Mediziner's Notes: This chapter and the 13th chapter I did on the same month, but I saved the latter for the next month due to going to Japan at the time, which meant I wouldn't have time to do September's on time, so I forced myself to work on two chapters and get them done before the end of August... Hah...
This Chapter was originally uploaded: 12/8/2019 on DeviantART.
The Leader within Cover Art is drawn and commissioned by Erilmadith-Everyoung on DeviantART. You can also find Radiant Prism's full reference there, too.
Enjoy!
...
Duke spent the next couple of hours trying to get his written letter just right. Crumpled paper had piled up around him, scrapped letters he deemed were either not good enough or felt that he made too many mistakes. Despite writing with a pencil, he felt using the rubber was pointless and would only ruin the paper further no matter how careful he was with erasing the mistakes, or even a single letter. 'I think I've got it this time...' He thought, going over the paragraphs he had filled the paper with. While he knew that he didn't have to ensure everything is exactly perfect for Regina, it was old habits that had lingered when he dropped his previous behaviour back then. He glanced over at the crumpled paper around him with a frown, he'd need to clean up as his attention returned to the paper in his servo and after having read over the written letter repeatedly, he decided that he had done better than the previous ones crumpled around him. Remembering for where he last saw the envelope, he then began to carefully fold his written letter all while reminding himself how the paper is to be neatly folded in order to fit inside the envelope. He didn't register that the doors opened until when he heard McCrane greet both Shadowmaru and Kagerou.
Looking over his shoulder, he noticed the two Ninjas and immediately he frowned. It wasn't that he wasn't happy to see his teammate and their prototype, but rather he didn't want to-
"Undergoing routine maintenance, Sir Knight?" Shadowmaru asked, his attention onto the Knight Detective.
Right away the Englishmech hid the letter out of sight. "Yes, the Chief found some... Issues with some of my internal workings. It's... Also my day off." He replied slowly, though wondered if taking a day off seemed to be the worst thing he had done as Shadowmaru tilted his helm.
"A break?" Shadowmaru replied. "It's not like you to take a day off during a busy time. Deckerd hasn't returned yet I see..."
"Unfortunately..." Duke replied with a defeated sigh, but quickly replied. "As for responding to trouble, I'm fully aware of that. But, now that you're- No, nevermind."
"You have something to tell us." Kagerou approached Duke's desk. "Please, tell us what you were about to say."
Duke was at a loss for words, the two ninjas wanting to know what he was going to say, he knew about their systems being equipped with a lie detector as there was no attempting to try and get himself out. Just as he was about to say something, McCrane spoke.
"Shadowmaru, Kagerou, for now your primary tasks should be locating Deckerd's whereabouts." He said. "You two would have a better chance of locating him better than the rest of us can."
"We'll get to work on that." The Ninja Detective nodded, then turned to his prototype. "It would also be a good idea for you to test out your newly upgraded systems."
Kagerou simply shook his helm. "Prototype or finalized, I don't detect any difference between the two, Shadowmaru." He replied, when he thought about his Brother's choice of words, he then smirked. "But was that a challenge I detected within your tone?" While he was fully aware that the purple Brave didn't intend on a challenge, it was he who was going to give him a challenge.
Shadowmaru was surprised, he hadn't thought of it that way as Kagerou put it, but a challenge seemed to be rather fun. Somebody else other than him having the same special equipment as him, that did sound far more fun than he imagined. "Hm... I could use a little small distraction to improve how quick and efficient I can locate someone, or something."
"Very well, but be warned, Shadowmaru." Kagerou crossed his arms over his chest with a small smirk. "I'm not going to go easy on you. I'm going to see how much you've improved since the last we've trained together."
"Well it's no lie that I'm determined to show you how much I've improved over the years while you were absent. That much I'll tell you."
The two ninjas started to head out, intending on carrying their assigned order. Shadowmaru suddenly paused in the middle of the doorway, looking over at where Duke was, who had returned to his letter as he seemed to be confused as to why the envelope wasn't exactly closing. -If you're going to send someone a letter, you'll need the address of the person you're sending it to, a stamp, and...- Noticing how Duke was trying to figure out how to close the letter, he continued. -...I believe humans licked letters to seal them.-
At the last bit of sentence, Duke turned to look at the doorway, seeing the tips of Shadowmaru's wingtips as he left. The Brave was completely stunned and even disgusted at learning the truth of how the letters were closed. "Humans... L-Li-..." He frowned, looking at the letter in disbelief. "What an improper word to say... Lady would not approve of receiving a letter covered in any manner of bodily fluids, she could get sick..." He muttered quietly to himself as he needed to find a solution to this problem, perhaps Yuuta could help him with this once he comes in from school.
Everyone's attention turned towards the human sized door opening, revealing Toudou had come in.
"Duke, we've finished replacing all of your worn parts. Are you ready to head back?" He told Duke.
"Thank you, Chief. I'll return shortly, I'm just ensuring the letter isn't too heavily flawed." Replied Duke, currently distracted as he intended to write down Regina's address as neatly as he could. Though something tugged at his mind, leaving him unsure whether if he should write in cursive or normally.
"Alright, you know where to find me." The Chief Engineer took his leave, returning back to the repair bay.
Duke spent most of his time occupying himself with other things once he was satisfied that the letter was to his liking and ready to be sent, that is once Yuuta returns from school he could help him with sealing the letter. The Englishmech then attempted to pull one of his books out from the small holder that held a small amount of books, and when he pulled one of his choice free, the book tipped over and fell on it's spine and then onto it's side was enough to draw McCrane and Radiant Prism's attention from the lessons and towards the source of the sound. Duke had gotten his leg trapped under the fallen book.
Excusing himself, the Combat Detective made his way over and helped Duke, lifting the book to free the SIC then opened it fully once he moved out of the way entirely.
"Duke, you could've asked for help." He said gently. "Don't be ashamed about asking for help if that might've been what you felt when you didn't ask Radiant Prism or I to help you get one of the books out."
"They do look rather heavy..." Radiant Prism pointed out with a frown, watching the two Braves. "I doubt they can do any damage at your current size, but I'd rather you don't injure yourself and worry the others."
"Yes... Thank you, McCrane." Replied Duke, feeling ashamed with himself.
...
Hours later, McCrane and Radiant Prism had not too long ago left the room as they decided to relocate themselves as part of McCrane's ongoing lessons, leaving the SIC alone in the office. Duke had thought that it was time for them to pick up Yuuta, but it wasn't the case, at least not yet as a brief glance on the clock hung up high on the wall opposite of the room told him it was still morning. A thought came into mind when he went over to get the letter where he last left it. He studied the thin line along the wing of the envelope, noticing the strange substance along the edge. 'If humans licked that area in particular to seal envelopes... Of course! Water is a perfect alternative, far more suitable than... What Shadowmaru suggested. Lady won't get sick if I used water to seal the envelope.'
Getting up, Duke made his way over towards the edge of the desk, looking at the edge of the loft. Backing up just slightly, he gave himself a moment before leaping towards it. However his landing was a bit wobbly as the edge of the loft was a bit higher than the height of the desks compared to when he leapt down onto his desk. Having made it back, he went towards the human sized door, opening it and upon peeking out of the room, he frowned at the long corridor and the many rows of other doors. He glanced above each door, taking note of the label of the door then made his way out.
Closing the door behind him, he glanced in both directions, finding which door was labeled as a break room. When he spotted one, he made his way over which was a bit far down from the office. Once inside, he began looking for what he needed until he eventually found it and by the time he finally sealed his letter, he could hear voices outside, then hearing someone come inside.
Right away, he recognised that it was Ayako.
"It's not like the office to be completely empty." She told Seia, who was with her. She had intended to talk to the Brave Police about something that might be of interest to look into but nobody was there when they came into the office.
"They could be on a serious case that needs everyone's attention." Seia replied, then noticed someone else was in the room. "Oh, hello Duke."
"Good morning, Seia, Ayako." Duke nodded.
"Duke! Perfect timing, where has everyone gone to?" Ayako asked him. "We've seen some of the others out in the city but none of them wanted to talk, then we came here to talk to anyone who isn't on patrol but not even one person was there. It's not like the Brave Police to all leave at once."
"No, apologies..." Duke frowned. "Everyone is currently out looking for Deckerd, he disappeared yesterday."
"Disappeared?" Ayako repeated. "When did this happen?"
"...Yesterday. I don't know what went on, but he was last seen speaking with Boss privately. Radiant Prism and Gunmax were the ones to have last seen him leave the station but that was it." The Knight Detective knew that with both Ayako and Seia visiting, they must've wanted to speak to the entire team and spoke on a more professional level. "But, did you both need something? I could ensure the message gets to the others later on."
Both women listened as they were both concerned for Deckerd. However at the mention of Radiant Prism's name, Ayako remembered that she wanted to know more about the new Brave but never had the chance to because Dumpson had told her that she was wary of people, perhaps now she could get the chance to talk with Radiant Prism. When Duke asked if both of them needed anything, Ayako spoke up first. "Well, it's not a major case, but I think it can wait once Deckerd's back. But there is something else, I'd like to ask you about if Radiant Prism's less wary of people? I'd like to get to know her a bit more."
"Ayako, Radiant Prism could be busy searching for Deckerd alongside the others." Seia told her friend with concern. "We shouldn't disturb the others."
"Er, actually no she's not on patrol." Replied Duke. "Currently she's assigned to be working with McCrane today on parts of the lessons assigned to teach her."
"Lessons?" Ayako repeated.
"Yes, Radiant Prism's learning how to adjust to Japan's laws and everyone has been assigned by the Commissioner to teach a fraction of the lessons she needs." Explained Duke. "This is because she'll be working with us, since she didn't seem to-" Without warning, McCrane had suddenly contacted him as he wondered where he had gone, to which he quickly answered back.
'Perfect timing...' Ayako then glanced over at Seia as the military woman looked at her friend uncomfortably, knowing her friend was up to no good. "Duke, do you know if McCrane's on break?" She asked the Knight Detective, though there wasn't really a need to ask directly considering that both Braves were on a public communication with one another which meant that McCrane could hear her loud and clear through Duke's end.
"Ayako!" Seia exclaimed, not wanting her to disturb the Combat Detective.
Back in the office, McCrane was surprised upon hearing both Ayako and Seia's voices in the background. He could hear a lot of questions being thrown at Duke by the red-headed woman and the Knight Detective himself doing his best to politely avoid the questions, which eventually ended with him saying that they should be in the main office, and not in the break room. Knowing how Duke seemed distracted that he had forgotten he was still on the comms, McCrane decided to end it altogether just as he could hear Ayako ask Seia a rather devious question, worried about that he could hear something completely embarrassing. '...I should notify Dumpson that Ayako's here.' He thought, giving himself a moment then turned his focus back to Radiant Prism, who was currently cleaning everyone's desks, moving everyone's stuff off to the side then putting them all back where they last were when she finished. He was relieved she didn't take notice.
Both were interrupted when Duke returned alongside both Ayako and Seia.
Right away, Ayako's attention was drawn to Radiant Prism, Duke having been forgotten in an instant. He was about to move away when the building began to shake, an earthquake had started. Immediately, McCrane got up from his seat and went over towards the loft while making sure he didn't topple or fall, one servo grasping the floor of the loft while the other hovering over both women and Duke like a shield in case something might fall. Fortunately the earthquake was small, but it still posed a concern in other areas that felt the earthquake occur. Moving away his servo once the shaking ceased, Seia thanked him.
"I'm worried about how these earthquakes are continuing to occur..." Radiant Prism added, having resumed cleaning though didn't seem to have much of a drive to continue. "McCrane, Duke, I think we should investigate the areas affected by the earthquake radius."
"The quakes have been relatively small as far as I've known but this one seemed to have been quite large..." Duke said, thinking things out. "I'll be joining the others in finding Deckerd, but I'll be sure to inform everyone to respond to what occurred." He then glanced at Ayako. 'And get away from her before she gives me a headache with her endless barrage of questions...' He thought. "McCrane, I advise resuming your lessons with Radiant Prism but relocate somewhere else for the time being. If you two finish up, you can join the others on the search."
"Alright." Nodded the Combat Detective. Deep down he hoped that his Brothers weren't straying too far from searching, as he wouldn't be happy to find out if especially Power Joe and Drill Boy had another go at one another for whatever reason. Radiant Prism however didn't feel all that delighted with this order, but she was glad Duke didn't tell them to remain in here as she couldn't risk another possible incoming earthquake and parts of the building fall on them.
"Excuse me." Duke then left the office, intending to return back into his original body. Once the SIC was gone, McCrane then addressed the two women, asking how they've been while Radiant Prism noticed that when the Brave's attention was onto the haired woman that he addressed as Seia, he seemed to have more of a gentle tone when speaking to her... At least, that was what she was hearing.
'I see... He must have a special friendship with that woman...' She thought, though deciding not to say anything about it, but however she was jolted back to reality when the red-haired woman addressed her after a short brief talk with McCrane. When she mentioned that she wanted to interview her, she frowned as she didn't really feel comfortable talking about herself to a complete stranger... She still had issues with trusting humans, even though Yuuta was somewhat of an exception, it wasn't as bad as when she first came here.
She did reply to any questions that she was comfortable with answering.
...
As the afternoon rolled in, Shadowmaru had not too long ago taken off from the station after having a short break to refuel. Even though his return to the skies hasn't been all that long, he grew curious about Kagerou's status. "Anything on your end, Kagerou?" The purple Brave asked, he had been flying around the city in specific locations while Kagerou was flying around another part of the city so that the both of them could cover more ground with their special equipment. In truth he was still uneasy about Kagerou soaring the skies by himself thanks to the incident after he had let him flee the appliance exhibition he had wrecked years ago. But recalling that the ill man is currently still jailed, he hoped there wasn't anyone working for him that may target him all over again. He hadn't heard anything from Excellence Co. but if anything did happen, he'd know to react and quickly come to his Brother's aid as fast as his thrusters could take him. Deep down, he mentally swore to himself that he wasn't going to let anyone lay even a digit on his Brother should anyone dare target him again.
-No. I'm still searching.- Replied Kagerou. -Is that concern I hear from your tone? I'm quite sure that you sounded quite worried that I might find Deckerd before you would.-
"Hm? What made you think of such a thing, I'm not quite sure why you thought I was concerned about if you found Deckerd or not." Replied Shadowmaru, starting to get a bit lost in how much he had missed having these moments with Kagerou.
-Hmm? I believe I've detected Deckerd.-
Shadowmaru immediately applied his air brakes, now hovering in place. "What? Where?"
The Ninja Detective was then met with a chuckle.
"Kagerou!" Shadowmaru exclaimed, feeling silly for have fallen into such a trick by his Brother. Though he couldn't stay mad at him as he in turn also chuckled.
Their comms suddenly lit up, Power Joe was reporting about a really large earthquake hit and that everyone needs to help in Nanamagari City. That much he knew, but when Power Joe mentioned that the other neighbouring cities and towns nearby were also affected by the earthquake. Shadowmaru knew they had to act, considering that most of the team were currently responding to the disaster.
Right away both Ninjas regrouped and shared a brief discussion on which cities they could investigate in. Since most of the team were already investigating on Nanamagari City, they decided that they could help other cities outside of it. Once they've decided, they began flying Northeast, but just before they could ready the outskirts of the city, a familiar speck of blue from down below caught Shadowmaru's attention and he ceased.
"Shadowmaru?" The prototype wondered what was wrong as the purple Ninja dove downwards, shapeshifting as he neared the ground. He then saw why, and followed suit. 'Well, looks like I've lost this one.' He thought, though knew that he should've put more focus onto his scanners. However, he was also still quite used to everyone's signatures quite yet.
Landing gracefully and carefully, Shadowmaru addressed Deckerd, who was digging through a pile. "Deckerd! The others, even mini-boss were worried about you."
"Sorry, Shadowmaru. I needed time to myself. But right now, we need to help anyone who might be trapped. A lot of Nanamagari City has been affected by the earthquake." He said, managing to carefully dig out some trapped people from under a small, ruined building. He then began bringing out his communication badge and began assigning orders to everyone, Deckerd was immediately met with everyone replying and expressing their worry about where he had gone to. "Everyone, keep your focus on rescuing people. Shadowmaru, Kagerou, Drill Boy, you three investigate the neighbouring cities, see if any of them might need help getting people out."
-Acknowledged!- They said.
Deckerd then recalled something, speaking next. "Radiant Prism, I know you have your lessons to attend to, but I'd like for you join the three of them in helping."
-Yes sir.- Came Radiant Prism's reply, instinctively speaking in her foreign language.
Deckerd began issuing the other Braves to respond to specific parts of Nanamagari City. McCrane was also called from the station to help out the others. It took a long time but with everyone spread out throughout the city, many people have been saved, most being sent to hospitals to have their injuries treated. With everyone getting things in order, the blue patrol car looked all around him as the sight was saddening. 'The earthquake's damage is extensive...' He thought with a frown. Suddenly, he realised something.
'Oh no! I hope Yuuta's alright and not buried under the debris!' He then brought out his communication badge, intending to locate Yuuta's location but a familiar voice caught his attention before he could start his search.
"Deckerd! I was so worried." Upon closer look of Yuuta, those big teary blue eyes made him regret having dropped off the radar even further when the boy approached him and hugged his leg. Kneeling down slowly, he wanted to express and apologise for what he had done but wasn't sure how he could approach with this. Fortunately upon closer look, he couldn't see any injuries on Yuuta, not even the faintest trace of a single tiny scratch was seen, which was a huge relief for him yet the fact that he just disappeared on everyone weighed him down with regret even more. "Y-Yuuta, I-"
Yuuta shook his head, wiping away his tears. "No, we should talk later once we're all done helping people out of the ruined buildings, they come first."
"Y-Yes, Acknowledged." Deckerd began to back up, knowing that he'll need to change form and move onto the next areas that haven't been helped with yet, but then Yuuta spoke again.
"Deckerd... I know you're upset with that last crime scene we dealt with but... Could I please tag along? I won't get too close while you're digging people out. I just... Want to stay with you, if that's okay?" Even though they were going to talk things out later once they've helped people, Deckerd couldn't say no to his best friend. Once he gave himself enough space, he changed into his vehicle mode, opening the door for Yuuta to climb in.
Everyone worked hard to get as many people saved, Duke managed to finish his assigned section, but while on the way to help anyone else finish their assigned area faster, he had eventually decided to help out the hospitals with treatments due to seeing a lot of injured coming in and both doctors and nurses had their hands full with those they were currently treating while there were so many waiting for treatment. This was enough that his expertise was needed to help treat so many who have yet to be seen by the doctors and nurses. He made sure to get Deckerd's permission on the situation before he took action and helped which fortunately was approved. Even though Duke had to do most of them outside due to not being able to fit in the buildings, he would let the others take the treated inside once he had treated the injured to the best of his abilities. While he couldn't do everything exactly, but at least he would lessen the stress and the cut their work in half on those he's treated. It was a long and exhausting task, but even if he's technically programmed to be a police officer, he wanted to make use of what he was designed to change into, and had a fairly well known amount of medical knowledge he had been pre-fed to help treat injured people.
With a lot of people having been saved, and the early evening rolled in, both Deckerd and Yuuta were finally able to relax, and have time to each other. They were both sitting off to the side, watching other cars go by. None of them had said anything but at some point Yuuta broke the silence.
"Deckerd, um..."
"Yuuta, I'm sorry about before..." Deckerd lowered his helm, the bill of his helmet design shadowing his optics. "After what happened, I felt at fault for having put you in great danger when we... Well... I shouldn't have run off, but..."
Yuuta gently tapped his leg to get his attention as he shook his head. "It's not your fault, there are always really tough criminals that we sometimes have to deal with and nobody is at fault for situations they put us in. They're always make things hard for us when we're dealing with them but in the end we're always able to successfully capture and arrest them together. Deckerd, even though I was a little scared with the situation the last criminal put us in, I still trusted you and the others to get us out of the situation we were in."
"Eh?" Deckerd was greatly surprised at his words. He wasn't sure if his hearing was malfunctioning, but Yuuta trusted him that much despite the great dangers? He was clearly speechless. "Truthfully?"
The young boy nodded. "I know I'm still just a kid, but I was already well aware of the risks of being a police officer and working alongside you when Mr. Saejima recruited me as the Boss of the Brave Police, even when we started doing the first few cases together." He continued, reaching with his hands upwards at him, signalling Deckerd to pick him up as the large Brave lowered a servo for Yuuta to climb in. Once he seated himself on his servo, he brought him to one of his shoulders. "Well, that was two years ago, but with past criminals we've dealt with, I've slowly gotten more braver each day little by little."
Deckerd managed a small smile, but this didn't last as he frowned, the thought of the criminal having had dared to deprive Yuuta of oxygen still crawled along his spine at the thought of what would've happened if Kagerou hadn't freed them at that moment...
"I'm worried about encountering another criminal similar to the last one, I can't risk a situation that could repeat again in the future." The Brave Detective admitted.
"That's a solution we can easily fix." Both Yuuta and Deckerd turned towards the sound of the voice, being none other than Saejima.
"What do you mean, Mr. Saejima?" Yuuta asked curiously.
"I can arrange for a small minor modification to the J-Roader to come with life support, in case of anything like that happens again."
Yuuta lit up at this. "Really!? Ah... But..." but immediately he turned to look at Deckerd, then back to Saejima. "Well, if Deckerd is alright with the small modifications, and I think I'll stay back from a few criminal responses the next time we deal with more criminals that show up." Yuuta then snuggled close to the side of Deckerd's helm, he hadn't forgotten about the Gunpulator incident back then that upset him and the others when he was excited about that back then. Since then, he wanted to always consider his best friend's feelings no matter what. "I don't want to worry Deckerd."
"I see..." Saejima frowned as he studied the both of them. What happened with the two of them prior to the last criminal had affected Deckerd in some form and for that reason he wasn't going to press into it any further and nodded. "Alright." He finally said with a nod, then addressed Deckerd. "Deckerd, would you like this small minor upgrade added to the J-Roader? This does not change anything to the vehicle's systems nor the combining sequence other than that air will be provided to Yuuta in case anything happens if he's in your interior, but this should permanently solve the issue with what you two had gone through."
Deckerd didn't say anything right away as he thought for a moment, then spoke. "May I have some time to think about it?"
"Of course. It doesn't have to be right away." Looking at his watch, Saejima then went over to his car. "I need to check on the others, see how they're doing." The two watched as Saejima started the car and then drove off. Once he was gone, both friends would talk for a little bit more until when Deckerd decided that they should both check on their teammates and see if they might need any help.
...
The crew had eventually returned back to the station, exhausted from hours and hours of digging out people trapped in rubble, and the likes. Everyone was just about ready to wind down all while conversation was exchanged back and forth. Deckerd thought for a moment as the conversations around him fell on deaf audios, and when an idea came to him, he then got up and excused himself.
"Ah, Deckerd! Where are you going?" Yuuta asked.
"Just going downstairs to see the Chief." Deckerd replied. "I think it's about time for my routine maintenance if he has time for that."
With an understanding nod, Yuuta watched as Deckerd left the room. When he disappeared behind the doors, he turned around in his chair to face his desk as he wondered what to do while he waited for Deckerd. 'Huh? What's this?' he noticed something off to the side of his desk tucked near the small screen on the right side as he reached to grab it. 'It looks like a letter addressed to someone, but what does it say? Whoever wrote this though has a really clean handwriting... I wish my handwriting is this neat...' He was curious to know whom the letter was for, then began addressing the other Braves about if they knew about someone putting a letter on his desk, to which Duke stood up.
"Boss, don't open that letter, that's a letter for Lady." He said. "If I may, I'd like to request your help with adding the finishing touches."
"Eh!? Your handwriting!?" Yuuta looked at the handwriting on the front of the letter once again, then back to the Knight Detective. "Wow, Duke your handwriting is so neat!"
"Thank you."
"Could I see it, Boss!?" Drill Boy piped up. "If Duke has really nice handwriting like you said, it also could mean he's really good at art like me!"
"Idiot, that's not always true." Power Joe replied with a frown. "There are some people who have nice handwriting but can't draw."
"Tch, we all know your handwriting and art sucks compared to everyone else's." Drill Boy teased, though quickly scrambled out of his seat to get away from the angered Brave.
Ignoring the little spatting between Drill boy and Power Joe as both McCrane and Dumpson got up to keep them apart and calm them both down, Duke stood up from his seat and approached the loft. "Boss, do you have any stamps? It's something I'm missing before I could send the letter..."
"Stamps? I think I have some..." Turning to his school bag, Yuuta began digging around looking for something. When he found what he needed, he brought out a small set of postage stamps of varying pictures. "Which one do you want? I have different kinds." He asked.
Looking at the different kinds of pictures on the stamps, Duke shook his helm. "Any sounds fine." He watched as Yuuta made his choice and applied it onto the letter rather neatly. He wondered if Yuuta somehow knew without needing to ask. Regardless, he was happy that it was ready to be mailed. "Thank you, Boss."
"No problem, Duke. Ah, I could ask Deckerd to drive to the nearest mailbox so I can put it in for you since we're heading back a little early."
"If it's not too much to ask for, I'd like that."
"Of course!" Yuuta smiled.
As Duke returned to his desk, Yuuta had put the letter away in his bag while making sure it doesn't get crumpled. The others began talking about the events while some were on different topics. The door could be heard opening as Saejima and Azuma walked in. "Great job helping the city, everyone." Saejima told them. "I've got something to tell everyone, once Deckerd has returned from the repair b-"
Azuma decided that they should give out the news right away and began talking about an upgrade from combination by command to independent combination, but upon Saejima addressing him sternly, he ceased. Unfortunately it was too late and everyone began looking at one another with uncertainty. Yuuta himself didn't seem to have any positive or negative reaction, but seemed to be wondering how the others felt about this.
"To combine without the Boss' command..." McCrane muttered, taking it into thought.
"Come on, what's wrong with a little independence?" Gunmax spoke up. "Think about it, if something happened to the kid, you wouldn't be stuck unable to combine without his command."
"What are you saying, Gunmax!?" Dumpson exclaimed unhappily. "Deckerd and the entire Build Team have been used to Boss' unification command long before you were built, we're not keen on accepting such a thing right off the bat. Besides..."
"I doubt Deckerd would agree to combining on his own." Power Joe chimed in. "Knowing how close he and Boss are, it's guaranteed he'd disagree to something like that."
"I don't know if I'll be really happy about this..." Frowned Drill Boy. "I like it better when Yuuta gives the command."
Azuma was more than less happy with how the Braves were so negative about being able to combine independently. Before a word could be uttered, Saejima spoke again which he muttered an annoyed expression, letting the Commissioner talk.
"In this case, we can instead arrange it to be completely optional. Nothing will change but you could only independently combine only for emergencies or other reasons." There was a pause as Deckerd came back, having heard most of it, but didn't speak as he let the man continue. "This is especially handy for in case for example Yuuta's too sick to come to work, something happens while dealing with criminals, or if somehow Yuuta's badge gets damaged. Deckerd, Duke, Build Team, your ability to combine at Yuuta's command will still remain untouched."