Kumagai and Teruya leaned forward once they saw Hoshi finally reach her destination.
"Wow, Ariake really didn't move, did he?"
"He just wants to get this over with now. Although it's a bit unfair that he wants to end it while fighting a cute girl."
"No need to sound so jealous, Tonooka-kun. From the looks of things over there, Obishima might be bringing Taiyōko-san over to your operating room soon."
"I heard they became friends, so I might invite some people over to win some points."
"You know that you will have to run if Tsukiko-senpai and Murakami-senpai hear you say that, right?"
Tonooka only gave a shrug, but his eyes roamed up to where he knew Yuki was sitting.
He did not appear to have noticed what he said.
"Well regardless of that… Why are those two now paying so much attention to this?"
"What was with that pause there?"
He shrugged a second time.
"Kuma-chan and Teurya-chan want to see how Taiyōko uses Fujin here. They have both taken to using it, so this is a good opportunity for them."
"Is that so."
Maybe it was just a thing with offensive people.
Mitsuteru took breath as his final opponent arrived in front of him.
The wind that had been set for this map had moved through the narrow spaces and one space below, so it could not reach them too much from atop the building.
The rooftop was rather large and spacious, so he was certain he would cover it in order to dodge her attacks.
Shigeko said she lacks experience, but the way she said it makes me worried.
But wait, she's part of Kotowari Squad. Does that mean her inexperience is just something crazy again? If it is then I should be more cautious here.
He held up Ibis in preparation for an attack.
The girl shifted her feet and moved to grab the Kōgetsu at her side.
They were both prepared for this fight.
And so…
"…"
Nothing happened.
Huh? I was waiting for her to come at me, but she didn't?
Blindly running into someone else's range showed rashness and true inexperience.
This girl had done nothing like that, giving him the impression that she was not as inexperienced as Shiegnaga had thought.
Right then, I'll just change my position to account for the distance.
Mitsuteru lowered his hips but did not let his knee touch the roof.
Sniping would have been easier if he allowed himself to touch the roof, but it would be difficult to dodge if his opponent was not taken out.
She must have thought the same since she followed his movement by lowering herself as well. Unlike him, however, she lowered her upper body along with her hips. Instead of being her knees, she leaned forward and spread out her leg behind her.
She was going for a rush attack.
I can handle that much by myself. If I use Ibis as a guiding point then I should be able to even move her blade away from any vital spots.
This would be where their fight began.
She would rush him to try and cut him before he could fire.
In response, he would deflect the blade with Ibis and then use Ibis to right itself and fire on her from close up.
There were many other parts to this start, but he could adlib through those parts when they came up.
But for now…
"…"
Nothing happened.
His opponent remained as she was and he refused to move a muscle until she did.
Huh…? What's going on right now?
He had expected her to rush him, but nothing came.
"Um… Are you okay over there?"
"Ah? Oh! Yes, I am perfectly fine. Thank you very much for asking! How about yourself?""
"Huh? I'm doing…fine."
Once this match is over I'll feel even better, but for now "fine" should be enough.
He nodded to himself while his opponent smiled kindly to him.
His parents had only had him and no other children, but he felt that having a younger sibling would be fine if they were anything like this girl.
"Wait!"
"Huh? Is something the matter?"
"O-of course it is! This is a fight! Why aren't you attacking!?"
She should have been ready to attack him as much as he was towards her.
But instead of rushing him like he thought she would, she had started to converse with him while still in a fighting stance.
He wanted to end this fight, but he would not rush at her when he had no idea what was going on.
That was why he had asked her that.
It may have been a stupid question, but she only continued to smile at him.
"Does this mean you are ready to fight, Ariake-san? You looked like you were in deep thought and I didn't want to interrupt you until you were also ready."
White Fox: "T-too cute…"
Manager: "Alright, Siscon, stop that already and pay attention."
White Fox: "But look how cute she is! Hoshi is just too precious for this!"
WorTri: "Hah. Just don't try and kill Ariake after this match."
White Fox: "Why would I do that? He's pretty adorable too. The both of them are very much adorable. Hoshi maybe a bit more, but that's to be expected from her."
"Yuki-san sure is having fun there."
"Don't mind. There are only a handful of people who can honestly handle Hoshi-chan after all."
"I know that, Senpai. We're her classmates, so we know better than almost anyone how much of an impact she can make."
"Heh heh heh. But I know her on the level of a woman. That is honestly something you will never know. Unless you were honestly planning for a sex change. Is that it? Will I need to start seeing you as my sister now, Take-chan!?"
Nakagami let out a sigh through her nose.
Keeping up with these underclassmen had been more than she had expected.
The first time she did it had been fine, but she had been told that she would be helping them until an undefined amount of time.
This was the end result.
But still…
She saw why they still needed help.
A message displayed on her screen while the other three kept themselves busy attacking each other.
On it was the answer she had been looking for.
Wisteria: "Those three had quickly and easily dismissed him back when we were under Yuki's command. It was just who they were at the time, but a lot of things had built up in him to where something like that would leave an impact."
They had not seemed to remember what they did, but the fact remained that they had done it.
Even if they had blocked it from their minds, or had just forgotten, they were still guilty for their previous actions.
So she did not hold back from telling them as much."
"You three. We need to talk about something here. I'll keep track of Hoshi-chan, but you three need to understand something while she is busy."
All three of them turned to face her.
A sign that they understood the importance of this now.
It made no sense.
There had to be a reason for this girl to act like this, but none came to mind.
Is this what Shigeko meant when she said this girl was "inexperienced"!? This is pretty experienced to me!
There was nothing false in the way this girl spoke to him.
Other people may use these sorts of tactics to catch their opponents off guard, but this girl was genuinely waiting for him to be prepared for this fight.
Only one thing could come to mind once he realized just how honest she was.
She's similar to me in that sense.
Strong and skilled people would tend to forget that he was around due to his general presence of an overly average person. There had never been anything wrong with that and he had even started to use that to his advantage.
This girl was similar.
Simply by being herself she could change how people viewed her and how they reacted to her.
While he would be forgotten by the strong, she would give honest responses that made people lower their guards.
Unlike him, she would not take that chance to attack. The honesty that she showed prevented her from attacking while waiting for a response.
And…
I want to help her with that.
She made others want to help, even if they were current enemies.
So with his mind made up, he nodded towards her.
"I'm fine now. This is still a match, so let's continue with it, okay?"
"That is great to hear! Let us begin then!"
Only a moment after she had said those words did movement come.
She rushed him.
.
Hoshi held her face straight while moving forward.
Her opponent had confirmed that he was now fine to fight.
She would not use up any more of his time and so decided to rush him with her hand on Kōgetsu.
…This is it. The place where something will end.
From the very beginning, she had felt something off with this match. That feeling had only started to grow as the match went on and she came in contact with other fighters.
But now she found it.
The reason for that feeling.
This will be the last fight of this match, so I should make sure to get through it quickly. I am not sure that I can win, but that is fine. I just want to confirm something here after all.
Her thoughts and her wants lined up perfectly.
All she needed to do was line those two up with her actions.
So she did just that.
With only her hand on Kōgetsu, she rushed forward without any thought of moving to the right or the left.
.
Mitsuteru saw the overly forward action moving towards him.
The girl held herself straight with her feet facing forward and body leaning towards him instead of upright.
Any damage he took would be stronger if she continued like this, but it meant that she had no intent of moving anywhere but forward.
For someone like him, who could fire in front of himself and still move to the side, this seemed too much like a suicide run.
If she was not such an honest girl then he would have suspected that she had some other motive for making such a forward rush towards him.
But she would not use tricks here.
That was just now how she did things.
…Sadly that doesn't Mean I'm going to be facing this head-on like she wants. Snipers aren't supposed to be this close to the fight if they aren't as crazy as Arafune-senpai or Shinichi-kun. Urg. Why did I bother to be mentored by Arafune-senpai anyways? That was just hell.
But he had learned a lot from him, so there had never been any regret in that decision.
It had also helped him to understand how Attackers would move and how he should move when faced with one.
If this girl was inexperienced as a fighter but not in fighting then he would know what to do.
First was…
Fire!
Pulling the trigger on Ibis, he aimed for a non-vital spot. It would have done more damage since the girl had been protecting her more vital areas.
But…
"…"
She countered.
.
Hoshi saw the shot coming towards her but decided not to do it.
The power behind the attack and the speed of it had been what made her choose to face it head-on.
Since it only had power and little speed, she chose to match that power with her own.
The distance was too short to pull out Kōgetsu in time to count it, but she had learned something new in her previous fight.
"Shield!"
She pushed her arm forward as a concentrated shield appeared in the air.
Her palm struck the shield with power provided by her Trigger.
Shigenaga had been able to create two shields for this purpose and even kick them to win a fight, but Hoshi found that she could only focus enough for a single concentrated shield. Even the details of it were lacking in comparison.
But that was fine.
This was all she needed.
She forcibly hit the shield with the palm of her hand and watched as it pushed aside the air in order to reach her target.
The Ibis shot and the shield collided.
"She was able to copy it to that extent!?"
"Wow. Does this mean that Nana really isn't that skilled if her attack was easily copied?"
"Why you…! Get over here so I can properly beat you and scold you!"
Seiji smiled at his teammates.
He turned back to the screen with an interest shining in his eyes.
"That is certainly something though. To pull off even a single Hikigane Shield like that. This girl may be inexperienced, but she takes to things rather quickly. I wonder how Teru-kun will react to this."
Sekai watched with calculating eyes.
Yuki's younger sister had never once come in contact with him while Shigenaga had directly asked for his assistance. The older of the two had taken some time to reach the level of a double Hikigane Shield, but this girl had managed a single one only after a few minutes of having seen it.
It's a lot less refined than Shigenaga's, but that isn't the point. I had guided Shigenaga through the entire process and trained with her on multiple occasions for it. The fact Yuki's younger sister had only seen it today and managed even that single one makes me wonder just how insane that family really is.
She had always been spoken of as the most normal of the family, but Sekai could see that even that was only true to an extent.
The single shield she had thrown forward had collided with the Ibis shot and had still maintained its shape and side. Cracks were running along it, but that may have been because it was so hastily made.
But it had served its purpose.
Now that the initial shot had been backed, Yuki's younger sister could move forward before Ariake could fire his next shot.
So he had chosen to not fire.
Smart choice. Moving away from the attack is better than trying to take another shot. Even releasing Ibis was smart in this case.
He had likely thought he could bat away the Kōgetsu using Ibis, but that would no longer work now that his initial shot had been stopped without slowing her down.
WorTri: "If he isn't careful, Ariake may just end up losing without knowing why."
Manager: "What do you mean?"
Kimura not understanding the situation was fine since she had no combat training.
So he answered her without a sigh.
WorTri: "His attack had been blocked and now he can't use Ibis to block Kōgetsu. Meishō Squad had seen the logs then they learned about Yuki's younger sister's prototype Trigger. It creates those ribbons on light that can be moved according to the user's whim. Something that has been recently discovered is that the ribbons can also be extended. That was thanks to Nasu Squad's Yūko."
"Did you hear that, Kuma-chan!? He praised you! Isn't that great!?"
"H-huh!? How is that great!? That guy is just as bad as Denji! A compliment from him might as well be a death flag for me! Can we ask him to take it back!?"
"But he is being nice for once! Just accept it and tell him thank you later on!"
"I refuse! I really want him to take it back! If Denji finds out then he'll harass me the entire time!"
He refused to take back his words at this point.
WorTri: "If he is aware of that Trigger then he will become overly cautious of it and make a mistake. But in doing so he might not even realize that he made a mistake in the first place."
"That's right…" Yuki said from next to him.
It was nice to see some real emotion back on his face.
WorTri: "A person's mind will tend to focus more on what they know and try to prepare for the unknown, but the opposite can also be true. If they are focusing more on the unknown, they feel as if they have already done everything to prepare for the known. In doing so, they become blind to possibilities and will not know what it is that had caused them to lose in the first place. I will admit guilt to that. The only thing here is that Ariake isn't that strong to begin with. If he was any stronger then it would be even worse and his focus would mix with some arrogance."
White Fox: "That airhead would probably do that…"
Correcting him now would only cause the conversation to divert away from what they were watching.
So instead of doing so, Sekai only crossed his arms and faced the screen.
Hoshi saw the direction her opponent was moving and wanted to stop him.
Turning at this point would be difficult for her, so stopping him from doing so would be best for her.
The problem was how she would go about doing that.
She had already built up speed for her rush. Moving to the sides would weaken that speed and she would not be able to catch up with him at that point.
…In that case.
She made a snap decision.
It would not be the first one she made in this match and that fact alone made her happy.
Asteroid!
A cube of trion appeared.
And then…
Fujin activation in 10 seconds!
Without turning her eyes away from the spot in front of herself, she fired to the right and left of her vision.
The cube of trion split into multiple pieces and flew straight.
Her opponent had been trying to move to his right, but she fired on both sides so that his left would not be an option either.
With both sides blocked he would have to fall back into her field of vision that was facing forward.
…But that is not true! I realize there are more ways to deal with a problem instead of going back!
Like moving forward while taking the attack.
She had done something similar by mimicking what she had seen Shigenaga do.
That was exactly what her opponent did.
.
Mitsuteru released Bagworm from his shoulders to bring up a shield.
He had been moving to the right when the girl fired Asteroid at him.
The attack had been a way to place him back in front of her, but…
I've already seen stuff like that. You haven't felt true pain until you actually got hit with a double Hikigane Shield because you didn't want to move right or left. Those jerks even blocked my up and down just so they could record me getting hit in the face with that crap!
There had been some pretty terrible people in his life and most of them happened to be a part of Border.
It was thanks to those terrible people that he had learned how to deal with these sorts of attacks.
Instead of trying to move back or take a shortcut through the attack, he had to block it properly.
Timing it just right would have been an issue, but this girl's lack of experience had made it easy to figure out when to move and when to hide behind a shield.
The amount of bullets she fired is also pretty minimal. She's probably low on trion right now, so she can't make any big attacks for the time being. In which case, I should aim for her at the moment she is behind me. As long as I know where she will be, I can fire.
But wait…
…That was what Shigeko had tried against that guy. That ended in her loss.
So.
I shouldn't aim when she is behind me, but rather, I need to aim for the moment she is about to be behind me!
As the Asteroid bullets hit the shield, he activated and brought out Egret.
Without turning around, he held the Sniper Trigger backwards and fired.
From what he had seen, the girl would have made it to where he had fired just in time to take the hit.
There was the possibility that she would block the attack. Her usage of the Hikigane Shield had proven that she can adapt rather well, which meant that she may be able to notice what was happening.
So he turned.
Mitsuteru planted his foot on the roof, pushed off of it, and turned this body around.
Even if she blocks it, she would need to fix her position to chase me. So-
She was gone.
The girl had vanished as a certain sound reached his ears.
"Crap! I forgot about that!"
.
Hoshi felt a bit of pride in knowing that she had surprised her opponent.
Since she had been moving forward the entire time, her eyes had been focused on what was directly in front of her.
The Asteroid attacks had been her way of trying to force her opponent back to a position in front of her.
Since that had failed, she made her next action.
Teleport!
A sound came for a single moment.
Her sight had been focused on what was directly in front of her, but all it took was a simple glance in the other direction.
So she moved her eyes.
Turning her head or her body would have taken too long, so she moved her eyes as far as she could and activated the Trigger.
.
In an instant, Hoshi vanished from where she had been running, only to appear directly next to Mitsuteru.
With her hand still on Kōgetsu, she pulled out the blade while acting the prototype Trigger she had created.
At the same time she did so, Mitsuteru forced his arm up to lift Egret directly to his side.
He fired.
The sound of a body being struck was heard from close range, but it had not been enough.
Ribbons of light bloomed from the hilt of Kōgetsu as he was pulled from its holder.
Three out of the five ribbons moved forward.
Mitsuteru activated Shield upon seeing the ribbons moving toward him.
The first two ribbons had struck the shield while the third one managed to hit his leg.
The ribbons became a blade that cut through his leg.
With his sense of balance now off, he began to fall to the ground.
Then he fired.
He pulled the trigger of Egret two more times.
The first one had shot through Hoshi's chest and the second one had shot her shoulder.
The final two ribbons of light began to move.
But unlike the first three, the two last ones did something different.
One moved around while the other extended straight.
Egret's trigger was pulled two more times.
One ribbon of light had cut off the arm holding Egret.
The first shot went through the arm holding Kōgetsu's hilt.
Another ribbon of light extended out until it came in contact with Mitsuteru's neck.
Bail Out
The second shot had reached Hoshi's head.
Bail Out
Manager: "And with that, the match is over. Both Kotowari Squad and Meishō Squad get a point. Ninomiya Squad is the one who gets the survival points though. Here are the totals after adding those survival points."
Ninomiya Squad - 8 Points
Meishō Squad - 4 Points
Suzunari-1 - 3 Points
Kotowari Squad - 1 Point
"Damn. Now that we're seeing it like this, Kotowari Squad really didn't do too well here."
"They gave away a point or two at points, but the start was pretty harsh for them."
"Still, Ninomiya Squad getting 8 points by the end is just crazy."
"Suzunari and Meishō seem pretty even from the looks of things."
Kimura had to agree with everything she was hearing.
By way of points, it had seemed like something had clearly been wrong throughout the entire fight for it to end up like this.
Manager: "We will now go over the match and give our final commentary. A lot had happened in this match with there being four squads, two of which having four members in them. Please standby for a minute."
She looked to the side and saw both Yuki and Sekai nodding at her.
Yeah. …There's a lot to say here isn't there?
Hoshi hung her head as she made her way over to her teammates.
By the end of the match she had been able to get a point, but for some reason it had felt wrong to do so.
All that she could think about was the feeling she had been having the entire time.
But instead of being told anything, she had come to an unexpected sight.
"Well done, Hoshi-chan. We managed to get at least one point because of you."
Looking up, she saw the varying expressions on her teammates.
To the side of Nakagami, who had been the one to speak to her, Suzume had her arms crossed while holding up her breasts. The bitter smile on her face had been in her direction but had not been sent to her.
Next to them, Takeshi was looking down while covering his face with his scarf. The grip on it had been tight from the way the fabric was crumpling.
Toby had moved over to a corner, turned away from her. His shoulders shook a bit, but she could get nothing from that.
"Um… Thank you, but…"
"Huh? Oh, these three. Don't worry too much about it. They are just thinking about stuff."
Nakagami patted the spot next to her.
The usually high energy she had seemed to have settled down or the time being, so she took up the offer.
"Now, let's listen to what these guys have to say about the match."
"Hah… I guess that's that. We managed to come in second, so that's good to know. But…"
"But now you need to let everything go. Isn't that right, Teru-kun?"
Mitsuteru lightly smiled at Seiji.
His captain was looking at him with understanding. It was different from the questioning looks his teammates were giving him, but he said nothing.
There would no longer be a reason to say anything.
Everything that had built up over time would now be released like the breaths he would take when tension started taking over his body.
Now that I think about it, I didn't take a breath during my last fight there.
What exactly did that mean?
Had he felt relaxed while fighting that girl, or had it simply been that his focus was elsewhere?
Either way, he knew that it meant there had been less tension during that time and it allowed him to score a point for his team.
Manager: "Alright then. We will now go over the match. The map that had been chosen was Cityscape E, and the setting for it had been a lightless night with periodic strong winds. Meishō Squad had been the ones to choose the map and the settings. How did you think they did working with those?"
WorTri: "They had clearly wanted the pitch black of night to be what helped them at the start. Ariake and Shigenaga had been using that to blind their opponents in order to attack them. Once that had started to wear off, they then used the wind to their advantage. Hah. By having the location contain multiple narrow spaces, they could funnel the wind in a way that could blow through those narrow spaces and less in the open spaces. The wind still reached the top of the buildings somewhat, so the Snipers had to be careful in how they fired. Hah."
Manager: "Once these narrow spaces had become less helpful, they had been sealed off. That tactic had been done by Captain Meishō. Using Meteora, he started forcing the wind to take up the open spaces instead of the narrow spaces. But that had also been what helped him to almost get around the seemingly impenetrable defense Suzunari-1 had this match."
WorTri: "Hah.I would say they used the location and settings rather well. Maybe even better than what we could see."
Manager: "What do you mean?"
WorTri: "You could see it in the way Masataka and Kō were moving. They did well to make it look the same as usual, but it was clear that something about the location was getting to them. The same applies to Inukai, but not on the same scale as those two."
Manager: "Now that you mention it, it did seem like it was taking longer to take others out for those two than it normally would."
White Fox: "…"
WorTri: "But they aren't the only ones who used the location and settings to their advantage. There had been brief moments when other squads had decided to use the wind or the lights in order to gain the upper hand here. Hah."
Manager: "Right, let's talk about them then. If we are going in order, Meishō Squad's rather forward start is something to note."
.
"It was more than just 'forward'. It was completely out of character for those guys. Maybe Shigenaga moving in like that was fine, but Mitsuteru was completely different."
Tonooka crossed his arms as he sat back in his seat.
Now that the match was over, he wanted to hear what the commentators had to say about his friend and the way he had been behaving.
WorTri: "At first glance it had seemed that Ariake wanted to quickly take out the strongest competition in the match with the way he had fired at Masataka. That would have been smart, but the way he went about it was completely idiotic. Hah. From what I could see, it felt much more like he was trying to let out some grudge by attacking like that. The same applies to Shigenaga fighting Suzunari-1."
Manager: "The strategies Meishō Squad had used during this match had been different from the ones they had used before. During the other matches it had been clear that they went with Agent Shigenaga and Agent Asagi as their main offense while Captain Meishō and Agent Ariake supported them from behind. This time those roles seemed to have been switched a bit. Agent Shigenaga had still been offensive, but Agent Ariake had also been pretty forward with his attacks."
Kimura knowing what Mitsuteru was like had been a given since they were once on the same squad, but Tonooka found himself a bit surprised by how the Hikigane Squad Captain had been able to tell what was going on.
"Looks like he was being pretty obvious, wasn't he? What do you have to say, Tono?"
"…I want to talk to him about it later on. It's not like him to go against his own style like that. But the way he seemed by the end of the match kind of tells me everything I need to know."
"So are you going to criticize him for how he did things here?"
He looked around at the expecting faces looking at him.
None of them said anything directly to him, but he understood that they wanted to know how he felt about the matter.
So he shrugged.
"I'm not going to tell you guys that. If I do then there's the chance it can reach those people."
.
White Fox: "All of Meishō Squad was relying on something that some of them had no clue about. As a whole they did well, but could not properly find their footing since one of their Snipers had gone super offensive. That would have been fine if he wasn't their main support. They had been split up for the better part of the match and had even been given a point because of someone else's arrogance."
"But," Yuki added, even while ignoring the looks he was getting.
White Fox: "They played the field well here. Even if it was handed to them, a point here still matters."
WorTri: "Hah. That's right. They even showed their own personal skills during this match. Suzunari had seen that firsthand while Kotowari Squad had been the victims of correct timing."
Manager: "Then let's talk about those two squads next."
WorTri: "Hah. This was the first time we had seen a new strategy from Suzunari. This one had been relying on Kō's defense to support a full offensive from Tatsuya. That is not a bad idea at all. It had a new layer to their formation that doesn't rely on getting close to their targets. Hah. And the pros for that kind of strategy outweigh the cons since it also places Kō in a position to also attack if he needs to."
White Fox: "Surprisingly enough, Taichi had been the first one to score a point for their squad. It may have been due to some confusion of the battlefield, but like I said: every point matters. He had messed up the moment he fell for Toby's nice words and took up the fight against Shigenaga. The likelihood of him winning that was way too low for him to make up for the difference between them. He should have thought that through and his teammates should have stopped him from doing that."
Manager: "That is rate harsh considering his teammates were fighting against Captain Ninomiya and two of Meishō Squad's members."
White Fox: "But it's the truth. Keeping track of all members of a squad is important on matters like that. Even more so for someone like Taichi. He is a Sniper, so having him fight a close range specialist like Shigenaga was just dumb."
For a second time, he added a "but" to the end of his sentence.
White Fox: "He had done well enough for what he could do. There were a lot of flaws in his fight against her, but that can only lead to a new experience for him. As for their new strategy… It is also something that can only get better the more it is built up. From a lot of experience, I can tell you that Kō's defenses are some of the most airtight. If he is going full defense then there are not many who can break through. Add in Kuruma-san's ranged attacks and you have a mobile fortress that can only be added on to."
"Kō-san is smiling!"
"It's about time. I guess he can't resist a compliment when it comes from someone so important to him."
Kuruma could only nod in agreement.
He had seen the flaws in their planning during the match and felt that what Yuki had said was true.
It had been his job as captain to make sure that his squad is properly placed around the battlefield and to give them instructions when needed. Even if their new strategy had been praised, they had still taken more damage than any of them would have liked.
"Well you heard them. Adding on to this can only help us out. In a sense, they are telling us that we have reached the starting point of something good. So let's keep that up and build on what we have now."
The other three could only nod their heads.
Still it's clear what his words mean for us specifically. It's because he's directing them at us that Kō is smiling like that. I don't know what happened between those two, but this might have helped them out a bit. I won't be holding up to anything, but I'll help however I can.
"You know, that whole pitch black thing Meishō Squad was going for was pretty cool! It sucked trying to find things without any sight, but it was amazing that it worked so well! I kind of want to try that now too!"
"Don't get your hopes up, Taichi. We don't know who we are fighting next. Think about the future a bit more before saying anything."
"Now, now, Kon. Letting him have some fun isn't so bad."
"Right! Kō-san gets it!"
For now he only had to focus on what they were being told.
This would be another starting point for them.
Manager: "Now this just leaves Kotowari Squad and Ninomiya Squad."
White Fox: "…"
WorTri: "No need to hold back here. Give it your all."
Manager: "Just make sure it's PG. I don't want to get into ruble for what you say."
White Fox: "Okay. I will start with Ninomiya Squad then. And with that… They were their own mess here. They won, sure, but their captain was being an idiot, Inukai was trying to pacify that idiot captain too much, and Tsuji still has his issues. Hiyami seemed to be the only one doing everything right. Starting with that idiot… He let what had been happening get to him and that had mixed in with what he remembered because of the setting around him. You can say he was in top form, but I saw it clearly. The only thing that was really there was his body and his attacks. His mind was thinking about things that should not be involved when it comes to these things and he never puts any sort of heart into it, so that's the only thing that can be excused."
WorTri: "It did seem like he was holding back at times."
White Fox: "Inukai had been wanting to show something. I can say that it was my own fault, but he was basically doing the same thing his idiotic captain was doing. He was trying too hard on something that should not have been in the match in the first place. People might be thankful for that later on, but it was actually pretty insulting to the rest of the fighters who had nothing holding them back and had still lost to these guys. Next time he will need to remain focused don't he fight he's in instead of something that only involves him due to proxy."
.
"He is really laying it on hard."
Oshiro tightened his grip on the pup that sat in his arms.
Taka had remained in the seat next to him, but Krümel had crawled onto his lap the moment he felt his own start to tense up.
The feeling of his fur had a calming effect on him, but that did not stop the chill from Yuki's words.
"I see. Kiyo-nii must reeeeeeeeally care about them…"
"What do you mean? He is only giving harsh criticism on them without giving them proper advice."
"Yeah, it seems that way."
So which was it?
Oshiro knew that the younger Taiyōko brother was smart, but he was making little sense at the moment.
"He is really laaaaaying it on hard there. But if he diiiiiiiiidn't then it would be like letting them ooooooooff the hook with a slap on the wrist. And since I'm right, the neeeeext one should be…"
White Fox: "Tsuji being held back just because his opponent is a woman is also something that stops them from doing more than they could have. But unlike those other two, this one isn't really something that can be resolved in a short amount of time. In that sense, he just happened to get unlucky with his matchup. But that then also falls on his teammates. That air headed idiot of a captain knew about this and yet remained in his fight against Suzunari. Inukai was at least there, but those two were saved by the good nature of Kotowari Squad. If their opponents had not been Toby and Hoshi then they would have at least lost Tsuji before he could do anything. In the end, he could only hold off those two, but that had at least accomplished something. Lowering their amount of trion is still something when compared to nothing."
"Tch. I can't deny that…even iiiiiiiif it is that idiot. But seriously, he's waaaaaaaay toooooo useless when it comes to females. Haaaaaave you two not done soooooomething about it yet?"
It was not like that. The issue was just so deep that even they, Tsuji's two best friends, could not fully clear him of his fear of women.
Hisoka seemed to understand that it was best not to answer Mukuro from the way she only turned to look at him.
Her silent words reached him clearly and had him relaxing his hold on Krümel.
Manager: "My captain has said that he and Kobayashi have been trying to help, but that only resulted in Tsuji getting along with Kobayashi. I'm guessing that you would need to take each person one at a time to have him get comfortable around them for something to work."
WorTri: "Hah. We all have our own personal issues like that. It may be a hindrance when it's a one-on-one setting, but these rank wars are done with squads. That means he needs to be able to rely on his teammates when matters like these come up, instead of his opponents' kindness."
He was glad to hear that they understood what was going on.
Then he heard it.
The next "but" that came from Yuki.
He must really be conflicted with himself if he keeps doing that.
White Fox: "As much as I hate to say it, they have what it takes to make up for that stuff. Even if they weren't fully there, they managed the win. The points they had gotten were ones they had taken and were not handed to them. The skill they have shows why they were former A-Ranks and currently the top squad out of the B-Rank squads. As long as the rest of them can keep up with their idiotic airhead captain, I don't really see them going down in rank. But making sure that their members are fine during a match is something they should think about more often. Otherwise there will come a time when even the weakest person on the battlefield will be able to take them out."
"That damn faker. I don't want to hear anything about keeping track of teammates from the likes of him. He can't even properly take care of himself or the people around him. For him to speak about that stuff…"
"Okay, okay, calm down, Ninomiya-san. He is only saying what he is seeing. And he does have a point in certain parts."
The glare sent towards Inukai was a cold one meant for his enemies, but Inukai felt the full brunt of it.
Once the match had ended, his captain had been adamant in refusing to listen to what Yuki had to say about the match. It was another sign that things were still rough between the two of them.
Well more than usual at least…
Still, he put on a smile and tried to calm his captain's nerves.
This type of situation was not one that he could rely on Tsuji or Hiyami for. So he took it upon himself to cool the temper of his captain while he had the chance.
"The two of us were thinking about that incident way too much because we had both been there when it happened. But that had been in the past. We can't change it and Yuki knows that. He knows that as well as either one of us."
"That's not… I know that the past can't be changed. If it could then I would have a lot to do. But that damn faker is doing something other than getting over the past as a whole. He is trying to forget it and pretend that it never happened. As if the start for him had always been in that hospital."
"But that's what he's been trying to do the whole time, isn't it?"
"No. Up until now, he has only tried to push aside the past. But now he wants to completely get rid of it. By doing that, he's also getting rid of everything concerning that past and making decisions based on what the current 'him' knows now. That's why what he caused with Minoru is…"
It was true.
Inukai knew it well enough too. What had been happening was due to Yuki wanting to get rid of all of the past so that he did not have any connections to certain people. In doing so he would be able to better act on situations that involved them.
But…
That's only a selfish want that has no effect on those other people. They will still be who they are and do as they like. Him trying so hard for this only means that his own sight will be different during those situations.
"—"
Sometimes it was hard to have difficult friends.
Inukai was all too aware of that fact.
At least I have Oshiro too.
WorTri: "And we reach the final part. Kotowari Squad, who had been doing well in the fights but failed overall."
White Fox: "They are being too relaxed about these matches now."
Manager: "I believe that comes from their former captain."
White Fox: "No. I had tried to make sure their nerves were calm before matches, but I always made sure they knew that it was serious. They might understand that mentally, but their personalities are not ready for this kind of thing. It would be fine if they were in the mid tier, but they can't be giving things away at the top tier."
WorTri: "Hah. That's true. While their first fight can be forgiven due to who the opponent was, they became too casual with the later fights. Taiyōko didn't take the chance to take out Tsuji, and Awdry had given a point away to Shigenaga. Hah. We all saw how fast he was able to move. Taking off Taichi's head would have been nothing to him. They had changed the interpretation of it, but the fact remains that he could have gotten them another point."
White Fox: "The same applies to Hoshi. Looking past Tsuji, she waited for Mitsuteru to be ready during their fight. While that entire thing was adorable, it is also something that can't be overlooked. Those two are too kind and get attached to things easily. That may be viewed as a positive in a casual setting, but fights are different. Toby would have taken that point and the both of them should have used Hoshi against Tsuji. That way they could have ended with at least 3 points while Meishō Squad would have been down by two there. They aren't the only ones at fault though. Their captain should have also gotten them to move… Or at least, that's what I want to say. The fact of the matter is that Kotowari Squad works on a system of equality. Their captain holds no more power than the rest of them. So at the least, they should have put it to a vote and see what they should have done."
Manager: "That kind of system is also not good for these sorts of things. Each squad needs a single leader so that they can take charge when it is needed. Having it so that everyone has a say is good, but not having a designated person to lead the way means that they will all clash at some point and that will cause confusion and delay."
White Fox: "Right. These matches are not going to be against people so nice that they would decide to go with their ideas of fairness. Each squad will be looking for their own chances to win here. But…"
Hoshi felt herself starting to fidget more and more.
The words her older brother was saying were true and she knew it.
She had never had any sort of delusion that her personality was fit for fighting. Everything about her felt as if she should not have been involved with fighting actual people.
I can fight, yes, but I know that I become too nice when it involves other people.
Maybe that was why Katori did not like her.
She saw how much of a poor match her personality was and decided not to like her because of it.
It made her sad, but looking over that would only be her way of escaping the problem.
So when she heard the final part of what her brother was going to say, she listened closely.
White Fox: "That is only their personalities."
"Huh?"
Hearing the confused tone from her teammate, she looked up to see that Toby had made his way back over to them.
White Fox: "Their abilities as fighters is not something that others can just give a passing glance at. Just looking form the start of the match, both Takeshi and Suzu had been able to properly assess how they should defend against that idiotic airhead."
WorTri: "Hah. I had mentioned it before, but Awdry's speed is also something to note. And the way he tried to use Taichi to take out Shigenaga was fine in theory. Hah. They managed to barely skim the top tier, even with this loss, so my own squad has a chance to fight them. It sounds like it would be an irritation since they are doing so well. In particular, those two overly kind kids are the most irritating."
Manager: "That's right. You had spoken about the way Agent Taiyōko had used her Shield in the same way as Agent Shigenaga."
"I actually wanted to ask you about that too, Hoshi."
"Um… I am not too sure what there is to speak about. I had only tried it and failed to properly fight using it."
Toby shook his head. Whatever had been going on with him before seemed to have passed since he looked at her with an expecting expression now.
"That's not the point. What mattered was that you tried it after having only seen it today. That also goes for you extending out Fujin. Yūko had barely found that out today, but you had been able to get it done right away."
"I-it's not that special! I-I only did what I had seen! Like a test run! I am still nowhere near the level of Shigenaga-san or Kumagai-senpai!"
That appeared to be the wrong thing to say from the sigh he let out.
The atmosphere around them had begun to lighten around the room again. Their upperclassmen had started swinging her body starting from the hips and the grip their captain had on his scarf was loosening.
WorTri: "Shigenaga had spent a lot of time trying to work out how to best use Shield the way I do. She had come to me before for help and it took us a while before she managed to get it down to two shields. Hah. Taiyōko had only seen it today and yet she had been able to use it well enough, even by my standards. That's not to say she was insulting Shigenaga though. It is only going to show that she has a lot of potential if she is able to understand the basics of something like that so quickly."
White Fox: "Hoshi has always been a fast learner. If you combine that sort of thing with any of the other three then it will be difficult to fight them. Well that only only applies to when they get better. At the moment, they are all still rather green when it comes to these things. But that only leaves room for their improvement."
Going from light to fluffy, the room had brightened up.
Everything that had built up from the simple feeling at the start of the match to how it had ended started to grow lighter. The weight of their words was still there, but it had not become overbearing.
Both corrections and praise had come in from them and they would take it to better themselves here.
"Alright! After this match we have a weeklong break! We're gonna get some things done during that time!"
"Right!"
It was now something for them to look at for improvement.
Manager: "And that will conclude the commentary for this Round 6 match of the B-Rank Wars. Thank you for joining us today and giving your input. Any final comments you would like to add?"
WorTri: "Just that I know there will be some irritating people being idiots once this is over."
Manager: "Right… I think I know who you mean… And from you?"
White Fox: "Everyone has something they need to work on, but it shouldn't be something that overtakes them. Moving at a steady pace will be best. Also, so matter what happens…don't let anything go just yet."
Manager: "You would finish on that… Well that is that. Once again, I thank you all for being here, and our two commentators for their input."