A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 36: My World

"Ah, did Kako-san finally succeed in kidnapping you?" An said by way of greeting with an easy smile as Kako dragged the Tamakoma-2 Attacker through the door.

Yuma's eyes shifted around the squad room, taking in every inch of the room before his eyes focused on the operator that had risen from her desk at their entrance. "Hi."

An grinned at the short agent. "Kobayakawa An. Nice to meet you, Kuga-kun."

Now that the agent was in her squad's room, Kako released Yuma's arm and moved over to the mini fridge they had in the corner. "Do you want a drink, Kuga-kun?"

"Sure." Yuma replied.

While Kako worked on getting their guest a drink, An smiled softly at Yuma. "Are you doing okay, Kuga-kun?"

In the privacy of an A-Rank squad's room, Yuma pushed his hood down, unconcerned with showing the operator his cracked face and smiled back at her. "I'm fine."

An raised a brow as her eyes scanned over Yuma's cracked face. His smile did match the broken parts of his body. He might smile easily, but the condition of his body spoke of another story that he kept secret for a long time. The Mimics were hindering him in keeping his secrets though. "I suppose that was a bad question for me to ask. With everything that has been going on this week, you aren't going to be okay."

Yuma scratched his cheek. "It has been a hard week, but I really am okay. I'm prepared for anything at this point."

A cold can was suddenly placed against his forehead that had Yuma flinching back in surprise. He looked up at Kako as he took the offered drink from her. She smiled sadly at Yuma as she opened her own drink. "You shouldn't have to prepare yourself to die in the next couple of days. I'm sorry you have to go through this."

Yuma just shrugged in reply, playing with the tab of his can. "It was my own fault that I ended up in this position. I really can't complain about anything."

Kako glanced at her operator, sharing an unsure look with her. Making one mistake years ago shouldn't mean that he had to die or that he shouldn't be upset about it.

"Futaba is in the training room." An said suddenly, moving back around her desk to check on their young attacker and to try to move away from a heavy topic. This week had been hard enough for Yuma. If she could distract him from that for just a moment, she would try.

"Oh? What is she doing in there?" Kako asked.

"She wanted to practice her Idaten." An replied. "She wants to try to come up with some new predetermined trajectories to give herself more variety of how to move in battle."

Yuma perked up at the conversation topic change. He stopped playing with his can and snapped it open as he glanced over at An. "What is Idaten?" He asked before taking a sip of his drink.

"Come over here." An waved Yuma around her desk so he could see the video feed from the training room.

Yuma set his can down on the desk so he could lean down on it as he watched Futaba's body flicker before she was moving at lightning speed, leaving behind a luminous trail in her wake. Her body moved quickly along a set trajectory, striking at the Trion Soldier model multiple times from different angles. Yuma whistled in appreciation. "That looks dangerous." He said, though his mind was already thinking of possibilities of how he would beat it. An had called it 'predetermined trajectories' so that told Yuma she couldn't change her movement once she had started using Idaten. That would mean that if she used the same movement each time, she could be read which means she could be blocked and countered.

"Most agents know she has it so they plan ways to counter it if they have to fight her." Kako said, smiling at the intrigued look in Yuma's eyes. He really did seem like a fighting maniac with how he was always ready to plan a counter. "But our enemies won't expect to see it coming. She can use it a few times before they figure out how to counter her. That's what happened in Galopoula's invasion."

"Can she handle a lot of different trajectories?" Yuma mused. "I know with Viper, most of the agents can only handle learning a few predetermined routes for the bullets."

"I think Futaba can handle at least two, maybe three, predetermined trajectories with Idaten. That's what the practice is for." Kako replied.

Yuma looked up from the computer to glance at Kako. "That few?" He said surprised.

"She only had one trajectory before so adding just one more would be really good for her. What do you think? Is it a Trigger you would be interested in?" Kako asked with a grin.

"Nope," Yuma replied instantly, shooting a smile back at Kako. Her predatory nature to recruit him by any means were still very amusing. "I prefer having complete control over my body in battle. Putting yourself in a position where you can't change how you move for a moment leaves you wide open." He looked back at the computer to see Futaba moving again on the next Trion Soldier that An had programmed into the training room. "If she can have at least two, she can make the enemy hesitate in battle as he won't be sure which path she will be taking."

"That is her reasoning behind this. She took some bad damage during Galopoula's invasion because she used the same trajectory too much." Kako replied. "I would invite you to fight her to test out her new trajectories, but..."

"I lost my Border Trigger." Yuma rubbed the back of his head. And his body was too damaged for him to safely use a Trigger anyway. "Perhaps when this is all over and Kinuta-san has managed to replace my Trigger, I can fight her."

Kako grinned, glad that Yuma was talking of the future that could happen if he survived this attack. There was no guarantee that Yuma would survive pass the next few days, but she liked hearing him talk of the future more than how he was prepared to die. It showed that he wasn't just going to let himself die without a fight even if he was trying to mentally prepare himself for it. It gave them strength when the one who was dying was going to try to fight to survive.

*Mimics*

There was a new power flowing through him the moment he got the ring from his son. Acquiring his Black Trigger had been his only goal since coming to Mikado City. All the rest, attacking the agents, seeing his son, invading the city with his Trion Soldiers, they were all just a means to an end. Getting the Black Trigger was the most important thing to him.

"You've been here for days, and yet, you haven't killed him." Mogami pointed out.

"Because I don't need to strike him down. He'll be dead soon enough." Yugo replied.

The order to get his Black Trigger back had been assaulting him for days, burning the blood traveling through his veins. It was something that he needed to accomplish quickly because he knew getting his ring back would help clear the fog in his mind, but Mogami was right. It had been days since he came here and he had so many opportunities to take it from Yuma, so many chances to end his son's life and just take the ring. This could have ended so much sooner.

Why did he wait so long to take it?

Staring down at his palm where the ring was sitting, Yugo could feel the tension in his being begin to relax. There was no longer a ringing in his ears screaming for him to get a hold of the Black Trigger. It was finally in his possession which meant he could fully drain the Trion and life force that had been poured into it to make it his own once more. With it no longer attached to Yuma, it would no longer be pulling double duty of trying to sustain Yuma's body and trying to give the Trion back to Yugo. Now, it would all belong to Yugo.

It felt wrong though.

It shouldn't be feeling wrong.

This was the Black Trigger that Yugo created years ago. He knew that for certain so why did it feel so wrong to be holding onto it? This Trigger was going to give him the means to survive forever. It would be like his death never happened.

"Oyaji!"

Yugo's head snapped up, leaving him to stare blankly ahead of him as his sweet son's voice echoed in his ears. His son wasn't out here. He had left him abandoned inside the lab, looking so defeated as his father chose a Black Trigger over him. Both of them knew that without the Black Trigger that Yuma wouldn't survive for long, especially with the current state his body was in.

Yuma always had to die.

Yugo knew this when he realized his mission was to retrieve his Black Trigger so he could fully siphon the Trion and life force. It would end up destroying the Black Trigger, so even if Yuma wasn't already in such a bad state, he would have died anyway once the Black Trigger broke from being fully drained.

That was something that Yugo was going to have to accept. The part of him that was a Mimic was fueled by the desire to make sure his life could always continue. Yuma's life was not more important than him successfully finishing his mission.

The Black Trigger hummed in his hand, drawing Yugo's eyes back to it. Even without it on his son, this Trigger stilled housed his real son's body. The body that was gravely wounded. The body that was sealed away for five years with the injuries being bandaged by Trion to slow down Yuma's death.

It was a Black Trigger that Yugo created, but it didn't belong to him.

There was only one person who should ever be allowed to activate this Black Trigger, and it wasn't Yugo.

Using his spear, Yoneya knocked the arm into the air and caught it, grinning in triumph as he held his trophy. "I believe this belongs to our friend."

"Kuga is not my friend." Miwa snapped.

Yugo stared at the arguing agents. The one holding his hand was waving it in the air towards his captain.

"Ally then. You came all the way out here for him." Yoneya said.

"I came out here because my idiot teammate just recklessly charged in." Miwa snapped. "I don't care what happens to Kuga."

"I care what happens to him." Shun said, propelling himself over Hyuse's Escudos with his Grasshopper now that the bullets have stopped trying to fill them all full of holes. If he had waited a few seconds longer, he could have just walked out as Hyuse deactivated his Escudos.

Yugo stared at the squabbling agents. He ignored the youngest agent and looked at the one who managed to cut his arm off. "What a stupid lie that was."

Yoneya and Miwa's heads snapped back to Yugo in shock at the very familiar line. "What?" Miwa demanded sharply. Was Yugo really saying that Miwa cared about that Neighbor child?

"Kuga got his side effect from his father." Osamu explained before thinking about it. They never verified to all the agents about Yuma's side effect. It was only ever confirmed when it was needed. "It's the ability to detect lies."

Yoneya took in that information with a smirk, waving the dismembered arm at Miwa again. "Ha! I knew you cared about him."

"I don't care about him." Miwa snapped. Yuma was not his problem. He didn't care about the Neighbor. He simply understood the struggle that Yuma was currently going through.

Yugo was confused by this agent. That time it was the truth, so he doesn't care about Yuma, but he does care what happens to him? That seemed like a huge contradiction, but it's not like Yugo could really say anything in regard to that. His eyes moved back to the hand that was still being waved around like a trophy. The Black Trigger sat on his finger on that hand. His blood was burning, screaming at him to get it back, but the other part of Yugo was just closing his eyes, smiling to himself. This part of himself didn't want to get that ring back. From the moment he took it from Yuma, the Mimic part of him was satisfied but the father part of him had been screaming in pain. His heart had been clenched in fear since he left Yuma in the lab last night with a question ringing in his mind of how long would it take for Yuma to die without his ring?

There was no guarantee when he went after Yuma that his son would survive when he took the Black Trigger from him. There was always the chance that Yuma would die the moment the ring was taken from him, but even though he had that thought, it didn't stop Yugo. In between the Mimic programming and his Kuga Yugo personality, the Mimic was always winning out. Yugo could not fight against it so he could only act against Border and his son.

It was the Yugo part of him that was feeling relief at seeing the Black Trigger in the Border agent's hand right now. The Mimic part of him was getting ready to kill these agents to get it back.

"Kuga-san."

Yugo glanced away from the squabbling agents who were reminding him too much of his old friends in Border to glance at the agent still standing on the platform. The one who was able to somehow guess correctly which bullets he was using.

Hyuse glanced at his captain, a frown twitching at his lips, but didn't interfere. He would prefer they just outright kept trying to kill Yugo, but it seemed these Border agents liked to make conversation with their enemies. Yuma inferred he talked to Viza quite a bit in their fight and Jin kept talking to him in their fight, though Hyuse was convinced that was Jin just trying to get in his head, and though he would never admit it out loud, he did succeed. That said, if Yugo was anything like his son, he didn't think they would be able to get into Yugo's head and distract him. Then again, when it came to this week and his father, it was quite easy to see how distracted Yuma was, so perhaps the same distraction because of family would work on Yugo too.

"Your son always spoke so highly of you. I may not have ever had the chance to meet you when you were alive, but from the stories, I held a lot of respect for you." Osamu's grip on his Raygust tightened. Seeing Yuma lying on the ground in the lab last night with his body even more broken than before had left such a bitter taste in his mouth. Seeing his partner injured and with such defeat hanging over him caused by his father, Osamu felt anger for Yuma. The father who once gave his life for his son was now the one leading his son to the executioner. "As in past tense. Kuga may have a hard time in facing you, and I held back for his sake, and that was my mistake. I should have talked to him sooner about his struggles in facing you. If I had, maybe things wouldn't have gotten as bad as they did. Are you satisfied with yourself now that you left your son to die?"

"I never hid the fact that he would die this week." Yugo said.

That was true. He had spoken very clearly about Yuma dying to Shun when he met Yugo the other day. There was nothing Yugo could do to stop himself, so the warning was given to the agents. They were the ones who had to act on it.

"And you did nothing to try to stop it." Osamu said, disappointment radiating from every part of him from his voice to his body language. "The Kuga-san who I heard about didn't seem like the type to give up on fighting for what he wanted so easily. For all the determination you had to save Kuga all those years ago, I expected more effort from you here."

"Yugo. Yugo."

The Mini Replica flew out of his collar as it tried to grab Yugo's attention. Yugo sliced down his opponent, barely sparing them a glance as their Trion body broke apart. "What is it, Replica?"

"Yuma is in danger."

Yugo's heart jumped to his throat. Just a few words was enough to constrict his throat, blocking any more words from escaping his lips. He wished he could feel more surprised that Yuma left the safety of staying behind the gates but seeing as Yuma didn't give him a verbal promise to stay put, his son jumping into the battle seemed like a pretty obvious course of action that he would take. The raid had been unexpected. If it wasn't for the raid and Yugo having to run off to deal with it, he would have spent more time making sure Yuma understood the danger of the assassin and found a way to keep him from jumping in.

As it was, he hadn't had the time and now fear was coursing through Yugo as he left Raymond to deal with the defense while Replica led Yugo to where Yuma had gone. "What happened?" Yugo demanded.

"Yuma went out to fight and he happened upon the spot where the assassin was hiding." Replica explained. "He didn't stand a chance against him."

Yes, that was why Yugo told Yuma to stay out of the fight. An assassin carrying a Black Trigger was no joke. He had spoken to Yuma in the past about how powerful and dangerous Black Triggers were, so why did Yuma not take his warning more seriously?

Yugo couldn't go through this again. When he lost his wife, he hadn't been there to save her. He wasn't able to do anything for her. She had been alone in the end when she died. The pain and grief he had felt back then had been immeasurable, and thus, it was not something he could bear to live through again.

Yuma.

His son couldn't die.

His son was the most important person to him.

"Yuma," Yugo said softly as he threw himself over the roofs. He heard sounds of fighting all around him, but Yugo ignored every battle. He came to Calvaria as a favor to Raymond. He agreed to help them fight off Spinthir, but he did not agree to choose helping them over his son.

His son was his life.

Yuma looked up at his father with bright eyes, a blinding grin overtaking his face. "Oyaji." He threw himself at his father, tiny arms wrapping around his waist. His arms were too short to connect around his waist so Yuma just curled his hands into his dad's jacket.

Yugo's eyes softened as he stared at his son. He dropped a hand to the back of Yuma's head, applying a comforting pressure there. He loved to hear his son call him dad in Japanese. While Yuma was born in the Neighborhood, he was still half-Japanese and Yugo loved that he was able to share what he could about his culture to Yuma, even if it was only his language right now. Maybe one day in the future he could take Yuma to Japan. Yuma loved visiting new places so if he could see his son's joy and excitement at seeing Japan, Yugo would be so happy.

Yuma was his world.

Yuma's smile gave him the strength to go on after his wife died.

He had promised himself that he would forever protect his son.

There was nothing he wouldn't do for Yuma.

"Please, Yuma." Yugo propelled himself over the next roof. "Keep holding on until I get there. I know you have the strength to fight for your life. Please, fight to hold on until Dad gets there."

But what could he do when he got there?

According to Replica, the assassin was already gone. They was no one for Yugo to fight.

It would just be him and his injured son. No one else mattered in this moment.

The scent of blood in the air was strong. It almost made Yugo falter. There were corpses lining the city, but none of them held his focus. All of his focus was locked directly onto the small figure sitting against the wall.

His small son looked even smaller, and it wasn't because of his missing limbs. Yuma, who was always so energetic and constantly jumping from one thing to the next, looked so tiny just sitting so still with blood pooling around him.

If it wasn't for Yuma's pained groans, Yugo would have thought he was too late. He hated hearing his son in pain, but for the first and only time, it was music to his ears.

It meant there was still a chance.

There was fear in Yugo as he approached his fallen son, but none of it was for himself. All his fear was for his son.

Yugo would give everything for his son. His own life was less important to him than Yuma's. Yuma was so young. He hadn't experienced enough in life. There was still so much for Yuma to do.

"Please, Yuma, keep your promise to me and go to Japan. My friends will help you."

Taking out his Trigger, Yugo kneeled down in front of his son, promises and reassurances spilling from his lips.

This was not the day his son would die.

Yuma wasn't allowed to die. Yugo could never accept burying his own child. That would be something worse than his own death. It was why Yugo chose to die to create a Black Trigger. It was far less painful than letting his son writher in pain and die in front of him.

He wanted to see his son.

Blood pounding in his ears brought Yugo out of his thoughts. There was a burning in his veins that was reminding Yugo of what was important. It wasn't Yuma he needed to focus on. He needed to get the Black Trigger back from these agents.

"Yuma is not important." Yugo said. He would not be distracted by words or the past. He was here to save himself.

Yet, the words burned as they left his mouth.

A satisfied smile twitched at Osamu's lips. "You tell the stupidest lies." He said, surprising everyone except Yugo. "I know quite a bit about Kuga's side effect so I know when the holder of the lie detector ability lies, it still activates."

Yoneya stopped playing with the dismembered arm to grip it more securely. "He has chosen a strange way to show his son is important to him than."

"No matter what Kuga feels, the Mimic part is more self-concerned." Miwa stepped forward, itching to go back to trying to kill Yugo. He did not come here for idle chitchat. "If the truth is that his son is important to him, then killing him will make things better for everyone."

It might save Yuma to have Yugo die here, but it would not make things better for him. If he got his ring back and Yugo died, Yuma could survive a bit longer, but that wouldn't change anything for his real body or help his depression towards his real father being dead. For everyone else, for Border, taking care of Yugo and Mogami would be a weight lifted off of their shoulders.

"This might be my only chance to say it." Osamu locked eyes with Yugo. He never knew this man, but he has heard enough about him to know that he was a man to be respected when he was alive. This version of him, not so much. Having not known him when he alive, Osamu could not tell what parts of him matched the real Kuga Yugo and what parts were the Mimic bleeding through. "But, thank you for saving Kuga all those years ago. I don't know–no, that's not true. If it wasn't for Kuga, I wouldn't know anything. Actually, I would most likely be dead if not for him. He has been an invaluable friend to me." Osamu breathed out slowly. "And for that reason, and for everything you've done so far, I will return the favor to him. You may be a Mimic, but you must understand how much this is all hurting him. You can't carry around that face and not expect the past of Calvaria to haunt him."

A past that haunted not only Yuma.

Yugo didn't need the reminder of Calvaria. He knew what happened in Calvaria. "Do not speak of Calvaria to me, boy." He growled, scooping up his second sword as his hand had finally reformed. Calvaria was the past. It was a past that Yugo hated to think about it. He didn't want to remember the state of his son. It wasn't important. It wasn't supposed to be important. All that mattered was getting the Black Trigger back. That was what he had to focus on.

Yugo turned his back on Osamu, still aware and wary of him being there, but his attention was now on Yoneya, who still held the Black Trigger he needed to get back.

Osamu stared at the man's back, eyes narrowed in thought. Anger from Yugo was new. Before, it was just him always being calm. Calm and collected. That was how everyone always described him. He was never not in control of the situation. He still seemed in control, but there was now anger beginning to show. It was an anger that reminded Osamu of Yuma. Anger from Yuma was so rare and it looked just like this.

"I'll be taking that ring back." Yugo raised his hand, a Bolt seal rising up from his hand.

"Ooh, scary." Yoneya said mockingly though he was also on the move and sliding behind one of the pillars to avoid the bullets. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miwa move as well. Seeing as there were no tricky movements this time, Yoneya could guess that this was just a normal Bolt that was pelting the station walls causing pieces of rubble to rain down on them. Ignoring the small pieces of stones hitting him, Yoneya glanced down at the arm in his hand. This would be drawing Yugo directly to him.

Yoneya pushed off the pillar just in time to avoid the sword that was plunging through the pillar where his head had been a second ago. "Midorikawa!" He twisted on the spot and threw the arm hard at the younger agent.

Not expecting a dismembered arm, Shun fumbled as he tried to the catch the arm that Yoneya threw at his face. He glanced down at the arm. It was a bit creepy to just be holding an arm, even if his mind knew it was just a Trion arm. His brows furrowed in confusion as he looked at the hand, but he shrugged and threw himself back a few steps when he caught Yugo turning his attention to him.

To his surprise, as Yugo turned to him to attack, Osamu appeared in front of Shun with his Raygust shield, allowing Yugo's sword to slam into it. Osamu dug his heel into the ground to prevent himself from being pushed back completely. He pushed back on Yugo's sword, staring into those red eyes that were still filled with anger. For someone who had been spoken of about how calm he has been, the sudden reveal of the emotions was strange. Perhaps it had something to do with that Black Trigger he wanted to get desperately back?

A Black Trigger created by Kuga Yugo and he was after it with the purpose of becoming real forever. If that was truly the idea, perhaps the Mimic was being influenced by it. Or, was being influenced by it when he had it on him. It was bringing out the emotions of the father, but the Mimic programming was trying to push it back.

"After you saved his life, did you know Kuga spent three years fighting a war in Calvaria?" Osamu asked. Perhaps his words wouldn't defeat Yugo, but he was going to make sure the father in Kuga Yugo knew about his son. About the son who was left behind and forced to grow up after his death. "The Calvaria military tried to make you a martyr to trick him into fighting for them."

"That my allies here aren't just using me for my Black Trigger." Yuma said.

It had seemed like a throwaway line. Shun had almost forgotten that Yuma had even said it. With everything else that Yuma had already told him, he wasn't going to press Yuma for more information when it seemed that talking of his past was difficult for him. He had let it go the other day and he would let it go now. There was no need to bring up this Calvaria to Yuma. What Shun could do was just be a good friend to him.

"Kuga got your side effect after you died though and saw right through their attempts. Despite that, he still chose to fight alongside them for three years because he had nothing else worth living for." Osamu added, watching the anger in Yugo's eyes intensify.

Shun stared at Yugo over Osamu's shoulder, watching the burning anger that Yugo was displaying. It was an anger that Shun couldn't fault Yugo for having. The part about the war was the part that Yuma had left out when he spoke about what he went through with his father. Yuma may not have fallen for their lies in their attempts to manipulate him, but the fact that they tried and Yuma still chose to help them was making Shun's blood boil. An eleven-year-old who just lost his father shouldn't have been making that choice.

Miwa scoffed. "So, the Neighbor's world will even screw over their own kind if it means getting what they want."

Yugo's jaw clenched tightly. He expected no less from the upper echelon of the Calvaria military, but that didn't mean it wasn't angering him to hear. His son had no reason to continue fighting in that war. Yugo was the one who dragged him there. It was Yugo who had a favor to return Raymond. Yuma didn't need to fight without Yugo there. He should have been looking for a way to save himself, but it was clear he hadn't concerned himself with that since he was still walking around with white hair. "Whatever Yuma did in the past is not my concern." Yugo bit out.

"Keep trying to tell yourself that." Osamu retorted, staring into the pupils that were turning black. "But I can see the lies clearly."

Yuma wasn't supposed to be important to him. He shouldn't care what his son does or did do in the past. The only thing Yugo should care about was the Black Trigger.

Even if he said that, Yuma had been a constant focus on Yugo's mind since he arrived here. At first the focus was because he had to get to his son because he knew for certain that was where his Black Trigger was. It was all about hunting Yuma down but there was that part of Yugo that was just happy to see his son, and then that happiness got mixed with fear because he knew he would be going after his son with the intent to hurt him. Yugo's thoughts were nothing but a jumbled mess. It was a lot of back and forth of feeling the need to see his son die so the Black Trigger was solely focused on him and on the other hand, he was just thrilled to see his son alive and well. Now there was anger getting mixed into it. Anger for his young son who wasted years of his life fighting in a war that had nothing to do with him.

Maybe fighting in a war for three years for a country he wasn't from was strange, but it was Yuma's choice. It was no one else's business if it was the right or wrong choice though. Perhaps it was a waste of the little time Yuma had left on his life, but Hyuse could also see it being beneficial to Yuma. It was those experiences in war that got him to this point. Maybe he didn't have the best experiences, but he learned a lot from them. It was those experiences that kept him alive up to this point when he was all alone after Yugo's death.

Hyuse glanced pass his comrades and Yugo, eyes narrowing. Without drawing any attention to himself, Hyuse activated an Escudo with his foot. The Escudos suddenly popped up from the ground to defend Osamu from the side where the green slashes were slamming into them, surprised Osamu. Osamu freed his shield from Yugo's sword and jumped back to join Hyuse and Shun.

Mogami stepped up to Yugo's side, Fujin activated at his side with eleven green wind blades swaying in the wind. He glanced at Yugo, eyes taking in his new arm as there was a distinct lack of a sleeve on his forearm. He could regrow his limbs, but his clothes were just a lost cause at this point. "You do know hurting Yugo will hurt Yuma." He said, glancing over at the Border agents staring them down.

*Mimics*

"Who dares try to steal my student?!"

Yuma looked up from where he was sitting at the couch as Kako was showing him the type of trip she wanted to go on when the battle with the Mimics was over.

"That would have been more dramatic if you slammed the door open." Kako said, feeling a sense of déjà vu as she was in a similar position the other day.

Konami huffed. Unlike Tamakoma Branch, Border HQ had automatic sliding doors everywhere. It made it hard for her to have a dramatic entrance. "You!" Konami pointed at Kako. "I love you, Kako-san, but this one." She marched through the room to lean down the back of the couch to wrap an arm around Yuma's neck and pull him back to be closer to her. "This one is mine. You don't get to try to steal him."

"Ah, but we were talking about going on a trip." Kako said, confusing Yuma who had never said he was going on any trip with Kako.

Konami narrowed her eyes at Kako, tightening her hold on Yuma. "I know your tactics. You aren't going to sway my Yuma to your evil ways."

Yuma raised a brow at the conversation. If he thought about it, Konami had a 'K' in her surname. He wondered if Kako had tried to steal Konami from Tamakoma in the past for her team as well.

"Evil ways? I just want to collect all the talented 'K's' to my squad." Kako said amused.

Konami was forever thankful for Arashiyama for the offhand comment he made about seeing Yuma and Kako together earlier. She had to make sure to keep her pupil safe from the evil clutches of the Border HQ agents. "By the way, Yuma, where's Osamu and the others? They're not with you?"

"Eh, I saw them for breakfast, but they said something about hunting down the Mimics again." Yuma replied as he adjusted himself to sit on his knees and wrapped an arm around Konami's back to better brace himself as she didn't seem to be letting go of him anytime soon.

"You didn't go with them?" Konami asked surprised. She was sure that Yuma would want to help his team in any way that he could. He couldn't fight right now but he could at least offer input. There was a lot more he knew about Yugo and Mimics than the rest of them.

"I'm not supposed to leave HQ right now." Yuma grumbled.

"And? You could still advise them from the operation's center." Konami pointed out.

"Perhaps Kuga-kun still has some hesitation in regard to helping kill his father." An replied as she brought over a plate of dorayaki, offering it towards Konami as she knew the Attacker loved them.

Yuma eagerly took one for himself. Konami took one of her arms off Yuma to take one but still kept a strong grip on her student with her other arm. She wasn't going to give Kako the chance to try to snatch him away which is why she was giving a look to Kako as if daring to her to try anything.

"I do know Dad needs to be dealt with. He can't be allowed to roam free. I hesitated the first few days because I couldn't bring myself to watch him die again. I had to watch him trade his life for mine once." Yuma replied, leaning his head back into Konami's stomach. "I suppose..."

"Hm?" Konami gave Yuma a little nudge to prompt him to continue.

Before Yuma could continue with his train of thought, his eyes widened as he stared ahead, dorayaki dropping from his hand as he lost his grip on his snack. If it wasn't for him dropping his snack, which Yuma would never dare to do as he loved food, then it would have been him stiffening in her hold that would have been Konami's second warning that something was wrong. With Konami holding him from behind, she couldn't see what had happened, but by the horrified looks on Kako and An's faces, she could tell it wasn't good.

Konami didn't want to know what they saw on Yuma's face, but her morbid curiosity got the best of her so she released her hold on Yuma so she could lean down pass the couch to look at Yuma's face. She wheeled back in shock almost immediately before she forced herself to compose herself and jumped over the couch so she could sit by Yuma on the side that Kako wasn't on. She took Yuma's face in her hands and turned his head towards her. Her hands tightened on his face as she took in the missing eye on his face. All she could see was a gaping black hole where his left eye was supposed to be with the cracks still spidering out around the left side of his face.

Yuma brushed Konami's hands off his face so he could cover the hole on his face, nails digging into the skin and cracks surrounding it. He leaned down towards the floor, grimacing. At the very least, he couldn't feel any pain, but now he could only see with one eye. He knew his body had been getting weaker, but he didn't expect his eye to just completely snap apart and have everything go dark like that.

"Sorry," Konami took Yuma's arm that wasn't holding his face in a strong grip and pulled him to his feet. "We have to cut our visit short."

"Of course." Kako said, reaching forward to grab Yuma's hood and yanked it over his face. "Take care, Kuga-kun."

Yuma didn't reply as he stumbled behind Konami who was taking long strides as she pulled them from Kako's squad room. She glanced over her shoulder at her student, fear gripping her heart as she looked at her student who was letting himself be dragged while keeping his left eye covered. He, somehow, was looking even smaller than he already was.

Jin had given them no promises that Yuma would be saved this week and with each passing day, it seemed like they were just getting closer and closer to the worst future that Jin saw.

Everything that they were doing was to destroy the Mimics and to save Yuma. Instead of getting closer to completing either of those goals, they just seemed to be getter farther and farther away. After her time in Aristera, Konami promised herself that she would never falter again. Aristera was the first big battle she had ever been in and she had ended up terrified. She managed to survive that battle on luck and because Rindo had stayed by her side as much as he could. After seeing Aristera fall and all the friends they lost, she had promised herself she would never be so weak again. She would stand tall in the face of every enemy and protect everyone that mattered to her.

But what could she do here? This wasn't her area of expertise. She worked better in actual combat when she could beat her problem into the ground.

*Mimics*

"We know." Hyuse replied, stepping forward to get ahead of Osamu. "But whether we fight or not, Yuma is at death's door. We can't hesitate to kill you guys because we're worried about him."

Yoneya stepped behind Miwa, but kept his eyes locked down on the tracks where Yugo and now Mogami were standing at. With the amount of agents they had, they were doing good against Yugo, but if Mogami joined in the fight now, this was going to become a much harder fight. They shouldn't have wasted so much time by letting Osamu talk to Yugo. Yoneya highly doubted there was anything any of them could say that would be able to break Yugo free of his Mimic programming.

Miwa didn't bother to acknowledge Yoneya as he closed his hand around what Yoneya handed him. He slipped it in his pocket while keeping his attention locked on the two Trion Soldiers. He had rushed out here the moment Ren told him, only bothering to grab his snipers on the way. Chika and Hyuse happened to find them as well. They had two squads and Shun out here, but Miwa doubted that would be enough to defeat both of Border's founders.

Miwa exchanged what Yoneya gave him for his gun. He kicked off the platform, aiming his gun at Yugo's head again, unleashing his Asteroid bullets at him. Yugo just glanced at him out of the corner of his eye as his Shield activated to defend himself. Miwa didn't let that deter him as his Kogetsu sliced through the Shield. With the Shield destroyed, Miwa brought his gun back up to aim point blank at Yugo's face. He pulled the trigger just as Yugo's second sword came up, flat side towards Miwa so he could deflect the bullet.

That was Yugo's goal at least, but to his surprise, Miwa's bullets didn't go straight as it wasn't Asteroid that he was using this time. The bullets twisted away from Yugo. Yugo jumped away from Miwa, eyes half following the Viper bullets and half paying attention to the agents. The Viper bullets moved half towards Yugo and the other half went to Mogami.

Mogami retaliated by swinging his sword, sending four wind blades flying towards the bullets, coming for him to slice them in half while Yugo threw up a Shield behind him to watch his back while he sliced the bullets that came at him from the sides into harmless pieces of Trion that dropped to the ground.

Before anyone else had a chance to attack, Yugo slammed a foot into the ground. "Bound, double." Using the seal, Yugo launched himself through the group of agents to get to Shun.

Shun's eyes widened in shock even as he was using a Grasshopper to throw himself into the air. No matter how quick he was though, that seal Yugo used had made him too fast and even his Shield couldn't stop the sword that was slamming into his gut. "Senpai!" Shun sent the arm he was holding flying through the air, not even looking to see where he sent it as he kept his eyes locked on Yugo's face. "For the real you locked away in there, we are going to save him."

With those parting words, Shun bailed out, leaving Yugo alone in the air. His Shield appeared by his head to block the sniper's shot as he dropped back down to the ground. He turned back around to see his arm being held by Osamu this time.

Osamu did not care if it was just a Trion arm they were throwing around. It felt wrong on a lot of levels to him to just be playing with it by playing what was essentially a game of keep away. He locked eyes with Yugo who was now focused on him, but before he could do anything or even say anything, Yoneya and Miwa were flying pass on either side of him, straight for Yugo. Going in the opposite direction as them, Hyuse went straight for Mogami, a Senku slash flying through the air ahead of him to force Mogami on the defensive to give Hyuse more of a safety net until he reached him.

Well, then.

Osamu glanced at the arm that Shun threw at him before he was forced into bail out. There was a distinct lack of ring on the finger that had him raising his brows, but that was something Osamu would concern himself with later. For now, he turned his back on Yugo as he was now busy blocking attacks from Miwa and Yoneya and formed his Hound to unleash his bullets on Mogami as Hyuse had chosen Mogami for their squad to focus on. Using the visual guidance setting, he was able to set the bullets to follow Mogami while avoiding Hyuse.

A Senku slash from Mogami met Hyuse's in the air at the same time that Mogami's Escudo came slamming up from the ground to protect him from the Hound bullets. As the bullets slammed harmlessly into the shield, Mogami was rounding the shield on the other side to meet Hyuse in a clash of Kogetsus.

*Mimics*

"Where are they?!" Konami demanded as she stepped into the operation's room.

Yuri looked up in surprise. "Where is who?" She glanced behind Konami to see Yuma there. "Yuma-kun, are you okay?"

"No one should be asking him that questions until this week is over." Konami shoved Yuma onto the couch next to Jin so her hands could be free to strangle Jin if he didn't have a good answer to give her. "Where are Osamu and the others?"

"I imagine they are still with Miwa squad out fighting Kuga-san and Mogami-san." Jin replied, ignoring the irate Konami so he could look at Yuma in concern. "They were going to get into it with them at a train station."

Konami's anger dissipated just a bit so she could stare in disbelief at Jin. "And what? You just let it happen without sending more backup with them?! You and Tachikawa-san couldn't handle Mogami-san and Boss and Shinoda-san couldn't handle Kuga-san. What makes you think Osamu's team, lacking one of their aces, and Miwa squad could handle them both at the same time?!" And her disbelief had worked her anger back into it, but before she could lunge at Jin, Reiji was there putting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her back a few steps before the power elite could be killed by her hands.

"Any more agents approaching would have likely had Kuga-san moving away instead of engaging them in a fight." Jin replied, still entirely focused on Yuma as he tugged the boy's hand off his face to see the damage done to his face, making him hiss in sympathy. This was always going to be a risk when anyone fought and managed to injure Yugo and doing so now when Yuma doesn't have his ring on him, it meant the damage he took while Yugo healed would only end up being worse.

"And what good is fighting him if Yuma ends up like this?" Konami demanded, shoving her captain's hand off her shoulder.

"Even if we don't engage in battle with Kuga-san, Yuma would still die." Jin replied. "We can't just ignore him."

"You should have told us where they were fighting. We could be on our way to assist them right now." Konami hissed, already grabbing her Trigger. She was ready to smash some heads in.

"No." Jin said sharply. "In fact, call the squads there back right now."

"I really doubt Miwa squad will agree to a retreat." Karasuma said, though he was confused by Jin's sudden change in demeanor. He knew that a battle was going to happen today and he was here for it, but now he wanted them to stop? If Yuma was taking this much damage, the squads had to be doing well against Yugo.

Jin grimaced. "That might be a problem." He rubbed the back of his head. He hadn't really planned anything out in regard to the fight he saw happening. Seeing the damage done to Yuma now though, he came to the conclusion though that with Yuma's life on the line, it was very dangerous for them to fight Yugo while Yuma didn't have his Black Trigger. The Black Trigger was prioritizing Yugo over Yuma even when Yuma had it, but somehow, it still seemed like Yuma's body was a bit more stable when he had the actual trigger on him. Without it on him, it seemed that the injuries inflicting Yuma would end up being more serious than before. That was a problem that needed solved before they could kill Yugo. If it continued like this, without his ring on him, if they could Yugo, would Yuma die at the same time?

"You should have gone with them if you knew they were going to get into a fight." Yuma scolded. At the very least, if anyone lost in the battle, they would just bail out to HQ so they weren't in any real danger. Though, perhaps Yuma really shouldn't speak. He was the one refusing to fight Yugo all week because the idea of losing his father again scared him. Though Jin didn't hesitate to fight his mentor last night, Yuma was sure he had his own difficulties in facing his former mentor.

"There is going to be no defeating the Mimics today." Jin said, pushing himself to his feet to make his way over to the computer to contact Tamakoma-2 himself since no one else was moving.

*Mimics*

Osamu ducked behind a pillar to avoid a Senku slash. It was lucky for them that Mogami wasn't slinging wind blades at them. Since wind blades traveled through the ground and were invisible until they were used, if Mogami decided to attack them with those, they would be in trouble. He leaned back against the pillar, turning his head slightly to watch Hyuse hiding behind his Escudo. With the Escudo blocking him from view, Hyuse's Viper was being activated. His Viper split into his bullets and he fired half of them above him and over his Escudo towards Mogami while he sent the other half twisting towards Yugo.

"Bolt, triple." Yugo said as a Bolt seal filled with Viper bullets appeared besides him, unleashing his own bullets to meet Hyuse's bullets while the rest twisted towards Miwa and Yoneya.

Miwa and Yoneya pulled back their advancement towards Yugo to give themselves more time to react to the Viper bullets flying towards them.

Mogami dodged behind the pillar to avoid most of the Viper bullets and then threw up a Shield to defend his open side from the rest that were still following him. He stared at his Shield as he watched the Viper bullets blow up against it.

Mogami grinned as he watched Shinoda and Rindo butt heads again, looking ready to murder each other. If they hadn't both already lost their Trion bodies in a two versus two match against Yugo and Mogami, they likely would already be trying to behead each other. "The day those two learn to fight together properly will be the day when pigs fly."

Yugo swung his sword up to rest it on his shoulder, a smile twitching at his lips. "They may fight a lot, but they are coming to understand each other very well. Their coordination is getting much better." He glanced down at Mogami's missing leg.

"Shut up." Mogami swiped at Yugo with his sword without much heat in the attack so Yugo was able to easily deflect it to the side.

"I'm sure they learn to argue when they lose because they see you do it." Yugo replied.

Mogami narrowed his eyes at Yugo. "Just me? You are right there alongside me. You and Kido."

"Do not involve me in your silent war with Kido over the coffee machine."

"Four!" Mogami shouted in disbelief. "How does he manage to break four coffee machines?"

Yugo eyed Mogami warily. He had made the assessment that Kido was the most coffee obsessed of them all, but now he was going to have to reassess that if this was how Mogami was going to behave. "Just don't use Masafumi-kun or Takumi-kun as pawns in your war with him."

"I wouldn't have to if you would do your job and properly punish Kido."

Yugo rolled his eyes. "Breaking a coffee machine is not worthy of a reprimand from the Commander-in-Chief."

"And that is why we keep having to use our limited funds to buy a new one every few months." Mogami retorted.

"You could just not drink coffee." Yugo suggested.

Mogami stared at Yugo like he was the insane one for suggesting such a thing. "You expect me to deal with those two without my caffeine." He motioned to the still arguing rookies. The fact that they haven't broken into a fist fight in their real bodies yet was truly amazing.

"You're a Border founder, one of the leaders of this organization. I expect you to be more mature and act as a proper example to our rookies." Yugo scolded.

"That's what you're for. You can set a fine example for everyone." Mogami grinned at his friend, though his smile started to falter at the far off look in Yugo's eyes. It was a look that Mogami couldn't decipher which was strange for him. He was normally always able to tell what Yugo was thinking. They've been best friends since they were children so with them knowing each other so well, it was strange that he couldn't read Yugo for once. "What's wrong?"

"You shouldn't rely on me to be the mature one forever. You're going to need to step up." Yugo said slowly, eyes locked on Shinoda and Rindo. He always scolded them for their constant bickering, but it was amusing to watch them. At some point, they had to learn to stop fighting on their own. They couldn't rely on someone else to always be there to break them up. "Border is going to need you and Kido to take charge."

Mogami's brows furrowed. He looked away from their young rookies to stare straight at Yugo. "Why are you making it sound like you are leaving?"

Yugo had enough respect for his friend to turn to meet his eyes head on as he replied, "Because I am."

It was the first, and only time, he and Yugo had ever had a serious fight.

Mogami didn't even know what was going on. He had just woken up a few minutes ago to see Yugo in a fight against multiple agents. He had moved on instinct. Even after not seeing Yugo for years, Yugo was still his truest and most loyal friend. It was the reason that Mogami didn't hesitate to move to help Yugo. Being that both of them were Mimics, they were the only allies they each had.

It didn't feel right going after the Border agents. It never did from the moment he appeared in Mikado City, but he was forced to go after them when they got in his way of getting Fujin. The past couple of days were forcing him to fight, but now, Mogami was choosing to fight these agents. It was going to be his choice of whether to fight or not.

Mogami didn't want to fight Border, but he would never abandon Yugo.

But his mind was starting to clear up.

Mogami wanted to choose both, so he was going to.