A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 5: Cruelty of Mimics
Target in sight, Kako marched down the hall. "Well, this is convenient. Now I don't have to go all the way to Tamakoma."
Jin came to a stop, looking over his shoulder at Kako. "Afternoon, Kako-san. Hear you stole Fujin last night."
Kako smiled, but it looked pretty devious. "Well, someone asked a huge favor of me last night, and I'm not in the business of failing to take out my target after someone begs so desperately to me."
"I don't recall any begging."
"You were definitely pleading." Kako teased before she dropped the jokes to get serious. "Are you ready to tell me what is going on?"
Jin leaned against the wall. "I thought it was obvious. I'm working out our plan to prevent a horrible outcome from the Mimics."
Kako leaned against the opposite wall, mirroring Jin's stance. "And I would believe you, except for one thing. Those Mimics trying to escape the Restricted Zone last night were aiming for Tamakoma Branch. Of course it is possible it was just a coincidence that they were running in that direction, but..." Kako leveled a stare at Jin who stared back unflinchingly. "I threw that idea out pretty fast. I saw that look you gave Kuga-kun last night. So, what is really going on?"
First Arashiyama and now Kako. Border's A-Rank agents were not blind. They all worked with Jin enough times over the years to know how he operated. Those years of working together and using Jin's side effect to lead them to the best outcome had built a foundation of trust. It was a foundation that needed to exist because no one can do everything alone. Jin needed his allies to beat the bad futures he saw.
The trust they gave each other was something he valued greatly, but...
He also valued the promises he made.
Yuma asked him to not tell, and besides, Jin didn't like telling people too much of what he sees in the future.
"It's not good, but I'm working on it."
"I have no doubt you are, but that doesn't answer my question." Kako replied. "If Kuga-kun is in danger, I want to know. Can't very well steal him for my team if something happens to him."
Jin raised a brow. "Excuse you? Who said you could try to snatch my kouhai away?"
Kako rested her knuckles on her chin, smiling slyly at Jin. "Come on, Jin. How could you not see this coming? He's a very talented 'K.'"
"Well, I do see it never happening. Yuma won't leave his team." Jin replied.
"We'll see about that. You didn't deny it, you know? That Kuga-kun is in danger." Kako clarified when Jin looked confused.
Jin blinked in surprise. Using the claim of taking Yuma for her team to distract him from her question of Yuma's safety. It seemed that Kako could be just as sly as him.
"Whatever it is must be bad if you think Kuga-kun can't handle it." Kako observed.
"It's not as simple as just defeating the enemy." Jin replied. He tilted his head back, knocking it against the wall. "No, I can't even see a solution. It would be a lot easier to prevent it altogether. But I keep putting plans in motion to prevent it, but I still see this bad future. It's like it's inevitable."
"Listen, Yuma, until recently, this isn't the future I saw for you. Something's changed it, and I think that something is the Mimics." Jin said.
"Maybe I was wrong." Jin murmured.
Kako stared at Jin, who seemingly forgot he was talking to her. She didn't think it was possible for Jin to be this downhearted before the future he was trying to change had even come to pass.
"Even if this future you see happens, until it comes to pass, we will fight to the bitter end to change it. We can feel sorry for failing only when that future becomes our present." Kako pushed off the wall to stand up straight. "And that's an emphasis on we. None of us are going to let you fight the future alone."
Jin closed his eyes, smiling softly. Fight to the bitter end, huh? Jin could do that, but he needed to find the path. He needed a path to lead them down.
*Mimics*
"Argh! This is so frustrating!"
"That's my line."
"They seem the same." Osamu told Karasuma softly so as to not draw Konami's ire onto him. "Why did you think them fighting each other would make them like each other more?"
"They're both strong. When you fight someone who can keep you on your toes, you can gain a respect for their strength. It's how Konami-senpai and Yuma got so close. She wants him to grow much stronger, but not stronger than her. It's a healthy rivalry." Karasuma glanced over to the couches where Hyuse and Konami were glaring at each other. "I was hoping Hyuse and Konami-senpai would be the same way, but their competitive natures might make that harder for them."
"I think they get along fine. At least Hyuse-kun seems to like Konami-senpai more than Jin-san." Chika pointed out as she sat next to Osamu at the counter, keeping her voice low as well. "Hyuse-kun is like this with Yuma-kun too when they train. He always gets upset when Yuma-kun wins at the end."
"It's surprising." Karasuma said. "When we met him dueing the invasion, he seemed like a very level headed fighter."
"He's definitely level headed when we're fighting, but when the fight is over, his competitiveness takes over." Osamu replied.
"There was that time in the middle of a battle where you two argued over the orders you were giving." Chika pointed out.
Osamu waved that off. "I don't begrudge Hyuse for that. It's alright to have disagreements over orders. It gives us a chance to discuss them and try to see a different path to take. I may be the Captain, but I do value your guys' input and advice."
"And that's what makes a good leader. Someone who listens to his teammates and takes their advice into consideration is a better than a leader who refuses to listen and thinks his orders are absolute." Karasuma replied. "One person can't take care of everything by himself."
That was a hard lesson for Osamu to learn. When he first met Yuma, he didn't have any friends in Border or the strength to fight at all, and yet he always tried to run into every situation by himself. It took so many people pointing it out in different ways that he didn't have to fight alone. He wasn't strong as a solo Attacker like Hyuse or Yuma so he needed to rely on teamwork and his sneaky strategies as people liked to call them. There was nothing wrong with relying on his team. He had to remember this, but it wouldn't stop him from also improving himself.
"Speaking of trying to do everything alone, where is Jin-san?" Osamu asked.
"He headed to HQ earlier. He's probably working on his schemes." Reiji explained as he came over to the group with a drink.
"He and Yuma-kun did look concerned when I came in this morning." Chika added. She looked over at Osamu with a frown. "They tried to hide it by distracting me with what I was worried about, but I heard them when I came in. They were arguing about something. I couldn't make out what it was, but by the time I got in the room, they had switched moods real fast."
"They were arguing?" Karasuma asked surprised. "Those two never seem to disagree about anything."
"Seems they found something." Reiji replied. "Do you know anything, Osamu? Yuma seems to tell you the most about what is going on."
Osamu shook his head. "I would guess it has to do with the Mimics, but Kuga hasn't told me anything. Honestly, when I talked to him last night, I could tell he was bothered by something, but for the first time, he kept it to himself. I didn't want to push him on it, but maybe I should have."
"Or you would have just made him mad. Yuma can be stubborn when he wants to be." Konami appeared behind Osamu, surprising him since he didn't realize she and Hyuse had finished their glaring contest.
It was possible. Osamu could agree with that. There was a part of Osamu that was hoping that the only thing causing Yuma to worry was his Trion body attracting Mimics to the base, but logically, he knew it had to be more than that. From the moment Yuma and Jin met, they've been great friends and had a lot of respect for one another. If they were disagreeing about something, there had to be more of a reason than Yuma's Trion body complicating matters with the Mimics.
"You don't need to worry about Yuma anyway. When he needs help, he will ask." Konami added. "Him and Jin. Neither of them are stupid enough to think they can handle everything alone. When they need us, they'll come to us."
"Yuma, you need to be really careful not to get your father to appear." Jin stressed.
Hyuse leaned back in his seat, frowning to himself as he listened to the group at the breakfast counter.
"But Kuga...he blames himself for his father's death." Osamu said.
Whatever was going on between Jin and Yuma was definitely because of the Mimics and Jin's worry over Yuma's father appearing. This wasn't Hyuse's problem. He only joined Border to get back to Aftokrator so anything else that went on didn't concern him at all. All he had to do was sit back and let them deal with this until the Away mission began.
That was always how he felt. He didn't decide to help Border out of the goodness of his heart or to make friends with the agents. So why was he getting the urge to want to help his team? Something was wrong with Yuma and Jin was scared for him. Yuma was his Ace Attacker partner for Tamakoma-2. Somewhere in the midst of all the time they spent training together and fighting those Rank Wars by each other's side, Hyuse came to consider Tamakoma-2 his friends.
Not that they would ever learn that.
*Mimics*
Yuma's Scorpion slammed through Hisato's chest. At this point, it was no longer a surprise as Hisato's body broke apart. A smile just spread across his face as he bailed out and slammed into the mattress in his booth.
Looking at his hand as he exited his booth, Yuma watched as his points increased. He had no intention of coming back to HQ after lunch, but somehow, he got stirred into having a rank match with Hisato.
"9-1. You really know no mercy, do you?" Shun asked.
"Hisato-kun has improved a lot since our teams fought in the Rank wars." Yuma replied as collapsed into the seat next to his friend.
"You never fought him in that match though. You spent most of your time facing off against Arafune squad." Shun pointed out.
"I had a brief encounter with him, but we didn't cross swords, true." Yuma replied.
"Because our squad didn't want to cross swords with you." Suwa grumbled.
"The plan was to blow you to smithereens when you couldn't move." Hisato added as he came up behind the group, rubbing the back of his head with a sigh. "I thought I could get more than one win against you though, but I guess I was being too optimistic."
"You should be happy with that one win. Kuga is at A-Rank level, has been ever since he joined as a C-Rank." Yoneya pointed out.
Suwa whistled. "That's some praise, Yoneya. I didn't realize you knew him back then. I thought he was pretty good from his first test as a trainee, but I didn't think A-Rank but I also wasn't fighting him to see just how good he was."
"Apparently Miwa squad got into it with Yuma-senpai before he joined Border." Shun explained.
"What did you do to anger them?" Suwa asked curiously.
"Existed." Yuma replied much to the amusement of his friends who thought he was joking, except for Yoneya who just gave Yuma a knowing look. If the others ever found out the truth about Yuma, maybe they would realize just what that statement truly meant.
Arashiyama looked down on the laughing group from one of the balconies. It was nice to see that they were all able to relax so easily, despite the looming threat of Mimics. He doubted any of them truly forgot what was coming. They were probably just trying to not focus on it.
As for Arashiyama himself, he didn't have the luxury of being able to laugh easily right now. He promised Jin that he would help him with whatever he needed tonight and he wasn't about to fail in the one request he gave him.
"What is it that I can do to help?" Arashiyama asked.
"There is something." Jin looked over at Arashiyama. "Protect Yuma."
The highly trained Neighbor, Ace of Tamakoma-2, holder of a Black Trigger, and Jin was asking for Arashiyama to protect him. It was at times like this that Arashiyama wished Jin wouldn't be so vague in what he needed done to secure a good future for them. Everything he saw from Yuma screamed that the younger agent could take care of himself.
Still, even if Arashiyama didn't understand the request, he would fulfill it.
"I'm trying to do everything I can to prevent the future I saw from coming to pass, but if tonight doesn't go right, I can't see a way out of it." Jin admitted.
"And what is going to happen tonight?" Arashiyama asked.
"I can make a few vague guesses, but since I can't see the futures of Trion Soldiers, I don't have anything concrete."
"But Yuma is at the center of it?" Arashiyama asked.
"No matter how I try to set the stage tonight, we still have the next week to contest the Mimics and what I'm trying to prevent can still come to pass."
"Then we take it one night at a time. The Mimics can only appear in the dark. If we survive each night without incident, we can make it through this." Arashiyama looked up and down the hall to make sure no one was in hearing range before he leaned in closer to Jin and asked, "Are the Mimics going to transform into someone strong? Or do we have Humanoid Neighbors appearing?"
"I think it's a transformation." Jin whispered.
"From Yuma?" Arashiyama asked. "A Neighbor child coming here alone with no nefarious purpose and no reason to go back home is weird, Jin. Are you worried about someone appearing from his memories?"
"I am worried about that, but that's not my major concern. Just please, if you see Yuma tonight, protect him. I want him out of the Restricted Zone before dark and he promised me he would be, but..." Jin trailed off, a frustrated look coming over his features.
Nothing in what he was seeing in Yuma's body language indicated any worry or that he was about to break his promise to Jin to leave before dark. That didn't mean anything though. Yuma was quite hard to read when he wanted to be.
"Something wrong?" Tokieda asked, coming up behind his captain to lean against the railing to look down below at all the agents milling about.
"Jin asked us for a favor while on defense duty tonight. Can you get started on it now for me?" Arashiyama asked.
"What is it?" Tokieda asked curiously.
"Protect Yuma." Arashiyama replied. "For now, just keep an eye on him."
Tokieda raised a brow, confused about such a request, but just nodded his head. "Understood. If that's what Jin-san is requesting from us, I can handle it. Though if Jin-san is worried enough to ask us to protect Yuma, I think things are about to get very bad. But why isn't he doing it himself if he's that concerned?"
"I didn't ask, but I'm sure he has his reasons for asking us to do this in his stead." Arashiyama replied. "He fought off the top A-Rank squads and gave up Fujin to HQ all to protect Yuma. If he was able to, I know he would be at Yuma's side, instead of putting it on us."
Tokieda smiled, pushing off the railing. "True."
*Mimics*
"What do you make of these Mimics?" Kido asked.
"Trion Soldiers with the purpose of helping people deal with grief by transforming into a deceased loved one." Shinoda stood at the window, staring down at the destroyed city that was the Restricted Zone. "It sounds like a noble idea. We lost a lot of friends five years ago when we went to help our allies. It's still hurts that my last memory of them is their bloody corpse. Perhaps having the chance to see them one last time without the blood and wounds would heal that memory, but it wouldn't be real. Like Yuma-kun said, they are still fakes and perhaps not a very healthy way to cope with grief. Grief is probably one of the most painful things to live with, but having a Mimic of that person appear when it becomes too painful means never letting go and moving forward in life. You need to live in the present, not the past."
"It's hardly surprising someone decided to weaponize them. Grief is something everyone deals with and it does make one weak. It's a distraction in battle." Rindo added, rolling his cigarette in his fingers. "Any one of us would have been easy prey for Mimics five years ago when we lost so many of our friends."
"We still are easy prey. Just having those memories of our friends is enough." Shinoda replied.
"As long as you don't use your Triggers, you will be fine. Besides Jin, we are the only ones with memories of Mogami. He is the one we have to fear the most if he appears." Kido said.
"Jin is more concerned with Kuga-san appearing than Mogami-san." Rindo replied.
"Kuga," Kido leaned back in his chair, frowning. "I'm sure like Jin, Agent Kuga will be very diligent in avoiding having his father appear."
"Speaking of Jin, has he spoken any more to you about what he has seen?" Shinoda asked.
"He's here at HQ right now trying to work on a plan. Whatever he's seen so far, he hasn't told me anything. Though whatever it is, he's concerned." Rindo explained.
"He gave the assurance that the city nor the citizens would be in danger. Does that still hold true?" Kido asked.
Rindo leaned back in his seat. "He hasn't said any differently."
Shinoda turned around and leaned against the window seal, looking at Kido and Rindo at the table. "The danger is hitting a lot closer this time since it's our comrades that will be in danger from the Mimics. Considering our Bail Out function, our agents should be fine, but if Jin is still worried, there must be something else going on."
"Mimics can only go after people in Trion bodies, but from the report of last night's attack, the Mimics were heading to the edge of the Restricted Zone. None of our agents activated their Triggers outside of the Restricted Zone last night so what was the reason for their movement?" Kido asked.
It was a question that Kido didn't expect to get an answer from. They didn't know enough about the Mimics or even know who was attacking them to determine an answer to the question. That said, Rindo looked at the cigarette he was rolling in his fingers. He knew the answer very well.
Kuga Yuma.
Jin set his plan in motion last night to protect the base from Mimics that were coming for Yuma.
"It's simple enough." Kido said. "If we want to prevent Mogami and Kuga from appearing, we ban Jin and Kuga from using their Triggers for the next week."
"It would be foolish to bench two of our strongest agents. We might need Yuma-kun's Black Trigger." Shinoda pointed out.
"From the reports we've got so far, our agents are able to handle the Mimics. They haven't posed too great of a threat." Kido replied.
Shinoda shook his head, frowning. "This is only the start. We don't know what will happen in the coming days or what is coming."
Perhaps it would be a wise idea to tell them about Yuma's body. Benching Yuma would accomplish nothing. The Mimics would come for him no matter what he was doing. It would be a good idea to tell them because it would likely cause a problem, but that would be betraying Yuma's trust. Rindo wasn't about to do that to the kid who came here and opened himself up to trusting them. His agents at Tamakoma could handle the Mimics that came for Yuma.
"Neither Yuma nor Jin would accept being benched." Rindo said instead.
"And what if this is for the best? The survival of Border is more important than their feelings." Kido replied.
"Even if you did bench them, they would both break the orders very fast if there was an attack happening. They aren't able to keep out of a battle." Shinoda said. "Besides, we need Jin's predictions to lead us down the best path. He wouldn't be much help if we benched him in fear of Mogami appearing."
Rindo leaned forward, resting his arm on the table. "Jin and Yuma aren't on defense duty during the night for the next week so they shouldn't be running into any Mimics."
"You best be right. We have no idea of what Mimics will do once they manage to transform."
*Mimics*
"How am I ever going to surpass Yuma-senpai?"
"Never. I'm going to be your superior until the day I die." Yuma teased Shun, not looking up from his phone as he worked on typing his message.
"Just you wait, Yuma-senpai. One day I will get four wins from you, then five, then six and at that point, I'll be the winner." Shun declared.
"Only in your dreams."
"Kuga-senpai!"
The group that was relaxing together after Yuma and Hisato's Rank battle all looked up to see Obishima standing at the end of the couches they were all on.
"Kuga-senpai, please have a match with me!"
Yuma and his friends stared at the bowing Obishima in surprise at her loud exclamation. Though after meeting Yuba, Yuma had a feeling that Yuba wasn't letting up on teaching her to be loud and saying what she wants. Though he didn't see her captain around so it was a surprise she wasn't being her normal shy self.
He glanced down at his phone to see a reply from Kageura. He probably had time if they were fast. "Alright, right now. No time to dally." Yuma tossed his phone to Shun as he walked away. "When Kage-senpai gets here, tell him to have patience, Shun. I'll be right back. Obishima-chan, I do ten round matches, is that okay?"
Obishima rose from her bow, blinking in surprise at the quick response. Yuma wasn't even stopping as he was headed back to the booths.
"Wait, why do I have to tell him? He's going to bite my head off!" Shun shouted to Yuma's back, but was completely ignored. "Does he not understand the wrath that Kageura-san has towards everyone? Especially towards people who are late?!" He flipped Yuma's phone over in his hand to see the message from Kageura shining up at him to say he was on his way.
Stopping outside his chosen booth, Yuma looked over his shoulder at the balcony across from him where he saw Tokieda leaning against a wall. He locked eyes with the other agent very briefly before he was entering the booth. There was no reason for Tokieda to be just standing there watching them, so what was he up to?
*Mimics*
Jin crossed his feet at his ankles, staring out the window of the jeep he was sitting in that Rindo was driving back to Tamakoma.
"You look bothered by something. Are the Mimics scaring you that much?" Rindo asked, not taking his eyes off the road in front of him.
"Forty-seven percent chance it all comes to a head tonight." Jin muttered, rubbing his eyes.
Rindo eyed his agent out of the corner of his eye, a frown tugging at his lips. "Do you want to go back to HQ?"
"Seventy-five percent chance it all comes to a head tonight if I stay there. Sixty percent chance of Mogami-san and Kuga-san appearing tonight if I'm there." Jin explained with a tired sigh. At least, he assumed those two would appear. It was hard to tell since he couldn't see the future of Trion Soldiers or people he hasn't met yet. "Yuma's in danger, but I can't protect him. If I'm with him, we'll fall down the worst path so fast with no chance of getting off it."
Hands tightening on the steering wheel, Rindo locked his eyes on the road in front of him again. This was the first time he was hearing Jin saying that Yuma was going to be in trouble from this attack. Why did it seem like his agents were always the ones getting into trouble with the recent attacks on them? "How will you being by his side make things worse?"
"Yuma and I have been going back and forth between arguing and being fine with each other the past couple of days. If I appear in front of him now, it will only lead to a fight. I know this, and I still want to go to him, but I don't know how to defuse the fight when I don't know what it is about. What I do know is that doing so will cause Mogami-san and Kuga-san, which from what I understand from what I can see is the worst path we can fall on to appear tonight, so I'm removing myself from the equation to lower the percentage of that happening." Jin explained, rubbing at his eyes.
Rindo slowed to a stop at a red light and took that chance to look at Jin completely. "Yuma doesn't just get into fights with people. What is going on, Jin? And please, don't hide anything this time."
"I don't even understand it myself." Jin admitted, watching as the cars went through the intersection. "Yuma is clearly mad about the Mimics. His home nation created them to deal with grief and now they're being used as weapons. I understand why that would frustrate him, but I don't know, it feels like there is more to it that he doesn't want to tell me. It feels like if I push him on it, it will only make things worse. I told Yuma to avoid the Restricted Zone after dark for the next week and he promised me he would, but I still can't get these horrible visions of the future to go away."
"Perhaps Yuma isn't the catalyst for the bad future you're seeing." Rindo suggested as the light turned green and he started forward again.
"It's his future I'm worried about." Jin admitted softly. It felt like a betrayal to Yuma to say it, but Rindo already knew the truth about Yuma's body, and seeing as how Yuma was running off to do his own thing and leaving Jin to figure out how to save him, Jin needed someone to bounce ideas off of without having to beat around the bush. "Yuma's going to die by the end of the week."
Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to say that while Rindo was driving.
Jin massaged his shoulder where his seatbelt had cut into it when Rindo had slammed on the breaks to stare at Jin. He turned his eyes to Rindo to meet his heavy stare with one of his own.
"Yuma knows this and has accepted it as his fate. He says he won't blame me if I can't succeed in changing his future." Jin explained. "And at this rate, I fear I won't be able to."
Rindo's knuckles turned white from how hard he was gripping the steering wheel. "Tell me, Jin, is he dying because of his body or because of the Mimics?"
"Until the appearance of the Mimics, he wasn't destined to die this week." Jin replied. Though with the way he was struggling to change Yuma's future, he was beginning to doubt that he was right about it being the Mimics' fault.
"And you didn't tell me before because?"
"Yuma doesn't want anyone to know. He says it will be a distraction. I just broke my promise of not telling anyone by telling you so you can't say anything either."
"If the Mimics are the cause, we could send Yuma out of the city until they moved on." Rindo pointed out. "You should have told me sooner."
Jin shook his head. "It won't work. Besides, Yuma would never choose to run away while we all stayed here to fight. Even if it would save his life." He scoffed, looking down at his empty hands. "He claims he doesn't want to die, that for the first time in a long time, he wants to be able to continue to live, but he won't run. You know Yuma. He would rather be here protecting Osamu and Chika than running to save his own life. Even though he believes in the retreating option, he won't take it."
"He has something he wants to protect. He already lost his father and Replica. He's not willing to lose anyone else." Rindo started driving once more, though his grip didn't lessen on the steering wheel. They already lost Yugo. Were they about to lose the son that they've only gotten to know for a few months? They couldn't. Shinoda and Rindo made Yuma the promise to keep him safe when he joined Border, and that promise wasn't just meant to say safe from Border personal who hated Neighbors. He couldn't help Yugo or Mogami or all his friends he lost five years ago. It would not be the same with Yuma. He was not about to lose another comrade. "So in return, we'll protect him this time."
Jin stared at his boss. He was only able to see the side of his face since he was focused on driving, but Jin see the determination shining on his face. Right, he wasn't the only one who didn't want to lose any more friends. Closing his eyes, Jin smiled softly. "I asked Arashiyama squad to protect him tonight. Hopefully, it won't be needed and Yuma will be safely back at base, but the chance is still there. We just need to survive the next week."
*Mimics*
Kageura and Yuma slammed their blades into each other to block the other's attack before breaking apart and jumping to opposite sides of the road. The Mantis came flying from Kageura's hand towards Yuma who threw up a Shield to block the attack while calling forth Scorpion in his other hand. Yuma jumped farther away to get away from Kageura's Mantis so he could drop his Shield to use a second Scorpion.
"Doesn't he ever get exhausted?" Shun asked as he watched Yuma and Kageura face off on the screen.
"I mean, you could be the one fighting Kageura." Suwa suggested with a smirk.
"Where the hell is Kuga?" Kageura demanded, glaring down at the agents. "He said he wanted a fight and he can't even be bothered to be in here."
Suwa shoved Shun's shoulder, motioning to Kageura. "You're up, sacrifice."
Shun grinned warily up at Kageura while silently screaming at Yuma in his head. "Yuma-senpai was here, but he decided to fight Obishima -chan while waiting for you to get down here."
"Huuuh?" Kageura snarled. "He texted me not five minutes ago to get down here and you're saying in that time, he decided to fight someone else? Does he think I have all the time in the world to just wait around?"
"Well, to be fair, you did get down here pretty fast so you must have not been doing anything." Shun pointed out.
Kageura glared at Shun and grabbed him by his jacket to shake him roughly. "What was that? You want to fight, Midorikawa? It seems I have some free time after all!"
"No, I'm good. Yuma-senpai already creamed me pretty good and took a lot of my points." Shun said, trying to snatch Kageura's hand to get the shaking to stop.
"It shouldn't take Kuga too long to finish his match. He and Obishima-kun just finished their fourth match." Suwa butted in to try to save Shun from getting killed. All Shun had to do was just pass along Yuma's message. There was no need for the snarky side commentary.
Kageura glanced up at the tv where Obishima and Yuma were having another round. Underneath it was the score 4-0 in Yuma's favor so far. He snorted. "She has no chance of getting a win off of Kuga. Not enough experience or skill to be able to handle him."
"That's the great thing about training. You learn something new every time you get in the ring." Daichi replied.
"I think I'm good. Yuma-senpai can focus on entertaining Kageura-san." Shun replied, tossing Yuma's phone in his hand a few times. He honestly didn't know why Yuma tossed his phone to him, but he didn't really care. He could hold onto it for him.
"Are you trying to break Kuga's phone?" Yoneya asked, watching the phone go up and down, up and down, up and down.
"I'm not going to break it." Shun said, rolling his eyes. "I have cat like reflexes."
"Uh-huh, that's why Kuga sliced your head in half in the last round of your matches earlier." Yoneya replied dryly.
Shun stopped tossing Yuma's phone to glare at his friend. "That's completely different. Yuma-senpai is really fast."
"Ummm."
At the soft hum, the boys looked over at Obishima who was once again standing at the end of the couches they had commandeered for their impromptu get together of official agents that kept showing up.
"Is something wrong?" Yoneya asked.
"I have to get going. Could you tell Kuga-senpai I said thank you for having a match with me?" Obishima requested softly.
"Easy enough. Consider it done." Yoneya replied. He smiled at the younger agent. "Also, good job in your match."
Obishima's brows furrowed in confusion. "Good job? I didn't win a single round."
"So? No one can win all the time." Yoneya jerked a thumb at Shun. "Look at him. He lost 10-0 to Kuga yesterday and it's not getting him down. It happens sometimes. What's important is what you learn from the fight." He grinned at the girl. "And keep challenging him. Learn everything about him and knocked him out in next season's Rank Wars."
Obishima smiled softly, looking down at the ground shyly. "Kuga-senpai is scary strong. I wouldn't want to fight him in a real battle."
Yoneya laughed at Obishima's parting words. Fighting Yuma in a real fight? He fought the shrimp for real once months ago and he held back. It had him wondering what a real fight on the battlefield against him would be like without him holding back.
"It's totally getting me down." Shun muttered now that Obishima was out of hearing range. "That fight yesterday wrecked me. At least Yuma-senpai seems to be in a better mood today." He glanced back up at the teacher just in time to see Yuma get killed by Kageura again. "This is the fifth person he fought today. He didn't invite anyone else to come fight him, did he?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"We should invite someone else. I'm all for watching the shrimp kick more ass." Suwa said, crossing his arms behind his head as he watched the screen in amusement.
Yoneya glanced back up at the screen with a brow raised as he looked at the current score. "He's getting his ass handed to him right now."
"It is Kageura-san he's fighting." Hisato pointed out. "The fact that Kuga-kun can win any of the rounds is what I find impressive."
*Mimics*
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kageura snapped over the coms.
Yuma turned his head to stare at the computer, grimacing at the anger that Kageura was somehow sending through the computer towards him. "I thought we were having a ten-round match."
"Your head clearly isn't in it." Kageura snapped.
"You clearly haven't seen my track record for the day." Yuma replied as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the mattress.
"Oh, I've seen it and quite frankly, with how your emotions are stabbing me right now, it's surprising you won any of your matches." Kageura snarled, scratching at his face in agitation. "This isn't any fun. Ko said you were off your game yesterday, but this is just pathetic."
"I'm not fighting any differently so I don't know what you want me to say." Yuma retorted. "My head is completely in the fight. You're just a tough opponent."
Kageura scoffed. "Your head might be, but your heart isn't. Your emotions are annoying me."
*Mimics*
Kageura slammed both of his feet on top of the table and leaned back in his chair, snarling at his friend that sat across from him.
Murakami glared at his friend as he caught his cup before it could fall over and spill everywhere. "Don't put your feet on the table. People eat here." He scolded. All he wanted was a peaceful lunch in the cafeteria, but somehow Kageura found him and was ignoring his scolding as he kept his feet on the table. "What has you mad this time?"
"That damned shrimp."
Murakami raised a brow. "Thought we were pass calling him a shrimp."
"His emotions are worse than them all. It feels like knives jabbing me in every inch of my body."
"You never felt his emotions before." Murakami said confused.
"Yeah, well, I do now and it's annoying the hell out of me." Kageura snarled as he scraped his nails across his face. The sensation of Yuma's emotions were still lingering. "Couldn't even get a decent fight out of him. His attacks were so obvious."
"I see." Murakami took a sip of his drink, staring coolly across the table at his friend. It wasn't his place to intervene, but they were both his friends so he wanted to try to help. "I heard Kuga is on edge about the Mimics."
Kageura scoffed, crossing his arms behind his head as he looked towards the ceiling. "He's an experienced fighter. He wouldn't let his worries of a new enemy distract him like this. Besides, his emotions were stabbing me. I can only feel emotions that are directed at me. Him being on edge because of Mimics wouldn't stab me. I couldn't even tell what he was feeling towards me. We were in a fight so it should have been a hostile intent I felt, but it wasn't."
"I couldn't begin to understand what Kuga is feeling towards you, Kage, but it will probably be a while before he straightens himself out. He told me that his father is dead and now with the threat of Mimics on top of that, he'll probably be distracted for a while." Murakami explained. "At least until the Mimics go away."
Dropping his feet from the table, Kageura straightened himself out in his seat to stare across the table at his friend, frowning. "Kuga's father is dead? He's never mentioned that before."
"It's not like he ever talks about his life outside of Border anyway." Murakami pointed out. "He only just told me yesterday about it after our match."
"He fought five people today." Kageura grumbled.
"He's probably trying to distract himself. Did he seem to be in a better mood? Midorikawa said he was furious yesterday." Murakami asked.
"Seemed like his usual happy, cheerful self until his emotions started trying to kill me."
Murakami nodded. "So no. If his senses are off enough that you can perceive him, he's still off. He's allowed a couple off days, Kage. Just let it go. You get a good fight with him eventually. Besides, you fight me all the time and you can perceive my hostile intentions."
"That's different." Kageura scoffed, swinging his arm over the back of the seat. "I've always felt emotions from you. I've never sensed anything from Kuga before this."
"I see. It's unfamiliar to you so it's hurting a lot."
"Also because I don't understand this emotion he's swinging at me." Kageura grumbled.
Mirroring his friend's posture, Murakami raised a brow. "Did you try to talk to him about it?"
"If I could talk people into not having emotions towards me, I would have told all you idiots how to do it by now." Kageura snapped. "Only Kuga and Azuma know how to hide their killing intent on the battlefield. That's not something you just slip up on."
Sighing at his friend's agitation, Murakami rolled his eyes to ceiling as he thought. "I don't really have an answer for you, Kage. It's true that it's not something Kuga would normally slip up on, but with the Mimics being here, just give him some leeway."
"Hmph, if Mimics truly transform into dead people, is he wondering if his father will appear?" Kageura asked. "Is the idea of seeing his father again distracting him?"
"Would it?" Murakami murmured. "I think it would terrify me." He leaned forward, pushing his lunch, which he didn't get to finish because of Kageura distracting him, to the side. "Yoneya said when they saw Miwa's sister as a Mimic, it looked like a real person. Nothing about her indicated that she was a Trion Soldier, but at the end of the day, those who are dead can't come back to life. These Mimics are fake. It seems cruel to put a fake in front of someone who is already missing someone greatly. You don't need to forget them because we can never truly forget those who we loved and lost. But it's also not healthy to cling so desperately to the dead that you would have a Mimic pretend to be them. It's disrespectful to who they were when alive."
"No one is saying they like Mimics, but grief is painful. No one deals with it well." Kageura scratched his neck, shooting a glare around the cafeteria. "And they tend to not think clearly when grieving either."
"Which is why I'm asking you to give Kuga some leeway." Murakami requested.
Kageura scoffed. "He better not do anything stupid."
*Mimics*
Yuma turned sharply, scowling down hallway, locking eyes with the A-Rank agent in the hall with him. "Are you following me?"
"No," Tokieda said, smiling at Yuma.
Yuma scowled, pupils turning black. "You make up the stupidest lies, Tokieda-senpai."
Tokieda jerked back a bit in surprise, staring at the other agent in surprise. That wasn't all that surprising. It's not like Yuma ever bothered to tell all the agents about his side effect.
"You're spying on me, aren't you?" Yuma asked, feeling annoyance rise up in him. He liked his comrades in Border and he liked Tokieda and all the help he's given him since he joined Border, but he did not appreciate being spied on. There was no reason for this. He was capable of looking out for himself.
"I have no reason to spy on you. Why would you ask that?" Tokieda asked.
Yuma scowled as he watched black smoke drift out of his friend's mouth. "I don't know." He replied as his pupils turned back to white. "You're the one lying so you tell me."
Tokieda stared at Yuma in shock. He had lied the first time, not expecting to get called out on it, but the second lie was because he needed to see it again. Yuma's pupils turned black there before he called him out on his lie. Was Yuma able to tell when people lied to him?
When no answer was forthcoming, Yuma frowned. "Did Jin-san put you up this?" Did his friend really set a babysitter on him? He had promised that he would be out of the Restricted Zone before dark. Was Jin really not able to trust him?
A blaring alarm distracted the two from staring at each other. They both looked out the window to see a Gate forming in the sky near the base.
"Gate activity warning. Gate activity warning."
As they stared at the Gates, Mimics dropped from them, landing on the roofs of the buildings around the base.
"Are those Mimics? It's not fully dark yet." Tokieda said shocked.
Yuma shifted uneasily as he looked down at the Mimics. "Apparently twilight is enough darkness for them." Looking down at the Mimics, Yuma watched as the Mimics looked towards the base. Purple rings circled their eyes as they looked at the base. They were pretty far away, but it felt like they were staring into his soul.
Next thing he knew, the Mimics were launching themselves through the air.
"Are they coming to the base?" Tokieda asked. "Would they be that daring?"
There was time for Yuma to answer as one of the Mimic slammed onto the window between Tokieda and Yuma.
Note: I found a note a reddit forum someone that said the way Yuma's side effect works is that he sees black smoke coming out of people's mouths when they lie. Supposedly this was said in the recent volume that was published in one of the extra sections of the manga that was explaining more about how Yuma's side effect works. That volume doesn't get released in English until next year so I'm not able to check for myself but I'm going to go with it. I just wanted to explain why I wrote he was seeing black smoke come out of Tokieda's mouth.
