2 days until the anniversary of Yugo's death
Mimics
Chapter 34: Each One's Choice
Suwa planted his hands on the table and leaned down to stare into Yuma's face. Yuma shoveled more food in his mouth as he stared back at Suwa, completely unconcerned eyes. "Can I help you?" He asked once he swallowed the food. Honestly, eating right now wasn't going to do anything for him. Without his ring, he couldn't supply nutrients to his real body. Still, even if it did nothing for his body, he still enjoyed the food and would enjoy all the wonderful foods that he could since it was possible he might not be able to eat such delicious foods in a couple days.
Suwa reached a hand forward and poked Yuma's cheek. He avoided the cracks on his face as he just wanted to poke him near the cracks. Even though he didn't touch the crack, he saw them bend and protest at the pressure from his poke so he quickly pulled his hand back. "I can't believe you've been in a Trion body this whole time."
Right. Yuma had just blatantly walked into the cafeteria without any care of what his body looked like. Well, no, that wasn't completely true. He had the hood of his hoodie pulled up to cover the cracks as best he could so not everyone could see it, but Arafune and Suwa had decided to hound him when he came in. It was hard to hide this many cracks when Suwa and Arafune were sitting right across from him so they could see under his hood.
Yuma understood that Jin wasn't giving up the fight and it was likely the other agents weren't either. They would fight to the bitter end to end this attack, but Yuma didn't want any of his friends to feel any guilt if he died. Yuma wasn't going to hide. He never told anyone about his body before because it was no one's business, but if these were his last days, he wasn't going to waste them by hiding away from his friends. Jin saw through him and called him out on his lies. Yuma didn't want to die, but he wasn't going to hide from the fact that it was a very real possibility in the next couple of days. He was going to get any enjoyment he could get out of the next couple of days while silently hoping that Yugo and Mogami got defeated.
It was actually frustrating.
Here he was, injured and dying because of a mistake he made when he was a child. He couldn't activate any Triggers and he lost his Black Trigger. He was the one dying, but he couldn't help in the battle to prevent his own death. Yuma had been the one to say he would sit out of the battle from now on since he couldn't think in front of his father, but with his death getting closer and closer, Yuma was itching to get out of HQ. It was his life on the line. He didn't want to sit around and wait to be saved. It wasn't in his nature to be protected.
"How'd you get trapped in a Trion body anyway?" Arafune asked.
Yuma smiled at his friends. He knew they would be curious about that, but he could really appreciate the fact that neither of them were freaking out about the state of his body. They were just ready to accept anything and everything that was weird. "A Black Trigger assassin gave me some pretty bad injuries and the only way to save my life was for Dad to create a Black Trigger to seal my dying body inside it and create this Trion replica so I could continue living." He explained in the simplest way he could. They didn't need the full story of what happened back then.
Though, perhaps he should have offered up more details by the shocked stares that he was getting.
"You mean the Black Trigger that your father stole last night?" Arafune asked slowly as his head tried to wrap around the bombshell that Yuma just suddenly dropped on them. All the agents had been informed that Fujin and Yuma's Black Trigger had been stolen last night by the Mimics as Border was adamant the agents work on getting them back while also destroying the Mimics in the process.
Yuma hummed in reply.
Suwa dropped heavily into the seat across from Yuma, who seemed pretty unconcerned with the conversation as he continued to shovel his food in his mouth. He narrowed his eyes at the younger agent. Though he was acting calm and nonchalant about everything, Suwa didn't believe the act. With his dead father running around, his body falling to pieces, and losing his Black Trigger where his real body was locked away, no one could be so unconcerned with the state of things. "What does it mean to have your real body pulled away from you?"
"Means I can't get any nutrients to my real body." Yuma took a sip of his drink before motioning to his plate. "So, this meal is doing nothing for me. With my real body already severely injured, it requires a lot more nutrients than you guys do. If I don't get my ring back soon and start supplying my body with nutrients again, I am going to speed up my death significantly."
"And you're so calm because?" Arafune demanded sharpy. How could anyone be so callous, especially to his own state of affairs?
Yuma waved his cracked hand in the air. "My Black Trigger also supplies this body with Trion and allows it to heal, but as you can see, my body is all broken because the appearance of my dad has made the Black Trigger prioritize giving him Trion over me. If Dad isn't defeated soon, this body was going to fall to pieces and kill me anyway. Now I just have two ways to die in the next couple of days."
"So morbid." Suwa muttered, staring in disbelief as the kid in front of him. He knew Yuma was hardcore. That was obvious to everyone who had seen him in battle, but there had to be a limit for even Yuma. He couldn't just continue on with such a strong air of confidence forever. How much of what he showed everyone was real? From the small bit of details Yuma just told him, Suwa couldn't believe that the confident, strong fighter he showcased to everyone was all that made up Yuma.
"It's more of an incentive to get this finished faster." Arafune said, pushing away from the table, glancing over at Suwa. Arafune wasn't ready to sit around while an ally was dying. If there was a way to end this by destroying the Mimics, he was more than willing to try. Besides, he still hadn't gotten a chance to have his rematch against Yuma.
"Sounds fun. Now we just have to find him." Suwa replied.
Yuma blinked as he suddenly found himself alone at his table. He twisted his head around to watch Suwa and Arafune walking away while discussing how they could find Yugo. Well, at least they weren't letting last night's failure keep them down. Yuma would wish them all the luck in finding his father and Mogami. If Mogami was anything like his father, they wouldn't be found unless they wanted found. Yugo excelled quite well in hiding when he didn't want found.
*Mimics*
Yugo stretched his legs out in front of him as he relaxed on the bench. He stretched his arm out in front of him to look at the ring on his finger. It was finally his. After days of being in the city, he finally took his Black Trigger from his son. A part of him felt satisfaction for finally achieving his goal, the one thing he had wanted to accomplish. The other part of him was screaming in agony. Having this ring on him meant he had sealed his son's fate.
"A little late to be having regrets."
Yugo shifted his attention to the side to look at Mogami, who wasn't even looking at him as he was admiring Fujin and the fifteen wind blades that he had summoned. "I'm not allowed regrets. I did my job perfectly."
"Perfectly?" Mogami asked wryly, swinging Fujin down to his side as he turned to smirk at his old friend. "If that was true, you would have taken the ring from him the first day you arrived." His eyes drifted to the ring on Yugo's hand, smirk dropping away to a frown. He didn't know Yuma, but from the moment he had met up with Yugo the other night, he could see the conflict raging inside of his friend. It was easy to see because Mogami had been feeling the same conflict since he woke up and saw an older version of his student in front of him. "It would have been easier for you to do it then instead of going through that battle last night."
"You know why I didn't." Yugo tilted his head back to knock it against the wall behind him.
Mogami wasn't a mind reader so logically he shouldn't know what Yugo meant, but he did understand the meaning since the same feeling resounded in him. He didn't want Fujin, but his Trion Soldier programming pushed him towards wanting to get his hands on it no matter what. Getting his hands on it was the most important thing. Nothing else mattered. Border didn't matter to him. Jin didn't matter to him. The agents didn't matter. They were just nuisances that were getting in his way of getting Fujin.
None of that mattered now though as he had Fujin and Yugo had his ring. They accomplished their goals so they should have already left this world behind. There was nothing else important he–
Mogami's eyes widened in surprise as he stumbled forward, the grip on Fujin going slack as it began to tumble from his hand.
"Could you have found a more rundown building?"
"Could you be more negative?" Yugo retorted, though the grin never left his face as he proudly showed off the abandoned building that was in the middle of the river.
Mogami raised a brow as he took in the building that looked like it needed so much work done to it to keep it from falling apart. "You really want us to use this as a base?"
Yugo huffed in irritation at his friend. "It's a cheap building, Soichi, and we're broke college students. Did you expect me to pull funds out of nowhere to pay for a magnificent base? That would draw too much attention to us. Plus, being out on the river means we will have a great view of the stars."
"It's always about the stars with you." Kido said, shaking his head in amusement. "I swear, if we didn't come across Neighbors and the world beyond the Gate, you would have become an astronomer."
"Why am I friends with you two again?" Yugo grumbled to himself. "All this negativity is just depressing."
"Because we're the only ones who will entertain your insanity." Mogami said amused, knocking his shoulder into Yugo's to get his attention as he grinned at his friend. "You went to all this trouble to get us a base, so we'll use it since we have nothing else, but know this. If this building comes down on us and kills us all, I will haunt you in the afterlife."
"The building is not that decrepit." Yugo protested. "We just need to clean it up a bit and get it set up with Neighbor technology and we'll be good to go! Our friends from Aristera will be coming by when they are in range to help us learn more about their technology."
"Then we best get the building somewhat habitual so we aren't embarrassed by it." Kido said.
Yugo raised a brow, giving Kido an annoyed look before looking back at the old water facility he managed to acquire for them. It was a building on a river. It wasn't going to look the best after years of being there, but there was nothing wrong with the building itself. He had the building inspected to ensure it was safe. Cosmetically, yes, it did need some work but other than that, it was perfectly safe.
Upon entering the building, Mogami was pleasantly surprised at seeing the size of it. There was actually more room inside the building than what he was expecting. With the amount of space there was, they should have no problem setting up a space to train.
"How many training rooms do you think we should have?" Yugo asked.
"How many?" Mogami mused. "One should be enough. It's not like we're a large group."
"That won't do." Yugo argued, slapping his hands on the bar counter and locking eyes with his friend. "I can't have you snooping on me when I'm coming up with new ways to kill you."
"Like I would want to spy on you." Mogami retorted hotly. "I don't need to steal glances of your training to be able to beat you in a fight."
Yugo laughed. "Record is 24-20 in my favor."
Mogami's brow twitched in annoyance. He was already itching to grab his Trigger and throw it at Yugo's face. Not activate it and grab his sword. Just throw the Trigger itself straight at Yugo's stupid face.
"Besides," Yugo carried on, completely ignoring the bloodlust from Mogami that was filling the air. "We're going to get more allies one day." He leaned forward on the counter, seriousness dropping away so he could grin at Mogami who sat on the other side. "It's not going to be just us forever. We're going to find more people who want to make friends with the Neighbors like us and fight alongside us so we'll need more rooms to train in when they join us."
Seeing his friend's wide grin, Mogami forgot their rivalry for the moment to smirk at him. "Start out small and grow into a big organization, is it?"
"Everyone has got to start somewhere." Yugo replied, standing up straight suddenly and stretching his arms out. "And we start here. We work on learning more about Neighbors and studying their technology. Some day we will be able to get the funding and more members to allow us to grow. And once we get more funding, we should have the resources available to us so we can make trips to the Neighborhood!"
Mogami's smirk morphed into a grin at the enthusiasm. That was what they all wanted. From the moment they accidentally came across a Gate opening and meeting a Neighbor, they had been so excited about learning about the other world. It became their new obsession in college and honestly distracted them all from their classes. It was hard to concentrate on classes when they knew there was another world out there that they wanted to learn more about.
But for now...
"And how do you plan to do all that when we're trying to keep the existence of Neighbors a secret?" Mogami teased. "You just going to start kidnapping people and try to brainwash them into joining Border?"
"There's an idea." Yugo said, looking like he was seriously considering it that Mogami did a doubletake. He locked eyes with Mogami for a moment and the two stared at each other for a few seconds before Yugo broke and he was grinning back at Mogami. "I'm sure we can find people who will feel the same about Neighbors as us. Someday, we're going to have a lot of allies by our sides."
As much as he teased his friend, Mogami was just as excited at the prospect of making a secret organization that they could dedicate their lives to. Having been friends with Yugo since they were kids, he could say that neither of them expected they would forego the dreams of their youth and choose this path.
Perhaps it was a path that their parents wouldn't like their kids taking, but to their group, that didn't matter. This was their choice, and Yugo always said that everyone had to make their choices. Each person had their own beliefs and morals and with those came the ability for everyone to decide for themselves on what they wanted.
Yugo glanced over at his friend in surprise when he collapsed to knees. "Soichi?" He called, pushing himself to his feet, warily looking around the station they were hiding out in. He didn't see any Trion spilling from Mogami so it didn't seem likely that he got hit by an attack, but if not an attack, then what caused him to collapse?
It was stupid to come back to this station. It was fine for the first night that he and Mogami met up, but it wasn't a spot they should have come back to after last night's battle. It was actually something that Yugo would normally never do, but he felt compelled to come back here. For what, he didn't know, but considering he couldn't currently open any Gates and he already got what he wanted from Yuma, there was nothing to do but sit around and wait until he could open the Gates.
Now, though, it seemed that wouldn't be the case. He glanced at Mogami again. He would say he was unconscious, but Fujin still laid activated by his side.
"Ah, man, this brings back memories."
Shun and Osamu glanced at Yoneya with frowns as he stood very openly on the roof, one foot planted on the ledge as he used his hand to create shade for his eyes. His other hand held his spear which he had resting on his shoulder. His full attention though was in the distance as he eyed the train station.
"Are you trying to be seen?" Shun demanded. He was crouched down to hide behind the ledge, but his head was popped over to stare at the station as well, but at least he was making himself smaller.
"It's fine. We're going to go charging in there anyway." Yoneya said.
"I would prefer he didn't see us before we did that though." Shun argued. "You've never fought him before! He's a menace! We need the element of surprise on our side!"
Yoneya waved off Shun's concern. "I've fought Kuga before. I know the kind of menace he is. And after the last few days of Kuga being an enemy to Border, I'm certain being a menace just runs in the family at this point.
Leaving the two to squabble, Osamu took in the familiar train station. The last time he had been here, Miwa squad had been attacking Yuma with the intent to kill him. Despite the seriousness of that fight, Osamu almost wished it was that time again. Compared to this situation, that day was a lot easier to handle than this.
With how far away from the station they were, it was hard to make out too much, but he could clearly see two figures in the station. To his confusion, one of them was collapsed on the ground currently. From what he was told, when a transformed Mimic died, they didn't revert back to their true Mimic forms but stayed in the form they stole. It was possible the one on the ground had died, but Osamu didn't think that was very likely. They both just got hold of their Black Triggers last night and escaped the battle without any serious injuries, though even if they did get hurt, they would have just healed anyway.
"One of them being down makes things easier for us." Yoneya said, glancing over at Osamu. "So, how do you want to do this, Captain Four-eyes?"
"We should have brought a sniper with us." Shun said.
"A sniper wouldn't be able to hit him." Osamu muttered, recalling the complaints from Toma and the other snipers all week about Yugo blocking all of their shots. Yugo had been very good at shielding from snipes, even when they should have been in his blind spot. He knew Yuma said it was just because he was that experienced in the field, but Osamu has seen their snipers in action. They were all so very good at hiding and making sure no one knew where they were at before taking the shot. Yugo was good, but he was not perfect. No one was. At least one of the snipers should have gotten through his defenses.
"Mimics can't really see in their shadow forms so how do they find their targets?"
"You said they locate Trion bodies and since your body is a Trion one, that's why you're worried, right?" Osamu asked.
"But how do Mimics find the Trion bodies?" Yuma stressed. "Unless you have a radar, you can't locate anyone, so how do Mimics? They don't quite use radar. Instead, it's more of a form of echolocation."
"Echolocation is the location of objects through sound. Bats and dolphins use it to get around." Osamu replied.
Yuma nodded. "What the Mimics do is very similar to that. It doesn't seem that it has changed since they were first created. They don't really use sound though. They use Trion to send out waves to locate Trion bodies and their range is far, probably the whole city. It's the only thing that can explain how they found me yesterday."
Osamu's eyes snapped back to attention towards the train station. To his horror, he saw that Yugo was turned towards the building they were standing on. Osamu couldn't tell if he had seen them, but considering he was looking this way, he wasn't willing to be too optimistic. "Do the same thing when you fought Kuga. Just walk right up to him and confront him." Osamu felt himself say as he deactivated his bagworm. "A sneak attack will never work against him."
Shun and Yoneya glanced over at him in surprise.
"If you recall, when we attacked Kuga that day, we failed and he wasn't even trying." Yoneya pointed out.
"Mimics can locate Trion bodies. I have a feeling that is true even when they are transformed like this. We can only attack directly." Osamu explained. "No point in wasting time on a sneak attack if it won't work."
"Sounds good to me." Yoneya replied. "Sneaking around like this isn't really my forte."
Bagworm deactivating, Shun lifted his hand as he activated his Grasshopper. "Whoever lands the first attack, gets lunch bought by the others." He declared before he was propelling himself through the air straight for the train station, leaving Osamu and Yoneya alone on the roof.
It was truly optimistic of Shun to believe they could land a hit on Yugo. It was the reason they came looking for Kuga Yugo, but considering all the frustration he was hearing around HQ the past few days about him, Osamu doubted it was going to be that easy to hit him, let alone defeat him.
"I'm always down for a race." Yoneya said as he threw himself off the building, even though there was no way for him to catch up with someone using Grasshopper.
"I can see why they're friends with Kuga." Osamu mumbled to himself. Did either one of them even have a plan for when they reached Yugo? He would assume they were both moving recklessly if he didn't already know how skilled each of them was. Considering these two were essential in taking down Ranbanein in Aftokrator's invasion, he was going to trust them. They may act carefree just like Yuma does, but when push comes to shove, he knew they could be relied on.
Yugo's sword tore free of its sheath to block Shun's Scorpion. Shun twisted in the air as he called a second Scorpion to his free hand which he swung at Yugo's face. Yugo took a step back while leaning his head back, watching as the Scorpion's tip soared just a few centimeters pass his eyes. He twisted his sword around to knock Shun's Scorpion away to free himself and jump away from the young agent.
"Attacking head on. I didn't think Border agents would be so foolish." Yugo said.
Shun landed lightly and jumped back a couple of steps. He turned to the side so he could keep an eye on Yugo but also take a glance at Mogami who was still lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. That really was a strange sight. He didn't think there was anything that could take out these Mimics except for them actually killing them.
Seeing that Mogami didn't seem to be getting up any time soon, Shun's eyes focused solely on Yugo. "I told you before!" Shun snapped, pointing his Scorpion at Yugo. "I won't let you kill Yuma-senpai! And seeing how much you have already hurt him, I'm not playing around here."
Yugo stared at the young agent. His attention was drawn to the kid's eyes. Those eyes were filled with a mix of anger and intense focus. He remembered fighting this young agent a few nights ago. In just a few days, the determination and anger in him had grown so much. "Did you ever talk to him?" He asked curiously.
Shun faltered for a moment. He hadn't expected Yugo to remember, let alone bring up, what was spoken that night. "I did." He admitted. "And what I learned is that nothing about you is real! The man I heard about from Yuma-senpai is someone to be admired. The one I see standing before me is nothing like that man. Attacking your organization, stealing the Black Triggers, hurting your son...no, Yuma-senpai. You don't even deserve to be referred to as his father even if you have his face."
That one certainly strung, but Yugo had no time to reply as he twisted to the side suddenly, bringing his sword swinging down. Before the blade could hit Yoneya, he halted his own attack to dodge. Since he was dodging in the middle of an attack, he was off balanced so when he threw himself to the side, he tumbled on the ground and ended up falling off the platform and falling onto the tracks below.
"Smooth." Shun commented, glancing down at the sprawled-out agent.
"Shut up." Yoneya pushed himself to his feet, turning his bagworm off as he scooped his spear back up. "I think Mikumo's theory was right. He should have never seen me coming."
An amused smile pulled at Yugo's lips, allowing the harsh words from Shun to wash off of him. He couldn't let himself be distracted by thoughts of his son right now. "Since you two are trying so hard," He said, drawing both agents' attention back to him. He grabbed the hilt of his second sword and pulled it free. "I'll go all out from the start."
Instead of giving Yugo any time to set up anything, Shun and Yoneya moved at the same time, charging straight for Yugo. Neither one of their attacks managed to hit as Yugo was blocking each of them and then smiling at them. "Takumi-kun and Masafumi-kun are a lot faster than you two."
"Addressing our directors so casually." Yoneya said, eyes narrowed at Yugo. He knew there was history between the directors and Yugo, but this just didn't feel right to him.
"That's just weird!" Shun shouted before he was propelling himself to behind Yoneya with a Grasshopper before using another to wrap around him as he aimed for Yugo's head. A shield met his blade. Through the shield, over Yugo's head, Shun met Yoneya's eyes. Shun made the bet, but he didn't truly care who got the first strike on Yugo. Yuma couldn't find the strength to fight his father so they would do it for him.
Shun bounced himself away with a grasshopper. Yugo's eyes followed him for half a second before flashing back to Yoneya. With Shun out of the way, Yoneya had free range to thrust his spear straight for Yugo's heart. Going for the throat rarely got him kills from experienced fighters and going for limbs would only result in little Trion loss. They didn't have time to do this slowly. Yoneya was aiming to kill today.
The Shield that popped up from Yugo was expected, just as Shun expected it when Yoneya's spear tip warped to extend around the Shield. What neither agent expected was for Yugo's sword to come up to block the surprise attack that should have been too fast for him to react to. "I've already seen your swords change shape." Yugo said before his foot was buried in Yoneya's stomach, sending him flying backwards.
Yoneya went tumbling backwards. He only stopped when he slammed into Mogami, flipping over the downed Mimic. "I would say sorry for falling on you, but I'm honestly not a fan of either of you right now." He muttered, staring up at the roof of the station with a scowl. Yes, Yugo had seen Scorpion blades alter shape, but his Kogetsu spear was nothing like a Scorpion. He supposed it was possible that Yugo was just on the lookout for any surprises in their Triggers now. "I do not have good luck in this station."
Shun propelled himself at Yugo with Grasshopper, launching himself around Yugo as he took multiple swings at Yugo each time he got near him, though each attack was blocked. No one was perfect though. He just had to get Yugo to make a mistake that would allow him to get through his defenses.
Shun jumped backwards, skidding across the ground as he dodged a swing of Yugo's sword. A Grasshopper appeared behind his foot to launch himself forward once more. As he approached Yugo, instead of going for another attack, he used another Grasshopper to fling himself above Yugo, locking eyes with the Mimic as he flipped over him.
In that same moment, five Senku slashes were soaring through the air. Shun brought an arm up to his chest to activate his Shield as he hit the ground behind Yugo. Yugo glanced forward just in time to hold his hand up in response. "Shield, Triple."
Miwa readied his gun with his bullets. "Just give up and die already." He said, pointing his gun at Yuma.
Yosuke's eyes narrowed in response and he was lunging forward, thrusting his spear at Yuma, who glanced at him to dodge before he was quickly looking back at Miwa to throw up his hand. "Shield!"
Yoneya's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he took in the relaxed expression on Yugo's face. There were differences, but he could see the influence that Yugo had on the way his son fought. Even if he compared how Yugo and Yuma fought to see where the similarities lied, it wouldn't help them win this fight. There were enough differences that would get them killed if they expected him to move in the same way as Yuma in every instance.
In the first place, Yuma was a lot more agile and flexible when he fought. Yugo seemed to be quite sturdy and rigid. It was hard to get him to move from the spot he planted himself. In fact, Yoneya noticed that in all his attacks and blocks, he only moved one foot to angle himself to defend. His other foot was kept quite solidly locked where he positioned himself from Shun's first attack.
That just wasn't acceptable.
With no warning, the roof above Yugo shattered from the impact of bullets slamming into it, attracting everyone's attention. Through the falling rubble and raining bullets, which Yugo was defending from with his Shield, Osamu came down, swinging his Raygust down on Yugo. Yugo went to step back, but the mix of the falling rubble and bullets made it hard to move away. Still, he was able to get enough space to avoid any serious damage from Osamu. He got away with only getting a cut on his arm.
"Geez, he senses us coming, but you can sneak up on him?" Yoneya complained. It was only a small cut he got, but it was still an injury. That meant he and Shun owed him lunch. At least he and Shun could pull their money together to pay for it.
Yugo's foot landed solidly back on the ground. His hand came up to his chest to show a seal activating. Recognizing the Bolt seal, Osamu backtracked, shifting his blade to his Shield mode. To his surprise, when the bullets were unleashed, they traveled towards Osamu and Yoneya, but half of them also twisted around Yugo to head to Shun behind him.
Shun propelled himself backwards with Grasshopper before deactivating all his Triggers so he could activate a focus Shield around himself to survive the attack.
Even as he was blocking Shinoda's attacks, it seemed he was laying down traps to either attack Shinoda with or because he was waiting for Rindo to move. Either way, it didn't matter as the seal planted on the ground between Rindo and Shinoda activated and shot bullets out of the ground. They should have just gone straight upwards if it was Bolt, but instead, the bullets were twisting and changing trajectory as they launched out of the seal, all directed at Rindo's Salamander.
Yoneya smirked. "Already saw that one." He declared as his and Osamu's Shields connected to defend themselves from the bullets raining down on them. If Kuga Yugo thought for one second the agents weren't watching every single one of his fights after the fact, he had another thing coming. They were not taking any of this lightly.
During his barrage of Viper on the agents, Yugo jumped off the platform to move down to the tracks. He turned on his heel and watched the agents survive his attack. He would have to hand it to Shinoda and the others. They did quite a good job of training their agents.
That training didn't matter though. While these agents were skilled, he could see it in their movements. Every agent he had fought in the past few days gave him the chance to see it. None of them had been fighters for a long time. While they were certainly skilled for their young age, they lacked experience, and that was what he could exploit.
*Mimics*
Resting his arms on the ledge, Yuma stared out the window at the Restricted Zone. The order to have no Trion bodies in the city was still in affect which meant Yuma couldn't head into the city, which considering the state his body was currently in, it wouldn't be a good idea anyway. Even if he took the city out of the equation, the Restricted Zone wasn't an option for Yuma either. Without being able to use a Trigger and with his father still out there, he would get killed real easily.
A groan escaped Yuma as he dropped his head onto the window. Here he was, seriously damaged and running out of time with no guarantee that he would survive to see next week, and he couldn't even do anything fun like have rank matches with his friends since he lacked his Border Trigger and because they were all busy trying to hunt down the Mimics. Osamu and the others were running around trying to find Yugo and Jin was obsessing over the video logs of the fights with Mogami and Yugo in preparation for another fight.
The sound of heels clicking across the floor had Yuma turning his head slightly on the window to see Kako in the hall. At least it was someone who knew about the damage to his body and not more trainees wandering around.
"Ah, not hanging out at the ranks booths today?" Kako said by way of greeting when she caught Yuma's eyes.
Yuma gingerly touched a hand to the cracks on his face that his hood was doing the best to hide. "Don't really want the C-Ranks to see this. Besides, I can't activate a trigger right now. Don't even have a Border Trigger either so there really isn't a point to going there."
Hearing the boy's depressed tone, Kako smiled grimly. She turned to sit on the ledge next to the younger agent as he moved his eyes back to looking out the window.
"Besides, a lot of my friends are running around the Restricted Zone right now as they try to find the Mimics." Yuma added. He assumed that even Arafune and Suwa had run out there by now after their conversation earlier.
Kako stared down at the shadowed face. She could only see part of his face because of the hood, but no matter how much Yuma tried to hide it, it was hard to hide all of those cracks covering his face. Perhaps a part of him didn't care too much if they weren't hidden completely. Wandering around HQ was surely better than lying in the lab waiting for either death to claim him or for the agents to defeat Yugo. It sounded like a horrible experience to be forced to wait for the outcome to be decided without him being able to do anything to change it. "Who all knows about your situation?"
"Probably everyone. I'm not exactly hiding my face from the official agents anymore." Yuma mumbled.
That was something Kako knew fairly well. The official agents had no qualms about approaching Yuma now that he was awake and moving around. "Yes, you are letting them figure out you are in a Trion body, but I was referring to your past about why you are in this situation. About what your father did for you to save your life."
That seemed to be enough to wake Yuma up from his depressed, bored state as he was snapping up straight, head swiveling around to look directly at Kako. "Who told you about that?" He demanded. He may have told Arafune and Suwa earlier since there was no point in lying about it now that the damage was becoming so visible, but he knew for certain, he had told nothing to Kako.
"Oh my," Kako said, surprised at the reaction. "Jin told Arashiyama and I the other day when we figured out you were in a Trion body all the time." She smiled sympathetically at the boy when a sour expression was the reply she got. "I'm surprised Jin didn't tell you."
"We've been arguing a lot lately and if we're not arguing, we're talking about the Mimics." Yuma admitted, looking away from the captain. "I guess it was something he didn't think he needed to tell me even in passing. Even though he had no right to tell you."
"He told us the bare minimum." Kako replied softly. "He didn't want to betray your privacy, but since we already knew about the Trion body, he agreed to let us know why you are in one, but he didn't tell us why you got into such an injured state that it was necessary."
Yuma stared out the window, unblinking as instead of the seeing the city, he was seeing himself back in Calvaria, staring in shock and fear at the assassin towering over him. He didn't even have a chance to think of how he had made a mistake and should have listened to his father. The Black Trigger assassin was so fast and didn't know the meaning of mercy.
When the silence began to drag on, Kako leaned down to look more clearly at Yuma's face. The hood was casting shadows over his eyes, but the light in the hallway and the sunlight shining in through the windows was making it easy for her to catch sight of the hurt shining in those eyes. "Kuga-kun? I'm sorry, did I bring up bad memories?"
Yuma shook his head before taking a step back to get some space between him and Kako. "It's not you. Everything with the Mimics and Dad being here has thrown me off all week. It's making it hard to think about the past." He brought a hand up to ruffle his hair with a sigh, which knocked his hood down, giving Kako the full view of the cracks covering the left side of his face and traveling down his to his neck and continuing on under his clothes.
Seeing those cracks in full view had Kako's stomach churning. It looked like their Trion bodies when they were low on Trion so their bodies weren't able to hold out much longer so they began to crack. The difference was that when their bodies broke, they got booted back to their operation's room in HQ. When Yuma's body finally broke, they would be met with the eleven year old body that had been torn to shreds five years ago.
"It was a Black Trigger assassin." Yuma said, not able to find the energy to care about hiding it. It was already pretty obvious he was in a Trion body and she knew about the state of his real body, so what was the use of more secrets? He hopped onto the window seal next to Kako, tilting his head back onto the cool glass. "I was fighting in a war in the Neighborhood and the opposing side hired a Black Trigger assassin. For what reason? I can only take educated guesses, but truly, the reason doesn't matter. Dad told me to stay out of the battle while the assassin was around and like every other kid, I was overconfident and just vying for a fight so I went out to fight and found the assassin. He tore through my Trion body quickly and from there, my real body met his claws. There is no mercy in the Neighborhood, not even to children." He turned his head on the window so he could meet Kako's shocked eyes, but underneath that shock, Yuma could see the warmth and sympathy hidden in them. He knew she was just being kind, but the pity was the last thing Yuma wanted so he looked away towards the other end of the hall. "I was bleeding out very fast. It's shocking that I survived long enough for Dad to find me. And you should know what happened from there."
"A Black Trigger was created. A life for a life." Kako said.
Yuma nodded, eyes sliding shut. Even with his eyes shut, he could still see his father's smile and the promise to save him resounding in his ears. It was a far cry from the words his father spoke last night when he wanted nothing more than to get his hands on the Black Trigger to sustain his life.
"And now he's taken that Black Trigger back to get his life back." Kako continued. "It's strange how different the Mimic is from the real Kuga Yugo. I thought Mimics were supposed to be masters of deception. So, why is it that the one of Kuga Yugo is so obviously fake?"
Fake. Obviously fake.
Kuga Yugo gave his life up to save his only son's life.
Kuga Yugo stole the Black Trigger from his son, essentially killing his son.
"Is it fake?" Yuma questioned. "I forced Dad into making an impossible choice. What if the Mimic is just bringing out his real feelings about the matter?"
Kako's brows rose in surprise, not expecting the doubt and uneasiness from the usually very confident agent. Her expression softened a moment a later. Despite the confidence and strength he radiated, Yuma went through a huge amount of trauma and never got the chance to get the answers he likely needed about everything that happened to him. The only one who could give him the reassurance he needed was Kuga Yugo, but that was also impossible. Kako would not trust a Mimic of that man to give Yuma what he needed. So, that only left option they could go with. "I never knew your father, Kuga-kun. I know the directors knew him when he was a member of Border, but the man they knew isn't the one you know."
It was Yuma's turn to glance over at Kako in surprise.
"Because the one they knew was a fellow agent of Border. The Kuga Yugo you knew was a father. Before he was a soldier, he was a father to a great kid, and that kid is the only one who can find the answer to that question." Kako explained. "Is the man you knew as a father capable of hating his son for making one mistake?"
Yuma tilted his head down, taking in their feet. Kako's feet which rested on the ground and Yuma's feet which were dangling in the air since he was too small to have his feet reach the ground while sitting on the window seal. The short statute being a result of that single, misguided move which cost him everything.
"Yuma!"
Yuma turned halfway around, a huge smile on his face, cloak flapping in the wind. He caught his father's eyes and slowed down enough so that his father could catch up to him. Once his father was near, Yuma took a hold of his hand and began to tug him along in the crowded streets.
"How many times have I told you to not run off?" Yugo scolded.
"I have Replica with me." Yuma replied, blinking up innocently at his father. "He would keep me safe."
Yugo shook his head.
Yuma glanced over to the side, taking in the market with excited eyes. "Besides, you move too slow. I want to see what this country has to offer."
"Then you should slow down and take in all the sights." Yugo replied, pulling Yuma to a halt so he could scoop his young son into his arms. They had been traveling through the Neighborhood for two years now and Yuma still couldn't hold in his excitement. Each new country they traveled to filled Yuma with a new level of energy as he felt the drive to explore every inch of the country.
While he wanted his son to be careful, Yugo would never ask his son to reign in his excitement. It gave Yugo his own sense of joy to see the smile on Yuma's face. It was a sharp contrast to the tears and fear his son had when they had to leave Tropoi and he had to explain that his mother was dead.
"I am taking in the sights."
"You're running past everything." Yugo retorted easily as he turned down an alley and walked to next road over to reveal a huge group of people gathered. A unique tone filled the air that was somehow a mix of soothing but also energetic. Yugo tossed his son up to his shoulders so he could see through the crowd better at the two women dancing in the center of the crowd. They had little space to move as the crowd was big, but they were somehow managing to twist and turn pass each other without once bumping into each other as their elegant dance continued.
Yuma watched in fascination as the two suddenly moved so they were leaning towards one another, the smiles on their faces so open and honest as they met each other's eyes before they were twisting away and facing the crowd, throwing their arms in the air and suddenly flowers were raining down on the crowd. Yuma looked up towards the sky in surprise at the flower petals dancing through the air.
"It seems there is a festival going on this week." Yugo explained, dropping his son down from his shoulders so he could smile at his son. "We spend all our time traveling and training, so how about we take the next few days off and see what this country has to offer in the ways of their culture? I'm sure this festival will be quite fun."
"No training?"
Yugo laughed, ruffling Yuma's fluffy black hair. "There's more to life than fighting, Yuma. I've been pushing you so hard these last couple of years. We've earned the chance to relax here."
The grin that Yugo got in reply was everything that he needed. Just to know his son was happy. He had been pushing Yuma so hard in training because he knew that the training would be what would keep his son safe, but he couldn't forget everything else. His son was still a child and he deserved the chance to have fun and enjoy what life had to offer.
Having his son turn to him with begging eyes as he pointed at the nearby food stall had Yugo caving so fast. The cheer he got in reply when Yuma got hold of his snack was like music to his ears.
It wasn't sad this time, but it wasn't happy either. It looked more like nostalgic longing in Yuma's eyes. Kako would consider that a win. It was a lot better than his depressed state. "Did you find your answer?"
"He wanted me to have fun." Yuma said, turning to look out the window at the Restricted Zone. "I'm not having fun though."
A Mimic of Kuga Yugo was torturing him, mentally and physically. Even if they managed to defeat Yugo and save Yuma in the process, the scars of what occurred this week were already forming. If the answer that Yuma came up with was fun, then that was what Kako would do. Yugo wanted a happy son. She prayed that they managed to stop Yugo and save Yuma so he could remember the fun times, but for now, she would bring a smile to this boy's face before Jin's prediction came true.
A real smile.
"It seems I have found the perfect opportunity." Kako declared suddenly, confusing Yuma enough to look back at her as her statement didn't seem to match their conversation. "To kidnap you for my team."
Yuma could only blink in surprise as Kako snatched his arm and yanked him off the window seal. Even as she dragged him down the hall, Kako looked at him out of the corner of her eye to make sure he was okay. She didn't see any cracks on his right hand which was why she grabbed that arm and his expression never changed from his shocked one so she assumed he was okay.
"I think my team will have something to say about this." Yuma teased, but let himself be dragged down the hall by the laid-back captain. Something about her easy-going attitude that could shift to serious and then back to relaxed reminded him of Jin. Perhaps that was the reason he felt at ease in her presence even back when they first met and they started this kidnapping joke.
"They'll have to find you to be able to say anything." Kako grinned at Yuma. "Oh." Without breaking their stride, Kako reached back and pulled Yuma's hood back up. It was best not to chance it that they might run into some trainees on their way to her squad's operation room.
*Mimics*
He had moved from the spot he stationed himself at on his own, but Yoneya had a feeling Yugo would just pull the same nonsense and refuse to move from the tracks as the makeshift team of agents tried to destroy him. Yoneya did always enjoy a challenge.
"Just because you know a move, it doesn't mean you can always survive it." Yugo said.
Having fought Yuma and seen him in enough matches, the last thing Yoneya would do was take the one who trained the White Nightmare lightly, which was why Yoneya was scooping up rubble with his spear and launching it at Yugo.
Anything to break his concentration.
Or get him to move.
Whichever came first, honestly.
Instead of dodging the rubble, Yugo was slicing through it and knocking it to the side with his blades. With him being busy with the rubble, Shun was throwing himself around the station with Grasshopper. He understood what Osamu's theory was saying about the Mimics having no blind spots, but overwhelming an opponent and attacking from their worst angles was still a viable option.
While the two A-Ranks put pressure on Yugo, Osamu was watching the fight closely, mind moving quickly as he thought. There was a difference. It was hard to see in the chaos of battle and how fast he used the seals, but Osamu always paid close attention to when Yuma fought. There was always something more he could learn by observing closely. Rindo and Shinoda said Yugo had started to use Hound and Viper. It was Viper that Yugo had just used against them, but it looked like the Bolt seal, same color and shape. Like Border's bullet triggers, it was impossible to decipher which one it was until it was already upon them.
That wasn't quite true though.
The symbol in the seal was quite similar to a Bolt seal, but there were minute differences in their design. Hard to see in the fast-paced environment of a fight, but not impossible to pick out.
He knew the Bolt seal. He saw the difference with the Viper seal.
So, when the Bolt seal appeared again, Osamu was already scanning for the differences. Anything that was slightly off in the seal to distinguish it from the others.
"It's Hound!" Osamu shouted in warning.
Shun abruptly changed from using his Shield to using Grasshopper to fling himself away from the bullets that were tracking him. The only way to stop Hound was to get the bullets to detonate. They got lucky earlier with Viper not shattering their Shields as Yuma did say before that the Black Trigger seals were a lot more powerful. They needed to be cautious of these seals breaking through their Shields.
The green bullets that met Yugo's were a surprise, but not an unwelcome one as they blew up against each other, giving Shun the chance to land on the platform opposite of Osamu and Yoneya.
"He makes it hard to get near him." Yoneya said.
"His defense is impeccable." Osamu agreed, lowering his hand with a sigh of relief as Shun made it through the attack without injury.
"Eh, I've seen better." Yoneya said, surprising Osamu. "You never watched the footage of the fight with the Black Trigger user who broke into HQ? It's an amazing fight." He smirked over at the young Captain. "And then there was the guy with the animal shaped bullets. It doesn't matter how strong the defense is, there is always a way to break through it."
Osamu blinked at his friend before smiling. "True."
A single shot suddenly rained out through the station. The bullet slammed into a Shield that had formed by Yugo's head.
All eyes shifted in the direction the shot came from to see Miwa standing on the tracks with his gun still pointed at Yugo's head.
"There won't be any arguments this time while I kill the Neighbor, will there be, Mikumo?"
