A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Note: There was a scene added at the beginning of chapter 1. It doesn't change anything to the story, but Yuma makes a reference to that scene in this chapter so I didn't want any confusion about what he was talking about.

Mimics

Chapter 33: Failure

Osamu leaned his back against the wall of the elevator next to the door while Hyuse rested on the wall on the other side of the doors, hand resting on his Kogetsu in case he had to pull it out. Chika was kneeled down behind him waiting for the elevator to reach the correct floor. Her eyes were locked on the numbers above the doors as she watched the numbers change with each floor they passed.

They had been informed that Kuga Yugo had left HQ and they needed to return to HQ to check out the floor that he was fighting Shinoda and Rindo on. Their directors had been defeated in battle and then Michael had been forced into a bail out somehow while fighting Trion Soldiers that had gotten released on the floor.

With no more able-bodied fighters, it left Yuma in danger from his father. The fact that Yugo had already left HQ and Tamakoma-2 was given the order to return to HQ to check out the floor, despite Trion Soldiers still roaming the Restricted Zone, made Chika's heart clench in fear. They weren't sure of what Yugo was after so what if they got up to the lab and found Yuma dead on the floor?

Everything they were doing was just to save their friend. She wouldn't be able to handle it if they came up on the floor and they found Yuma's corpse.

Chika shook her head to get the image of a deceased Yuma out of her mind.

"Do you really think there will be anything dangerous on the floor?" Hyuse asked.

"I don't think there will be any reason for Kuga-san to have left any traps on the floor, but caution should always be taken." Osamu replied. He tilted his head back against the wall as he looked out the window to see the flashes of light from the battles that were still taking place out in the Restricted Zone. He had made the decision to stay out there and protect the city from the Trion Soldiers because he trusted Rindo and Shinoda to handle Yugo. He had never seen Rindo and Shinoda fight, but he knew he could trust in their strength, but it seemed Kuga Yugo was just at another level. If the directors could be defeated, Osamu wasn't just going to charge recklessly onto the floor they had been fighting on. He wanted to take it cautiously and be on the lookout for traps as they made their way to the lab.

There was a part of Osamu that wanted to recklessly charge on the floor to get to the lab as fast as possible to see Yuma and he was sure his teammates felt the same way, but if Yugo did leave something behind and they got killed, it would be a pointless death for them. They weren't going to leave Yuma alone any longer.

Plus, Yuma would no doubt go off on them for moving so recklessly when they should have known better. Not only have they've been training for months on how to fight and move as a team in dangerous situations, it was Yuma's father who had been on the floor. It was the man who trained Yuma and all of them knew how dangerous of a person Yuma could be. Even if they knew very little about how Yugo fought, the fact that he was Yuma's father was a sure sign that caution was an absolute must.

Hearing a ding, Osamu pushed himself off the wall to straighten himself up as Hyuse did the same as the doors slid open. At least there was no immediate attack upon the doors opening. Osamu and Hyuse glanced around the edges of the doorway and upon seeing nothing, nodded at each other to let the other know it was clear.

"I don't sense any enemies waiting for us." Chika piped up.

"Then let's go." Osamu took the lead as he entered the hallway with Hyuse then Chika following him. His eyes scanned every inch of the hallways as he moved down them, taking in the destruction of the floor. Well, he expected no less from a battle between three powerful fighters. He was actually more impressed there was any floor left to walk on, though he was edging on it with extreme caution as it looked ready to crumble away any second now. He could already see Kinuta having an aneurysm at the amount of destruction he was going to have to fix.

"They should have tried to take the fight outside." Hyuse said as he jumped over a hole in the floor, landing neatly on the other side, glass crunching under his feet.

"I don't think it would be easy to force Kuga-san out of the building if that's not where he wanted to go." Osamu said, turning to watch as Chika made her jump over the hole. Once she had landed safely on the same side with the boys, he continued his trek through the halls. While there was a lot of destruction, it didn't seem there were any traps or enemies left behind to stop them from making their way to the lab.

"You've never met him. Are you really basing your thoughts based on just what you've heard about him?" Hyuse asked.

"Considering how fast he countered us tonight and the fact that he defeated Director Shinoda and Rindo-san, I don't need to meet him to know the dangers of him." Osamu retorted, releasing a frustrated sigh. The plan tonight had been to draw the Mimics out, and while they had succeeded in that, they didn't succeed in much more. Their plan of attack got flipped on them and they were immediately forced into defense by Yugo's Rads. With the amount of Trion Soldiers attacking, they had to choose defense of the city over having multiple squads take on Yugo and Mogami. Even with that being the case, Osamu didn't think everything would go as bad as it did.

Turning the final corner to the lab, Osamu stopped in his tracks in surprise at the Trion Soldier corpses lining the hallway.

"Seems Kuga summoned a lot of Trion Soldiers in here too." Hyuse said, stepping up to the closest Trion Soldier, brows furrowed in confusion at the amount of bullet holes that were in them. "Michael had been the one here, right?"

"That's what I heard. I guess he used to be an agent before transferring to an engineer." Osamu replied, glancing down at the corpse and taking in their wounds with a frown. He wasn't sure of what type of Triggers that Michael had, but these bullet holes looked off. Osamu was becoming proficient enough with Border's shooter Triggers to understand how they worked and looked and the wounds left on the Trion Soldiers looked like they were done by something more powerful than the typical Border Trigger, not to mention the sheer amount on all the Trion Soldiers and the walls. Maybe if it was Chika or Hyuse, this kind of destruction from Asteroid or Hound would make sense, but since they just arrived here with Osamu, the only other person who could cause this type of destruction would have to be Yuma.

Did he wake up and really use his Black Trigger so recklessly?

There was a promise made that he wouldn't fight. He was in no condition to fight!

Osamu sighed, letting his anger flow away. If his life was in danger, it would make sense that Yuma would pull out whatever weapon he could. It was better than lying there and waiting for them to kill him.

Chika surprised Osamu and Hyuse by running ahead of them, vaulting over the dead Marmod that was blocking the doorway so she could get in the lab. "Yuma-kun!" She shouted as she skidded to where Yuma was sitting on the floor, dropping to her knees next to her friend.

Yuma tilted his head back, knocking it against the bed frame behind him, revealing the cracks that were spread up half of his face. He smiled weakly at his friend, lifting his broken hand to her.

Chika replied by taking Yuma's hand in both of hers, gripping it lightly so as to not make the cracks any worse. Taking the hand gave Chika the chance to see the lack of ring on his finger. If it was just a normal ring, Chika probably wouldn't have ever noticed the lack of a ring, but since it was his Black Trigger and now that she knew it was keeping him alive, it was easy for her to notice when it was missing.

Kuga Yugo had left HQ, but left Yuma alive. His reason for breaking in was because this was where Yuma was at. They were lucky that he didn't just outright kill Yuma, but he did the next worse thing by taking the Black Trigger from him.

"I'm sorry, Yuma-kun." Chika said softly.

Yuma closed his hand around one of Chika's, putting some strength in his grip to tell Chika it was alright. He glanced pass her at Replica. It was just a fake created by this fake version of his father, but the way he spoke and advised Yuma was just like the real one. "You have no reason to apologize, Chika. None of this is your fault."

"We failed tonight." Osamu said, drawing Yuma's attention to him.

"What was going on tonight?" Yuma asked. He had just woken up to Michael fighting Trion Soldiers in the hall and then his father showing up inside of HQ with a version of Replica. There had been no time to ask questions so Yuma had simply reacted by destroying the Trion Soldiers and then getting defeated by his father. Though, it was less of a defeat and more of that Yuma didn't have the strength for a fight against his father. Even if he did want to fight Yugo, he was too weak at the moment to put up too much of a struggle against him.

Hyuse slammed his sword into the fake Replica, surprising his teammates at the abrupt action. "A failure of a counterattack against the Mimics."

Replica hadn't said a word since his team entered the lab, but it was impressive that Hyuse knew he was still alive. At least Yuma didn't have to make the request that one of them finish the job that he failed to complete earlier. He should have known when he shot Replica earlier that his backup system would kick in. He had just been more focused on getting into the hallway where Michael needed help.

Chika looked back at Yuma. "We went after Mogami-san and Kuga-san tonight. We wanted to kill them and end this, but they managed to counter us so fast. We didn't manage to overcome it. And because of that," She looked down at Yuma's hand still between hers, her finger brushing over the bare skin on his finger where his ring was supposed to be.

"But you tried." Yuma replied, smiling at his friends. While he was passed out, they had been working hard to try to save him. If they managed to defeat the Mimics, Yuma would have been saved. The fact that they tried was more than enough for Yuma. After his father died for him as a child, Yuma didn't believe that anyone would have ever fought so hard for him before. There never seemed to be anyone on his side.

It was something that Yuma didn't think he ever needed–friends like this. Now that he had these kind of friends who were willing to fight for their friends, Yuma wanted to keep a hold of these ties until he died. And if things continued on as they did, he didn't have long until his death came, especially as that he didn't have his Black Trigger anymore. Without that, he wouldn't be able to sustain his life for much longer.

"It's not over yet." Osamu said. "We may have lost tonight, Kuga, but as long as you're still alive, we can keep fighting. We keep trying to stop them until we succeed."

"Or I die." Yuma locked eyes with Osamu. "Whichever comes first."

That was one thing that Osamu could respect about Yuma. He never sugarcoated anything, not even his own problems, and he made sure that Osamu understood the same things. With Yuma's death becoming more and more possible, it was something that Yuma wanted them to be prepared to face. It was good to have hope, but they couldn't let that blind them. They needed to see this from all angles and be ready for whatever came.

"Being realistic about our chances is good, but we can't let worries about that cause us to hesitate." Hyuse said, yanking his sword free from Replica. "We failed tonight, but even with that failure, we can learn a lot. Kuga showed us his hand when he was able to summon Rads to open Gates and that he can modify those Trion Soldiers to have the Black Trigger abilities or keep them like the normal types."

"And I'm sure the groups that fought Kuga-san and Mogami-san were able to learn how they fight with the Black Trigger abilities." Osamu added. It would be similar to how they handled the Rank Wars. They studied up on their opponents before the match to know how they move and fight so they could counter them. The ones who fought Kuga and Mogami tonight knew them and how they fought, but their attack styles likely got changed with the added abilities of the Black Triggers so that would add another level of difficulty to the fights.

This battle wasn't over.

They would learn from everything that happened tonight and be more prepared next time.

*Mimics*

"This just adds another reason to keep going after the Mimics." Shinoda said, though he was pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his chair.

Rindo sat on the couch in Shinoda's office, leaning into the cushions as he looked up at the ceiling with a cigarette held between his teeth. They could commend the agents for doing such a good job of handling the Trion Soldiers and Mimics that appeared last night, but the rest had gone so badly. Mogami and Kuga had managed to disappear into the night again, but this time with both Black Triggers and then there was Kazama's report of his brother appearing, but then the Mimic dropped the transformation for some reason. If only the ones transformed as Mogami and Kuga would do the same thing.

"Will Yuma-kun be alright without his Black Trigger?" Shinoda asked.

"He insists he could survive a few days without having it on." Rindo replied, though his tone of disbelief got Shinoda to glance at him. "I would be inclined to believe him in a normal situation, but he's been in a bad state for days now. I'm not sure his body can handle this right now."

Shinoda breathed out slowly, trying to release all the stress that was starting to build up in him. "I see. I would like to get him his ring back as soon as possible, but if we rush this out of concern, it will just end in another loss like last night."

"Jin also said something concerning." Rindo added. "He said that from the beginning of this, he couldn't see the future of Kuga-san or Mogami-san, likely because even transformed they are still Trion Soldiers. It seems that has changed. He saw Kuga-san's future last night."

Shinoda sat up straight at that, staring in surprise at his friend. They were still just Trion Soldiers. No matter what happened, that fact was not going to change so Jin's inability to see their future should not change. "Any idea of what could have caused the change?"

"There was only one thing that changed last night when compared to the other night when he saw Kuga-san." Rindo took his cigarette from his mouth and rolled it between his fingers. "He got the Black Trigger that he created."

"Getting a hold of his Black Trigger shouldn't change the fact that they are and will always be Trion Soldiers." Shinoda said.

Rindo glanced behind Shinoda to look out his giant windows at the Restricted Zone. Somewhere out there were their old friends who weren't exactly themselves right now. The real Mogami and Yugo would be horrified at what these Mimics of them were doing. For their old friends, they had to end this. "Yuma told me that Kuga-san told him this new design of Mimics are after the Black Triggers they created upon death as it will allow them the chance to stay around forever. It seems to be a way to revive them." Despite that, Rindo would never accept these Mimics of Mogami and Yugo as the real ones. Attacking Border and leaving Yuma in such a dire state were more than enough reason for him to never acknowledge them. These actions were making the Mimics seem so fake compared to what they were originally meant to be.

"Taking a hold of their Black Triggers may give them the chance to remain alive as who they are transformed into, but at the end of the day, they would still be Trion Soldiers on the inside so it shouldn't change the fact that Jin can't see their future." Shinoda's eyes traveled upwards to look at the ceiling. He could not let that fact go. He could not believe that this was possible. "Whoever repurposed these Mimics is quite impressive to be able to make them real enough to fool Jin's side effect."

"Perhaps we shouldn't compliment the people attacking us." Rindo replied, shifting his eyes back towards Shinoda.

"I'm just trying to understand this design." Shinoda murmured, sighing softly to himself as he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. How much more time did they have left?

*Mimics*

"Chibi."

"Huh," Yuma pushed himself into a sitting position on his bed and turned in surprise at his sudden visitor. It would at least be more interesting than staring at the boring ceiling. "Tachikawa-san. Never thought you would come for a visit."

Tachikawa's eyes raked over the cracks spreading over the visible parts of his skin. He knew Jin said that Yuma was in a bad way, but this looked worse than what he was expecting. It seemed that there was a lot more going on here if Yuma was in a Trion body that was starting to get destroyed. "I have a message for you from Mogami."

Yuma raised a brow at that. Strange person to receive a message from. The only time he ever met Mogami was when he was summoned from Jin's memories, and he never spoke to him so he couldn't imagine why Mogami would want to tell him anything. "And that is?"

"That your father never wanted to hurt you and he does love you."

Yuma's brows furrowed in confusion. What was the purpose of a message like that? His father was the one who raised him and taught him everything and then made the ultimate sacrifice so his son could live. His love seemed to be very clear, but if he thought about it, none of that was stuff that Mogami could know about him and Yugo so his message had to be referring to the Mimic Yugo that was wandering around. If that was the case, Yuma wanted to know what was wrong with Mogami's head. Yugo once gave everything for Yuma and now a fake version of him was taking everything from him. Without his Black Trigger, he wouldn't be able to survive for long. Nothing about this seemed like love.

"Strange message to give." Yuma said softly. "But even stranger is that you agreed to pass it on."

"Call it curiosity." Tachikawa replied. "Considering your father just stole your Black Trigger and left you for dead, it's a strange message for Mogami to want to tell you. I wanted to see if you could interpret it."

"There's nothing to interpret. It's a pretty straightforward message." Yuma looked up towards the ceiling in thought. From a Mimic though, the message didn't fit the actions of Yugo or Mogami. "I would say it's the contradiction of Mimics. They have the programming of being weapons and being told to attack us, but when transformed, they have the memories that tell them how they are supposed to feel in regards to certain people. It's not enough to stop them from doing what they are programmed to do though." Yuma tilted his head to the side as a curious thought came to him. "And Mogami wanted you to tell me that, not my dad. Perhaps they talked and Mogami realized how dad is and decided to give that message."

"For what reason though? It's not like it would change anything." Tachikawa said, though Yuma seemed just as lost as him.

"A way to apologize."

Tachikawa almost jumped out of his skin at the voice, turning sharply to see Kazama hiding behind him. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." Kazama said, looking over at Yuma, taking in the destruction to his body, but chose not to comment on it. Tamakoma already made a point of telling them his life was in danger. He didn't need to speak on something that Yuma was already worried about. "The Mimics can't act against their programming, but if they have those memories of the dead, then surely, they must know that attacking their old friends is not what they want. Perhaps Mogami wanted Kuga to know that this isn't really what his father wanted, but he couldn't stop himself."

"Two of Border's top Attackers coming to talk to me. I sure feel important today." Yuma said, choosing not to comment on Kazama's assessment of the message.

Yugo came to a stop in front of his son, lifting a hand towards his unflinching son so he could gently run his thumb over the cracks on Yuma's face that had spread up his face and through his eye.

It was possible it could be right. One second his father was acting like a concerned father and the next he was slamming Yuma into a wall. Yuma didn't think it was Yugo trying to mess with his head by going back and forth between father and enemy. It seemed more like he was at war with himself and couldn't really do or say what he really wanted to his son.

"I came for a reason different than Tachikawa." Kazama stepped pass Tachikawa to stand by the bed. "My brother appeared last night."

Freeing himself from thoughts of his father, Yuma gave his full attention to Kazama with that single statement. "Oh?" He prompted Kazama to continue on with what he wanted. He didn't even know Kazama had a brother, let alone one that had died.

"We didn't beat him. The Mimic just dropped the transformation. What would be the purpose for that?" Kazama demanded. Though, he was sure he could have defeated his brother if the Mimic stayed transformed a bit longer. They had been able to do a lot of damage to him.

"That's actually normal for a Mimic." Yuma replied. "I know it's been a pretty hectic couple of days, but I did mention that at the meeting we had with Kido-san and the other directors about this. Mimics don't have the capability to stay transformed for more than a few hours. Dad and Mogami are the outliers in this situation. Though, I supposed the reason for that is because of their Black Triggers. It seems whoever repurposed the Mimics couldn't keep them from dropping the transformation after a few hours unless they had a Black Trigger connected to who they transformed as that they could draw Trion from."

"So, the biggest danger from Mimics is when they get hold of the memories of someone who created a Black Trigger at death." Tachikawa said, pointing a finger in Yuma's face. "And you and Jin handed those memories of two very powerful Trigger users over to them."

Kazama slapped Tachikawa's hand down. "Don't point. It's rude."

"It's not like we did it on purpose, and we didn't see this coming." Yuma grumbled. As much as he loved his father, he never wanted to see a Mimic of him appear. It was part of the reason he never went to Tropoi. He didn't want the temptation in front of him. "Do you guys really have time to hang around here? They have both Black Triggers now. Shouldn't you be searching for the Mimics?"

"Kinuta-san is keeping the Gates shut by force right now, but that is only going to buy us two days. Once the Gates can be reopened, we fear the Mimics will try to leave with the Black Triggers so we are going to try to hunt them down before then." Kazama explained. Though, considering how they didn't have any luck hunting down the Mimics before, he wasn't sure doing any of this would help. "It will keep any more Mimics from coming here at least."

Two days, huh? It wasn't a lot of time to find the Mimics and defeat them, especially since Osamu said they completely failed in stopping them last night. With the Black Triggers, they could somehow use them to stay alive forever, but Mogami and Yugo would both still be Trion Soldiers so it wouldn't change their behavior. They would still just be slaves to Meraki. It would just be for forever now.

Even if they were fake versions and didn't have the emotions to go with their memories or appearances, Yuma didn't want them to spend their lives as slaves to Meraki. It wasn't what they would have wanted when they were alive. They may not have the emotions, but Yuma did, and he didn't want his father or Mogami to be a shadow of their former selves by letting this happen to them.

But what could he possibly do?

With how he currently was, he was of no help to anyone. There was nothing more he could give to stop them. Without his Black Trigger and not being able to activate a normal Trigger right now, he was completely useless.

"I can't believe you couldn't beat your brother and you only won because he undid his own transformation." Tachikawa told Kazama.

Kazama glared at the other attacker. "He was able to dodge all my attacks that he shouldn't have been able to see coming. I was using Chameleon and in his blind spots, but he was still blocking all of my attacks perfectly."

Tachikawa snorted. "Sounds like what we went through with Mogami last night. Any time we managed to sneak up on him, he was turning to meet our attacks. It was like dealing with Jin using his side effect."

Kazama frowned at the reminder of Mogami. His squad had managed to sneak up on him to begin the battle with him and were countered at every turn. It had been quite confusing and frustrating how Mogami just seemed to know where he needed to turn to dodge or block.

Yuma's eyes flickered from one agent to the next with a raised brow. "I can forgive you forgetting what I said about Mimics originally not being able to stay around for more than a few hours, but I know I explained that Mimics use a form of echolocation to track Trion. Even when transformed, that fact doesn't change."

"Are you saying we wasted our time last night trying to hit them with surprise attacks?" Tachikawa demanded.

"Yes, your best bet is just to fight them head on. Leave out any surprise tactics." Yuma replied. "They're not going to work."

Tachikawa rubbed his chin in thought as he looked off to the side. Even transformed, Mimics were tracking Trion. That would explain why Mogami was able to aim his wind blades so accurately at Izumi even when he should have had no idea where he was hiding. "Even when we attacked directly, we still couldn't do anything against them. Seriously, what are they made of? No one should be able to hold out as well as they do."

Yuma wasn't sure he should open his mouth. Anytime he was around Tachikawa lately, he was complaining about his dad and about how he got cheated against in his first confrontation with Yugo. There wasn't anything he could say about it as it was true that Yugo and Mogami were doing so well in pushing Border back.

"It's like they predict everything we're going to do." Tachikawa mumbled. "How are we supposed to beat them?"

"Could Jin not get through to Mogami last night?" Kazama asked.

"I don't think he tried hard enough to get through him. He could have pushed him a bit harder."

Kazama glanced out the door towards the destroyed hall that Kinuta was already having his men work on repairing. He thought back to the smile he saw on his brother's face last night. He didn't want to talk to his brother as he was too furious at seeing the Mimic steal his face. Considering his brother's body was lost in Aristera, he would never accept seeing him step in front of him. For that reason, he could understand why Jin didn't want to pull on his connection with Mogami.

At least that was how he felt until he saw that final smile and those lost words that Shin gave him. In that moment, it felt like it was his actual brother speaking and not just a Mimic using his voice and image to manipulate him.

"You said before that you dealt with Mimics as a kid." Kazama found himself saying.

Yuma's jaw clenched. He did spend some time with Mimics as a kid because of his parents taking him to the lab sometimes and so he got to see people give up their memories to get their loved one to form in front of them. It was so hard for him back then to understand that Mimics weren't real. Their transformations looked so real. The smiles of hope to see someone they had lost before. The tears shared between the Mimic and the one who wanted to see someone were real. "A few times."

"And they weren't weapons?"

"Not when used in Tropoi." Yuma replied, thinking back to his conversation with his father last night. Meraki. The thieves that killed his mom and drove him and his dad out of Tropoi. If that never happened...No. Yuma forced the thoughts away. This wasn't the time for what ifs. Konami was right in that thinking about what ifs would accomplish nothing as the past could not be changed. He needed to focus on the present. "Why do you ask?"

Kazama turned away from the noise in the hall so he could look back at Yuma. The cracks covering half of his face were distracting, but he forced himself to look away from those and meet the curious eyes of the younger agent. "In those last few moments before Shin-niisan disappeared, he seemed more like his real safe that I remembered, not the manipulating Trion Soldier that wanted me to drop my guard because I felt something towards it."

"Sounds to me like you did fall for its manipulation." Tachikawa said, earning himself a glare from Kazama.

"I don't know what you want me to say." Yuma said before the two could start to argue. "Mimics from Tropoi were designed to have a chance to talk one more time and make peace with their passing or to even settle any regrets you or they may have had. Meraki has managed to warp that design, but perhaps it's not as perfect as they would hope if you feel that your real brother was starting to leak out in the end."

"Meraki?" Kazama questioned.

"In the first place, Mimics would never work as weapons the way they wanted." Yuma continued, ignoring the questioning looks that Kazama and Tachikawa were sharing above his head. "The memories of the past twisting with the Trion Soldier programming would cause problems. Though, now that they have their Black Triggers, who knows what will happen?"

With that ominous thought, Yuma signaled an end to the conversation as he jumped off the bed and pushed pass the agents so he could leave the lab, pulling his hood up to hide his face. Yugo said the Black Triggers would make it so he and Mogami could stick around forever. Those Black Triggers were designed with the lifeforce of Yugo and Mogami. Only those who matched the personalities of them could activate them. There was no telling what those Black Triggers would do to Mimics who were going against the very people they were when they were alive.

Would it really work the way Meraki had intended?

*Mimics*

Tachikawa smirked in agreement. "You going to give me my sword back to help me achieve this goal?"

"Nope." Jin said simply before he was charging forward once more, getting his attack parried by Mogami again. Despite that, Jin called his Scorpion out to his free hand to add pressure to Mogami by forcing him to have to deflect both his blades.

"So, what? You get two swords, but I don't?" Tachikawa complained as he broke pass Jin, slamming his Kogetsu into Mogami's. Mogami parried him off before twisting his sword to block Jin's strike next while trying to jump backwards to put distance between them, but neither Jin nor Tachikawa were letting up on their attacks.

Mogami dodged Jin's sword, taking another step back. Tachikawa passed in front of Jin to get to Mogami, but before he could get back in his range, Escudos were suddenly popping up from the roof to surround Jin and Tachikawa on all sides. Not expecting the Escudos, Tachikawa slammed right into the one right in front of him that cut him off from Mogami.

Jin rested his cheek on his fist, eyes locked on the laptop in front of him. Just from being in Trion bodies, their operation's system was able to record all their battles and let them go back and rewatch everything that happened. It was quite convenient when they wanted to share an enemy's tactics to their allies in the midst of the battle. In this case, it was helpful to see how Mogami was fighting. It had been years since Jin fought Mogami, but he also knew Mogami had never fought him seriously. They had only ever fought in training, and last night gave Jin the answer he needed on just how easy Mogami used to go on him. He needed all the information he could gather on Mogami and on Yugo. He was going to take note on every little thing they did.

Last night was a complete failure for Border. They may have stopped the Trion Soldiers in their tracks, but the Trion Soldiers only appeared because Border was acting to try to stop Mogami and Yugo. Without managing to defeat either of the transformed Mimics, nothing about last night could count as a win.

Perhaps part of the failure was on Jin. He had been wary about taking all the agents out into the field to stop the Mimics, but he had been so sure that Shinoda and Rindo could protect Yuma. He hadn't expected Yugo to walk so daringly into HQ.

He knew.

He knew that Yugo was after Yuma.

But Yugo shouldn't have known that Yuma was in HQ last night while all the other agents were out looking for them.

Did Yugo and Mogami really manage to read them that well?

Jin always prided himself on being a master schemer. He used his side effect to plan for everything that would lead Border to the best future. Everyone relied on him to set them up in a way that would help Border win.

Perhaps...

Perhaps his concern for Yuma and wanting to get this over with quickly led him to acting too rashly. He should have looked into things more thoroughly before agreeing to their plan of attack last night.

Jin rewound the footage back to the beginning of the fight and started studying it again. They weren't going to get many more chances at this. They couldn't make the same mistakes as before.

*Mimics*

It was a relaxing sight. Considering he was on the roof of Border HQ which was in the middle of the Restricted Zone, nothing about the sight of the destroyed buildings should be relaxing. Perhaps it was simply the warm breeze that felt so relaxing against his skin that was calming him down.

His conversation with Tachikawa and Kazama had left Yuma with much to think about which was why he escaped the hustle of HQ by coming to the roof. It's not like anyone was going to need him. He gave all the information that he could think of about the Mimics to them and told them what his father told him and since his body was using any spare Trion to try to keep itself together, he couldn't participate in defense missions or train with anyone.

Not that he could when he couldn't even use a Trigger right now.

Really, the only thing he could do currently was sit around and do nothing. There wasn't even anything he could do to stop Mogami or his father. He kept thinking about it over and over, but without knowing where they were hiding, Border was at a severe disadvantage.

The sound of metal squeaking as the door opened alerted Yuma to the fact that he was no longer alone, but he didn't turn to face his visitor. He chose to continue leaning on the ledge, resting his chin in his upturned palm. For once, there were no sounds of fighting in the Restricted Zone as the Gates were being forced closed by Border which made it so silent as none of the sounds from the city could reach HQ.

"Not sitting on the ledge today?" Jin asked, rubbing at his tired eyes as he approached the lone figure on the roof. He had been studying the fight from yesterday for hours now and he just needed a break. Some fresh air might help clear his head to help him think. He hadn't expected Yuma to be up here, but he wasn't complaining. It was relieving to see him up and moving. That stillness of being passed out didn't fit Yuma.

"Jin-san," Yuma greeted, raising his broken hand in greeting. "Considering the state I'm in, that wouldn't be the best idea."

"Yuma," Jin replied warily, stepping forward to stand behind his young friend who still wouldn't face him as he apparently found staring at the horizon more interesting.

Yuma eyed Jin out of the corner of his eye. His friend looked completely exhausted. It had Yuma wondering if Jin even attempted to go to bed last night after their failed plan. He probably didn't. He would have spent hours going over what went wrong and how to fix things that were already a mess. As usual, he put too much on himself.

Yuma planted his hands flat on the ledge and pushed himself a little back as he turned his eyes back to the blue sky, watching the clouds lazily. "I had forgotten about it, you know?"

Jin's brows furrowed in confusion. He glanced up briefly at the sky but didn't see anything so he looked back at Yuma. "No? What are you talking about?"

"It's only two days away now. The anniversary of Dad's death." Yuma explained simply. He glanced down at his broken hand. The lack of his Black Trigger was so strange. "I had forgotten that it was approaching, but when I saw the calendar during the party the other day, I was suddenly reminded. How could I forget?" He could see Jin's expression shifting from confused to understanding out of the corner of his eyes. Yuma twisted his head to the side. He didn't want to see his friend's face right now. "What right do I have to forget the day my dad gave up everything for me? I'm not allowed to forget."

"Yuma."

A ruffling of clothes told Yuma that Jin was moving so Yuma quickly took a few steps away, running his hand along the ledge as he moved.

"You can't live in the past forever. I understand the day would be painful for you." Jin said, and he did understand. The anniversary of the day Mogami and his old friends from the past Border died was a hard day for everyone in Old Border. It was a day of remembrance for what they lost, but they didn't only remember the pain. They had to remind themselves of the love they shared and the happy moments. The fun. The joy. The sorrow. The tears they shared. Those they lost were not–should not–be remembered only for grief their passing caused. "But I think Kuga-san would be happy to know that you are letting yourself move on. He wouldn't want you to live in your grief forever."

"It's not just grief." Yuma said so quietly that Jin almost missed his words. There was guilt mixed in with the grief. He couldn't change what happened in the past, but he couldn't let himself forget either. His new life in Japan and with Border was keeping him so busy and giving him such a fun time that he was forgetting the roots that brought him to this point. The guilt. The grief. The one who gave all for a disobedient son. Yuma couldn't let himself forget all the sorrow and pain he went through because if he did, he would just end up committing the same mistake. "But perhaps it is time to right that wrong. He has his Black Trigger back now." And with that Black Trigger, Yugo would survive and Yuma would die.

If his father knew what was happening, he would be furious that Meraki was the cause of his wife's and his son's deaths. This started with his mother a long time though. He had a feeling his father wouldn't be the only one angry with this outcome.

Unfortunately, without the ability to use a Trigger right now, Yuma was incapable of stopping this outcome.

There was something else he could do before he died though.

Seeing Jin's stress and exhausted state was a reminder of that.

Jin's jaw clenched tightly at that. He had a feeling the real Kuga Yugo would have some angry words about that. Yugo may have created the Black Trigger, but it wasn't his. The Black Trigger belonged to Yuma. That was Yugo's intention when he created it. A way to protect his son by giving him power and a way to sustain his life. "We don't even know what they wanted the Black Triggers for. They could have already destroyed them."

Yuma planted a hand on his chest. "If they had destroyed them, this body wouldn't exist. So, if you happen to see my bloody corpse around, I would believe they destroyed them then."

"Yuma," Jin said warily. This wasn't a conversation he was expecting when he came across Yuma up here, but Yuma took charge of the conversation before he even realized what was happening and now he was finding himself swept up into whatever was turning around in Yuma's head.

Yuma shrugged in return. "Dad said the Black Triggers could be used to keep them alive forever."

"I heard, but how does that work?" Jin pressed. "Do they need to keep them on their person to stay alive? Do they need to destroy them? Do they need to drain them of all the Trion and reabsorb the life force that was incorporated into the Black Triggers?"

"Who knows?" Yuma replied softly, eyes drifting shut as he let the warm sun rays soak into his skin. It was such a nice day and there was no fighting going on. It truly was such a peaceful day, one that Yuma could truly enjoy as long as he didn't let his mind get full of worry about what the Mimics were up to or how he was in such a horrible state. Too bad Yuma couldn't let himself forget anything that was happening currently. "Dad didn't go into the specifics, but like I said, the Black Triggers still have to exist since I'm still here."

Jin stared at Yuma's back as his friend still refused to turn and have this conversation face to face. Still, Yuma was in front of him so Jin could still use his side effect. Last night he got a vision from Yugo about a confrontation between Yuma and him. While Yuma's future was still hazy, that scene between the two was still able to play out in front of his eyes. It at the very least told Jin that Yuma was going to survive long enough to confront his father.

"But, I suppose," Yuma turned his eyes towards the blue sky, watching a few clouds float lazily by. "I should say 'thank you.'"

"Huh?"

"The Mimics are a threat to Border so I understand why all the agents went desperately after them, but I also know Tamakoma was fighting so hard to defeat the Mimics to save me." Yuma finally turned to face Jin, giving him his usual cheerful grin. "So, thank you for trying."

There should be no smile on Yuma's face. They had wanted to stop the Mimics before Yuma woke up to not only save him, but to also prevent him from having to face the torture of losing his father a second time. They had failed on both accounts and the future was looking darker and darker. Jin could see Yugo and Yuma meeting each other, but the future where Yuma was saved was so hard to see. He couldn't see what path they were meant to take, so why was Yuma being so calm about all of this?

"Do you want to die?" Jin asked softly.

Yuma stared at Jin, considering the answer to that question. He hummed thoughtfully before turning and hopping onto the ledge. "You know," He started as he began to walk slowly across the ledge. "My life has been hanging by a thread for years. With each passing day, a part of the strings that created that thread have been snapping off. I've always been teetering on the edge of life and death."

Jin watched his friend warily. He had just said he didn't think it was a good idea to be sitting on the ledge with the state his body was in, but now it was a good idea to walk on it? There was no way that Yuma's body could take any more damage without it snapping completely so if he fell, he wouldn't be able to walk away from it like he did the other day.

"For that reason, I'm not scared." Yuma stopped his walk, staring up at the sky. "I've never been afraid of dying. Well, not since I got this body. Perhaps the guilt I felt at causing my dad's death overrode any fear I had of dying myself. Since I was never scared of dying, I never really thought of the time limit that is on my life. It was just something that was there." He turned on his heel and walked back down the ledge towards where Jin was standing.

Jin watched each step that Yuma took, body tensed as he was ready to move in an instant if Yuma faltered and began to fall off the ledge. Though, despite the damage to his body, Yuma seemed quite stable as he walked on the edge. As he watched his friend, he wandered if Yuma felt any pain as his body began to destroy itself as the Black Trigger chose to protect Yugo over him.

Yuma came to a stop in front of Jin, staring off into the distance. "Sometimes, you just can't win." He said softly. It was a lesson he learned when he got this body. Every child had the thought that they were invincible. Some grew out of that phase and were able to learn the lesson without any repercussions. Then, there were those few who learned the lesson in the hardest way possible. If they were lucky, they would survive through the lesson and be able to grow from it. Battles were about skill, experience, strategy, and even luck was involved.

Bad luck or good luck. There were many types of luck that could change the flow of battle or determine life or death. It was bad luck that Yuma managed to find where the Black Trigger assassin was hiding, but what kind of luck was it when Yugo found him and gave up his life for Yuma? Was it good luck since Yuma got to continue living? Or was it bad luck because he lost his father that day?

The whole situation had been a loss to Yuma. He lost his father. His life had been shortened greatly, and he spent so much time of his shortened lifespan fighting in a war for three years. He had no real happiness in his life and just went through the motions of living. Coming to Japan and meeting his friends and joining Border gave Yuma a new outlook on life.

He didn't want to leave this life that he only got to enjoy for a few months, but Yuma was never the type to run from the reality of the situation. He always stood tall and faced everything head on.

Yuma dropped down to sit on the ledge, facing Jin as he grinned widely at his friend. "I know you all fought your hardest, and for that, thank you. Thank you for giving me this chance and making the last few months of my life the happiest I've been in a long time. But, it's okay now, Jin-san. You don't have to take this loss so hard. I can accept it. It's my time to die."

It was a beautiful day, but Jin saw none of it. The only thing reflecting in his eyes was Yuma. The grin on Yuma's face. He was speaking of dying. That smile shouldn't be there.

How could he smile so easily?

Because he was trying to ease him of the burden of the guilt. For all his words, Jin saw it in Yuma's eyes. He didn't want to die, but it was getting impossible to find a way out for him, so he was going to choose this path. He didn't want any of his friends to shoulder any guilt for failing in stopping the Mimics in time. These were Yuma's words he wanted Jin to understand. He was able to accept his death was incoming, but he knew that Yuma would be much happier if he could continue live and have more fun with all his friends.

Yuma wanted to ease their guilt if they failed here because he truly believed that none of this was their fault. This all started five years ago when he disobeyed his father, and it continued to be his fault when he didn't react fast enough to stop the Mimic from grabbing him and getting his father's memories. No one in Border, none of his friends, needed to feel bad if he was to die in the next couple of days. This started with him. Tamakoma just came in towards the end and tried to fight to save him from something that had no solution to let him overcome his death.

"Don't you dare smile like that when you're so close to death because I won't accept it. I'm not accepting it." Jin said, surprising Yuma. "And I know you're not either." He stared at Yuma's eyes as the black faded away from his pupils as Yuma had finished talking. If he truly wanted Jin to believe he could accept his death so easily, he shouldn't have turned to face him. "You don't want to die because you're having so much fun here with everyone and you want to continue staying by their side. You were finding the strength to move on. That's why you forgot your dad's anniversary was approaching because you were letting yourself to stop living in the past and instead enjoy every moment that was right in front of you. From meeting Osamu to joining Border to meeting all the agents and getting to fight them and hang out with them. You were making a new life for yourself, exactly as your father would have wanted for you."

Yuma's smile turned into a scowl. He dropped down from the ledge and turned stubbornly away from Jin to stare at the horizon again. "It was easily to accept when I only had Replica by my side. There was no one grounding me to life here."

"But you weren't living your life. Here, with everyone, you've learned how to live again. You've been reminded how enjoyable life can be." Jin stepped up next to Yuma and leaned on the ledge. "You don't need to try to ease my guilt about failing."

"I really do." Yuma said softly. "Because you blamed yourself after Aftokrator's invasion. You blamed yourself for Chika and Osamu getting hurt. And you blamed yourself for Replica being lost. None of it was your fault."

"I knew what was coming. I could have gotten them out of harm's way." Jin retorted.

"And then we would have faced worst losses in that invasion." Yuma argued, turned to meet Jin's eyes. "Besides, you may be able to manipulate the battlefield, but you can't change how someone is going to act. People like Osamu will always do what they believe is right. Everyone has to make their own decisions. You can only scheme your way through those invasions so much before you have to realize, you can't avoid every casualty. You try to stop one, and you could be setting up someone else to die. Had you moved Osamu and Chika in the invasion, how many people would have died? How many more agents would have been captured? I know you know this. It's why you didn't get Chika and Osamu out."

Yuma pushed off the ledge so he could turn and lean his back against it as he stared up at the blue sky. "And it's also why I'm saying, you're not to blame for my state." He stretched his broken hand above his head, eyes tracing every crack in it. "And you're not to blame if I die. I don't want you to feel like anything is your fault if things don't go the way you want. Go ahead and grieve me if you need to, but don't let there be any guilt. I made my own choices, and it was those choices that got me to this point. That is on no one else."

"Grieve you, huh?" Jin repeated. He reached out to the side to drop a hand to Yuma's head, grounding himself to the reality that Yuma was still standing and with him. The vision he had days ago of Yuma's death was not one he would accept until that future was already in front of him. Until that happened, he would fight against that vision every step. "Not going to happen."

Yuma looked at Jin out of the corner of his eyes.

"There is still hope. I won't give up the chance that there is something we can do until this is all over." Jin said.

"Hope is good, but it doesn't win wars. Ruthless determination does. Do whatever it takes to survive." Yuma argued.

"But hope gives you something to hold onto so you don't lose who you are while fighting so hard every day. The hope for a better tomorrow. If you don't look towards the future to see what it is you want to do when the war is over, you'll forget what it is you're fighting for." Jin retorted.

"You can't let hope blind you so much that you can't face the reality of the situation."

Jin snorted suddenly. The hand on Yuma's head ruffled his hair roughly. "Jeez, with that kind of outlook, you remind me more of Tachikawa-san." Jin dropped his hand with a sigh. "I'm not hiding from the reality that you could die in the next couple of days, Yuma. I'm just not letting that fear and worry stall me. I'm going to fight with everything I got for a better future."

"Just don't-"

"Feel any blame if we can't stop them in time." Jin finished for him. "And you don't try to tell me it's alright again if we can't stop your father. You're allowed to be scared of dying in the next couple of days."

"I'm more anxious then scared." Yuma admitted. "I just really want this to be over with so I can get back to our goal of getting to Aftokrator." He never should have looked back at Jin during his little speech. He knew his side effect was going to betray him. It was the reason he was avoiding Jin's eyes the whole time, but at the same time, trying to make eye contact was a way to get it across to Jin how serious he was. The problem was with Jin though. He was just too good at reading people. He would never accept Yuma's words and would always try to argue with him.

Because that's what Jin wanted.

He wanted Yuma to want to live.

"Ah, more dangerous missions." Jin said. "You truly like to live on the edge, Yuma."

"Well, what do you want do when this is over?" Yuma asked.

"I think I'm going to get a Kogetsu Trigger and train with Tachikawa-san."

"Thought you were Scorpion for life." Yuma teased.

"It's more for practice than anything."

Yuma made a noise of disbelief. "So, it has nothing to do with trying Mogami's sword style now that you've seen it again."

"Tachikawa-san couldn't even land a hit against him last night. I want to see where I went wrong." Jin replied.

"He also had Fujin's power on top of his normal Trigger to help him." Yuma pointed out.

"That shouldn't be enough to stop both of us in our tracks." Jin said before pausing and thinking back to his fight against the A-Ranks back in December. He had stopped them in their tracks when he got serious and actually started using the wind blades. If he considered that, it really wasn't a surprise that Mogami was able to hold them off on his own. Fujin and Senku slashes were quite useful in keeping his opponents from getting near to him.

*Mimics*

Osamu leaned over the table, sighing as he examined the map he had brought up on the screen on the table.

"What are you looking at a map for?" Shun asked, suddenly appearing behind Osamu, standing on tiptoe to look over his shoulder.

Another sigh escaped Osamu. "Do you normally just walk into another squad's operation room?"

"You left the door open." Yoneya said from Osamu's other shoulder.

Osamu pushed away from the table so he could turn to level a stern look at the two. "That doesn't mean you just walk in!"

Shun shrugged unconcerned before motioning to the table. "So?"

"I'm thinking." Osamu said after a moment of thought as he turned back to the map. "Kuga-san and Mogami-san, where are they? The squads can run around the Restricted Zone all they want, but it proved useless yesterday, so I doubt it will work today."

Yoneya walked around the table so he could be opposite of Osamu as he looked at the map. "And looking at a map is going to work better?"

Osamu enlarged the section of the Restricted Zone that they had fought in last night. "This is where they appeared to confront us so I'm guessing they were in that area since I think it would have been hard for them to get there without a single agent noticing them."

Shun leaned on the table next to Osamu. "So, they were hiding in this sector, but they came out to meet us before we found their hiding space."

"Yes, since we never found it, would they go back to it or choose a new place to hide?" Osamu asked, but he wasn't looking for an answer as he plied on. "It would make sense to want to keep on the move as staying in one place will have it getting checked eventually whereas moving to a new location means they could end up hiding somewhere that the agents have already looked."

"And the Restricted Zone is huge! We have looked all over and haven't noticed anything, but with how big it is, we haven't seen everything yet." Shun replied. "And if they moved somewhere we already checked, we'll never find them at this rate."

Osamu nodded. "Logically, yes."

"Logically...?" Yoneya and Shun asked.

Osamu pushed his glasses up. "Something Kuga said has me thinking. He called the Mimics a contradiction. They are not meant to be weapons so their Trion Soldiers part and their stolen memories are at war with each other."

"And how does that help here?" Yoneya asked as the contradiction had already been explained to them.

"I'm just taking a guess, but I can't see any version of Kuga-san wanting his son dead. Maybe it's just optimism on my part, but I want to believe he is trying to fight the Mimic side of him." Osamu said.

Yoneya frowned. "Then he's not doing a very job of it. Didn't he just steal Kuga's ring last night, the one thing keeping him alive?"

"It can't be easy to fight against your programming." Shun mused.

"No, but surely they must be trying. Any little thing to try to rebel." Osamu said softly, eyeing the map on the table. "Rindo-san, Shinoda-san and Jin-san all said Mogami-san and Kuga-san didn't start their fights going all out. They could have been biding their time or it's possible they wanted to give us a chance to stop them. If that is the case, I'm thinking, they would hide in the same place they were at before the battle yesterday."

"Um, you sure?" Shun asked as he thought back to the Trion Soldiers produced last night that had Yuma's Black Trigger abilities. "They seemed to be pretty ruthless to me."

Osamu shrugged. "I could be wrong about all of this. It's just a hunch I'm working on because I can't see anyone with the memories of someone dead coming back to kill loved ones without some form of resistance."

Yoneya caught Shun's eye and shrugged to him. It's not like they had anything else to go on. Osamu was right in it being pointless to scour the Restricted Zone randomly. "Alright, so we head to the sector we fought in last night."

"The sectors we were in weren't exactly small." Shun muttered.

"One sector is better than having to search through all the sectors." Yoneya said. "If Mikumo's hunch is right."

"I can't drag all the agents into this again when it is just a hunch I'm working on." Osamu added, eyes roaming over the sector of the Restricted Zone that he was concerned with. "Chika and Hyuse got tired of thinking about it so they decided to go to this sector and start searching."

"You didn't go with?" Shun asked surprised.

"I'm trying to think of where they would hide." Osamu replied. "From what I know of Kuga and the little he told me about his father."

Yoneya's eyes scanned the map. He could understand why Hyuse and Chika wanted to go into the field and look. He was more of an action type than a thinker himself. He wasn't much of a fan of standing around and talking strategy. He was better at planning in the middle of a fight than manipulating the battle beforehand like Jin and Osamu did. With all that said, Yoneya wasn't stupid and had his own ideas, some crazy while some were sane. He had no idea of how to classify this one, but his eyes were drawn to a train station on the map. It had been months ago, but he remembered quite clearly fighting in that train station. It was hard to forget that fight when the Neighbor had ended up joining Border after it.

Before he could comment on it, Shun was reaching forward and circling the same train station with his hand. "Yuma-senpai had a weird fascination with trains."

"There are a lot of things that Kuga is strangely fond of." Osamu said. "Probably because he didn't get to experience them growing up." He looked at the station that Shun was pointing at with a curious frown. When they went to that station, Yuma spoke of how he wanted to see a train. For his friend who had only been in the city for a few days at that point and understood nothing of this world, it was strange for him to be so excited by something he shouldn't have known much about. "It has significance to Kuga."

"It is a stretch to say it has anything to do with his father though." Yoneya said, just trying to play devil advocate, even though he was focused on the train station too. "It's been years since Kuga has been to Japan, hasn't it?"

"A couple decades." Osamu agreed.

"It probably has nothing to do with Kuga-san, but it at least gives us a starting point." Shun pushed off the table, catching Yoneya's eyes. "Right?"

Yoneya grinned. "True."

"Us?" Osamu questioned.

"You think you're the only one who wants to save him?" Yoneya asked sharply. He turned away from his two friends. "He may be your partner, but he's a comrade to all of us. It's a bit of a makeshift team, but we can make it work." He glanced over his shoulder, smirking at Osamu. "That is if you're coming with us? Standing here and trying to think through every possibility isn't going to get anything done and is a waste of time, don't you think?"

Catching Yoneya's eyes, Osamu smiled back. He shut off the map before grabbing his Trigger off of the nearby desk. Yuma would be better able to handle teaming up with random agents than he was since he had the skill and experience to adjust his fighting style to theirs, but Yuma wasn't here right now. Osamu was, and he was sure Shun and Yoneya would be able to adjust to his style of fighting so they could work together.

"If we find them both together, we're going to get killed so fast." Shun mumbled as he recalled his last encounter with Yugo. He was hard enough on his own, but if Mogami was with him, he wasn't sure they would last longer than five minutes.