious?"
With one more flip of the hair, she walked forward with irritation, purpose and determination.
They had a mission that they needed to accomplish.
"We're honestly going to figure out what the hell is going on. Once we do that... We'll kick Yuki-san's ass for causing us, and Mei-san, so much trouble again!"
Akasora Chishi liked to think of himself as a mild person who could handle things with a calm and refreshing attitude. Even under stressful situations, he would deal with things as easily as possible.
Everyone else would never say such things.
"That damn brat. What the hell did he do this time? The fact that even Masafumi decided to lock us in means that he really screwed up this time. I'm just glad that Pyrínas was already out. I'm sure he can find that idiot and drag him back over here before I need to get out Shikifuku."
With no knowledge of what was going on, and being forced to stay in the branch office, Akasora decided to get some work done. Multiple papers were on his desk, each one having some kind of small ink splatter from where he started writing. The frustration had caused him to put too much pressure when writing while also muttering different things under his breath.
Across from him were two members of the Yagura Branch. The first was his own nephew - Tenryū Shokubuku. The second was the younger brother of the wanted Border agent - Taiyōko Mukuro. They just watched their boss in his agates state. Neither said anything, but that was more from the fact that they were also unsure as to what they should do.
"...Uncle... ...Boss..."
Akasora let out a small sigh as he put his pen down.
"It's fine, Shobu. You know that it's fine to just call me that."
"..."
"Anyways. Do either of you have any idea as to what is going on? Maybe about what my idiotic student is thinking?"
"Nooooo~ But I can tell you that Kushi-nee went out to hunt him down before we even got a message."
"What!? Wasn't someone suppose to be watching her!? We all know how much trouble she causes!"
He didn't realize just how much he had raised his voice until his nephew looked down and the A-Rank averted his gaze.
The frustration from this whole thing was really starting to show on his face. The day was still only beginning and he was already going through a lot of crap. His only hope right now was that his other former students would be able to help solve this problem.
Leaving everything up to just Kou, Mei, and Pyrínas is still too much. They also have their limits.
Letting out a more tamed sigh, he looked forward at the two in front of him. Both were still looking away from him.
"Alright. I want to know what you think of the situation as a whole. Do you really think that Yuki has done something so bad as to have a full on manhunt for him?"
The one to speak up, shockingly enough, was his own nephew.
"No. ...Tsukiko-sama wouldn't...do something that bad..."
The other let out a rather loud yawn before speaking.
"Pretty much. Kiyo-nii knows what he can and can't do. He's build up such a strong and fragile lie as 'Tsukiko Yuki'. He knows that anything like this would cause his lie to crumble. He wouldn't take that risk."
Akasora gave a nod at hearing all of this.
Of course he wouldn't let out a single yawn when speaking seriously about his family.
Those were the responses he wanted to hear. He was sure that no one in the branch would really believe that his former student would do such a stupid thing. The idiot represented the branch, and knew what exactly would happen if he did something.
That just meant that there was something else going on.
That something was the main issue here.
"Alright then. Glad to hear that. I'm going to give you two an assignment. Shobu, you can take the rest of your squad, if you want. If not, that's fine as well."
"Hm? But aren't we suppose to stay here~? We can't just disobey ooooooorders~"
"Like you care about that."
"...What is the assignment...?"
"I want you guys to find out what's going on. I'm sure that there are others helping him out right now, but that means that they are also targets. We have yet to show that we are on his side, so we have more room to move around. Can you guys manage it?"
"What if people assume that we are helping Kiyo-nii?"
"Fight, run, trick them. Do whatever you want at that point. I'm leaving it up to you guys."
It was obvious that, at this point, Akasora was throwing everything away just so that they would have a solid answer to what was going on.
"And what about the others?"
"Futoyuki can't really keep his mouth shut, and Bōdō is stuck with him. Those two will be staying here in case Yuki comes back or something. I'm not going to tell them about your assignments. Shobu are you going to take the other two?"
"...No..."
"Alright. They will also stay here. Nakagami will help you two out, if you need it."
Mukuro let out a yawn that turned into a sigh at the end.
His two sisters were out doing one thing or another while his brother was currently in trouble. That left no one for him to follow. It was irritating to not have something like that, but he would have to manage.
A certain person came to mind as that throught went into his mind. It made him a bit mad to think about it, but he figured that now wasn't the time to think about unnecessary things.
Although he did have a question that was necessary.
"And I'm guessing you are going to seeeeeee Shinoda-san?"
Akasora stood up with a bitter smile on his face.
"Yeah. I want to talk to him for a bit. Apparently we have a lot of things to talk about now. Now then..."
The three started for the door.
They had their jobs to do.
This frustrating issue would be settled, one way or another.
"Let's get to work."
The message they had received was not the reason they were on edge. It was because their captain looked ready to fire Hound at just about anything he was looking at. They all made sure to stay out of his line of sight so that they wouldn't be shot at.
Ninomiya Squad had hardly seen their captain as mad as he is right now. Only one person could get him mad right away, but never this mad before. That just meant that the one person who could manage to get him mad had succeeded in getting him this pissed.
They already knew why as well.
His #1 enemy, that he hated with his whole being, had done something so stupid that Border needed to start a manhunt for him. All he needed to hear was that that person had done something stupid to be on the scene. Having to know that something as impossible as that person doing that was enough to piss him off beyond belief.
They all knew that this wasn't something he would ever do - unless it involved his former squad - so it was no wonder Ninomiya like this.
No one had to say anything yet.
Even so, Inukai decided to speak up.
"So... I'm guessing we're going to be on the hunt too?"
The sharp look he got from his captain made him take a step back.
"Of course. We are going to find that damn faker and drag him back by the neck. Even if it's not true, he needs to get his ass over here and say that outright instead of running away like a coward. I won't let him get away again."
"R-right..."
It was rather reassuring to know that Ninomiya truly didn't believe in what was going on.
Is this like the saying, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"?
Ninomiya knew a lot about certain people. He knows his boyfriend and team very well. He knows his #1 enemy just as well. The amount he didn't know about them all was minimal.
"Ninomiya-san, are you sure that it wouldn't be better to prove that he's innocent? That way we don't have to actually search for him?"
"Maybe so, but that puts us in an odd position."
It's only odd for you!
Inukai knew what his captain meant, but he also knew that they would easily mange everything. The thing that would be in an odd position was Ninomiya. This would mean he would be helping Yuki out.
He wants to help, but in a way that doesn't look like he's helping at all. Jeez! These two just make things so much more complicated than they need to be!
Inukai let out a defeated sigh as she shrugged and shook his head.
There was no way out of this.
They would join the hunt for Yuki simply because their captain refused to properly help his favorite enemy.
His pride was far too great to be admitting anything like that.
Even so, the Gunner already knew that his friend's pride was just as large. There was no doubt that he would reject that assistance anyways.
Right, right. I need to remember who I'm dealing with, he thought.
The day they actually work together without trying to take each other out would be the day the world ends. Not a pleasant thought, but one he knew was true.
"What's our first move then? I can guess a few spots he's at, but he's too good to actually go to any of them."
"It's best to assume that he won't be going to his former squad or branch. Kotowari Squad will have a bit to worry about since their Operator is helping him. Suzunari is in a similar position on that matter. His branch is probably being heavily watched right now, so that is also out."
"Going to his school is an option as well. Maybe asking one of his classmates?"
"We don't know his relationship with his classmates. They might not be much help."
Tapping his fingers in a nearby surface a few times seemed to be the best thing for him at the moment. His expression was a thoughtful and irritated one.
"Hiyami... See if there are any markers throughout the city. Can you mange it?"
"Markers?"
"Ah! Mei-san or Murakami may have put markers down for easy escapes!"
"Yes. He might do the same. If we can find each marker, we can have a better chance at finding at least one of them."
"I see. I'll get right to it."
"While she does that, we'll head out. The sooner we find that faker, the better."
Never thought I would hear him say that.
"...I think I might need to burn off my tongue..."
And there it is.
Inukai decided that it would be best to keep his thoughts to himself. Although, he could see that Tsuji and Hiyami were thinking similar thoughts.
"We won't be looking for just the faker. Murakami and Shitokei are also people we need to look out for."
"There are a few others I can think of. Besides Kotowari Squad, there's also ones like Kageura and Arashiyama that may help him. Not to mention Yagura and Tamakoma."
"Very true. Alright, that's the list of people we need to watch out for. If any of them seem to be doing anything suspicious, we'll take them out and question them."
The orders were given, so all that was left was to go through with them.
Ninomiya Squad had no problems with this whole thing - besides not believing that Yuki would do something so bad - but there was something that made them a bit hesitant.
The whole time, Ninomiya had been enraged and looking like he would shoot at any moment. Even with his rage, Ninomiya was making sure to keep one thing a secret from them.
The reason they had to hunt the A-Rank down.
He seemed like he was going to say something at certain times, but never did. They didn't want to ask since he seemed like he was mad enough already. It still lingered in their mind, though.
When he had left saying that he needed to do something important they didn't think too much about it.
When he had returned saying that he needed their help in protecting Yuki they started questioning what the hell had happened when he was gone.
That was around the same time they had received the message saying that they should be involved with the manhunt for Yuki.
Kuruma quickly thought of what was going on and the two options that were being laid out in front of him.
1) His squad's ace was asking his team for help in keeping Yuki safe while they figure out what Yuki was being accused of.
2) Orders had been sent in to take Yuki in to custody at any cost.
He felt conflicted since both options seemed to determine how things ended up with their team.
If they went with Murakami then that would put the Suzunari Branch in a terrible position. Although they would most likely have other branches on their side. Yagura Branch being an obvious one.
If they went with their orders then that would guarantee insubordination from Murakami. Kuruma knew just how close his team's ace was to the representative of the newly made branch.
"Kuruma-san, we're gonna help him, right!? Yuki-san needs help! Kou-san is even going so far as to perform a weird dogeza that makes it look like he's about to rotate the whole room!"
Shaking his head a bit, Kuruma looked down to see that Murakami was performing an amazing dogeza that truly did look like he would do something as amazing as turning the whole room around just to get his point through. It was actually quite mesmerizing if he continued to stare at his ace.
He looked over at Kon to see her just looking right back at him.
She pointed to the Sniper that was next to him.
Taking a look himself, he saw Taichi looking at him with wide eyes. It was hard to give any sort of argument when his ace was performing a weird dogeza while his Sniper was looking at him with those wide eyes.
He already knew how close Murakami was to Yuki, but he had to remind himself just how much Taichi looked up to the A-Rank.
There had been many times when Yuki had ended up saving something or someone from Taichi's clumsiness. Taichi himself was saved from a few nasty falls before. What's more was that the older one never seemed to get mad about any of the accidents caused by the Sniper. It was amazing when one thought about exactly how many times Yuki had been there.
Kuruma himself was rather fine with Yuki as well. The two had spoken casually before when the latter had taken time to visit Suzunari on his days off. He had said a few times that he wanted to make sure that Kuruma was still mentally fine with what he had to deal with at times. It really was a kind gesture.
He blew some air through his nose.
It's not like we weren't going to help in the first place.
Letting out a small laugh, he turned back to his oddly positioned ace.
"Of course we're going to help him. We'll probably get in trouble for it later, but I'll handle that. It's my job as squad leader, after all."
Murakami shot his head up with amazement in his eyes.
Taichi had a similar expression from next to his captain.
"So, what should we do first?"
He continued to look at Murakami as the boy stood up.
It was safe to assume that Murakami knew what to do when it was most likely that he was there to help his best friend.
"Senpai said that we should meet up at the place she marked. She wants to go over everything while we have the chance."
Kon took this time to speak up from her desk.
"You better go now then. Two squads are on their way here."
"Can you tell who they are?"
"Ninomiya and Ikoma."
The surprise showed on their faces.
Ninomiya Squad going to them was to be expected, but having Ikoma Squad going to them was confusing. It could have been an order from the directors, but there was still something off with that.
They would probably send an A-Rank squad instead of Ikoma Squad. I'm sure Ninomiya Squad is just on their way because of Murakami.
Kuruma nodded a few times as he entered his Trion Body.
"How much escape time will we have if we leave right now?"
"It depends on who you would rather have going after you. Ikoma Squad is coming from the south while Ninomiya Squad is coming from the east."
"Going west would mean that Ikoma Squad would reach us first. Going north would mean that Ninomiya Squad would reach us first."
"Ah! Kuruma-san, I have an idea!"
Kuruma looked over to see Murakami giving him an odd look.
"Y-yes...?"
"Lie!"
"...What?"
"Let's spit up. Then you can lie your ass off to the two squads. Keep lying until the truth is completely obliterated and there is no trace of it left. You're so honest and earnest that there is no way that they can tell you are lying!"
"Eh!? What!? I think you just said something a delinquent would say! A certain fox-like one, to be exact! Murakami, is Tsukiko rubbing off on you in the wrong way!? Have you become someone who can no longer see the good way out of a situation and instead goes straight to lies and violence!? Should I be worried!? Did he really just trick you into helping him!? I'm not so sure we should help now!"
"Kuruma-san, Kuruma-san, what are you saying!? Of course we still need to help Yuki-san! That way you can ask him how to undo the brainwashing he obviously did on Kou-san! See!? It's better that we help him!"
"Ah! You're right! Good job, Taichi!"
"They're getting closer."
Kuruma took in a breath before steeling his resolve.
He ignored the odd expression on Murakami's face and the amazed one on Taichi's and instead focused on their plan of escape.
"Right! I will hate to do it, but you have a point! We will split up and meet at the spot Takaoto-san said to meet up! Until then, I will lie and say that we are indeed chasing after Tsukiko!"
Murakami nodded his head.
He told them that he would meet up with them later before disappearing from in front of them.
Kuruma was surprised by this, but figured that it was the Special Teleport that Yuki was use to using. That was something he didn't want to think about when he had just heard something terrible come from his ace's mouth.
He shook his head a few times before heading for the door.
Right! Time to lie!
"So, what are we going to do?"
"Follow the orders."
Konami nodded her head.
Tamakoma, like most other people, did not believe the crap that they were getting. The difference between them and some of those people was the fact that they would follow the orders.
The reason behind this was that they were still Border's finest.
What's more was that they also knew just how much, and how well, Yuki could lie. To be sure that he was innocent they would have to go to extreme measures. One of those measures was to capture him and go from there.
That was why Kizaki Reiji, Konami Kire, and Karasuma Kyosuke were standing outside of the Tamakoma branch office. They were ready to head out for the hunt.
Before leaving they had seen the expressions on Mikumo Squad's faces and decided that they would be the only ones to go.
Even if they don't know him as well as we do, they are still uncertain about going after him. It's best that they don't join in.
As the thought went through Kizaki's head, he remembered that one of their solo agents had already gone out in search for the missing A-Rank.
Jin had been gone before the message was sent out, but Ketsueki had been there. The man had rushed out for the search.
Even with all of them going out for the search it was still very unlikely that they could find him.
There had been a time when Kizaki himself was challenged by the missing A-Rank. It was a short fight that ended in an overwhelming victory for him.
This was different.
From the information they had gotten, Yuki wasn't fighting back but instead he was escaping. That was a big difference since he was in the top tier when it came to agents with good evasion skills and anything involving stealth.
Even if they did manage to catch him, figuring out if he was lying or not would be just as difficult as the capture.
They knew that Kuga had a Side Effect that makes him a human lie detector. They also knew that Yuki was the king of lies. He had a silver tongue that was able to turn his truths into lies and lies into truths.
"Alright. We'll start by going to the other branch offices. Yagura and Suzunari will be difficult, but I'm sure that we can get them to help us. Maybe..."
"That 'maybe' could be the difference between making things work and messing everything up."
"I know. That doesn't change that they are actually important to this whole thing. Yagura for obvious reasons, but Suzunari's help could make things easier to find out where Murakami is. He may end up leading us to Yuki."
"Guess you're right."
"From there we will decide who to join up with. Konami, you and Kyosuke go to Yagura first. I'll go to Suzunari. Go clockwise around the city for the other branches."
"Got it!"
"What if we come across someone helping him out?"
"Try and catch them. Keep any fighting away from groups of people, if you can. If they end up getting away, make sure you have them marked so that we can track them."
Karasuma gave a nod without another word.
The first thought that came to his mind was Starmaker.
"Alright. We'll go now. If you have any questions, or anything to say then do so while you're on your way."
The other two A-Ranks nodded their heads before turning around to run.
The chase was on now.
The first thing Yuki and Kageura did when reaching their destination was let out groans.
In front of them was a familiar buildings with a few familiar faces in front of it.
"Damn. I forgot about weekend classes for those who are too lazy to get their work done."
"Besides that, it really sucks that we have to end up here on a weekend. People might think we're like those guys there."
Some students who attended the school noticed the trio and waved at them. They were directed more towards Yuki while the annoying looks were directed towards Kageura.
The two understood why Mei had picked this location out of every one, but that didn't mean they weren't annoyed by the choice.
"Well, let's get going. Better to wait in there than out in the open."
"She really had to pick this place, huh?"
"...Is there a problem with this school? ...It appears to be out of the way. ...A good place to hide."
"It's not that it's a bad place to be. More like it's just a place we would rather not be. We already come here for school, so coming here right now is just a reminder that we have to go back. Also..."
As he tried to continue talking, Yuki was interrupted by someone clearing their throught.
The trio turned to see a big breasted girl with a big forehead. Her arms were crossed and her expression was one matching her stance.
"Tsk. This damn woman is another reason we didn't want to be come here."
The big breasted girl with a big forehead looked ready to smack Kageura as she spoke.
"What are you two even doing here? And who is this guy?"
"Long story or short story?"
"Make it really short. I'm ready to just toss you three out. Others are here for weekend classes, and you are distracting them by just being here."
Yuki took a step forward.
"I'm being hunted by Border for something I probably didn't do. We need to hide here."
The big breasted girl with a big forehead stood there for a few precious seconds just shaking her head.
There was no way for Pyrínas to know, but both Yuki and Kageura had a hard enough time dealing with this girl as it was. She was their class president after all. They already knew she would continue this later.
But for now...
"Alright. I'll make sure that no one knows you guys are here. But absolutely no fighting on school grounds. Got it?"
They knew this would be her answer.
"Thanks, President. We'll make sure to at least try and listen to your lecture later on."
"I would say that you should listen to it in general and not just 'try' but I'm pretty sure you need to hide now. Just get going and I'll annoy you two later."
Doing as they were told, the trio quickly made their way to the back of the school.
The area was spacious, but at the same time concealed enough that they would have a nice hiding spot where they wouldn't have to worry about being spotted by someone just walking around.
In this kind of situation it would be best to say that they had the field advantage. They knew the school well enough to not get caught, even by the other students.
.
Yuki let out a small sigh as he sat against a tree.
Kageura chose to lean on the same tree while Pyrínas stood in front of them.
"Pyrínas, what's it like at Yagura?"
"...From what I saw. ...They are being carefully watched."
"That's to be expected. Even if they're only going after you, those guys are also targets."
"...Taking down a target's main base is always good. ...That was used on Border, correct? ...Regardless. ...That's neither here, nor there."
"Yeah. That tactic is always good when there is a large amount of fighters with the same objective. Currently, we have a good amount, but not enough to be classified as an army."
"...If I may."
"Yes?"
"...What do 'We' consist of?"
"Right. That's actually a good thing to go over," Yuki said as he looked over at his friend. "Kage, Suzunari? Yes or no? Thoughts?"
"Better to assume that they are on our side. Those guys are useful like that."
"Right. So 'We' consist on Kageura Squad, Suzunari-1, Mei, and Pyrínas. That's not including me, of course. In total, we have ten people on our side. On the other side of that, Border has every A-Rank squad and almost every B-Rank squad on their side. I don't know about Jin, but they also have Amo on their side. Tora-san as well."
"...We are heavily outmatched in numbers."
"Well, that's not counting the ones that have a chance of not being on Border's side."
"...And who would they be?"
"Yagura, for one. That includes that woman. She just wants to fight, so she's not particularly on their side. Kotowari Squad will probably be helping us as well. Hikigane, Bakuto, Katori, and Ikoma might not be involved at all. Even if it's an order, they still do things how they like. I would like to say that Tamakoma is on our side, but that can be a coin toss at times."
"So we've got fourteen people with us. Around seventeen people who are uncategorized. And the rest after us. Those are crappy odds for us. A fight like that is gonna be hard."
"You're forgetting something, Kage."
The B-Rank captain looked down at the diagram Yuki had made in the ground.
Everything they had been talking about was there, but there were two small circles with nothing in them.
"What we are trying to achieve is not victory in a fight, rather a way out of this situation in general. We need to find out what is going on, and how to stop it. We need to ease everyone's minds that I wasn't the one doing whatever it is."
"...Ah. ...That can make things easier, or harder. ...It all depends."
Yuki nodded before speaking.
"Right. I can gather info myself, but I would still have everyone looking for me. What's more, if I'm being framed, the person, or people, who are framing me might do something about it. Basically, we either smash our way to the answer, or go about things in secret."
It was starting to come together.
Their discussion had laid out the grounds for what they needed to get done.
Once they were able to gather everyone on their side, they would be able to come up with an actual plan. For the time being, laying low seemed to be their best chance at moving around.
For someone like Yuki and Kageura, this was a very confining way of doing things. They never liked being held back or down by things and preferred to go all out from the start. This was not the time for that.
"Now then..."
As he stood up, Yuki heard something in the front of the school.
They were voices.
Very familiar ones at that.
Rushing to the front, the trio looked from behind the wall to see Murakami standing with his back to the school building. In front of his was a team of three. All of them had on Bagworm and were holding sniper rifles.
"We can vouch for you, you know? Although I'm guessing that's not something you care about."
"Right. At least that is out in the open now."
From their spot next to the building, the trio saw Murakami pulled out Kōgetsu and Raygust.
They took that as their cue to show themselves.
.
Arafune Squad got ready to overtake Murakami from the front gate of the school. There weren't many places he would be able to go from his spot. Even if he tried to use Special Teleport, they would simply wait there for Yuki to appear.
"..."
Arafune felt a small pang of emotions when Murakami decided to help out his friend instead of his mentor. At the same time, it was very understandable. His whole team was fighting the urge to switch sides.
He just didn't want his team to be targets for punishment.
Hokari and Hanzaki understood why their captain was taking Border's side on the matter, but both did want to help their friend out.
For now, we need to focus in this. We can figure things out later.
As the three got ready to shoot, a shadow appeared above them.
None of them looked up and instead jumped back as a figure landed in the spot between them all.
Arafune was quick to pull out his blade to block the crescent blade that went for his neck.
He saw his teammates move back while shooting at the spot behind him.
Using the position he was in, he managed to divert the opposing blade to the side, allowing him to move passed the attacker. The distance he made between them seemed small, but enough to prepare for an attack.
"Sorry about that, Kou. We didn't mean to give you a scare there."
"Blame this guy for wanting to look cool in front of the jackasses watching us right now."
"It's fine. At least you guys came out when you did."
Arafune clicked his tongue as their three opponents stood ready.
He knew why they had decided to talk instead of continuing to attack.
They want to stall us out to see if we'll go to their side. I'm sure they know that we are a bit hesitant when it comes to this.
He watched as Yuki took a step forward while spinning Idōgetsu like a baton.
He get ready for an instantaneous attack.
"Right! We're gonna make this quick, Tetsu. Our class president said not to fight on school grounds. So, let's go."
And so the first battle began.
