A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 37: Cruelty vs Mercy

"It's time to pull out of the battle, Osamu."

Osamu stared across the platform at where Mogami was hiding behind his own pillar as he defended himself from Hyuse's Viper. He glanced towards where Miwa and Yoneya were getting hit by Yugo's Viper. Their Shields were protecting their vital areas to keep from getting an immediate death, but there were too many bullets for them to avoid taking any damage.

"Jin-san," Osamu said, glancing down at Yugo's arm that he was holding. "You want us to abandon the fight? After we managed to find Kuga-san and Mogami-san? If we lose them here, we might not be able to find them again."

"I know." Jin said softly. "But Yuma's body can't take much more of this. Did you guys manage to hurt Kuga-san?"

Osamu's eyes shifted towards Yugo again, who was dodging back to avoid a black bullet that had been flying towards him. It seemed he wouldn't make the same mistake of taking a hit from Chika again. While Chika had moved after her first shot, her Trion levels were so high that it was likely very easy for Yugo to track where she was hiding and be wary of any shots coming from her direction. "Miwa-senpai cut his arm off, though he managed to grow a new one." He explained, tossing the useless arm on the ground. He didn't know where the ring that had been on it had gone, but he would leave that for Yugo to realize later that the arm he was chasing didn't have what he wanted. "What's wrong with Kuga?"

"That's for later." Jin said, not wanting to cause any stress in Osamu or his team while they were in the middle of a fight. "Ideally, I would want to get his Black Trigger back immediately, but I'll take ending your fight right now. Killing Kuga-san now would only lead to Yuma's death almost immediately. Without Yuma having his ring, his life is tied too closely with Kuga-san's."

Osamu swallowed thickly at that information. None of them had any idea of what would happen to Yuma now that he had lost his Black Trigger. They were in uncharted territory here with this. Yuma had been living with his body in this state for five years now and he still knew very little about what was really going on. They had to learn as they were dealing with this situation. They knew they would hurt Yuma by going after Yugo, but they hadn't thought it would be this extreme that Jin would want them to pull out of the fight.

Instead of continuing after Mogami, Hyuse jumped back towards the platform that Osamu was standing on. He stayed down on the tracks with his back towards Osamu so he could keep an eye on Mogami. "Even if we stop the fight now, Yuma's life is still in danger. Whether we do this now or later, is there a way to save him?"

The silence from Jin's side was a very telling answer if it wasn't already obvious to everyone that Jin had been struggling to find a way to save Yuma. The power elite who was always ready with a scheme to lead them to the best future didn't know how to defeat Yugo and Mogami and save Yuma. He might be able to come up with a solution to one of those problems, but he had yet to find the path that would save his friend and end this attack in one fell swoop.

"There will be a better chance if you leave now." Jin said slowly, as if he wasn't confident in his own scheming, and to be truthful, he wasn't. Yugo and Mogami were doing a very good job at defeating his predictions. "Continuing the fight right now will only make Yuma's situation worse and kill him that much faster."

"I think we should pull out." Chika said softly. She was crouched in a building with her black Lightning out as she stared through the scope at Yugo who was having an easier time deflecting attacks from Yoneya and Miwa now that he had managed to damage them with his Viper. "If Jin-san is right, we will be losing valuable time we need to find a way to save Yuma-kun." She wanted to end this battle to save her friend and save him from the suffering he was enduring by having to face this version of his father, but knowing that their attacks were hurting Yuma too, she didn't think she would be able to pull the trigger again. She would fight for Yuma, but she would not be the reason he got hurt. Pulling back and reassessing the situation seemed like the best idea to her.

Osamu couldn't ask Chika to shoot Yugo. He had learned his lesson in the rank wars to trust the fact that Chika could shoot, but her learning to shoot the enemy came from Hyuse who told her that by not shooting, her team could be killed. If Osamu asked her to shoot now with the knowledge that they were hurting Yuma, it would destroy her mental state. None of them could attack the enemy while hurting a friend. Perhaps if it was a small injury that meant nothing, but nothing that was happening to Yuma was small. Everything was leading to Yuma's death. Osamu wasn't prepared to lose his friend so he would take Jin's advice and stop the fight. He looked down at Yugo's arm that he tossed to the ground. The ring was on that finger when Miwa cut it off. He didn't want to mention it aloud while Yugo and Mogami were still nearby so he would have to ask the others about it when they got away from the Mimics.

Hyuse glanced over his shoulder at Osamu. Chika was hidden too well and too far away for him to see her face, but he imagined it looked the same as Osamu's. An expression full of resignation. All of them had wanted to take care of this problem quickly, but the more they rushed, the more it seemed they failed. The purpose of coming out to the Restricted Zone was to kill Yugo and end this nightmare. The faster they ended this mess, the sooner they could get back to preparing for the away mission, and it was that rush that was making their situation worse.

Hyuse sighed. "It seems I won't win this argument."

"It will only be a temporary retreat." Osamu assured him as he knew why Hyuse was in a rush to finish this, but there was no way they would avoid Yugo and Mogami forever. At some point, they were going to defeat the Mimics. That was something that Osamu had to believe in. For Yuma and for Yugo. His friend who was filled with nothing but guilt and regret for the past and the father who couldn't stop himself from hurting his son. He wanted to save them both, and to do that, Yugo needed to die, but right now wasn't the right moment.

Hyuse didn't reply to his captain. It wasn't like he disagreed anyway. All of this would just end up being a pointless endeavor if Yuma did die because of this battle. Yuma's strength was going to be essential to get them to Aftokrator. Hyuse wasn't about to sacrifice that. Besides, he had yet to best Yuma in a twenty-round match. Yuma wasn't just allowed to get himself killed until Hyuse has flipped their scores in training.

"The real trouble is..." Osamu trailed off as he looked towards Miwa and Yoneya who were trying their best to get passed Yugo's defense again. With their injuries slowing them down, it didn't seem like they were going to get very far. Despite that, Osamu doubt it would be easy to get Miwa to agree to a withdrawal. He seemed to be quite gung-ho about killing Yugo right now.

Escudos suddenly popped up all along the edge of the platform that Mogami was on causing Osamu and Hyuse to snap their full, undivided attention back to him, or at least to his wall of shields. Hyuse retaliated immediately by unleashing his Senku straight at the Escudos. They had a plan to retreat from here, but until they could get out of here, he wasn't going to lose sight of any of the Mimics.

To his surprise as the Escudos were sliced in half, Mogami wasn't even in front of them anymore. Hyuse's head snapped in the direction of the other fight taking place, a warning on his lips, but he was never able to shout it as Mogami launched himself over the Escudos down the platform that Hyuse hadn't managed to destroy. As he was in the air, Mogami swung Fujin, sending his last seven wind blades soaring towards Yoneya and Miwa, making no attempt to hide the slashes in the ground. It was simply a direct attack to draw their attention.

Since he didn't try to hide the wind blades, Yoneya and Miwa were able to see the bright green blades coming for them. Miwa and Yoneya responded by throwing up their Shields to protect themselves. The wind blades shattered their Shields so there was nothing to protect the agents when Mogami grabbed his Kogetsu to sling two Senku slashes at the two while at the same time throwing up a Shield to protect his head from the sniper's shot.

Miwa and Yoneya both jumped away from Yugo. Miwa held his sword vertical to his body to defend against the slashes while Yoneya had managed to move far enough to miss the Senku slashes completely. As they were dealing with the Senku, Mogami landed in a crouch between the agents and Yugo. His hand that held his Kogetsu rested lightly on the ground as he activated his Escudo again. This time the shields popped up from one wall of the station to the other to completely separate the Mimics from the agents.

Yugo took a step back from Mogami, raising a brow at his friend's back. "Problem?" Neither one of them needed help against the agents they ended up fighting against. In fact, they would hold out better by splitting the agents up and fighting them in pairs.

Mogami deactivated the Fujin blade and slid the hilt into the pouch at his waist. He turned to face Yugo, lips set into determined frown. "We need to leave now."

Both of Yugo's brows rose now in surprise. "There is no purpose in retreating. These agents are strong, but we can beat them."

Mogami planted a hand on the Fujin handled in his pouch, hand wrapping tightly around it. He had no intention of drawing it or activating it again. This was his Black Trigger, the one he created upon his death. Even if he didn't believe Yugo when he told him about Mimics, though that would never happen as he would always trust anything Yugo told him, and he didn't get memories of his death back, he would know Fujin was his. There was a sense of familiarity in the power of Fujin. "It's not about whether we can win or not. I know we can." His hand that was holding his Kogetsu planted itself on Yugo's chest as he pushed him back a few steps.

Yugo would always be the one Mogami chose first. He was his longest friend and the trust between them was as strong as ever, even if they hadn't seen each other in decades. Despite the years and distance between them, Mogami knew that his friend would never change, that he would always be the down to Earth, loyal, well-meaning friend that he had been since they were kids. His loyalty to Yugo was tenfold.

Despite that, Mogami held much love for Border. It was the organization they created together for their love of the Neighborhood. It wasn't just for Neighbors though. They wanted to make friends with them, but they were also very eager to find allies on this side of the Gate who would be willing to work with them to make friends with Neighbors, to protect the city from those who wanted to attack them, and to help their allies on the other side of the Gate who were getting attacked.

It wasn't just about Yugo and Mogami anymore.

It had grown into something much bigger than that.

When he awoke in the city, he had acknowledged how much bigger and stronger Border had gotten, but that was it. He had no care for the organization when all he wanted was to get his hands on Fujin.

And now he had gotten his hands on his Black Trigger.

Fujin was in his grasp and it felt like a fog was clearing up in his mind. With the fog clearing away, Mogami was realizing how much he didn't want to fight the Border agents. In fact, he never wanted to fight them. They were just getting in his way of acquiring Fujin. Now that he had it, there was no reason for him to fight the agents. He just needed to bide his time until the Gate could be opened and he could leave.

Yugo just sighed, lowering his blades to point the tips at the ground. "You always did hate getting involved in unnecessary battles."

Mogami's eyes drifted to Yugo's bare arm as he lost his sleeve when Miwa cut his arm off earlier. His attention was drawn to Yugo's hand where there was no longer the ring he had stolen from his son. In a way, they could call this a necessary battle to get the ring back from the agents. Just as Mogami could not return to Meraki until he acquired his Black Trigger, Yugo couldn't return until he got his. Losing to Border now would be a problem, but it was a problem for later. Mogami just didn't have the drive to fight these agents now. He needed time. Time to readjust his thoughts properly.

Yugo followed Mogami's eyes before sheathing one of his swords so he could drop his arm, allowing his bagworm to fall over his arm to hide the fact that he was missing the Black Trigger. It did nothing since Mogami already saw it though.

An amused smile twitched at Mogami's lips. "Did they catch you off guard?"

The hand that was still holding a sword was raised into the air as Yugo activated a Bolt Seal above him in reply. "Bolt, Quadra!" Yugo wasted no time in activating it and sending Viper bullets flying all over the train station. An explosion in the air signified that someone's else bullets had met his in an effort to destroy as many of his bullets as possible which worked just as well as Yugo's original plan. With the bullets exploding on impact, a smoke screen filled the station, giving Yugo a chance to escape from the area with Mogami following a couple steps behind.

"It was surprisingly easy to get you to agree to a retreat, especially since you managed to lose your Black Trigger in that battle." Mogami called after him as the two blended into the shadows of the buildings as they made their escape.

"At least I was conscious for the whole attack." Yugo retorted, slowing down to a halt in between the buildings. He tilted his head back to look up at the blue sky above him, lazily watching the clouds drifting by.

Mogami continued a few steps pass his friend before turning around to stare at Yugo while also watching for any possible attacks from behind Yugo. It didn't seem like they were being followed, but he wasn't about to drop his guard. "Did you not feel it? You had that ring on you for about twelve hours before losing it back to Border so you had to have had time to realize the feeling in it."

Yugo's eyes slid shut. The sun was out, but standing here in the shade, he couldn't feel the sun rays beating into his skin so it felt quite cool right here. It was a shame he couldn't be on the roof, soaking in the sun, but if he was up there, he could get spotted easily. "The feeling of the person I used to be. The power that was once mine that I poured into the creation of the Black Trigger. The love for my son. The need to protect him."

"I created Fujin to give strength to Border." Mogami switched out his Kogetsu for Fujin. His fingers curled around the hilt as he looked at the deactivated blade. "It was supposed to be used to protect Border, never to be used to attack our organization. I don't want to fight them."

"And what is it that you want?"

"Does it truly matter?" Mogami asked softly. "There was never a desire to fight Border, but they got in my way so they needed to die. The drive in me to return to Meraki still exists. In fact, it's only got stronger now that I have retrieved Fujin."

"But at the same time, a sense of self has returned to you." Yugo pulled his eyes off of the sky to meet Mogami's eyes. "Going to Meraki gives them a weapon in you and Fujin. Had Border not managed to force the Gates shut last night, we would have left immediately without a single thought as to why we shouldn't go."

"But they did stall us and having this on me," Mogami trailed off, grip tightening on Fujin. The real Mogami was beginning to awaken. Perhaps that wasn't the right way to describe it. He had always been here, the Mogami Soichi that was a founder of Border and mentor to Jin. He just hadn't had the strength to resist the Mimic programming that compelled him to do whatever it took to get Fujin into his grasp. It had only been a few hours since Yugo handed him Fujin, but it felt like his old power in the sword was giving him the strength to resist. Resist what he truly didn't want to do–betray his friends. Mogami's eyes suddenly snapped upwards, locking with Yugo's in shock. "You wanted them to take your ring from you."

Yugo kept eye contract with Mogami for only a few seconds before he turned his back on his friend. "It's not my ring." He said softly. The burning in his blood was returning. Ever since he lost his arm, and his contact with the Black Trigger, he could feel the pain in his blood that was screaming at him to get a hold on the ring back. It was an obvious conclusion. The ring had been helping to clear his mind and remind him of the deep love he had for his son. All the love he had for Yuma that he was willing to die to protect him. Along with that reminder, he couldn't get the nightmarish images of his son from last night out his head. His body wasn't supposed to break like it was. It was supposed to heal so he could stay safe. Remembering the picture of the damage on his son from last night had made his heart seize in fear. A fear that was similar to what he felt when he first saw Yuma bleeding out years ago.

Without having the ring on him though, the fear and love he had for his son was now twisting with his burning desire to get the ring back from the agents. He wanted them to take it so he let his arm get cut off, but then he needed to fight to get it back from them as the burning desire hit him once again. He hadn't thought he would feel that burning almost immediately after losing contact with the Black Trigger. Mogami suggesting they pull back from the fight had been a blessing. If he continued on with that battle, he would have lost control completely and killed everyone just to get the ring back.

The Mimic part wanted the ring back immediately.

The father part wanted the agents to leave the battle and take the Black Trigger back to Yuma immediately.

However, he knew, if the ring made it back to Yuma that just meant that Yugo was going to go back to hunting his son down to get it back. As much as he loved his son, Yugo didn't want to see him anymore. The more he was around his son, the more he hurt him. From his actions and his words. He didn't want to see that look of betrayal in Yuma's eyes directed at him ever again.

What was once a childish face full of love and trust was now turned into one of pain and betrayal.

And the more he saw Yuma, the more they would both suffer.

*Mimics*

Miwa kicked a piece of rubble away from him in frustration. "Had you informed HQ of what you were doing, we could have gotten more agents out here and finished this." He snapped at Yoneya.

Yoneya folded his arms behind his head, unconcerned with Miwa's annoyance as it was something he was used to from his captain. "You had plenty of time to call for more backup in your run out here." He pointed out, eyes scanning the train station that was pretty much wrecked from their battle with Yugo and Mogami. There was rubble everyone, holes in the walls that were now barely standing, and just Escudos sliced in half all over the place.

"We were going to retreat anyway. It makes things easier that the Mimics chose to leave as well." Hyuse said, sheathing his Kogetsu at his side.

Yoneya turned to glance at the Tamakoma agents in surprise. "Kuga is dying and you were planning a retreat?"

"Jin-san asked us too." Osamu replied, adjusting his glasses, staring at the wall of Escudos that Miwa had knocked down in his frustration which only got worse when he saw the Mimics had disappeared. It was a surprise to see that Yugo and Mogami were the ones to retreat first, especially when they had the upper hand in the battle, but Osamu wouldn't complain. It made things easier for them. "Something is wrong with Kuga at HQ so we need to head back there."

"What else is new? He's been a mess the whole week." Miwa griped, sliding his Kogetsu back into his sheath as he stalked away from the group. Whenever his target got away from him, he felt nothing but irritation. Somehow, Kuga Yugo was much more of annoyance and a cause of more ire than Kuga Yuma.

Chika suddenly dropped down from the roof of the train station, landing neatly on the tracks near her team. "The Mimics went northwest when they left here." She said, glancing cautiously over at Miwa squad in case they decided to go on the pursuit. She just didn't want her team to run into them on their way back to HQ which was why she tracked the direction of their retreat.

"I thought there would be no arguments about me killing the Neighbor this time." Miwa muttered in annoyance to himself. Somehow this branch was always getting in his way.

Yoneya held his hands up in surrender. "I think we need to head back to HQ anyway." He glanced over towards his captain. "You should give Kuga his Black Trigger back since you retrieved it." Yoneya was going to completely ignore the fact that he took the ring off the dismembered arm. It was Miwa who sliced the arm after all. He would say that made it count as Miwa's win.

"Like hell." Miwa snarled immediately back. "You picked it up off the ground. You give it to him."

Osamu's eyes drifted from one A-Rank to the other, not bothering to acknowledge Kodera and Narasaka as they dropped down into the station to join them. Instead, he looked towards where he abandoned Yugo's arm then back at the Yoneya with a curious look. "Did you take it?"

"I wasn't going to keep throwing that arm around while leaving the ring on it." Yoneya replied with an easy shrug. "Do you know how valuable Black Triggers are and Kuga's is so small! It would be so easy to lose."

"Of course. Why would I ever think it would be a good idea to leave a ring on a dismembered arm?" Osamu replied dryly. Since it had been confirmed that the Mimics were in fact gone, he deactivated his Raygust and pocketed it in his pouch. "If you don't want to take it to Kuga, I'll take the Black Trigger, Miwa-senpai." He held his hand out towards the other captain, expectantly, staring down older agent. He had no doubt that Miwa would return it. It would only cause problems if Miwa didn't return it to Tamakoma after all.

Miwa scoffed as he took the ring from his jacket's pouch and slapped it in the awaiting hand. "If it's so important to him, then perhaps make sure he actually keeps a proper hold of this time."

Osamu stared down at the black ring. It looked so small and unassuming just lying in his hand. It was hard to believe that it was actually a Trigger housing an eleven-year-old's damaged body. Seeing it on Yuma's hand made that fact much more real. In the palm of his hand, it looked like it could just be a normal ring. His hand curled shut over the ring and he pulled his fist up to his chest. Despite what it looked like in his hand, this ring held the power to keep his friend alive. He would not let anything happen to it. "Thank you for helping us with this." He said sincerely.

Miwa scowled, turning his back on the too honest captain.

"We need to stop fighting Kugas in this station. We never seem to accomplish our goal." Kodera said.

Chika frowned, disagreeing with that statement. They may not have managed to kill any of the Mimics, but they had gotten Yuma's Black Trigger back. That felt like a win to her. Perhaps not a complete win as even with the ring back, Yuma's life was still in danger, but it was still a better outcome than last night's battle.

"That's because Tamakoma keeps finding a way to stop our fight." Narasaka shot a meaningful look towards the Tamakoma agents. "Though last time it was Jin-san who prevented us from killing Kuga."

Yoneya waved off Narasaka's statement. "We weren't even close to killing our Kuga back then, and it was Jin-san who stopped us then."

"It is Jin stopping us now too. He's the one who contacted us." Hyuse pointed out.

Miwa eyed the Aftokrator Neighbor out of the corner of his eyes with a scowl. Jin. It was always Jin. Why was he only interfering now? When he and Miwa talked earlier, he had to have seen a fight that Miwa would be taking part in. He made no attempt to stop Miwa from coming to this fight so he must have wanted this fight to happen, so why was he now changing his tune? What had happened at HQ to change his mind like this?

*Mimics*

Konami leaned down over Yuma, tugging his hood down to get a clear view of his broken face, refusing to shy away from the gaping hole where his eye should be. Her hand came to gently caress the damaged side of his face. "Why would your eye be the thing to disappear of all things?"

"Makes sense to me." Yuma replied, grimacing at the limited vision he was getting from having one eye. "My left eye was gouged out on my real body."

His statement got all his friends in the room to look over at him in horror. Jin's hands curled into fists on the desk as his eyes shifted back to the computer to see Miwa squad and Tamakoma-2 were on the move as they began to head back to HQ. "I always assumed you didn't remember the injuries you received from the assassin because from the sound of things, you were in such a horrible state. The trauma and blood loss would have made it hard to remember."

Yuma glanced over at Jin, ignoring the warmth of Konami's hand on his face. He would rather look at Jin than see the fear and concern in his mentor's eyes. For all her superiority and confidence, her love for her friends brought out her softer side. "I can't remember what kind of injuries I received, but I asked Replica for all the details that I couldn't recall. I know the state of my real body only because of him."

Konami sat on the coffee table behind her as she wasn't quite ready to leave Yuma's side. "And what are those injuries?"

Yuma glanced at her before quickly diverting his eyes to Reiji, Karasuma, and Yuri who were looking back at him with a similar state of concern and curiosity as Konami had. "I'm not sure that is relevant to the current situation." He said uneasily, shifting on the couch a bit. If Konami's concern for him just losing an eye was anything to go by, he wasn't sure he wanted to see the freak out when they learned of the extent of his injuries.

"You lost the same eye on your trion body that your real body lost. What if you start to gain the same injuries from your real body on your trion body the longer this lasts?" Reiji asked. "We should know what to be prepared for."

Why did Reiji always have to be the logical one? Konami acted a lot on her emotions while Reiji was always ready to put someone in their place with thoughtful words.

Yuma rubbed his right arm. His arm was still there, but he knew on his real body that it was long gone. Thinking of the injuries, he was beginning to be reminded of the pain he felt when the assassin tore into his flesh and blood body all those years ago. The feeling of those claws stabbing into his flesh to rip his limbs off. It was something he truly tried to never think about. It had been a long time since he felt real pain so he thought that he had forgotten what it felt like, but having to think of the past, Yuma realized he could never truly forget the feeling of the assassin digging his claws into his flesh. It was just something he had subconsciously blocked out of his mind, but something that was always lingering there, waiting to be thought about.

He glanced over at Jin. "Can't you tell me how bad this will get?"

Jin pulled his eyes off the computer to catch Yuma's eyes–or at least the one he had left. "Your future it beginning to get very hazy for me, Yuma." He said, knowing that only honesty would work on his young friend. "I'm having trouble predicting things. It's making it hard for me to decide how I need to manipulate things."

Konami reached forward to take Yuma's right hand into both of her hands, applying a bit of a comforting pressure, dragging Yuma's attention back to her. She smiled softly at Yuma. "I'm right here, Yuma. It's okay to be scared, but don't forget we're here. As long as we're here, you'll never be alone and we'll be your strength when you find it hard to have the strength to stand on your own."

To rely on others. That was something that Yuma had never been good at doing. Even before his father had died, Yuma was used to just charging into a fight on his own. His father may have appeared in his battles to help him, but it didn't change how Yuma viewed the fights he constantly found himself in. He preferred to fight alone and that only became more prevalent after Yugo died. The only one who was ever allowed to assist him in battle was Replica at that point and that was because Yuma needed his help to properly use his Black Trigger. His Black Trigger was so difficult to use alone. It honestly felt like a dying message from Yugo to learn to rely on others. He didn't have to always fight alone. It was one of the hardest lessons for Yuma to come to follow.

To Yuma, he hated having to rely on others. Yugo told him to rely on his own strength to get out of trouble, but at the same time, he could also rely on numbers in a fight. Relying on others was something that Yuma had never been able to do. He ran into battles alone and when he got his Black Trigger, he was better at fighting alone since the power in his ring was so strong. Other people would just get in his way if they tried to fight around him while he was going all out with his Black Trigger.

Perhaps the first time he truly followed the idea of fighting with numbers was in the rank wars with his team. While he had allies in Calvaria, he went off to do his own thing all the time. It was different in the rank wars where he didn't have an overpowered Trigger on his side or his father to appear out of nowhere to save his son.

It was his strength he gave to Tamakoma-2. He was their ace, but the strength and value on teamwork that Border promoted showed him that he couldn't survive on his own. He learned how to rely on the support from his team. If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't have gotten as many kills as he did in the rank wars. More than just his strength was needed.

The lesson of relying on the strength of others was finally beginning to set in. He didn't have to fight everyone on his own. He couldn't even do anything on his own right now. At the moment, he couldn't even fight. There was no strength left in Yuma's body. His mentality was weakening at the thought of having to have his father as an enemy. Honestly, Yuma was just a complete mess this week.

Perhaps if he hadn't hesitated so much from the start of this, he wouldn't be in such a bad state currently. That was a big if however. There was no way to tell how this would have turned out had he kept his mind focused on preventing Yugo from appearing at all or even going all out against his dad from their first confrontation. However, tt wasn't time to be thinking about those what ifs when it was already too late to change what had happened this week.

Yuma twisted his arm around to take one of Konami's hands resting on his hand to grip it in return. "My eye being gouged out was honestly the least worrisome injury that I got." He started, refusing to hide his face from his friends. He was uncomfortable having one of his eyes missing, but he wasn't going to hide away anymore. The only reason he would hide any of his injuries now was so the trainees didn't see his body. He wasn't about to let anyone he didn't truly know to see his condition, but all his friends, he would face them straight on. He refused to turn from them as that would just show the weakness he was truly facing. Perhaps they could already see him faltering, but he would do his best to put up his strong front to everyone. "My right arm and left leg got ripped off, but even those weren't the worst injuries I got." His broken hand dropped to his side. Even through his clothes, he could feel the cracks on his torso. The lack of Trion he had was breaking apart his body, but to make it worse, his father throwing him around had made his injuries worse. "A good chunk of my torso was torn apart. It left quite a big hole."

Yuri's eyes widened in shock. She dropped to the couch opposite of Yuma and Konami. She wasn't a fighter. She was never on the battlefield, so she only saw the outcome of the battles. Years ago, when her friends had left to help Aristera and then so few of them returned from the Neighborhood, those who did return had just looked so defeated and rundown. They saved Yotaro and Ruka, but Aristera got destroyed and so many of their friends had been killed. It had been a horrible experience for all involved. So many of her friends were just gone. They didn't even have any bodies to bury since their bodies had to be abandoned in the destruction of Aristera. It left such an empty feeling in her that their graves were just empty. Were they able to find the peace they deserved after life even though they died in another world?

There were many questions that plagued Yuri after Aristera. They had known the dangers of the Neighborhood, but that was the day when they faced how truly cruel that world could be, and now she was seeing it again in the face of a child who looked so young. Knowing that he was a fifteen-year-old trapped in an eleven-year-old's body, it made so much more sense now. Even against a child, there was no mercy in that world. No one should ever have to endure the type of injuries an assassin gave a child. Even if that child was a fighter on the battlefield, Yuri didn't understand how anyone could bring themselves to hurt a child like that.

"I can't believe an assassin could be that cruel against a child." Karasuma said, voicing Yuri's feelings.

"That's just how the Neighborhood is." Yuma replied, giving Karasuma a strange look. Mercy was not a concept that existed in that world.

There was the story that Yuma told them the other night about what he went through as a child, so they knew he went through a horrible experience. From that story, they knew that Yuma's injuries had to be severe if the only option that Yugo saw was to seal Yuma's real body inside a Black Trigger. Still, those injuries that Yuma just described just seemed far too intense for someone to do that to a child who couldn't fight back.

"We've been to the Neighborhood before. We know how tough of a world it is to survive in." Reiji said. "But that type of cruelty to a child who had already lost the fight doesn't make any sense."

Yuma glanced to the side, taking his eyes off of all of his friends. "You've been there before, but you never lived that life. You could go there, see that world, do what you needed to, and just leave. That wasn't an option for me." He pulled his hand away from Konami's comforting grip and stood up, turning his back on all his friends as he stared off. "Ever since Meraki came to Tropoi to steal my mother's Mimic design and killed her, I've been on the move, just fighting to survive. Moving from one country to the next, training with my dad every day, working on infiltration to gain military intel from the different countries we went to. It was rare for us to have a peaceful day that wasn't full of training or getting involved in battles. If I did have free time, it tended to be used as time to study strategy. If you have free time, you have time to make yourself stronger and more prepared to keep yourself alive. The only thing that really mattered was surviving. There was very rarely a chance of the luxury of relaxing. Relaxing meant dropping your guard and the moment you drop your guard, you get killed. It was a lot different from here. I can't find myself able to truly relax in anything I do as I feel like I will get killed when I do."

Yuma turned his head slightly to look at his friends with the one eye he had left. All of them were watching and listening to him intently. "Never being able to truly relax because of that fear is a harsh way to live because you aren't truly living your life. You are just trying to survive to see tomorrow. That cruelty is just a product of the Neighborhood. I know because I know that same cruelty exists in me. When I met Xeno, I was prepared to kill him. He wasn't even in a Trion body when I pointed my sword at his throat. If Chika and Osamu weren't with me, I would have killed him without a second thought and I wouldn't feel guilty about it. All that mattered to me was protecting my friends and surviving. I'm not as nice as you guys. I grew up there. I'm not about to try to make friends with every Neighbor I meet because I know how cruel they can be because I'm prepared to kill each one I meet the moment they try to harm me or my friends. And not just kill their Trion body. I'm prepared to kill them for real. Age doesn't matter in the Neighborhood. Everyone is prepared to kill and everyone is prepared to be killed. Perhaps you guys are too merciful."

"Showing mercy is not a weakness." Jin said softly, pushing away from the desk and walking around, eyes locked on Yuma. "Those who have suffered the most are the ones who have the strength to show mercy because they are the ones who understand the pain of loss the most. When you have suffered, you can have empathy and understanding that you don't want to put your enemy through the same thing."

"And that gives them another chance to attack you later on." Yuma retorted hotly, turning around fully so he could level a hard glare at Jin. "I know you know this. Showing mercy to your enemy doesn't mean they're going to have a change of heart."

"Galopoula attacked us and they seem to be willing to negotiate with us." Karasuma pointed out.

"They lost the battle to us." Yuma retorted. "They lost to Aftokrator and became their vassal and then had to attack us for them and ended up getting defeated again. They keep losing, but somehow surviving. Between Afotkrator and Border, they saw Border as the lesser evil they lost to because we didn't attack their home. Because we didn't steal their Mother Trigger. We didn't force them into working with us. We didn't steal their freedom. Who did all of that? Aftokrator. And now, they are going behind Aftokrator's back to work with us. They want to go after Aftokrator just as much as we do, but they don't have the strength to stand up to them alone. Aftokrator is confident in their power so they think they can take control of these nations and force them into following their orders, but like anyone else, when you do that to someone, they will be angry and if they find a way to get back at them, they will take it."

"Is that how you feel towards the assassin who did this to you?" Reiji asked.

Yuma's hand curled into a fist. Of course it was his broken hand he chose to close tightly so he could feel the cracks on his hand screaming. He already lost his eye. Would his arm be next? Without his ring, there was nothing supplying his body with Trion, not even the little bit that the ring was still giving him, despite it prioritizing Yugo's injuries over him. "It was my disobedience that got me into this situation. He may have caused the injuries, but just as he killed people and wounded me, I did just as many horrible things to Spinthir. That kindness you all give is just softness that doesn't exist over there."

"But it's being true to ourselves." Yuri replied gently. "We're not cruel and we're not going to kill unnecessarily."

"And that's our difference. You didn't have to fight to make through the day to see tomorrow growing up."

A hand suddenly dropped to Yuma's hair from behind him, making him stiffen up.

"What are my agents arguing about?"

"Boss," Konami greeted politely, though with a bit of surprise at his sudden apperance.

Yuma twisted his head to look up at Rindo behind him. Showing his face to Rindo now, it was easy for Yuma to see the surprise that crossed over his boss's face when the lack of his eye was noticed. Yuma dislodged Rindo's hand from his head by shaking it roughly and made his way back over to one of the couches and sat down by himself, scowling down at the floor. He wanted no pity from anyone for the state he was in. The state of his real body, his father being dead, the Mimic of Yugo running around, his lost Black Trigger, the state of his Trion body now. All of this was on him. He had made so many mistakes, and thus, didn't deserve any pity or sympathy. He rolled the dice and now he had to pay the price.

It seemed moving away did not get the message to leave him alone across as a shadow fall over Yuma. A strong hand gripped his chin to tilt his head back, forcing Yuma's eye to meet Rindo's eyes and his clenched jaw as he scanned every inch of Yuma's face. "You couldn't even last a full day without your Black Trigger." Rindo said. He felt weak looking at his young agent. With each passing day in this attack, he felt like he was getting closer and closer to failing Yugo and Yuma. The promise to protect Yuma was becoming almost impossible to succeed at. Is that what Yugo felt raising this child? He seemed to have some horrible luck at running straight into the most difficult situations which made it hard to keep him safe.

"Osamu's team and Miwa squad got into a fight with Kuga-san." Jin said. "The use of Trion from Kuga-san was likely the reason that Yuma lost his eye. Or the damage done to him by Shuji."

Yuma leaned back into the couch to sink into the cushions, but to also get away from Rindo's grip on his chin.

"I see." Rindo said gravely, dropping his hand. The more they fought Yugo, the more they were hurting their comrade. If this continued, they weren't going to be able to kill the Mimic without killing Yuma at the same time. "You say softness doesn't exist over there, Yuma, but I don't believe you are as cruel as you claim to be. You had Kuga-san for a father. He was surely strong and strict, but he had a soft spot for all of his friends and for his son. He raised you to survive, but I'm sure he also taught you the value of life. Perhaps that world itself is difficult to live in, but knowing Kuga-san, he wouldn't raise his son to be cruel or malicious. You are, without a doubt, violent and harsher from being raised over and fighting in wars, but I see a lot of Kuga-san in you as well. He raised you to have the same morals as he did. Raising you to be strong so you can stand on your own, but also teaching you how to protect those you care for. Teaching you to understand the value of allies."

Rindo sat down on the edge of the coffee table, bumping his knee with Yuma, anything he could do to make sure Yuma kept looking at him. He wanted the young agent to stop looking away from him when he was trying to get his point across. "We talked about it the other day. Your father put in a lot of effort to train you and make you ready for the battlefield. He taught you to fight and he taught you strategy, but even with all those lessons so you could stand on your own and be able to survive the battlefield, there are times when you have to go against those teachings. Like when you chose that reckless strategy of sacrificing your combat body to attack Viza in this body to win the fight so you could get to Osamu faster."

"Or when you risked Border finding you by taking Osamu's Trigger to destroy the Marmods at your school." Konami said, having heard the story a while ago from Osamu and Yuma.

"There was also that time when you helped Kitora destroy the Ilgar attacking the city." Karasuma added.

"Or when you went out of your way to find what was causing the irregular Gates and helped us destroy them." Jin added. "You didn't have to do any of that. You weren't a Border member and you didn't owe us anything back then. In fact, you would have been better off not helping us as it would have kept you hidden better."

Yuma huffed in frustration, looking off to the side. "It's not like I was doing all that out of the goodness of my heart. Osamu needed my help."

"And what happened to letting people fix their own problems that they find themselves in?" Rindo asked. "Use your own strength to get yourself out of trouble." The reminder of one of Yugo's lessons had Yuma looking back at Rindo. "But, if you have allies with you, you can rely on them to help you. You gave Osamu the ally he needed back then so now let him, let us, return that favor."

"I understand you think you can be cruel, Yuma-kun, and I do believe you have it in you, but I also think you have it in you to be very kind and understanding." Yuri said. "Because it's true Osamu-kun asked for your help in the past, but just because he asked you for it, it didn't mean you had to give it, but you did it anyway. That shows your own form of kindness."

"I just got dragged into his flow of how to do things." Yuma muttered. If there was one thing he learned in Calvaria, it was to value his own life above all other things. He gave all the help he could in Calvaria, but never put his life on the line for them again. Nothing he did when he first arrived in Japan put his life in jeopardy. He was able to handle everything that Border had to deal with in those first few days he was here easily. The Trion Soldiers and the rads were nothing compared to some of the stuff he faced in the Neighborhood.

"Someone truly cruel without a kind bone in their body wouldn't have let themselves be pulled into someone else's flow of things if they didn't want to help in the first place." Reiji argued. "You're not naturally a violent person, Yuma. The environments you lived in forced you to be violent to protect yourself, but coming here and seeing a peaceful environment, it gave you a chance to learn what it is like to live in a place where you don't have to always punch your way through people to get through each day."

Yuma tilted his head to the side, thoughtfully. While he and Osamu had told them about all the Trion Soldiers they ran into when they first met, they left a lot of stuff out about the day they met out. "In one day, I broke my classmate's foot, broke another guy's leg, and gave three people concussions."

Rindo stared at the kid in front of him as he tried to process what he just heard. Considering how Yuma has been the whole time he has known him, he could say with full confidence that all those injuries he caused were not recent. Plus, knowing Osamu, he wouldn't allow any violent behavior from Yuma to continue and would have nipped that problem in the bud as soon as he could. He would wonder how Yugo manage to raise such a violent child, but it was less about how Yugo raised him and more about the environment that Yuma grew up. Surrounded by battles and fighting in a war his whole life would produce those results. A peaceful environment was what Yuma needed to help him calm down after years of knowing nothing but fighting.

"The life you lived taught you to be strong and to show the same cruelty that was dealt to you because if you didn't, you would be walked all over in the Neighborhood. You would be taken advantage of." Rindo said. Having been to the Neighborhood a few times and seeing how the people lived, he understood where Yuma was coming from. He needed that backbone, the willingness to do whatever it took to survive, because without it he would either be dead or be locked into something he didn't want to partake in. "But I know you don't like killing, Yuma. You told me before that one of your favorite parts of the Rank Wars we have is that no one dies. You lived through that pain and you inflicted that pain on others."

"It was never about liking it. That's not the point I'm trying to make." Yuma replied, tilting his head back to rest it on the back of the couch so he could stare up at the ceiling. "I may have calmed down since coming here, but I spent fifteen years fighting to survive, and despite that, I still lost so much. Just because I've calmed down my violent tendencies since coming here doesn't mean I don't still have them. I could fall back into old habits if I get pushed too far."

Konami suddenly appeared above Yuma, looking down at him with a scowl. "And that is what allies are for. To be your strength, but to also pull you back from the edge." She dropped a fist onto Yuma's forehead. For how strong his mentor was, her fist was surprisingly light when it knocked against his forehead. "We don't only fight together to stop our enemies. We fight together to protect our friends and help them through their difficulties. We're not going to let your falter." Her fist unwrapped so she could thread her fingers through Yuma's hair in a comforting manner. She stared into Yuma's eyes, one that was his normal red eye and the other a dark abyss of nothing. It was unnerving to look into, but she would never turn away from her mentee. He needed to know that she was always going to have his back.

Yuma stared up at the upside-down image of his mentor. Her hair was falling over her face as she looked down at him. It was so long that it was tickling his face. With her hair falling on either side of her face, she was the only thing he could see so their attention was simply on each other. "Kako-san called the Mimic of Dad clearly a fake. Someone who gave his life for me wouldn't be hurting me this much when he knows it would kill me."

"The memories of Kuga-san are there, but his Trion Soldier programming overwrites the memories and the care he has for you." Konami replied.

Yuma closed his single eye, only taking comfort in Konami's hand tugging lightly at his hair. "He said having the Black Trigger would make it so he can stay forever, that it would make it real. Would it break him free of the Trion Soldier programming or would he still be a slave to it and go back to Meraki? I don't know the answer to that, but I know that if we don't kill him soon, I will die. In the past, I was willing to die if it meant I could bring my father back. Return the Black Trigger back into my father."

Konami's grip tightened on Yuma's locks. This week had been one revelation after another from Yuma. This was the most they had learned about the young Neighbor in all the months they knew him. The way he smiled all the time and was just ready to have as much fun as possible, she didn't think such a difficult past and hard feelings lied behind the happy expressions he gave them. She knew there had been something there as she knew his Black Trigger was created by his father, but learning the full context of everything, Konami was more and more impressed by her friend. When she lost all her friends, she had felt utterly defeated, but the members of Border that had survived were her strength to be able to stand back up. Yuma's strength to stand had been a hope to find a way to bring Yugo back, even if it meant killing himself.

"It's not something that is possible, or so I thought. It seems Meraki finished my mom's design of the Mimics to find a way to bring someone dead back to life through their Black Trigger." Yuma said softly. He spoke softly, but had everyone's attention drawn to him as his words left a pit of fear in each of them. "But that look..." Yuma turned his head on the back of the couch, but didn't manage to dislodge Konami's hand as she kept her fingers entangled in his hair. "I've been hesitating all week, because I felt so guilty over my father's death. He shouldn't have been forced into the position where he had to decide which one of us should live and who should die. I wanted my dad back so badly and when he reappeared in front of me, I froze. I thought I could finally ease my guilt and get to..." He trailed off again, biting his bottom lip. Apologize. An apology was constantly on the tip of his tongue each time he saw Yugo, and every time, it never fell from his lips. He could only stare at the Trion Soldier wearing his father's face coming at him with the intent to hurt and Yuma doing nothing to stop it because how could he hurt the man who gave everything for him?

Yuma turned his head back and opened his eye to stare up at his mentor. "When he attacked me and took my Black Trigger, that look on his face. It was such an ugly look that my father would never wear, would never give me. The Trion Soldier programming has got a hold of his mind. I don't want to see him or Mogami become slaves to it and forever being an enemy to Border. It would destroy them to hurt their old friends like this and not being able to stop themselves and if they go back to Meraki, they'll be forced to be like this forever."

"Kill them to save them." Jin said, sitting down on the edge of the coffee table next to Rindo. He gripped his knees tightly. Yuma's guilt was shifting into anger at seeing his father being taken advantage like he was. It was similar to the anger that Jin felt when he saw his mentor appear the other night. That wasn't his mentor. It was a Trion Soldier stealing his face, his voice, his expressions, his memories. All to try to get Jin to freeze in shock and let himself be killed. "Because this isn't what they want either. I could see it in their eyes at the end of that battle last night. Kuga-san never wanted to hurt you, Yuma, but he has no control."

"He already did." Yuma replied, gingerly touching the skin below his missing eye. Physically and mentally. It may not have been what Yugo wanted, but it was what he did.

"How do you expect us to kill them when just fighting Kuga-san hurts Yuma like this?" Reiji asked.

Yugo stared down at Yuma, who was kneeling in front of his father, a set of swords laid strewn behind him. He stared up defiantly as Yugo pointed his sword down at his son, resting the tip lightly against Yuma's neck.

The vision was still haunting Jin. Yuma wasn't in any condition to fight. In fact, his condition was getting so much worse and he couldn't activate a Trigger right now, so how was he seeing a future where Yuma and Yugo faced off? Yuma agreed to pull out of the battle since he couldn't find the strength to fight Yugo, but now he needed off the field since he couldn'y activate his Trigger.

A future where Yugo and Yuma faced off again.

Jin couldn't see the path where Yuma was saved so maybe a path where he met his father was what was needed. Looking at the condition Yuma was in though, Jin couldn't propose sending Yuma out there. He looked like one hit would do him in.

And it wasn't only Yugo they had to contend with. Mogami was haunting them, haunting Jin, as well. He hated seeing his mentor attack him and his friends like this. His Mogami had to be trapped behind the Trion Soldier programming just screaming in pain as he watched what he was doing to his student and his organization. Knowing how much all of this would cause Mogami to suffer, Jin was not going to let this go on. He was going to save everyone.

"How is it that every time we meet up with Yuma, he looks worse than the last time we saw him?"

Yuma sat up straight, causing Konami to stand up properly and move back to avoid Yuma headbutting her. He glanced over towards the door to see that his team was back from that fight. Hyuse was currently glaring at Yuma like he was an idiot for letting himself get into such a horrible state.

Yuma grimaced at the looks of horror that Chika and Osamu had, though Osamu was quick to cover up his shock when he caught Yuma's eye. While Chika gripped the door frame with a tight grip to steady herself, Osamu marched right into the room, never taking his eyes off of his partner.

This wasn't...

They had gone after Yugo today and had ended up hurting Yuma in the process of attacking Yugo. The Trion Yugo was using to heal, the power of the Black Trigger, all of it was draining Yuma of the little that he had left to the point that his body was beginning to fall apart. Chika had made a promise to herself that she would shoot. It was the determination she found in the final match of the rank wars because if she didn't shoot, she would lose Yuma and Osamu.

Despite that promise, she had frozen at the idea of shooting Yugo when he attacked Tamakoma Branch the other day. Yuma's father was so important to him, just as her friend and brother were very important to her and were the whole reason that Chika joined Border. She was fighting so hard to try to find them while knowing that it might not be possible to find them at all. That they might be dead. She was doing all of this on the hope that they were still alive.

Yuma's father was dead. He had his own form of suffering and grief from his past in Calvaria. She had heard the underlying pain in Yuma's voice when he spoke to her about it all those months ago at the shrine. She knew love and she knew loss. Yuma knew love and he knew loss and that caused Chika to hesitate at Tamakoma.

Perhaps if she hadn't, if she had just taken the shot on Yugo back then, her friend wouldn't be looking like he was about to die in the next few minutes.

They were now at a point of if they did nothing, Yuma would die. If they fought Yugo, Yuma would die.

A third option was needed.