In the morning sky there was a city.
Sitting stationary on the solid ground, there was a city that stretched from north to south and easy to west. It was an average looking city with only a few minor things that made it seem different and to distinguish it from any other nearby city.
At the large city there were two specific areas.
One of these, located in the center of the city, was a large building which possessed a height that dwarfed the surrounding buildings as if they were not even there to begin with. Even some larger things like electricity poles seemed to be in the shadow of the building.
The other of these was located on the outside of a sort of circle, one that was not really there but existed nevertheless.
The city, which had the large building in the center of it, was one that had to be prepared for anything that may come through to their world.
It was Mikado City.
The Japanese city which received the morning sun on one side had all of its parts maintaining functionality as a city while they remained ready to fight off Neighbor. However, from different areas, there were multiple small, high-pitched noises being raised by countless shadows clinging to the surface.
Those shadows, whether they were Neighbors trying to attack the city or people who were just going about their morning, were walking about as the day started.
Mikado City was currently going about their normal days.
There were the figures of many people among the people participating in the morning.
If you let the people talk, their reasoning would be:
"Well, this makes it possible to earn cash during the early morning."
"I have been helping out after school, so I started doing mornings as well."
"I don't wanna work today~ Maybe I should just call in sick..."
Also, between the people carrying themselves to work, multiple running shadows were present.
There was a jersey clad boy and a tall foreigner in a tank top, a jersey clad boy who was running with dogs, and following at a considerable distance behind the others there was a gray haired boy.
The boy in a jersey and the tall foreigner, who had run further ahead, raised their hand in a greeting and split off into a different route.
In contrast the boy, after passing through the path of a residential area at a leisurely pace, moved toward the opened gates which were located ahead of him.
As he did, the dogs which were following him circled around at the other end of the gate and let out a bark.
Once the high schooler turned around while waving his hand, the dogs emitted one more bark and then dispersed.
The boy high schooler then carefully entered the front gates.
Once he had safely made it through there was a place with a nameplate and two walls on either side that kept others from climbing them. Furthermore...
"Eh? Hokari-senpai, are you here early for something?"
.
Hokari Atsushi continued to replace the bulbs for the lights which were built into the walls as he turned around in response to the calling voice.
It was Sasamori Hisato. While regulating his breathing, which wasn't really disordered, he came over that way.
"Are you here for morning practice or something, Senpai?"
"Something like that, yeah."
Hokari replied with a bitter smile. He held the bulb in his hand out towards Sasamori.
"Lately our school has been keeping the lights on all the night, hasn't it? That is why I'm working on replacing the bulbs. Umi had said he was going to do it, but ended up getting caught up with something. There is also that..."
"What is it?"
"When I consider about what might happen from now on, I thought I should increase my stamina. I started from my family's house on the other end, made it to the base, and then did a light circuit of the yard with Hanzaki being dragged along. But..."
Hokari looked at the schoolyard. Hanzaki Yoshito, another member of Arafune Squad Squad, was collapsed on top of a bench located in the corner of the school's yard. The red jersey covering his head and upper body belonged to Hokari.
"Well don't worry about that, I'll go to get it later. I'll return either through one of the more hidden parts or Miskai's flower shop, though whether or not I'll make it in time for morning class is a mystery."
"Hanzaki always makes sure to eat the breakfast Jinsei makes before coming to school after all. About Hanzaki, how should I put it...why is it that while playing games is not a problem, when it comes to running he is just behind Taichi?"
"Shouldn't you know the answer to that one? Both you and Daigo know him pretty well as it is."
"...Right. I guess him playing games really gets to him since he has people like Kunichika-senpai to play against. Daigo isn't too sure what goes on, but he's always ready to calm down Hanzaki with me when he starts raging at his games."
While saying that, Hokari thought to himself that stuff which required access to customization were quite annoying, from what his teammate would always complain about.
After all, Hanzaki often didn't think about things beforehand when he thought they would be troublesome; so when a situation that couldn't be dealt with by him showed up, he immediately started going on about "New event! New event!" "Okay, okay, again? Once again?" displaying his own insanity. Each and every time, the three of them sat in the operating room doing this and that...
"My Students' 'Yearly idiot supervision amount' status rating is high as a result of handling you three at times."
After letting out a sigh he was unaware that Hanzaki had stood up and began walking in their direction. While walking he put on the jacket which had been placed over him and said:
"Eh, what's with this guy's jersey? The cloth around the chest area has stretched...! This guy, I'm not going to hold back to use to get some payment form Misaki. He made a big mistake with this."
"It fits you fine enough so what exactly are you talking about? Ah Hisato, don't go looking down like that and averting your eyes. Daigo's chest is pretty big for a guy too, you know. He's been asking for training tips, so the two fo you should be thanking me."
From beyond Sasamori, who was looking that way, a hand suddenly grasped the edge of the opened gate from just outside of the area.
Eh. In front of the boy who was thinking that, from the far side of the grasped palm, an elbow appeared and then proceeded as if to pull up the rest of the body.
"S-somehow I managed one full lap around the place."
It was Murakami Kō.
.
The jersey clad figure of Murakami arrived at the opened gate completely out of breath.
...I-it really does seem like a "somehow" situation.
In front of his eyes, there was Sasamori who had run the exact same course yet whose breathing was not disturbed, and a Sniper that was big even while being the same age as him. Murakami felt a feeling of irrationality against both these parties, however there was nothing to be done.
In any case, Murakami used the gate as a support and attempted to stand. However his knees were shaking. "Ow..."
He grasped the gate and attempted to move forward but he began to fall to his knees. Hurriedly he attempted to support his body, though before he could take his next action Hokari had already approached. While he was already holding out a hand, he said:
"Ah, Murakami, don't push your body so much when you're worried about our idiot. I'll help you out here with a massage."
"It is fine, Hokari. I'll use the exercises Sensei drilled into us for a thing like that, you should focus on other stuff..."
Before he had finished speaking, Hokari claimed that it was fine and came to his side. He had Murakami lean against the wall.
"Good Work..."
In order to give a proper massage, he rolled up his sleeve while shaking his hands. Hokari already had his hands out and was clearing his throat as the preparation for the massage, so there was no way to stop him.
Therefore leaving everything to the agreement, Murakami lowered his hips, stretched his legs and took a breath. Thus Hokari removed Murakami's shoes, and splitting at the seam lining of the ankle, he opened the tights.
"I'll press on the soles of your feet. If it tickles, just let me know."
"Even if I say it tickles, don't..."
It suddenly happened. Murakami tried to endure the strength of the fingers which seemed to be pushing into his sole.
"Hyaaa!"
...Impossible. This is impossible!
"Hey... Murakami, aren't you too ticklish? Maybe I should say it's a rare sensitivity syndrome... Hey!"
"W-what is it?"
Hokari nodded.
"However, if it's like that then it'll not finish. So, we're going to continue."
"Eh? Hey, go easy on meeee!"
Since he was unable to move his legs, his upper body started to thrash about.
He experienced a different type of being out of breath than before, and, at the point where he became exhausted, he also lost the power to resist. He became limp and was left at the mercy of Hokari.
"Murakami, you have the same soft soles as Hisato... They do say that people with soft soles have fast legs."
Even if he said it earnestly, there was nothing to do about the reality of the situation.
Letting out a sigh that was unrelated to his exhaustion, Murakami lightly shrugged his shoulders.
"Even if you say that I am the same as Sasamori, I'm not fast at all you know? I was even called a Heavy Tank type by you guys."
Hmm, the one who was puzzled was Sasamori. He looked at the feet that Murakami was rubbing.
"If I had to say, us pure Kōgetsu users seem more like the type who does a breaking type of movement. I guess you would say the powerful type."
Their smiling and attempting to cover for him was a thankful gesture.
That's why Murakami took another breath and then opened his mouth. My, my, with a self-deprecating attitude, he raised her upper body.
"I had never felt the feed to be fast in the first place. I'm an explosive power type of person, but that only comes out in my attacks and counter attacks. Whenever it came to speed, I relied on Yuki to have that covered."
"That's right, the two of you were always troublesome when you would team up. Don't let that happen, if you can help it, Hisato."
"Right, I've heard some stories about that. I'll take care to make sure I'm not on the wrong side of that."
"Anyways. I would still need to be careful since, if you put too much power into things, opposite effects will happen and you will be slower."
There Murakami lightly waved his hand as a demonstration.
The movements were those of a jab, snapped with an open hand and at the end point clenched it.
Since he was relaxed when waving, it was nimble and fast. That is how it should be. It was also accompanied by the sound of the wind. There Sasamori responded.
"It's fast enough, isn't it? Right, Senpai?"
"Eh?"
Hokari gave a small reaction and immediately following that he hurriedly said.
"Eh, well... It really doesn't matter much for him since Thruster is something he has to fall back on."
Being that bluntly honest with his own classmate was Hokari's thankful but also poor side. Murakami bitterly smiled about it.
"Don't worry about it. I never planned on being a speed oriented type. After all, I'm supposed to be the one to attack and defend when needed, so that is more than enough for me. That sort of thing may also be due to my temper..."
.
Murakami thought about his own abilities. His speed had never been something he thought much about, however there was something that always stuck with him.
Those eight boat leaps that he had not been able to overcome no matter how much he tried.
His first-through-sixth tries had all ended in failures with his best score being five leaps. Even then, those had been set on lower bars than others.
He was made to realize the clear difference between him and the one who had created those eight leaps.
When he first started understanding that strange person he witnessed firsthand the speed someone like him naturally had in their body... So he thought that would have been enough to let it go.
While conducting anti-Akasora training, he realized that against that sort of speed his own attacks and defense seemed to be lacking in their pacing and actions. That strange person had thought nothing of it, instead going on to say, "It's annoying trying to get around your defenses. Your attacks are also pretty shitty to fight against, so I always end up needing to dodge."
However, while massaging his calf muscle Sasamori abruptly said.
"Ah, the exhaustion on Kō-san is leaving pretty quickly. That's nice pretty good recovery speed."
"Is it really surprising? These guys always call me a wolf. Frankly, my toughness is my greatest weapon. It's thanks to the fact that my body is tough enough that I'm able to strike with such power, and it also allows me to act as a shield."
However after saying that as an introduction, Murakami laughed bitterly.
"But I guess that wasn't good enough for either Yuki or Senpai to rely on me..."
Hearing those words, Sasamori and Hokari exchanged glances, lowered their eyebrows and showed a smile.
After a little while Hokari followed up with this.
"The people who you want relying on your are pretty spartan. Having Kuruma-san or Taichi rely on you is completely different form having our idiot or Senpai relying on you. And even if you want that now, it's pretty impossible."
"Senpai doesn't normally talk about these things... It's also true that she has gotten much better now, however..."
"However?"
Right, Murakami nodded. That was something that he had noticed long ago.
"Even if he tells me everything he possibly can, Yuki still chooses not to rely on me for anything. He informs me of what is going on and if something trivial happens, but he has never asked to help of any kind. He's not just dumping this all on me either; he knows that I'm fine with it to lessen things for him. But there is now something he's keeping from me and he has yet to properly say anything yet after we had gone to the underground yesterday... It also seems that guy will be doing this by himself."
"By himself... Does that mean he won't accept any help while Border sends people out to catch him!?"
In response to Sasamori's question , which was asked with a frown, Murakami nodded. During the period he found out about what was happening, not only had he decided which side to be on, he had been expecting this to be the time that his friend called on him for help.
I guess I really am lacking in something if he can't find it in himself to call on me for this.
...This is how an Unneeded thinks after all.
"He has only been rejecting things for as long as I've known him. He rejects his former life, his parents, his standings with others, his position, and even himself. Hokari isn't wrong to call him an idiot - we all think that. Frankly, there's nothing wrong will only throwing insults at him. But even we can see his value and some of us are probably pissed at him since we know that he won't say a thing to any of us an will instead be doing things on his own."
Having said that much, Murakami fell silent. He reconsidered that he should not say things that would create a wall and shrugged his shoulders.
"It's a good thing that I don't have to worry about Senpai as much anymore, but all of the troubles there are because of Yuki is something that still holds strong. Honestly, the things he's told me about don't feel real and seem or like strange stories... And then there are things like with Border. Since he doesn't speak of the past... He might not even realize what is wrong."
It was something he had thought bout more than once. Sometimes he had thought how nice it would have been if he had just forgotten everything he knew about the boy. In the past that was a result of his pride, however now this was about what was happening.
Having experienced uselessness on this matter was the depth of shame for someone like him who was dedicated to those he cared for.
However...
"If there is an opportunity, I would like to hear the whole story directly from that guy or Kushikage-san, as well as the origin of their family and a good fighting method for someone wanting to protect others."
"Yeah but, Murakami, you were told by both of those people not to ask about their family."
"Y-yeah, I was made to promise that. I did promise that back then at, what could be equated to, the 'candy house'."
Just live as a resident of Mikado City; it was that sort of thing.
"Kushikage-san is actually pretty neutral on most matters. However, she does have a biased towards her family and those she finds proper interest in, and the same kind of holds true for Yuki."
That's why I decided to make that promise and not delve too much into their family life before or after having met them.
What happened at that time is not something I want to remember, but it can't be helped with me.
Thinking about it, as he was still naïve about everything going on he thought that he would not have a hard time taking it all in now.
"But, the only good to come of that was..."
"That the two younger members were absent," was what he was going to say but stopped.
The two youngest Taiyōko siblings had never been around when speaking about these things.
That is why he nodded to himself on the inside and shut a range of thoughts inside his heart.
He possessed a variety of things to consider. Not just about himself, but things about his surroundings were also piled up.
"I guess that's just how things are when it comes to that family."
But...
Right. There was something we had decided on once he actually accepted me as a friend.
Which was...
"...Tell me what's going on, my friend."
Shobu tilted his head at everything going on around him.
On one side he could tell that Mei was happy with the conversation she was having.
That was good. She had been through a lot. Enough to warrant happiness.
But on the other side...
"Hah..."
Ariake had been letting out tension-filled sighs since he had gotten on his phone.
...That is...a bit worrying...
But he had been told that he only needed to worry about the people he wanted to worry about. That meant, for the time being, he only had to worry about Mei, who was next to him.
Turning his attention back to his food he took a bite from the watermelon slice placed on a separate dish to the side. The juicy flavor mixed surprisingly well with the spice from the curry it was next to.
He had been afraid of letting Mei make the curry and so had come out to help Ariake make his own plate along with Ariake's. It had been quiet the entire time, but the older boy's gaze had constantly been shifting to him to make sure he was fine.
...He is pretty...nice... ...I can see...why Mei-san and...Yuki-san like him...so much...
He had been wary the entire time, but that could have been because they shared similar status when it came to the same people.
Their standing with each other was one of unfamiliarity that was only connected by the people they knew. Even so, Shobu felt the need to make sure they were fine enough by each other.
So.
"...What is...wrong, Ariake-san...?"
"Nothing much. Just something with my squad. You don't need to worry about it."
"...I see..."
.
Mitsuteru felt bad once he looked up to see the downed expression the kid was showing. He was Yuki's student and he only seemed to be concerned with his sighs.
Sorry, little guy. But I don't think you would be able to handle what's going on right now in my squad's chat.
He had made sure to inform his teammates about what was happening on his side of things and the responses were just as he expected.
2Truths1Lie: "Okay, it's time to pick sides! We know that Teru-kun will be on the side of Yuki-kun, so what about everyone else?"
Shige-ko: "I'm going to take that guy down! He's been messing with the idiot too much and it's pissing me off!"
2Truths1Lie: "Now, now. We can get the personal stuff out later. For now, anyone else?"
One: "I'm going to be taking Border's side on this one! Sorry, sorry, Tsu, but I need to uphold some stuff here!"
2Truths1Lie: "Then I guess that means I will be taking Teru-kun and Yuki-kun's side this time around."
Shige-ko: "This isn't the time to be making things even!"
2Truths1Lie: "That's true. But I decided to be a bit selfish here since Teru-kun is deciding to be himself for all of this. He was told not to let anything go from his first every captain and I want to see just how far he will be going to reach the point of letting it all go."
...Seiji-san, your true colors are showing here. I'll make sure not to say anything, though, since you still have things you want to keep to yourself.
It was hard to not get involved with this conversation, but if he said anything now then it would only be thought of as something from someone who had long since picked his side. All that he could do here was watch how this turned out.
2Truths1Lie: "What about you, Kanji-kun? You are very munch in between Shindoa-san and Kido-san's factions. So what will you be doing concerning all of this?"
Feeling Alive: "Oh, I've already made up my mind. I'm going to remain neutral during all of this."
Meaning...
Feeling Alive: "Neither side will be able to use me as an Operator while they are fighting each other. If it's something general, feel free to call on me."
That was to be expected with their Operator.
Mitsuteru knew him the least, but he knew that Kanji did not enjoy having to pick sides and chose to live life in a neutral zone when it came to important things. It had put him in a position that could view all sides evenly and without any sort of bias.
As far as I know, that is similar to Kiyoshi-san. But Kiyoshi-san seems to be moving all over the place instead of staying in the middle.
He now had a side of his own with Border being on the opposing end.
This felt wrong, something that should not be happening with Border, but it was something that was bound to happen with the Taiyōko family involved.
I wonder how others are taking this...
He had been found out.
After leaving his family's home, he had been spotted by the ones who had also made their way there. It should have been easy to escape from them, but there had been something that caused them to notice him.
Damn that airhead and his innate ability to direct all attacks towards me!
He had the same thing for Ninomiya, but he had no reason to attack. His only priority had been to escape, but the man had managed to spot him as soon as he got to the pole in the front yard.
So now...
"!"
Tsukiko Yuki jumped from rooftop to rooftop as three people followed him with weapons ready to get him to Bail Out.
Using the glass windows around him to check behind, he could see that he was managing to keep a distance away from the three.
Tachikawa Kei - Border's #1 Attacker, who he thought had a brain made of mochi he loved so much to eat. He was the closest person to Yuki, yet still could not reach him with his two blades.
Kako Nozomi - a beauty-Shooter with a beauty mark that was currently the only one really making him work for his escape. She had been firing at him repeatedly, making him use his own trion to get out of the way of the shots.
Miwa Shūji - the Neighbor-hating captain of Border's #7 A-Rank squad. His Lead Bullets were something to worry about, if they could manage to hit him. He was in the same boat as Tachikawa in the sense that he was not close enough to properly attack.
These three A-Rank captains were the ones who were currently chasing him like hounds chasing after a fox.
The reason for this was unknown by Yuki, but he would not just submit to them.
It's probably about these rumors floating around, but even I can't be too certain at this point...
It just did not feel right.
The three were already in their trion bodies, as if they were expecting him to attack them right away.
He had managed to get a good distance from them before using his own Trigger to start his real escape.
The Trigger he had found at his family's house did not seem to have any special abilities besides a shield to use. It might have been a simple Trigger used to walk around in or test out, otherwise he found no reason for it to be there.
Even so, he had used that Trigger to make his escape.
By using shields and his natural abilities, he had maintained this distance for a good amount of time. They were already nearing the city and he had yet to take any sort of damage.
At this point it was only a matter of time before thy would catch up. He hoped that he would have a better chance of escaping before that hapepned.
However...
"!?"
That was until something almost cut his head off.
.
The blade coming for his neck was too close for his mind to change his body's course. It had appeared at the last moment and would take his head off.
"—!"
Or it should have.
That is way too close!
Allowing his Side Effect free reign, his body began to mimic the movement of the blade coming towards him. With nothing in his hand, both his arm and neck would be severed by the oncoming Scorpion blade.
Yuki found how the entire action would end and took control of his body once more, lowering his stance by dropping his hips and bending his legs.
He pushed his legs forward while tucking in his upper body. The Scorpion blade moved above his head. There was no need to look up and see who was attacking him.
He already knew.
...Minoru.
There would only be an instant for an opening to appear. The taller All-Rounder needed to correct his balance after having missed his target. That would be his only chance at escaping.
To widen that even further, he stuck out his hand as a green shield appeared.
Swinging his arm back caused the shield to follow along.
Minoru had jumped to evade the sideways shield, increasing the gap between them and allowing for a marginally larger escape time.
With a set push, Yuki throw himself forward while regaining his own balance and running off of the roof.
There's still that issue between the two of us, so it's not wonder he would be after me too. I would feel more worried if he was helping me right now, actually.
Yuki felt himself sighing from the depths of his heart at that.
It hurt to think about the last time they had spoken to each other.
It had been his own fault for not sorting out his value properly and taking himself back to when he had still been with his family.
Seeing Minoru attack him now only felt like the obvious thing that should happen.
I'm just glad he's able to be up and moving like that. I guess the airhead has steadied him since then.
Having to team up with that guy was a hassle, but I managed that. I refrained from asking about Minoru, but here we are. I can see that he's fine enough to move and attack me properly. That's good.
...Yes. Even if he catches me, it's good to know that he is fine. I would end up being even more than worthless if he could not bounce back from that. Mei is also fine now, so he also has someone that can look out for him the way she does.
Still.
It's going to be hard to get away from him without Teleport.
As if to answer his thoughts, a foot was raised and moved towards his head.
"!"
Without turning his head, Yuki crouched down again and performed a sliding turn to the right.
From his new spot, he could see them.
.
It had been only a few seconds that Minoru and Yuki had been in contact but that was enough for Miwa and Tachikawa to get within striking range, as well as Kako readying another onslaught of shots.
The two with blades ran forward, fully intent on going all out.
Three blades were meant to cut through him. A gun was pulled out, meaning that Lead Bullets were meant to stop him. Behind all of them were a volley of Hound that were meant to attack him if he escaped.
There should have been no way for him to dodge any of these attacks with the position he was in.
Now!
But he forced a way through.
Even without any of Border's Triggers, or even his personal one, he used what he had learned from his family in tandem with what he knew about Triggers. Each actions needed to be done correctly and his movements needed to connect with each other without stopping.
So that's what he did.
I don't need to fight. My objective here is to escape. Fighting only buys them more time. ...And besides, I wouldn't stand a chance here. I can fight two or so of them on equal enough footing if I had my Triggers, but I can't fight them with only a shield. I'm not at Sekai-san's level for that kind of thing.
Even Sekai would require more than a shield to fight these people. So someone like him would stand no chance in an actual fight against them.
That's why I just need to get away!
Pulling back his arms, he created two shields.
The right shield moved along a set path that rotated upwards and towards the back while the left shield was forcibly thrown to the side.
One of the shields had crashed into Miwa's Kōgetsu, throwing him off balance and into his own gun. The trigger had not been pulled, so he had not fired on himself.
The second shield moved towards Minoru's stretched out leg. It pushed him further away, leaving even more room between his recovery and Yuki's escape.
There was still the problem of Tachikawa moving in to attack. Both of his blades were held out in preparation for his escape and gave little room to move.
I need to make a third one! But using trion like this will only make things worse for me!
It was a simple fact that he was using more tiron than any of the others as they all moved. Kako could properly distribute the about she used for her attacks while the others had set limits to the Triggers they used.
Meanwhile, Yuki had to manually decide how much trion to use for his shields, how big to make them, and how many of them he needed to make. The thought process for making them was not an issue, but the trion needed for it all had been what placed a burden on him.
And right now only served to further that.
I guess I need to-
As he began moving, something rushed by.
A flash.
A light torn through the air between him and Tachikawa. It flickered for a moment before they both watched as one of the Kōgetsu blades flew through the air. Tachikawa's hand was unharmed, but he was now missing the blade closest to attacking Yuki.
Using this as his chance, he turned his body around so that he would be spinning on his hands. He kicked his legs up in time with Tachikawa's movement to push the arm holding the second Kōgetsu away.
...Who was that?
That sort of precise shot was not particularly uncommon in Border, but going for an disarming shot instead of the hand itself was not something he saw too often. There had been a girl before who could easily do as much, but she was no longer around.
That girl had three students, one of which becoming his former teammate. But all three of those students were currently elsewhere from what he had been told by Mei and Kageura.
So then who shot that?
As he thought about this, green lights filled the air.
His eyes went wide as he saw those green lights move towards the direction the shot had been fired. Each one of them were recognizable to him from the many times he had seen them up close.
The airhead attacked them instead of me!?
Ninomiya would almost never pass up the chance to attack him and would even do it instinctively most times. For him to attack the one who fired the shot meant that that person was in a similar position as Yuki when it came to the B-Rank captain.
Now isn't the time for that, though! I pushed those three away!
He needed to run away before they had a chance to chase him again.
"I can't let you get away."
Tachikawa's voice reached him at the same time he felt something pierce his hand.
.
Yuki saw the smile Tachikawa jump back as a rain arrived.
He had pushed away the three A-Rank agents, but could not stop the rain of Hound from coming down on him.
Minoru had thrown Scorpion blades back to Tachikawa in order to keep Yuki from escaping. And now that he had been held in place for a moment, it all came down.
The Hound shots were forcefully slammed down onto the roof.
It had a tremendous effect.
The roof was made of ceramic material, so it mercilessly crumbled under the weight of the mass rain of Hound. Yuki and the other four on the roof fell inside of the building.
The inside of the building was a vast area. In fact, it seemed a little too vast. It was even larger than a school gym. He was knowledgable about the different areas in Mikado City, but even this place seemed odd with the lines of rectangular boxes the size of industrial refrigerators.
They fell into that space from directly above.
The fall from about two or three stories up was nothing for the group in trion bodies.
It took no time for the final body to appear within the space.
So, the four A-Ranks and one B-Rank standing there remained unfazed.
Tachikawa Kei.
Ninomiya Masataka.
Kako Nozomi.
Miwa Shūji.
Hatohara Minoru.
All of them were a great force that represented Border and they were all A-Rank or the possessor of an equivalent level of power. They were all top agents within Border with their own way of fighting that, if gathered together, would give anyone trouble.
"He really has taken hostile action this time."
They all turned toward Tsukiko Yuki who stood in the center.
The battle would likely end in an instant.
"You will probably have to really try now."
.
The primary premise behind this fight was Yuki's inability to counter them all at once.
He could put up a good fight against one or two of them, but there were far too many people to take on himself. Miwa and Kako were leaders of lower ranking A-Rank squads while Ninomiya was a B-Rank captain, but that didn't mean they weren't formidable opponents right now.
That left nothing for Yuki to do even if he had his Trigger and faced them.
He was at a disadvantage in pure numbers. This was a poor match for his usual style of fighting, so it was blatantly obvious what would happen if they approached all at once.
Under all those conditions, there was only one thing he could do in the instant the five figures tore through the air and approached.
Out of Tachikawa, Ninomiya, Kako, Minoru, and Miwa, he chose to target just one of them.
He kept his gaze fixed and took a step forward, knowing he could not keep up.
He moved toward Hatohara Minoru.
As said before, there was nothing he could do in a fight against so many people and this one in particular did not wholly rely on multiple Triggers. He would be unable to evade the first strike, not to mention land a hit.
Then what was he trying to do?
The answer was simple.
In that instant, he moved into the path of Minoru's strike while turning off his Trigger. He intentionally moved to a position of a sure-fire attack.
.
Minoru himself was likely the most surprised by that decision.
"What!?"
When he saw his much too reckless decision, he stopped just before turning on the prototype Trigger Yushi. The lily flower did not bloom on his body.
He was a part of a certain faction.
Shinoda Faction.
That meant he would prioritize Mikado City and the citizens over fighting and defeating Neighbors.
Just like the others in this faction, he would watch out for civilians.
The other issue here was the fact that Minoru knew just how weak Yuki's real body was. The special Trigger-user was amazingly good when in a trion body, but his real body was a deteriorating one that could fail him at any moment.
He used that against me?
He thought while working to rein in his own power.
No matter where he tried to run, I could correct my course and land a hit on him. That meant my greatest blind spot was the point directly in front of me where he would be hit no matter what he did!
Yuki immediately made his next move.
But from the perspective of an A-Rank who could move at great speed, it would be more accurate to say that he began to make his next move.
His decision was simple.
He did not punch or kick. He crouched down and curled up in a ball.
Oh, no.
One method a ninja would use to escape pursuit was to suddenly stop and curl up on the spot. The pursuer would be unable to brake fast enough, so the ninja would escape the pursuer's swinging sword and trip them.
Minoru could not eliminate his momentum, but striking him with his foot at this speed would undoubtedly break something. He immediately hopped up to jump over him, but the tip of his shoe caught on the edge of his clothing.
Minoru could feel the boy's ribs crying out through his foot, but focusing on that had been a mistake.
Tachikawa, Ninomiya, Kako, Miwa, and Minoru had rushed in from five directions to deal with Yuki.
There was naturally another attacker on his other side.
"Ah."
He spoke in surprise and collided with Miwa at tremendous speed. Even if the boy's attacks could not cause much damage when not in a trion body, another Trigger-user was a different story. The sound of destruction that burst out rivaled that of Yuki's ribs a moment before.
While still curled up and vomiting, Yuki turned on his Trigger to enter his trion body once more.
Using this chance, he pushed off to the side and managed to jump away before he could get shot by either of the Shooters or Miwa.
.
The five watched as Yuki used his mobility and shields in succession from their mixed up spots in the destroyed area.
The first to speak up was Kako. But instead of directing it towards the boy who had escaped, she turned her attention to her former teammate.
"What was that earlier shot about, Ninomiya-kun?"
She had not said it in a pandering or antagonistic way, instead sounding genuinely curious as to what happened.
"...I felt the need to attack whoever that was."
"Oh? Someone else like that exists? Even while we were already chasing after Yuki-kun?"
"That's what bothers me...no one else like that exists. I don't feel that way towards anyone else. After our fight in the underground, that is even more true. There will be no one that I want to attack more than him."
"So then why did that happen...?"
Kako and Ninomiya shared a look, as if it would tell them all the answer, but nothing came of it. Neither one of them could figure out what had happened or why Ninomiya had felt the need to attack that person.
Knowing that they would be getting nowhere, Kako gave a sigh while crossing her arms.
"Well, that just moves us onto the next issue. Who exactly was that person? It is connected to Ninomiya-kun's problem, but also its own thing."
"I figured it was Azuma-san for a moment," Tachikawa said with his arms behind his head. "That attack was too precise to be anyone else."
"That shot was too telegraphed. It couldn't have been Azuma-san. Besides, if it was, either you or Tsukiko would have Bailed Out. He wouldn't have missed his mark like that."
"Oh? Then who do you think it was, Miwa?"
"..."
"I will say this; it was weird how they chose to disarm me instead of taking off my hand. Given how close that shot was to us, it could have been for either one of us."
Kako and Miwa nodded with Tachikawa's statement. They had seen the attack coming before it reach them, but both of them had been in awkward positions that meant they could do nothing about it but watch
Beside them and to the side, the remaining two combatants looked to each other.
There was something they both knew.
"That kind of shot... She could have easily taken that and disarmed him in the same way. The way it was telegraphed is also in line with her methods."
"...But she isn't here."
"She has three students. It would make sense for one of them to be helping the faker."
"But then they would not have gone after his hand. Also, you wouldn't have felt the need to attack them either."
"There is also the fact that we have confirmation on both of them," Kako said, looking at them from between Tachikawa and Miwa. Her phone was held in her hand, showing messages from her own squad's Operator.
They both looked at the message as she continued to speak.
"Ema-kun is at school. The same for the others of Kageura Squad."
"Ariake is at the Yagura Branch, from what the chat was saying earlier. That wasn't too long ago, so we would have noticed if he started moving. As for Nikko, I hear that she has started a new case. She could not have been the one to fire that shot."
Kako nodded towards Miwa in gratitude.
"So it could not have been any one of them."
That only brought back the same question as before: who had fired that shot?
There had been a good amount of Border agents who could pull that off, but...
"The main people I can think of are already accounted for. Narasaka and Kodera have no reason to help Tsukiko while others like Momozono are still a distance away."
"Tōma's also been at his school for class. That means he's also out. ...Are there any particular B-Ranks who could bull that off, besides Ema or Ariake?"
"Assuming the members of Arafune Squad would not be bad, but all three of them are also at school right now. The same goes for Oki-kun. Almost everyone else is out of the question for one reason or another."
So then...
"Who exactly fired that shot?"
.
Ninomiya let out a sigh with Minoru standing next to him.
He had been worried at first about bringing the boy with them, but he also trusted in his partner. His resolve shone through as he fought the faker, even if he had been that same resolve that had let him get away.
But I like that about Minoru too, so that's fine.
The faker had used what he knew about Minoru to make his escape. Anyone in his position would do the same. He could not fault the faker for that.
It does tick me off that he used Minoru at all though.
He clicked his tongue.
I'm still pissed at him for what happened. For the way he does things. For the way he doesn't care about the consequences. That damn faker... Even if we managed to get what we needed from the underground, I still hate everything about him.
They had worked together to take out a powerful Neighbor who felt much more like a Trigger than a simple trion soldier. Both of them had attacked each other while still attacking the Neighbor. It had been how they had managed to win.
They had relied on each other to continue hating each other so they could win.
But with that having been finished, Ninomiya now had no reason to be on his side. Continuing to be enemies was the only way to go for the both of them.
Pulling up a direct message with his squad, he gave a quick glance to see Minoru talking a bit more with Kako.
Nino: "All of you understand which side we are on here, right? Inukai?"
Inu: "It's pretty rude to call me out like that, Ninomiya-san!"
But...
Inu: "Yeah, I know where we need to stand now. I personally want to help out Yuki, especially since Oshiro will be on that side, but I'm just going to have to deal with it...right?"
Nino: "I'm glad that you understand. Hiyami, we will be working with Hatohara Squad. Make sure you have a good connection with Wagner during all of this and share any information with them as it comes up. Ask for the same in return."
Slick Girl: "Understood."
Good. All of them knew what they needed to do. That left less of a burden on him as this went on.
He would be working alongside Minoru this time and that alone put him at easy. It felt nice to have that position, even if it was because they were hunting down that faker.
There would only be one thing left.
Dino Boy: "...Ninomiya-san."
He stopped for a moment at Tsuji's message.
Out of everyone on their squad, he had thought that Tsuji would have said nothing and simply gone along with them.
But it's not like questions are bad.
Nino: "Yes?"
Dino Boy: "We need to be going after Tsukiko-senpai, that much I am fine with. But...what should we do if we come across people who will be on his side?"
Well this is a problem.
Tsuji looked down at the body in his arms.
Taiyōko Mukuro.
He had been making his way to Ninomiya Squad's operating room when he had come across someone in the hallway. That in itself would not have been an issue, but the things that had followed most definitely were.
Upon seeing him in the hall, the boy had tried to walk away. But it had been too late.
By the time he had been taking his first step away his eyes were starting to close and his body was beginning to move towards the ground.
Not wanting the boy to hit the ground at an awkward angle, Tsuji rushed down the hall and had to slide to catch the boy before he hit the ground.
As he started checking on the boy in his arms he saw the message from his captain appear before his eyes. It was clear that he was only doing this to keep himself calm before he needed to go chase after Tsukiko.
Even so, the messages he was receiving had put a thought into his mind.
What about Taiyōko here?
This boy was the younger brother of the person they would be chasing and was someone who always thought about his family. With that being the case, what was he supposed to do about him?
His answer soon came.
Nino: "Take them out. If they seem like they are teetering between side, see if you can draw them to ours. If they are neutral in all of this, leave them alone. But if they are on the faker's side, take them out right away. The more people out of the way, the easier it will all be."
Well he had managed to take the boy out...
But what now...?
What would he do with this boy in his arms?
I could bring him to the Yagura Branch. Araiake and Takato-san are there. ...That would at least work well enough if Ariake opened the door for us.
But that would give the opposing side back their weapon. Something he knew Ninomiya would not be happy about.
So what then?
Should I bring him to the operating room? Having Hiyami watching him while also helping us seems like too much, so I would rather not do that.
And honestly speaking...I don't want to leave him alone with anyone else. He has helped me out already, so it would be rude to just leave him somewhere and leave so that I can hunt down his brother.
He felt a shiver in his heart when he thought about what would happen if he were to have said that to the older sister.
He shook his head at the thought and focused back on the boy in his arms. A frown began to make its way onto his face.
...This guy feels too light. It's a lot easier to tell while he's limp like this and isn't in his trion body. ...He really is small.
His insomnia was also a concern, but that seemed to always be taken care of whenever he made an appearance.
Letting out a sigh, he began messaging his squad while fixing Mukuro in his arms.
Dino Boy: "Ninomiya-san, I...found someone on Tsukiko-senpai's side. Actually, it would be better to say that it goes without saying he is on Tsukiko-senpai's side."
Inu: "Oh? Is that who I think it is?"
Depends on who you think it is.
Dino Boy: "It's Tsukiko-senpai's younger brother."
Inu: "Ah. I would put him somewhere safe and pretend you never saw him. If either one of his older siblings finds out you have him then it might just change what we're fighting about. ...But that's just me."
That's what I was thinking too.
If they were to try and use Mukuro as leverage then there was no doubt that the older sister would come hunting them down while the older brother would be up in the air. It would only cause problems if he tried to keep Mukuro somewhere.
It will seem even more suspicious since he always falls asleep whenever I am around.
But he had to wait for his captain's orders. In the end, those were the words that would determine how this turned out.
Nino: "...Keep him in the operating room. Tsuji, you stay with him."
Inu: "Oh?"
Nino: "Tsuji, you had said that he tends to sleep while you are around, right?"
That was what his captain had decided on.
Nino: "Take him to the operating room, take his Trigger, and make sure he stays put. Inukai, you will be with me."
Inu: "Sure thing. But, Ninomiya-san? You had said that we would be working with Hatohara Squad before. Exactly how much will we be working with them?"
Nino: "..."
That doesn't seem good.
That was right. There were still something unresolved with Hatohara Squad's captain and some others.
He only knew of some rumors surrounding an incident, but that was all that was needed from the way his teammates had been acting after that.
Nino: "...We will be sharing information as it comes up, but otherwise will be fighting where we want or where we are needed."
Inu: "So that's where things currently stand, huh? i guess that does make sense."
That did not mean it was a good thing.
"But I really have little to contribute to that kind of conversation. The two of them have more of a connection there than I do."
There was next to nothing he could do about that situation. He was on good terms with most of Hatohara Squad and best friends with one of their members.
But that was all.
There was nothing there that he could grab onto to help the situation.
"Very well," he said with a sigh.
The body in his arms felt too light, but that made it easier to carry to his squad's operating room.
"I am in charge of you now. So let's get going."
Kido: "I need you to go somewhere."
Murasame: "Sure thing. Where do I need to go? Oh, does this mean I can get out of school for this?"
Kido: "No, you will be going once your school is at their lunch break. There are already others who are doing something concerning this."
Murasame: "And by 'this' you mean about the Yagura Rep, right? Well, it's not like I'm about to go against my own dad. I'm not at the rebellious phase yet."
Kido: "...That will be a time."
Murasame: "Yeah, you will have to deal with that. And I don't think I'll be making that process any sort of easy."
Kido: "I would figure, given who you learned from."
Murasame: "Yup. So, where do I need to go exactly? And is it going to just be me?"
Kido: "You will be going to Mikado City's 1st public school to make sure that Tsukiko will be caught."
Murasame: "Not that I don't trust that you know why, but how do you figure that he'll go there? Even if he goes to school there, wouldn't it be better to go to his branch's office?"
Kido: "It's because he won't have a choice. It will be the only place he can go to lay low for any amount of time."
Murasame: "Ah. Gotcha, gotcha. That does make sense. Okay. I'll head over to there once lunch comes around. In the meantime, I'm guessing that he'll be kept busy by some others."
Kido: "Good. And you have a permission to apply some necessary force."
Murasame: "Really? Wow, you guys must really want him caught. But... Why not just get Amō to do this? Don't they go to the same school already?"
Kido: "Amō had already told us that he'll be a neutral party in all of this. He likes Tsukiko for one reason or another and refuses to go against him or be on his side."
Murasame: "Ouch. That means neither Jin or Amō will be getting involved. Guess that just means I need to work hard to make up for that."
Kido: "Just don't push yourself too hard."
Murasame: "Sure thing. Is there anyone else who will be going with me?"
Kido: "...Yes. You will meet up with some others in order to go there. It should not cause much of a scene if you all are quick about it. So just make sure you find him quick."
Mursame: "So who else will be going?"
Kido: "..."
Fuyushi ran toward him with a notebook in hand, but she frantically stopped when she saw him.
And when she saw the messages placed on the door, she quickly looked away.
"S-sorry! I didn't see anything! A normal person like me didn't see the inappropriate sight of a perverted boy posting a drawing of his relationship with Kageura all over the place!"
"Who're you callin' perverted, Fuyushi!? And I was takin' 'em down, not puttin' 'em up!"
And what kinda normal person refers to herself in that kinda way? thought Mizukami, but he kept quiet as it was not his problem. ...Still, I guess this's gettin' to her too if she's lookin' away instead of yellin' at me.
Instead of saying as much, he asked, "Did ya check on the idiot who was put in the nurse's office? We've to keep those kinds of injuries in warm temperature."
"Yeah. Murakami and Hokari arranged for most of it to be taken care of, so it didn't take long. They're also working on making sure that anyone not in our class or the teachers can get in there while he is knocked out like that. It's a bit of a problem, so I need to get back to the class and ?"
"...What was that name ya just pronounced?"
"?"
...Damn, this girl ain't half bad. I'll make sure Misaki doesn't hear that for a doujinshi later. Well, whatever.
Mizukami passed by Fuyushi on his way to the next room and patted her shoulder.
"So even you got the message, huh? I guess they really wanna reach all parts of Mikado City. After all, the guy's pretty annoyin' to catch if ya don't already know him."
"Could you not speak badly about an idiot who can't even decide on what he wants to be?"
Which of us is speakin' badly 'bout him again? wondered Mizukami with a bitter smile.
"I never would've thought you'd help people like us, Fuyushi. And I was thinkin' of havin' ya leave him with us."
"With you guys?"
"Yeah. We like to face each other properly and know when we can mess with each other, but there's also an unspoken rule of knowing when enough is enough. We just don't a damn 'bout that rule and keep on taking shots at each others. Yeah, all of us really know how to go at it without holdin' back."
Fuyushi tilted her head when she heard that.
"Are you all...in a relationship with each other?" she asked.
...D-damn her! I never thought Fuyushi would cause this much fear! Is this the power of a class president!?
He regretted his lack of time. It absolutely pained him. If there had been time, he would have told her exactly where they all stood with each other and tell her to not get too involved with most of the others.
With that in mind, Mizukami came up with a defensive statement that would prevent Fuyushi from asking someone else and learning the truth.
"U-uh... Well, ya see? It's more like we're pretty much ready for each other. I'll tell ya the details later, but...uh...we all kinda have a history and a lot of different situations goin' on."
"I see. So for example, when did you and Kageura get together?"
...This girl has calmly entered the lion's den!
Mizukami answered her as he started to grow flustered.
"W-well... I-it's not actually like that sorta thing, I guess? Yeah. It's more like bros hanging out and messing with each other."
"So hanging out and messing around leads to that sort of thing? Sorry, but I'm actually pretty inexperienced when it comes to dating and whatnot."
...I can tell! I really can tell!
As he silently repeated himself, Mizukami feigned calm. He took a deep breath in his heart.
"W-well, it doesn't mean that stuff like that leads to anything serious, yeah. Things just happen on accident, too."
"I see. So you can start dating by accident? I'm learning a lot. Working at a place like Border really does a lot for a person."
"Yeah...sure," said Mizukami as he nodded and lightly waved his hands. He felt he was going to go crazy at this rate, so he thought of a way to change the subject. "About that idiot, though. He probably doesn't know what he did wrong, but he's still bein' chased."
"Eh? So he really doesn't know what he did?" she asked with a frown and a harsh tone of voice.
She's the real deal, was Mizukami's internal impression
"That guy is nothin' but a trickster. A fox, really. But how does he look to you?"
"Well, I feel like he tends to hide stuff..."
"Yeah, it's the same for me. So be careful. And if ya do realize somethin', speak to one of those guys in your class, me, or one of the others. Even if you made it into Border, ya still need some caution and distance. And if nothin' happens, that's all for the better."
Mizukami took a step forward and realized he had forgotten to say something.
"And try to not think too harshly about the guy. He really isn't from around 'here'."
His voice was joined by a noise coming from the ceiling. It was the afternoon bell.
JK: "Oh. I just found something interesting."
Mei saw Mitsuteru raise an eyebrow while Shobu calmly took his plate.
"Oh, thanks for that, Tenryū."
"...It is...no problem..."
"Hm... I'm starting to feel pretty bad here. Can you just put them in the sink? I'll make sure to wash the dishes once we're done here."
"...Pyrínas is our...dish washer... ...Don't worry..."
"I don't know who you're talking about, but I guess if you say so..."
She smiled as Shobu nodded his head before gently placing the dishes in the sink.
The entirety of the Yagura Branch had come to the conclusion that Pyrínas was the equivalent to a caretaker. When chores needed to be done, he was there. When children came over, he played with them. When things needed to be bought from the store, he would go get it.
It was nice to know that he was there for those kinds of things.
It is even more comforting to know that they all have someone to clean up after them without issue. Considering who is in this branch...yes, it is really nice to know.
"Hm..."
"Is something wrong, Mitsuteru?"
"...Not really. It's just that... Well, my family was the one called on to fix this place up before it became this branch. At the time, we had no idea what exactly Border needed it for, but we still worked on it."
"I didn't know that had been you. I suppose that would make sense though."
Compared to her own parents his were completely normal. They worked to fix things or make things when they were called on.
Other businesses like the sponsors of Border could get the job done quicker and just as efficiently, that much she knew. But Mitsuteru's family owned business always made sure that everything was properly set and took the time to look over everything closely. If something needed even the slightest change, they would go to their client to make sure they knew what was wanted from them. It was more time consuming, but it had put them in a good place with their clients.
For Border to ask for them meant that they had thought of it and took into consideration the time it took to finish the job. Especially since they would have needed to go over anything that required specifics or things that needed to remain a secret from the public.
They also have lower prices when it comes to working. Even if they were to work on the exact same job as one of the sponsors, their prices really are low. ...A bit too low, if you ask me.
It had been worrying to know that his family also wanted to sponsor Border, but had no money to do such a thing.
"Now that I think about it, one of the squads you had gone with after our disbandment had been Urushima's squad."
"That's right. Wataru-kun pretty much forced me to join in order to pay him back. But it was fun, so I didn't mind. Plus, I got to talk to someone as nice as Rika-chan. So it all worked out."
"I see. That is good to hear. Did he help you any with figuring out how to make more money for your family?"
"Ha ha ha... About that..."
She could already see where this was going.
"You see, he kind of got pissed at me and my parents once he found out how low our prices are. It got even worse when he found out that I was still working there while also working for Border. ...As you might imagine, it was because it meant I would be getting paid more." Mitsuteru laughed, but Mei knew that there would be more to this. So she listened. "It really it a bad point when I told him that I was actually take even less of a pay since I didn't want my parents to pay me too much. You know, because they already have a low price. He had grabbed me by my shirt and started shaking me with tears in his eyes."
"I am assuming that Rokuta had to step in."
"She tried. But then she got too nervous, so I had told her that it was fine and to just relax."
"I see," she nodded. "That was very nice of you."
"You think so? I just figured that she dealt with him enough as it was."
The laugh he gave was one of fondness so she had smiled with him.
Shobu had returned with a plate of watermelons.
That was good thinking, Shokubutsu.
Mitsuteru's eyes sparkled for a moment before he lowered his brows and looked at Shobu.
"Hey, I heard that you were hanging out with Tomo and Miuran the other day. Is that right?"
Shobu nodded his head, but did not change his position.
It was an improvement for him.
"I think it would be better to give these to Tomo then. He really likes watermelons too, so you can make friends with him by giving him some of these."
"...But you also...like them..."
"Yeah, I do. But I already had my fill. Thanks for the thought though."
"...I see..."
Shobu nodded his head again. This time it was followed by him taking the plate back, likely to put it in a container.
She would Mitsuteru mutter something under his breath, but she refused to ask what he had said. If he wanted her to hear it then he would have said it loud.
Instead, she had tried to get back to their conversation.
"So what happened afterwards? With you and Urushima."
"He had made me try and get him to work for our family. I didn't see anything wrong with it, but I had to make sure he was serious about it. He was... Well, he was serious. But about the money. The guy really does get determined when going after that stuff."
"I would not be surprised if he was his school's treasurer."
"Shockingly, he's not. He had said that he would end up getting mad once they had to spend the money."
"That sounds right."
"Doesn't it? Yeah, I said the same thing." He crossed his arms and nodded his head resolutely. "Anyways, after that, I had asked my parents about it. They said it was fine, but I would need to train him since they didn't have the time. That worked out fine enough since we were on the same squad and our schedules for Border would align. He managed to get through most of the training, but..."
"But?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "He ended up giving up once he got to the finer details. Well, I say that, but it was more like the heavy lifting."
"That was something I never fully understood about you. You help your parents, so you likely help with the heavy lifting. How is it that you don't have as much muscles on your body as you should?"
Mei watched as Mitsuteru took in some air with a breath before slowly letting it out. She knew this was his way to release tension.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that there was not much tension for him to release in the first place.
"That's my fault, really. When we were on the same squad I wasn't allowed to do much of the heavy lifting. That was left more to my dad. When I was with the squads after that I actually did gain some muscle. It was nice, if not a bit embarrassing. But once I joined Seiji-san's squad, I kind of let myself slip back to how I had been. Border took a bit more of my time since I was not in the bottom tier anymore and had a bit more defense duty to do. Plus, I started staying in my trion body some more. I ended up cutting that habit once I learned how bad it was for my sleep."
"You are a responsible person. I'm glad to see that that hasn't changed with you."
"Eh. I'm not like that. I just figure that stay healthy is a normal thing to do."
Mei nodded her head this time. Doing things like that really was normal.
Even so, there were some people who still continue to stay in their trion bodies for much longer than they should.
Those people are idiots. Which is to say, my idiots.
She made a mental note to speak with Kotowari Squad about this later.
"Well, getting down to it, yeah, Wataru-kun just let me be while I was with them. It was nice."
"I see. Then may I ask why you seem uneasy when looking around here?"
"Huh?"
.
Oh, I guess that was where this conversation started.
He had lost track of what had been going on as he spoke about the past.
His senpai had managed to get it back on track though.
"It isn't that I feel uneasy. It's just that... When I saw the floorboard poorly repaired over there, I kind of thought that I should fix it properly. I don't know how long it has been like that, but it really isn't the best work."
Is that insulting to the branch members?
Tenryū seemed fine enough from where he was finishing his objective.
Man, I really did want those watermelon slices...
No! This is the perfect chance! Tomo had told me that he wanted to make friends with Tenryū since Yuzuru was already friends with him. This is the perfect opportunity to do so. Go Tomo! Go Tenryū! Yuzuru, you have some explaining to do!
That stuff would be for later though. Right now was the time to answer his senpai's worries.
"Yeah. I'll ask later on to see if my dad and I can come in later to fix that."
"I'm sure Akasora-san would like that. Most of the people here can be rather extreme, so it makes sense that they would destroy a floorboard or two."
"Um... Aren't you going to be joining this branch?"
"My point exactly."
He felt a shiver run down his spine at those words.
They had been quick to come out, but they would remain in his head for a while.
"In all honesty, if you were to ask the base's directors and the branch directors, I'm sure that they would allow you and your family to do maintenance on the branch offices."
"Huh? But don't they already have the sponsors for that?"
"That is true, but they tend to be put on larger jobs when needed. Your family's business would only be called in for the general maintenance or to fix a building. Like what you had done with this building. Smaller jobs that can get you a constant income."
"That does sound nice..."
"I could speak to them for you, if you want."
He lightly shook his head.
"That's fine. I'll talk to my parents about this. It's our business, so it's really up to us to see if we want to try that. Well, more so up to my parents."
"That is true. Very well, I will leave it to you."
"Thanks."
He gave a return smile to her.
There had been very little tension building up in him since he had started speaking with her at the table. Unlike before, he felt that he could speak while at easy now that she had seemed to change a bit more from the last time he had seen her.
JK: "Are you two done?"
"Huh!?"
"Yes. You can continue now, Nakagami."
"It's about time. Jeez."
Suzuka shook her head from where she sat in the Yagura Branch.
Most people had left the branch and she had decided that there was no need to move away from her spot when a good amount of Border members had been excused from School for the day. Majority had decided to still go, but she wanted to stay in her zone.
Her laidback and relaxed day had been interrupted when the front door to the branch office had been opened. She took a look to see who it had been and went back at seeing that it was Ariake. There was no reason to pay it any attention since she hardly knew the boy.
But as soon as she had started to relax again, a message came.
She had been called out by the other girl in the branch office.
By the end of the conversation she had found herself amazed by how she had been forced into the permanent position of Operator for Kotowari Squad. Her best argument had been shut down right away and she had agreed to help them.
Once that had been done, she began going over every piece of information she had so that she could better help all of them.
Looks like some members of another squad joined in the chat.
That would not be much of an issue. She only needed to send this information to them too.
Before she knew it, she had found something.
She had been ready to let everyone know when Mei and Ariake had began their conversation.
Feeling that at least one of them would miss the messages, she held off from saying anything just yet. The others had been a bit merciless when it came to her suddenly going quiet, but she put up with it for now.
Now that they had been done with their conversation, she began.
JK: "Right. So, like I said before: I found something interesting."
It was something that she had received after letting the base know which side she had been on.
Or which side I want them to think I'm on. I really don't have much of an alliance right now. Yeah, I'm on Kotowari Squad now, but that really doesn't mean much. I don't have a hardcore relationship with anyone, so it's all good. I'll just lay low for now and help them when I'm needed.
Border would look over her so long as she stayed in the branch office and told them that she would remain neutral.
JK: "People have been saying that they've seen Border members running on some rooftops and lights flying around. It's on social media right now, but Netsuki-san'll probably have it down or contained in a bit. The last that they saw was the roof of a building gets totaled then someone jumping out a minute or so later."
Izumo: "Did any of that say anything about what they looked like?"
JK: "No, but I checked for anyone using a Trigger in the area. I found some pretty good stuff there."
2Truths1Lie: "Hello, Meishō Seiji here. Where exactly did all of that happen?"
JK: "Roughly west-southwest from the Forbidden Zone. They were almost all A-Ranks and one of them was an unregistered Trigger."
Izumo: "Mei-san?"
Rampage Dress: "What is it, Takeshi?"
"Huh?" Nakagami said with a tilt of her head.
Mei's response was odd. Not for the fact that she had asked a question, but because it seemed too nonchalant.
Izumo: "Um, you wouldn't happen to have calculated this out...have you?"
Rampage Dress: "Oh, yes, I have already figured things out with that. It really wasn't that hard to figure out."
"The fact she can say that so readily means that it really wasn't easy to figure out for a normal person..."
But that was neither here nor there.
Rampage Dress: "That idiot has gone back to school. After all, his classmates will be there. Along with the people who can tolerate him enough to not throw him out."
"We can now visually detect Tsukiko's unknown Trigger."
While making various arrangements for what had happened, Sawamura looked forward.
The A-Rank agents and their equivalent had failed to catch Yuki. He had managed to get through their grasp using an unknown Trigger that did not belong to Border, and the underlining meaning of that could not be overlooked.
...He keeps adding more to an already troublesome issue. Even if some of us want to help, it only becomes that much more difficult when he does things like this.
Just like Border, issues concerning the publics views and actions were taken into consideration so that neither side would be able to gain the upper hand. Instead, both side would use what they could to contain the crowds or simply become part of them. These kinds of things would only be natural to those who had fought in many different types of battles using different types of strategies. For a single person to do something that seemed more like what an adult would do... It was a strange thing, but something within the realm of possibility.
However, thought Sawamura.
Even if she was deliberately lowering her speed of work, they still managed to get information from the single fight. Border was an organization that needed to be fast in their approach and reaction, so even she could not slow down the process too much.
They were already deciding who to send towards the area they saw him moving towards, something that took no time as there had already been a decision made earlier. That area was being informed that something may happen, but it would be nothing to worry about.
However, there was a problem.
The people in the school would not know what to do.
Our only option is to get some of the students to force him out. There are about to be some who are on our side that will have no issue with this, concluded Sawamura. But simple words will not work.
Meanwhile, a few agents appeared in the area near one of Mikado City's public high schools.
Those agents sent out entered the school's range and a few moved closer. Sawamura looked over who had been sent.
"Our agents have made it to the school and seem to be warning some of the leaving students. We plan to go in when there are less students there, so we will tell them they should be moving in."
At the same moment, a voice transmission arrived for Sawamura over the common network. A few windows appeared, all with their borders formed with special patterns meant for the base and the branch offices.
"Notification for Border's HQ and anyone who is listening!" said a low female voice.
The notification came from a special person who had already spoken to them before through negotiations. The voice had a light and playful tone to it, but the seriousness in it had made them all pay close attention to it.
However, the next voice contained a sharp tone.
"Before going with Kobayashi, my own business had helped in making that school you wish to surround. So make sure you don't destroy it, or else. Ko ko ko."
.
"You may all move in to find Tsukiko, but do your best not to ruin any part of the school. Some of you go there, so it won't be hard to figure out who had done what, make sure you all remember that, and take caution here. Do not let yourself go back on your resolve just because you go there..." Commander Kido took a breath. "Make sure to capture him. By force if necessary."
.
Immediately afterwards, Sawamura saw four figure jump from the sides and into the open courtyard on the high school. Those figures all had their Triggers at the ready and made sure that they could be clearly seen."
"..."
They had wasted no time in moving in while making sure the space was clear enough for everyone to move around.
"Border combatants have reached their destination and will now be moving to find and capture Tsukiko Yuki!"