A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 15: Before

"Why are you following us?"

An innocent enough of a question, and quite frankly, one that has been plaguing Yuma's mind since they finished lunch at Kageura's family restaurant. Though, Yuma had a pretty good idea as to why Kageura had decided to follow him. Not only did Shun not fall asleep and was still glued to his side, he had gone and gotten himself a second tagalong in what he had planned to be a solo venture when he left HQ this morning.

Going after his father was something he was supposed to do alone. It was his mess to clean up, just as it was his job to finish the war in Calvaria after he got his father killed. The military echelons used him for his Black Trigger, and he let them. The guilt he felt from his father's death was carved too deeply into him for him to care that Calvaria just saw him as a weapon to win their war. It worked out for everyone. Calvaria got their weapon and Yuma had something to distract himself from his guilt and impending death.

He was built to handle things alone.

…Except he was never truly alone.

Replica was always there, fighting by his side.

Even with him gone, Yuma still wasn't alone.

Fighting by his side...

Yelling at him for trying to go solo against the Mimics...

Trying so hard to help his stubborn self...

Was Border.

This wasn't like Calvaria where all he was good for was his Black Trigger.

The Border agents were not as willing to let Yuma wander alone into what they knew was dangerous territory.

That was the difference.

Yuma making a mistake here didn't mean he had to handle it alone. His comrades...friends would have his back.

They all wanted to help and no one was trying to pull him from the fight. They called him out on his recklessness, which was fair since they weren't wrong, but no one told him to not fight. Everyone did believe he wouldn't be able to kill Yugo, and that was angering him, but not for the reason they might think.

It was because deep down, Yuma knew they were all right. Hyuse was right to call Yuma out on not attacking his father more seriously at Tamakoma. Yuma was hesitating to take any shot against his dad, and he was just angry at himself for behaving like that. Yugo attacked his home. He hurt Shiori. He's attacking Border agents on patrol. All of that should be angering Yuma, which it was, but despite that anger, Yuma couldn't bring himself to attack seriously and it was just so frustrating for him.

Honestly, knowing how he felt and about his hesitance, he didn't know why he was desperately searching for his father. Currently, he was in an all bark, no bite mindset towards Kuga Yugo. Perhaps his desperate search right now came from Hyuse's threat to tell Tamakoma the truth tomorrow. He needed to deal with this before tomorrow, but Yuma knew it, but didn't want to admit it aloud, that even if he found his father today, he wouldn't be able to strike him down and it was angering him. He shouldn't be this weak.

"I'm looking for a decent fight since I can't get one from Kuga, maybe the Mimic of his dad can give me one." Kageura snapped at Shun, though his glare was directed towards Yuma.

"My bad. If we fight again, I'll do my best to feel better so you get a decent fight." Yuma replied.

Kageura narrowed his eyes, still staring at Yuma as he tried to get a read on him. "We will fight again. One bad fight isn't going to keep me from pounding you into the dirt."

The sharp grin on Kageura's face had Shun shivering. He was glad he wasn't the one it was directed towards. Yuma could take all the wrath for Kageura himself. He seemed to thrive on pushing Kageura's buttons anyway. "Did something happen the last time you guys fought?" Shun watched them fight the other day. The only thing weird was that Yuma lost worse than he usually did against Kageura. Then again, the same thing happened in his fight with Murakami the other day.

"I've just been distracted lately. Apparently, it's enough for me to activate Kage-senpai's side effect." Yuma explained.

"Oh, your frustrations this week is well known." Shun replied, making Yuma give a sheepish smile in return. "The Mimics had you mad before one even transformed into your dad."

Smile turning into a grimace, Yuma looked away from his friends to stare at the crowds across the street. It's not like it was a secret or that big of a deal. There was just never a need to bring it up before. "It was frustration mixed with grief. The anniversary of my dad's death is in four days." He admitted, still looking off to the side so he could avoid looking at his friends. "And now with a Mimic of him running around, memories that I long tried to bury are resurfacing."

Yuma was opening up to Shun, but he didn't feel great about it. Everything he learned today about his friend was far from happy. It was no wonder Yuma didn't open up freely about himself. It all sounded like he had a difficult life.

"Grief is a hard emotion to hide." Kageura scoffed, looking away from the two younger agents. "You've been hiding yours behind anger this week."

Shun raised a brow as he looked from Kageura to Yuma, who both decided to avert their eyes. Neither of them seemed to be good at talking about feelings if all they wanted to do was look away as it was brought up. Seeing it now, it wasn't a surprise to Shun that he didn't learn anything about Yuma's past until today. Honestly, he was lucky to learn anything since it looked like it was difficult just for Yuma to force the words from his lips.

*Mimics*

Jin took a huge gulp of his coffee, ignoring the burning sensation as the hot drink traveled down his throat. It was already late in the afternoon, surely too late to be having coffee that would make it hard for him to sleep, but with everything going on this week, Jin didn't think he was going to be sleeping much anyway.

Across from him, Arashiyama was leaning against the window, but wasn't looking at Jin. Instead, he had his arms crossed and had his head turned to the side so he could glance out the window at the Restricted Zone. There wasn't truly anything to look at since no Mimics would be able to attack right now.

Then again, Mimics managed to attack them at twilight the other night so Jin supposed it wasn't wrong for Arashiyama to be cautious. They didn't need any more Mimics breaking into the base.

"I met with Kido-san the other day for a meeting. He's," Arashiyama paused, a grimace coming over his face.

"Not happy with Kuga-san being here." Jin stared down at his drink, twisting the cup around, watching the liquid swish around. "I don't need my side effect to see that happening. No one was going to be happy with this turn of events."

"Then it shouldn't need to be said, he wants this problem solved as fast as possible. He's probably only getting more agitated the more he hears Kuga's name in everyone's reports. Our squads keep getting decimated by him." Arashiyama replied. He didn't read the reports from the agents on duty, but word of mouth was a pretty fast way to get information. It was one thing to get a memo about Kuga Yugo appearing and to be cautious, but it was another to have multiple A-Rank squads getting destroyed by him. People were already interested in who Kuga Yugo was, but this just ramped up that interest tenfold.

"Did he say anything about Yuma?" Jin asked, concern etching itself onto his face. He knew Kido wasn't a fan of Neighbors, but he seemed to be making an exception more and more these days with them.

"Kido-san isn't the type to complain about an ally to another ally." Arashiyama dragged his eyes off the ruins below them so he could frown at Jin. "That said, he is irritated, but I don't think he is blaming Yuma that much. It's not like Yuma planned for this to happen. He had a bad night and got caught off guard. We can't expect perfection from him."

"True."

"Since we're already in this situation, it seems Kido-san is willing to allow Yuma to use his Black Trigger as needed. He wants Kuga taken care of quickly." Arashiyama said.

A frown morphed onto Jin's face that mirrored the one Arashiyama was wearing. "Even if he could win, I'm not letting Yuma kill Kuga-san."

"Do you really think that is a decision you can make for Yuma?" Arashiyama asked softly.

Dropping his eyes down the ground in front him, Jin sighed softly to himself. "Yuma has been carrying the guilt of his father's death on his shoulder for nearly five years now." Jin looked up from the ground, locking eyes with his friend. "Yuma believes Mimics to be fake versions of lost loved ones and hates them, but that was before coming face to face with Mimic Kuga Yugo. It's becoming hard for him to distinguish Kuga Yugo and this Mimic of him. So, even if he found the strength to deliver the killing blow to Kuga Yugo, it would destroy him. He would have the weight of that guilt double down on him, and I don't think he could stand back up after watching the life leave Kuga Yugo a second time."

Arashiyama's brows furrowed in confusion for a moment. He knew that Jin had left things out of the story he gave him and Kako about Yuma and his father. From what Jin was saying now, there was clearly a lot more to the story if Yuma was blaming himself for his father making the choice to create a Black Trigger. That, however, was none of Arashiyama's business. He didn't need to know Yuma's past to be able to fight in the present. "Would it really drag him down?" He asked instead. "Like you said, it's a Mimic of him. He's not real. Yuma should know that."

"His mind and heart are in conflict. He knows it's fake, but that doesn't change the fact, that killing him will haunt his memories. You saw Kuga the other day at Tamakoma, right? You saw how real he looks." Jin asked.

Arashiyama shook head. "I didn't get a good look because of how far away we were when he left. But you didn't get a good look either, right?"

Jin shrugged. "I got closer than you. I was moving pretty quickly once you guys finished with the Illgar." He looked off to the side, staring down the empty hallways. "Besides, Yuma wouldn't hesitate to attack like that in a normal situation. He had to have been caught off guard real bad by how real he looked."

"So, you want to protect his mental state." Arashiyama clarified. "Then, let's take that part out of the factor for a moment. If you weren't worried about this hurting him mentally, do you think Yuma could defeat his father if his emotions weren't interfering?"

There wasn't an immediate answer, leaving Arashiyama to just stare at his friend, unable to read what the pinched expression Jin was wearing meant. It didn't look like he was trying to see into the future to answer his question, so he must just be thinking carefully about his answer. At this point, he had probably already exhausted all the possible futures and didn't even need to look.

"Using his Black Trigger, Yuma has the ability to beat opponents that are much stronger than him and he should logically have no chance of defeating. He proved that during Aftokrator's invasion." Jin explained slowly, seemingly testing each word in his head before saying it. "There is always a way to defeat someone stronger than you. It's just not an easy feat to accomplish. I think Yuma has the ability to do it, at least hold his own against his father..."

"But, you don't think he will." Arashiyama finished when Jin trailed off. "I didn't think you were one to doubt in him."

"Even if I believed Yuma could bring himself to deliver the killing blow, I wouldn't let him. I don't even want him there to see it." Jin replied, rubbing his eyes. He really wished he had slept in this morning. It was about time he began pulling some all-nighters for the rest of the week.

Arashiyama quirked a brow at Jin. It was no surprise to anyone how protective Jin could be. He worked so hard to fight for their future, but that required him to make tough decisions where he had to occasionally put his allies in danger to get them down the path towards a good future. None of them ever blamed Jin for the roles he assigned them in these invasions since they knew he was doing his best to save the city and his allies. Just as Arashiyama couldn't understand the guilt pulling Yuma down, he couldn't begin to understand the stress Jin had weighing him down. All he could do was be there to help both of them and try to alleviate some of that burden from them.

"Then we're going to need to get an A-team together that has the skill to beat Kuga before Yuma finds him." Arashiyama replied. "I'm sure Tachikawa-san would like a second chance at him."

Jin snorted into his coffee. Everyone could see the fire burning in Tachikawa's eyes at the mere mention of Kuga Yugo. He wasn't taking the situation lightly, but he was excited for a chance to actually cross blades with the man. "Maybe if that happens, he'll stop complaining about getting killed in an ambush from Kuga-san."

"Do you think Tachikawa-san could beat Kuga?" Arashiyama asked.

"Hmm," Jin hummed to himself, casting his eyes upwards as he thought over the question. "I couldn't say honestly. I know from Yuma and Shinoda-san and Rindo-san that Kuga-san is a very powerful Trigger user and now he has the abilities of a Black Trigger at his disposal as well, making him an even bigger threat. I know that, but I haven't truly seen him in action myself so I couldn't say if Tachikawa-san could beat him in a one-on-one fight." Jin took a sip of his coffee before sighing. "I could fight alongside him to give us a better chance against Kuga-san, but we wouldn't have the advantage of my side effect giving us the edge since I can't see the future of Kuga-san. I don't know how he will attack."

Arashiyama gave as reassuring a smile as he could muster up. "Then that puts you in the same boat as the rest of us."

"A shame. I truly enjoyed having my own private yacht." Jin replied, a teasing smile sent towards his friend.

"A yacht, truly? You really have abandoned the rest of us for a life of luxury." Arashiyama replied, amusement rolling off of him in waves.

"Not completely. I'm still here to help Border in any way I can."

"And we appreciate it, but don't try to take on everything alone, okay? We're all here to help you. This isn't a fight you have to go into alone."

A humorless laugh escaped Jin. "Could you do me a favor and tell Yuma that? I have a feeling if I say it, he'll just get mad at me again."

"Yuma's not above getting mad at my team as well." Arashiyama replied, thinking back to the other day when Tokieda told him that Yuma was annoyed when he realized they were watching him on Jin's orders. Orders which Arashiyama was still ashamed that they failed in succeeding at. They had messed up in keeping Yuma safe, which resulted in Kuga Yugo appearing as an enemy to Border. He had a feeling that Yuma was blaming himself for letting that happen, but if he was being honest, Arashiyama was feeling the same guilt. Jin asked something important of him and he couldn't manage to do what he asked. "Listen, Jin, this isn't just about Yuma, okay? We'll help him, of course, but you shouldn't let your instinct to protect him keep you from remembering yourself. You need to take care of yourself."

Jin's easy smile turned into a grimace. "There's a lot that needs done." That wasn't to say he didn't understand where Arashiyama was coming from. He understood that he needed to rest and keep up his own strength. Letting stress and worry about the coming consume him would make him useless in the field when he needed his mind to be at the top of its game. Just knowing and understanding that didn't make it easy for him to do. It was hard to sit back and rest when there was so much he could be doing to try to fight against the future he didn't want to see come to pass.

Shifting his eyes pass Arashiyama, Jin looked out the window, staring at the ruins of the city that surrounded the base. "Kuga-san is out there in the city somewhere and we still have Mimics attacking us every night. Even if the nation that is sending them moves out of range, Kuga-san will still be the city. How many times can he attack and kill our squads? This is our home turf so we should have an advantage, but he so easily appears to attack and then just as easily, he slips away."

"Makes you wonder what he is trying to accomplish by coming and going like that." Arashiyama mused.

"It has to be personal." Jin said softly. "Yuma told me that Kuga-san didn't even know he was a Mimic when they spoke at Tamakoma. He can't have a mission from the nation that sent the Mimics here then, so what he is doing is personal to him."

Arashiyama hummed to himself, glancing off down the empty hallway. "Kuga used to be a Border member, right? So why would he want to attack his old organization." He looked back at Jin, frowning. "Even if he doesn't realize he is a Mimic, there has to be some type of programming in there. I don't know anything about Kuga, but do you think he would be the type to attack Border unless there was an outside force controlling that action?"

Staring at his reflection in the window, Jin narrowed his eyes as thoughts flew around in his head as he twisted the question over in his mind. Kuga Yugo was a mystery even to him. He knew more than the agents since Yuma spoke to him about his father and the few things he heard from Rindo, but those few tidbits of information couldn't tell him much about Kuga Yugo. Though, there was one thing he was absolutely certain of. "Kuga Yugo loved and trusted Border. Yuma always said his father told him to come to Japan and find a friend of his in Border if he were to die. Kuga-san left Border about two decades ago, but he still always told Yuma that, so I can't believe he would attack his old allies willingly like this."

"It makes sense that there would be some type of outside force. If Mimics were originally created to help deal with the grief of losing a loved one, to make it into a weapon, there has to be some tampering with the Mimics control to make them want to attack after they transform, especially if they don't know they are a Mimic." Arashiyama replied, glancing up and down the hall to make sure no one else was approaching them. "I can't imagine the Kuga Yugo that died for his son would attack him like this otherwise."

"He wouldn't." Jin agreed, completely sure of his statement, despite never having met the real Kuga Yugo. There could be no way a father who gave up his life for his son would try to kill him like this if they managed to meet up again. Despite what Yuma felt with the guilt that ate away at him, thinking his father's death was his fault, Jin couldn't believe that Kuga Yugo would ever truly blame or hate his son for what happened.

"And how is your plan in solving this coming along?" Arashiyama asked.

Jin scratched the back of his head as a weary look passed over his face.

Arashiyama's heart sank at seeing that expression. "You don't have a plan, do you? It's not like you to not have a plan."

"It's not that I don't have a plan. It's more like, before I can move forward on anything, Tamakoma needs to have a meeting. A meeting that can't take place until Yuma comes back tonight. There's something we need to discuss."

Arashiyama nodded. "Okay, you deal with Tamakoma tonight. The agents will deal with any Mimics that might try to attack us." It was Arashiyama's turn to grimace after he finished talking. He already failed in one promise to Jin when he said he would keep Yuma safe, and now he was making the promise of having agents take care of the Mimics tonight so Jin could focus on the problems that were inside of Tamakoma. If those problems were keeping Jin from focusing on the attack from the Mimics, then that meant it had to be important. And not just important on a personal level. With the Mimics and Kuga Yugo looming over Border, Arashiyama doubted Jin would let personal matters distract him right now. He was sure that the problems in Tamakoma were related to their current situation. Perhaps what they needed to talk about involved the attack on their base the other day. Whatever it was, Arashiyama would make sure they had the time to sort it out. After all, it seemed Jin really thought this was something that took priority in the face of all their other problems.

"That would be helpful." Jin replied. "In fact, do you know who is on defense duty tonight?"

"No, but I can find out. Why?"

"The first few nights with the Mimics left the agents confused since the Mimics tried to leave the Restricted Zone, which doesn't match up with the report we all received about them."

As Jin spoke, realization began to shine in Arashiyama's eyes.

Jin glanced up and down the hall to make sure they were still alone. "Now that you know the truth about Yuma's body..."

"He was attracting Mimics to leave the Restricted Zone." Arashiyama finished, shock and horror coursing through his veins. It was no wonder Yuma had been on edge the past few days. No matter where he was, he would be a target for the Mimics. Yuma hadn't even been on defense duty the past few nights, but he still didn't get the chance to relax. The threat of the Mimics attacking him every night loomed over his head so he had to be uneasy while sitting at Tamakoma...

Which was outside the Restricted Zone.

The Mimics were trying to get into the city for one of Border's agents.

And Jin knew that, but didn't warn them.

"You didn't think that was something we needed to know sooner? Civilians could have gotten hurt if they stepped into the path of the Mimics gunning for Yuma." Arashiyama demanded.

The look on Arashiyama's face had Jin wincing. If it was possible for facial expression to kill, Jin would already be six feet under. "Do you really think I would just let that go?" He replied, forcing a calmness to his voice to try to ease the sudden tension in Arashiyama. The defense of the city was always a top priority for Arashiyama's squad so it wasn't a surprise to Jin that it would frustrate him that Jin let Yuma into the city at night, knowing the Mimics would be coming for him which could put everyone at risk. "I'm not putting the city in danger, but I'm not going to abandon Yuma to the Mimics either. I had Kako-san keep the Mimics in the Restricted Zone the other night and your squad was on Yuma duty the next night."

Arashiyama's anger washed away to be replaced by guilt at the reminder of their failed job.

"Yuma doesn't want people to know about his body so I was doing my best to keep his secret while protecting him and the city. You only know because you figured it out."

Arashiyama breathed out slowly, letting himself calm down. "I understand you're in a difficult spot, Jin, but couldn't you have done anything else? Like have Yuma spend his nights at Border HQ or send him out of the city?"

Jin shook his head. "Sending him away wouldn't have helped. It just led to the Mimics attacking cities to get to him. There is no way to hide him from them, even with the distance. Their ability to track Trion bodies is uncanny."

Uncanny? It sounded more ridiculous than anything. There was a limit to everything. Like with Border's radars. They only extended so far, so logically, the Mimics had to have a limit to their ability to locate Trion bodies.

And perhaps the answer was staring directly at them the whole time.

"Kuga created Yuma's current Trion body during the process of creating a Black Trigger. The same Black Trigger that is the only thing keeping him alive." Arashiyama said slowly as the information Jin gave him about Yuma's situation rolled around in his head to form into his theory. "When using a Black Trigger, your Trion volume gets raised exponentially."

Realization for where Arashiyama was going with this began to shine in Jin's eyes. "You think a body created from Trion that was converted into Black Trigger Trion is like a shining beacon to Mimics?"

"You tell me. You've known about Yuma's situation longer than me."

Uneasiness settled onto Jin's face. "I don't know the specifics of how this works."

"You didn't look into it at all? No tests?" Arashiyama asked surprised.

"Yuma didn't care to look into the problem with his body so we left it alone. Besides, this situation is unprecedented. We would need Kinuta-san's help to even know what to research and telling people isn't what Yuma wanted." Jin explained, dropping his head to the wall behind him. In hindsight, they should have tried to convince Yuma to let them look into his situation before this. Any information on his situation would be extremely helpful at this point. Unfortunately, since Jin didn't see this attack from Mimics coming and that it would lead to Yuma's death, he didn't think to push Yuma into letting them study his body and Black Trigger since he didn't want to force Yuma into doing something he didn't want. Though, if things continued on the way they were, Jin wasn't sure how much longer they could keep things a secret.

Arashiyama sighed. "I guess it hardly matters now since the Mimics already got to him."

Jin hummed in agreement. "I didn't want Yuma anywhere in the vicinity of them. That's why I didn't want him at Border at night since I was worried it would make it easier for the Mimics to target him. I thought if I kept him at Tamakoma and put agents in the Mimic's path, I could prevent the future I see from coming to pass. But now we're here and it's going to be a hard fight to stop the future, which leads me to my point. Once Yuma is back at HQ, the agents tonight won't need to worry about the Mimics trying to get out of the Restricted Zone, but they need to keep them far away from HQ."

"I'll let them know, but do you really think the Mimics will continue to target Yuma? His father is already here." Arashiyama asked.

"Don't know, but I'd rather not risk anything."

*Mimics*

Hyuse's sword came swinging down, slicing cleanly through Tomoe, cutting him in half. As the dead agent bailed out, Hyuse felt himself transported back into his booth, a scowl on his face. That fight was no way near as exciting as when he fought Yuma or even his fight against Konami the other day. It's not like he expected much from it anyway. It was just something to keep himself busy while he waited for Yuma to come back to HQ.

He gave his word that he wouldn't mention that Yuma was dying until tomorrow. If that met keeping quiet until 12:01, then he had to do something to keep himself busy until then. Fighting the Border agents was supposed to be a nice way to distract himself from thinking about what his idiot partner was getting up to in the city.

At least, that's where Hyuse assumed Yuma had gone too. Despite both of them staying up late last night to talk, Yuma had woken up very early and disappeared before Hyuse decided to get up to face the new day. There was no doubt in his mind that Yuma thought he needed all the time he could get to try fix things with his Mimic father so Hyuse would keep his mouth shut. Yuma could do anything he liked, as long as he didn't get himself killed, but Hyuse would still be informing their comrades of what was wrong. After all, how would settling things with Kuga Yugo stop Yuma from dying?

Hyuse didn't know, but he didn't know a lot about what was going on. In fact, it seemed no one beyond Yuma and Jin even knew, and they were both idiots. If Jin really saw Yuma dying in the future, that wasn't something that he should be keeping quiet about. Keeping quiet about it was not going to help them prevent Yuma's death, and that was something that needed prevented at all costs. Tamakoma-2 could not survive an away mission with only one Ace Attacker. They needed both to make it to Aftokrator. That was the only reason Hyuse cared about making sure he didn't lose his partner.

There was no other reason.

He just didn't want a new idiot partner that he had to figure out how to coordinate with.

Especially if a new idiot partner showed up in front of him that lacked the skill and experience that Yuma had. That was not something he could work with.

"Man, Cronin-kun is just as cruel as Kuga-kun."

Hyuse glanced over at Tomoe as he stepped out of his booth to see him talking to his squad.

"At least your head didn't get chopped off this time." Teruya replied.

"No, I just got sliced in half which isn't any better." Tomoe grumbled.

Kakizaki laughed lightly. "You may have lost, but every fight is good experience to help you down the road to becoming stronger." He glanced up, eyes locking with Hyuse's as he smiled at him. "It was a good fight, Cronin."

Hyuse nodded back, but didn't reply as he shifted his eyes away from the squad below him to see who else was in the area that could give him a good fight.

"What are you looking for?"

He was not snuck up on.

Hyuse knew the owner of that voice had been approaching him.

He would forever deny that he flinched at the loud voice behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder, Hyuse recognized the agent there as Yoneya. He had never spoken with him before, but he was sure Yuma was friends with him. His eyes dropped down to the crest on his chest. An A-Rank agent should give him more fun than the B-Rank agents. "Want a fight?"

That seemed to be the right question to ask as Yoneya's eyes lit up with excitement. "Sounds like fun. I notice you usually do first to five-win matches."

"It's the most time efficient."

Yoneya smirked. "Perhaps against B-Ranks you can beat easily. It won't be that easy against A-Ranks."

*Mimics*

Yoneya was a fighter that relied on quick attacks. He was fast and mobile, but Hyuse spent a lot of time fighting against Yuma at Tamakoma Branch and he was much more mobile and a lot faster than Yoneya could ever hope to be. Despite his speed being less than Yuma's didn't make him an easy opponent though.

The Kogetsu spear that was bearing down on him was proof enough of that. Hyuse's Kogetsu came up to block the spear, feeling the blade scrape along his own before his vision was getting distorted and the next thing he knew he was staring up at the ceiling in his booth.

"You know," Yoneya's voice rang out over the coms, amusement coloring his voice. "Kuga was able to dodge my surprise attack enough that he only got a shallow wound on his neck when we first faced off."

Hyuse pushed himself up to a sitting position and glared at the computer, wishing to set Yoneya on fire. There had to be some kind of trick to it. In the first place, Hyuse knew he didn't know all there was to know about Border's Triggers, but he knew there wasn't a spear weapon. He didn't get a good look at Yoneya's weapon, but Hyuse would guess it was a variation of the Kogetsu sword that he used.

So, to be able kill Hyuse when he knew he had blocked the blade initially meant it had to be Gen'yo. Michael had explained the optional Triggers for Kogetsu to him, but he opted out of having them added to his Trigger since he felt it would have been too much for him to handle along with his other optional Triggers. He wanted time to get used to Border's Triggers before taking on extra skills to his sword.

Even though that was how he felt, he still took the time to listen to Michael as he explained the optional Triggers for Kogetsu to him. Since Hyuse knew he blocked the spear perfectly, it had to be Gen'yo. That was the only optional Trigger he was told about that made sense for why he was killed. He didn't see the blade shift until it was already stabbing him through the throat.

It was frustrating enough already that he lost so quickly; he didn't need the mention that Yuma survived that surprise attack his first time fighting Yoneya. He couldn't even see the attack coming so how had Yuma managed to prevent himself from getting killed by it?

Well, whatever, it hardly mattered. It took him by surprise once since he didn't know Yoneya had that Trigger, but it wouldn't get him a second time.

With that decided, Hyuse jumped back into the arena for round two.

*Mimics*

Hearing a soft groan, Chika looked up from her phone, smiling softly at her captain that had collapsed into the couch across from her. "Are you okay, Osamu-kun?"

Osamu removed his glasses to rub at his eyes. "Jin-san and I just had a meeting with the A-Rank captains to explain how Kuga's Black Trigger works. It just..." He motioned in the air weakly. "Feels like a betrayal, telling everyone about the strengths and weaknesses of his Black Trigger."

"Isn't telling them supposed to help them prepare to face Yuma-kun's dad?" Chika asked.

"Yeah," Osamu replied softly as he slipped his glasses back on. "But typically, you don't want to show your full hand. I don't think there will ever be a reason for Kuga to have to fight Border. I don't think he would betray the organization, but what if they betray him at some point? Not everyone in Border likes Neighbors. By telling them about his Black Trigger, it feels like giving them an edge over him if it ever comes to that."

Chika lowered her phone to her lap to give her full attention to Osamu. "I see. I can't say I know the future so I don't know if that would ever happen, but," Her eyes dropped to her hands, curling them softly as she recalled the feel of her rifle in them. "Yuma-kun isn't alone. I joined Border for the purpose of getting on an away mission to find my brother and friend, however, if Border did decide for some reason to go after Yuma-kun, I wouldn't sit by and watch it happen, even if it put my position as an agent and my spot on the expedition team in jeopardy." Chika lifted her head, locking eyes with her captain who was now staring back at her in surprise. "And I know I'm not alone. You would be right there alongside me and so would everyone at Tamakoma. But not just us," A soft smile graced her features as she recalled her conversation with Shun the other day. "Midorikawa-kun and Arashiyama squad would be right there with us. This isn't like when Yuma-kun first came to Japan. He's made all these wonderful friends here who I don't think will care about his status and would defend him. It's not just you and Yuma-kun anymore."

For a moment, Osamu looked surprised at her declaration before it morphed into smile. When Yuma first came to Japan, he didn't have any allies in Border to help so he just focused on trying to hide Yuma. It was a stressful situation since Osamu lacked the skill to do much to help and Yuma just kept drawing attention to himself from how weird he was. He does not fit the stereotypical normal of their world at all.

Despite that, Chika was right. Through meeting Yuma, a whole world of possibilities opened up to Osamu. If it wasn't for Yuma, he and Chika wouldn't be where they are at right now in Border. They wouldn't have met all these agents. In all honestly, Osamu would most likely still be stuck at C-Rank right now. He hadn't been making any progress as a trainee before meeting Yuma and being dragged into this world of the top ranks of agents.

Osamu owed so much to Yuma for getting him on the path to being an official agent and for all the help he's given to get their team to the top B-Rank squads.

"I really can't let myself forget how insightful you can be." Osamu said, causing a faint blush to spread across Chika's cheeks. It seemed that Jin had been right to point it out to him that he wasn't seeing just how much Chika had improved. It wasn't just her shooting abilities that had grown. "I guess I was just worried the friends we made would betray Kuga if they found out about his status."

"Perhaps some of the agents would hate him for his status, but not the ones he is close to. They all like and respect him too much." Chika replied. "I wouldn't dismiss that worry about Kido-san sending agents after him one day, for whatever reason that could possibly be, but I like to think we have more allies than we realize. Yuma-kun said it himself the other day. We don't have to fight alone on the battlefield."

Osamu snorted. "He says that, but lately, he's been running off on his own a lot. I can't begin to understand what he is going to through with his father being back and attacking us, but I want to help. He makes it hard to do though when he disappears all the time."

"He's probably scared." Chika replied softly, causing Osamu to look at her with raised brows.

Yuma, scared? Osamu was under the belief that his friend didn't know what fear was.

"Or maybe I'm projecting." Chika continued, dropping her eyes to lap as she twisted her jacket sleeve in her hand. "When I heard of the Mimics, I was terrified of coming face to face with them. I didn't want to see them transform into my brother or friend because then it would mean that everything I've fought so hard for up to now would have been for nothing. Then I started to think, but what if they did appear in front of me? What would I do? What would I have to do? And the idea terrified me. They're Trion Soldiers but when I saw Yuma-kun's father, he looked so human and if I shot him, he wouldn't bail out and go back to his normal body. He would just be dead because he's not a real human. I know I can shoot." Her eyes snapped back up to Osamu, desperation in them to get Osamu to believe her. To believe that she was able to shoot in battle now and protect her team.

"I know." Osamu replied gently, smiling at her. "You're an amazing shot, Chika. Even so, there is nothing wrong with being scared of the idea of shooting your brother or friend if they appear as Mimics in front of you. Mimics are designed to transform and manipulate our emotions to make us hesitate in taking those shots. Even Miwa-senpai froze when faced with his sister the first night of this attack. No one would look down you if you hesitated."

Chika gnawed on her bottom lip as her eyes fell to the ground once more. "Yuma-kun is suffering right now because his dad is here and everyone is talking about him so much. They are all so curious about it now. I could have ended this." She squeezed her eyes shut as she recalled sitting next to Yuma on the roof the other night as they just each let their worries tumble out of their mouths. "When his father was attacking Tamakoma, I made it there and stared at him through my scope. He looks so much like Yuma-kun."

That was something Osamu would have to take her word on since he had never seen Kuga Yugo yet. It wasn't a surprise to him that the Mimic looked very human and real though. From the moment the Mimics first appeared, Yuma had been on edge and frustrated by the whole situation. He spoke of the emotional manipulation and deception that the Mimics could pull so much that it told Osamu just how much the idea of the Mimics being here as weapons was worrying him. If the transformations weren't this good, weren't good enough to fool someone, Yuma probably wouldn't have been as concerned as he was about the situation and could have brushed this off more easily.

"Yuma-kun told me about his father before. He tried to act like his death didn't bother him, but for a split second after he mentioned his father being dead, I saw the pain in his eyes before he hid it." Chika explained. There was no doubt in her mind that Osamu knew something about Kuga Yugo. To tell the truth, he most likely knew more than she did. Osamu was probably the person that Yuma trusted the most. "I know he misses him so when I saw them on the bridge, I convinced myself I couldn't shoot because I would hurt my allies, but I had Lightning on me. I could have shot Kuga-san before he even knew I was there and ended this. But knowing Yuma-kun's pain and how much it would hurt me to watch my brother get killed like that, even if it was a fake, I pulled back."

Osamu leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and interlocked his hands, hiding the bottom half of his face behind them as he stared at Chika. He hadn't seen her this distressed since the B-Rank wars when she was struggling to deal with her fear of shooting. Whether it was her fear of shooting or because she didn't take the shot and that led to losses on their team, both stressed her out in the tournament, but since she got over that fear, she was more at ease with herself, like a weight had been lifted off of her.

Chika was growing into a fine sniper, a great agent for Border to have. It would be a shame to let her fall back into any old habits because of one failure in a fight.

"I don't think it would have mattered, Chika." Osamu said. "Toma-senpai tried to snipe Kuga-san the other day and was blocked by a Shield. It seems Kuga's skill of blocking sniper shots when he shouldn't know where the sniper is at isn't a skill that only he has. If anything, taking the shot on Kuga-san would have just revealed your location to him and could have made the situation harder."

"Huh?" Chika blinked in surprise. She had seen Yuma block sniper shots before, though she never understood how he managed to get the shield up so fast when he didn't know the snipers were there. It was really impressive when he blocked Azuma's sniper from Lightning, though he still lost his leg to a second shot. Lightning was just that fast of a rifle. "Perhaps, but even if I missed, it could have been a good distraction to help."

"I think you helped them pretty well with Lead Bullet. Konami-senpai was singing you praises for your excellent backup. It got them through the Rabits a lot faster." Osamu replied. "You learned this in the Rank Wars, but your shots aren't always going to hit. You shouldn't let a failure discourage you. Instead, you should use it to grow and get stronger."

A small nod came from Chika. There was no reason to be discouraged. No one got killed in the attack on their base and Shiori was healing from the injuries she received. Their base was currently off limits because the enemy might go back there, but relatively speaking, everything turned out quite well.

Despite that, her heart was screaming at her. She didn't know why, but ever since her conversation with Yuma on the roof, she has felt so uneasy. There was something in Yuma's expression that night, something he seemed to be holding back. She didn't know what it was since Yuma was a difficult person to get to open up, but with everything else going on this week, it was making her concerned and was the reason why she started to wish she didn't hesitate in trying to snipe Kuga Yugo. There was no guarantee that killing Kuga Yugo would help Yuma get over what was bothering him, but he was a problem and was clearly hurting Yuma by just being here.