Chapter 48: Taiyōko Family: Part 2


Generally speaking, a soldier, a sister, and a valkyrie had absolutely nothing in common.

Generally speaking, a soldier is someone who fights as part of an organised, land-based armed force.

Generally speaking, a sister is a woman or girl in relation to other daughters and sons of her parents.

Generally speaking, a valkyrie is female figure who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live in Norse mythology.

Strictly speaking, Taiyōko Kushikage was two out of three of these. She was not one it of these three.

She was most certainly not a powerful woman from Norse mythology who decided who dies. And she was definitely not an unmatched one. She had received such a title after becoming the strongest agent in Sweden's Border.

She was born a civilian, raised as a soldier.

She became a sister the moment her first brother came into the world.


Kushikage and Tachikawa grinned as they continued their fight.

They had lost track of what round they were on, but neither actually cared. They were having fun going against someone who could continually keep up with them without losing momentum. Others would have given up, or lost, by this point, so it only made it that much more fun to continue on.

Tachikawa quickly moved both blades though the air, extended slashes flying everywhere. He had gone up against others, but Kushikage was one of the only people who he could continue on like this. Jin was another one of those people.

For every attack he made, Kushikage countered. For every attack she countered, he would have another attack ready. It was like a game of Rock, Paper, Sciccors. All that mattered between the two was who would make a mistake in their choices first.

Kushikage was just as happy about this all. She was finally fighting someone who could rival her in attack and skill. Mei was one thing, but her moves always seemed just a little too planned out, where as Tachikawa continued on like her, just fighting until one person won.

Their attacks were amazing to watch.

Kushikage would swing the large claymore to the side, swatting away one of Tachikawa's blades.

Tachikawa would swing his other blade, but Kushikage would use her leg to kick the arm away.

Tachikawa was able to see the reason why she was considered the "natural soldier" in her family. She didn't just use Triggers, she used her body for blocks and different moves. They weren't moves someone could usually see in a fight between Triggers, more like a fight you would see in a hand-to-hand combat fight in a war. Not only that but she also used her large claymore with such skill and grace that he could also see why she had been called "The Unmatched Valkyrie".

He felt a sort of excitement and rush that had the possibility of exceeding any matches he had with Jin. He didn't want the fights to end. He wanted to continue fighting with this beautiful and skilled woman in front of him.


By this point a good portion of the crowd had left. Some stayed to watch with wide eyes. They really couldn't take their eyes off of what they were seeing.

Tachikawa: XOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXX

Taiyōko: OXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOO

Yuki was a bit surpsied. He knew how skilled the two currently fight were, but he didn't think it would go on four 25 rounds. He thought that at least one of them would have won by now, but it stayed at a tie this whole time.

One had gotten the upper hand at some point, but that was stopped in the mist recent round. They were back to being at a tie. The #1 Attacker and The Unmatched Valkyrie were on equal footing. One would lose, the other would lose. One would win, the other would win.

Next to him, Maya stared with wide eyes. She had looked up to Tachikawa as a fellow dual-Kōgetsu wielder, so seeing him tie this much with the woman who had insulted her before was frying her brain a bit.

Noah was a bit better off, but still in shock. He used Kōgetsu himself, although he was an All-Rounder so it didn't mean as much to him, but he felt so inadequate compared to the two he was seeing. He knew that Kushikage was using a specialized Trigger, but seeing it take on two Kōgetsu from the #1 of Border made him a hit unnerved.

After another 10 or so minutes the fight came to an end. The final score ended up being 33-31, Tachikawa being the winner.

Once they got out, and walked over to Yuki and the group, they grinned to each other hand clapped their hands together in a firm handshake.

Yuki had watched this happen and felt a familiar feeling in his chest. It was the same feeling he got whenever he saw his younger sister together with Wakamura, blushing and smiling. He really didn't want to think he was feeling the same protectiveness for his older sister, but the feeling continued to bug him. So much so that he got a deep frown on his face without even noticing.

Shobu was kind enough to point it out to him though.

He quickly put an indifferent look on his face as he tried to shove the familiar feeling down.

"So, it seems like you two enjoyed your little fight."

"That was amazing!"

Tachikawa and Kushikage looked over to see Maya and Noah standing there.

"Oh. You're that girl with the kid brother, right? Ah. I guess that's a shitty description though."

"Yeah... I'm Tsukiko Amaya. Maya's just fine though."

"Right, right. So, what are two brats doing here anyways? There are tons of open booths."

Maya raised her eyebrow a bit. Compared to the first time they met, Kushikage seemed much more relaxed and calm.

Yuki noticed this too, but said nothing.

"Maya saw Kei in a fight and wanted to see how it would go. Neither of us thought it would last as many rounds as it did though."

"Yeah. Guess we got a bit carried away there," Tachikawa said with a grin.

Yuki had been on good terms with Tachikawa, both their mentors were rivals, so they took after them, but right how he felt like punching that grin off the older's face.

Yuki, with Shobu, as the four started talking about one thing or another. He decided to just head back to the Yagura Branch office. He had asked his younger companion, but was denied. Shobu apparently wanted to find his squad and do some of his own matches.

'Hm. At least I don't have to worry about Mukuro liking anyone.'


Taiyōko Hoshi was trudging through the Border base. She had just finished up talking with her squad about the recent rank war match, so she had free time on her hands now. She thought about going over to see Border's engineers, but figured she could do something else.

"Let's see... Maybe I could see if someone would be kind enough to have a match with me" she muttered.

She normally didn't reach out for solo matches, mainly because she didn't like fighting outside of what was necessary, earning her less points than she should have. It was rather odd to willingly go over to see if anyone would want to go a few rounds against her. She chalked it up to wanting to gain more skill for the next rounds of the B-Rank war.

She actually felt a bit excited over the idea of fighting by herself. It was out of her usual comfort zone, so it made her heart beat a bit faster. She wasn't sure why, but she felt a sort of rush from thinking about fighting against others. She thought this could be because if the family she was in, and the fact her new squad was sort of known for challenging others so easily that most would hide from them.

'Is this how Kushi-nee usually feels? Oh my...'

Looking at it like this, Hoshi was an owner of troublesome disposition evenly balanced by that of a certain boy. She wondered a bit about the fuss that had been at his side, however.

"Nyowah!?"

Suddenly with a small squeal, she fell to the ground after tripping. She was able to stop herself, using her natural and graceful talent, before hitting the ground.

There were some who witnessed this.

Hoshi put on a civil smile and lowered her head before the startled agents and retreated from there.

'A-am it really that distracted...?'

Inclining her head, she decided that for now, there was nothing she could do to get to a certain incident out of her head. She decided to just head back to the squad's operation room and stay there for a bit

'I think it's a better option than having half-hearted matches... Maybe some time to cool down will be helpful... If I'm lucky, I can talk to Fuji-nee for a while.'

While thinking this, she walked closer to the room, passing the main area first.

Suddenly, from the end of the hall, someone's figure appeared. The figure seemed to be distracted as they were walking from side-to-side like a drunk. Where they drunk? Hoshi narrowed her eyebrows, but as the figure appeared closer to her, her face was stunned by surprise.

It was Wakamura Rokurō.

"Wai-, what are you doing!? Ah! Not to sound rude!"

Hoshi hurriedly rushed up to him. Normally she wouldn't show this reaction. She knew that if was fine to walk through Border, if there was something wrong with that then people would really be stupid. But she was a bit worried by the way he was walking.

"Wakamura-kun? Are you okay? Why are you walking like some drunkard who just finished bar hopping?"

Wakamura, who had his hand to his chin, blinked a few times before seeming to realize he wasn't in the spot he had been a few moments ago. Wherever that was.

"Huh? Taiyōko? This is..."

"This is a hall I need to get through to get to our operation room. Why are you over here? Your own squad's operation room is not in this area."

"I was thinking about something. I guess I got a bit carried away and wandered over here. Last place I remember being was leaving my squad after your match."

Hoshi went a little wide eyed, not only from hearing that he had been there to watch the match. A good amount of time had passed since the match had ended, making it around half an hour or so that he's been in this spaced-out state.

She wanted to say him a few things. The first being what he was thinking about. Others were "I'm so sorry for what I did", "Was it enjoyable?", "It was just a competition between my squad", and the like. These kinds of things quickly made her crouch on the ground with her hands on her face.

"Are you okay? Is your stomach hurting...or something? Do you want me to take you to get checked up?"

Hoshi hated this. She was able to figure out complex things, learn how to use Triggers and regular weapons easily, yet she couldn't deal with simple, normal things. It had clicked in her head that this was most likely due to her upbringing. Her parents were fine, but the general public saw her differently.

Wakamura continued to look at her with a worried expression. He thought that it might have been him that caused Hoshi to act so strangly, but moved that aside to check on her. He could tell that it seemed like she was embarrassed instead of sick, which he was relived to know, but he didn't know of what. He had thought about everything he had said, nothing particularly embarrassing came to mind though.

"Uh... If you're still embarrassed about...what happened..."

Hoshi went wide eyed, yet again. This time for a different reason.

"I know you did it because of some dare or something from Misaki. But don't worry, I'm not mad or anything. Although... It seems you don't really like this. So, for now, why don't we just keep a distance?"

Wakamura stood back up and started to take his leave.

She couldn't accept it.

No matter what, she couldn't.

She got up as well, yet said nothing.

'... ...I see.'

In an unknowing amount of time, she moved her hand to her own chest.

The girl called Taiyōko Hoshi had realized something.

It wasn't anything that had to do with reason or logic or dignity or appearances or shame or reputation, it was just a part of her very own heart, evidently the nucleus of the human Taiyōko Hoshi herself. The wretched, unsightly, selfish, unreasonable - and yet despite all this, honest and frank and "human".

The name of this feeling, Hoshi didn't know. What category it was sorted under, she didn't realize yet. However, today, this day, this time, this moment, Hoshi knew.

Inside her slept an enormous feeling that could easily shake her being. A feeling that could easily destroy any control that one of the family of soldiers had.

Wakamura's back disappeared down the hall.

Hoshi couldn't do anything to stop him.

The reason was not because her spirit had been beaten because of his actions and words.

It was because part of the emotion she had realized pressed against her chest in such a manner that she couldn't move a single finger.


"Mukuro, never fall in love."

Taiyōko Mukuro stared at his older brother for a few seconds. It wasn't a particular stare that had a lot of emotion behind it. It was just a stare.

Mukuro had decided to make his way back to the Yagura Branch once he left the seating area for the recent B-Rank war match. He was greeted by Pyrínas and Akasora when he got in, but was left alone when Akasora went back to work and Pyrínas left with three children.

Yuki had come back around half an hour after that and took a seat across from his younger brother. The first thing he had said since he walked in, tem minutes ago, was something idiotic about love.

Mukuro was never one for that kind of thing to begin with, but hearing it from his older brother made it sound like he really never wanted to be involved in such a thing. He knew how over protective Yuki could be when it came to their younger sister, but he never thought he would see Yuki act like this with him.

It was also weird since Yuki himself was in a, semi-functional, relationship with Mei at the moment. It may have seemed like Yuki didn't want anyone in the family besides himself having a happy life with a significant other. But Mukuro didn't get that kind of feeling from his older brother.

"Don't worry~ I doubt anyone would want to date a walking corpse~"

Mukuro, in some odd fashion and monotone voice, made a joke. He was never one to do that, always being the lazy one to just go with the flow. He himself found it odd that he would even try to make a joke, but waited for some kind of reaction from Yuki.

He raised an eyebrow when Yuki scrunched up his eyebrows. Was that his reaction? Was he even listening? Mukuro really wondered what was going on now. Even as a genius among geniuses, he still didn't know much a both simple things like family and love.

He started thinking about everything he possibly could concerning the current situation, which somehow made him physically tired. After a minute or so something finally clicked.

'Is he...acting like a real older brother...? To me?'

Mukuro's childhood with Kushikage and Yuki was a very...odd one. He had always stayed a wake way too long and quickly became an insomniac, only going to sleep when his body couldn't take it anymore. His parents were worried about this, but his siblings seemed more worried.

Kushikage and Yuki would always try to "put him to sleep" by using odd, and mostly violent, methods, such as hitting his head with a hammer, throwing him to the ground with a large amount of force, or even suffocating him. Their parents were horrified by this, even as soldiers, and had always tried to keep the two older siblings away from their younger one. Mukuro was fine with it though. He knew they were doing it out of genuin kindness and worry for him, they just went about it the wrong way.

He never hated them for it, and instead he tried to ease their parents' worries.

"Mukuro..."

Another odd thing going on. Yuki actually called him by his name twice in a row!

"Sigh... Tsk."

It was really hard to tell what Yuki was feeling right now.

"Alright. I think I've figured it out. ... You can get girlfriend, or boyfriend, your choice... But! I... I just approve of them!"

"Does that apply to the other two as well?"

He had added Kushikage into the mix in order to test something out. His answer was a perfect one that he didn't even think was possible.

"... Yes..."

Yuki muttered under his breath as he crossed his arms like a child and pouted.

"I have to approve of everyone..."

Mukuro really wanted to smile at this point, maybe even laugh. He found this entertaining since Yuki had been the first one to get a partner, yet he never asked them if they approved. Which they did.

He felt weird about talking to Yuki like this. His older brother had clearly put up a very large wall between him, Mukuro himself, and Kushikage, so speaking like this was really odd for him. Although... He did like it.

"Alright. But on one condition."

"?"

"I'm allowed to call you Nii-chan~"

Yuki jumped in his seat before turning to glare at Mukuro, who had a smirk in place.

"Screw that! Be happy I'm even letting you call me 'Kiyo-nii', you damn corpse!"

Mukuro laughed.

Yuki was a bit surpsied by this. He didn't think Mukuro was capable of having any other expression, besides his usual dead-like one.

After muttering something again, Yuki had decided.

"I hate family."


QOTC: Who is your favorite Taiyōko member?


Kushikage Taiyōko

Attacker

- 20 Years Old

- Oct. 31

- Chronos, Blood Type A

- Height: 6'0"

- Likes: Annoying Mei, Hot and Spicy things

Yuki Tsukiko

All-Rounder

- 18 Years Old

- Born Sept. 27

- Chronos, Blood Type AB

- Height: 5'7"

- Likes: Snow, Foxes, Ice cream

Mukuro Taiyōko

All-Rounder

- 17 Years Olds

- Born Sep. 13

- Lupus, Blood Type AB

- Height: 5'5"

- Likes: Sleeping, Peanuts, Vanilla

Hoshi Taiyōko

All-Rounder

- 15 Years Old

- Born Oct. 14

- Luna Falcata, Blood Type AB

- Height: 5'4"

- Likes: Friends, Her siblings, Making new friends


Well, there's a disgusting filler for you all.