A/N: Its Tuesday, which means t her update. Sorry my chapters are a little short, I can't set aside a specific time to write because I never know what my family is doing each day. Besides that, I made sure this chapter was a little longer than the others. Anyway, I hope everyone is happy with this chapter. I tried to show a little inner-dilemma for Yuma. One of the next chapters may include the assassin's thoughts and why it's waiting, not sure yet though. Sorry in advance for OOCness, typos, errors and overall crappiness. Enjoy the chapter~


The immediate silence that followed was quiet enough that a person standing where the two attackers were in the Forbidden Zone could have heard Osamu hit the floor as he passed out in HQ from too much training again.

Tachikawa froze when he heard Yuma's voice. Slowly, the attacker turned around, his stormy gray eyes locking with ruby red ones. The man wiped any surprise and confusion off his face, making sure he looked serious.

"Kuga, I'm impressed. I was sure I wouldn't be noticed from this far away," he said, slowly beginning to walk toward the Neighbor.

"You weren't that far away, and you have a pretty high level of Trion."

Yuma had noticed him, and probably realized he was spying. The boy definitely wouldn't let anything slip anytime soon, even if he thought he was alone. Tachikawa's best bet was to dive in headfirst and just ask questions.

"Do you mind telling me who that was? That person you were just staring at?" Tachikawa asked, staring Yuma dead in the eye. Yuma stared back, a completely innocent look on his face.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied. Tachikawa's eyes narrowed. He wished he had Yuma's Lie Detector, since he knew Yuma wasn't going to be completely honest. Kido had noticed during the week that Kyosuke, Reiji, Rindo and Jin had been watching the boy closely, suspicious glints in their trained eyes. From the looks of it, they didn't think Yuma was being entirely truthful about something either. The fact that Tachikawa had just seen Yuma looking at something that was clearly not human and likely from the Neighborhood made it seem that he was planning something. That was extremely bad, since last thing they needed right now was war against Yuma. He could likely take out half of Border with his Black Trigger, and Tachikawa knew about Jin's warning regarding getting on the Neighbor's bad side. Not to mention the fact that Border had lost enough of the people's faith in the second invasion. A betrayal would ruin the organization.

"Does that mean you aren't working with that person?" Tachikawa asked, not at all hiding his suspicion. Yuma shook his head, causing the man in front of him to sigh internally. If Yuma was telling the truth, he was back to square one. If Yuma was lying, he had no way to know. The best he could do was report to Kido and hope more information would be uncovered.

"Alright then," Tachikawa said, turning away from Yuma. He started walking for the base, effectively ending the conversation. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be to get something useful, and the more likely he'd end up answering questions. Yuma knew he was being watch from all sides, and if he was anything like Tachikawa expected, he'd want to know everything Border had on him in order to further evade proving their suspicions.

Yuma watched the man go, his innocent expression remaining until Tachikawa had long since disappeared into the HQ building. That's when he dropped the act, holding his hands up again as he looked at his Black Trigger and the Mini-Replica once more.

"What should I do now, Replica? Obviously that assassin won't leave until I'm dead, and the longer this takes, the more other people will get involved. I can't let Border find out what that thing wants, but Osamu already made the connection. He trusts me enough to believe my lie, but the second he brings it up in front of someone like Jin-san or Kido-san, this'll be out of my hands. Should I just try to fight the Black Trigger even though I probably can't win, or do I get help from Border and assure I'll win, thus involving more people and risking casualties? Kido-san might even decide I'm a traitor or try to send me back to Neighborhood. If that happens, I can't help Chika and Osamu," Yuma muttered to the small black figure in his right hand.

"I do not make that decision, you do, Yuma." Yuma swore he heard Replica's voice, though he knew better than to believe his ears. Replica was deactivated, lying around somewhere in Aftokrator. The multi-purpose Trion Soldier wouldn't speak again unless he was reactivated, and it was unlikely that someone in Aftokrator would reactivate him.

The young Neighbor sighed, placing the Mini-Replica back in his pocket.

"Sometimes I don't like making the decisions, Replica. We both know.i don't always make the right ones," Yuma said quietly, standing up. He glanced at HQ, where Osamu and Chika were training. He could go there and continue to uphold his clueless act until his secret was inevitably figured out, or he could do something and possibly get himself killed. Before joining Border and teaming up with Osamu and Chika, the choice would have been easy. He would've just left Japan and returned to Neighborhood. He got himself into the situation, so he had to get himself out. However, now he had the responsibility of getting Chika and Osamu to A-Rank and on an away mission. He couldn't do that if he left and was labeled a traitor by Border. He also couldn't do it if he was dead.

'I also can't do it if one of them dies,' he thought. That made the decision even harder.

Undecided, Yuma began walking toward the city. He didn't have a clue about what he should do, but his time was running out. Actually, he had an odd feeling that it was already out.

In HQ, Tachikawa stood outside of his boss' office. He waited, and when the door opened, he walked in. Kido was typing something on his tablet.

"Kido-san," Tachikawa greeted. The older man looked up from his tablet, pausing in his typing. Recognizing the attacker in front of him, he pushed away the tablet and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms with an expectant look on his face.

"What did you find?" he asked. Tachikawa hesitated for a moment. As important as it was that he report to Kido what he'd seen, he knew his words would likely endanger Yuma. Kido may instantly think without a doubt the Neighbor was trying to betray them, and Tachikawa would feel bad if Jin lost his kouhai at his fault. There was also the fact that Jin had given up Fujin to get Yuma into Border, so Tachikawa would feel just a little guilty if he made that end up being for nothing. There was also the fact that the older attacker had no ill feelings for Yuma. Even so, the safety of the people of Mikado City and Border came first

"I followed Yuma Kuga to the Forbidden Zone from Tamakoma. He was alone, and he spent about ten minutes just staring at his Black Trigger and the small version of his Trion Soldier that he had with him during the second invasion. There was nothing abnormal until he suddenly looked up. I followed his line of vision and saw something definitely not from Earth. I assume it was a Humanoid Neighbor, no doubt armed with a Black Trigger. It seemed to be staring at Kuga, but I can't be sure. The Humanoid Neighbor didn't have any features. It was more like a black silhouette shrouded in purple flames. A non-human appearance, much like Amo in Black Trigger form," Tachikawa explained. Kido's forehead creased slightly.

"Is Yuma Kuga planning to betray us?" the man asked, not beating around the bush. Tachikawa shrugged.

"I can't be sure. Neither of them talked, and I was about to leave after the odd Humanoid Neighbor disappeared, but it seems that Kuga noticed I was there, and he knew that I had been following him. I spoke with him, and he didn't admit to knowing anything about what or who the Humanoid Neighbor was," the twenty year old explained. Kido nodded and sighed.

"This is not the first appearance of that Humanoid Neighbor. Rindo contacted me last night and informed me of an odd being that looked to be a black silhouette shrouded in purple flames, the same as what you described. It bypassed all his security systems, not setting off a single alarm. It appeared in the kitchen area of the Tamakoma base, and was discovered by agent Chika Amatori, who didn't even sense it with her Side Effect. Yuma Kuga claimed to have no idea about what the being was. However, it's suspicious that it has appeared around him more than once. The likelihood of a coincidence in slim. Rindo also informed me that Jin's Side Effect is for some reason not working on Yuma," he explained. Tachikawa's eyebrows went up. That probably explained why Jin seemed somewhat irritable the past week.

"Can we assume that the two are linked?" Tachikawa asked. Kido stared his agent dead in the eye.

"It's very possible," he said. Tachikawa stared, his expression clearly asking for more information.

"Rindo told me that Jin believes the being is a Black Trigger assassin. Not too long ago this morning, agent Osamu Mikumo passed out from overexertion, again. I had been nearby speaking to Miwa. Before passing out, Mikumo asked Jin if the being they had seen last night "looked similar to the thing that Yuma spoke about when recounting his near-death," Kido quoted.

"An assassin attacked Yuma Kuga four years ago, and the attack resulted in Yugo Kuga's death. Jin looked suspicious when Mikumo brought the topic up, though I didn't have time to confront him. These factors tell me that Yuma Kuga and this Humanoid Neighbor may be linked, though not in the way we would have thought. Yuma may not be teaming up with the other Humanoid Neighbor," Kido revealed. Tachikawa's eyes widened slightly when the pieces fell into place in his mind.

"You really think..?" he asked. Kido nodded before stating his prediction

"It's possible that Yuma Kuga is very well aware of the Humanoid Neighbor's power and purpose, and that he is trying to keep us, Border, out of the situation. It's possible that he is being hunted by the same thing that attacked him before, four years ago."