Chapter 3: Induction

AN: Chapter 207 of the manga is out (as of Apr 30th), and it's honestly a banger, but at the same time I'm a bit bummed about how two of my assumptions ended up becoming non-canon basically two days after I've posted them – the bit about language barrier and about everything running on Trion. Apparently, Border HQ has electricity, and Trion-operating appliances are just as common as electric ones. Oh well. In hindsight, it makes sense, and since I'm not that far into the story, might as well implement Ashihara's solution as well.

The fact about Trion bodies being automatic translators of speech, however, makes me want to call bullshit, but in a way I understand why the manga author did it. Therefore, I'll quietly rant to myself and continue with my own version, albeit a bit more modified. It will make future fights with Neighbours a bit more confusing, but I'll find a way… maybe.

A funny moment occurred when I was writing Jin's interaction with Kido-san. I've scoured the internet for a correct name for Kido's rank in Japanese, and so I've found a raw manga page, translated it, and it ended up being the same as Google Translate offered me. Half an hour of my life wasted for nothing 3

Another small note is that while someone is speaking in Mark's presence, if it is written in regular English, that means he understands what they are saying. The Japanese words and sentences will be provided in romaji, and I want your opinions on whether I should provide translations for you in brackets ( ). I will also start providing Imperial unit measurements as well, since the majority of my readers seem to be American. Anyway, onwards to the chapter!

Seven hours later, when the sun started to set, several people inside the Border base were facing a difficult problem.

"Agent Arashiyama, deliver your report, please." said Shinoda-san once Commander Kido took his seat. They were once again located in the main conference room, and the ones attending the meeting were the Chief Commander Kido, General Manager Shinoda and Foreign Affairs Manager Karasawa, as well as Jun himself.

The 18-year old, clad in his red squad uniform, sharply nodded. "Of course, Shinoda-san. As I've probably already said, my impressions of Haagensen-san are altogether positive. Psychologically he's fine, as far as I could tell. There was some… emotional detachment when he spoke of himself and his circumstances, but I assume this is temporary and will not affect his performance as a trainee or a full-fledged agent. I will still recommend he undergo a full psychological evaluation, but it's not urgent," Kido nodded, signing for Jun to continue. "On the matter of education, I suggest a Border endorsement into Mikado City Municipal University. It would probably smooth the transition between his civilian and Border lives, as well as allow him to establish connections with other agents who attend college."

Karasawa piped in. "I have already contacted Haagensen-san's former university to facilitate a transfer, and they provisionally agreed. It would take some fiddling with the paperwork, but if all goes well, he would be able to continue his studies here in Mikado." The man rifled through a stack of English papers. "From his grades, however, I don't think he'll need an endorsement from us, he might be able to get in on his own merits anyway."

"Physically, Haagensen-san is good enough," Jun continued after the interruption. "While his agility and strength are barely above average, he boasts incredible endurance and keen eyesight. Coupled with his sharp intelligence, the choice of Sniper specialisation is probably for the best. However, there is the issue of his Trion body – on top of the fact that any damage to it is potentially lethal, it refused to change after activating any of the Border Triggers. Until we solve that particular problem, I think it would be best to limit Haagensen-san to training exercises and studies."

"Seconded," said Karasawa. "The risk to his life is too large to allow him to participate in Solo Rank Wars or any exercises that include agent vs. agent encounters. Besides, all of our agents are accustomed to Bail Out function, and because of that every strike is meant to be lethal to a Trion body. If an accident happens in training, it would become one of the largest PR disasters in Border history."

"I will inform Netsuki-san and Kinuta-san about it," Shinoda added, looking pensive. "The next enlistment day is in September, two weeks from now, and we might have to alter our plans for the tests," he then looked up at Jun. "What about his strategy and tactics result? Fuyushima-kun should've already checked the papers."

"He did, and I asked him to forward Haagensen-san's results to my communicator," the 18-year old promptly responded and scrolled through his tablet. "According to him, Haagensen-san showed a good tactical mindset, but very little potential in the strategy department. He is capable of leading himself rather well and thinks outside of the box, but when it came to leading others, he showed remarkably little initiative and his strategies were basic and uninspired. Fuyushima-san suggests placing him under an experienced captain's leadership and assign him a tactically gifted mentor to hone whatever skills he has. The end result: Special Tactics rating of five, Command rating of two."

"Not a bad result," Shinoda commented, "and with his high Trion levels coupled with shooting skills, his choice of the Sniper role makes a lot of sense. As for his inability to lead a squad, that is regrettable, but nothing out of the ordinary."

"The last order of business concerning Haagensen-san is Jin's assessment of him," said Karasawa. "He will be returning earlier than expected tomorrow morning, and we will be able to finally put this matter behind us. Until then, I think nothing more can be said." Shinoda-san nodded, and Commander Kido stood up as well.

"Meeting is adjourned. Agent Arashiyama, you are dismissed."

"Hai." the 18-year old saluted and left the room along with Shinoda and Karasawa. Commander Kido stayed behind, his hands clasped behind his back. He stared down onto the Mikado City, deep in thought.

The whole issue with Haagensen left the Commander in a quandary. On one hand, every report about the young man said that he was prime Border material and that declining his recruitment was a huge mistake despite him being a foreign citizen. However, his Trigger was what made Kido apprehensive. The only people in Border who had any idea about the dangers of parasitic Triggers were the members of the Old Border, which included him and Shinoda, and Kinuta-san due to his position as head of the R&D department. One single mistake, one wrong step in handling Haagensen could ultimately lead to ruin, and thankfully, Kido had a ready solution.

This was a careful balancing act between profit and loss, a very dangerous gamble, and while Kido was not a betting man himself, he acknowledged that sometimes gambles had to be made. And if you had the ability to cheat, well…

Not using it would be a pinnacle of stupidity.

While the higher-ups were deciding his fate, Mark was lying on his bed, lazily flicking through the channels on the TV. He was no longer in his regular clothes – he had changed these for a set of black and red sleepwear he used to have when he still had a body.

"System, display current status."

"Request acknowledged."

A window suddenly popped up, occupying about a third of his vision, and Mark flinched despite knowing something like that would happen. Scaling it down with a hand gesture, he irritably went into the Settings menu.

"I swear this Trigger will sooner kill me by giving me a heart attack than anything else. Oh wait; I don't have one any more, ha-ha." He changed the HUD settings a little bit, forbidding any window or notification to take up more than 10% of his view.

"On second thought, might as well add a clause about these things not obstructing my line of sight no matter what. This tricky bugger might actually think of exploiting this one day," he complained while adding another condition in an already bloated list. "As if I already didn't know you want me dead so desperately."

"Notice: this System does not have 'wants'. Only directives."

"I would've believed you, maybe, if I didn't spend six whole months and some change in your company," he fired back, despite knowing it was ultimately an exercise in futility. "But I already know that you're a homicidal parasite that feeds on my Trion, so shut up. Please."

"…Request acknowledged. Notice: this System does not wish you harm."

"Again with that spiel?" Mark was beginning to lose his patience. He had heard this exact argument several times in the past, and he was being fed up with it. "You are forcing me to race against the clock that counts down hours to my imminent death, and you say don't wish me any harm?" he sighed explosively, managing to calm himself down before he'd do something he'd regret later. "Listen. I know you are a soulless machine that has no morals, and I accepted you for what you are, so why do you keep lying to my face? Why do you try and make things harder?"

"… User access level not sufficient. Please enter another query."

"Now… that's new all right," Mark suddenly shot up, his expression reminiscent of that on a bloodhound. "User access? Does that mean there's administrator access?"

"Unable to process query, please restate your question."

He got up and started pacing around the room. "Hmm. Well, since you are being obtuse, I guess I have to ask you more pointed questions. First one – what directives do you currently have?"

"Access to information partially denied. Database entry Third Directive added."

"At least three, huh?" He shook his head. "And only one is available. Next, what are the requirements to get administrator access?"

"Access granted. Database entries Administrator, User added."

However, that was the last question he managed to get his answers to. Every other one, including the 'how do you function' one and 'where's my body' ended up being dead ends. The System refused to share any more information besides what it'd already revealed. Thus, deciding to stop with the questions for now, Mark opened the Database.

"So, your third directive is to grow by gathering Trion. Well, that made me feel much safer. Not." Mark's sarcasm was practically dripping from his voice. "I eagerly await the day when you finally bleed me dry of energy and kill me, condemning another poor soul to this bullshit."

Despite the grim reminder about his situation, Mark scrolled to the next item, and he was not disappointed. The Administrator and User entries proved to be a jackpot of all jackpots.

"There are two types of System users: regular users, who have a limited access to System features and serve as data gatherers and power sources for the System," he read out loud, "and Administrators, who have full access to the System's workings and features. Requirements to become an Administrator: age 18, free Trion output larger than 15, physical parameters over 50, mental parameters over 75. Current Administrator status: unconfirmed, presumed deceased. Wait, what?" his eyebrows climbed up. "Deceased as in, what, six feet under, feeding the fishes?"

"Correct. Attention: former Administrator location is unknown. Connection to other System nodes unavailable. Time since last synchronisation: Error. Recalculating… 12 years 5 months 11 days."

To say that Mark was stunned into silence would be a gross understatement. His System was at least 12 years old, if not more so. Somebody likely killed the former owner, and there were others like him. Or, at least, there used to be.

"S-System? What are the chances that the former Administrator or any of the other users were killed by Border?" he asked, cold sweat running down his neck.

"0.001% chance."

Was the prompt response, and Mark flopped down on the bed, landing in a boneless heap out of sheer relief He was safe for now, and he didn't wander into a lion's den by mistake.

"If not them, then who?"

"Data corrupted. Attempting to recover…"

His vision went white for a split second, and he felt as if his head was about to burst open like an overripe watermelon. Then it ended just as abruptly as it started.

"Recovered data: 0.78%. More information required."

"Ow fuck you!" he swore, clutching his head and trying to regain his bearings. "Warn me next time, you overgrown quantum computer!"

"Database entry on CORRUPTED added."

The entry was just a bunch of gibberish, although a few recognisable words were still present.

"Trion, Neighbour… Neighbourhood? What is that?" Mark wondered, scrolling down and trying to parse through the corrupted entry. "I assume it's not a bunch of houses close together. Neighbour home world, maybe? Trigger, humans… the rest is a bunch of useless garbage. Less than a percent recovered, and all it did was just make the mystery even more convoluted."

He sighed and decided to shelve that entire conversation for the time being. He got distracted from his customary status check-up, so he brought the forgotten window back to its original size.

"Alright, what do we have here?" he perused the list, noting a slight increase in Agility, Intelligence and Wisdom. "Strength is still unchanged. Guess these swords required more dexterity than strength, and I'm lacking in both departments equally. Endurance stayed the same as well. Wisdom didn't get much of a boost, but Intelligence did. Three points in INT in one day, wow. That's a record all right." He decided to ignore his Charisma – it was one of the more finicky stats that rose and fell according to the public's perception of him, and the System didn't check it anyway, so he didn't bother with it either.

What was new, however, was the Trion parameter that currently sat at a nine out of… twenty. It was the only parameter to have an upper limit, which confused him a lot.

"Nine out of twenty? What the flying fuck? System? Is that your shenanigans again?"

"Answer: user's current maximum possible Trion output is 20 relative units. However, due to System's operational expenses, 11 units have been deducted to power the System's functions, leaving nine units free. Over time, the System's expenses increase, and should the free output fall to zero, the user dies."

"And why do I have so much maximum Trion?"

"Error: administrator access required."

"Bugger. This again." he was getting tired of the constant roadblocks. "How do I increase my Trion output?"

"Answer: the user had already done so numerous times in the past by increasing their parameters."

"So, training? Well, I guess it could be worse, like sacrificing virgins on a moonless night," he quipped amusedly. "Considering your lack of morals, I really expected something on the level of a satanic ritual."

Mark was mentally exhausted now. After a gruelling test he probably failed spectacularly and an intense argument with his own homicidal Trigger, he felt he deserved a good night's sleep. Or two. So he gave a command to the System to wake him up at 6 AM tomorrow, and he knew no more.

Jin Yūichi was an elite Border agent, an S-rank. Everyone in the agency either knew him, or knew about him. Therefore, it wasn't a big surprise that as soon as he stepped into the Border Headquarters in the early hours of morning, news of his arrival spread faster than sound ever could. Gossip tended to do so rather often.

For Jin, it wasn't a large deal. He was long since accustomed to being popular, and frequently used it to his advantage – and this situation was no different. He knew he was expected, and so he leveraged his entrance to be noticed by as many people as possible in order for the Commander to summon him, and not the other way around. Commander Kido was very strict about propriety and discipline, and while he allowed the self-proclaimed 'power elite' some leeway in his behaviour, Jin knew that he would not have approved of Jin dictating the terms of their future meeting despite it being rather urgent.

Several seconds later, his communicator rang with an incoming message, and Jin headed up the elevator to the conference room without even reading it. After all, why bother doing it when you already know the contents in advance?

"Jin," said the Commander as soon as the door behind the 18-year old S-ranker closed, "I trust you already know what is going on."

"Yes, my Side Effect already told me," he smiled and took a seat on the opposite side of the Commander. "You are conflicted on whether or not to make a foreigner a Border agent."

"It's not about him being foreign," Kinuta-san growled, "it's about his Trigger! You know how dangerous the parasitic types are, probably more than I do!"

Jin sagely nodded. "Yes, but it's obviously not a simple parasite, Kinuta-san." The entire room quieted down. "A regular parasite would've latched onto a victim, drained it of all Trion within a week or so and continued rampaging across the populace. Here, we see six months of silence. No desiccated husks, no mysterious disappearances. Nothing. So there is something going on, I am sure, but whether or not it is malicious, I can't tell right now."

"Bring him in," said Kido-san, and the doors opened, revealing two people standing behind it. One was easily recognisable to Jin – after all, that signature red coat and black hair could only belong to one person.

"Jun-kun! Hisashiburi da ne!" he rose and hugged his fellow agent, who evidently did not enjoy a sudden reunion session.

"Yamete kudasai, Jin-san! Chissoku shite iru!" the unflappable A-ranker was trying to claw his way out to no avail.

Eventually, Jin had released his grip, and Arashiyama wormed out of the deadly hug panting, despite being in his Trion body. Then the 'power elite' actually paid attention to the second newcomer.

He was about as tall as Jun, maybe a centimetre or two shorter (~5 ft 9.7 in), with long brown hair that were tied behind his head in a ponytail. Jin knew that he was 21, three years older than he himself was, but even after seeing the foreigner in person, he could not tell his exact age – probably it was the youthful haircut or the lack of facial hair.

However, what made Jun more excited was the fact that immediately after they looked each other in the eyes, many potentially precarious futures he didn't know how to affect suddenly started to shift. He was the pebble in a lake that made the waves that wash away the soil that held a tree, and these people, as rare as they were, often made the best friends and the worst enemies, in Jun's opinion. So he grinned and held his hand out for a greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Mark-san. I'm Jin Yūichi, the 'power elite' of Border, and I'm glad to welcome you into our agency."

Stunned silence. Then…

"Well, I guess problem solved," said Takumi Rindō, the Tamakoma Branch Chief between his cigarette puffs. "Jin always solves them in a way you'd least expect him to."

"This is Commander Kido's decision, not yours, Jin!" Kinuta-san angrily shouted, pounding the table. "No matter how much leeway you have, this is outright insubordination!"

"Calm down, Kinuta-san," Jin only smiled at him. "After all, my verdict was the only obstacle that prevented you from doing what I just did. My Side Effect tells me so."

'Database entry on Side Effects available.'

To that, the short R&D chief had no viable comeback. He wasn't wrong – they all waited for his judgement before making the call, and all he did was just welcome him to Border, not make him an agent.

"Sly dog." the chief muttered while sitting down. Despite knowing Jin and his antics for years now, he still could not fully get used to them.

"Well, if there are no other objections," said Shinoda-san, "then I vote for Haagensen-san's induction into Border ranks as a C-rank agent, starting today."

"Seconded," Karasawa-san.

"I vote nay," said Netsuki-san. "The potential damages from the news about his Trigger, should it ever come to light, are immense."

"You said the same about Amō-kun," Shinoda-san parried. "He's still a very valuable asset despite everything, and his case is even more convoluted than Haagensen's."

Netsuki frowned, but nodded, seeing the hypocrisy of his statement. "I still vote nay."

"I tentatively vote aye," Kinuta-san said while standing up. "My reasons for my apprehension are already known, so I won't repeat myself. But since I trust Jin's judgement, this vote is an 'aye' instead of a 'nay'."

Jin grinned. Everything went just as he wanted it to – his careful wording of his welcome managed to tilt Kinuta-san's vote in Mark's favour, and now Kido-san had to decide.

The aforementioned Commander was currently sitting with his hands clasped in a legendary 'Hikari Gendo' gesture, deep in thought.

"Jin. Kare wa hontō ni shinrai dekimasu ka?" the sudden Japanese sentence threw everyone for a loop for a split second.

"Hai, Saikō Shirei-kan." Jun answered in the same serious tone as the man. Several seconds passed in silence, nobody daring to breathe. Then…

"Very well. From now on, Mark Haagensen is considered an official Border trainee with all the responsibilities and privileges the position entails. He is to be assigned to the Headquarters as a C-rank Sniper trainee. Meeting dismissed."

Mark released a sigh and nearly coughed. He didn't even notice he stopped breathing, the atmosphere in the room was that intense.

"Congratulations!" Arashiyama was grinning ear to ear. "I was absolutely sure for a second that Kido-san would reject you, but he didn't! Welcome to Border, Mark!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jun-senpai," Mark wryly said, "I really appreciate the fact you hadn't had even the slightest shred of doubt there." The sarcasm in his voice was thick, and Jun had the decency to look sheepish.

"Well, it's not that I didn't think you would get in, my new kouhai," he quickly backtracked, "but it's because Commander Kido looked really scary!"

"Hmmm," Mark scratched his chin thoughtfully, "alright, let's go with that."

Both of them laughed and continued down the hallway.

"Anyway, now that you're a C-ranked Border agent, Mark-san," Jun continued as if the previous conversation never happened, "you get to choose one training Trigger in which you are going to specialise. There are restrictions on their usage, of course," he started listing them, "you cannot use them outside the base or use any official Triggers that are not meant for trainees. Agents must not use them on civilians in any circumstance, agents are forbidden to fight amongst themselves outside of tournaments and officiated matches, and it is forbidden to hand any Triggers to civilians."

"Hmm, I'll go with Eaglet for now," Mark said, weighing the pros and cons of each rifle, "it seems like a good choice to train with without overspecialising much."

"Then, over the next few days, we'll have to handle your… accommodations, as well as any legal issues that crop up, but after that, you can start your new life as a Border agent without worry!"

Mark smiled. He was getting sick of his cramped room already, and the perspective of moving to a more spacious one was an enticing one for sure. Especially since he would finally be able to leave it at will, instead of waiting for someone to pick him up. Things were looking up, and Mark was fine with that.

Over the next few days, however, Mark cursed himself and his long, boneless tongue. The legal issues of transferring a citizen of a foreign nation into a Japanese paramilitary organisation were so daunting he had to beg Jun for assistance, and the sneaky bugger actually redirected him to Karasawa, the Foreign Affairs Manager. The man was amicable enough to help him figure out what went where and what documents to sign, but otherwise Mark was left on his own. He had to run across the entire Mikado City at least three times already, and his non-existent muscles were protesting loudly.

The university issue was actually the least difficult of all of them – his transfer papers included his report card with the grades from the autumn/winter semester, and the MCMU was ecstatic to welcome him. Apparently, not a lot of Border agents excelled at their studies, and the teaching staff at the university wanted him to be an exception. Since he had technically completed the upcoming semester, until the winter break he only had to attend classes that were different from his British curriculum, and after that was over, they allowed him to study theory on his own and only show up at practice sessions and exams.

He also called his parents and told them he would be continuing his education despite his… condition, and they were ecstatic as well, his father especially so. As a high-ranking BP employee that travelled a lot across the world, he knew that Japanese college graduates had a very good reputation, especially when it came to sciences. He could not tell much about the Mikado City University, seeing as the entire town was somewhat off-limits to the general public, but he promised to find anything he could. That was enough for Mark – his father didn't get to his position without a good deal of connections in some places.

He also had to undergo a few tests in the R&D department in order to determine the exact reason why his Trion body refused to change when activating Border Triggers. Most of the terminology flew over Mark's head, but what he was able to understand hinted at his… 'passenger' being the chief cause. The parasite simply drained the Trion that was meant for the new body, and since Mark was already in a Trion body himself, the safety protocols inside the Triggers that were meant to abort the transformation in case something went wrong didn't do anything. In order to solve that problem, Mark had to impose a restriction on the System: 'no interfering with Border Triggers for any purpose other than beneficial enhancement and analysis'. This actually worked, and the next time he tried activating an Eaglet, he ended up in a C-ranked uniform instead of his usual clothing.

His Japanese also progressed rapidly. With the assistance of the System, as well as the slight boost that the Trion body gave to learning languages, by the end of the week he was capable of stilted conversation in Japanese. His pronunciation still had issues, however, but it was more of an accent instead of the horrible butchering of words that he used to have. Sadly, he found out that the boost only applied to languages for some weird reason.

Regarding his training, Mark started to attend daily practice sessions with his fellow Snipers soon after the R&D technicians proclaimed him safe for agent vs. agent combat. He quickly rose in rankings, overtaking many of his C-ranked peers in Standard Sniping and Radar Search, but falling a bit behind when it came to stealth-based tests. He just didn't have enough experience and training in that field, which he slowly started to rectify by asking his fellow Snipers for assistance. One of such Snipers ended up being someone he already knew – Ken Satori.

"So, you're bad at Stealth?" Satori was blunt. "Fall in line. The majority of C-ranks and even some low B-ranks suck when it comes to Stealth drills. This is something that is only learned through keiken (experience), not from books. You have to train your hon'nō (instincts) through a lot of practice, and you are going to fail 99% of the time," he lectured Mark. "Patience is one of the key aspects of being a Sniper, so learn how to be patient."

With that piece of advice in mind, Mark decided to shift his focus. He started to attend less shooting drills, and instead spent the free time he had inside the various simulations, making his goal to survive as long as possible without being noticed.

He did have it harder than most – his height meant that he was at a disadvantage compared to younger agents, who had much more options for cover and hiding places than he did, but it was only a minor difference. With his Trigger deactivated, Mark was also vulnerable against ambushes, and he learned that the hard way when in one of the Cityscape simulations, he managed to attract attention of a Marmod. The cheeky bugger (pun definitely intended) went ahead and ambushed the unsuspecting trainee, leading to one of the most hair-raising jumpscares in Mark's life. It didn't help that the Marmod used its sharp prehensile tail to skewer him like a piece of teriyaki chicken, reminding Mark of some of the Alien vs. Predator horror movies he used to watch.

August went by like one of the Japanese bullet trains, and September started off with a day that Mark was probably expecting the most – the Official Border Enlistment Day, held on September 3rd. A lot of newly minted C-ranked agents were in attendance, and the entire thing felt oddly like a schoolyard – most of them weren't any older than fifteen. A few looked like they were pulled straight out of elementary school, despite the obvious white uniform with peach accents, and Mark did not see anyone older than seventeen-eighteen. Obviously, Mark knew from Jun's explanations that it had to do with Trion levels stagnating after a person reached 20-21 years, but from an outsider's perspective, it really looked like a child soldier training facility.

"Welcome to Border," while Mark was contemplating the issue of Border's legality, a man went up the dais and started speaking. "My name is Shinoda Masafumi, General Manager of the Border Defence Agency." He indeed was. "As of today, all of you here are officially C-ranked members. As trainees, you aspire to climb the ranks and become the best among your peers, but remember – the main goal of Border, and by extension, your goal – is to keep the safety of the citizens of Mikado City. Never forget that, and your career will be long and bright." He smiled. "The future of Mikado City lies on our shoulders, and I'm looking forward to the day I get to fight with you, all of you, by our side." Shinoda-san sharply saluted, and Mark did the same. Despite having no real attachment to Mikado City, what with Mark being a foreigner and all, Shinoda was a good enough speaker that he managed to instil the sense of duty and protection into his short and concise speech, and that was something the 21-year old could definitely get behind.

"Now, I'm giving the floor to the members of the Arashiyama Unit, who will explain to you how the rest of the enlistment will work." Shinoda bowed and left the auditorium, while Jun and the rest of his teammates walked up to the microphone.

The entire room was instantly filled with anticipation and excited whispers from the attendees. Mark knew that the Arashiyama Unit as a whole were popular due to their rich mass media presence and careful PR management, but he didn't expect this level of fanboyism.

'Maybe my perspective is clouded by my knowledge of Jun? After all, these people only know him from the other side of a TV screen, not how he is in real life.' Mark concluded, dismissing the thought altogether.

"Now then, while Shinoda-san is busy doing whatever he does as the General Manager," he said nonchalantly, eliciting a few giggles from his audience, "we'll continue on with orientation. First of all, we'll split you up according to your chosen positions. Attackers and Gunners, you stay here with me and Kitora-san, and Snipers, please follow Satori-kun to the Sniper training range."

Satori was in fact standing near one of the doors that led deeper into the base, waving his left hand. "Snipers come over here, please! Snipers come with me!"

Mark promptly headed for the 15-year old Sniper, and a few people who stood near him did the same. Soon, a tiny crowd of eleven people and Mark managed to form around Satori, and once the Sniper confirmed that this was everyone, he opened the doors and headed through.

"Alrighty," Ken started talking while they were heading towards the shooting range, "as most of you already know, I'm Satori Ken, A-ranked Sniper, also known as the Peerless Double-Shot Sniper!" he could not resist. "I'm in charge of today's orientation and Sniper training, along with two other people you're about to meet. You might recognise them – they're rather famous both inside Border and among the populace – but please don't bother them with unnecessary questions. Neither of them like attention too much."

The rest of the walk was spent in a comfortable silence, and soon they entered the shooting range. The sheer size of it elicited a lot of gasps from his fellow agents, prompting Mark to fondly remember his own reaction. It was indeed imposing.

"Okay, wannabe Snipers," Satori was apparently in a good mood, "this is our training area. Ten floors high, 360 metres deep (393.7 yd), and the largest facility in the entire HQ." He then proceeded to tell the trainees about the three Sniper Triggers used by Border, an information Mark already knew. "Now, since there are twelve people in total, we will split you up in groups of four. One will train under me, another will be led by this handsome guy," he pointed at a tall young man with neck-long black hair, "and the third group will be under this shy man in a baseball cap." He clapped his hands excitedly. "Well, off you go now!"

Mark decided to go into the second group, mostly because the majority of his fellow trainees seemed to want to train under Satori, and Mark didn't want to inconvenience the teenager any more than he already did. Besides, the leader of the second group was a legend among everyone who Mark had spoken to, including Jin.

"So, my name is Azuma Haruaki," the 'handsome man' introduced himself after the initial hubbub died down and everyone got into their groups. "Some of you might know me from somewhere, but I won't be surprised if you know of my nickname instead, The First Sniper."

Of course, Mark knew about him. Joining at the age of 21 when the Border Agency went public, he was basically the ancestor of the Sniper role and all three Triggers that were available to them. He was also the captain of his own Unit, and apparently one of the best mentors a Border agent could dream of, and so it wasn't a surprise that Mark was a bit of a fanboy in regards to Azuma.

"In any case, today I will be instructing you on proper sniping techniques, that is, how to identify your target, how to take aim, and so on. Now, take your positions and synchronise your Border-issued communicators to the displays in order to log into the training system."

Mark did just that, and his Border profile popped up.

"This is your Border Briefing File, or BBF for short. Here you can see the results of each test you have taken, including training exercises and your total score in your chosen Trigger," Azuma started lecturing them, his tone calm and collected. "Now switch over to the Training subsection."

He waited until everyone did just that, and continued, "This is the sequence you always have to do before activating your Trigger at the range – log in, switch to Training, activate Trigger. Not in reverse. Failure to do that will result in punishment depending on the severity of your infraction, and possibly even getting fired altogether." Seeing that his harsh words were, in fact, effective at instilling the necessary discipline in the trainees, Azuma slightly smiled.

"Now, nobody is going to fire you immediately just because you forgot to link up your comms. At most, you will get a slap on the wrist and a stern talking-to. However, if you do it repeatedly, or if you shoot someone accidentally during training and we find out that you also forgot to log yourselves in, well, that will make it much worse."

With that part of the briefing done, he moved on to the training itself – instructions on how to properly hold a rifle, how to aim down sights, and a short lecture on shooting positions. Mark listened with half an ear just in case Azuma would say something new.

"For us Snipers," he said, "shooting positions don't matter as much compared to the proper military snipers, since none of our weapons have any considerable recoil and thus can be fired from any position, even when freefalling and upside down," Haruaki glanced at Satori, who was currently engaged in a discussion. "However, for stability and accuracy it is always best to stabilise your rifle. For Ibis, this is possible by going prone and deploying the bipod, or simply resting the barrel on anything that is stable, like short walls and obstacles. For Eaglet and Lightning you have to rely on your arms' steadiness in order to do so, but the task is made easier due to their low weight and the fact that you can rest an elbow on an obstacle for more stability. Both of these rifles can also be rested on scenery objects even without a bipod, but it isn't a very common practice."

Then, after he was done talking, he gave each of the trainees three Triggers, one for each rifle, and told them to try it out. However, he skipped Mark, and this didn't escape the notice of some of the other Sniper hopefuls.

"Um, Azuma-san? I believe you skipped this guy," a short-statured boy no older than fifteen timidly stated, pointing at Mark.

"He already knows how to shoot," Azuma dismissed their concerns. "Look at his Eaglet score."

Everyone in their group took a look at it, and gasped.

"2100? That's more than halfway to B-rank!" one said. "And he's ranked 17th in Standard Sniping?" Disbelieving mutters all around. Words like 'gaijin' and 'cheater' surfaced, and Haruaki decided to intervene before any real accusations could fly.

"I will warn you," he said with his face set in stone, "I will not tolerate any baseless slander against your fellow trainees. If you have any concerns, bring them to your superior first, and accuse later. If you want to know anything about how he got these points, you can ask Haagensen after we're done here, but rest assured – none of it was by cheating. Border strictly controls that."

With that matter now resolved, they turned back to training, and after Mark managed to get a bullseye on the 350 meter (382.8 yd) target, nobody was willing to accuse him anymore.

"Good aim," Azuma complimented Mark. "However, you take much too long to shoot, which can be detrimental in fast-paced scenarios and if you are forced to engage in a firefight at close range."

"I know," said Mark while securing another 'kill', "and I'm working on it, Azuma-san. I'm slowly climbing the ranks in the Snapshot exercise, but so far I'm only somewhere in the fifties, and progress is really slow."

"See that you do," Azuma then decided to give some advice. "While you are only training Snapshot, focus on speed instead of accuracy first. Your problem is that you are a perfectionist, who has no sense of 'good enough', and while you're better than Narasaka used to be in this regard, even he learned to choose his battles and properly prioritise one over the other."

"Thanks, Azuma-senpai. And, while we're on the topic, can you recommend any good literature on tactics?"

"You are a MCMU student, yes? Then there are some in the library you can check out…"

After thanking the man for the solid advice, Mark continued shooting while also thinking about Azuma's words about his perfectionism. He wasn't wrong, per se, it just was the first time someone else pointed it out so bluntly outside of his family and close friends.

"Drill over. Cease fire." Everyone stopped shooting and looked at their displays.

"Man, I'm only 86th out of 119!" exclaimed one of the dismayed trainees while comparing his result to his friend. "How are you 53rd? I shoot better than you do at every summer festival we go to! Tell me your dark secrets!"

Similar cries of elation and dismay could be heard from everyone. Mark, however, said nothing and quickly closed his page before someone saw the large '16/119'.

"With this, the orientation is over," said a grinning Ken when they were all back together, and the other two agents left the room. "But that doesn't mean that you can slack off! We Snipers host daily practice sessions in this very room, so if you want to train, or get advice from me, feel free to pop by and say hello!" Then he got a bit more serious.

"To everyone who is unsatisfied with their performance, or feels that they are not fit to be a Sniper for any reason, I recommend to go to the HR department and request a reassignment now." Before any indignant mutters could surface, Satori raised his hand and shut everyone up. "Snipers are few and far between not only because you need to have good eyes and enough Trion to last you a lifetime, but also because it's not a class that fits everyone. If you do reassign, believe me, nobody will think of you any worse – in fact, we will actually praise you for realising your shortcomings and limits this early into your training. Some of you might have already seen what a talented Sniper looks like," he grinned at Mark, causing everyone to crane their necks to look at him as well, "and you might've gotten jealous or downtrodden because of it. Don't. You are who you are, and you have your own paths in life and career."

Mark goggled at the unusually philosophical speech.

'I thought that Arashiyama was the type to give encouragement. Evidently I was wrong, and their PR status isn't just for the looks and personality…'

"Now that is over with, you are free to go. Some of you have school, and those who don't can come to the Solo Rank Battles' hub with me – I want to see who's fighting who today."

Mark opted to go to the SRB area – despite being a Sniper he enjoyed watching some of the more interesting battles, especially when B-ranks and A-ranks showed up to have some one-on-one sessions. He thanked Satori for the enjoyable orientation and went on his way, already knowing how to get there. Besides, it was always good to have something to snack on while watching, and Mark planned to grab something from the cafeteria on his way there.

Apparently, the universe had another thing in store for him today, because as soon as he arrived at the SRB hub, Satori actually pushed him into one of the booths. In his words, Mark was good enough to fight against other C-ranked Snipers, and despite the loud protests, he eventually caved into the demands of his senpai.

"Don't challenge anyone who is a melee fighter," was the last piece of advice Satori pushed on Mark before locking the door, "you aren't experienced enough yet to contend with anyone who has more mobility than you do."

"Alright, Satori-senpai," he said innocently. "You're a Sniper, too, and since your two oversized pea shooters you call Eaglets are surely weighing your sorry butt down, does that mean I can fight you?"

Satori exploded in laughter. "Good one, Mark-san, good one. I can see why you're a sniper – your comebacks hit right where it hurts the most, ouch…"

They both laughed, and Mark went to the opponent selection screen. Immediately he logged into the system, and removed all of the Attackers and Gunners from the list. Now there were only about thirty potential matchups remaining, and he sat there for a minute, choosing whom to fight. Everyone was anonymised, having only the booth number, total points and the Trigger of choice as identifiers, so even if someone wanted to, they wouldn't be able to immediately connect the dots about who he was.

Eventually he settled on a person who had about 1900 points in Eaglet, and immediately got a confirmation with the scene of choice being Cityscape C.

'A map that favours us both?' Mark wondered. 'Is he that confident he's going to beat me in a duel? Or just chose at random?'

Whatever the reason for the map was, Mark didn't let his guard down. Someone with 1900 points could not be a pushover… much. With this thought in mind, Mark activated his training Eaglet and got transported to the map.

Cityscape C was a town that was located on the side of a hill, full of one- and two-story houses. Perfect for a Sniper, absolute hell for everyone else. Therefore, the first thing that any Sniper on this map did was secure a position as far above the opponent as possible.

"Match starting in 5… 4…" the automatic countdown said, "2… 1… Begin!"

As soon as the invulnerability field dropped, Mark immediately crouched and went running, disappearing off the enemy radar.

One thing that C-ranked Snipers were allowed to have in solo matches was the ability to instantly disappear off the enemy's radar once they were out of sight or further than 50 yards away. That concession was due to the C-ranked agents not having access to optional Triggers, and therefore having no options to hide from the enemies. However, if the enemy saw you, that was your own fault, and Mark exploited this mechanic by using the terrain to his advantage – he ran at a diagonal line, not directly up the hill. That was somewhat counterintuitive, as normally you'd want to be as high as possible to have the most line of sight possible, but Mark had a strategy going, and it all hinged on his ability to avoid his fellow Sniper.

Down in the SRB hub, Satori was eating the popcorn that Mark had brought with him while watching the match.

"I see, I see…" he muttered, smiling. "Taking advantage of the C-ranked mechanics and forcing the other Sniper to show himself before you do while relying on your exceptional sight to pinpoint his position without a Radar… Sneaky." Satori was impressed… mildly. "Although he could've forced the other Sniper into a skill-based duel, he's playing it safe. Well, the confidence will come with experience." He continued munching on the popcorn treat. "Besides, it's a very risky gamble – he had lost his opponent while putting himself at a temporary disadvantage. One wrong move and he's done for."

Meanwhile, the 21-year old Sniper stuck close to the shadows of the buildings, taking care to have at least two or three houses between him and the top of the hill. In addition, he had to hurry – because his route wasn't ideal and his plan relied on reaching the top at roughly the same time as the other Sniper, basic geometry and physics told Mark that he had to run faster than his opponent did.

The map wasn't overly large, maybe a few hundred metres in every direction (~220 yd), and it was the distance at which almost every Sniper in Border had at least a solid seven out of ten in accuracy, if they were drunk. To Mark, however, it felt like much more due to his trajectory being very convoluted and non-linear. Finding a good spot from which the highest building in the area was clearly visible, he tucked himself into a balcony on one of the houses, with only half of his head peeking out. Forming his Eaglet, Mark got ready to shoot at the slightest sign of movement.

He didn't have to wait long – apparently, his opponent got tired of hiding and just decided to hop across buildings, hoping that Mark was currently hiding somewhere down below.

Well, the guy was only partially right – Mark was indeed hiding, but he was hiding much closer.

A shot rang out, and a body with half its ribcage missing did a nasty somersault in the air and landed somewhere on the street.

"Match over. Winner: Haagensen Mark."