Kanzaki was lost in thought while moving through the outer city.

...This is troubling.

But this had nothing to do with her. She was referring to the contents of the magazine in her left hand.

She did have some thoughts about herself after seeing Tachikawa and Sthénos' battle at Akasora's house that morning. Simply put, she was inexperienced, but...

...I do not know what it is I lack.

She had decided to try out a variety of things as a part of her training while also fulfilling her job as a Border member. Sawamura had given her a list of the dojos, training locations, and classrooms run by skilled Mikado City residents.

But when she had visited a nearby dojo, she had found the place empty. Unsurprisingly, the people had moved to Inner Mikado City once some remodeling had been announced. She had then gone down to Outer Mikado City and visited a Border-affiliated training location that looked like the biggest one, but they had assumed she was challenging the dojo and attacked her far too enthusiastically. She had ended up defeating them all and received the dojo's sign. Carrying it had been a pain, so she had sold it at a pawnshop.

...How rude of them to think I was challenging the dojo.

Besides, challenging the dojo would mean defeating every one of its students and then stealing their sign.

"...Oh?"

I ended up doing exactly that, didn't I?

...How could I be so careless!?

However, what was done was done, so she decided not to worry about it. Besides, she had already decided to go around trying out different Mikado City sweets as a reward after each place she visited.

...I always want something sweet when I am exhausted.

And defeating those beginners is especially exhausting. They run away, so you have to chase them down. The Kanzaki family believes in equality, so we treat beginners and experts exactly the same. Even on the TV show I saw the other day, father almost had an assembly line set up to circumcise everyone who lost to him. Maybe I should have thrown those dojo students into the Ueno god's shrine.

Still, selling the sign had given her enough to cover the cost, so she decided to go treat herself to some sweets. Challenging dojos may be a decent method of securing a sweets budget, she realized while checking the local magazine "Koumon Walker".

The opening feature was "Suzunari Branch Murakami-san's Selection of the Best Rice Restaurants". The photos showed a smiling Murakami with a bunch of the others from their age group in the background, but Kanzaki was only interested in the sweets section. The main page featured a smiling Murakami saying dangerous things like, "No matter how much you eat here, the rice keeps coming! Such a wonderful challenge!" But next to him the Kageura Squad Gunner was eating a Mikado Plum Éclair and giving a pitiful review of "Wowww! It's so sour and so delicious! It's sourlicious! Or delisour! Ahhhh, here it comes, comes, comes, comes!" Kanzaki decided to go with that for today.

...That shop is over this way.

She knew her way around Outer Mikado City well enough because she was one of those pictured behind Murakami from the other day. She looked to the rooftops and nearby perches for anything particular.

"...?"

As she did, she sensed movement in the wind.

.

...What is this?

That is the wind created when people move, thought Kanzaki.

A less open area had clear passageways for air and people to move through, but this wind was even more distinct.

The winds created by people would carry a certain current through the area, so when someone was moving differently from the usual flow of traffic, a small distortion of the air would differ from the overall current.

If the person was moving slowly, that distortion would be gentle and calm.

But this was different.

These two movements were sharp and traveled far into the distance.

"Hm."

Even if she was currently focusing on her training, she was still someone important.

In that case, she thought while creating her own wind in the streets.

Hers was equally sharp and traveled just as far.

As soon as she accelerated forward, she saw something.

As she looked to the area's row of rooftops, she saw a light slice east to west along the main road.

...That was...!?

"An attack from a Trigger!?"

Outer Mikado City's main road was torn into by a straight line running east to west.

Shobu sensed it from the building overlooking a lot of Mikado City near the outer and inner parts. He was on the terrace that would also be used for meetings.

He had been preparing to look over to the others who he assumed could see him from below, but his senses picked up a blade-like "sharpness" piercing east to west through Outer Mikado City.

The attack was probably a few hundred meters long but quite narrow. It could not have been more than six meters wide, so it only blew away the fronts of the roadside shops and tore deep into the road itself.

The reminded Shobu of something.

...Laser Shooter...?

Many times before, he had sensed that sort of thing which Takeshi had used.

It should have been only Takeshi who had that Trigger at the moment, but he had heard nothing about Takeshi coming to Outer Mikado City. He had viewed Mikado City's area from the base on a daily basis, but there had not been any signs of Takeshi going outside of the inner city. Besides, there was no reason for Takeshi to come here.

...Other than doing...something mean to his Awdry-sama...I guess...

He did not like that he was assuming bad things about people. But...

"...Yuki-san and the others..."

He was too far away to perceive them. The disturbance from the heat and wind was part of it, but the building seemed to have decided that it was far enough away to not matter. He did his best to perceive the situation on the outer city while staying where he was.

"—!?"

...The wind is gone... he thought.

The great wave of stormy destructive heat had vanished from the distant road and he could weakly detect something below that wave.

"...Yuki-san...!"

Kimura looked forward while holding a hand up to protect her eyes from the dazzling light.

...Am I alive?

The road had been destroyed by a straight line from east to west. It looked like it had been torn apart by a thick blade all at once. The eaves of all the roadside shops had been torn into by about a meter. As had the walls. Even the damage to the road took on a shallow V-shape about a meter deep.

The air must have been lost because wind poured in from either side toward the center. The chair, tables, and products were blown out from the stores, so the workers all frantically ran out.

Kimura had been crossing the road, but she was fine. Also, there was no sign of the east to west destruction near her.

It should have been a direct hit, so why? She found a back in summer clothing to her east. It was Murakami.

"Murakami, did you protect me?"

"Unfortunately, it wasn't just me."

The black wolf smiled a little and faced east.

"I, Suzunari's Murakami Kō, will do something about whoever has disturbed the outer city before I head into the inner city."

He then raised what he held in his hand. The weapon had protected everyone behind him from the previous beam of light.

"Shikifuku's Willpower. This came from Sensei...no, I should say that it came from my own willpower. Sensei let me borrow this, but I should really thank him again later."

Two movements immediately followed.

One was Murakami holding Shikifuku up in defense.

And the other...

"Hit!"

Suzaku fired five rapid-fire shots at the enemy likely located down the road.

.

Five bullets tore through the wind.

Suzaku saw his personal Trigger get to work before his eyes five times over. Suzaku the made his follow through movement and used his specialized guidance to follow the bullets as they flew past Murakami.

The bullets would target motion and had been given extra speed, but they were actually pretty non-lethal.

...Please hit!

For someone like him, firing at a person took guts to do. Even when used as defense, it was only allowed when he or someone else's life was in danger or when his opponent was illegally breaking the rules set by Border and intent on continuing in front of him. The only other exceptions were...

...When training and as a warning!

"That's why I set this to impacts instead of full on damage!"

"Heh heh heh. Umi-san, did you want to honestly shoot someone that badly?"

"I suppose that is another way of looking at it! Isn't it!?"

The bullets only had enough of an impact to them to make it known when they hit. It would be a challenge to even injure someone with one, but in a battle between experts...

...Even a slight impact can throw off their stance and act as a warning!

So he had not hesitated to fire. But...

"..."

Then he briefly hesitated. He had trained his rapid-fire technique, so if their opponent had not yet approached or attacked, should he perhaps fire once more to hold them back?

...Hmm.

He groaned in his heart, but the idiot shouted over from the right.

"Umi! If you're gonna shoot, now's your chance!"

Ehh? Jinsei, what are you talking about now? C'mon, I wasn't thinking about shootings, so why would you say that? But it is true this is my chance and this is a dangerous situation. Yes. I have no other choice. Just look at all that anticipation in Jinsei's face. Yes, if one of usual customers expects this of me, I have to do it. Yes. Then maybe just a little. Yes!

"Umi! Umi!" shouted Murakami. "What's that weird aura coming from you!?"

That's probably the enemy's aura.

"Hit!"

.

Murakami saw four consecutive sets of five rapid-fire shots.

Every last one of them flew in gentle but violent curves toward their target.

The trion light of acceleration trailed after all twenty high-speed bullets.

"...!"

Then another trion sign frame shattered and they accelerated further. This was not just acceleration. With a second and third stage like this, the acceleration could be arranged on the sides to shift the bullets' trajectories.

...Th-that's just being cruel!

He was honestly shocked. He had originally considered training in instantaneous acceleration that Mei had shown him already by dodging Suzaku's bullets, but after asking Suzaku just how much he could do, Murakami had rejected the idea as too dangerous.

Murakami spotted something at the border between unharmed and destroyed road past the flying bullets.

...There they are!

A man with bagworm on and a black uniform stood several meters away from them all. He had some black hair sticking out, a tall figure, and...

"Nice figure!"

Shut up, Jinsei, he thought while looking at the man's weapon.

...A spear? No, that looks more like...

It was a cross-shaped half-sickle spear. Or perhaps calling it a cross-shaped L spear was more accurate. The straight blade had a secondary blade at the base that formed something of an L shape.

However, the bottom of the spear looked odd to Murakami. It should have been just as skinny as the shaft, but it was long and thick like a mallet. But...

I know that look. It looks more like Raygust than anything else.

As a user of Raygust, he was familiar with the different appearances of it and what it could look like. This seemed like a modified version of it.

Also, a light appeared. Pure green light surrounded the long blade.

"That's the color of the previous blast!"

Murakami decided the next attack was coming as soon as that light had accumulated enough, but he was prepared this time and Suzaku's bullets would arrive soon.

As soon as he realized the enemy could not attack in time, he saw an explosion of light.

...Did he fire it in desperation!?

No. The trion light had not built up enough for that. Plus, the explosion of light was not directed toward them. It had been fired behind the enemy, from the bottom of the spear held under his arm.

An explosion of light burst back from the spear, kicking the spear and its bearer forward.

"He's using a thruster to come this way!?"

Then Suzaku's bullets flew in. The lead five were on a direct course.

But the enemy leaped forward regardless.

He was pushed forward by the acceleration light pressurized by multiple destructive spurts that burst from the back of the spear under his right arm.

"Shikifuku?" he said. "This should make for a decent challenge!"

He took a step toward Murakami.

"Finish this, Raygust."

An explosion of light launched the enemy forward faster than Suzaku's bullets.

...Eh?

Murakami lost sight of the enemy, but not because Suzaku's bullets got in the way as they dropped down and not because the enemy had decided to move to the bottom of the V-shaped gouge in the road.

It was simply due to his speed.

The enemy approached like a thrown spear. Bagworm glided through the bottom of the V-shaped gouge. He held the spear below his right arm, stood tall with his arms crossed, and raced forward like he was sliding along ice on his toes.

In the span of a breath, he filled majority of the space between him and them all. But...

"Those were Hounds!"

After Suzaku's shout, the twenty bullets turned around to continue their pursuit of the enemy. With bursting fragments of trion light, they seemed to ricochet to continue their flight with almost no loss of speed.

From above and below, the bullets raced along the gouge in the road. They accelerated through the air on the left and right as they pursued the enemy.

.

He can't dodge, concluded Suzaku. That weird spear acted as a powerful thruster, but the basic principle was the same as the Trigger by the same name. The acceleration was continuous, so it could not make instantaneous direction changes.

Accelerating forward was the only way to avoid the bullets, but...

"Mura! Squish him with a counter! Then we'll win!"

"Are you sure you're not confusing our enemy with those drinking snacks you squish on the counter?"

"N-no! Those are more of a 'tap, tap, tap, tap, splat'!"

"The enemy is here!"

Oh, right, thought Suzaku while looking back to the road. He saw light on the east end of the destroyed road. It was the pure green trion light of acceleration, but it did not come from the spear held under the enemy's arm.

The enemy had uncrossed his arms, reached his left hand behind him, and pulled something out.

...A second one!?

This half-sickle spear had the opposite shape and the enemy swing it around.

"Jeez."

This new blast of acceleration light allowed the enemy to spin and leap diagonally upwards.

In a single bound, he reached the rooftops on the right from Suzaku's perspective.

.

His borrowed Bagworm spun around as he moved.

He was currently at an elevated position. The road was to his right and a series of roofs continued ahead and behind him.

He had jumped onto the rooftops lining the left side of the road.

Bullets trailing light flew toward him from back and to the right.

They were moving quickly enough to catch up, but his target was multiple meters away. He needed to arrive there safely.

So he pulled the right half-sickle from below his right arm and he kept the left one in his hand.

"Now, then."

As the bullets approached, he activated the acceleration of his right spear.

"Right."

It was directed toward the sky to his right.

He used his feet as they kicked off the rooftops, his rotating body, his swinging head, and the half acceleration from his right spear. He seemed to be falling into the sky to his right, but just as the bullets were reaching his feet...

"Left!"

He stopped the right and thrust the left spear tip backwards with his other hand, but not to attack. The bottom of the spear was pointed forward on his left and it fired acceleration light.

"...!"

His body was swung around by the left spear tip backwards with his other hand, but not to attack. The bottom of the spear was pointed forward on his left and it fired acceleration light.

"...!"

His body was swung around by the left spear, providing a high-speed midair rotation. He faced backwards, but he used the continuing rotation to snap his right spear up from below.

He hit one of the pursing bullets and it exploded upon impact like a balloon popping. When the bullet had failed to hit, two behind it moved to take its place, as if telling them all that they would not relent.

The power burst. The impact between the three bullets was small, but five things opened. They each accelerated and shattered in turn.

Impact pressure for training: Activate: Confirmed

They seemed to be for training, so a loud sound and bright light signaled the hit. The light instantly drew a ring and two identical sounds echoed off the surrounding buildings and ground.

But this did not obstruct the seventeen following from behind. They colored their path with light and drowned out the residual noise of the previous impact as they pursued him.

"Come to me!"

He moved as if collapsing into bed, but he was no longer trying to dodge. He intended to intercept the pursing bullets by letting them reach him.

They arrived.

He made a leap when his feet briefly landed on the rooftops lining either side of the road. His entire body reflexively granted him a great rotating leap. His head turned back to view his target up ahead and he used alternating accelerations from his two spears to leap back and forth between the rooftops on the left and right.

"—!"

His great speed left afterimages behind.

Like a shadow, he could briefly be seen leaping between the two sides as well as changing direction midair.

But his fundamental action was leaping back and forth between the right and left rooftops.

The repeated sounds of his spear acceleration pierced the air. It began sounding like the pulsating cry of a musical instrument. And within it were the roars of bursting impacts.

When turning atop the right rooftops, he stuck three of the bullets with his left spear.

He leaped, evaded, guided the bullets to the left, swung his right spear to hit two more, and then continued forward. As he let them catch up and then struck them, two additional destructive crashes washed across the sky and the earth.

That sound pushed him onward.

He continued moving as he leaped, but he did not fail to keep an eye on what lay ahead.

He simply leaped back and forth while letting the bullets slip below his arms, between his legs, or under his chin. If they revealed themselves to him, he would knock them away. If they showed their entire surface to him, he would kick them upwards. He continued causing them to explode three at a time, but he made forward progress all the while.

"...!"

As he swept aside the approaching bullets, he intentionally let their explosive blast reach him in order to add to his body's rotation. And finally...

"This will end it!"

He took a great leap. He bent his body back, pointing his stomach to the sky, and made an overhead downward kick on one of the bullets to cause the remaining three to explode. This caused the greatest noise yet, but he landed on the gouged road as the wind and sound washed over him.

As soon as three rings of light spread in the sky, he raised his head and faced forward. He was within fifty meters of his target, but he did not hesitate to bring light to the ends of his double spears.

"Finish this, Raygust!"

The instant he accelerated, something arrived right in front of him.

It was a large, brown Neighbor.

It hit before he could possibly evade.

The brown Neighbor Murakami had thrown down onto the road was a small one. It was seven meters wide, thirty meters long, and had been caught flying in the air above them.

It was a strange manta ray-like Neighbor with lots of curves along with an exposed core and it had been flying overhead until it had been plucked form the sky by Shikifuku's golden chains.

...But it looks like something strange has come through again!

The enemy's mobility and combat ability had prevented them from easily leaving or focusing on the flying Neighbor by itself. He might have made it himself, but he would have needed to bring Kimura and likely Jinsei with him. So...

"Take that!"

As the Neighbor flew in, he had grabbed it with Shikifuku's golden chains and thrown it.

The Neighbor's trajectory had been shifted downward and it slammed into the ground ahead of him, seemingly using the V-shaped gouge as a guide.

The accuracy of that guidance allowed the Neighbor to immediately begin sliding along the road.

The enemy was fifty meters away, but that was only an instant for the thirty meter Neighbor. The enemy's forward acceleration also helped.

"I'm going to squish him with a counter, just like you wanted, Umi!"

"That wasn't what I wanted! It was just a suggestion! A suggestion!"

Suzaku seemed to have reached his crazy time of day. He seemed to have a lot of those today, so Murakami did not bother listening.

The Neighbor tore up the dirt and wore down the road as it shot forward for...

A direct hit on the enemy!

Immediately, the brown Neighbor was bisected.

It was sliced through starting from the other side.

.

...What!?

Suzaku watched the instantaneous destruction from behind Murakami and he saw a giant blade of light.

Beyond the intense sounds of tearing materials, the enemy was thrusting a ten meter long singe-edged sword of trion their way.

...Is that...?

It was not a spear. The enemy's right hand held what had looked a spear, but it had taken on a new form after emitting this blade of trion.

A large Raygust!?

A sword of trion was sent forth from the inner edges of the straight bade and the half-sickle.

It was not a spear. The blades themselves were an emitter for a giant sword and the rest was a thruster.

The enemy had thrust that giant single-edged blade forward.

"...!"

As a result, the brown Neighbor was sliced in two as it slid.

The enemy was preparing to move forward. The two halves of the brown Neighbor were racing by on either side of him. Fragments of stone and dirt were scattering and pieces of the trion soldier were flying.

He pushed his right blade of trion forward while activating his left thruster behind him. He was about to use the pressurization of a generic Trigger to launch himself forward, but...

"...!?"

The blade of trion he held forward was broken in two from the tip.

The trion scattered, the thick glowing blade split into a top and bottom half, and it shattered into nothingness.

He quickly realized why.

"Shikifuku!"

His opponent stood at the back of the split brown Neighbor's left side. From his perspective, that was on the right.

It was the Suzunari Branch's Ace and #4 Attacker. The boy had used his golden chains to pull himself to the Neighbor's back tail and had made a full swing of Shikifuku's blade. When throwing the Neighbor, he had likely not released his golden chain's grip, thus pulling him along with it. From behind the Neighbor, he had destroyed his enemy's attack while also making an attack of his own.

"Nice job!"

After that praise from the enemy, the sword of a Black Trigger lent all its power to this trusted Attacker. The blade sliced through the sword of trion even as the enemy further fueled his attack.

The blade swung through at precisely waist height. The wreckage of the Neighbor created valley walls on either side, so he could not escape to the sides or down. So...

"Jeez!"

The residents of Outer Mikado city saw two people within the wreckage of the brown Neighbor rapidly moving down the road.

One was a man wearing a hood that covered his face who jumped up from between the wreckage.

The other was...

"Murakami-san!"

Everyone watched as the black wolf made an almost casual leap toward the right wreckage of the Neighbor. He made sure to spin around in midair and bow toward the residents. They cheered as he landed on the sliding wreckage.

"...!"

He immediately gained a burst of speed.

Suzaku listened to the wind while watching Murakami raise his speed atop the brown Neighbor moving further and further away.

...This sound...

It was a sharp sound like some distant object approaching in a straight line.

...Is that a high-speed acceleration Trigger!?

But from where? he wondered just as some wind arrived behind him.

It was a person. A very familiar man had run up from behind him. He seemed to be holding a trident, but he was moving too quickly to tell for sure.

"Eh?"

But the time Suzaku noticed him, the wind, the familiar man, and everything else vanished.

...Ehh!? He disappeared? But he was just here!

It was all so sudden. The previous sound of wind, the wind blowing in from behind, and the man were nowhere to be found. He used his Side Effect's echolocation, but he could not decide on where he should be targeting.

...Um. That wasn't some unexplainable phenomenon, was it?

As Suzaku wondered what was going on, Mei faced him.

"Is that what you are looking for?"

Mei pointed to their right where an alleyway led to a lumber storehouse. Suzaku looked at it, wondering why Mei would be pointing it out.

"...!?"

Then it exploded and countless pieces of lumber flew several meters up into the sky.

Two figures also flew up into the air.

One was a trident-wielding man wearing the Tamakoma Branch emblem on his uniform.

And the other...

"Kanzaki!?"

It was Kanzaki. She held the Kōgetsu Spear in her right hand, held a thing magazine in her left hand, and flew through the sky.

She kicked off the airborne lumber to rotate around and control her body.

She already had her spear in hand and was ready to fight.

Kanzaki flew through the air thanks to the explosion caused by their clash.

She had not been caught in the explosion by choice.

An enemy in a Border uniform had been moving toward Kimura and the other, so she had made an attack. But...

...Did he block it with his trident?

She thought that was probably it. The "probably" was due to the explosion that had occurred at the same moment.

She did not understand how it worked, but she and the enemy were both flying through the air with fragments of the storehouse and its lumber.

"Hah!"

At almost the exact same time, she and the enemy kicked off the airborne lumber to leap downwards.

They both landed on the rows of rooftops.

They were approximately twelve meters apart.

Kanzaki thought while preparing her next move.

She knew there were two enemies. She also knew she was dealing with one while Murakami dealt with the other. But...

...I wonder.

Am I a coward? she asked deep in her gut.

But, she also thought. The enemy matters more at the moment. Whether a coward or not, an A-Rank agent must defeat any enemy...even if they also work with Border.

There were six others down the road: Kimura, Suzaku, Shitokei/Takato, her former captain, the idiot, and Suzume. She was worried, but...

...Kimura has good judgement and Suzaku-dono can handle defense. My former teammates are more than well off, so there is also that. The nudist doesn't matter.

Then they should be fine, she thought just as a downpour of noise reached her.

The flying lumber was falling across the city like bolts of lightning. And...

...Above!

From above and behind a nearby piece of lumber, a sudden silver light pieced the center of her vision.

It was a trident. The enemy had jumped over the lumber and thrust his weapon down at Kanzaki.

"...!"

...Honestly.

Maybe I am a coward, she thought while deflecting the enemy's attack with her spear.

The sharp attack held enough strength to wake her up and remind her of something.

...He too is powerful!

The world is a large place, she thought while asking a question.

"As Solo A-Rank Agent Kanzaki Shizuka, I will ask you this now! Why are you doing this!?"

...Oh.

Oops, she thought. I was so overjoyed to meet such a formidable foe that I accidentally called out to him.

However, her question sent a tremor through the enemy's body. But it was not a tremor of confusion. He seemed to be gathering his strength to bear with something and correct himself.

"Very well!"

The enemy turned a powerful gaze toward Kanzaki.

"Distancing myself from Tamakoma today, Kagerei Ketsueki is here to return a favor!"

The enemy, Ketsueki, approached while yelling.

"Apologizes, Kanzaki-kun! I will be needing to defeat you here!"

...Kagerei-san is here too!?

Murakami had heard Kanzaki's opponent name himself.

So as he jumped atop the brown Neighbor, he belated asked something similar of his opponent who wielded a strange Trigger.

"Then who are you!? The current fighter for the Suzunari Branch of Border wants to know!"

"Fine! Since you can't seem to answer it yourself, Kō!"

The enemy had moved back to the front of the Neighbor and he loudly named himself while swinging the strange Trigger.

"It's the one you love to hate - Bakuto Denji! I've decided that today will be the end of it all for me, so I'm going to be getting back at that pathetic former #3 right now!"

He removed his Bagworm as his hair whipped in the wind.

"Let's have some fun!"

Murakami had no choice but to agree, so he poured speed into his body and charged forward.

Kimura heard the enemies name themselves as she viewed the distant battle rising from the outer city like a pillar.

She knew the names Kagerei Ketsueki and Bakuto Denji from her time spent in Border.

...So what are they doing here!?

Denji had said something that made no sense while Ketsueki had denounced himself here.

The former Kotowari Squad Sniper laughed while viewing the clothes from the tailor's.

"Heh heh. You understand, don't you? That gambler man has something against our former captain, so he cashed in a favor from Ketsu-san here for help. It must have honestly been a big favor as well for something like this. Their relationship was be great. It's an adult relationship that must be incomprehensible to your children who think a relationship has to be romantic in nature if it reaches the level of sex! Now, what do you call that kind of physical relationship in English!? Umi-san!?"

"Eh!? Ehh!? U-uh...i-is it 'Free-'..."

"Sometimes you say things that shock even me..."

"Suzaku, five of your squad's impurity meters just filled up in two seconds."

Wouldn't that be called "deep human relations"? answered Kimura in her heart.

She faced forward where Murakami and Bakuto Denji confronted each other on the bisected Neighbor sliding eastward.

On the top of the left wreckage, the black wolf accelerated toward the twin spear user.

...What even are those Triggers?

After naming themselves, the time for battle had begun anew.

As Murakami repeatedly accelerated, he saw Denji prepared his weapons.

Of his twin spears that were named Raygust, he stored one on his back and prepared the right one for their confrontation.

Murakami did not mind, so he launched his entire body forward.

He moved diagonally right, diagonally left, diagonally right, straight ahead, diagonally right, and then diagonally left, which placed him...

Right in front of you.

He snapped Shikifuku's blade forward.

It was a burst-like attack, but...

"Hah."

Denji swung his Trigger, which deflected it upwards with a perfect sound.

The odd smell of something scraping raced through the wind of the sliding Neighbor.

Murakami's right arm was pulled up by Shikifuku and the enemy sent his spear tip in toward his right side.

It was a sharp blow. It would perfectly stab horizontally into his chest with the diagonal half-sickle blade.

A horizontal attack from straight ahead was not a good thing. After all...

Honest Sister: "You can't, Kō-san! Flat Chest Evasion won't work on that attack! You need the Giant Breast Defense!"

When did that get an official name? briefly wondered Murakami, but then he made a split-second decision.

He let go of Shikifuku.

However, he did more than just that. He raised his opened hand even higher than the sword's end.

"...!"

He made a downward burst. He snapped his shoulder, elbow, and wrist like a whip to send them straight down.

That high-speed snapping motion was something he had heard about from Mei before.

During a late-night conversation after her return, he had learned of the confrontation on the hill near Mikado City. Kushikage had used a short-distance snap to accelerate her hand and hold down Mei's rising head.

This was the same. Except he was not holding something down. He grabbed at something with his reversed wrist.

...Shikifuku!

He grabbed it between his index and middle finger rather than in his palm. And instead of swinging it, he pulled it straight down.

Shikifuku now stood like a pillar in front and to the right of him and the half-sickle blade caught on it.

There was a solid sound and sparks flew.

But Denji's movements did not let up in the wind. He pulled the spear back with his full body and raised his heels to stand on his toes. He likely intended to exchange blows while using careful footwork. Something bothered Murakami a little, but...

...I'll settle this immediately!

Murakami turned his right side toward the enemy. As Shikifuku rapidly spun around, he raised it vertically between his fingers.

As his left shoulder rotated behind him, he lifted that arm and let his wrist relax like the raised head of a snake.

This was the thrusting stance in the tradition fencing of knights that Yuki had once told him about.

He then brought his raised left hand to his face and pushed back his hair even more.

"—"

With a snap of his neck, he lowered his eye lids to give Denji a proper expression.

He was telling Denji that it was now a fight between those who know of the Unneeded.

Denji nodded and thrust his spear forward.

Murakami immediately let go of the end of Shikifuku.

"Debut!"

He used a sequence of snapping movements of his wrist and elbow to make a series of high-speed thrusts.

.

Multiple colors clashed on the sliding Neighbor.

Murakami let go of the end while keeping his side turned to his opponent.

Denji attacked while holding his spear near the front, falling back, and focusing on defense.

Lights flew, the clashing of trion rang out, and their movements pushed at and deflected each other.

The spear seemed to be pushed back, but its frequency of attacks did not let up. That was partially due to the focus on defense, but it also had to do with the footwork circling around to Murakami's side.

Murakami, meanwhile, had people behind him he needed to protect. The longer the Neighbor slid, the further they moved from Yuki and the others, but this enemy had tremendous mobility.

If he slipped past Murakami, it would be difficult to catch up. So while Denji protected himself yet attacked, Murakami had to continually attack while protecting the area behind him.

Their respective goals led them to a head-on clash.

"...!"

On the bisected Neighbor, one of them circled around with his footwork and the other used snapping motions to take the necessary positions.

The sparks of clashing swords drew arcs between them and countless special sounds blossomed without end.

They both accelerated, poured directionality into their bodies, and yet...

"...Rrr!"

Murakami pushed his body forward. Before, he had been shifting his position to more easily avoid Denji's attacks, but now he leaned forward to make a powerful attack of his own. And...

"Grr."

He bared his canine teeth and took that first clear step forward.

He charged and the sounds of weapons clashing reached him from the distance.

...Kanzaki!

They had experienced defeat before, but people like them were finally able to exchange attacks with these kinds of people. So...

"Kanzaki! We have to stop these two here!"

...True enough.

Kanzaki agreed with Murakami's shouted comment as she fought Ketsueki.

Atop the outer city and on the rooftops, they both ran between the pillars rising like obstacles and they exchanged the sparks of attacks.

He is a superb enemy, thought Kanzaki. He had an excellent attack style.

She felt a bit like they fit together well.

She was a girl and her enemy was a man. She had a ponytail and her enemy had pushed back hair. She used a spear and her enemy used a trident. Both those weapons had a name: Kōgetsu-Spear and Trishula. And...

"You are a decent fighter!"

"As are you!"

...And we both have old-fashioned speech patterns!

That is a surprise. I had thought that he had been faking it during our commentary, but that is not the case here. He does it now because he is viewing himself as a samurai. Such a rare thing.

"Kanzaki! Don't zone out!"

Huh?

Kanzaki looked toward Kimura who had shouted at her from the distance.

"I was not zoning out, Kimura. I was only so lost in thought that I stopped focusing on my surroundings."

"Just face forward!"

She did as she was told.

...Oh, the enemy is attacking.

Kimura looked to the right where the battle was being fought south of her.

On a rooftop about fifty meters away, Ketsueki was swinging forward the trident named Trishula. It was a one-handed strike using a rotation of his upper body. The irregular method focused on reach and intensity.

Kanzaki, however, seemed distracted.

...Don't tell me it hit her!?

But Kanzaki was no longer along the path of Ketsueki's trident.

Kimura thought maybe she had been knocked away, but then she felt a tap on her shoulder from behind.

"Do not worry."

"Eh?"

She looked back and saw Kanzaki's hair flowing in from ahead. However, it immediately bent and seemed to leap forward.

"—!"

Something like a chilly wind raced down the road and toward the enemy.

Kanzaki moved forward.

The running approach to Ketsueki was long, so...

...I can make it!

Kiyome, her acceleration Trigger, used cumulative acceleration, so the length of her running approach determined her speed.

Ketsueki had just swung his trident with his entire body. The right-handed jab had held the trident toward the bottom to gain the greatest reach.

But it was full of openings. One-handed attacks generally lacked strength and took longer to pull back, so they were discouraged. But this man had used one anyway.

...In order to strike me!

He is wide open.

Kanzaki made a leap at thirty meters from Ketsueki. There was a shop along the alleyway. It was a windy alleyway and there was a cooper's shop on the right. Some buckets were piled up like steps, so she used them as a stepping stone.

"Kiyome!"

The trion sign frame that appeared in front of her leg eliminated everything obstructing her acceleration.

She leaped.

She covered seven meters in a single step and launched herself onto a rooftop on the right. She activated Kiyome and cleared ten meters with her second step. She used Kiyome again to cover another fourteen meters with her third step.

...Mh?

Kanzaki realized she had jumped too far.

Ketsueki seemed to have expected her to charge in with her spear, so the man had given up on pulling back his trident. He had let go of the shaft and ducked down to dodge, but...

"Eh!?"

Kanzaki saw her opponent's mouth fall open in surprise.

"Oh?"

Due to jumping too far, Kanzaki flew in knee-first.

.

Kanzaki used her motion to slam her right knee toward her enemy.

She bent her body back to make a midair knee attack.

She aimed for Ketsueki's face. She adjusted the twist of her body to move behind the trident and pursue the man.

She sent her knee out, but she only heard the flapping of a semi-armored uniform, and...

...He vanished!?

Ketsueki was gone. No, he had leaped.

"To the right!"

It was the trident. After letting go of the trident, he had grabbed it again and pulled on it. Using it like a floating railing, he had stood up and moved to the right.

Kanzaki sensed Ketsueki's skill in his willingness to turn his back like that. After all, Kanzaki could not swing the Kōgetsu Spear in her current position. Using his full strength to move away was the better choice here than falling back while keeping an eye on Kanzaki. Also...

...Is that an acceleration Trigger!?

Ketsueki was not just running away. After using the trident to gain some initial speed, he had activated an acceleration Trigger to move forward. He held Trishula below her right arm and made a small leap.

"Headfirst Fall!"

As the acceleration Trigger's name suggested, the enemy clearly fell.

Kanzaki saw that acceleration, but...

...Fall?

It started slow. He almost seemed to be floating, but a moment later...

...He's falling forward!? This is close to what Awdry had been doing before!

.

Kanzaki saw a weak but definite acceleration like the floor had been removed.

Ketsueki grabbed his trident and fell forward.

It was a gradual acceleration that almost made Kanzaki think she could reach out and grab him, but...

"That is being naïve!"

Kanzaki thrust her avoided knee forward and made a leftward half-rotation in midair. She reached her left arm back for a backhand blow that would knock aside the bottom of the enemy's trident.

She reached it.

Her plan was to catch at it with both her fingers and her fingernails to brush aside Trishula.

...This should make it in time!

She hit, her fingers caught on it, and she did indeed deflect it.

She spun it around.

The deflected trident spun Ketsueki's body, affecting his stance.

This will work, thought Kanzaki.

Border acceleration Triggers were varied, but these kinds were generally cumulative, but if the accumulated acceleration was not maintained, the Trigger would break and the acceleration would be lost. At best, the user would slow down. At worst, they would be sent flying through the air.

She had just altered Ketsueki's stance, so...

...He should slow down or fall over!

However, Kanzaki saw her enemy calmly continue accelerating.

.

"What?"

Kanzaki saw a blue sign frame below the enemy's feet.

It displayed the name Headfirst Fall.

Despite Ketsueki's stance being thrown off, it did not vanish or shatter.

It was working just fine.

Strange, thought Kanzaki. That shouldn't be.

"Headfirst Fall!"

Ketsueki's voice rang out again and he made another leap. This time, he moved behind Kanzaki.

Kanzaki understood what kind of acceleration Trigger system Headfirst Fall used. This would be the second time she would see this instead of the standard Kiyome. It had not been Kiyome with a different name, like she had originally thought.

After watching Awdry perform this kind of movement poorly and Ketsueki perform it perfectly, she realized that this was an altered version of Kiyome.

...It really does use the act of falling!

Falling began slowly and accelerated from there, but the acceleration itself was occurring from the very beginning.

That meant the directional control for its acceleration did not occur when the speed was rising.

...Does he control his next direction of movement from the moment of the slower initial acceleration!?

Any later interference would be corrected by the already controlled acceleration. Even if his stance was thrown off, the already promised acceleration would forcibly regather his body.

The vague acceleration of "falling" was likely a way of more easily controlling his movement if any interference occurred.

And currently, Ketsueki was falling behind Kanzaki.

He had already turned the rectangular tips of Trishula toward his opponent.

"...!"

Suddenly, he fired his trident.

He did not throw it.

...An extension mechanism!?

The tip moved more than nine meters out.

.

Kanzaki's decision was based more on prediction than reaction.

While holding the Kōgetsu Spear below her right arm, she pointed the bottom of the spear behind her.

...Will this make it in time!?

She fired the extension mechanism straight out. She was not aiming for the roof because that would take too long. Her target was the tip of Trishula.

...Hit!

It hit.

Sparks flew, a sound of collision burst out, and both the recoil and slight variation in spear positions caused Kanzaki to fly through the air.

Kimura saw Kanzaki leap high into the air.

...Oh.

She flipped around and found her footing.

Her footing was one of the wooden pillars sticking up throughout the town. She placed her feet on the side of the pillar rather than the top. With her body parallel to the ground, she used Kiyome without building up her strength.

...Ohhh.

Kanzaki made an accelerated leap as if to sour above Kimura's admiration and over the enemy's head.

"She's using the pillars!"

Kimura saw Kanzaki jumping between the sides of the countless wooden pillars.

Kiyome had not come to an end as Kanzaki ran with her body parallel to the ground.

She used the pillars as footing to keep up the cumulative acceleration of Kiyome.

...I just have to keep it going!

She was building up her speed.

She chose to leap between the pillars and to run.

She stood perpendicular from the sides of the pillars, making her parallel to the ground. As if using wooden stairs, she accelerated step after step with her motion taking her either forward and up or forward and down.

By the time she had circled around Ketsueki, the force pressing down from her feet had stabilized and she stood up. Then she made a leap.

"...!"

She used the extension mechanism so sweep the Kōgetsu Spear's tip toward Ketsueki.

She sliced the wind, but Ketsueki had already returned his trident's extension mechanism to normal.

...Here he comes.

Already, Ketsueki had "fallen" upwards. He moved to the top of one of the pillars and stood vertically there. But while he was at the top, Kanzaki was on the side.

"Let us do this."

Ketsueki pursued her. Kanzaki had more speed from Kiyome's cumulative acceleration, but...

"Headfirst Fall!"

From his very first step, Ketsueki "fell" along the shortest path from pillar to pillar in pursuit of Kanzaki.

He was coming.

One of Kanzaki's steps was the same as five of his. One of Kanzaki's steps was the same as four of his. One of Kanzaki's steps was the same as three of his. Then their paths intersected.

They attacked at almost the exact same moment.

Ketsueki struck much like stabbing at a fish below the water's surface and Kanzaki jabbed to the side while running. Their attacks collided and sparks flew.

"Oh!"

One of Kanzaki's steps was the same as two of his. When their attacks coincided again, their steps were equal.

"Ohhh!"

Kanzaki leaped while still under pursuit.

He accelerated.

.

The two A-Ranks pursued each other in curving trajectories on the top or the side of the wooden pillars rising from the town.

The pillars were about twenty centimeters thick. Kanzaki would kick off their sides to jump forward while Ketsueki would kick off their tops to fall forward. Kanzaki stretched forward with acceleration and sent her spear backwards while Ketsueki used the wobbling in the instant of falling to evade and used the force of the fall to make a counterattack with his trident.

They moved closer and further apart, but they never moved more than a half step away from each other.

Ketsueki aimed at Kanzaki's legs from above. He held his trident toward the front and attacked at the area from the back of Kanzaki's knees to her Achilles tendon.

Kanzaki aimed for Ketsueki's gut from below.

Kanzaki would change the position of her feet on the sides of the pillars and would occasionally make a great leap.

"Toh!"

After landing three pillars down, she would accelerate again.

After throwing off his tempo, Kanzaki would make a counterattack thrust, but Ketsueki would respond.

"Oh!"

He would use her Headfirst Fall and twist his body to evade. And occasionally...

"—!"

They would target each other's face or arm to throw off their movement. To evade, Kanzaki would run to the top of the pillar and Ketsueki would shift his position to the side of the pillar.

As the process repeated, their speed continued to grow.

"Here I go!"

Ketsueki moved down to the side of the pillars to line up alongside Kanzaki. Kanzaki ran along left side of the pillars and Ketsueki along the right side. They would send their polearms straight down toward each other, sweep them horizontally at each other as they stood back up, and make simultaneous leaps.

"Toh."

Kanzaki landed on the pillar first and Ketsueki landed afterwards. The next time they landed, they had swapped their right and left positions, but...

"I have caught up!" announced Ketsueki.

As if jumping down from the top of the pillar, he had circled to Kanzaki's opposite side as Kanzaki ran toward the right side.

Side by side, they kicked off the side of the pillar.

"Ohhhh!"

Sparks flew and they crossed paths.

.

Kanzaki leaped through the air. She used each swift step to fill the gap between pillars and launched herself forward.

Similarly, her enemy Ketsueki fell horizontally. He flipped his body around in a never-ending fall that dropped him horizontally between pillars with a set tempo.

When Kanzaki attacked, Ketsueki would block it. When Ketsueki attacked, Kanzaki would block it. They both held their polearms near the front, used their footwork to rotate their bodies even as they continued forward, and leaped through the town's sky as their paths intersected.

To Kanzaki, Ketsueki seemed wholly focused on her movements.

...He must have desired this battle.

Kanzaki also thought about what Ketsueki had said before.

...He us returning a favor

Was that in reference to this battle alone? If not, he had likely desired this confrontation for a long time and thoroughly trained for it.

"But..."

Kanzaki did not fully know this opponent. This was her first time truly fighting Ketsueki.

During any of their rare training sessions, it had always felt as if Ketsueki had been holding back a lot whenever it came to her.

...So this is how he is when serious?

She did not remember and that lack of memory brought a new thought to mind.

...How careless can I be?

No, she thought while dodging an attack and making one of her own as if pushing the spear tip forward with her fingers.

...Haven't I been careless far too often lately?

In the past, it had only been about three times a day, but she was already up to two today. Her pace was clearly increasing. In the past few days, she had experienced early morning carelessness and returning home carelessness, which both seemed to be a type of chronic carelessness.

I can only allow myself to be careless three times a day, she told herself.

"...Oh!?"

Ketsueki's attack was approaching before her eyes, so she quickly dodged. She only had to move her head to avoid it, but that was due to Ketsueki's extreme accuracy, not good luck.

He has accurate and precise movements, judged Kanzaki.

His footwork to change Headfirst Fall's direction, his bodily control when falling, and his attacks were all straightforward.

Then, thought Kanzaki.

...What does that say about his feelings toward defeating me?

Kanzaki kicked off a pillar and heard a voice.

"Kh..."

It sounded like a groan of anguish, frustration, and anger.

...?

Just as she wondered why her enemy would produce a voice like that, that enemy hung his head and fell. His raised trident hid his expression, so Kanzaki could only hear his voice.

"Kanzaki Shizuka-kun!"

Kanzaki was confused. She could not figure out why Ketsueki would be this enraged. But Ketsueki continued the very next moment.

"Do you not intend to fight seriously against the likes of me!?"

Kanzaki briefly found herself unable to grasp what that question meant.

...Do I not intend to fight seriously?

Against who? The opponent before her obviously.

And who was it directed toward? Toward her, the one exchanging attacks with that opponent, of course. Then...

"—"

Oh, no, she thought.

...Of course I do...

She had accepted that Ketsueki was powerful and she understood that Ketsueki had a reason to fight her.

She viewed him as an enemy, but according to Ketsueki...

"What is the meaning of these sorry excuses for attacks!?"

Kanzaki felt her body freeze up as the enemy kicked off a pillar toward her.

.

This isn't good, Kanzaki said in her heart.

Sorry, she also said in her heart.

She suddenly remembered the previous evening when she had tried to follow Ketsueki in climbing the Border base.

...But then...

She was a coward.

There had been something in her heart that kept her from doing it and she had failed.

She had been a coward.

If she could not focus on herself and made mistakes for unclear reasons, could she really take control of a confrontation with someone else? Even if she stood on that stage, fighting with her cowardly body would defile the official battlefield.

This was not about winning or losing. As someone facing a battle and standing on the battlefield, was she or was she not pure?

Her cowardly heart would only defile the battlefield.

Ketsueki had to have realized how cowardly she was the day before. That was why he had reached down toward her.

And what had she done then?

Had she reached back up in search of someone to save her?

She did not know and she spoke her next thought aloud.

"Well, even if I did, I should be able to focus myself for at least ten seconds."

She decided not to think any further, twisted her upper body backwards, and used all her strength to make a counterattack against Ketsueki.

.

Ketsueki sensed something like a light.

His opponent's strength had sunk into the darkness and was not rising to the surface. His enemy's attacks had struck or swept aside his own, but they had not been fully developed into true attacks. Those were the spear strikes he had been blocking this entire time and that had spoken to his opponent's cowardice, but...

...What is this?

Kanzaki's attack seemed to glow. It was like a small light in the darkness, but it was still accurate and straightforward.

"—!?"

This attack was clearly extended differently from before.

His opponent's movements looked the same, but each of her joints was stretched just a little further toward Ketsueki. Altogether, it provided an extra dozen centimeters of reach.

Beautiful, thought Ketsueki. Fully stretching the body required not tensing up, but an attack needed a core of strength. Ketsueki felt like she could see a line of strength providing the core of the attack and nothing else. His opponent was becoming one with her weapon and was specializing her movements for attack.

"This is more like it!"

Ketsueki had jumped after Kanzaki, so he turned to the right in midair. Kanzaki's spear was aimed a bit below his face. In other words, his throat. As it was near the face, he could not help but focus on it, but it was also difficult to grasp its exact position just by moving his eyes.

He needed to dodge on instinct without getting an accurate look.

Ketsueki increased the speed of his spin. He tried to avoid the attack by what was closer to a cheek's width than a full head's width.

His intent was to avoid his opponent's counterattack and slam his body into that opponent. This was the greatest attack he could make using the speed of his fall. And to gain that power...

...I must dodge!

He used his strength to rotate his body in midair and swing his legs.

"Tah!"

He leaned back to dodge...or so he thought. His opponent's spear tip followed his movement and grazed his ear, but he still escaped harm. But...

...Eh?

Something changed in front of his eyes.

The wooden pillar they were going to use as their next foothold was collapsing in the opposite direction.

They were losing their next foothold.

.

Ketsueki asked himself why their foothold was falling over. It was a sound that answered that question.

He heard a solid thunk. His opponent had extended the bottom of her spear with its extension mechanism.

...And she struck the pillar while attacking me!?

The speed with which the pillar collapsed answered that question all too well.

The enemy was a bit ahead of Ketsueki, so she would be able to use it as a foothold before it collapsed.

Ketsueki however would not be able to.

He did not think of this as unfair. If he had been the one in the lead, he would probably have used the same method to disrupt his opponent.

This just meant the enemy had moved out ahead and been more skillful.

...Has her cowardice vanished for the moment!?

So he decided to respond in kind. To face the present danger and to thank his opponent by using hi full strength and every method available to him, he removed the restrictions inside him.

He would win using his full strength and by any means necessary.

He then enacted a solution to the current problem.

His left hand grabbed the spear he had just dodged.

He held it as if to steal the enemy's weapon.

He gripped the trion shaft near the tip. Immediately afterwards, he pulled in his left arm to launch himself forward. He also moved his right hand out from his chest for a one-handed strike with the spear held in those fingers.

He aimed for his enemy's throat. He moved his right shoulder forward and extended his forearm out from in front of his armpit.

"Ohhh!"

He used the extension mechanism.

Hit, he thought. He knew he had to keep that thought in mind for this to work, but then he saw something unexpected.

The enemy let go of her own spear.

.

The one-handed spear jab lost its balance a little and Kanzaki avoided it with a swing of her head.

"Toh."

She reached for the enemy's trident. She grabbed the base of the blade and confirmed what she assumed to be the case.

Up ahead and past the enemy, the previous pillar they had used as a foothold was collapsing.

There was a simple reason.

...He used his extension mechanism to strike it with the back of his tident!

The enemy had not been attacking her. He had used the extension mechanism to hit that foothold and use the recoil to extend the distance of his leap.

He had made an immediate decision after seeing Kanzaki knock over their next foothold.

Well done, thought Kanzaki with the enemy's trident in her hand.

A moment later, the enemy moved right in front of her.

They simultaneously landed on the collapsing and thus sloped pillar and they both held the other's polearm.

They were close enough to grab each other's collars, but their positions on the sloped pillar drew a V-shape.

"Ohhh...!"

"...Ohhh!"

They both spun their spears around and exchanged blows while running toward the top of the toppling pillar.

.

Their racing attacks became an exchange of circular motions.

Kanzaki held the front end of Trishula and Ketsueki held the front end of the Kōgetsu Spear. While holding each other's weapon in that irregular fashion, they would strike each other, steal the other's current weapon or have their own taken. They seemed to be exchanging their weapons again and again.

One movement led into another as they ran.

One rotated their spear, creating a circle to sweep their enemy away, but the other would avoid the attack and pull on the front of the opponent's trident to take it away. After stealing the polearm, they would spin it behind their back to swing it back around, creating a figure eight in all.

They seemed to be spinning and passing two batons between each other. The series of double figure eights whipped up the wind and would not end.

The air was split apart and the glittering of the metal decorated the sky, but they eventually reached the top of the pillar.

When they took that final step, they both had their own weapon back in their hands.

They rotated that weapon around their body and swept it toward their enemy with all their might.

The tips clashed between them.

When the two half-circles collided, sparks and a clashing noise burst from the center of the S-shape.

Their attacks did not reach their enemy. Only the clanging of metal filled the air as they shouted at each other.

"Senkū...Kōgetsu!"

"Now...Trishula!"

The instant each weapon's blade reflected their opponent's direction, their battle was settled.

A moment later, Ketsueki's silhouette crossed paths with Kanzaki's.

...Kanzaki!?

Murakami realized the distant sounds of a high-speed battle had stopped.

However, it had not ended on Kanzaki's attack.

What had happened? He was worried, but he was currently fighting his own enemy.

He continued to accelerate straight ahead, toward Denji.

...Here I go!

He increased his speed. Instead of pulling back and shifting to the side, he bent his body forward and snapped his entire body to flexibly move forward and back while launching Shikifuku.

"—!"

With a silent roar, he sent his entire body forward. The instantaneous movement of his legs caused his body to sway and he amplified the movement in his hips and spine. The recoil passed through his shoulder to his wrist and launched the blade.

He could only move like this after building up a certain level of speed and after warming up his body.

He did not reach the supposed speeds of Mei's battle with her mentor, but the speed of each attack increased its weight.

...So I can push him back!

To make that thought a reality, he did indeed push at Denji.

Denji reacted by moving his hand all the way to the front of his spear.

"Kh!"

The enemy had his hands full simply deflecting Murakami's barrage, but the wolf did not let up. As if telling this enemy to move back but not to move out of the way, he moved in arcs to always drive the enemy toward the center and back. He was telling Denji to face him head-on even while retreating.

Wolves were said to follow people until they left the wolf's territory.

The black wolf took a new step and snapped his body forward.

He pushed onward as if bathing in the sparks he himself was creating.

"—"

But as soon as he made his snapping motion, Denji took a certain action.

He moved to Murakami's left. He jumped to the left wreckage as if to escape.

However, Murakami was already on the move. It was not so much a reflex as noticing the earliest hints of Denji's movement in the man's defense.

"I won't let you get away!"

Just as Murakami jumped left, he saw something.

Denji was jumping to the right.

...Eh?

That was the opposite.

.

What just happened? wondered Murakami.

The enemy's defense and the movement afterwards had both shown him jumping left toward the left side of the bisected Neighbor, but now Denji was clearly jumping to the right. He even performed a side flip in midair.

...Was that...!?

It was his spear.

As soon as Denji had jumped toward the left wreckage, he had slammed his spear against the edge of that wreckage.

The L-shaped blade had caught on the edge of the deck, providing a foothold.

And he kicked himself back the other way!?

Using his arm strength, back strength, and balance, Denji had launched himself back the way he had come.

He made his leap with the resolve necessary to abandon the right half of Raygust.

He had successfully stolen a moment of Murakami's time and moved a bit further away.

...Now the left one.

Denji must have decided he did not have time to draw the weapon. He kept Raygust attached to his back hard point and moved his left hand to his back to operate it.

He had used the force of his leap to perform a side flip, so the downward pointing Raygust also rotated to point Murakami's way.

Murakami saw light, but it was not a glowing blade.

It had reached the level of a cannon blast.

Denji twisted his side flip to give the attack a twisting sweeping motion.

"Finish this!"

.

The sword-like and continuous blast of light flew toward Murakami.

It was going to score a direct hit before he could raise Shikifuku again.

"I see. So the two of them have begun fighting against others in the outer city."

Deep within a building, a voice spoke among a room of machines.

It was Shinoda. He was General Director of Border and he was currently walking into the room filled with monitors. He used the stairs to get to the screens.

The situation of Mikado City and the branch offices were visible from those screens alone. He reached a hand out over a worker's shoulder while walking around the room.

He pressed something.

"I see that it's gotten to the point where people like them are trying to do something more. They will be viewing this as a final chance to make something of their time here. Their survival doesn't matter anymore, and that's why they are doing something. ...But to get their former teammates involved like this is too much. Don't you think, Schneider-san?"

"If not, then I would not be this disappointed," said a mature woman standing behind Shinoda. She bowed toward everyone else before continuing. "Ketsueki is likely returning a favor, but Denji would be the one to blame for this."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing here. ...But still, we are getting requests sent directly to us, from the looks of things. Isn't that right?"

"Correct, sir," one of the workers said. "Both Mogami and Kurosaki have sent in a request. As has the Tamakoma Branch."

"So that's what they want to do... I don't particularly like it, and I still need to see Sekai about this entire thing. ...But this is the best way for Border to save some face after two of our A-Rank agents seemed to have randomly attacked fellow agents."

"About that..."

Yasuko seemed wary, so Shinoda smiled a little.

"They will get in trouble with us directors. Having you get too involved with their situation would be a waste, so don't worry. You can speak with them once everything has been settled, but there will need to be consequences for this. Be it returning a favor or using themselves more, this is still something we can't overlook," said Shinoda. "Now, how will we make them get back? Forced Bail Out would be easy, but the two of them have different situations."

He faced forward toward the large screens and the data being displayed on them.

"Let's see what can be done here."

Below the Mikado City sky, Kanzaki's battle with Kagerei Ketsueki reached its conclusion.

There was a single reason for this: the Kōgetsu Spear had not fully activated.

...I just can't do it!

It had happened before. This was a creation of trion that would activate the same as using Kōgetsu's blade form. She did not know why she had been a moment behind to have its activation cancelled.

"Not knowing" succinctly summed up the situation that Kanzkai faced.

She felt herself moving a step behind, forcing the activation to cancel before she hurt herself.

She did not understand why she would cancel out her own attack.

And that lack of understanding led her to a single conclusion: she was not good enough.

Meanwhile, her enemy's attack did work. The tips of Ketsueki's trident split in half and the flat-looking surfaces opened before Kanzaki's eyes.

...This is dangerous!

Kanzaki immediately decided to twist her feet and forcibly activate Kiyome.

"Go!"

She was directing herself in an impossible direction, which would provide a certain result.

...I'll be blown away by the recoil!

That was exactly what happened. Instead of moving in the direction of her acceleration, she was deflected like a ricocheting bullet and kicked into the air by her own acceleration Trigger.

"—!"

She smashed through the roof of a private home several dozen meters away and collided with a wooden container storehouse.

"Kanzaki!"

Kimura watched as Kanzaki was launched through the air.

The girl flew behind a nearby home's roof, but before Kimura could turn that way...

...Wah.

She suspected it was a wooden box structure based on the crashing sound, and then the wooden pieces were blasted into the air like a crashing wave.

But among the sounds of broken and creaking wood, someone approached in the span of a breath: Kagerei Ketsueki.

He used his acceleration Trigger to fall toward Kimura using the roofs on either side of the alleyway.

His face was downcast, but Kimura could tell his teeth were tightly clenched. Almost as if...

...That wasn't what he wanted?

Kimura could only think Kanzaki had self-destructed, but Ketsueki must have had his own thoughts on that matter.

Ketsueki quickly approached. He placed the tip of his spear along his straight line of acceleration and arrived within fifty meters in the span of a breath.

As soon as Kimura realized how fast he was, light appeared in the exposed interior of the trident named Trishula.

...It can shoot!?

Kimura sensed danger, but Suzaku was the one to react.

"It's weak, but that light is a real trion cannon! It isn't a simple one like our Triggers!"

He raised his eyebrows as he hurriedly prepared a defensive move using Escudo.

"Why is someone like Kagerei-san firing a trion cannon!?"

No one could answer that as the glowing attack was fired their way from Ketsueki's trident.

Kimura thought it was going to be a direct hit, but a different blast of light appeared far down the road.

Denji had fired his glowing blade toward Murakami on top of the bisected brown Neighbor sliding down the road.

Unneeded #2 and Bakuto Squad Captain Bakuto Denji fired while performing a side flip. The blade of light tore into the right side of the Neighbor and accurately swept through the position of the gray hair.

That should have hit him. But...

Denji's black hair moved in the air as he landed from his side flip. He turned to the back to check on his own results.

...!?

He saw a shadow from overhead and sensed a presence falling without resistance, so...

...Dodge!

He leaped left, toward the outside of the ship.

Something fell in the position he had just vacated: his own right spear. He had let go of that one to use it as footing for his side flip.

Why is that there? he wondered as the spear stabbed into the Neighbor and shook.

If it had been a mere stone or piece of rubble, he would have ignored it, but the weapon he himself had let go of had fallen and stabbed into his previous position. It naturally caught his attention.

And that created a brief moment of inattention.

Something used that moment to charge in from the stern.

It was a certain wind.

The black wolf used the Neighbor's long body for a long starting run of repeated bursts of movement.

...He escaped that previous blast unharmed!?

Denji understood what had happened.

The black wolf had chosen a certain hiding spot: the split down the center of the sliding Neighbor.

He had used a burst of his full strength to drop down but had not immediately jumped back up. He would have been hit by Denji's attack if he had.

That had to have been the black wolf's decision. He had remained below and circled to the back of the quickly sliding Neighbor.

And then used the length of the Neighbor to reach his top speed!

It was a ridiculous decision. If he had simply remained on the ground, Denji would have been taken away with the Neighbor.

But that was not what a wolf did. A wolf protected his territory until the enemy had been completely driven out.

So he was approaching. The color gray raced in a straight line with no feints.

He was fast. The sound of his footsteps arrived only after he did. An afterimage formed one step behind him.

"Here!"

He roared and deepened his landing and attack stance, but Denji also took action.

The right spear had yet to release its power, so he forcibly pulled it from the Neighbor and aimed it toward the black wolf.

"Finish this!"

The blast was fired horizontally from the tip of the blade.

The Outer Mikado residents who had stepped outside to watch the battle's progress saw what happened next.

The spear's light was fired from the sliding brown Neighbor, so their protector did something with Shikifuku.

"He...threw it?"

They had not been able to see it. Their eyes had only been able to capture their protector making the throwing motion.

What happened afterwards was too fast to see, but as he continued running...

"...!?"

The light exploded.

Something flew into the beam of light and split it into two blasts of spray.

It was Shikifuku. That sword of a Black Trigger cut apart the destructive light with sounds of scraping and splitting.

"Hit!"

It continued toward the enemy who wielded the light cannon spear. Shikifuku flew toward the weapon itself.

Denji made a split second decision.

He had no reason to take the blow from Shikifuku since he was in the middle of firing. So...

"Below!"

As if to restrain Raygust, he lowered his hips. If he placed his knee down in a kneeling position, Shikifuku would pass over his head.

...And my attack will hit him from below!

He was aiming for a winding hit to the knees.

A weapon was not the only frightening attack at a wolf's disposal. He had a Black Trigger. A jab with their fingers or a punch was harder to see coming, so this boy would be more dangerous up close. That was why Denji targeted his legs.

Here he comes!

The enemy made a leap.

It was a low but quick leap meant to slip above the cannon blast.

With the beam of light below, making a kick would be no easy task. And with Denji on his knee, a finger attack from above would also be difficult.

All Denji needed to do was make a counterattack with his left spear. To do that, he held the left Raygust forward in order to slam the tip against the leaping black wolf. But...

"—!?"

Denji saw light reflected off of the left spear.

His immediate decision protected him. He kept one heel raised and laid his upper body down forward. His black hair swung forward, and...

"Behind me!?"

Shikifuku flew overhead from behind.

He did not even bother asking why. The answer was a golden chain. A chain had been laid out in a wide enough circle that he had not sensed its presence. Then, it had caught Shikifuku and thrown it back to its master.

Up ahead, the black wolf bent backwards with Shikifuku already in his hands.

"Next!"

His body sprang back from its backwards lean for an overhead attack in midair.

There was no hesitation in the attack. Block it and be broken. Touch it and be sliced. It was that sort of blow.

Denji lowered his body as much as possible. His upper body was lowered, so he could not evade to the left, to the right, or backwards. And he could not make a counterattack with his weapon held so low.

So he decided to push with his raised heel.

"Oh!"

He moved his lowered body forward.

.

Two movements occurred at the same moment.

First, Denji leaped forward to slip below Murakami's attack.

Second...

"Toh."

Murakami suddenly let go of Shikifuku and threw it diagonally upwards.

He did not even look to the Black Trigger sword as it audibly cut through the air because he was busy with something else. He took advantage of the very slight opportunity before him.

"Please forgive me."

He dropped his right foot as if to pin Denji to the Neighbor.

Denji slammed loudly against the Neighbor.

As if being rewarded, the black wolf leaped straight up toward the heavens.

However, Denji endured the attack that knocked him face-down into the Neighbor. He raised the arms holding the two halves of Raygust and he tried to swing them up toward the black wolf.

"So that's what you were doing!?"

Before he had even finished shouting, Denji was launched into the air. He had not been hit by any kind of attack.

It was the Neighbor.

The wreckage of the brown Neighbor had reached the end of the gouge in the road and had been forcefully knocked upwards.

The hopping front and the Neighbor itself launched Denji because he had been pushed back toward the front.

.

With a spectacular noise, the brown Neighbor stood vertically in the center of the town. The trembling, fifty-meter Neighbor hopped up in its bisected state.

It whipped up the wind, scattered wreckage and rubble, rose like a koi climbing a waterfall, and for just a moment floated in midair while split between north and south.

As the Neighbor hung in the air, two figures alighted on its nose.

One was Denji who released light from the bottom of his right spear to forcibly land on the southern wreckage's front.

The other was Murakami who spread his arms in midair, rapidly spun his body, and landed on the northern wreckage's front.

The two of them waited until just before the back of the floating Neighbor crashed into the ground.

"—!"

Murakami launched an attack.

His golden chain held Shikifuku as he threw it like the hammer throw.

"Take this!"

He used all of his strength, gave his entire body a burst of speed, and increased the inertial force by pulling back on the chain. An explosion of air surrounded Shikifuku as it flew horizontally through the air.

A moment later, his attack collided with Denji.

Without even listening to the intense sound, Murakami turned his head west in search of someone.

"You guys!"

.

Murakami saw everyone else. Kagerei Ketsueki had launched an attack in that direction.

What was he supposed to do now that Kanzaki could no longer fight?

He looked his way from the Neighbor that was about to land, but...

...Light!?

Fragments of light scattered through the sky. Someone had deflected Ketsueki's trion cannon. It was...

"Jinsei!"

The nudist had blocked Ketsueki's attack.

Just as Kimura thought Ketsueki's trion cannon was going to hit them, she saw a form of defense she had never seen before.

...Eh?

The naked idiot walked up from behind with the White Trigger Shield hanging from his crotch.

It was a direct hit.

There was a scorching sound and light scattered, but the idiot stuck his chest out proudly and looked to Ketsueki.

"Ha ha ha! You're so dumb. Like that's going to work on my greedy crotch!"

"Ah, Jinsei! That's a real trion cannon, so it'll get stronger with the last hit!"

After escaping to the side, Kimura watched the idiot get blown away by the more powerful second half, rotate five times, and get kicked back down to the ground by Mei who was standing along his path.

"Are you okay, Kirikari!? I'm making an outward display of being worried for you."

"Um, I'm pretty sure that last hit was worst one! Wasn't it!?"

Probably, thought Kimura as black hair danced before her eyes. It was Suzaku who had moved over to protect her before turning back toward Kirikari and the others.

"Misaki!"

A solid sound immediately followed his shout.

Ketsueki had charged in after the cannon blast, but he had been deflected and sent back into the air.

Someone had protected Vice-Captain Nudist and the waiting couple.

"Heh heh. Did you honestly think that was enough to reach the summit's flower?"

The Former Kotowari Squad Sniper stood calmly in the center of the road.

.

Suzume looked to her opponent, Ketsueki, who was landing on a rooftop to the southwest.

The man raised his trident and asked Suzume a question.

"What was that technique?"

Suzume smiled and gently embraced her own body. She raised her breasts and rested her chin on them.

"Heh... It was the Giant Breasts Defense."

Ketsueki looked at Suzume. First at her breasts, then at her face.

"D-do not lie to me!"

"Heh heh heh. You're shaken, aren't you!? But! If you doubt me, then explain just why I am honestly unharmed! Use the phrase 'giant breasts' and keep it within ten words! Begin!"

"I guess Giant Breasts Defense is as good as anything."

Then the nudist shield rolled over.

"Suzu! Suzu! What about for a guy!? Is there a Two-Swords Style or an Iai Style!?"

"Please stop talking to her, Jinsei. I might stab you with Idōgetsu for adding to her lunacy."

"Kirikari, I believe you first need to temper it by grabbing it with some pliers and hitting it with a hammer."

"Y-you really like scaring nudists like me, don't you!?"

How am I supposed to react to this? wondered Ketsueki as he looked down at his own chest.

Maybe that's what Rei-san is really looking for, he thought just as a voice reached him.

"You would need a little more than that. But in that case, you just need to sign a premium contract (requires an extra monthly offering) with the Suzaku Business."

Ketsueki glanced over to the captain sniper who waved his hands back and forth.

...Is that true or not?

Meanwhile, a great rumbling reached them from down the wide road to the east.

The brown Neighbor had stood up and landed. Then an attack was made between the Suzunari Ace and Denji.

That attack would settle their battle.

After confirming everyone's safety, Murakami looked back to his opponent eight meters ahead.

The Neighbor was landing and its parts were creaking. The components and materials that had survived this long were finally breaking and their fragments spilled out from the ship. The force of Murakami's attack striking Denji crushed the air and created a second explosion of air. He could feel it land through the golden chain.

...That was enough! It broke!

Denji had used the left spear as a shield and its shaft was breaking. Most of the clothing Murakami could see was also tearing from right to left. But...

"He can still move!?"

Denji used his unharmed right arm to point the right spear toward Murakami.

Half his face was stained with trion gas and both his left arm and its broken spear hung unmoving by his side. But when Murakami checked the scattering clothing fragments, he realized something.

Fragments of trion light were scattering from the inner surface of that torn clothing.

"He made more space!?"

Life: "Self-stripping clothes!? Where do I get me some of that!?"

Shut up, Jinsei.

Regardless, it was clear the enemy had opted to tear his clothing when Shikifuku hit. An arm and a spear had not been enough to stop the blow, so he had gotten rid of some of his clothing to make sure it would not get caught on anything. And...

...He just had to bear with the rest using a Shield!

It was a matter of willpower. There was strength in the enemy's eyes and his stance was focused on aiming his right spear to attack. He had chosen victory and had stripped away all else.

Well done, thought Murakami somewhere in his heart. I don't know if this is bushido or chivalry, but he is definitely here to fight and to win.

The enemy aimed straight for Murakami's chest with a horizontal blast from the right spear.

"Kh."

Murakami spun Shikifuku around at the far end of the golden chain. He spun himself around too. He could not pull the chain all the way back, so the center of gravity was poor. That meant he had no way of attacking, but...

"...!"

He did not give up. He was the #4 Attacker of the Suzunari Branch and his heart held unmatched pride in that fact. That relationship bound him to his teammates and he had no intention of throwing that away. In that case, he decided. I need to evade and attack from this position.

He had a few ways of doing so, but...

...I need to carefully observe that spear and charge in.

Denji was looking his way. With his face half-cracked, he looked like a real mess. Murakami only had to follow that sight and attack there. I could do that with my eyes closed, he thought.

"Rrr..."

A growling laugh escaped on his breath and Denji's expression changed.

Oh? thought Murakami as he looked to Denji's face. I'm enjoying this opportunity to demonstrate myself to everyone else, but why do you look so grim?

But a moment later, his opportunity arrived. The spear's blade emitted bright light in the center of his vision.

I have to go for it, he thought.

In that instant, a heterochromatic boy fell in front of his eyes.

"Oh, my. Are you okay, Kō-san? It looks like you're a little hurt."

It was Oshiro.

.

Murakami saw Oshiro place a surprised hand on his cheek. He looked to Murakami's arm without noticing Denji behind him.

"Oh, huh. So you are really using a Trigger. But still..."

Oshiro must have thought his own Trigger was in the way.

"Please stay put for a moment."

He stabbed it behind him into the bisected Neighbor's front. As soon as he faced Murakami again, the spear's attack struck Oshiro's Raygust and exploded to the left and right.

It only lasted an instant, but Oshiro must have seen the light passing by on either side.

"Oh?"

He looked both ways in confusion but of course saw nothing. Just to be sure, he checked under his arms and bent his knees inward to check behind them, but there was of course nothing there either. That may have been why he smiled.

"I must have been imagining things. Sorry, Kō-san. I'll check you over right away."

"Oshiro! Behind you! Behind you!"

"Eh?" Oshiro looked back and saw Bakuto Denji there. "Oh, my! Are you okay!? You took a lot of damage too! Who did this to you!?"

.

Murakami hung his head when he saw Denji spread his mouth horizontally and stop moving.

Murakami decided to tap Oshiro's shoulder and ask what he could.

"Why are you here?"

"Right." Oshiro nodded while clearly concerned about Denji. "Um, while at the edge of Inner Mikado, they were having a revival sale at the shopping district in a newly completed area, so Sumiharu suggested we treat ourselves to some nice things. While we were choosing some clothes, I had seen what looked to be Shikifuku, so I assumed you were having some fun. I was curious and tried to get a look from the side terrace, but I couldn't with the distance, you know? So when I asked Sumiharu if we could go take a look, he said we could. Yes, I grabbed his hand and jumped down using my own Trigger."

Murakami thought he was slowly going insane. He was a little worried by how often phrases like "I should have known!" and "I knew it!" came to mind. Oshiro was generally fairly normal, but...

...Now that I think about it, he is going out with Inukai.

He also wondered which of the couple had caused more trouble for the other.

At the same time, he realized the Ninomiya Squad Gunner had to be here too.

"—"

He glanced toward Yuki and the others and spotted a trion uniform that was just a suit.

Black Wolf: "Inukai, you must be pretty reckless to jump down with him like that."

Inu: "Well, there were no footholds this time, so I was entirely reliant on Shiro."

Hero: "Sumiharu held me very tightly, but that fueled the area with the emotion of joy and made it easier to find a place to land."

Suzaku: "Such passion! It's been a while since we got a blast of heat that rivals an early summer weather!"

Honest Sister: "Yes. With the two of them there, they might not even need a heater in that frigid land. Oh, what's this, Flat Manager? You're planning to balance it out with some icy jokes, aren't you!?"

Manager: "Just get to safety already! Inukai, we need to hurry to meet up with Pyrínas! You all need to get going! The rest of us will focus on what needs to be done!"

Kimura's words meant the battle was already coming to a close.

Murakami saw Ketsueki facing Yuki, but the man looked over to Denji and raised a hand.

That must have signaled a withdrawal because he bowed quickly toward Kimura and the others before facing south and...

...He vanished?

No, he was probably only moving very quickly. Yuki and the others were apparently continuing on ahead to the meeting point to see if Pyrínas would be there. That meant he could let the Ninomiya Squad Gunner handle them.

"Um, uh, Oshiro?"

"Oh, right. I'm a little confused, so could you tell me what's happening here, Kō-san?"

This is awkward, thought Murakami before answering.

"Y-yes. Um, Oshiro...I'm currently fighting a battle."

"Oh, my! A battle? With who?"

Oshiro turned around to look at Denji.

"Oh, my! You were an enemy?"

Murakami had never felt more pity for an enemy.

.

Oshiro was not sure what to do.

There was an enemy in front of him. He had his Trigger, so he could fight if necessary. But was this an official match? Had he gotten in the way when Murakami was on the verge of winning?

...Yes, he must have learned a whole lot from Mei-san to the point of wanting to be in high places while fighting. That must be tough for him.

There had been many examples of Mei getting excited while fighting atop high places. The metal tower and fight during the attack on the base came to mind for him while she had used Shikifuku. If Murakami was on top of the Neighbor now, then it did mean he had learned from her. Or that it was simply a Shikifuku user thing. The odds were good Oshiro had interrupted Murakami's victory

What should I do? he thought.

...I wasn't paying enough attention...

He could only describe the situation as troublesome, but he also thought the enemy would have difficulty continuing the fight with his injuries. In that case, he thought before asking the enemy a question.

"Um, uh... Bakuto-san? Why are you doing this?"

.

As Murakami wondered what was about to happen, he turned his gaze toward Denji.

"I suppose I can't hope for anything more than this."

Denji briefly lowered his half-cracked face and nodded.

He breathed in, brought his expression under control, raised his eyebrows a little, and wiped off the leaking trion.

"I's n't r'lly 'ny 'f y'r b's'n'ss, Hohiro. 'm j's' d'n' wh't I w'n' b' us'n' wh'te'r I c'n h'r'."

"Oh, I see then. I had been worried that the situation we had spoken about before would be involved here. That is good to know."

Oshiro tilted his head.

"Now, about this battle. Why are you doing it outside of a training room?"

"T' m'k' 'n app'r'nc' 's a w'rn'n'."

"Um, then if you've made your warning, can't you leave now?"

...That's a surprisingly good argument!

This boy is amazing, he thought while recalling that he thought the same thing a year ago. He could imagine the look on Denji's face, but he could not bear to actually look at it.

Meanwhile, Oshiro placed a hand on his cheek.

"I don't know if you subscribe to the codes of bushido, chivalry, or whatever else, but we are trying to resolve a few issues that have come up now."

"...Th't's w'y 'm w'rn'n' y'u. 'n' att'ck'n' y'u n'w 's th' st'nd'r' f'r p'pl' l'k' 's."

"Okay." Oshiro nodded. "So you think someone who had decided to live with others is worth fighting?"

.

Oshiro was not trying to admonish the man. He was simply conveying the thoughts in his heart.

"I am aware that your situation is similar to how Yuki-nii's was only a short time ago. You all must have your own thoughts and feelings on the matter, but you can't just cause violence. If you do, it may do something for you and everyone else around you like you wanted, but I doubt it will be judged the right thing to do."

"And if we decide that foolish choices are the best possible decision regardless of how people judge us?"

Denji's question brought a question to Oshiro's mind, so he asked about it.

"Is it just the two of you?"

Oshiro was relieved to see that Denji was dumbfounded, but not because this meant it was only him and Denji as two different people.

...He was also relying on Ketsu-san here.

In that case, thought Oshiro. He still sees the value in the people around him and will ask for help.

"Even if the two of you have your own situations to think about as 'Unneeded'...that is not the same as making yourselves the only people who have to deal with those foolish choices."

Oshiro suddenly realized something.

"Kō-san. ...You were going to win this battle, weren't you? I apologize for interrupting."

"Huh?" said Denji, but he heard no confusion from behind. Murakami understood.

...Yuki-nii has made the best possible yet foolish choice of making things easier for everyone else by finally allowing everyone to be involved with his situation.

But, he thought.

"Kō-san and the others are doing their best to keep Yuki-nii from making even more foolish choices."

.

Murakami brushed up his hair with a somewhat ticklish feeling in his heart.

He could only hope Oshiro's words had not reached Yuki, Suzume, and the others.

He checked Border's transmission settings and saw they had all disconnected themselves from the network. Inukai had likely had them set up a local network in case there was another group of enemies.

Then I guess this is fine, he told himself.

"I won't go and say I'm chivalrous or anything like that, but I've learned that I can't just let Yuki do as he wants if he ends up disappearing and leaving us in the process. His feelings as an 'Unneeded' ended up as the result of his own feelings and my enabling that part of him. The people on my side of things shouldn't just be letting you all do this."

This embarrassed him, but did that mean he was not yet fine with the results? Still, he did not reject what Yuki gave him and he did not hesitate to desire it. Of course, it was up to them whether any troubles would crop up in the trust between him and his friend.

"So my current resolution is to do what I can to support him properly."

He puffed his chest out proudly, but...

Still Got It: "Well said! I would expect no less from my brother's dick buddy! All that remains is to lie in wait for each other and begin some close-quarters combat like I've done! ...Oh, but make sure the battle is consensual."

...Why did the worst person of all have to overhear that!?

He repeatedly looked away from the messages that popped up with the chat and strange documents. At the same time, he realized the others likely had something similar to his relationship between Unneeded and someone who knew.

Mei's was obvious, but...

...There are others like me who already have their seat ready for them.

He had a feeling a lot of them had not noticed yet. He wondered what he should do from now on concerning that and other things.

"It looks like you've cheered up some, Kō-san. I'm glad."

Murakami smiled toward Oshiro's relieved voice.

"Right. It's true I haven't quite been myself since certain things came up."

"Of course," replied Oshiro as he pulled Raygust from the Neighbor. "That's right. You were feeling yourself down below just like Yuki-nii."

.

Black Wolf: "Why am I being bullied so much today!?"

770: "Murakami-kun! This must be some kind of mistake!"

Life: "Yeah! You don't even have the proper body part!"

Black Wolf: "I have a shady man and a lunatic worried for me..."

Rampage Dress: "If you have grown one of those, eating some curry will clear it right up."

Demon Child: "Won't a stimulant just make it bigger?"

Kagami: "Hitomi! I know your deadline's coming up, but let's place a censorship bar over your heart right now! A really thick one!"

.

Oshiro kept his eyes on Denji and kept Raygust standing in front of him.

"There's no helping it. When something like that happens, no one can help but feel themselves down below, whether a lot or a little."

Denji gave her a confused look.

"A lot or a little?"

"Yes. Everyone takes damage differently."

"It has to do with damage? Isn't it the opposite?"

"Not at all," insisted Oshiro while thinking this should be obvious. "The more you are hit, the bigger and stronger you grow. That is what it means to be human."

"That is what it means to be human...?"

Denji brought a hand to his forehead and seemed to be thinking about something. Finally, something seemed to hit him.

"Oh! You mean S&M! Didn't know you would be that kinky. Damn. Inusumi must be having the time of his life with you."

...I'm not sure what that means, but he seems to understand now.

Oshiro smiled and raised Raygust in his right hand.

"Anyway, Kō-san was feeling himself down below, but this battle seems to have cleared that up. Thank you very much."

Denji glared at Murakami with a slight grin.

.

Still Got It: "Kō, what have you been doing...?"

Black Wolf: "Y-you're are supposed to trust your brother's friends! You are!"

Still Got It: "Well, I don't particularly care about this. I should probably discuss it with your friends, though."

Black Wolf: "Don't end the connection without hearing me out!"

White Fox: "Hey, looks like we've got some extra company here."

.

"Ko ko ko. What an enjoyable show this has been."

The sudden laugh told Oshiro that someone important was here from the way Denji slightly tensed up in front of them. He seemed to be too familiar with the voice and the tone that person was using here.

That means... thought Oshiro as he pointed Raygust's raised blade toward the enemy to be polite.

Denji briefly closed his eyes when he noticed, but after a breath, he spoke.

"...Yoshiko."

"That is right. It's good to see you again, Denji. I'm glad you are following through with my agreement with Border."

Denji shot his head up to look at the woman. At her side was a member from the Tamakoma Branch and a member of the Yagura Branch.

The bisected Neighbor had been standing at an intersection on the road, but the two halves began to collapse. They split apart, creaked, and whipped up the wind. The enemy's fell north and Oshiro's fell south.

But even as they moved apart, Oshiro heard the the important person speak.

"I had wanted to make sure that everything would be fine after a tough battle, but I didn't expect for you to have this much fun with it. You really showed how resilient this city can be and helped me out with my job."

It was more than just her who spoke. The two next to her also spoke. They must have been speaking through their comms though as the people they spoke to were too far away to hear them.

"Boss said you did well too, Ketsu-san. This training session with Suzunari and Yagura went well, if a bit overboard."

"Hey, Boss! Big Boss wanted me to let you know that it's all good and that you can go meet up with Pyrínas!"

Denji's tense body only grew more tense as the important person continued speaking.

"I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about, Denji, but I suppose that can wait. There seems to be a lot you wish to do, so get that done with and come see me later."

"Yoshiko... I had already..."

The important woman shook her head, making her hair do the same.

"I will never turn my back on you, even if all of this consumes what is left of me."

Everyone who heard her say that stopped. The two people next to her looked over to her, but did nothing against her words.

The important person lifted her fan to cover her mouth and gave another laugh.

"I suppose that I shouldn't be the one to tell you that, though. ...Yes. There is a girl who has been with you for some time now. She has to be the one to say that to you and knock some sense into you.

The tilt of the Neighbor grew and accelerated. The wind came from below rather than behind.

From behind, Oshiro heard Murakami creating a foothold with his golden chains.

He also saw Denji bow.

"...I'll try to not make this kind of mess again. ...Because then it would give me more of a reason to remain."

Denji leaped away and vanished.

How clever, thought Oshiro as he heard two sounds.

The first was applause from the citizens.

And the other...

...A car?

.

Oshiro jumped onto a table made by the golden chains and then onto a nearby rooftop.

He and Murakami looked westward where a car was moving closer to their own location.

The emblem on the side of the car showed them everything they needed to know about who owned the car and who could possible be inside of it.

...Kurosaki.

Inu: "Shiro, Kurosaki came by and said that they could take us part of the way to the meeting spot."

Hero: "That is very good to hear. We must thank them for this later on."

Umi: "I'm already on it. I did it after I sent the information on this new Neighbor to them."

The others peering out of the window of the car was charming, but...

Hero: "Sumiharu, am I, um, going to be going as well?"

Inu: "That's right. This seems like something important, and I want you there by my side for it. The others are one thing, but having you there with me will calm any of my nerves. And it would be best to have you close in case something like this comes up again."

"I see," said Oshiro as he closed the messages, turned off his Trigger, and waited for his arrival.

He pulled a paper wrapping from his jacket pocket and handed it to Murakami.

"Here. This is a highly dense rice ball they were selling at the shopping district up ahead."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Murakami replied with a smile and looked up to the approaching car.

Oshiro commented on it.

"So there will now be a meeting with us as well as Awdry-kun's parents with the branch offices."

Ketsueki travelled south from Outer Mikado City.

He was ashamed of himself for having done what he did against his fellow Border members. He stopped and furrowed his brow on the path between the outer and inner part of the city.

"Honestly..."

He thought about what he had accomplished here. He felt that he had been saved from doing something regrettable, but...

"I had to repay that favor in full or else it would have stuck with me no matter what I manage to do. But still..."

He had gotten a serious blow in on the former Taiyōko Squad member.

He was hesitant to say he had defeated her, but that was due to the cowardice he had sensed during the battle. As a matter of etiquette toward the act of combat itself, he wished he could have faced the girl at 100%. And...

"Sekai."

"Hah..."

Sekai landed next to Ketsueki. He turned his back on the Kurosaki car leaving Outer Mikado City and he shook his head at Ketsueki. His eyes told him more than enough about what Sekai was thinking.

"Hey..."

A sudden hand landed on his shoulder. His hand held him in place and the feeling of some pressure could be felt there.

"You're done. Your favor as been paid back, so try not to go with Denji's stupid plans again."

Ketsueki slowly nodded at this true words.

"I am aware. ...Now the two of you can view me as an enemy."

"Hm... So that's what a Raffilena can do."

A voice was hear atop a roof near Outer Mikado City.

"It really didn't do much. The first two got taken out upon arrival while the third one was used to ride through the city."

A second voice spoke from behind the first. It carried a heavier tone than the first.

The first laughed into the open air.

"That's true. Those things were pathetic. Really makes you wonder why we kept these pieces of trash to begin with."

"They still have their uses."

"And what about you? What use do you have?"

Kigisa froze at those words and stared at the back of Misó.

Her usefulness was being questioned here, but she had no proper response to that.

So Misó laughed again.

"I'm just messing around with you. I already know that you need to wait. That's fine. I'm enjoying myself here again, so I can let something like that slide."

"...Is that why you had gone over to attack someone by yourself?"

"I wanted to see what would happen. Besides, I got to see a few people I haven't seen for a while."

"More Miden people?"

Misó's hum had gotten her curious, but she knew that he would only divert the subject if she pushed even more.

"I guess so. But more than them...I got to see one of the two people most fun to mess around with. ...Yeah, I got to see him without his horn. But now I want to see if it left any sort of mark there."

Kigisa could feel a cold sweat begin to cover her body. There was only one thing that he could be implying with those words.

And she was terrified of that implication.

"Another Aftokrator person is here...?"

Another hum came through, but it did not last as long as the previous one.

"Former resident, yes. Looks like he's made himself comfortable here, though. That really sucks. I would have loved to drag him back to face some consequences."

"But...you won't?"

That made no sense.

It made no sense in a way different most would understand. Some would believe that he refused to do so so that this person could continue living here, but she saw things differently. Instead of that, she had thought he would go through with it to see the pain that would come from doing so.

Misó refusing to do anything about it was only strange.

But...

"...You plan to do it for a different reason."

Another laugh.

"Now you're getting it. But that's still on the back burner here. We've got other things to do."

And that was more than enough for her to know.

Karasuma could feel the tension in the air as he stood a good distance away from Director Rindō and the Awdry father.

News of the situation at Outer Mikado City had come in and Director Rindō had quickly done what he could to save face after learning that Ketsueki was involved. Apparently Director Akasora had also quickly gone in to help him with the situation.

Our branch directors sure are quick when it comes to trouble caused by their branch members, he thought with some interest.

That might have to do with the stories I've heard from some others about them.

Those same directors had apparently been pretty wild when they were younger. That alone had caught his interest.

Even with how quickly the two branch directors had responded, it still ended up placing the Tamakoma Branch in a bad position here. And at the same time...

It made the Yagura Branch shine even more.

Ketsueki had been on the attacking side and Murakami had been on the defending side. If they were to look at things past that, the Yagura Branch Representative and his girlfriend had also technically been on the defending side. So even the Yagura Branch could be viewed in better light.

Karasuma held back a sigh and took a sip from the glass of water in front of him.

Things really did just become more torublesome.

Then he felt a vibration.

He pulled out his phone to see a message had come through from Ketsueki.

Myth: "My apologizes to everyone. I caused a major problem, even while stating that I had not been doing it as a branch member. Rindō-san, I will take any punishment you think will fit."

Megane Director: "That's good to hear. Even if I played it out fine enough with the short amount of time and with Chishi's help, you still caused a good amount of trouble for us."

Red Picture: "What were you thinking, Ketsu-san!? You're just lucky that Mei-san and Yuki-san didn't get in involved!"

Torimaru: "Wasn't Suzaku-senpai also there?"

Red Picture: "You're so lucky that Umi-chan didn't do anything to fight you! We would have really been screwed!"

That was more true than Karasuma wanted to admit.

But he knew that these words were only adding salt to the wounds.

Myth: "I am aware of that. I will do everything I can in my power to make up for this."

Tamakoma's Muscle: "Ketsueki."

There was no response.

This isn't good.

Out of everyone in the Tamakoma Branch, Ketsueki was the one person who looked up to Reiji the most. If he were to reprimand him too much or say something that Ketsueki couldn't take then it would lead to a downward spiral.

...But there isn't much we can do about this.

Ketsueki had caused this, so Reiji had every right to do those kinds of things here.

Tamakoma's Muscle: "You had a reason for doing that, didn't you?"

Lily Flower: "Ketsueki-kun really isn't the type to just randomly attack like that. Was there a purpose behind that?"

In any other situation he was sure that Reiji would be happy that Yuri was agreeing with him, but this was a serious matter.

Myth: "...I owed Denji a favor. One that I could not reject no matter what. It is not much of reason, but it is the one I have."

Tamakoma's Muscle: "Did you repay that favor in full?"

Myth: "Yes. Denji and I are now even. I have even had Sekai inform him that we will be enemies if he were to try anything like this again."

Karasuma looked over to Director Rindō. The time for the real meeting to begin was very close, but the Awdry father seemed fine with him conversing with the rest of them. He likely knew what was going on to some extent.

Instead of seeing anger or understanding, he saw Director Rindō let out a sigh and respond.

And when he did...

Megane Director: "Right. You will be punished properly for this, Ketsueki."

Myth: "Yes. I will accept it all."

But...

Megane Director: "I'm proud of you for repaying Denji in full. I know that the situation concerning your former squad is a sensitive one, so that favor must have been a big one. If you repaid it and are back to us then I have nothing else to say."

Myth: "Thank you very much, sir."

.

Rindō smiled at the messages he had read through. Someone from his own branch had made a mess of things, but the rest of them were worried about him. The situation was caused due to returning a favor, and Rindō knew he would still need to punish Ketsueki for it, but he was glad that things were settled there.

He had been worried about what could happen if his branch member continued to do something like this. Knowing that it was a one-time thing had made everything that much easier for them.

Now if I remember correctly, there's one member who will be having something to do here.

One more of his members would be telling them of things they had been doing. After all...

"The time has come. There is someone at each one of Border's branch offices."

There was one more thing to do.

"Thank you for waiting. Now then..."

The obstacle in front of them now.

"We can officially begin the meeting between our company and Border's branch offices."