A/N: I figure schoolyard fights happen in Border more often that people would admit, given half the agents seem to be teenagers, so...trope time :D
(plot picks up a little next chapter, but I'm *still* winging it)
They'd been challenged by a group of up-and-coming B-rankers, a new squad that had inexorably worked it's way up through the ranks of B-rank teams, and Osamu had to hand it to them – they deserved their top B-Rank slot. It was a clever setup – two attackers and a pinpoint-accurate sniper, similar to Tamakoma-2's usual formation. However, while their sniper was incredibly accurate, he was clearly the team's ace, and with Osamu and Yuuma distracting the attackers, a well-placed blast from Chika's Ibis took him out in one blow. Said shot also leveled the skyscraper-rich map that the B-rank team had chosen, making Osamu's Spider traps half useless, but since it opened up much more convenient avenues of fire from his Asteroid, the loss wasn't too much to bear. And then while Osamu had the two attackers distracted with a barrage of Asteroid fire, Yuuma's Scorpion boomerangs cut them down cleanly.
Overall, it was a very good match. The B-rank team had displayed some excellent strategy and teamwork, and Chika had popped by to chat excitedly with their sniper after the battle. Even Hyuse, after being sent the video of his team's battle, had to admit the B-rankers were good. Just…not quite good enough. Not yet. They'd get there. Probably.
"-doesn't matter what you say, Mikumo. Kuga would have been enough to defeat all three of them alone."
Osamu huffed, glaring at the tablet screen showing Hyuse's smug face and black horns, his Black Trigger Organon tucked against his side – a memento from his late mentor. Hyuse had been teasing his teammates for the past ten minutes over videochat now, quite convinced that the B-rank team would have been easily defeated by their on-world ace. Osamu and Chika were pretending to be offended, as was the usual, and Yuuma…
"Hmm, hmm, I'm not sure if I could do it all by myself," Yuuma mused, his round face puffed into the Duckface of Denial again. "…Just mostly by myself. Chika helped."
Osamu groaned, letting his head thud onto the cafeteria table with a sigh, and Chika giggled, bumping her fist with Yuuma's. These two would be the death of him one day, Yuuma especially.
"Why do you three gang up on me like this?" he whined, fighting back a grin. "I'm sitting right here."
Hyuse's snickering over the video comms were slightly staticky, and rang in harsh discord with Chika's light chuckling and Yuuma's cheerful humming, but the sound of laughter from his team was something Osamu treasured above all other things. It had been a long time since any of them had seen Hyuse in person, as he didn't often travel. It was a measure to conserve Trion, Osamu knew, but sometimes having all of Tamakoma-2 back together was something he found himself longing for. But the video chat was a good stopgap, that was for sure.
The chatter of the cafeteria swelled suddenly, excitement rippling through the C-rank agents scattered around the room, and all four of them glanced up at the screen displaying the rankings for Solo Rank Wars. Osamu took a sip out of his water bottle, glancing curiously at the replays onscreen. It seemed that the same sniper from the B-rank team that had challenged them in the A-rank Trials had been challenged by an overconfident C-rank agent and had summarily defeated them. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then Osamu saw the two grappling on the ground in front of the TV screen, Trion bodies deactivated, yelling rowdy insults at each other. Well. That was certainly unusual.
Hyuse's amused snort came from the screen.
"Looks like it's lively as ever over there. When's Captain Four-Eyes going to intervene?"
Osamu shot Hyuse another glare, but only a halfhearted one. His team knew him too well.
"I'm going, I'm going," he groaned, and Hyuse nodded, pixels blinking.
"Then I'll hang up. I'm about due for another round of strategy meetings anyway – the Neighborhood is busy as ever, you know."
That got a chuckle out of Yuuma, who was slurping down some kind of sweet milk tea drink with a wide, pleased smirk on his face.
"Not much changes up there, I guess."
Hyuse shook his head.
"Never does. See you all later."
The screen went black, and Chika put her tablet back into its case, ignoring Osamu as he stood and made his way over to the grappling agents on the ground, glasses hiding the disappointment in his eyes. Yuuma bounced up with a grin, still slurping his tea. Chika stood as well, and the pair wandered over to spy on their captain, curious about what the issue was.
By the time they crept up behind Osamu, the two agents had been separated forcibly by Osamu's Raygust, and he obviously wasn't the only one to notice the commotion, because Kazama was over there as well, one foot planted on the C-rank agent's chest to keep him pinned to the ground. The B-rank sniper was smoldering, clearly irate but keeping himself together, and the C-rank agent, a teenager with narrow blue eyes, was practically on fire he was so angry. Chika blinked in shock at the two of them, her magenta gaze full of concern.
"Ah, what happened?" she asked, and the sniper she'd spoken to so cheerfully just a few hours before looked up at her for a split second, sudden shame clouding his dark eyes. He ducked his head, tucking his knees up to his chest, and Osamu sighed in resignation. The sniper couldn't be more than 15 – the same age he'd been three years ago, when Tamakoma-2 had been formed. And the C-rank agent couldn't be too much older, maybe by just a year? Either way, they were both pretty recent additions to Border, and so it was confusing to see two rookies at odds so quickly.
Kazama glared at both of them, black hair whipped into something like bedhead. He'd probably been on duty all day then, and just come back to this nonsense. Osamu felt for the guy – corralling rowdy C-ranks was difficult even when everyone was actually behaving.
"You have two minutes to start explaining, or I take you to higher," Kazama threatened. "Answer Agent Amatori."
The sniper took a deep breath and tried to relax, biting his lower lip.
"Um…Well, Aoyama challenged me to ten rounds of Solo Rank Wars, and I thought I'd agree because he said he wanted to test his skills."
The C-rank agent, now surnamed Aoyama, growled suddenly, trying to force Kazama's foot off his chest with no success. Living bodies were no match for Trion bodies, anyway.
"And then you proceeded to be an absolute suck-up the entire time, Fuse, you piece of shit!" Aoyama yelled, fuming. "You even defended the little white-haired freak, like he's not suspicious as hell-"
"Kuga-senpai is an A-Rank Border agent! Same as Amatori-senpai! The higher-ups wouldn't hire them if they were suspicious!"
"You're a blind lapdog! You're just starstruck because Tamakoma's Cannon deigned to say hi to you after the match!"
Osamu felt a ripple of heat snap down his spine, and his grip on Raygust tightened, the yellow shield suddenly glowing with ferocious intensity. Kuga, a freak? Is that what this was all about? The two squabbling agents fell silent, and Kazama shot him a sideways glance in some surprise. Beside him, Yuuma whistled around his milk tea, his infuriating little duckface painted on his round face, and leaned over to Chika, one hand comically cupping his mouth as if to muffle what he was saying.
"Oh, Captain Osamu is mad."
"You have no right to talk that way about Chika and Kuga," Osamu snapped, ignoring his partner's antics behind him. "Tamakoma-2 has proved our worth many times over while on the away missions and rumors are cheap. If you have something to say, keep it based in facts, please."
The corners of Kazama's mouth lifted slightly, clearly pleased with how Osamu had handled the situation, and he stepped off Aoyama with a sigh.
"Well said, Mikumo. Tamakoma-2 is a valuable asset to Border, and I hold both Agent Kuga and Agent Amatori in high regard. You may think they are suspicious, but the majority of the A-ranked squads would disagree with you," Kazama retreated a bit, still looking very tired, and Osamu threw him a grateful look. With a sigh, he pulled Raygust away, letting the weapon revert to its dormant state, and stepped more thoroughly between the sniper, Fuse, and the still-steamed Aoyama.
"If you have concerns, take them to higher, or let out your frustrations in Solo Rank Wars. Don't start brawling in the middle of HQ," he scolded one last time, then turned back to his teammates, running a tired hand through his hair. Chika threw him an awkward smile, nodding in agreement, and Yuuma just hummed, red eyes flickering with some nameless mix of amusement and annoyance. Well, Kuga wasn't angry, and Chika seemed more startled than upset by the sudden accusations. Then Osamu turned to Kazama and his teammates, who'd grumped over to stand around and look threatening to the C-ranks.
"I'll handle the incident report, Kazama-senpai. You and your team should get some rest. You just had defense duty, right?"
Kazama nodded wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Kikuchihara gave them a wave of thanks, shadows under his eyes.
"Ahh, thanks, Four-Eyes," he said, short brown hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. "We'll leave that to you. Don't screw it up."
Osamu sighed as Kazawa Squad started away, long used to Kikuchihara's brusque way of talking, and glanced down at the sulking agents on the floor. He got both of their names within a moment, writing them down on a spare notepad, sighing at the thought of doing paperwork instead of preparing for Tamakoma-2's next patrol.
And then Aoyama exploded.
"Am I the only person who's noticed that Tamakoma's White Nightmare doesn't age?! He says he's 18, but he's looked like an eleven-year-old since he joined Border!"
Kazama Squad paused, and Osamu distinctly felt Yuuma's entire body tense behind him, the shift in atmosphere palpable. Osamu took a deep, steadying breath, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. Red eyes locked onto him, flat with simmering irritation underneath the white fringe. Ah. So he was starting to get mad.
"Do you really think Director Rindo hasn't noticed?" Osamu shot back, and Aoyama sputtered for a moment. "Or Director Kido? Or Director Kinuta? Any of them, really?"
The silence that fell in the wake of Osamu's questions was slightly deafening, and he could feel his heart rate speed up, anxiety rippling through his chest in tender little butterfly trails. But he knew he had a point, so he waited for the reply. Aoyama ground his teeth, his t-shirt shifting as he brushed himself and stood up, sulking, Kazama's footprint still dusty on his chest.
"…no." he muttered finally. And Osamu nodded, pleased by the final response. But then the tension went out of Yuuma's shoulders, irritation evaporating into grim resolve, and the shorter boy put a gloved hand on top of Osamu's, fingers catching loosely around his wrist.
"If you really have to know why I don't age, you can just ask me, Aoyama," He said, his tone carefully nonchalant, though the penetrating glare of crimson was anything but casual. And this caught attention. Kazama glanced down at him with surprise, as did many of the C-rank and B-rank agents scattered around the Rank Wars screen and the surrounding cafeteria.
Aoyama swallowed hard, his blue eyes round with sudden shock and anticipation.
"I…I can?"
Yuuma nodded once, stabbing the tapioca bubbles at the bottom of his milk tea and eating them one by one, acting far more casual than Osamu knew he was. And Aoyama swallowed and took the bait.
"Uh…Why don't you age, Kuga-senpai?"
The duckface was back in an instant.
"It's a secret!" Yuuma sang out, humming cheerfully to himself, affecting such an air of amused nonchalance that it sent pretty much all of the C-ranks reeling with the quick turnaround. There it was, typical Kuga mischief. "Hm, you're very forward, aren't you, asking personal information like that when I don't even know you…Aokawa."
Osamu turned away to hide a fond laugh behind a cough, losing composure violently over the purposeful mistake in Aoyama's name, but Chika wasn't quite so stealthy, giggling openly as Aoyama flushed very red very quickly. Fuse, from where he sat chastised on the floor, also seemed to understand Yuuma's ploy, laughing under his breath. Kazama Squad also smiled, mirth coloring their expressions. Chika tapped lightly on top of Yuuma's head, only mildly reproachful, but the short attacker pretended to choke nonetheless, hanging his head comically. Even she was taller than him now, which made for an interesting battle dynamic.
"Yuuma, you can be so mean sometimes," Chika scolded, puffing her cheeks out despite the laughter bubbling up her throat. "You gave him a sliver of hope and then took it away again."
"Hey, hey, I'm not the one asking my senpai for personal information."
Osamu sighed, shoulders slumping. Yuuma was as incorrigible as ever, it seemed – though he would never really want it any other way.
"Alright, you two go on then," he groaned. "It's Kuga's turn to make dinner tonight, right? Chika, make sure he doesn't burn anything? I'll write the report up and be along afterward?"
Chika and Yuuma nodded, and Yuuma gave Osamu a quick, playful salute.
"Yes, yes, dinner's on me tonight. Chikaaaa, I'm counting on you to make it edible.~"
"Ah, Yuuma, you really need to learn not to burn things…"
The two smaller members of Tamakoma-2 started walking off, chatting amicably, and Osamu turned back to the two on the floor with a rueful smile.
"Hopefully the higher-ups go easy on you," he sighed, massaging a temple tiredly. "But, do me a favor? Don't spread rumors about my teammates. They've both worked hard to be where they are. It isn't right for people to just ignore that."
Fuse nodded immediately, standing up in scruffy jeans and giving Osamu a quick salute similar to Yuuma's of just a few moments prior. Aoyama, on the other hand, turned away, clearly seething over being put in his place. He'd be trouble in the future, Osamu knew, but these days he wasn't exactly worried by the Border rumor mill. Yuuma, Chika, and the general membership of Tamakoma-2 was well-known around HQ, if only for the sole reason that they were one of the top A-rank teams in Border nowadays, and one of the few that had a distinct off-world advantage in Yuuma's knowledge and Replica's maps. Not to mention what Hyuse usually could offer them from their small outpost on Afrokrator. Plus, there were a good deal of A and top B-rank agents that knew them fairly well, and would vouch for them if necessary.
The rumors of one C-rank agent wouldn't hold much water.
But as Osamu watched Yuuma and Chika walk away, bright blue in the clean white and greens of the cafeteria, he couldn't help but feel a pang of long-buried worry wrap steel talons around his heart. Yuuma hadn't aged for seven years.
How much longer would he hold out, his living body dying slowly within the Black Trigger? How much time did he have left?
How much time did Osamu have left to spend with the person he called his partner?