And welcome back! We finally get back to the longer stuff! Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own World Trigger

Chapter 21: Kotowari Squad

"So we're gonna finally start, huh? Who are our first opponents?"

"You might not like the sound of this."

"Just tell us."

"Ninomiya Squad and Hikigane Squad."

"Seriously!? Right from the start!?"

The newly formed Kotowari Squad was sitting in their lounge while they discussed what their plans would he for the Rank Wars starting the next day. They had been training, but got nowhere. They would argue about one thing or another and this started to get on Mei's nerves.

"We're the lowest ranked team between the three of us. Since we to pick which area we're in, I say we choose the forest area," Toby said as he finished up his chocolate bar.

"With Ninomiya-san's Hound? No way. Honestly, I think we should go with one that had large hills. That way I can get them from the top with Take just bombarding them next to me," Suzume said as she looked at their choices.

"You're both wrong. We are going with this one. It has lots of obstacles that can be used to block Ninomiya-san's attacks," Takeshi said in a dull tone. "If we doing things correctly, I can deal with Hikigane-san and his Side Effect while the two of you can take out Ninomiya-san. That being said, we will deal with those two last. Suzume-senpai, you will need to take out Inukai-senpai and Girikage-senpai. Toby, you'll be in charge of holding back Tsuji while I deal with Kirikari-senpai."

Mei just sat at her computer while she listened to the three discuss their strategy. While she did agree to be the brains of the squad, she knew she really wouldn't be able to put much in with how things were at the moment. She knew that even if they talked about their plans for the whole day, it wouldn't go as planned if they still thought about what Yuki had done.

Besides that, she herself couldn't confuse much since she had been receiving 'presents' from Kushikage most of the time. These 'presents' were things that made her remember things she didn't want to, so they didn't help with the situation. She had gone to Yuki and Akasora about it, but they both seemed extra tired and couldn't do much for her.

SLAM!

Getting out of her thoughts, Mei saw that Toby was now missing from the group and Suzume seemed pretty pissed off and ready to leave. She could only guess what went down while in her thoughts and simply let out a sigh.

'This is a really irritating time...'

"Tsk! (Screw him! He's not even listening to us! Wasn't Mei suppose to be making these kinds of choices! That jerk just thinks that since Yuki would give him some authority that...)" Toby trailed off as his mind went back to when the squad disbanded. He fixed the messenger hat on his head.

The day before was when he decided to put a hat back on his head. Instead of putting on the gift from his ex-captain, he decided to put a messenger hat on and bury the gift hat somewhere in his room. He had made a promise that he would 'kick Yuki's ass and put the hat back on when he apologizes for leaving.'

He knew he may be acting childish about this all, but he didn't seem to care. He felt completely betrayed by someone he considered something akin to an older brother.

"Are you still moping around? Shouldn't you be over this by now?" Kitora said, coming up to Toby. She crossed her arms and gave him a disappointed look. "Tsukiko-senpai isn't dead, or even in a different city. He is still in Mikado City, is still an A-Rank and is still your friend. Stop acting like a child already."

"I know that already. I don't need you repeating that to me, thank you very much," Toby answered back with a glare. "But you don't seem to understand how it feels to be betrayed like-"

"I don't understand, but that's because I can easily get over stuff like this. As long as a person like that isn't dead, then I wouldn't understand." Kitora crossed her arms as her stare became more harsh, yet it held a small amount of worry for him. "As long as I know they're alive, I won't think I've been betrayed, unless they actually betray me."

"Well he did betray me! He betrayed the whole squad! He-"

"How did he betray you?"

"He just left us! He didn't give any sign or warning! (He just left us!)"

"Stop sounding like a spoiled brat! He has his reason for leaving, I'm sure! You, Kotowari and Misaki-senpai are just being brats! He's not gonna always be there for you, so grow up and deal with it!"

"(Who the fuck are you calling a spoiled brat!)"

"She is correct. You seem to be as much of a brat as before."

The two turned to where the voice was coming from to see three men wearing suits walking up to them. The one in the middle had brown hair and slightly tanned skin. He had a serious expression on his face as he looked down at Toby with mild disgust.

"So this is where you have been. We knew you came to Japan, but didn't image you would be working here," the man said as he turned his gaze to Kitora. "That emblem... I see. You are Ai Kitora, correct?"

"That is correct. May I help you?" Kitora asked, unsure who this person was and why his presence alone seemed to piss Toby off.

"You are from the Arashiyama Squad, the squad who is the face of Border. I am here to speak with your higher-ups. Would you mind showing me to them?"

"No, sir, I would not mind. But, if I may ask, who are you?"

"I am-"

"He is a shitty old man that should try and find his own damn way around."

Kitora was shocked at hearing Toby say this. She knew he could be rash and impulsive, but she also knew he could be well behaved when speaking to important people, like this guy seemed to be. She was about to berate him for this, but was shocked yet again when the man simply slapped Toby across the face, leaving a red mark on the boy's face.

"It seems you still don't know how to speak to those above you. I suppose letting you run away wasn't any help with your attitude."

Although she wanted to check and see if her friend was alright, Kitora could see they were gaining unwanted attention and tried to figure out how to defuse the situation quickly.

"I'm sorry, but what is going on here?"

The group turned to the new voice to see the leader of Kitora's squad, the face of Border and one of the A-Rank squad leaders, Arashiyama Jun. He looked at the scene before him with a calm expression and had a few quesses that were quite accurate.

"Kitora, go take Awdry to get that check up while I show this man to the meeting room."

"Right. Come on-"

"Don't touch me. I can walk on my own." Toby gave a final glare at the man with all his might. "A slap like this is nothing compared to before."

"Toby-"

"I believe you asked who I was, Miss Kitora." Straightening his tie, the man looked down at the two with cold eyes. "I am the owner of Electric World Industry-"

"And my shitty dad..."

"Henry Awdry."

"Honestly... We're never going to be able to take on the #1 and #3 B-Rank squads like this... Even with Minu-chan and Narasaka's help, I can't keep my mind focused enough for a perfect snipe. Speaking of which... Why did Narasaka help me out...?"

"Hey, hey, hey, this doesn't look like tha Suzu-chan who seemed to cheer up after rocking out! Where's the smiling girl?" Satori said as her quickly made his way to the girl.

"I'm fine, Ken-kun. Well, maybe not at 100% yet, but honestly I think I'm doing better than Take or Toby. Those two have been at each other's throats for a while now," Suzume said with a downcasted look. "I was just thinking that we really aren't a team anymore. Yuki-san was what held us together before and even Mei-san can't seem to get those two to stop arguing once they start."

"That sucks. Maybe you should dis-"

"Don't say that! We've already had to deal with that once! Honestly! You're no help!"

"Hey now, let me finish." Satori up his arms up for defense. "I was going to say that if you three continue to act like this, then there's no point in trying to force yourselves to stay as a team. It won't work out if the three of you can't completely see eye-to-eye."

"Hm. You honestly sound like Narasaka when you say that. He told me that I might as well quite being an agent if I'm going to continue to be down about the whole thing."

"See? He knows. And all apparently you're the only one who's actually trying to get over it. You seem to be doing well to. I'm glad."

"Hm... Thank you, Ken. Honestly."

Satori gave a grin as his friend smiled back. He was glad to see her getting better. He had heard from Kitora what Toby was currently like, and he could just guess what Takeshi was like during all of this, so he didn't want Suzume to be like either one if them.

What he didn't expect was for her to walk up to him and give him a small kiss on the cheek. His cheeks went a little red as he turned to see her giving him a more joyful smile and a peace sign.

"That was a thank you for helping me out. The second thank are some lessons to help you get a date whenever you want, 'kay~~ I will honestly turn you into the ultimate lady's man."

"Oh my. Are we interrupting something?"

The two turned to see a grown woman looking at them with a hand covering her mouth and a girl who seemed to be three years younger than them in a dress. They both had brown hair and some shade of green for their eyes. While the woman's hair was long, the girl's hair was cut short.

"Mom? Mitsu-chan? What are you two doing here?"

"H-huh? That's your mom? Not your sister?" Satori looked from Suzume to the two ladies in front of them. "Honestly?"

"Oh stop. You're making me blush," the older woman said as she out a hand on her cheek.

"Hey, hey, Nee-chan, is this guy your boyfriend?" the girl said, pointing to Satori.

"B-boyfriend!? No! He's just a friend and fellow Sniper! Honestly! Why'd you have to bring her, Mom?" Suzume said, looking at her mother with crossed arms.

"I'm actually a little curious about this boy as well."

"Hello, Misaki-san. I am Satori Ken, Sniper of the Arashiyama Squad," Satori said with a bow.

"Oh my. So polite as well. So this is one of the boys you talk about, Suzu-chan. He seems like a great catch."

"Mom~~~!"

"I'm kidding." The older woman turned back to Satori and gave her own small bow. "Hello. I am Misaki Seihana. I was just playing around. I easily recognized you from the television. I want to thank you for all your hard work. And also, for taking care of my daughter."

"Ha ha ha... It's nothing. We're classmates and fellow Snipers, so of course I would take care of her." Satori scratched the back of his head sheepishly as Seihana let out a giggle.

"Then I will be counting on you, Satori-kun."

"Hey, hey, what about me?" The attention shifted to the girl. "I'm Misaki Mitsubachi! I'm Nee-chan's little sister!"

"Nice to meet you too," Satori said with a grin.

"Oh yeah. Suzu-chan, I met the other boy you always talk about. Narasaka-kun, I believe his name was. He seemed quite nice as well," Seihana said with a smile.

None of the girls noticed that Statori has tensed up when he heard the older woman say the fellow Sniper's name. He had been getting a little irritated whenever Suzume had started ranting about Sniper from Miwa Squad or when he would see them 'arguing' around. He didn't really know why since this had always been a thing between the two, but he did know that he always wanted to change the subject or separate the two.

"Honestly, what are you two even doing here?"

"Oh. We wanted to take a look around so we won't get lost."

"Why would you come back?"

"To watch you and your squad in that tournament you've mentioned, of course."

"Hey, hey, you didn't expect us to not watch it, did you!? I wanna see your super duper awesome sniping skills!" Mitsu said while slightly jumping.

"She really is awesome while sniping, but you should see her when she has her Hidden Stinger out. That's when she's super duper ultra mega awesome cool," Satori said with a grin.

"Oh my..." Seihana gave another little giggle as she whispered to her oldest daughter. "So is this the boy you pick?"

"Wh-wh-what are you saying!? Honestly! I've told you already that he's just a friend! You're so embarrassing, Mom!" Suzume covered her face to hide the blush that quickly spread to her cheeks.

"Satori-kun, may I give you some advice?"

"Advice? For what?"

"To win my daughter's heart of course." The oldest woman couldn't help the next giggle come out as the two Snipers went completely red. "You see she just loves clichés. From a boy singing to her all the way down to an accident that puts her face a few inches away from the boy's."

"MOM! Honestly! Shut up now!"

As Satori heard this, he remembered what had happened a few days back and how Suzume didn't seem affected by what happened with Narasaka and even kissing both him and Satori himself didn't seem to faze her.

"Don't lie to him like that!"

"But I'm not lying. You went on and on when White Day was over about how that Narasaka-kun was able to pull off a great cliché."

"Hey, hey, she's right! You even said that you had to try super hard not to blush right in front of him!"

"Not to mention when you said you were ready to just kiss him on the ground."

By this point, Satori was starting to lose his grin. The more he heard about how Suzume felt at that moment, the more he felt like marching up to Narasaka and demanding he apologize to Suzume for doing that.

After yelling at them some more, Suzume had been able to send her family off to go find the area they were looking for. She crossed her arms and puffed out her red cheeks. She always forgot that her sister and mother were as much into shipping others as her.

"Honestly... Don't listen to them, Ken-kun. They just like embarrassing me."

"Hahaha. It's fine. Besides, now I've met your family."

"Yeah... Great."

"If we take out Tsuji-senpai out first... But if they get on Ninomiya-san's line of fire..."

"Takeshi, are you going to take a break any time soon?" Mei asked as she slurped down some ramen. She had been watching him go over different strategies for the past hour or so and found hole in all of them. "Thinking this much isn't good for you. Breaks are important too."

"I realize that, but in order to make sure we can make it to the top, I need to come up with the perfect strategy. As I'm sure you know, that is quite hard when we are going against someone like Ninomiya-san."

"That's true, but tiring yourself out like this is useless if you can't think properly later. And you know that thinking in the middle of battle is important when fighting against Ninomiya." She didn't get an answer, so she continued. "As well as that, you should know that every plan has some hole in it, meaning that you will have to improvise on the battlefield, which brings us back to the main reason."

"Very well. I will take a break...in a few minutes."

"..."

"..."

"Takeshi... Is the reason you're going so far to make him 'see his error' because he reminds you of them?" Mei didn't want to bring it up, especially since she already knew the answer, but she had to bring it out of him. "That is all pointless. Yuki isn't like them."

"You are right again... He is worse than them." Takeshi stopped moving his hand and simply stared at the table with harshly clenched fists. "They simply didn't connect with me, so I didn't care about them...even when they died in such a way...even when they were screaming... I didn't care. Him on the other hand... He forced a connection on me and then he just shreds it to pieces...as if he didn't care..."

"He did...does care. He wants you all to get stro-"

"Then why did he leave us?"

Mei let out a sigh when she heard this. She had explained this to him multiple times, but at times he was more headstrong than their Attacker and didn't listen at all. Even if she changed the way she phrased it, even if she made him remember everything up until now, he still didn't listen. That left her with one option left.

"Takeshi..."

"What now?"

"I want to tell you a story." Mei put her empty cup down and went to sit across from the Shooter. "It's a pretty king story, so no interruptions, got it?"

"Mei-san, I have to-"

"Got it?"

"... Got it."

"Good. Now listen well. I'm gonna tell you the story of the beast disgusted as a prince with claws sharp enough to tear a body in half with ease and the weapon that is used by the princess to rule with the authority she deserves."

"So are you three ready?"

It was finally time for Kotowari Squad's first match and the whole squad was waiting to start. They were in their uniform, the some one as before, but without an emblem.

Suzume let out a small sigh. She remembered what had happened earlier that day, but quickly cheered herself up.

"So are you gonna watch us go at it?" Suzume asked, looking at Satori as they both stood in the Sniper training grounds.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, Suzu-chan! I really want to, but I'm actually commenting on Tamakoma's battle," Satori said with his hands together.

"I see... Alright. I suppose you can't really turn them down." Suzume looked up with a smile that seemed a little strained. "Have fun then."

"I promise that when the fight is done, I'll go straight to yours!"

"No, no. It's fine. Besides, do you honestly think the other squads will last that long against us?" Suzume said with a hair flip. "We'll be done before you even leave the room."

"I will hold you to that," Narasaka said, walking up to them. "I will be watching your match."

"You will be watching? Why? So you could find something to make fun of me with?"

"You're mother and sister asked than Shouhei and I watch it with them. They said that since we are your friends that it would be great for the four of us to watch." Narasaka crossed his arms as he continued. "I don't know where they got the idea that we were friends, but I agreed anyways."

"I see..."

'I guess I should try extra hard then.'

Meanwhile, Toby seemed completely zoned out. He had his own problem to deal with from earlier that day.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I am telling you know that you better lose this match," Henry said with a cold expression. "Your brother said he wants to see you fight. While I don't care much for such things, I do wish to see how you are doing here."

"Tsk. Yeah right. What are planning?"

"I want to show your brother that being an agents at Border isn't all there is. He seems to think that it is 'cool and heroic' to be an agent. I want to destroy that illusion for him."

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Why are you trying to mess him up too!?"

"Do not speak to me like that. I have decided to sponsor Border since I do appreciate what they do, but I do not want the heir to both companies to go off and runaway like his failure older brother."

"Bastard..."

'Ai said she's also going to watch this fight, but...even with Takeshi coming up with the plan...I don't think I won't Bail Out...'

Mei looked over the three and let out a sigh. She could see Suzume trying to cheer herself up, Toby seeming to be distraught and Takeshi as calm as ever. After the story she had told him, Takeshi seemed to have calm down and took her advice to get some sleep.

"Alright you three. There's something I want to tell you," Mei said as she clapped her hands. Once she got all three of their attentions, she continued on. "You may not want to hear this since it was something Yuki told me, but I want you three to remember these words throughout all your fights from now on."

She went back to when she first heard these words and could see the exact face looking away from her and the exact hand outstretched to her at that moment. She couldn't help but inwardly smile at the fond memory.

"Always repeat the words in your head... 'If you can't do something by yourself, then I'll help you. If I can't do something by myself, then you'll help me. That's what working together means. Helping each other out is the advantage of working together.' You three got that? Always remember those words."

"Roger!"

"So you really were here. Did you want to see your little brats play around?"

"..."

"I know you hate Masa-chan, and I doubt you're rooting for the squad you left behind, so you must be here for Hikigane Squad. Am I right?"

"..."

"No need to-"

"Shut up. I'm hear to see how all of this goes down. Now either keep quite and watch, or get out."

"Alright, alright. I'll keep quiet...for now."

QOTC: What's your favorite rank battle so far?

Finally! We're finally on the fights! We're finally back to 4000+ words! I don't have anything else to say, so until next time... See ya!