Yuki checked his phone while in the car sent by Kurosaki. Everything on it was the same as usual, but...
That's what's worrying. Not having updates isn't something I'm used to.
Granted, he was usually the one updating people instead of the other way around. If he were to get updates, then it would feel a bit off-putting.
"Stop worrying. You decided to rely on Mitsuteru here, so just trust in him."
"I'll decide how I want to worry, Kō. Besides, I think you would be most concerned for him. Unlike you, I have faith in him here. Well...I guess not really him as an individual, but him as a person who has made it to this point."
Yuki scoffed at the way Murakami chose to word his sentence.
Their thoughts on the matter were different, but they understood what the other really meant. The end goal was the same for them both, and they were cheering for the same person here. Arguing over it would lead to nothing, so they let themselves be for now.
From the seat in front of them, they could hear Mei hum. Next to her, Inukai groaned and looked back at them.
"What are the two of you talking about now? I understand Yuki, but Kō-kun's words don't make as much sense as they should."
"I was also curious about that, but I just figured that they would tell us if it was necessary," Mei said calmly.
Next to Inukai, Oshiro nodded at Mei's words. He had been enjoying the scenery when the conversation was brought up.
"From what I understand," he said, "Kō-san knows Ariake-kun as well as Yuki-nii does. But, from what I remember, Yuki-nii was one of the first people to speak very openly to Ariake-kun. Am I missing something?"
"No, you got it right," Mei answered for them. "Mitsuteru had spoken to a lot of people before - he had lived in Mikado City for a year before joining Border, after all - but it was upon joining our squad that he seemed to really open up more while in the city. So, with that being the case, for Kō to act this way..."
Yuki scoffed from the back seat and looked out the window. As someone who knew all there was about Murakami, he was aware of what Mei was implying here.
And as for Murakami...
"That's right. I was aware of him before he came to Mikado City."
Compared to him, Yuki felt out of place when he thought about the situation.
It isn't like it's a bad thing, but it still feels weird to me.
Then again, I knew about Satoshi before either of us came to Mikado City.
In a way, it felt pretty fair that both of them were on the same page there. The only difference was that one of them had been a teammate while the other was just another cannibal they had to deal with constantly.
"The two of us had lived in the same area before coming to Mikado City, so we had known each other for a long time. We both ended up being scouted, but I arrived first. My parents were more understanding due to my Side Effect."
"Mitsuteru had to convince his parents. Even then, it took a year before they let him join Border."
"I remember him saying that," Mei said softly. "He was clearly unsure about what to do, so having him join our squad seemed like a good idea. I suppose it worked out in the end."
That was an optimistic way of looking at things.
Looking back on it, Yuki knew that it had been his fault for everything that had happened to his former squad. Anything that came after that could also be blamed on him due to how things had ended with them all. By this point, things had worked out, but getting here had been a struggle.
"He doesn't blame the current you anymore."
The chop to the head was light, but Yuki knew that it was what Murakami had said that mattered most here.
"I'll admit that we aren't as close as we were back then, but I like to think that I still understand how he thinks. So..."
So.
"Stop giving yourself a hard time because of what's happened to him."
It wasn't as easy as that, but that may have been the difference between someone like him and someone normal like Mitsuteru. The way they viewed things was vastly different, making it hard for Yuki to fully understand what Mitsuteru could be thinking a lot of the time.
But here was Murakami, reassuring him that he had changed for the better and that it was effecting everything else. The mistakes he made couldn't be changed, but he had already changed as a person.
"I guess that's why I decided to rely on him for this sort of thing."
"Because you thought he could manage something against someone Unneeded?"
"I guess so," Yuki said with a shrug. "I doubt it will work, since he doesn't have much of a connection to either one of those two, but it would still be good if he could have an impact on them. Someone at his level should be able to deal with them."
"Really now?"
Yuki raised a brow at Murakami's tone, but let him continue.
"I know the three of you are different in extreme ways, but I would say that you are probably the most stubborn of the three of you. If he managed to get to you, I would think he could do more than 'leave an impact' on either one of those two. Although...not by himself."
"So he would need more people with him?"
"That's why he sent out a message, isn't it?"
Mitsuteru had asked his former squads for assistance. The former Taiyōko Squad were all busy with something else, so they had been unable to respond, but a lot of others had said they would go to support him.
Oh...
"So you get it now?"
He did.
"Heh. What a guy... Still, it's pretty messed up of him to do this while aware that we aren't able to help him out there."
"This really is something important, isn't it?" Oshiro asked in front of them. "In that case..."
He took a breath before continuing.
"Do you think my assistance would be welcome?"
.
"Shiro?"
The way Inukai showed his surprise told Murakami that this was a decision that Oshiro had made for himself. He had not spoken about it to Inukai, and they had not heard about it at all, so that meant he had his own reason to go.
Inukai had reached the conclusion and moved to grab his arm. Before he could reach it, he paused and lowered his hand, likely intending to place it on Oshiro's own hand.
"I am not too sure that I can do much to help, but there is something I want to do."
"And what would that be?" Murakami found himself asking.
Oshiro took a glimpse back to look at him.
He must have thought it would be rude not to do so. Given their positions, this must have been hard on his neck.
Murakami waved him off so that he wouldn't have to hurt his neck like that.
"I know that Ariake-kun holds some disdain for me, but I don't know the reason for it. I don't want to help because I think it will do me any good. I just wanted to ask him why it is that he has that disdain for me."
"Shiro... Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Whether it is a good idea or not...knowing the reason would be nice."
So even he has grown up.
There had been a time when being disliked by someone had caused Oshiro to go into a bit of a frenzy, wondering what he had done wrong to end up like that. Too many times, Inukai had to calm him down and reassure him that it was just how things were.
When Inukai wasn't around, the worst had happened.
But now...
He understands that there are just some people who won't like you. No one can like everyone. It's just how things are.
He wanted to just ask why that was instead of beating himself over something he had never done.
Rejection had always been hard on him whenever he felt strongly about something.
"If that's how it is, we can go right now."
Murakami was quick to turn his head. Everyone else in the car turned to look at him, but all they saw was Yuki staring out the window.
"Excuse me, but can you stop for a moment?"
The driver in the front looked back in the mirror and nodded.
The car began moving to the side before slowly coming to a stop. The people around them paid it no mind, even while the car was still running.
"What do you say we go talk to some people, Shiro?"
"Yuki, we have somewhere to be. Unless you are sure of what you are doing, keep quiet and let us continue driving."
"It's fine, Mei. Shiro wants to talk to Mitsuteru, and I need to speak with someone. I had just noticed them walking around, so I think it's a good time to get things cleared up with them."
"But what about meeting with Pyrínas-san, Yuki-nii?"
Yuki chuckled a bit.
Murakami sighed in understanding. He knew what Yuki was thinking and decided to let him answer the question himself.
"There's a reason I have places in the city marked. I can make it there myself. I just figured it was nice to travel with you all there."
"Heh. When did this guy get so conceited as to think we weren't just keeping him about to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid?"
"I'm in a good mood, so you can't get me with those, Mei!"
It seemed to work well enough for him to reply.
Murakami let out a sigh that was mirrored by Inukai.
"If you're going to go, get going already. We still need to make it in time."
"Be careful, Shiro. And call me over if you need any help yourself."
"But that would defeat the purpose of my going, Sumiharu."
Inukai was quick to latch onto Oshiro, so Murakami quickly moved to hold him back as the door opened.
With a final wave, Yuki moved to walk away, with Oshiro following dutifully behind.
Murakami gave another sigh.
"That guy has a weird way of doing things that ends up effecting everyone else."
"At least it isn't in a bad way this time."
That was true.
Sekai began moving to one of the nearby alleyways.
A sniper shot had tried to reach him. The speed was not that bad, but what had worried him was the power behind the attack.
The speed with which the attack had been fired told him that it was Egret that was firing on him, but the power it held was not like Egret. The difference was unnoticeable for anyone in the mid-tier of B-Rank, but anyone higher than that would notice it right away. The moment his shield cracked upon impact told him that the attack held more power than it should have.
It had put Sekai on edge the moment he had deflected it.
So irritating...
The next attack had been fired.
The area was a long straight, so it was easy to tell where the attack would be coming from.
But...
Here's the next one.
Instead of creating a shield, Sekai used his steps to push off the ground. He threw his weight to the side and pushed off the corner of the building to his right.
Without missing a beat, he righted himself and moved to the inner street again.
Sekai looked at where the attack had landed and found that it was only cracked.
That's the kind of power I would expect from Egret.
He let out an irritated sigh and looked to where the attack had come from.
Who the hell is this? Sniper modulation is something I would expect from Suzaku, but he's over with the others. They plan on going to meet with Pyrínas. There's no way he could be here now.
Everyone else would stick with Ibis for power or Lightning for speed. Egret was the middle ground, but it was also easier for him to deal with.
Then who could this sniper be? Anyone else had made no sense.
This person was not as skilled as A-Ranks, but they were not as unskilled as a lot of B-Ranks. This sort of style was not something he had come across yet while fighting for Border.
So irritating. Whoever it is has experience, but they don't have the amount needed for this kind of thing.
They had modified their Triggers to be able to fire Shooter Triggers while using Sniper Triggers. That was the only way Sekai could look at this.
See and power would be altered due to the difference between the two types of Triggers, but it's especially using the Sniper Triggers like a Gunner would.
In order to do that, the user would need to be knowledgeable about both types of Triggers. Along with that, they were trying to fire on a True All-Rounder - someone who was used to all kinds of fighting styles at all kinds of distances. That meant they would need to have a proper understanding of their own weapons, how to fire them, the best way to move with them, and many more things, while also knowing how he would move and react to all of these things.
No one within Border could manage all of that this easily.
What's more... This person switched between using the Gunner-Sniper style to a regular Sniper style. Shifting between them shouldn't be something that can be done in an instant.
They would need to know what they wanted in an instant and shift between them in the single moment Sekai had moved from the inner street to the alleyway.
The number of people who can do that is too small.
He doubted that he would even be able to do so without some sort of issue coming up.
So then...
"—"
.
"So damn irritating..."
Sekai gave a sigh as another attack tried to reach him.
Instead of a normal shield, he had decided to go with his Hikigane Shield.
The multiple activations were confirmed and fired off as sideways plates. There were eight in total, and each one of them moved toward the direction where the attacks had been coming from.
The attack against him cashed into the first three, countering it and making an opening for the other five.
Before they could get too far, they were stuck down by another two shots.
"Is it Satori then...?"
The twin-snipe had been like him, but the difference was too clear. This was a sloppy copy of Satori's signature attack. There was no patience for it and the calmness it took to fire was missing.
Sekai used this chance to look at his Radar. If the sniper was firing two shots at once, then it meant they would not be able to wear Bagworm.
But...
"Tch. What kind of crap is this?"
There was no one appearing on Radar. The area was clear and the only thing he could see was a clear opening in the area.
The sniper had fired the two shots without taking off their Bagworm.
"This is too irritating. I would rather just leave them be and go, but..."
That was not an option here. The sniper was preventing him from going anywhere. The alleyways would be cut off by a shot, and moving back only meant they would need to alter their aim.
So he chose a different option.
Rather than going down alleyways or moving back...
"—"
He chose to go forward.
Mistuteru saw Sekai's choice from his spot on top of the large building at the end of the long straight.
So you're moving forward...
This had been the action taken by someone at the level of, or maybe even beyond, that of Yuki and Shigenaga. So there was only one way for him to respond.
Why did you have to do that!?
As the tension in his shoulders grew, he began to panic.
I know I have to do something about him, but this is still really bad for me! I'm just an average Sniper!There's no way I can one-v-one someone who was an A-Rank and who lingers around the top tier of B-Rank constantly! I'm out of my league here!
I barely managed to keep him here by switching between the modified Egret to a regular one! And that could only happen because I called in a favor from Tono! The look he gave me after that made me feel really bad for not asking him for any help!
But...
But.
I really don't think Tono can do much to help here. If he could, I would have gone and asked Momo for help too.
Asking for help from those he had worked with before was the only thing he could think of doing. He needed their readiness, and he was glad that they were already making their way here.
For now, he had to deal with the man rushing towards his location.
Right, right... Calm down. You've dealt with people like this before. And honestly, he isn't as fast as Yuki is when I had to try and hit him.
The difference between Sekai and Yuki's skills was clear enough, but while Sekai had more going for him in offense and defense, Yuki's natural speed and agility were still something he had yet to really find in any other agent.
So, by taking in a deep breath and releasing it, he cleared his body of the building tension. His focus became clearer as he looked through the modified Egret's scope.
Sekai had taken to moving from side-to-side in order to make things more difficult for him.
Yuki tried that when he was still "Kiyoshi-san". At the time, I hadn't been able to even keep track of him. But Hikigane-san doesn't look like he's going as fast as Yuki was back then.
Managing to keep up with his first squad captain meant he could keep up with most anyone using their natural speed.
Right. Mirai-san always said I did my best when I had no tension built up. So just work off of that.
The reminder of one of his former mentors made him halt for a moment. He let out a breath and focused back on Sekai.
...I miss her...
With that thought in his mind, he fired.
The speed of the next shot was the main thing Sekai focused on as he dodged the attack.
The power behind each shot could vary at this point, so focusing on that would only lead to mistakes when trying to figure out which attack would be coming. Paying attention to the speed of the attacks made it easier for him to tell which kind of shot would be coming for him.
This was a normal sniper shot.
A shield was created to block the attack. There was not a single crack on the surface of it.
The second shot that followed took longer to reach him, but only by 3 seconds. Anyone under the top tier of B-Ranks would have been fooled by it, but that difference in speed was what Sekai was focusing on here.
The speed of the two different shots was registered in his mind and their power was added to them.
A third shot tried to reach him.
The speed was the same as the first one.
He put up a shield to completely block the attack.
Each shot was only required to be fired once. Any more than that, Sekai would need to start over and mentally get rid of everything he already knew about this fight.
That was all he needed to continue moving forward.
But there was still something off, even as he categorized the next shot as the same as the first and third ones.
"—"
The accuracy of these shots made no sense.
Firing at him this accurately could be accomplished by a good number of Border members, but not in such rapid succession. The delay between each shot made sense if they were being fired wildly and with little thought.
That was not the case here.
Each shot only had a few seconds of delay between each other, and each one made Sekai protect himself in some way. There was little preparation time for him, along with only a few steps between his placement and the next shot was fired.
The trion needed for each shot like this must have been a burden, but it also placed one on him. A burden that forced him to either take more time moving forward or force him to put up a shield. Both of those burdens stack together in moments like these.
"Hah. So irritating," Sekai said as another heavy attack reached him.
Instead of moving to the sides or creating a shield, Sekai resolved himself and pushed forward. His feet stamped on the ground to push him forward.
The power shot that had been fired barely missed his heel as he was pushed forward.
The sudden rush was his way of forgoing defense in favor of reaching his target before he could get hit.
"So weird for me to be this reckless..."
Sometimes it's good to leave one's comfort zone, he thought bitterly.
It felt a little contradictory to forego any form of defense as someone who worked to use the shield as a weapon.
But...
"Here I go."
Mitsuteru noted Sekai's decision to let go of defense and focus on speed.
That speed was meant to reach him before he could attack again. His attacks had already been categorized, and Sekai knew how to counter them by now. It was something that Mitsuteru was certain of.
Someone on Hikigane-san's level should be able to do that much.
Shigenaga had been able to do that after a few attacks, so Sekai should have been capable of that after two shots each.
Since that was the case, he had figured that rushing towards Mitsuteru would be easy now. It was the only thing that made sense.
I'm honestly surprised that he's doing something so normal.
But that worked out perfectly.
Daybreak: "He is in range and has let his guard down. Whoever is nearby, please begin."
Lights filled the open air. Their starting points were from various locations, but they all moved in unison.
There was a single target.
Hikigane Sekai.
"—"
He held no surprise in this. An all-out attack like this was to be expected after he had dropped all of his defenses. Doing anything less would have meant that his opponent was not capable as a fighter.
But...
"..."
It still did nothing.
Instead of switching to defense, he continued his rush forward. The lights that filled the air were trained on him.
Sekai saw them and reacted by shifting his position first.
Each one of the lights could be seen, but he held his head towards the ground. Each one of them came in closer until they were only inches away from him.
Then they were gone.
"Hah."
No shield had been brought up, and nothing had gotten in their way.
Sekai moved away from them, allowing them to crash into the ground or into each other.
"Using Hound like this... You aren't at the level of Masataka or Nozomi, so leave me alone."
Swaying slightly, he moved through the rain of Hound with ease. The lights coming down would continue to get an inch away from him before disappearing. The damage they did was minimal, but Sekai chose to ignore that the entire time.
Moving forward was what mattered.
.
These Hound shots are nothing. Irritations, more than anything. The real problem is...
"Hah!"
A one-two shot came. The power of the first was a normal Egret shot, while the second shot was a modified one.
That damn sniper is the real problem here.
Sekai moved through the rain of Hound. His movements were erratic and seemed more like a drunkard moving around. So then how did this sniper manage to fire shots that precise at him?
Another rain came down. It was followed by a modified shot.
Who is that? Who can manage to fire when the Hound comes down like this? Most people would end up hitting one of the shots, but this sniper is managing this?
As someone who practiced sniping, he felt that he understood the basics easily enough. The necessary requirements to fire under these conditions would fall under a Master Class Sniper, someone above him. A person who has decided to focus on sniping from a distance and avoid frontal attacks as much as possible.
"No... It isn't like that at all."
A dedicated sniper would have held off from revealing themselves at early on. They would have waited for the support to reach them before attacking.
Something else Sekai had noticed was the way this sniper was refusing to move from their spot.
Each shot was fired from almost the exact same starting point. The sniper isn't moving away; something that all snipers learn rather quickly.
The way the shots were fired also felt off when compared to others.
Having taken sniper fire from agents ranging from C-Ranks to someone on the level of Azuma, he understood what it was like to see a sniper's shot fired and how it would go through the air. Each shot, while being different in their own ways, was something unlike what he was used to from snipers.
It was something different.
Almost like...
A Gunner.
Disregarding the modifications to the shots, the way these shots were fired felt more forward than any sniper. It was more akin to a long-range Gunner attacking him from out of range.
There was no one in Border who could do something like that.
Are they really with Border?
"Is that some new form of harassment?"
"I hope not. That would mean we would have to deal with it at some point."
"It's a good thing we're on Ariake's side this time around."
The members of Mamiya Squad began to sweat as they prepared another set of Hound.
They had been told that they would be in charge of this once they arrived.
Daybreak: "Thanks for the help! I knew I could rely on you guys to keep doing what you always do!"
"Can't that be taken as an insult?" Koinuma asked.
"But this is Ari-chan we're talking about. He just means that earnestly, right?" Hata tried to reason.
"That's true. Mitsuteru-kun did start speaking like that recently," Mamiya said with a tilt of his head.
Koinuma and Hata followed him and tilted their heads while firing off the next set of Hound.
A dual-sound followed, and the three of them saw two different shots being fired. The timing between them had changed enough for them to notice since the last time they had been fired.
"...Ariake really has turned into something else."
"Please don't say that! I've been wanting to keep the image of that innocent newbie who wanted to be part of our squad in my mind! My heart's already been shattered after watching him in the recent matches! There's no way that's the same Ari-chan from before!"
"But think about it... Remember who he has been hanging out with recently?"
"Koinuma, maybe you should stop? Look, Hata is completely frozen at that realization!"
It was hard to reason with sound arguments like that. The boy they had enjoyed having around before had turned into a true pseudo-cannibal when he was on the battlefield. Mitsuteru had followed in his upperclassmen's footsteps and would harass everyone opposing him.
This was proof of that.
"But damn, if he wasn't so comfortable with Meishō Squad, I would try to get him back with us."
"Careful there, Mamiya. You're starting to sound like Urushima."
It was no secret that the Urushima Squad Captain had tried everything he could to get back the biggest asset in his two-person squad. Most of them knew about the situation, but they had always been told that it was fine to not get involved.
They followed that advice and have always been stuck watching the results of that.
"Still, the fact that we were the first ones here means we have to put in the most work here. Mitsuteru-kun really has some faith in us. He had told us to do our usual, but there's no way that someone like Hikigane-san would be taken out by our attacks. At best, I would say he would get annoyed with them."
"The way Ariake is going at him is probably keeping him at bay better than our attacks are."
"What does that say about us exactly?"
The way Hata froze up again made Mamiya and Koinuma rethink their conversation.
They continued firing over where they knew Hikigane was moving. So far, none of them had managed to hit him, but he was being forced to move in a different way to make sure he would not get hit by their attacks.
This was the most of what they could do at the moment. Something that would hold Hikigane off until more support came by.
"It seems that something new has begun to happen in that cleared out area," Henry said with narrowed eyes.
Rindō and Karasuma straightened up at his words and checked their own sources. True to what he had said, lights could be seen coming from that direction while people continued to stay away from the area. Others spoke of the things they were seeing, while even more were questioning it.
Henry closed his eyes and relaxed a bit in his seat.
"So, is this another 'show' that Border is putting on? If it is, then it is something we need to take into consideration when going back over everything. To know that you take these sorts of things in stride... Well, I suppose it just means we cannot trust these branch offices."
"The ones involved in that current situation are not from any of the branch offices."
"Then the main base has more problems that we need to discuss later on. We will ask for another meeting with your directors...after we go over everything ourselves, of course. The sponsors that have helped you all so far do not seem to be involved in this at all, so I can only assume that this has come about due to your organization's members thinking they can get away with this."
"That is something for Border to look into and go over. Saying something like that here makes it sound like you think you just won a long-lasting game."
"If that is how you view it..."
Henry opened his eyes once more, this time sending a shiver through Karasuma's entire body.
They were the eyes of a cold person, devoid of any sort of care or emotion.
"Then this 'game' was won the moment you decided that you would speak back to us instead of accepting our help fully."
"Help from someone like you is bound to bring more trouble. Your company may be one thing, but I can already tell that you are a man who doesn't care much for his own humanity."
"I just know what it takes to exist in this world. Border takes care of things coming from a different world, so I leave it to them. But this is how I do things with others from this world."
The coldness was paired with the determination of someone who had not faced defeat in a long time. Setbacks, perhaps, but thinking that Henry had lost in recent years would be the same as accepting that they had even more losses than him.
Rindō knew this and tried to think of a way around this situation.
The events going on were going against Border, but it could also be considered a favor for Kurosaki. Using them here could be used against them, and Henry looked like he was ready to use something like that against them to begin with. Falling into that trap would mean an automatic loss for them.
Even worse, the Tamakoma Branch would be taking the brunt of that loss. They were the ones who were currently dealing with Henry.
So...
"What will you do now?"
There were many things that could be done here, but each one of them came with a loss that would effect the Tamakoma Branch even more than their current situation. It was this foresight that made both Rindō and Karasuma pause in any movement or words.
Still, something needed to be done. Staying silent was also a bad decision against someone like this. A person like Henry would use this sort of opening to make it even wider and harder to deal with. The only way to deal with this problem was to fight back with words of his own. Words that could be used for them, but also words that could be used against them.
It was this problem that made Rindō consider which option would bring the least amount of issue in the end.
Rindō began to open his mouth to respond. A response would be needed to get anywhere in this fight.
But something stopped him.
A voice coming through, from somewhere.
"Taichi made it! And Mikumo's over here! Hello, hello!? We good? Good! I've got something to say! Hey, ya jackasses! Why'd ya send someone like that to attack Taichi!"
All attention went towards the door that had flung open.
The voice that rang out came through a phone being held by a girl. Her brown hair cascaded down her back and swung with her movements.
She was...
"Konami-senpai? And is that...Ikoma-san?"
Emily shook as she quickly stood up.
Standing before her were two members of different branch offices that were a part of Border.
The first was the glasses boy from the Tamakoma Branch, and the second was...
"Glad you could make it, Betsuyaku-senpai."
"Taichi! I told you to call me Taichi!"
"That will likely not happen."
A walking disaster that was part of the Suzunari Branch.
She didn't know from experience, but she had heard all sorts of things about this Suzunari Branch boy. Most of them were not good, but they were always told with a fond smile.
"Good, now that Taichi's here, we can screw with these people even more."
"Do you plan on sending him in without Senzai-san?"
"Nope. We bring in SenSen as a last resort here, Take-chan. Taichi being here is more than enough for us to win."
"Oh? Do you actually have a plan?"
"Nope. I just think things're gonna be more fun with him here."
Like before, their conversation made no sense to Emily in the slightest.
They don't have a plan here!? What kind of things are they saying here!?
More importantly...
He's on the phone! That man is clearly on the phone! And what he just said made things sound so suspicious! What am I supposed to do here!?
Depending on how things go here, she could be put in an even more dangerous situation.
The only thing she considered herself fortunate for was that they did not appear to be paying attention to her.
"You!"
Crap! He just pointed directly at me!
There was no escape now.
"You people really sent Sekai after Taichi!? Really!? That's pretty dangerous for all of us. But this whole multi-sized mutilating must be pretty important to stop it like that."
"That mutilation of what we're talking about was pretty multi-sized in its own right."
"Oh, thanks for the compliment, Chisato."
"There was nothing else to do there but to compliment you."
Now they were just messing with her. They had to be.
But it seemed like they were being serious.
"Fine, if you're gonna be using Sekai like that, we're gonna retaliate by fighting him back! Winner gets a lead on the other. Sound good? Good. Great. Let's kick back and see who wins."
Emily wanted to stop this. Even if what the man was saying made no sense, she understood the basics of what he wanted here.
It was troublesome to have this turn into a multi-sided meeting, but they had not sent out anyone to stop that from happening. The only thing that had prevented it from happening had been that there were no other branch members coming over.
That had changed.
"We-"
She had not even gotten to the start of her sentence before her phone went off.
She took a deep breath, looked at the Border agents, and slowly began to answer her phone. There was a two-way call coming in from her bosses.
"...Hello?"
"You could not even handle a simple meeting. Well, I suppose I had no expectations for you here."
That would be the husband. At this point, she only took this sort of thing as a simple fact of who he was.
The odd part had always been that there was never any malice in his words. The only thing he thought he was doing was stating facts.
"I had heard that the Yagura Branch was the most freeform in how they went about things. As her superior, I will take responsibility for allowing this to happen by sending her there."
Her own boss was the one she had decided to listen to over the husband.
But now, they were both here.
"Emily, you did what you could, I'm sure. They had managed to turn this into a multi-sided meeting, like we had anticipated, so we only need to proceed like this."
"I have told the girl who is here to end her call. The three branches now involved will have a proper connection to continue this meeting. We have informed the Yagura Branch Director, who should be informing his members. Be prepared for this switch, and to step back. You are no longer needed here."
It was painful to hear that, but Emily knew that was the truth. A fact that one of her bosses was simply stating.
Doing as she was told, she ended the call and looked up to see the Border members conversing amongst themselves.
They seem to be enjoying themselves.
They had only done what they needed to in order to push back against her bosses. She could not hold anything against them when she already knew how her own work operated.
It must be nice to be that free.
But...
"That kind of freedom has the possibility to go out of control..."
"Huh? Did you say something, Awdry Representative?"
Emily shook her head.
.
Chisato raised a brow at the Awdry Representative. The bitter smile she was giving spoke of a history that she had just remembered, and her words had been said under her breath.
The meeting she had been in charge of had finally shifted into a multi-sided one. Akasora had told her about what to do so they could connect with the Tamakoma Branch and the Suzunari Branch, but the words the Awdry Representative had muttered under her breath caught her attention.
She's like how I had been when first meeting Border.
Back then, Chisato had tried to stick to what she knew and not let herself go out of control. So many things had been going on with her family's business and the people she knew that it had caused her to be wary of a lot of things. Freedom was one of those things.
But now, she understood what it meant to truly be free. Ikoma had taught her that, then the freeform Yagura Branch accepted her without any complaints, and finally, she managed to understand that this sort of freedom was not something that others should be wary of.
Everyone in Border understands what it means to be free, but they also understand that losing control means that they lose a lot more afterwards. They remain free, but make sure they can keep themselves under enough control to fight against anyone who opposes them.
They may have had their inner conflicts, but Border was an organization that could put that aside for the sake of those around them.
To hear the Awdry Representative speak like this, it reminded her of how things used to be.
It also showed her just how much change could come about after this meeting.
I'm a part of Border now. As such, I need to do my part here.
That thought still made her smile.
I'm not that great at these sorts of things, but that's why it's good to have the rest of these guys here.
All she needed to do was rely on them when it didn't pertain to fighting. That was where she excelled.
"So this is how it will be."
The Awdry Mother did not give a bitter smile and she did not lose her composure. She remained the same as she had been the whole time, something Kuruma praised her for.
It isn't like it's easy to deal with our usual crazy nature.
For her to sit there while he fixed things up went to show how far ahead she had looked into these meetings. The multi-sided meeting would now begin, and she had only gone to reassure her subordinate that she was the one taking responsibility for this.
In a way, it reminded him of how their squads worked. It would only be natural to assume that blame could fall on a superior, but it takes a certain something to actually accept that blame. The Awdry Mother did so without hesitation, giving her a better image in his eyes.
Even if she held strong to her word and beliefs, he had gotten to see a more respectable side of her. One that a good leader should carry with them to make sure the atmosphere around their work would be suitable for the workers.
Anything less than that and it would be viewed as a failure of a work space.
The Awdry Father was one thing, but the Awdry mother had just shown both him something that could easy them into conversations with her.
Even Noah seemed to easy up on his tension a bit.
.
Once Kuruma got everything set up, they began again.
"Now then, we have everything set. With that being said, we should get to the main focus for now. Something that was said earlier."
She wasted no time in getting back to the meeting.
Kuruma smiled at her when he saw that she had closed her eyes while speaking.
She is probably thinking about what could end up happening here. Her breathing is still even. I'm really starting to understand that she is related to Toby-kun.
The similarities were growing the more he stayed around her.
"I believe there was someone there who had said we sent someone to stop this multi-sided meeting from happening. Who would that be?"
Izumo: "That would be Ikoma-san."
Viper: "Ikoma-san, for sure."
Taicchi: "It was Ikoma-san!"
Megane: "Ikoma-san."
Iko: "C'mon! Ya can't gimme a break here!?"
That was just how they all were.
"They certainly waste no time in giving each other away..."
"All of them are just very honest."
The Awdry Mother looked at him skeptically but said nothing more on the topic.
She just focused back on the conversation.
"Mr. Ikoma, there is something to know here. Even if this multi-sided meeting was something we wanted to avoid, we had not sent out anyone to stop it from happening. For you to say that, it implies that we do not trust that we can handle these meetings ourselves."
Iko: "I ain't sayin' nothin' like that. Just pointin' out how Sekai went to mess with Taichi. Pretty damn convenient that he did that when Taichi was makin' his way here."
The way Noah shifted in his spot to the side made Kuruma glance over in his direction.
With a raised eyebrow, he questioned Noah's reaction to see if he would get an answer.
Shore: "Ah, it's nothing. It's just that... Even I know that it's kind of a stretch to say that it's to blame on Toby's parents."
Kuru-ma: "Ikoma does like to go at his own pace."
Shore: "Doesn't his whole squad do that?"
That was also true.
All of Ikoma Squad liked to do things as they came up. This really was nothing new.
Iko: "But I've gotta say, ya picked one hell of a guy to fight us. This'll be the second time's he's gone and done this, but it ain't like we're gonna hold it against him. If anythin', it just goes to show that Sekai also wants to have fun by messin' around with the rest of us."
That isn't like Sekai at all. Oh, but I guess I should not say something like that here.
If he were to hear that, Sekai would likely go over just to beat up Ikoma.
That delinquency was always something Kuruma tried to do something about, but he had only been able to hold it back at times.
"Who is this Sekai person exactly?"
"He is a B-Rank Squad captain, formerly an A-Rank. He tends to take odd jobs within the city, so it would not be too hard to imagine him taking this sort of job. In all honesty, I can see why Ikoma would think you would hire him."
"To say that taking a job from people like us is an 'odd job'... Border really lives a free lifestyle."
"We do what we can."
That may have been a bit too far, but there was no taking it back.
"And what would we end up gaining from this sort of thing, exactly?" the Awdry Father said over the line. "We are more than capable of handling things ourselves. There would be no reason to hire someone we know nothing about. Especially if they are affiliated with Border already."
Iko: "What are you talkin' about? Sekai's a tough as hell person to fight. If you hired him, then we'd be in a pretty crappy situation here. Yeah, that's why you'd do somethin' like that. So we had a counter to that. There's someone who's fighin' back against him now. That means you guys lose if Sekai loses."
"That makes no sense when we consider that he had not been hired," the Awdry Father countered.
Iko: "Then that means he's doin' this on his own. But he's still doin' it for you guys. He's representin' ya, so you'd look pretty silly if he loses."
Kuruma could see Noah getting more and more confused as the conversation went on. I am starting to lose track of what's happening here. The Awdry Mother was not faring much better.
From her spot in front of him, the Awdry Mother was rubbing her forehead to ease out the creases that had started to form. This was the most he had seen from her, something besides her composed nature.
Iko: "By the way, who do we have fightin' Sekai right now?"
Shōgi Boy: "From what Kiyoshi's said, it's Tokyo."
Okay: "Oh, so Tokyo was the one he sent over there?"
Megane: "Um, who is 'Tokyo'? Ikoma-san just started sweating a lot."
Black Wolf: "They're talking about Mitsuteru. All of Ikoma Squad likes to call him 'Tokyo'."
Megane: "I see. But what is the problem? If Tsukiko-senpai had sent him, doesn't that mean he's reliable?"
Okay: "You make me wanna give ya some candy, ya poor thing."
Shōgi Boy: "I wouldn't really say he's reliable. More like, Tokyo knows how to mess with people in the worst way. Not sure if he can actually win, but he can stall out for a bit."
Okay: "With the way he's been actin' recently, Tono's been pretty pissed about it all."
Tono: "That's not the case. It's just that he had a lot of bad influences around him. It's started to wear down what he's been learning."
Viper: "A quick update. Ikoma-san has started to turn his head away when Shiraishi or the Awdry Representative addresses him."
Shōgi Boy: "You can just ignore him and what he's sayin' then."
Iko: "Never mind! It's nothin' to worry about! Yeah, ya wouldn't hire someone like him! Sekai ain't got nothin' to do with ya!"
Konami covered her mouth to contain her snickering. It was hard to blame her after this.
Karasuma looked over to see how their boss and the Awdry Representative were reacting to this.
It was more-or-less what he expected.
"To go back on his own words... This boy is too irresponsible."
"But he's got something that helps him lead a squad."
"Leading a team means little if they cannot get things done."
"They are in our B-Rank's top tier. Only under those who have been A-Rank once or others who are close to that."
The way he spoke about their own members made it easy to tell that their boss just wanted to brag a bit here. It was a shame that only they would understand the circumstances surrounding that.
The Awdry Representative let out a breath and looked to be figuring out what to do with this situation. It was a strange one that he could probably use, but Karasuma felt that it might be out of his reach to try and understand how that would work.
"Still, I don't blame him for getting nervous here. Mitsurin is supposed to be a stealth sniper, but he's been more flashy recently. For someone like him, that's pretty dangerous. Because he couldn't fight frontal assaults or bombardments, his strength had always been his because of what's been going on with him, he's lost that and becomes a target quickly. Against someone like Sekai, who can do both of those things, he would be in a bad position."
"I didn't know that you knew this much about Ariake-senpai. I would have thought he would be someone you ignore."
"There's just not much to say about him," Konami said with a shrug. "He isn't a bad guy, so I would say we're friends."
"That should be considered high praise from you."
"Right, right!? I mean... Yeah. It isn't much, but he's fine."
It was too easy to mess with her.
I think that may be why they can get along. Ariake-senpai seems like the type to mess with her too.
The connection between him and his upperclassman made him feel like they had gotten a little bit closer.
"So that is how it is," he heard the Awdry Representative say. "Border likes to put on shows, correct? We can't do much if that is the way things are done. If we label this as a push on our part, then we would already be losing ground while in Mikado City. Very well. You say this Sekai person has gone out to assist us? Then we can view it like that. As such, if he were to win this...'fight', we will be allowed to say that Border was not able to best us."
Karasuma halted any movements. He saw how Konami and their boss did the same.
What the Awdry Representative said caught them off guard.
Was he listening to our conversation?
It would explain the sudden change in demeanor. Ikoma's sudden shift would have also caused that, but it was likely that the Awdry Representative had taken what they said and figured out what the current situation could be like for both sides.
And if he was going along with this, it meant one thing.
"We shall wait and see what happens here."
He would make a mistake.
"Very well," Director Rindō said with a grin. "Border will fight Border's way then."
"It looks like there's something actually riding on the battle happening right now," Murakami said as they all got out of the car.
The first to move forward and away from the car was Murakami.
The trip had been rather long, and Yuki had yet to return, but he felt that this was fine. With the others in tow, he moved from the car towards the proper meeting spot.
But he had not just been in a rush to leave.
"Pyrínas had said they were already here."
"We were trying to keep time, but got mixed up in other things."
A figure appeared and spoke to Murakami from the left.
A short person who had been with him stepped out of the car and moved next to him. It was...
"Mei, did you calculate what would be happening now?"
"Of course not. I just figured that this was a natural case for Border by this point. Anyone could have figured out that there would be trouble if certain people were involved."
"That does make sense. But to have this rely on Mitsuteru here... I guess I still can't look beyond the past."
Murakami laughed bitterly.
Mei gave a sideways glance at him and started to say something, but Murakami chose precisely that moment to look back up and turn to the sky.
It felt like it had been a long time since he had had to rely on Mitsuteru for anything. If he disregarded the way he was referred to by him, it would be just like how things were.
He narrowed his eyes and spoke while everyone else began moving forward.
"It gives me a bad feeling to have him go against Sekai."
"How exactly do you think that will go?"
"Oh, well." Murakami gave a nervous laugh from his throat but hid his mouth behind his hand. "I know he's been acting differently recently, but that's been for good reason. And it isn't really a bad thing. But his fighting style had started to change in a way that is counterintuitive to how he normally goes about things. It's really no wonder that Tonooka is mad at him. Sekai isn't someone to let an opportunity slip by, and that's something that Mistuteru has been giving a lot of lately."
"You think that means he will lose once he has been found out? Suzunari's Black Wolf sure has some leisure thoughts."
"Isn't that something to say to Yuki? After all, he wouldn't be himself if he wasn't a blessing and a curse."
Murakami said that with a smile, but then he faced forward.
Mei lightly shook her head and continued walking forward with him.
"I know it's ironic, but you need to remember something about Mitsuteru. Yes, he had been changing in a way you have said, but there's more to it than that."
When he thought about it, he understood what she meant.
"He knows he can't fight alone. That is why he has connections he can rely on now."
This was something Mistuteru knew was something only an A-Rank agent could pull off. More than that, someone who has seen multiple battles in their lifetime.
"Another miss. Another block. That one got close, but it wasn't close enough."
He had thought someone would have needed to be Director Shinoda's age to pull off something like this, but what he was seeing proved him wrong. The amount of movement that was cut to minimize the space needed to get out of this sort of attack was not something he was used to seeing.
Shigenaga was a very straightforward person, so these sorts of movements would be the kinds she chose to forgo. Likewise, Asagi would be moving at all times, but he would never be able to minimize movements like this. The only ones he could think of that could manage this were the members of his first squad.
Those guys have all been battle lunatics, though.
...They still are, now that I think about it. Even Kimura-senpai is like that. Always picking fights just for the fun of it.
Was this how others got the strange idea that he would harass people?
Maybe I should clear up that misunderstanding. I don't like harassing people just because of my former squad. Yeah, I'm only doing the things I've been taught. So if I'm harassing anyone... Yup! It's totally on my mentors for that!
With that encouraging thought in mind, he fired another shot.
"—"
This time he chose to fire a blank.
He had recently come to enjoy firing blank shots when he got to see how his opponents would react, thinking there was an attack going after them. It forced them to react when there was nothing to really react to.
...This doesn't count as harassment, does it?
Regardless of whether it did, he fired a second shot. This time it was a modified one that used a Sniper Trigger to fire it and used a Shooter Trigger as the ammunition.
It was something Suzaku had told him he had been testing out for some time. Seeing the chance, it felt like this would be a good way to test it out and inform one of his mentors about it later. The end results could be compared to the training done to see how well this worked when compared to normal Sniper shots.
I should be more cautious with my trion, though. So this fight needs to end as soon as possible.
3o: "We're here!"
Yes: "So Mamiya Squad got here first.
The other supporters had finally arrived. Mamiya Squad had been laying their repeated rain while he had been firing on Sekai, but that had only kept him in place. The minimized movements had begun moving forward towards him. Having these two squads here to help would mean they had a chance to push Sekai back.
Kimi: "Wait a minute! Our opponent is Hikigane-san!?"
Other Zō: "Yeah. Mitsuteru-kun is trying to really put us to work here."
3o: "Isn't this harassment directed at his former squads?"
No, no, no. This isn't harassment at all, Yoshizato-san. I really do need your help here.
He knew that telling them that out loud would likely get a reaction from all of them, so he chose to hold it in.
I can focus more on holding my fire now, so that's good. Oh, and I guess I don't need to keep shooting at Hikigane-san either.
It was good to conserve some things. This was one of those times.
Now that three of his former squads were here, they would be able to figure out what to do. There were three squad captains and even more squad members who could come up with a good plan for defeating their current opponent.
"I just need to wait and-"
3o: "Since he's the one who called out to us... Mittsun, what's the plan here?"
Other Mino: "Now that we have our three squads here, you can go ahead and tell us what we need to do."
A cold sweat began to form on Mitsuteru's brow. The feeling of it was drowned out due to being in a trion body, and he was slightly amazed that it could replicate that, but he began thinking that they were joking with him here.
Daybreak: "Um, sorry. What do you all mean by that?"
Taka: "You have a plan, right? So go ahead and tell us."
Daybreak: "But I'm a support? I mean, yeah, I guess I could come up with something, but you all would be better at it than me!"
There was a collective strange sound from the street down below that even got Sekai to halt for a moment and look around.
Mitsuteru began feeling even more anxious, thinking everyone would be found out.
Original One: "Don't just throw that on us! We almost got caught up in our own attack here!"
Not Moon!: "I thought we were goners there! Hikigane-san was looking right in our direction!"
Kimi: "Ariake! Don't just scare us like that! Has moving to the upper tier messed you up in the head that much!?"
Yes: "That would make sense! Look at all the people who are up there!"
That was a fair assumption. The top tier, and even the mid tier, were filled with strange people who liked to fight in all sorts of ways. It was vastly different from the basic strategies from the bottom tier of B-Rank.
When he thought about it more, he was not all that affected by those strange people either.
Huh. I guess being with everyone for so long has made me desensitized to all of that weird stuff.
But that didn't explain everyone's reactions to his words.
3o: "Alright, let's settle this here! Mittsun, you're in charge of this fight! We'll be following your directions here, got it!?"
Daybreak: "That was pretty forceful, Yoshizato-san..."
Almost Everyone: "Got it!?"
Daybreak: "Got it! Thank you all for your assistance!"
The forceful response made him groan out loud.
Sometimes, even his former squads could get to a point that he would not be able to handle.
Even so...
3o: "Good. Now you can show us what someone in the top tier can come up with to fight someone else who is in the top tier."
That was asking for a bit much, but it worked wonders to build up some courage here.
"Fine," he said out loud.
Letting out a breath through his mouth, Mitsuteru released any tension that had built up in his body.
"I'll come up with something."
Cloudy River: "If it's fine with you all, I would also like to help."
"Aren't you...?"
"Kumokawa Asuna, Operator of Hikigane Squad."
Kumokawa waited with a slight breath as everyone took their time to register what she had said.
Daybreak: "Oh, uh, right. Ariake Mitsuteru."
Yes, I know who you are, she thought while looking at the screen in front of her.
Normally, she would be in charge of taking care of Hikigane Squad's needs while they were fighting. Information would come in and she would inform them if it was important or not.
None of her teammates were the ones she was contacting now. This was something that involved them, but not something that required them to be here.
No one but their captain needed to be involved.
Daybreak: "I appreciate your wanting to help, but..."
The Meishō Squad Sniper had not finished his question, but she understood what he was asking.
So she responded in kind.
"Asagiri and Kusumoto are busy maintaining their respective squads. I am sure that Tokura can manage a third person, but I would only need to manage you, Ariake. Since that would be the case, I would be able to send any information to the other squads quicker than if their Operators were to take and give information on their squads as well as you."
Daybreak: "So you would be acting as a middle ground for everyone? Wouldn't that put a bit of a burden on you?"
Kumokawa could not help the slight laugh that escaped her lips.
"You do remember what squad I am the Operator for, correct? We have people like our captain and Jinsei here. Managing something like this will be simple."
It sounded arrogant, but it was also a fact. Telling these facts was what she could do for them all right now to make things go by quicker.
Since this conversation is going on, it means they are also keeping Sekai in place. If that was not the case, then someone would have been taken out by now.
Ending this conversation quickly would be for the best, but she could not force it to end. The only way for it to properly end was to make sure she got an answer. Either she would be accepted or she would be rejected.
And that choice currently falls on the leader of this fight.
Daybreak: "Kumokawa-san. Even if this is going against your captain, can I ask for your assistance here? I'm not used to leading others, so anything on that front would also be appreciated."
"Huh?"
Kumokawa blinked at what she was hearing.
She had been the one to suggest that she help them in this fight. It was something that made her lower herself a bit to ask them to allow her to enter this fight without much problem.
So why was the Meishō Squad Sniper asking her for her help? If he did this, then it would mean she would not be lowering herself and instead would be asked as someone in a higher position. The Meishō Squad Sniper was essentially saying that he was more than fine with looking weak in order to make sure she could keep something as petty as pride.
This was not something new to her, but it still put a smile on her face.
What a silly boy, she thought for a moment. But I appreciate silly people like that.
"Very well. I will help you, Ariake-kun."
Daybreak: "Thank you very much!"
Something's changed.
Sekai cautiously moved forward along the long straight. As he did so, he noticed the way things had changed in the area surrounding him.
A strange sound filled the space for a moment before disappearing. That had been followed by simple attacks that had been meant to keep him in place. Both of those things had been easy enough to deal with, but now things had changed in a way he could not ignore.
There was no immediate attack coming, but there were small noises that came from different places all around him.
The wind was stagnant and there was no one around, so it couldn't be either one of those. The only ones who should have been here were him, the sniper, and whoever was letting out the rain of Hound.
Those noises were from more than just those people.
I'll move a bit faster and figure out what to do when it comes for me.
Denji was the type of person to think on the fly, so this hurt his pride a bit. As someone who preferred to be prepared, it really felt horrible to do something that guy would do.
"—"
But that was what he did.
With a rush, he moved further down the long straight.
The next shot was fired, making him bring up a shield to block the attack.
A normal sniper shot.
The shield required was small enough that he did not need to waste time going around it.
Move forward.
There was nothing else to do here. Moving forward and not letting up was how he would fight here. It was different from his usual style, but that was fine with him. Winning here was what mattered.
But...
...Why is that?
.
Aaaahhh~ I'm feeling drained already. Damn. So irritating.
It would have been fine if it was someone not a part of Border that was shooting at me. Getting fired at like that would mean I could take some hits before reaching them. They wouldn't be able to pull off all of this weird stuff. And more than that...
He could just run away.
Fighting someone using a Trigger means they can find me. They can call for backup that can appear right away. It's irritating to have to deal with these sorts of things. Plus, I can't really go crazy when it's the actual city itself.
The B-Rank Wars were great for that. No worries about destroying the city. There's no need to care about what others think about the fighting going on. This is only causing more trouble that I don't care about in the first place.
Why were they firing on him anyway?
There should have been no reason for anyone to attack him. Everything he had been doing was for Border. All of it was hidden away from most people to begin with. There should have been no reason for someone to attack him.
Unless...
"Hah. So irritating."
He gave a sigh as he moved closer to the inner street. Everything seemed to stop the moment his feet remained still.
It's because of Yuki, isn't it? Because he went and told others about us.
So irritating.
But he had Murakami to fall back on when he needed to. To involve others meant that he had become selfish enough to gather them all together for some like this.
On the other side of that, there was someone like Denji. A person who still had Kumagai on his side. The selfishness he had was something different from Yuki by now. It was something very close, but also distant to what Sekai had always felt.
I'm fine like this, though. There's no point in bringing others into this sort of lifestyle.
So, I wonder...
He began again.
As if spurred by his movement, the attacks began again.
What if I just quit here? That would be good.
Yeah, last time I had to actually start fighting because I knew that Yasuko-ane was watching. There's no one that matters here, so I can just give up, right? It would suck to have to wait to use my Trigger again, but it would still work for what I have planned.
That sounds good. Just let things go here and deal with my own stuff later.
An extra set of trion bullets came down on his location.
The rain had ended and was replaced with a full storm. It was meant to blanket any of his movements and devour him whole.
It was a simple tactic, but one that worked.
But...
"—!"
Two walls sprung up from his left and right.
...Huh?
He let out a groan as he grabbed onto the hilt of Kōgetsu.
.
Why am I like this?
Was it pride?
I gave up on that long ago.
Was it a want to win?
There's no point in winning here.
Was it a chance to show off?
As if I cared for things like that.
What was it?
...I can't do it. I can't find a reason to fight here.
If someone is fighting me here, then it means there's a reason for them to do so. But I don't have a reason to fight back.
Would it make them happy if I lost here?
In that case, it would be even better for him to lose here.
Someone else would benefit from him losing.
If there was no reason for him to fight, he might as well give up any chance of doing so.
That would be good.
But what if it would be bad if he lost here?
"Keh! Fuck."
I guess I just have to find a reason for this afterwards. So in the meantime...
"What the...?"
Mistuteru watched in shock at what seeing through his scope.
Instead of just Mamiya Squad, anyone who could fire did so. They unleashed a full-throttle attack meant to completely suffocate Sekai with no place to run.
He had held back from firing due to the storm that was going to come down. In doing so, he got to see how Sekai would try to escape this attack.
And what happened was...
"This guy is a monster..."
Sekai had brought up two Escudo walls, seeming to realize that he had done so after the fact. That alone put Mitsuteru on edge.
After a single breath, he grabbed hold of the Kōgetsu at his side, slashed with a downward motion, and cut both Escudo walls at their base. Without missing a beat, he grabbed hold of both walls with his hands and began running forward again.
With a single push off the ground, he was airborne.
A violent swing later, and the first part of the storm collided with one of the Escudo walls. It began chipping before having parts of it destroyed by the onslaught.
Before it could be completely destroyed, another one sprung up from it.
The newly formed Escudo took the brunt of the next set that came down.
Once the third wall had been destroyed, it was up to the second to take the rest of the attack.
Sekai put momentum into his airborne body to make a full swing. Once he had turned back around, he threw his other arm out.
The second wall came up to take the next set within the storm.
Kimi: "What was that!? How can someone do that without any hesitation or worry!?"
Other Zō: "That doesn't matter! We need to get ready for another set!"
Not Moon!: "Mitsuteru, another set?"
Mitsuteru felt his breath hitch at the question.
He had seen part of why Shigenaga looked up to this man.
I knew he was dangerous, but this is different. It isn't anything like what Shigeko described or what we saw in the B-Rank Wars.
It felt as if everything he knew about Sekai was just something he thought everyone could do. What had happened was something so out of the ordinary that it had taken a moment to register in his mind.
3o: "Mittsun, what do you want us to do!?"
Crap!
He had been too caught up in his own mind to think about the fight.
Sekai had moved even closer during that time.
He released a quick breath and focused back on the fight.
"!"
As he did so, he realized that he was already being attacked.
This is bad. Mittsun isn't used to being completely in charge like this.
It had been a bad idea to let Mitsuteru lead them all like this. One squad may have been fine, but there were three squads here who all needed him to inform them of the situation from his position.
Yoshizato clicked his tongue as he realized their mistake while watching as Sekai fired cluster shots in the direction of where Mistuteru was.
This opponent is also a bad matchup for someone like him. He won't let a single thing go to waste.
They had been too slow in reacting and could not stop the cluster shots from being fired.
3o: "Mittsun, you need to move! Even if that's a good spot for you, he already has you targeted!"
Yes: "Would he really go after the buildings like that? Hikigane-san usually makes sure that his surroundings are fine when fighting outside of simulations!"
Other Mino: "I don't think he's in the mindset to care about those sorts of things right now. He's taking this fight seriously."
That's bad for all of us.
The cluster shots were proof of that.
If that was the case, then what could they actually do here? The skill level was too different for higher numbers to fully matter. They could wear him down, but Sekai was about to take out one of their best supports.
One of us has to-
Yoshizato saw the cluster shots hit.
They had been aimed just above the building. They would not destroy any property only the one who was hiding atop it.
It only went to further show what they were fighting here.
"..."
However, as he waited for the Bail Out, he noticed that it never arrived.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then he saw it.
Sekai rushed forward once more.
What's going on?
Mitsuteru had been prepared to Bail Out. The cluster shots had been aimed directly at him with no way for him to defend. He had not bene prepared to replace Bagworm with a Shield.
There should have been no survivors from the attack.
And yet...
Ah... It's him.
"Pardon my intrusion, Ariake-kun."
"...I should at least thank you for tanking that attack for me."
The boy in front of him turned his head to give a smile. The large shield in his hand held strong against the cluster shots, but Mitsuteru could only focus on who the boy was.
"So what's the captain of Hogo Squad doing here?"
"I had heard about what you would be doing and wanted to see if I could be of assistance."
"Having you here puts me on edge, but the defense would be nice..."
Hogo continued to smile as he moved to the side a bit.
The smoke from the attack cleared, allowing Mistuteru to see that Sekai was moving once more.
As he prepared to fire another shot he noticed something strange.
"Oh? Why is Hikigane-san moving in such a strange way?"
Mistuteru didn't bother to answer him, but he wondered the same thing.
Instead of running straight ahead, Sekai had moved to the side while taking an extra step forward. It was not something the fit in with the rest of what he had done.
Then it came.
"Just what kind of guy is he!?"
.
Mistuteru and Oshiro noticed the lights at the same time.
The sky they had thought to be clear began to shimmer and shine. Dazzling lights began forming within that sky before a rain came down.
The rain of lights pierced down from above like arrows. Each one of them left a trail that made it seem as iff pillars of light appeared before anyone could react.
Each pillar of light filled the narrow alleyways on either side of the long straight.
"Those spots were..."
Mitsuteru hesitated to finish speaking, so Oshiro took over for him.
"Kumokawa-san had sent me the information. Those alleyways are close to where Mamiya Squad, Yoshizato Squad and Chano Squad are positioned, aren't they?"
That was right. All three of those squads were near those alleyways. That was what made this attack strange.
"Why did Hikigane-san fire there...?"
"Could it be a warning?"
"That's not it. He isn't the type to give a warning after countering us the way he did."
"Then maybe he could not completely pinpoint where to attack?"
That also felt wrong. Someone like Sekai should have been able to target multiple areas easily enough.
"You two really aren't that smart, are you? I knew that much after dealing with that idiot there, but I would have thought the Hogo Squad Captain would manage better with this."
A third voice reached them from behind.
Both of them turned around to see a familiar face.
"Wataru-kun?"
.
Mitsuteru's expression turned into one of realization a moment later.
"Tch."
This guy never changes, Urushima thought bitterly.
He watched as Mistuteru gave some slight commands for the other squads while turning back to his scope.
He isn't even questioning why I'm here. This idiot thinks I'm just doing this to help him.
That could be based on the trust he had from being on the same squad. That same reasoning is what had led three other squads to join this fight against a monster.
Urushima only clicked his tongue as he was being waved over by the Hogo Squad Captain.
"So it was Urushima-kun who did something here? I am not aware of what you can do, so my apologizes if I don't know."
"Yeah, this explains a lot. Wataru-kun's Trigger set is pretty diverse in how he can go about doing things. That was Dummy Beacon, wasn't it? It makes sense that he managed to do something like this."
"I see. Then Urushima-kun is also very helpful here."
These two upperclassmen were speaking with smiles, but Urushima could only feel his irritation grow at their antics. Neither one of them seemed to be taking this seriously enough and would be relying on him here more than they should.
Moving forward, he peered over the roof of the building and spotted the Hikigane Squad Captain rushing forward once more. This time he made more cautious movements while doing so.
The Dummy Beacons had worked for the single time they were meant to. Someone like the Hikigane Squad Captain would have noticed that what he had attacked was not where his real targets were. That sort of trick had been set up to be used only once here because it would only work once, at best.
Think of the pay. Think of the pay. Think of the pay.
He continued to repeat the mantra-like phrase in his mind while information continued to be shared by each squad. Without Rika being ready, Kumokawa had decided to add him and the Hogo Squad Captain onto her own setup alongside Mitsuteru.
The thought of being on the same roster as him made Urushima want to click his tongue again, but this was a job that was assigned to him.
Damn that fox. He knows more than he really should. I could have gotten more from him if he didn't have that over my head.
"Well, that certainly took more effort than I had expected."
"I am terribly sorry for that, Tsukiko-san. Um, feel free to not follow through."
Yuki smiled at the girl that bowed to him. Some pity was mixed in, but he genuinely felt sorry for her.
He had stayed behind to make sure that she would be fine, but it was getting closer to when he should be leaving. There was still something for him to do.
"It's fine, Rokuta. 5% of my wages as an A-Rank for a year isn't that much when compared to what this can lead to."
"What exactly...can this lead to?"
"Well, you see," Yuki began. "It can lead to less of a hassle for Border in the long run. Besides that, being defeated by people like Mitsuteru and Urushima has a chance to cause some change in stronger people. Oh, but I'm not too sure about that one since their opponent doesn't know them all too well."
Losses from those kinds of people only mattered when both sides were connected by something beyond a job. Yuki knew that Sekai would not care too much about losing here, but...
A loss for him here could be a starting point.
It had taken losses and problems for Yuki to reach a point where he could be with everyone else and rely on them. Someone with a stronger will for these sorts of things would be tough to break through to, but there was a lot working in their favor.
One of which came in the form of connection built up over time.
Yuki knew the people he could contact concerning this matter and how they could help. It was only a matter of speaking to them and getting them in the right places for everything to work out.
But that's why I can just rely on other from now on. I'm sure there are people who can help me with this sort of thing, so I just need to ask around. If any have complaints then I'm sure I can ignore them and everything would work out because of it.
Maybe it was a bit too presumptuous of him to think that, but that was just he saw things at this point.
Even so, he went through with his idea and had already messaged some others. So when he felt his phone vibrate in his hand, he spent no time in looking down.
He saw the relies that had been sent to him.
"It can also help those two out. I know for a fact that Mitsuteru still cares a lot about Urushima, so this can be a good chance for them to speak with each other."
"About that..."
That's right. It was a rough subject for Rokuta.
Yuki felt bad for the girl and properly said so with a bitter smile.
"Ah. Sorry for bringing it up. I know about the situation there. I guess I was just hoping something good would come out of that."
Rokuta nodded meekly in a way that made Yuki feel even worse about his choice of words.
This was not someone he could speak so freely with. I've been around the others too long. I'm sort of out of touch when it comes to regular people. There was a lot of time to relearn how to speak with others now that he had decided to stay with everyone.
"Well, I suppose I should be going now. Sorry for the trouble, Rokuta. I know that the two of you were having an outing today."
"No, no! It's fine... I had wanted him to go help Mittsun-san anyway. Giving him a reason like this... I should be thanking you, Tsukiko-san."
There was nothing to thank him for, so he waved her off before turning around.
Maybe I should check on the situation some more later. I know how Mitsuteru can be at times, and I know how he views some people. That's why I had been slightly against sending Oshiro to him. But there's no way I could fully go against him at this point in time. Especially when he had everyone else on his side there.
Yuki gave a laugh into the air as he prepared to teleport away.
Everything felt much more free compared to all of the times before. There was nothing holding him back, and he could think about everything freely now.
It was the most fun he felt he had in a long time.
And now...
People were waiting for him, and he had already finished what he needed to do.
So.
"I hope things work out."
Sekai noticed the change in the fight.
His attack had missed and now a counter was coming.
No, that isn't it. My attack landed. ...It was just on the wrong target.
Someone had used something like Dummy Beacon to make him see targets that were not his opponents. That along with the protected Sniper meant that he had just given away one of his secret weapons with nothing in return.
These people had managed to bring out this much from him.
I let the speed of the fight get to me. I made a careless mistake that showed my hand earlier than I wanted.
In truth, he had wished that he would not have to reveal the clusters of trion that hung high into the air. Something that had been set up after the large-scale invasion and had been meant to use in dire situations.
He had just used some of those to take out some decoys.
That was pathetic, me. If I got to that point...then there's really no reason for me to be here anymore. Border doesn't need someone like me around.
"I really am unneeded, aren't I?" he asked himself.
The time he had been waiting for was coming closer and closer. This fight was showing him a lot of what he wanted to see for some time now.
All that was left was to finish this fight.
"..."
That would start with this next volley.
.
A rain of Hound came once more. The angles of each one were different from each other, and different from the shots before. Each one seemed to be coming from a different location.
Sekai continued to push forward while creating two more Escudo walls. Like before, he tore them from the ground by slashing at them. With both hands, he grabbed them and prepared to defend against the large-scale attack using the two solid shields.
Along with this, he unleashed more pillars of trion from the sky above. The targets were in the same directions that the Hounds came from. Each one tore through the air to reach the ground.
The rain soon reached him.
Sekai swung his arm forward to swat away the first portion of it.
As he did so, he noticed something moving in front and behind him.
They were his opponents.
Yoshizato and the younger Kitazoe brother had moved out in front of him, while the Chano Squad duo came from behind. All of them had their guns ready and aimed at him.
They were the first opponents he could confirm. With them being in his sight now...
"Fall."
Pillars of lights came down from above. They were trion bullets that left streaks in the air, but only after tearing through the air to reach their targets.
As they did so...
"...?"
Shields appeared above them all.
That would have been fine enough, but Sekai could see the confirmation that these were the shields he himself had set up before. Ones that had been put in place in case another large attack were to come, or if an aerial assault tried to bomb the city.
The fact remained that they were his shields.
And they had activated for people other than him.
Kumokawa knew that it would get her in trouble later, but she had refused to think about it right now. Viewing her captain as a real opponent meant that she needed to take these risks in order to win. There was no doubt that he was alerted to what she was doing.
Everyone who was a part of Hikigane Squad understood that their captain was secretive when it came to his life outside of Border, but at times he would be just as secretive when it came to Border. Specifically, what he did for Border when not ordered to.
One of those things had been all of the setups he had prepared.
Trappers are a given for these things, but they don't set things up before anything even happens. That's where they differ from our captain.
While Trappers would set things up when a fight began, her captain would set things up when nothing was happening. The preparations he had for any attack were built on what had already happened and what could happen.
In that sense, Trappers focused on the present while her captain focused on the past and the future.
...That may be true for his personality as well.
She had never noticed it until now, but it made sense when she thought about all that her captain had done before.
Daybreak: "Ah. Shields. Who brought them up? None of you looked like you did it."
Cloudy River: "That would be me, Ariake. I had used the ones that my captain had set up in the area. I will be supporting you all like this as well."
Daybreak: "Huh? He set something like that up? I get why Shigeko looks up to him now, but he should probably take a break at some point."
I wish it was that easy for him.
Jinsei had tried for that before, but it had only gotten their captain more irritated.
Kane-shima: "Should you two really be talking right now?"
Daybreak: "This is figuring out things as we go, Wataru-kun. Besides, I won't be firing for a bit, so I can only stay here and watch while you and Hogo protect me."
Kane-shima: "Why would I protect someone like you? That wasn't part of the deal."
Hero: "No need to worry. I will make sure to guard you so that Urushima-kun doesn't have to."
Kane-shima: "Huuuuuh!? Are you saying I can't do it!?"
Daybreak: "Ah~ It's been awhile since I heard Wataru-kun like this."
Kane-shima: "Shut up, you!"
3o: "Can you guys focus here!? We're already moving back after our attack!"
The attack had been fine enough after the shields had been used, but Kumokawa was aware of what it would take to deal with her captain. An attack from people like this would need to be raised in power and accuracy. Anything less and they would just be wasting time.
As far as she knew, these were the only people involved in this fight. None of the others had wanted to answer Ariake's call for help, leaving it all up to the current fighters.
That just makes this more difficult for everyone. Ariake and Hogo are the only ones who would be close enough to land hits against him, but they are both stuck on that building. Ariake due to his position and Hogo due to protecting Ariake.
He was also a more defensive fighter. That made it hard to get him going.
Ariake being a support-type also meant that he would not do much if he could not find the best time to fire.
The situation was bad for them all.
Those were my shields.
Sekai gave a sigh while performing a sliding motion to the right.
A blade began moving in his peripheral vision. It had already been in motion while he righted himself. Dodging would be hard if he also had to worry about a sniper's shot or another rain of hounds.
So he made a choice.
"Hah."
He self-destructed.
With a full-body motion, he threw himself towards the moving blade.
"What?!"
He could see that Tsukimi had been caught off guard by his action, but he thought nothing of it. Dealing with her moving blade was what mattered here.
He lowered his upper body and curved in a downward motion. The blade came to his side as he moved under it.
He came back up behind her, blade drawn and already in his own motion.
"—"
There was no surprise when the volley of shots came from her teammates.
She moved back, but he gave no chase. Following her into the narrow alleyway would trap him from the front and the back.
Jinsei could probably make a sex joke there.
The thought alone tired him out more.
Still...
There was something to do.
Allowing thoughts like those meant that he was still not taking this as seriously as he wanted.
Irritating. I'm irritating myself at this point.
.
"Fine."
Tsukimi heard Sekai mutter that as he straightened his posture while moving back into the street.
It had sounded like he was resigning himself to something, but she had no idea what that could be. He was not giving up, so it had to be something else.
The entire fight felt like it was easier than it should have been. There was a clear desire to win, but Sekai had not gone all out in his attacks and had only done the bare minimum to defend. Even while his attack had failed, he had managed to make it out of the crossfire from above and her own teammates' attack.
He looked like he was getting ready for something.
I need to do the same.
...Even if we were going all out from the start, there's more for us to do.
Mistuteru couldn't fire much anymore, so it was up to the rest of them to continue the fight while he waited.
It was how they did things.
There!
She swung towards a spot where there was a small opening.
Like she had thought, Sekai filled up that space immediately to block her attack.
For her, landing an attack against someone like him was nearly impossible. That much she was certain of.
Yes: "Can you hold him for a moment?"
But it meant nothing while there were others around.
Reaching out, she grabbed hold of his hand to pull him in. Their blades glided past each other before being pushed aside.
She could see movement from the other side of the street but made it a point to not look over. Giving anything away here would tell Sekai where to attack next.
"Hah."
The sigh was followed by an immediate kick to the stomach that sent her reeling back. The sky around him was filled with trion before being fired at her.
No time to move!
As if responding to her thoughts, multiple layers of shields formed in front of her, taking the brunt of the attack.
Leave it to someone who can be on the same level as my sister to be this prepared.
She gave a mental thanks to Kumokawa and continued to move back while Sekai paused in his movements. The shields stopped his attack, giving him only two choices.
Either continue to follow me or move back so he doesn't take any risks.
It seemed like he was going for the latter here.
If he remained in the open straight, he would have more room to move around, but would also be a bigger target. Following her would mean taking her out, but also narrowing down how he could move.
For someone like him, the choice was obvious.
He wouldn't run the risk of a narrow space when there's a sniper around. And the one we have isn't afraid to take a chance when he sees one.
Recently, he had been taking too many chances, but she liked to think that was because he had finally gotten out of the shell he had built up for himself. It was something she could smile about and tease him for later.
But right now, there was something else to focus on.
The enemy right in front of-
Tsukimi felt herself stop for a moment while moving back into the alleyway.
Something had stopped her movement.
Looking across the street, she saw Chano Squad had also stopped moving.
No... Something made us stop. But what...
Looking down, she saw a large wall.
.
It had taken a moment, but Tsukimi began her struggle to free herself from the trap.
An Escudo wall had sprung out from the side of the building, trapping her between it and the next building over. This applied to the two Chano Squad members on the opposite side of the street.
Sekai began moving forward once more.
As he did so, lights began forming in the sky above once more.
"Stay still and die already," Sekai said while running.
The next attack came down.
Clusters of trion shot down from the sky, leaving behind pillars of light that began to fade shortly after appearing.
In their wake was smoke that filled two alleyways and two lights that flew off into the distance.
"One of them survived," Sekai said to himself. "It would be easy to say that it was Kumokawa who did that, but I would be lying to myself here."
Someone else had reached one of the targets and saved them from Bailing Out.
Daybreak: "Are you okay, Itsuki?"
That was a question that he had to think about for a moment.
Once he realized that he had escaped the attack from above, he answered.
Not Moon!: "Yeah, I'm fine. The wall holding us in place was destroyed before the attack hit, and I barely got away."
Kimi: "Sorry everyone."
Yes: "The attack got the two of us."
It had been an attack meant to destroy the three of them. It was accompanied by the wall trapping them, but there had been a single moment where he could escape.
But that left one more question for him to answer.
...Who destroyed the wall in the first place?
They did not have the firepower to do so, and the other squads were too far away to get involved in something like that.
"Maybe I overstepped my bounds this time. I had meant to only maintain this area, but it seems that I let myself get involved for a moment."
A voice was heard directly behind him, making him bring up his gun in preparation.
When he looked for the source of the voice...
"...!?"
There was no one there.
"My apologizes. I did not mean to scare you, but there is no need to be concerned. I will not be attacking you. But on that same note, I will be doing nothing to assist you any more than this."
The voice came through, but there was no one place that it came from. Instead, there were only lines of blooming text near the corners of the alleyway.
Fujisawa held strong, but made sure not to completely turn his back to the open straight.
"I will be maintaining my distance once more, so feel free to focus completely on the fight in front of you."
"...How can I trust that you won't do anything?"
"I helped you escape just now, did I not? Besides..."
A chuckle followed that made Fujisawa lower his gun for a moment.
"I had forgotten who had been in charge here. I only just now remembered that it was that boy. For something like that to happen... Well, I am excited to see what comes of this fight."
There was no sigh for him to tell where the voice was coming from, but Fujisawa knew that the person speaking had left. The feeling of someone else being there was gone, and he was the only one in the alleyway.
That was strange...
Daybreak: "Itsuki? Everything okay over there?"
That's right. I need to focus on the fight here.
Sekai must have gotten even closer by this point.
Not Moon!: "Yeah, sorry about that. What are the next orders?"
He really isn't used to these sorts of things, is he?
Mamiya understood that they were asking a lot of Mitsuteru by having him give out orders to the rest of them. It was just something that never really came up.
Mitsuteru had always been a support-type, so giving orders was something he only did as suggestions, things that could be rejected at any moment and moved to the side. Anyone could modify a suggestion and alter what could be done with it.
The same could not be said for orders. Things that others follow once they are given.
The difference between him and our opponent is pretty big, too. That puts some pressure on him that could be messing him up.
While Mitsuteru had to give orders to all of them, Sekai only needed to order his body to move. The one-man-army was moving forward while they could only hold him back. The difference in experience showed in how far forward he had moved compared to how far they had pushed him back.
Still...
He needs this chance. I have no doubt that he has only been following orders and going along with everyone else while being part of all these squads. I'm sure he's made a lot of his own choices, but he is still being too reserved after being part of that first squad.
All of his former captains, and his current one, had agreed that there was more he could do, but holding back had always been a guarantee for him.
The sudden sight of Mitsuteru harassing other squads during the B-Rank Wars had been shocking, but it meant he had taken a step in having some initiative.
That had been crushed the moment they had entered this fight.
He's still relying on our orders. That's why he's taking so long here. I want to say something, but giving him the lead here is what matters for the rest of us. He could be fighting for his reasons, but we are helping him here for our own reasons as well.
The current opponent isn't ideal, but he managed to hold him off long enough for us to get here. Now we are just waiting to see what he does.
Sekai was a benchmark that was far above any of them. For them to try and defeat him would mean they needed to be arrogant in their fighting. Each order needed to be given in quick succession, they would need to make their own choices, and they would need help from people stronger than them. Full preparation was something else they could have used, but there had been no time for that.
It left them to do anything else they could.
And it relied on one person.
Daybreak: "Mamiya Squad, could you separate into three sections and let out a full-on attack, please? With Tsukimi-san and Chano out, Itsuki, can you group up with Yoshizato Squad? Some of Wataru-kun's Dummy Beacons are still around, so we can use those to try and drag him around."
Not Moon!: "On my way."
Other Zō: "We're on it."
Let's see what can come of this fight.
Whoever is in charge... I can't tell if they are good or not.
Sekai saw the next volley of shots. They had been raised into the sky and arced over the open air.
Using more trion for shields could take time away from his rush, so he made a different choice.
Fire the rest.
The final pillars of light rained down from above the rain. They collided with the rain to create sparks of light in the sky.
Some of the rain remained while the pillars of light slammed into points on the ground between buildings.
These attacks are basic, but that's what's making them irritating.
Yoshizato Squad and the remaining Chano Squad member came before him, firing while the rest of the rain poured down.
The two-fold attack was nothing special. The only thing out of place was the combination of the two squads in front of him. They had shown themselves to him, knowing full well that he would be able to reach them after dealing with the shots being fired at him.
It also told him that the ones he had attacked in the alleyways were not his real opponents.
These commands must be coming in late if they are only getting in front of me after I took out some of the shots. And...
They were only going in for a moment. It had happened before, so it was likely to happen now.
The win conditions for the two sides had been set.
Sekai won the moment he got to the Sniper.
They won if they could defeat Sekai.
When comparing the two win conditions, it was clear who had the advantage.
I will win this.
.
Rather than fight back with force or heavy defense, Sekai chose to mix the two of them together.
Allowing these opponents to escape for a second time meant that he would have to deal with them again.
So he rushed forward.
So he held his ground.
So he decided to bite back at them all.
These normal opponents were absolutely nothing compared to the monsters he had fought already. People who provided firepower that could destroy his solid defenses and break through his prepared traps.
To him, these people were just lesser fighters who were trying to hold him in place.
"—"
Holding out his hand, he activated a triple-layered Hikigane Shield before pushing it forward for a shield bash.
The shots coming from the front collided with the shields, but did nothing to stop them.
Two Escudo walls sprung up on either side of him. Instead of cutting them like before, he followed it up by creating even more. From atop each one came another wall that connected to the one parallel to it.
A single path was laid out for him.
Sekai ran down the hallway he had created while the sound of the rain was heard all around him.
As he reached the end of the hallway, he could see the Yoshizato-Chano Squad in three different spots along the road in front of him, all with their guns aimed at him.
With a starting push, he leaped into the air before they could fire at him.
The next round of rain came.
"Hah. Finally found you."
There were three starting points from the rain. They were not too far away, and he was able to locate where they were rising into the air.
He was gone a moment later.
This is bad!
Daybreak: "Mamiya Squad, get to the main street, right now! Hkikigane-san found the three of you and he's heading towards Hata-kun! Yoshizato Squad and Itsuki, get ready to back them up, if they make it to the street!"
The orders had been given with no hesitation.
Mamiya could care less as he ran towards the main street Sekai had been running along.
There was little chance that Hata would make it to the street before he had been taken out, so it left him and Koinuma to group up with the remaining fighters.
As he ran, he could see lights flashing in the distance and realized that Sekai had already reached Hata.
With Sekai now fully going against them instead of focusing on Mitsuteru, it left them to deal with the monster moving through the alleyways.
A moment later, a light flew through the sky.
Cloudy River: "My captain is now heading towards Koinuma. It will take him a few seconds to reach him, so I suggest getting as close to the main street as you can, Mamiya."
Coming from the Hikigane Squad Operator, it sounded much more like he would have to be desperate in his run than he already was.
If this is how it's going to be, then I'll make sure to greet him properly!
Lights began forming as he passed through the final alleyway leading to the long straight of the main street. Each one of them hung in the air as he went by.
I'm almost out of trion anyway, so this works fine enough.
Another light flew into the sky and towards Border's main base.
Almost there!
...Well, I wish I could really be excited about that.
When told to separate and attack, they had all taken spots close enough to each other, but also at a distance from each other. Between the three of them, Mamiya and Koinuma had been closest to each other. Which meant...
"Of course..."
Mamiya wasted no time in creating a cube of trion and firing it. Aiming would have taken too long, so he cut the multi-step process down to two actions.
Create and fire.
The cluster shot took up a lot of the space moving forward.
Sekai's response was instant.
Forward.
He ran forward while using the walls to get above the cluster shot.
With little space and time to move, Mamiya fired the hanging shots upwards and to all sides. Each one was a Hound that had been aimed in different directions before converging onto the single target. It was a way to prevent damage to the buildings on either side of him.
He didn't stop running as Sekai moved through the pack of Hounds that chased him.
Just two more...!
He had made it.
It was his victory here.
I made it to the main street!
It had taken the loss of two of his teammates and some setup, but this was a victory for Mamiya Squad against Sekai.
Without turning back, he continued to run. Yoshizato Squad and Fujisawa could be seen up ahead, but he didn't focus on them. He only focused on his feet carrying him further away from that alleyway.
But he still couldn't get that far.
"!?"
The moment he had taken his third step, he saw it.
His own body was upside down.
Even as he knew he had been taken out, he grinned and spoke to the man who was now running towards Yoshizato Squad and Fujisawa.
He really is a monster. No hesitation in going after his next targets. But...
His body began cracking.
"We got a win here. So did Urushima. So make sure you get your own, Yoshizato and Chano squads."
Yoshizato could see Mamiya Bail Out down the street, but he only responded by firing in that direction.
The monster had returned to the long straight and was moving closer to them.
Moving back meant nothing against Sekai. Closing the distance would be easy for someone like him, even without using any Triggers.
Mamiya Squad and Urushima have gotten a win against this guy. We'll make sure to spread that around for them. But what about us?
They could not win. The odds of that happening without Mitsuteru firing were near zero. Even with Fujisawa here, they were down in numbers and the skill difference was far too vast for them to do much of anything.
But there was still a way for them to gain a victory against this man.
After all...
We were never meant to be the real fighters here, were we?
Mitsuteru had been nice enough to not mention it to them, but they all understood what his real plan was.
That made the conditions for victory easy here.
3o: "Let's make sure to get as much payback as we can!"
Taka: "Right!"
Holding himself down, Yoshizato began firing his assault rifle.
Asteroids were fired towards the rushing monster.
Hidetaka followed his lead by shooting from his spot as well.
Fujisawa followed up by raising his gun as well.
Sekai never once looked at them for their attacks.
He moved through each attack as if throwing his body around. A simple action that worked well here.
In that case...!
Both he and Hidetaka flipped their switches and began a new volley of shots. This time they chose to fire multiple sets of Viper that would go in all sorts of directions.
Unlike in the alleyways, they had no reason to worry about where their attacks would land in the long straight. The space was open enough to where they could fire and only hit the ground if they missed.
Their full-on attack held nothing back because of this. The air between them was soon filled with flying lights from all directions.
Fujisawa took this to mean he could pull out his second gun and begin firing a mix of attacks. The dual-wielding boy fired both Hound and Asteroid, none of which collided with their attacks.
"!"
It was more than keeping distance at this point.
Feeling something well up, Yoshizato began to move.
He moved forward.
He would meet this monster head on while continuing to fire.
If I'm right, this is actually the correct choice!
He continued to fire, making sure not to get in the other two's way.
Holding his assault rifle close to his body, he fired while closing the distance himself.
.
Taka: "H-hey! What's with this!?"
Not Moon!: "That's only going to lead to a quicker loss!"
3o: "Exactly! But that's why I'm doing this! Hey, Mitsuteru! You've got the rest covered, don't you?"
Daybreak: "...Yeah. She's almost here."
3o: "Good! I would have been pissed if I was doing this for nothing!"
Kane-shima: "I'll make sure he follows through with the rest of the fight."
3o: "Thanks, Urushima!"
.
Sekai finally registered his opponent's actions as he ran.
The attacks were rushed and careless, so he decided to only dodge them. There was no reason to waste more trion to deal with them.
Now that he had closed the distance even more, he was facing something new here.
One of his opponents was rushing him while continuing to fire on him.
The shorter distance made him alter his own movements, but only to the point of keeping track of the assault rifle that was getting closer.
The sudden rush was the most careless and reckless action he had seen in this fight. It provided almost nothing in the way of beating him and only served to make his job easier.
So then why?
Sekai asked himself that as he finally looked at the three remaining opponents.
The two who had been firing from a distance had finally begun to move. Their feet were taking them in the same direction as the first one.
They were all moving towards him.
It was a pointless rush, and he didn't even think to view it as brave. The only thing he could think was that it was a stupid and arrogant attack meant to give them some assurance that they were playing the part of some heroes.
He didn't even bother to view it as an actual attack.
"..."
So, with a casual movement, he went to grab hold of Kōgetsu.
With a single motion, he unleashed a single slash.
The trion used for it felt a bit like a waste to him, but it did its job fine enough.
All three of his arrogant opponents were taken out.
That should have been the end of it.
And yet...
"?"
They smiled.
Even as their upper bodies were falling and cracks formed on their bodies, they smiled.
A moment later their bodies turned into light before flying off, leaving only smoke to fill the space.
But...
"!?"
That smoke had filled his vision.
The next thing he saw was a blade flying towards his face.
Putting up a shield, he saw the blade crash into the shield.
Before it could begin to fall, something followed it.
A body.
Someone came in full force and slammed their knee into the butt of the blade.
The blade was pushed further in until it began cracking the sturdy shield.
Sekai prepared another attack, but the person moved as quickly as he did and without any hesitation.
The shield was destroyed a moment later and the blade was kicked upwards, towards his face.
Having taken a moment to fully register what was happening, Sekai saw who was now attacking him with full force. It was someone he recognized.
Before he could think of anything else, the person spoke up while lifting their rifle.
"Shigenaga Naki! Moving forward!"
"As aggressive as ever."
"Isn't that how she normally is? I think it is a good thing that she is so forward like that. Don't you think so, Ariake-kun?"
"Hey, wipe that grin off your face already."
Mitsuteru ignored the two boys speaking next to him as he watched the new interaction up from the scope of his sniper rifle.
His initial help had lost, but they had still managed to do something here.
3o: "Looks like I was right. That means both our squad and Chano Squad have also gained a victory against that guy."
Taka: "Looks like it really did pay off for Fujisawa to stay alive."
Yes: "Nice job!"
Not Moon!: "I still have some thoughts about how I survived, but that can come later on. For now..."
That's right.
They now knew the reason for Yoshizato's actions and why they had gotten a victory over Sekai here.
Not Moon!: "You were waiting for Shigenaga-san to get here, weren't you?"
Daybreak: "That's right. Sorry about that, everyone."
Other Zō: "It's fine as long as you win. You are the only one who hasn't gotten any victory against that guy. And your win condition is far worse than our's."
It is, isn't it?
He was counted as the leader here. That meant in order for him to get a victory he would need to defeat Sekai, with or without any help.
But that's fine. Shigeko is here now. Hikigane-san is still stronger than her, but I know how to work with her better than anyone else. Finding the right time here is what matters. What's more is that there is actually another way to win here.
It was easier than the first, but took more time.
I just need Hikigane-san to retreat. Whether because of damage, trion loss, or loss of interest, I win as long as he retreats. So I'm really relying on you here, Naki.
She could not hear his thoughts, but he had nod doubt that she understood what it meant to fight here.
Daybreak: "Oh, and I should also say thank you to everyone for being fodder here. Sorry for the trouble."
Almost Everyone: "Now that's just harassment!"
"Well, I guess he has to have something going for him," Wataru said to his side.
"But this just means that he is happy with where he is, doesn't it?" Hogo asked from in front of him.
He wasn't sure if that was true or not, but it felt like it was right, so he went along with it.
Being happy with where he was had always been a problem for him after his first squad's disbandment. It only continued when he would constantly be moving from squad to squad. That had only stopped once he reached Meishō Squad.
Now that he was here, it felt like he would be letting everyone between those times down if he lost.
It meant that he could only win to make sure none of this had been a waste for them all.