Disclaimer: Kaede is owned by Awesome Sauce.

"Warning: A Gate is opening."

The voice that went throughout the area of Mikado City could be heard as a black sphere tore through the air. It was followed by electricity sparking off it while the size continued to expand until it overtook the space and touched the ground.

Coming from within the black sphere - the Gate - large creatures looking to be mechanical took the first step out and onto the solid ground. The size was taller than a building yet shorter than a skyscraper and the steps it took shook the ground without meaning to. There were no eyes on the creature's white texture, but a green core could be seen from within its mouth.

It was a simple model of Neighbor known as a Bambaster. The usage it provided was that of capture. It was meant to capture people so that it could take their trion and leave only dead bodies. While not being powerful compared to others, its size was still enough to level buildings it ran into. Even so, destruction was not the primary usage of these Neighbors. That was meant for the other ones.

While the Bambster towered over the buildings, the ones at its feet were the ones who scurried along the ground. Their bladed legs that could work as pikes created small holes int the soft ground they scurried across. The core in them could also be seen, but with little to actually protect it. Unlike the Bambster, these Neighbors known as Marmods were the one meant for attacking. They were the ones meant for destruction.

Even with the two types of Neighbors coming through there would be no problems for Mikado City's defenders to handle. They were an average, daily thing that Border had to fight against and were not viewed as anything special. The smallest Neighbors known Rads were an issue given how they worked and the largest Neighbor known as Illgars were a danger to the city, but these mid-sized ones were the normal vanguard that came to Earth on offense and capture.

"I can leave these simple ones to them then. I seem to be within a limited area, so it is likely one that has been set up by Miden. Although… This certainly is different than the last time I came here. I suppose that should be expected when I came through a different Gate."

Below the Bambster and behind the Marmods a voice could be heard. It was a voice that sounded like it was never disturbed and always calm. A soft yet firm voice that was drowned doubt the noise from the Neighbors walking right by it.

The voice belonged to a man that walked through the Gate.

The man held himself up with a straight back and a relaxed expression. His dual green-purple hair fell over his shoulder and face, above a scar that covers his left side and extended across his nose. Even with the mechanical creatures walking by him to attack and capture, he thought nothing of them as he held a book under his arm. The black coloring of it gave off an ominous feeling even as the man himself seemed rather friendly.

"I should be careful while walking around here. From what my last experience showed, Miden certainly has advanced to the point of easily telling that I am here. If I did not come with these Trion Soldiers then I am sure there would be more of a rush to come to this direction."

The man spoke to himself as the Gate began to close behind him. In front of him were the Trion Soldiers meant for attack and capture, but he continued to pay them no mind. Instead, he began to lift the black book in his hand until it was directly in front of him.

While the area around him was a place he was unfamiliar with, he understood what Miden's protectors were capable of from his last visit to the planet. He had not been alone and the reason for him being there has been completely different, but those protectors had been able to push them back while reaching a conclusion that had not hurt either side in the end. The ones involved seemed to have their own thoughts and feelings on the matter, but they had not said anything once it was time for it all to end.

I believe I heard them call that place "Germany". The ones who were not from that place belonged to a place called "Japan". In which case, I should be in that "Japan", so long as I got the coordinates right that is.

There had been no invitation, but he had found his way to where he wanted to be. The Gate had opened for the Trion Soldier to come and attack and capture so he had taken that chance to use that Gate for his own plans.

I should be careful. Should anyone see me with these Trion Soldiers, they may think that they belong to me. That in itself would be a bit insulting considering we do not wish to capture anyone if we can help it.

A philosophy that he upheld for a time long before the current one. One that he would not go back on after all of the years he had lived.

"Well, I should get going now. There is much to see and much to do. I would like to look at this part of Miden while I have the chance. So long as I make sure to get the proper information to those protectors, I will be fine to look around for a while."

Opening the black book in front of him, he looked around in time to see a ground come into view. Saying nothing, he began the activation of the black book.

Without anything being said or done, the air around him seemed to waver for a moment before it shimmered around him. As if covering him up, the air moved in such a way that it concealed his body from view. As if nothing was there to begin with.

"Warning: A Gate is opening."

From where he sat, Kaede could hear the faint sound of Mikado City's alarm. It was not too close to him, but close enough that he could hear it at all.

"So another one is here, huh? Shouldn't be too much of a problem for Border."

He faced the direction of the alarm. The sound came to a sudden stop and no one around him thought much about it. It was a normal occurrence in Mikado City to the point that it would seem strange should one of the alarms not go off at least once during the day.

Border would deal with any Neighbor that came through a Gate before anyone would notice that there was something going on to begin with. It was a fact that he had been reassured of by his sister and her squad many times.

She really likes to go on about different things though, so it becomes a bit hard to keep up with her. But she always makes sure to tell me about any solo matches she had recently. I guess that's something. But those stories really don't hold much when compared to what I got to see firsthand. Those guys…

It had been a few days since Border's supposed "training" along the street where his house was placed. The people of his neighborhood had varying reactions to it ranging from entertainment, enjoyment and awe to disdain, annoyance and anger. No one would deny the amazing abilities they had seen that day, but some of them were uncertain of how they felt having Border use their rural area in such a matter.

For Kaede himself it had been rather awe-inspiring.

He knew that they had been using some Triggers for the training, but it was just as clear that the more amazing parts of it all had nothing to do with using a Trigger and was only because of the people themselves. The asking his sister about it all, she had explained that Triggers do give a boost to physical abilities, but moving your body is still a major part of it and that the boost is not so major that people can do things a normal person cannot.

"Not unless you are using actual enhancement Triggers…is what she said. So that means those jumps they were making were well within what humans can do. And the way that guy kicked around those swords is also something that any person can do."

Training would be needed to accomplish those feats, but they were not impossible for normal people like him.

The idea of being able to do such simple things so easily sounded appealing, even when he knew that's sister would not allow him to join Border even with those kinds of simple abilities. The leaps they had made, the way they had moved themselves, the way it seemed to all be routine for them. It all struck a chord in him that made his want to do those things strong.

"What were the names of those guys again…?"

The simple question meant for himself was interrupted by a noise in front of him.

He had decided to stay at a park for a bit while when the alarm had first gone off. The people who had been walking around the park did not seem to mind the small and distance noise at the time. Now that they were gone and only a few were left around, he could clearly point out where the noise had come from.

The first sound had been of someone younger than him letting out a yelp and was followed by a whimper.

Looking over to the direction of where the noise was coming from, Kaede saw a young man that was indeed younger than him. The black haired boy was on the ground, clutching his shin with his eyes tightly shut. Near him were a group of logs placed in the ground and in a line. The distance between them was nothing more than a small leap for Kaede, so he wondered how the boy could have fallen from one of them.

A pang of pity hit him as he decided to walk over to the younger boy.

It took no time to reach the boy. When he did, he knelt down to the boy's level while pulling out a handkerchief. Lightly moving the boy's hand, he placed the handkerchief onto the shin that could be seen bleeding.

"Ow…"

Kaede could see the tears that threatened to come from the boy's eyes but only continued to apply pressure to the wound.

Thinking of nothing else to do, he shifted his position so that he was sitting against one of the logs that was placed in the ground while allowing the boy to apply pressure himself. The log took up the better portion of his back, so he guessed that the boy's entire back would be able to be covered by the entirety of the log he began to lean against.

After a few more seconds of small whimpering, the boy rubbed his eyes with his free arm before looking down at the ground.

It took a few more seconds before he began to speak with a small voice.

"Thank you…and sorry for the trouble."

"No problem. I would feel bad if I just left you like that."

"I shouldn't cry though… Mature people don't cry…"

They may not have been worse meant for him to hear, but he did.

Kaede could only think that this boy was the type to act like an adult when in reality he was still only a child. From the looks of things, it seemed to be true as he continued to rub his eyes free of any tears trying to get out.

I should probably keep that to myself… I really want to point out that mature people do cry, but that might just hurt him more.

Changing the subject was the only reasonable thing that would not get the boy more mad with himself.

It would have been easier if there was anything to actually talk about. The area around them provided nothing of interest and the people walking around seemed to only be the elderly or others with their friends. There was nothing that he could use to start a new discussion.

Kaede could only sigh as he figured out that he would have to backtrack a bit and bring up an obvious conversation starter.

"So what were you doing anyway? Jumping logs?"

The boy gave a nod.

"How did you fall then? These things aren't really far apart. Even for you, they should be easy to jump across."

This time the boy answered verbally. His words were muddled due to how low he had said them and Kaede could only wonder how he had not used this tone with his former statements.

"One more time. And try to speak a bit louder please."

"…I wanted to be like my brother." The boy's expression went from a downcast one to a more sour one. The difference was a bit amusing since it looked much more like he was only pouting. "My brother made even better jumps than these the other day and I wanted to try it…"

Kaede's mind went back to some amazing jumps he had seen in his neighborhood. To say that it was a coincidence would have been easy, but if this boy was related to one of those people then he could talk to them about what they had done.

In a way it felt like using the boy, but he was only curious as to whether or not he could speak with one of those boys.

"Your brother… Were his jumps live-streamed and put on the internet?"

"Yeah. He told me that it was some training that his captain told him to do. It sucks that he was doing them with Hisa, but I can let that slide since he did help out, in the end."

"Uh… Not sure which one you are talking about there."

"Oh, right. Sorry about that. I guess I should introduce myself too." The boy straightened up a bit as he looked away from the ground to properly face Kaede. " I am Girikage Kasei. My brother - the one I was talking about - is Girikage Daigo. He's the one who did the last jumps during the training and the one who looks the most dull out of all of them. Hisa is the one with the freckles and wearing green. His full name is Sasamori Hisato. I don't know who the other two guys were though."

"I see. I'm Tsukiko Kaede, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Thank you for helping me today, Tsukiko-san."

Kaede had to blink at the polite way he was addressed. It was uncommon for people his age or younger to speak to each other so formally like that. It was certainly a surprise, but he would let it go and continue his own way.

"It's fine to drop the honorific. You can even go with my first name. My sister has told me that there is some guy with the same last name as us, so it could get confusing if he is around."

"Would 'Kaede-kun' be fine then?"

"Sure. No problem with that."

"Okay then," the boy nodded. "Then you can also skip my last name."

"Kasei it is then."

The way the boy - Kasei, he reminded himself - beamed at him was not something he expected from this seemingly polite boy. It was different than what he had expected from seeing the boy so far. It had only been crying, sadness, a bitter comment to himself, and politeness he had seen until this moment. Now that he was seeing this, he was amazed that Kasei could go through so many different feelings in such a short amount of time.

The surprise continued as Kasei quickly turned back down to the ground. More specifically, he turned to the handkerchief that was pressed to his shin.

He wanted to ask what was wrong but felt like he would get told the answer even without asking in the first place.

True to his thoughts, the answer came from Kasei a moment later in the form of a question.

"So…um, does this all mean…that we are…friends?"

Now it was shyness.

Kaede only saw a shy boy holding his shin asking if they were friends now that they had introduced each other and had forgone all formalities. Yet another thing that suddenly came from nowhere and seemed to fit perfectly with this every changing boy.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. We're friends now."

The boy went back to beaming, this time still facing the ground.

It was all so strange. Yet at the same time he found himself entertained by the way the younger boy continued to change like this.

"A friend. My first friend. Nii-san will be happy. Then I can rub it in Yoshi and Hisa's faces." Kasei's smile continued to grow as he muttered things himself. "Oh, but I need to m-main-maintain… Yeah, that sounds perfect. I need to maintain my maturity, even if I have a friend. So I'll only stick my tongue out at them instead."

"Am I supposed to be hearing all of this?"

Now it was a completely red face.

"S-s-sorry! I-I thought I was thinking to myself… Um…"

Kaede felt that same pang of pity as before once Kasei's face went down while his face only got more red. His expression was not only that of embarrassment but of worry as well.

From what he had been saying, it was clear to him that Kasei really did have no friends and seemed to be reliant on his brother. To be so excited over one new friend meant that he truly did see this as something to be overly excited about.

An image of his own sister flashed through his mind.

Urg. I feel like I understand the sibling part of this all too well. I shouldn't tell her that though or else she will start up again.

"Such is the pain of siblings, I guess," he sighed out. With his eyes closed, he did not see the raised eyebrow on the still blushing Kasei's face.

"Oh yeah, you said you have a sister. What is she like?"

This may have been Kasei's way of dodging his own worries about Kaede, but that was fine. He understood that it was best to ease those worries this way instead of saying something that could backfire.

Looking up at the clear sky, Kaede began to think about how he should explain his own sister. There was no doubt that he would soon turn the question around to talk about Kasei's brother, but that was for after he gave an answer.

How to describe her, huh…

"Well, she's really impulsive. She likes to fight in solo matches. One of her teammates complains about her grades. A lot of energy. She also cares about me a lot and I've even seen her ready to fight someone saying something about me when she thought I wasn't looking. And of course there's the normal siblings stuff we have going on with some teasing of each other, messing around, going out to just hang out, sitting around doing nothing or watching the TV. You know, normal stuff."

"That's normal?"

"Huh?"

"Uh?"

Kaede turned away from the clear sky to stare straight at the equally confused Kasei.

His worries about the boy began to build as he thought over what had been said.

Everything he had said about his sister seemed normal to him. Even by other people's standards, they were pretty normal in a general way. Only the fact that his sister worked for Border was truly the strange part of it all.

But if that was the case for him, then what was "normal" for Kasei and his brother?

"Kasei…what about you and your brother?"

"My brother?" Kasei's attitude shifted once more. This time he straightened himself up while a smug expression and a proud look in his eyes. "He is an awesome- I mean amazing, part of Border who has just joined a top B-Rank team. Everyone relies on him both at Border and in everyday life. He takes great care of me and also goes around looking for strays on wanted posters. He has questionable choices in friends, but I will always be there to help him out."

"Sounds like a pretty good guy. Especially if so many people rely on him."

"W-well, I mean, it's more like they use him then rely on him…"

"He takes good care of you, so it's fine. Plus he goes to find those lost animals."

"A-about that… I try to not ask for much to begin with so… And it's more like those animals find him instead…"

"Even if he has questionable friends, you seem to be fine with them if they are still friends."

"I w-wouldn't really say that Hisa and Yoshi are bad… If anything, they look out for him the most besides that other guy he mentioned…"

"…"

"…"

A terrible silence filled the space between them as the words all sunk in.

Kaede found it hard to believe anything at the moment with the way Kasei seemed to default to the truth when questioned about his brother. It was a strange kind of honesty that made him feel bad for finding out about in the first place.

Kasei's brother did not sound like a bad person, but he most certainly did not sound as amazing as what he was made out to be. Although that may have been due to what Kaede had seen the other day and what Kasei was saying right now.

Looking back over, he saw Kasei fiddled with the handkerchief for a moment before speaking.

"My brother…"

This time his voice was not as loud, but it sounded much more sincere.

"My brother is a dull person with a dull personality and a dull expression. Everyone thinks that. Even I do. There is nothing to note about him and his voice is always even. He never sounds happy, sad, angry, worried, or anything. It's always the same monotone voice. Everyone thinks it's weird or annoying, but I'm fine with it. I grew up with it and that same monotone voice is something that always calms me down when I'm scared or mad or sad. Because its been there since I was born. Nii-san is the one to take care of me my entire life, so of course I would see him as the best person ever."

"So those 'questionable friends' see it differently?"

"I don't think so." Kasei shook his head while lifting his knees. "Yoshi always seems annoyed with him, but he's also the one that Nii-san automatically goes to when someone needs to watch me. He's the first person to help us out when we were having issues, so I don't think he doesn't like me or Nii-san. The way he acts is annoying at times, but he is someone who is actually a friend to Nii-san. Hisa came after Yoshi, but he also does a lot for us. He's always patient with Nii-san's dullness and hard time dealing with emotions, so I'm really glad he's around."

"Then it all seems fine to me."

The quick turn of the younger boy's head was not missed by Kaede. At the same time, he felt that there was no need to turn towards him as he continued his answer.

"This is really just coming from someone who has a sister who is the opposite of that. My sister is so full of energy most of the time that other people kind of stay away from her for it at times. But, besides me, she has her team and some other friends. Even with all of that energy, we still think she's pretty great and she's fine with that. Even if he's dull, you and those guys like your brother a lot, right?"

He got a nod in response.

"Then there's nothing wrong. If he's as great as you say, he's fine with only you guys thinking he's great. Although I don't really know any 'dull people', so I guess my words don't really mean much there."

He got a head shake in response.

"You're right that it's fine. That's what a mature person would say…I think. Yeah. You even sound mature, so you're right."

"Eh heh heh… I don't know about that… I'm only thirteen after all. I'm not too sure how 'mature' I really am. I just know think that's how things, so try not to think too much about it."

Kaede knew his words were falling on deaf ears the moment he saw Kasei jump up as if he did not have an injured shin. The determined look he wore when turning to him also showed him all he needed to know.

Everything seemed to loop back around for the younger boy as he moved away from his sadness to some new found determination. If it was provided thanks to Kaede's words then he would be fine with that. At the same time he got the feeling that that same determination was also something that could end up being annoying later on for him.

The words that soon came from the younger boy only confirmed his thoughts on the matter.

"Since we are now friends, it's fine if we hang out right? Then I can watch your maturity and learn from that! My brother and his friends are really immature, so I always end up being the only mature one around! But 'I will admit that I still have. A lot to learn, so I will be be learning from you! Thank you for this opportunity, Kaede-kun!"

It was Kaede's turn to jump to his feet.

He was not sure what would come from Kasei's mouth but this was most definitely not what he had expected. A declaration of learning about something that Kaede was not sure he even had to begin with. But this energy coming Kasei reminds him too much of his sister's, so it was hard to really say anything against it. From experience he knew that it would be best to go along with it instead of trying to fight it.

I guess I can try to change this to a normal-ish friendship.

A sudden thought crossed his mind upon realizing his situation.

I forgot that I wanted to meet his brother.

"Hey, Kasei, do you mind if I met your brother? With all of this talk about him, I'm kind of curious to see what he's like. I also want to talk to him about that training he did the other day since it was in my neighborhood."

That seemed to get the younger boy's attention away from his determined thoughts of maturity.

Smiling towards him, Kasei eagerly nodded his head. He pulled something from his pocket to show it to Kaede while saying, "That is actually perfect. I need to give this to him."

The thing that Kasei held out could only be described as two hard points connected by a single bar. By the looks of it, the bar seemed to be able to be modified to fit different sizes while the hard points were simple. Although the line running along the middle of them made him believe that they could open up if someone wanted to see the insides. The black coloring made the line hard to see, but overall it looked like a pricey object with the way it was polished, even with no decorations on it.

Staring at it a bit longer, Kaede found himself rather attracted to it himself, but said nothing to his new friend.

"Nii-san took a liking to this thing when he got some leftover stuff from one of his teammates. He doesn't really show his emotions, but he was really showing off how happy he was to have it. And I was the only one who saw it! That's one over Hisa and Yoshi!"

"Right…"

There went all of the maturity that Kasei had tried to build up in this last moment.

Kaede sighed once he realized that he would now be watched for his supposed "maturity". But that was fine. He had made a new friend and already helped him out after all.