Chapter 10: Vulpecula: Part 3

The silver tongue that turns truth into lies

Yuki rushed forward with Idōgetsu being held in a reverse grip. His target was the Shooter who would be an issue later on in the fight.

Mizukami moved back while Ikoma and Minamisawa took a step forward with their blades ready.

They both their blades forward once Yuki was withing range.

Yuki saw the attack coming and twisted his body in the air so that he would stay in the air for a few more seconds. The two Kōgetsu move under him, letting him use their hilts as steps for him to move passed the two Attackers and towards the Shooter.

A shot from somewhere moved towards Yuki at the same moment.

Without looking in the direction, Yuki lowered his head so that the shot would end up over his head.

He used Teleport to appear in front of Mizukami while crating a crescent-shaled blade at the end of Idōgetsu. It was only inches away from the Shooter's neck.

Mizukami reacted quickly by lowering his body and rolling down the roof of the building. His back hit the ground.

Not wanting to be attacked again, he rolled on the ground while lifting himself up. Each roll let him escape the blade.

He jumped back again while firing shots towards Yuki.

From the front were the shots, from the left was Minamisawa, from the right was Ikoma, from behind was a Sniper. The moment these four attacks connected with their target...

"!?"

They all saw a strap fall to the ground in place of where the fox with the silver tongue once was.

"Above!"

Between the two Attacker, Ikoma was faster to react by lifting his Kōgetsu up to block the weaker blade of Idōgetsu.

Minamisawa saw his chance by moving his own Kōgetsu towards Yuki's exposed neck.

The ones from Ikoma thought this was it. The first bit would be theirs.

Until...

"..."

A cube of Trion appeared right above Yuki before splitting apart and slamming into the ground. The real targets had been Ikoma and Minamisawa but they managed to see the attack and move back.

Minamisawa tried to see through the smoke that rose into the air from the attack. He was going to go in to attack. What was stopping him was the fact that even his captain was not moving towards the pseudo-smokescreen.

Once it started to go down he took a step forward.

The moment he did that, he could no longer stand.

Without having any time to realize it, his legs were no longer attached to his body, and his arm holding Kōgetsu was also missing.

"Sorry about that, Minty. I really hated to do that, but I needed to borrow this."

Minamisawa looked up to see Yuki hokding his severed arm while crushing his legs. There was genuine guilt in his eyes from having done that.

"Now then. I need to hurry this up."

Yuki grabbed the Kōgetsu while placing the arm next to its owner.

He was gone in an instant.

All Mei could think of to do was sigh.

It had been around ten minutes since Yuki had left and she was getting the feeling that he was already doing something stupid. It seemed that Murakami was also getting the feeling since he was looming at his phone with his eyebrows knitted.

She decided to look at the chat as well to see if anything particular was going on.

.

Honest Sister: "Mei-san, why are you sighing? It's honestly not like you to look so down."

Wisteria: "It's nothing. I'm just getting the feeling that Yuki is doing something stupid again. He tends to did that a lot, so you can guess how I feel about this."

Talented Yoke: "Is that some kind of Side Effect? It's a weird ass one if it is."

Best Memory: "No. I get those feelings too. It's just something that happens when you are stuck dealing with that guy for as long as we have."

UMA: "Oh? Murakami-senpai is messaging in such a weird way. A rather rude and cheeky way."

#5 Mountain: "I can see why... I'm pretty sure that even Murakami is pretty much done with Yuki at this point."

Best Memory: "No comment."

Wisteria: "By the way, Suzume, why are you still watching us?"

Honest Sister: "I needed to sketch your looks. I never knew you looked so good in a dress like that, Mei-san. Also, Murakami-senpai honestly looks hot as hell with his hair down. I have been meaning to put in a new character and he fits the type rather well. What's more, he honestly has the image that suits the main heroine's rival."

Rokkun: "Oh? Is this one some kind of Shounen one? I thought you only did Shoujo, Yaoi and Yuri stuff."

Honest Sister: "Shounen is honestly a bit difficult for me to draw. The poses they do at times is too much for me. No. What I meant by "the main heroine's rival" was her rival in love."

Orange Cat: "Hm? Which story are you talking about? None of your popular ones are in need of rivals. Besides, I think that adding in Yaoi at this point would upset some fans."

Honest Sister: "Oh! It's for a new one! Sorry, but I can't give much away. Ken-kun, it's the one I've been asking help on. Here, I'll send you a picture of what Murakami-senpai looks like right now. Tell me if you think he fits the appearance."

Double-Snipe: "Oh! Oh! Oh! That one! Yeah! He looks good for it!"

Wisteria: "Moving away from Suzume and her works."

Wisteria: "It's been ten minutes since Yuki left to find that person Suzume was talking about. That's around as much time as he needs to do something stupid."

Colors: "Mei-san, do you need to vent? Just tell us what Yuki-senpai has done to make you two so agrivated. Murakami-senpai, you can also say something."

Best Memory: "I feel like there are too many things to say."

Wisteria: "Let's start this off then. Besides what you guys know of, he has gone on a destruction parade with Tachikawa, started a fire at school with Kageura, covered Kido-san's chair in oil and vinegar, got Akasora-sensei banned from at least five bars and three charities, get at least half of Mikado City to think that Arashiyama and Jin were clones, as well as cut a good portion of some bridges up, causing traffic jams all around the city."

Megane: "I have some issue with that last one."

#5 Mountain: "I remember some of those. I had to tell so many people that I was not Jin's clone, or vice versa. I also remember Kido-san's chair. Mostly because he had asked to hide in our operating room for a while."

True Hero: "I remember hearing something about a lot of things being destroyed when no Gates had opened. I never knew that it was because of those two."

Best Memory: "Those aren't even the worse ones. And the fire was just to make our class president mad. The two of them had to deal with three hours of her lectures."

Best Memory: "Those lectures are the best and worst kind of torture. Just letting you all know."

.

Both Mei and Murakami let out sighs as they thought more about what they had to go through because of the idiot known as "Tsukiko Yuki". They knew that there was no escape at this point and simply resigned to the fact they had to continue to deal with him.

While they were his best friend and girlfriend respectively, they just couldn't handle everything he had done up it this point without needing some therapy.

It was made worse since they both had Side a Effects that allow them to remember almost everything they saw or heard.

There were times when they wanted to just scream at his face, to tell him to stop, but they knew how he would react. He would just smile at them like it was nothing since he knew they could not really get mad with him.

While they were the ones who had to deal with the most because of him, they were also the ones who knew about everything that has happened to him. They understood him too much to really get mad at him or hate him. Likewise, he was also there for them when they needed it.

They let out sighs once more.

They knew they could never get rid of him, or even want too, so they were done with being done. They had resigned themselves to this kind of life and would continue on dealing with him.

After all, they would always been on his side.

Explosions continuously went off in a certain area that had a little amount of people around. The buildings were getting damaged, but the ones launching the attacks didn't seem to mind too much.

The destruction of the buildings caused debris to fly into the air, clouding the vision of everyone around.

The one who was running away could not see his surroundings, meaning the attacker had done his job of blinding the boy. Now there was less space to move through, and Teleport would be of no use if he could not see where he was going.

Even so...

Mizukami tried to see through the smoke and debris in the air. The odds of him getting attacked if he got closer was pretty high, which was why he just prepared another volley of shots.

Before he could fire then, he saw something coming towards him through the smoke and debris.

He moves to the side to dodge whatever it was and noticed something odd about it.

Kōgetsu?

The Trion-blade had gone through the air with no one being on the other end of it to hold it. That meant the attack wasn't meant to actually hit him but to divert his attention.

It was a simple tactic that their current opponent would use.

Yet it wasn't so simple.

"!?"

He did not see a person on the other end of the hilt, but he did see something else.

What is that...?

There was some kind of wrapping around the hilt.

Before he could think too much about it, the blade changed directions to go for him. Rather, it was forced to change directions and was sent towards him.

That's what he's doing!

Something ran out of the smoke and debris.

That was when Mizukami saw it.

Yuki was waving his arms around while a sort of wrapping was connecting him to the Trion-blade as well as the Trigger known as Idōgetsu. Each time he moved his arms and wrists the two Triggers would move along and change directions.

Idōgetsu was by far the more dangerous one since it was spinning around like a scythe being thrown with a chain connecting to it. In a way it was more like a chainsaw than a blade.

Mizukami could see his teammates in the roof, staying away from the chainsaw-like Trigger and the Trion-blade. If they took a step forward then the two Triggers would change directions and chase after them.

Their wielders was in the middle of the road, moving his arms around to direct the two Triggers in the way he wanted.

It was an odd way of fighting, but an efficient one. Sneak attacks and counters were how Yuki usually fought. Against opponents like these this was the best he could do in the current situation. With only three opponents remaining here it would he just a bit easier to handle. The only other issue he had was that two of then were long-range fighters.

Since he knew that they were long-range fighters he knew what to do.

He took a step forward.

That one step lead to another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Soon he was running along the road, arms moving around to swing the wrappings around. He could clearly see Ikoma and Mizukami, that was enough for him. He didn't need to get closer to the Shooter to attack him.

I'll be fine.

The Kōgetsu that had a wrapping around it moved around in the direction Mizukami was running. The Idōgetsu with a wrapping around it moved to not only attack Ikoma but also to block the sniper shots heading for him. Only a moments glance was needed for him to realize where it was coming from.

This team, like him, was an unpredictable one. That meant unpredictability was the best way to take them out. That was exactly what Yuki was best at.

Now it would be a fight of attrition. One that Yuki would soon transform.

Ninomiya had received the message from Hiyami only seconds ago and he was already running in the direction of the fight.

His teammates could be heard behind him while the assisting Ouji Squad was coming up fro the side.

"Ninomiya-san, can't you slow down just a bit~? I'm pretty sure that he's not going to get too far away if he's fighting Ikoma Squad."

"You know as well as I do that he can get away from them. Especially since it's them. We don't really know what can happen."

"Ah... Fair enough."

Inukai did in fact know that nothing would be set in stone when it came to Yuki and Ikoma Squad. It wouldn't be shocking if Ikoma Squad had decided to help him instead because he just asked them.

That may have been why Ouji Squad was getting closer to them, to rejoin them in the hunt. They had most likely heard who Yuki was currently facing off against now. Having already fought them in the B-Rank Wars, they may have also wanted a bit of revenge.

Whatever the reason, it kinda sucks. We can't really talk to Kiyo if these guys are with us. Granted...

He looked towards his captain to see his face just as scrunched up as it has been for the whole day.

Ninomiya-san might just start firing at him again...

Inukai couldn't help the small sigh that came out as he thought about the two idiots who hated each other. They were far too stubborn to properly help each other, so he had to be the one to step in the middle to deal with them.

"Without those two here we probably have to protect the areas so that they don't get destroyed, right?"

Hearing his other teammate speak he looked over.

Tsuji was facing forward while his words were directed at Inukai.

Between the two of them, Tsuji was never one to give input when it came to the two stubborn idiots. He would always just watch while letting Inukai deal with them.

This might have been his way of calming Inukai a bit.

"Now that you mention it... Yeah. We probably have to focus on the area around them instead of actually fighting. Those two will probably end up destroy a whole block before anything is settled."

"That's why we are here. To make sure that this ends quickly."

Then the mood went sour once more.

The two from Ninomiya Squad looked over at Ouji to see him smiling at them.

"You guys can focus on protecting the area. We can be the ones to take that fox out. It shouldn't be too hard, right? He's been fighting the whole day, so that's mentally taxing. Now he's fighting Ikoma Squad, which will lower his Trion reserves. At this point it's just a simple matter of cutting his head off and letting him Bail Out."

At this point both Inukai and Tsuji were going for their weapons.

Inukai was getting tired of hearing this disrespect for one of his friends while Tsuji just didn't want to hear any more of this. While he wasn't particular close to Yuki he had enough respect for him to not want to hear this.

The two of them could see the other two members of Ouji Squad look at their captain oddly. It seemed like they were confused as to where this was coming from as well.

"Inukai, Tsuji, stop. Just ignore him and focus. Once we reach that faker, we're going to bombard him with attacks so he can't escape again."

Doing as they were told, the two of them out their weapons away.

Although they were ready to bring them out again.

Mei continued to look at the chat with an almost bored expression.

She knew she should have been out helping Yuki at the moment, but she felt a bit lazy at the moment.

Yes, even the great and powerful Takaoto Mei could feel lazy at times.

.

#5 Mountain: "There was that time when he jumped into the river in the middle of Winter. He stripped down to his underwear for that too. He apparently wanted to feel exactly how cold it was."

Werewolf: "And he scolded me for doing that before! He's a jerk!"

Honest Sister: "To be fair, you went in butt naked."

Colors: "You were just an idiot."

Colors: "Sorry. I meant to say that you ARE an idiot."

Werewolf: "Shut up! Suzume, you're the one who had to get bailed out of jail because she was using a damn chainsaw!"

Werewolf: "Take, we had to get you from the next city over because you decided to go on a small trip by yourself! I really don't want this from from you two!"

Double-Snipe: "I tried to stop her! Just letting everyone know!"

Megane: "No one was blaming you..."

Double-Snipe: "I'm just saying."

Rokkun: "It feels like you're acting guilty about it. Especially when you keep going in about it."

#5 Mountain: "It's fine. Kotowari Squad, you should probably know that he has been to jail as well. He also got caught by Mei for having been out of the hospital when he was suppose to stay there. Basically, anything you three have done he has probably done, but to a more extreme level."

Best Memory: "Let's not forget who he's also related too. Kushikage-san is just as crazy while Mukuro is just a lazy guy."

Talented Yoke: "...Taiyōko. You have a very crazy family."

Prototype Star: "Yes... I know... But I still love them!..."

Talented Yoke: "You didn't deny it. And we can all see that '...' at the end."

.

Mei let out a small sigh as she read the messages over.

It was sad that all of this was true. Anything her team had done she had seen her boyfriend do with more issues coming up.

Deciding that she would look at something else she went to her contacts to see who was in there. Not that she didn't already know.

Now that I think about it... Have I told my parents about us? They should be coming back from their travels soon...

It was just a stray thought that floated through her mind as many other things ran by. It was an odd thought, but one she would be stuck with for a while.

"Well... In any case. We should get going soon."

Murakami looked up to see her relaxing in her seat and raised an eyebrow.

"In a few minutes that is."

It had been five minutes and Ikoma Squad was no closer to winning this fight than before. Without Ikoma being able to launch a proper attack or either of the other two having to dodge it made the fight that much harder to deal with.

Yuki had to only keep Idōgetsu out and continue to swing his arms around to make sure he didn't lose this fight. With Idōgetsu not needing too much Trion, and the Kōgetsu not being his in the first place, he would not be running low on Trion for a while.

Even so, staying in this fight would not be good. It would give other teams time to find then and assist in his capture.

There was one choice left.

He needed to take Ikoma Squad out and continue to follow his look-alike. Then he would have a chance at figuring out what was going on.

Now he just had to find a way to win quickly.

If he gave any one of them a moment to attack then he would lose the momentum he had built up in this fight. That would turn against him and force him back into a corner.

All I have to do is attack without giving them a moment. Simple.

As he thought that he could feel the weights of the weapons slacken in an instant.

He looked at the wrappings and saw that Idōgetsu and Kōgetsu were no longer attacked and were instead flying through the air. At some point the wrappings had been shot through by either Oki or Mizukami.

Yuki did not spend too much time thinking about it and instead went into action.

He had already placed a marker on Idōgetsu, so that's where he would go.

He was gone at the exact moment Ikoma rushed him for an attack.

There was a small flash coming from the right while the left was filled with small green cubes. The moment they came into view he was gone once more.

This time he appeared near Mizukami, who was waiting for him.

Shots were fired directly at him, filling him full of holes.

"-"

The moment he was hit his body was gone and was instead replaced by the same wrappings he had been using before. It was a replacement Trigger that had recently been created that allowed for such a thing to happen.

Mizukami had seen this Trigger in use before against Kotowari Squad's captain and Shooter. The fact that Yuki was a Teleport-user had slipped his mind at some point, meaning he did not even register the thought that he would have this Trigger.

When he finally understood what happened, it was too late.

"Oh."

He could see his body upside-down while his head was falling to the ground.

He was seconds away from understanding what was going on in the fight. Those few seconds were what Yuki was able to use to cut his head off. Not even a shot at him would reach at this point.

That meant that there were only two other members here who could attack him.

One was his captain while the other was their Sniper. The former would have no trouble fighting right now, but the latter was not so use to dealing with Yuki's spastic fighting style. It would be troublesome for him to try and get a clear shot in at the moment.

.

Yuki watched as Mizukami turned into light before flying off toward Border HQ.

He leaned back until he was falling off the building. A shot had barely passed him as he fell.

He could hear the sound of footsteps rushing towards him, as well as the small sound of a blade coming out far too quickly to be normal.

"..."

Yuki knew the extended slash was right there, ready to cut him into multiple pieces before forcing him to Bail Out.

"..."

Which was why he made his next move a quick one.

He didn't look anywhere other than the sky as the slash was coming towards him at amazing speed.

There was a reason that Ikoma was continuously in the top ten of the best Attacker in Border. Someone like Yuki, someone who was in no way a master at any one form of attack, could defeat Ikoma in a fair, one-on-one fight.

That was why he was glad this was not one of those fights.

"Okay is next."

He was gone from his free fall before the slash ever reach him.

It was an instantaneous decision that only someone as cunning as him could do without properly thinking about it.

A person's Trion Body was sometimes limited in what it could do. They could move faster than a normal human or move in certain ways that the normal body may deem unnatural. Those times would be impossible at times if the mind could not register such actions as possible. That was why using Idaten was a bit difficult to use if unprepared.

Yuki was never one to be involved in reality as much as others. His mind was always full of contradictions that forced his body to follow suit by moving the way he wanted.

Reality told him that he could not continue to live if he had his illness, so he contradicted that by thinking that his life is so unimportant that it he might as well continue to live.

Reality told him that he could not move freely in the air with no preparation, so he contradicted that by forcing his body to move while in a free fall with no preparation.

Reality told him that this slash attack would reach him and he would lose, so he contradicted that by making a split-second move that required little thought, thereby dodging the attack.

He was but a regular person who could not do anything like warp reality to his image. That did not mean he could not make it so that he moved as he pleased while reality was still there.

Contradictions, lies, inversion, reversals, and a warped sense of himself. That was how Yuki continued on with his fights. He defied what existed by existing in his own mind that was covered in lies and contradictions.

It was not just reality and himself that he contradicted. All of his opponents were also victims to this. A certain Shooter more so.

Oki was another one of these victims.

He saw where his upperclassman would appear and readied himself for the attack. His Trigger was raised and his feet were in a position to move back at a moment's notice.

Yuki contradicted this by appearing in the least optimal spot with Idōgetsu already at the Sniper's neck.

Oki tried to move away from the attack while Ikoma rushed towards them but found that he was not as fast as Yuki.

It was an odd feeling that he got as he tried to move. It felt like he had started moving first to dodge the attack, yet the attack came before he even moved at all. The feeling was a bit unreal, yet it all happened in what seemed to be slow motion for him.

Now there was only one member of Ikoma who could continue fighting.

Yuki jumped down from the building he was on as Ikoma walked towards him.

The two if them got ready for the epic battle between them.

Both sides with different fighting styles going at it for one reason or another.

Yet...

"..."

The two of them looked over as a black ball appeared in the sky with some electricity around it.

"An irregular Gate. Like what Take was saying..."

Seeing that another Gate was opening closer to the ground Yuki jumped onto the building once more before leaping further into the air. His target was the Gate in sky.

The Gate closer to the ground was faced by Ikoma.

From the ground came three Marmods and a Bander.

From the sky came multiple Bado.

Yuki could see each one clearly. There were ten of them and all of them seemed focused on him, being the only other thing in the sky at the moment.

With quick and precise movements he bounced from one Bado to the next. One hit was all it took to take each one out.

He knew he should not be using too much Trion on such low level Trion Soldier so he kept Teleport to a minimum and Idōgetsu in its base form. The end of it was all that was needed to pierce through the core of each one.

From his view in the sky he could see Ikoma easily taking out the ones on the ground.

Once the two of them were done they looked at each other; one from the sky and the other from the ground.

Knowing that he would simply be wasting Trion if he faced off against this opponent, as well as time, Yuki made another choice. This one was a simple one.

He jumped off a falling Bado to start making his way towards the direction he had been going before.

Ikoma's slashes could not reach him when he was so high in the air which meant that this was his chance.

He created small shields under his feet to give himself something to run on without using too much Trion on something like Teleport.

He had managed to escape.

Prototype Star: "Does Kiyo-nii not like Ninomiya-san?"

It was hard for Murakami to tell if the girl was joking around or asking a serious question.

He looked up to see if Mei knew the answer.

Of course she did.

"She's being serious. She hasn't seen Yuki too much before the invasion so she wouldn't know. And she has never seen him around Ninomiya."

Murakami thought back and found that there was no memory of Hoshi actually seeing the two enemies interact.

Instead of saying anything he simply turned back to the screen.

Honest Sister: "Someone, please tell her. I honestly don't think I can mentally take what might come after."

Werewolf: "It's not gonna be me. Someone else."

Colors: "No me."

Megane: "Aren't you all her teammates!?"

Honest Sister: "Oh! Waka-kun, you tell her! You're honestly her boyfriend! Go on, be a good boyfriend and tell her exactly what is going on!"

Murakami could feel a bit of a twitch as he saw the sniper put the word "boyfriend" in the chat twice.

Prototype Star: "Waka-kun?"

Rokkun: "Why do you people do this...?"

Rokkun: "Well, those two... Yeah. They don't like each other much. None of us actually know why."

Prototype Star: "But they seem like they would get along rather well. Has anyone tried to get them to be friends?"

Talented Yoke: "No one has been stupid enough to try."

Honest Sister: "Hoshi-chan, there are a few impossibilities in this world. Those two honestly getting along is one of them."

Murakami felt like he should put something to ease Hoshi when he noticed Mei starting to type on her phone.

If she's putting something then I'm sure there's no need for me.

He could always count on Mei to be subtle and understanding.

She always knew just what to say.

Wisteria: "Hoshi, your brother is a stupid idiot that even I can't handle. Ninomiya is the same way. Both of them are worse than any child since they will never understand. We can beat them or be nice to them but that will never change the fact that rocks are much more smart than either one of them."

Wait, wait, wait! What!? You're suppose to be much more kind than this! Has Kiyoshi been getting to you as well!?

Murakami started to panic at the implications that even his great and respectable senpai was getting to the point of being compared to her boyfriend.

Prototype Star: "I see..."

Wisteria: "Even so, that proves that they are humans and lively. They are complete enemies who would never be seen helping each other. They won't ever agree on the same thing when it comes to trivial things, but they are both reliable when they need to be."

#5 Mountain: "Since we're on the topic of Yuki and the person he hates. Mei, do you know why he and Ouji aren't on good terms? The last time I saw them near each other Yuki looked ready to punch him."

Double-Snipe: "Last time I saw them he did punch him."

Wisteria: "Oh. Well, about those two."

He was finally free from that fight.

Thanks to the irregular Gates opening up, Yuki had manged to get away from fighting Ikoma and was now on his way to catch up with the person who looked like him.

There were a few questions he had, but the main issue of what was going on was easily solved by the snipers in the roof. Now that he knew what was the cause and how it had come about, Yuki knew what he had to do. As someone who was in the center of it all he had to take some responsibility.

That didn't mean he couldn't mess around with some of the other agents.

He found it rather fun to play this odd game of hide-and-seek with him being "it". It was rather childish, but then again he was an idiot among idiots.

If I keep this pace then I should reach him in no time. From the looks of things he doesn't really know how to use Teleport or he would be far away by now.

As he ran something caught his eye off to the side.

To some who weren't paying too much attention it may have seemed like a flock of birds flying into the sky or a rain of arrows being launched up towards a target. The latter wouldn't have been too far off.

Yuki knew this attack. Since he knew this attack, he could not get hit by it.

He grabbed Idōgetsu from the holster at his hip and slung it a bit in his hand until he was holding it like a javelin. With one strong throw the Trigger flew through the air at amazing speed.

As soon as the rain come upon him, he was gone.

Yuki was the user of a special kind of Trigger called Special Teleport. The user only needed to put some kind of mark on an object, and no matter where that object was, the user would be able to appear where the mark was made.

There were some ways out if this. Cut the mark, cut off that part, or just destroy it altogether. Those were some ways people had gotten around it.

This was different.

With the target being Idōgetsu, Yuki's own Trigger, there was no way for an opponent to really know what was going on without already know how Yuki fought.

This use of the Trigger was not to harm an opponent by rather to escape an oncoming attack.

That was exactly what happened.

Yuki appeared outside of the range of the attack, where he had thrown Idōgetsu. The attack had missed the target and now he was able to move more freely once again.

That was how it should have been.

"Found the fox~"

Yuki, having been in the ground to catch himself, knew the voice that spoke.

There were two people he could not stand.

One was Ninomiya Masataka.

The other...

Yuki jumped back to dodge the attack aimed for his head.

He looked up to see three people. Rather, he saw one in front of him and two from the corner of his eyes.

The game of hide-and-seek had just come to an end.

He had managed to escape capture before by keeping a good distance from Ikoma Squad and hide from nay other squads, but this time it was different. It was not just another squad or two he had to get away from.

"With this, we'll cut all the tails off of the fox. No more illusions."

Ouji Squad and Ninomiya Squad.

Those where the people who he was now facing off against.

"Hey, you should stop talking like that. He isn't some animal."

"You've seen him really fight. There's no doubt that he's worse than an animal. That plant child in Yagura is like an Innocent Monster, but this guy... He's definitely like a yokai."

Inukai, although still against Yuki right now, was defending him like the true friend he was. There was no doubt that he was doing this more as orders from his captain and Border than a sama actual person.

He could also see Kurauchi loomi at his captain with a bit of a wary look.

The fact that they had decided to talk instead of fight was so etching that interested him a bit. Although not enough to do the same.

He just had to wait.

The feeling he got when his only true enemy was nearby started to flare up, meaning he would have to make a great escape once more.

Inukai had moved over to stand near Ouji, leaving his spot vacant.

Yuki didn't take the change for that.

That damn airhead, Kashio and Tsuji are still out and about. The idiot isn't close enough or I would be filled with holes right now. Both Kashio and Tsuji are probably waiting it out to see how I move. Neither have snipers, so I don't have to worry about that.

He looked around again.

Ouji and Inukai in front of him, Kurauchi inching toward his blind spot to cover for Inukai moving. Kashio and Tsuji somewhere around. Ninomiya drawing closer. Those were what he gathered from looking around.

Then he heard the voice start to speak again.

"Fine, fine. As a compromise, I'll only cut off your arms so you can't through that javelin again. That way I don't have to hear these guys complain to me any more than they already-"

No one noticed it.

The three that had surrounded him moments ago didn't notice it at all.

It felt as if the attack never came and they were just imagining it.

But it was reality.

He had contradicted his inescapable situation and found a way through.

If the right and left sides were blocked, if he could not move back, up or down, then there was only one place left.

I'll create a path right in front of me.