A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 42: Katori Squad's Ace
The classroom wasn't large so it wouldn't be hard to throw herself across the classroom or take long to do it, but despite that, Katori chose to activate a Grasshopper behind her foot and flung herself across the room. The room may not be big enough for her to do this, but she was doing this for the speed.
She didn't care about Mogami or Yugo. She knew they were in the city as transformed Mimics and to be wary, but this was never personal for her. It was a personal matter to Tamakoma while to her, they were just enemies that needed to be killed to protect the city and end the chaos that was reigning in Border. Neighbors were the enemy, and that was the only reason she bothered to glance briefly at the logs of the fights the agents have had with Yugo and Mogami.
Unlike Yuma who excelled in speed and jumping around the battlefield, Yugo didn't move more than was necessary. He tended to wait for his enemies to come to him and didn't allow any unnecessary movements. Every move he made had a purpose. Every attack he made was meant to be critical. If it couldn't do critical damage, he would stick to defense.
With her Grasshopper propelling herself at Yugo, Katori fired her Asteroid off again at Yugo, mostly to distract him as she knew he would simply deflect or shield the bullets again. Her real attack came from her left hand which was hidden behind her back. It wasn't until she was right on top of Yugo that she swung her arm forward to reveal the Scorpion she had materialized.
Despite the fact that she had kept it hidden until the last possible second, Yugo was already prepared to block her blade. The force of his sword hitting hers caused her Scorpion to crack, but it didn't break. As long as it was still intact, she wasn't going to back away. Katori used her gun to block Yugo's second sword from hitting her. This allowed her to lock up both of his swords.
With Katori now fighting by his side and keeping Yugo busy with close combat, Suwa activated his second shotgun. He had been avoiding using both of his shotguns as he couldn't afford to go into full attack against Yugo. Doing so now would prevent him from using his Shields, but if Katori could keep him busy, it shouldn't be too difficult to avoid attacks from Yugo since he would be partly distracted.
Katori caught sight of Suwa's second shotgun appearing out of the corner of her eye. That indicated he was getting ready to try to mark Yugo with his starmaker, but with how close she was to Yugo, it would be hard for him to aim and hit him. Katori was not willing to let Suwa shoot through her to get to Yugo. Sacrificing herself for a win was not a tactic that she ever used. She agreed to help Suwa and Arafune with this plan, but she did not agree to get shot for it.
A Grasshopper appeared under her foot that she used to propel herself to the side, ripping herself free of Yugo's swords. Using another Grasshopper pad, she threw herself behind Yugo to not only give Suwa the space he needed to shoot, but also because she knew it would be a distraction to the Mimic. He may be able to track them through their Trion, but it's not like he had eyes in the back of his head. He would have to choose someone to focus his attention on.
Too bad Katori wasn't going to give him the choice of who to focus on.
Yugo went to shift his body so he could keep track of Katori and Suwa at the same time, but was surprised to find his legs locked in place.
And that was the reason that Suwa was glad it was Katori squad that had been nearby that could offer their assistance. Very few people used Spider so it was likely that Yugo hadn't dealt with this Trigger yet. It was what Suwa was banking on when he developed this plan and chose Katori to be his partner for the attack. He just needed to get Yugo to hesitate for a moment so he could mark him with one starmaker.
Taking his moment of surprise, Suwa cocked his guns at the Mimics. He needed to hit him in a spot that wouldn't get blown off at any point, but he also couldn't go for the head or the central part of his torso. The order was not to kill Kuga Yugo right now, not that Suwa thought he could. After seeing the logs of his fight, if Suwa even tried to aim for a kill shot, he would get blocked so easily. Yugo defended his vital points very well, even when it seemed like he was distracted by there being multiple enemies around.
The heart and head were off limits as were any limbs that could possibly be cut off. The starmaker was invisible to the enemy once they were marked. Once Suwa marked him, it would be up to Osano to later activate it when they wanted to find Yugo so as soon as Suwa hit him, so Yugo should think nothing of the attack and won't think he has anything on him that he needs to get rid of.
To Suwa, he would think somewhere on the torso or the shoulder would be the best spots to shoot at. Though, Suwa didn't believe he had the right to be picky about where his starmaker landed. It was hard enough to hit Yugo without trying to hit him in a certain spot.
Suwa pulled the trigger on both of his shotguns, sending out multiple Asteroid bullets towards Yugo. Yugo may not be able to dodge with wires stuck in his legs which locked him in place, but the didn't mean he was defenseless. He met Suwa's Asteroid with a Shield while one of his swords was swung over his shoulder to block Katori's Scorpion while his second sword swung downwards to slice the wires apart to free his legs.
With his freedom to move back, Yugo turned to face Katori fully, scraping his sword across her Scorpion. He could still hear Suwa attacking behind him, which resulted in cracks forming in his Shield so Yugo didn't have much time to waste on Katori.
"Not likely." Katori hissed.
The wires she had planted earlier caught Yugo's arm when he went to swing at her. The wires were a very convenient tool to support her in battle, but she hated that it was just her copying Tamakoma-2's idea of them, but at least she was using them in her own style. The wires worked well for her when she had to work alone whereas Tamakoma used the wires as a way to support each other and make their own territory. It was by watching them use it though that she got ideas of how to use it for her own needs.
Despite being hindered by wires that he couldn't see, Yugo didn't let that stop him. He wasn't only a sword user when he had a Black Trigger's ability locked into him. "Bolt, Triple!"
Katori eyed the orange sealed that Yugo had formed above his trapped hand. The doorway was behind her so she had an escaped route from the attack, but she also knew that the bullets Yugo used weren't always just a straight shot. He had a copy of Viper on him so if the bullets went for Suwa and he bailed out since he was in full attack and couldn't defend, then everything they were doing would end up being for nothing.
It was for that reason that instead of retreating, Katori used her Grasshopper to throw herself around Yugo and towards Suwa. As she flung herself through the air, she threw more of her wire Triggers down to create a web in the room, concentrating most of them on where Yugo was standing to make it hard for him to move. At the same time, she was throwing a Shield up to take the hits from Yugo's bullets which did twist around to aim at the agents behind him. Her Shield wasn't strong enough to withstand all of the bullets coming at her so it started to shatter, but Katori responded by kicking a desk over for some cover as she yanked Suwa down to the ground with her.
The bullets slammed into the desk, sending pieces of it flying through the air.
"How many damn bullets are in that seal?" Katori griped as the attack seemed never ending. She hissed in annoyance as the bullets began to tear through the desk and ripped through her arm. She knew the desk wasn't going to be enough to stop all the bullets, but it was at least some extra defense since her Shield couldn't stop everything. "I revealed Spider to him. You need to get your hit in now. He's going to start tearing the wires down soon."
"If it was that easy to hit him, I wouldn't have asked for your help." Suwa replied, twisting his head to the side when he felt a bullet scrape across his cheek. He rubbed the spilling Trion away. "The problem is his defense. No matter how much you tangle him up in Spider, it doesn't break through his Shield. I can't hit him when his defense game is insane."
"Sounds like an excuse." Katori scoffed, pulling her gun back out. "No shield is unbreakable. You almost broke through earlier which is why he attacked–"
"How lax are Border agents in battle?" Yugo asked, surprising Suwa and Katori as they both looked up to see the Mimic leaning on the desk to look down at them. "You all think you have the time to strategize or make quips in the middle of a fight."
Katori twisted away from the desk as she activated Spider again, sending the wires out which tangled them all up, but with the wires only being visible to Suwa and her, it should give them a few seconds to get their wits back. She whipped her gun up to shoot it point blank at Yugo's face. The aim was to not kill Yugo in this fight, but Katori had no fear of her attack doing that. Kuga Yugo wouldn't be done in by an attack like this.
She was proven right when a Shield appeared in front of his face to take the brunt of her Asteroid.
Suwa ducked under Katori's wires as he rolled away from Yugo. As a Gunner, if he stuck too close to the enemy, he would get killed so easily. A point blank shot to plant his starmaker would not work as Katori just proved that with her attack being blocked so easily. He just needed to get one hit on him after breaking through his Shield.
Yugo swung his swords, ripping through the wires, or what he thought were the wires. As he couldn't see them especially with the only light in the room coming from the sun shining in, he was just taking a guess, but with how many this girl kept planting in the classroom, he was sure he was striking them down even while doing it blindly. With the wires falling down around him, Yugo took a moment to step back and take in the two agents in front of him. There was a degree of skill in the agents in front of him, but it didn't match those agents he fought earlier or the ones he fought the pass few days. Though, there was potential lying in them.
Unfortunately, having the potential to be a strong fighter one day meant nothing in the present moment.
*Mimics*
Mogami's Kogetsu twisted around Arafune's own blade. As he twisted around, his elbow came up to slam into Arafune's face. While physical attacks would do no damage to a Trion body, the force behind the attack had Arafune stumbling back. While he worked on getting his footing back, Mogami turned his attention to Miura. Fujin swung forward, locking up Miura's Kogetsu when he tried to attack him. While being busy with Miura, Mogami swung his Kogetsu behind him, sending out three wind blades behind him through the ground. He didn't release them from the ground until Arafune was moving back on him to attack again. The wind blades shot out of the ground to hit Arafune from behind.
Arafune stumbled again, but at least he didn't take too much damage. He had been expecting the wind blades but with them coming from behind him, he had only managed to barely deflect one of the slashes. Despite the Trion spilling from his cuts, Arafune didn't back down. He still continued towards Mogami once he managed to regain his footing.
Mogami twisted around Miura to kick him in the back, sending him flying into the wall before he turned to meet Arafune's Kogetsu. Arafune slammed his Kogetsu against Fujin, pushing hard on the blades to keep them locked as he stared into Mogami's eyes. He couldn't stay here long as Mogami still had a second sword that he could strike Arafune at any moment and kill him.
Still, Arafune didn't retreat just yet. It was strange. Mogami was using a lot of melee moves to get him and Miura away from him. He supposed it could be because he couldn't use wind blades when they were in close combat like this, but he didn't quite believe that was the reason. Even when Mogami threw them away, he wasn't using the wind blades that much. In fact, for all that Arafune knew of how strong Mogami was, this battle didn't feel that tough. It was like Mogami was taking it easy on them. He was barely using wind blades and wasn't even throwing Senkus at them. He was simply engaging them in a sword fight and only using melee attacks and the occasional wind blades to keep him and Miura from engaging him at the same time.
"I expected a harder fight from a Border founder." Arafune baited, keeping his eyes locked on Mogami as he tried to figure him out.
Mogami's lips quirked into a smile before an Escudo was coming out of the floor from below Arafune's feet to launch him into the air which sent him through the ceiling to the floor above them.
"This may come as a surprise to you, Border agents," Mogami said while Miura pulled himself free of the rubble from the wall he was slammed into and Arafune rolled himself over on the floor above them to look down the hole he made to look at Mogami. "But I have no issues with you."
"You may not," Arafune replied, thinking back to the easy smile that Yuma gave him and Suwa earlier in Border's cafeteria. He spoke of his past and the fact that his father being here was draining him of his life so easily, almost in a carefree manner. Nothing about what Yuma said should be spoken about in such a breezy manner which made Arafune think it was just a strong front that Yuma was giving them. Yuma didn't want to appear weak to them. "But we can't say the same about you and Kuga. Everything you do is hurting our friends."
Mogami just kept staring up at Arafune, not reacting to his retort at all. It wasn't something that he needed to have shouted at him. He had already come to accept the fact that he had died years ago and that by reappearing here, he would be hurting all of his old friends since underneath his exterior was simply a Trion Soldier that was an enemy to all of them. The Trion Soldier in him may not currently care about going after Border since he already acquired Fujin, but how long would that last? When they returned to Meraki would they get new orders at some point that had them attacking Border again?
"And how is young Yuma doing?" Mogami felt the need to ask as Arafune had brought up the matter. "I haven't seen him in a couple days, but I imagine he's not doing well."
Arafune scoffed. Since he was lying on the floor above Mogami, he used the lack of vision Mogami had of his body to switch from his Kogetsu to his Egret. "That doesn't concern you. And you don't get to address him by his first name." He twisted around to pull himself into a crouch and in the same motion, he had pulled up his Egret, pointing it down at Mogami. With Mogami being so close to him, Arafune didn't even take any time to try to aim, especially when he didn't have time since Mogami would have spotted the rifle right away. He simply pulled the trigger.
It was a stupid move for any sniper to try to shoot someone so blatantly. The moment it was known where a sniper was shooting from, the easier it was to not only shield from the snipe, but it also left the sniper wide open for a counterattack. Being that he was a sniper and attacker though, Arafune could take this risk as he could swap between sniping and attacking very quickly, which is what he did. Even from this close range, he had every expectation of Mogami surviving the attack which is why the second after he pulled the trigger, Arafune had immediately switched back to his Kogetsu and was jumping through the hole. Just as Mogami was producing a Shield to defend from Arafune's shot, Arafune was slamming his Kogetsu onto the Shield right after his shot had dissolved. Having taken the force of Arafune's snipe before, the Shield couldn't withstand his Kogetsu as well which left it shattering, allowing his sword to continue on towards Mogami. Or, it would have if Mogami didn't bring up Fujin to stop his Kogetsu in its tracks. With Arafune's Kogetsu busy with Fujin, Mogami brought up his Kogetsu and in one quick swipe sliced it across Arafune's stomach.
Arafune went flying backwards while Mogami raised a brow, turning his Kogetsu over curiously. It truly was impressive how fast these young agents were at activating Shields. He had been going for a kill shot there, but instead hit a shield that prevented him from getting as deep a cut as he wanted.
"I truly must commend Masafumi-kun and the others. They did quite a good job in training such skilled agents in just a couple years." Mogami commented while blocking an attack from Miura who tried to come at him from the side.
Arafune pushed himself up to his knees, a hand coming up over his stomach to cover the Trion spilling out of the slash. This could not be more annoying to deal with this. It was like that time he had a rank war with Jin. He never managed to get a hit in because Jin always knew what he was going to do before he even did it. At least there was an explanation there with Jin's Side Effect coming into play. Mogami did not have the ability to predict anything, but seemed to just be prepared for every move they made. He really hoped that Suwa and Katori finished up their part of this plan soon because he didn't know how much longer he could keep Mogami distracted.
*Mimics*
Katori stumbled, falling towards the ground as her Scorpion shattered after blocking the full force of Yugo's sword. She planted a hand on the ground to catch herself and flipped herself into a handstand, swinging her foot towards Yugo as a new Scorpion came out of her calf. Yugo jerked his head to the side to easily dodge the attack that Katori didn't have much control over. Before Katori could right herself, Yugo grabbed her ankle and swung the unbalanced girl into a desk.
Even as she was flying into the desk, Katori's wire Triggers were springing to life once more. Spider wasn't doing much against a Mimic that had no issue with cutting them down to prevent himself from being hindered, but perhaps she just wasn't using enough. Instead of just using a few this time, she tripled the amount she was using before. She needed to get as many tangled around Yugo as possible to make it hard for him to swing his swords. If she could get his arms trapped, it would be enough to stall him for the few seconds they needed. He shouldn't even notice until he tried to move since he couldn't see her wires in this dark classroom.
Katori flung herself away from Yugo as she pointed her gun at him, unleashing her Asteroid. It was at this moment that Yugo went to shift when he felt the pull on his arms that prevented him from swinging his blade. At this point, it wasn't too surprising as that girl kept throwing more and more wires in response to him cutting them down constantly. Since he didn't have time to match Katori's Asteroid with his own bullets, a Shield was his only option until he had the time to free himself of the wires.
"Get ready!" Katori shouted through her telepathy at Suwa. If they didn't do this now, there likely wouldn't be another chance. The fact that Yugo has allowed her to plant wires as much as she did was already a miracle, but it most likely was not going to continue. They needed to finish this now.
Just as her Asteroid slammed into Yugo's Shield, the windows in the classroom behind Suwa shattered as more bullets slammed into the room, twisting around Suwa to head straight for Yugo to join Katori's bullets in hitting Yugo's Shield. With so many bullets assaulting his Shield, it didn't matter that the Shield came from a Black Trigger and had much more durability than Border's Shield. It could be broken through.
This was the moment that Suwa needed. His own Asteroid bullets burst from his shotguns to join in the fray.
Yugo stared at his shield as it began to crack. It was getting ready to break from three different agents attacking it. There had only been two agents over here when this fight started, but three in the group that Mogami had gone after. What was Mogami doing that he had allowed one of them to come over here? He was supposed to be better than that, letting one of his targets get away.
In any case, Yugo had to end this battle. There was nothing he had against these agents. He didn't particularly care for them as the only person he had business with was Yuma, but since they came to him to attack, he would have to kill them. He has had enough of playing around.
Yugo flipped his sword over in his hand before he was swinging it in an upwards arc behind him to slice through the wires that were tugging at his arm. Feeling the relief of tension on his arm, Yugo took the newfound freedom to slice through the wires trapping the right side of his body. "Bound." Yugo ordered, using the seal to propel himself straight for Katori. Another Shield appeared up at his side to deflect the bullets that came from the windows again, but Yugo barely acknowledged it as he twisted around Katori to avoid her Scorpion. As he twisted around her, his sword cut through her arm and neck. At the same time, Wakamura's Hound had done its job of shattering the Shield protecting Yugo.
Suwa flipped his main shotgun towards Yugo and took his shot. With his Shield in the process of shattering, Yugo went to twist around to meet Suwa's shot head on.
It was a move that Katori no doubt picked up on from Osamu. He was sure that Katori was pissed about picking up any tactics from Osamu and the rest of his team. She was the type to prefer her own style of fighting, but as much as it annoyed her, she would do what it took to win. She was killed just now so maybe it wouldn't be a win to her, but Suwa would make it one by taking the opening she gave him.
The wires left behind from Katori before she bailed out were enough to stall Yugo for a second. With his Shield shattering and the wires tying up his arm to prevent him from turning, Suwa's shot finally landed on Yugo's shoulder. Yugo went to twist away from the shot as best he could against the wires so the shot only scraped his shoulder, but that was okay. It was more than enough for Suwa to be satisfied. That was all he needed to plant his starmaker.
It wasn't even a full second later when Yugo's Bolt seal appeared and the bullets were tearing through the classroom to rip through all the wires. Suwa was already flipping his shotguns toward the ground and blasting his Asteroid through the floor below his feet, shattering the ground so he could fall through the floor to not only escape from Yugo, but to also dodge the bullets.
Yugo stepped over the rubble, lifting a hand to plant on the window seal. "Shield, double." He said, forming a fixed Shield that spread along all the broken windows to prevent any more bullets from assaulting him as he looked down the hole that the agent disappeared through. Even though he shouldn't since Border was currently his enemy, Yugo felt a twinge of amusement when he found no trace of the agent. "What a curious bunch of kids."
He could still locate the agent as he made his escape, but Yugo made no attempt to chase after him. Instead, he turned his attention towards the windows, looking over at the opposite building where he saw a flash of purple that was the other agent that appeared to give backup to the agents he had been engaging in close combat with. Considering he was letting the agents make their escape, he supposed he couldn't give Mogami a hard time for letting that agent make his way over here.
If anything, he wanted to give Shinoda and Rindo a hard time for letting their agents choose such flashy colors like purple for their uniforms. That was a color that was just going to stand out so badly when the agents were trying to be sneaky.
Yugo sheathed his swords, turning his back on the broken windows and left the classroom. He shifted his shoulder a bit as he felt the wound he received healing already along with the small nicks on his legs from the wires that girl had attached to his legs earlier. He had been in the city for a few days and his clothes were getting so wrecked. All of the injuries he received could heal, but his clothes were becoming more and more ragged with each hit he took. He really had to hand it to these agents. They were getting better and better each time he fought them if the amount of hits he had been taking lately were anything to go by.
Yugo ripped the last of the wires down that were blocking the classroom door so he could step into the hallway. Though it was pretty far down the hall, the fact that it was the only noise taking place currently meant that Yugo could still hear Mogami's battle taking place. It was the clashing of blades that drew his attention. He doubted that fight would be going on much longer. Either Mogami would kill them soon or like the agents who had been fighting him, they would choose to retreat soon.
*Mimics*
"Why am I getting an e-mail from Kazama about the agents not engaging the Mimics in battle for the time being?" Shinoda demanded, waving his phone in Rindo's face. "Since when did my agents start dishing out the orders and not even bothering to inform me of what is going on? In fact, why aren't you informing me of what is going on?"
Rindo lowered his coffee that he was about to drink as he stared at his friend who was practically shoving the phone in his face. He took the phone from Shinoda's hand and replaced it with the coffee he had just bought for himself. "I think you need this more than me. Have you slept at all recently?" Not that Rindo was really allowed to speak on that matter. He hadn't gotten more than three hours of sleep every night this week.
"I got two hours last night." Shinoda eagerly gulped down the coffee that Rindo gave him, savoring the taste that he hadn't managed to get in days since he had been so busy getting hounded by agents and meetings.
"Don't let Yuma hear that. He's ready to give all the agents a lesson on proper self-care and why sleep is important." Rindo replied, flipping Shinoda's phone around to see this e-mail that had Shinoda so annoyed.
Shinoda snorted, staring down into his cup. "Funny coming from the one person who doesn't sleep. I'm surprised he even remembers how important sleep is considering he hasn't had to do it in five years. He probably doesn't even remember what it feels like to be this tired." It was a horrible feeling, being as tired as he was right now. He was only managing to stay awake because he was constantly on the move. If he sat down for even a moment, he knew he was going to fall asleep. He shouldn't allow himself to be this tired as it made it hard to think and make the correct decisions, but with everything going on and the stress of the week, he found it hard to relax enough to get enough sleep. Even so, feeling like this, it told Shinoda that he was alive. He was alive and in his real body. Yuma didn't get that. There were probably a lot of feelings that he lacked and had forgotten what they feel like after five years trapped in a Trion body. The feeling of being tired. What pain feels like. The comfort of sleep. The ability to feel full after eating as Trion bodies never truly got the feeling of full no matter how much someone ate. Could Yuma feel the heat or cold with his Trion body? Did he ever feel lonely at night when he was awake by himself?
Perhaps feeling pain was horrible and feeling tired sucked when one needed energy to think clearly, but they were a part of being human. A reminder that one was alive and had to take care of themselves. It was something Yuma didn't get. Something Yuma probably didn't think about for himself since his body was dying and sealed away.
"Maybe Yuma reminds himself that it is something he is missing by thinking about it for others who still need to take care of themselves. It's his way of remembering that not everyone can just keep going like he does." Rindo replied, frowning as he read the e-mail from Kazama. "I suppose Soya had a talk with Jin earlier if he sent this out to all the agents."
"So, you do know what it is about." Shinoda said with a scowl. "What part of no more secrets is so hard for Tamakoma to understand?"
Rindo shoved the phone into Shinoda's chest so he would take a hold of it once more. "It's not a secret. It's just a new development. Let's go visit Yuma."
*Mimics*
Katori stepped out of the bail out room, gripping the doorframe tightly as she stared over at Hana who was still working at her computer. Her eyes scanned over the rest of the room, but she didn't see either of her teammates, so she took that as meaning they hadn't bailed out. A scowl formed on her face as she stepped up to Hana's desk. "After all that work to be a distraction, Suwa-san better not have screwed up and wasted the opportunity I bought him."
Hana glanced up at her friend's voice and managed a small smile at her. "It was enough, Yoko. Suwa-san got the hit he wanted and is now in the process of retreating."
"Considering I got killed for him to get that hit, I should make him pay me back." Katori grumbled. She did not agree to being a sacrificial lamb to distract Yugo for Suwa. She went to all that trouble to draw Yugo's attention so Suwa could focus on trying to hit him with his starmaker. It had been harder than she expected. She knew from word of mouth that Yugo was very strong, but she didn't expect his defense to be so annoying to break through. He really was a worse and more aggravating version of Yuma.
"I thought you didn't want to snag a reward from Tamakoma for offering your assistance." Hana replied.
"From them, no." Katori agreed. "But I will make Suwa-san pay for dragging me into his battle." She hated it when she got killed. It was frustrating for her to lose like this. Perhaps it could be considered a win on her part since the goal had been to mark one of the Mimics with a starmaker. She knew some of her comrades were willing to let their allies kill them in order to get the win against the enemy. She did hear that Tachikawa let Konami slice him in half to take care of the Galopoula Neighbor they fought together. It was not something she ever wanted to do herself though. She wasn't willing to let herself be attacked by an ally to get to the enemy through her body.
"Yuta and Arafune-san are still fighting Mogami-san." Hana said, moving the conversation away from Suwa. If she kept on pushing that, Katori would start a big rant on her frustrations about getting killed and what she would force Suwa to give her as a reward for her help.
"If Suwa-san has accomplished his goal, there is no reason for them to continue that fight." Katori replied. "Kazama-san said to not engage with the Mimics and we disregarded that order to go after them to plant the starmaker. We shouldn't continue this fight now that we have finished with that."
"That is true." Hana agreed. "I doubt they would have sent out that memo if it wasn't important that we avoid engaging with the Mimics right now. We shouldn't take this any farther."
"Not that it really matters either way." Katori said. "Yuta and Arafune-san won't be able to kill him anyway."
"You shouldn't be doubting your allies so much." Hana scolded softly.
"It has nothing to do with doubt. I'm being realistic. Tachikawa-san and Jin-san couldn't beat him. If two of Border's top Attackers couldn't kill him, a couple of B-Rank agents aren't going to succeed."
Hana hummed softly in reply. Katori's assessment certainly wasn't wrong. If it was that easy to beat Mogami or Yugo, it wouldn't have been such a difficult, stressful week for all of Border. With each fight they had against the Mimics, Border was showing off more of the different tactics and Triggers they had. They weren't going to have anything left to surprise the Mimics with to catch them off guard at this rate. Each fight was teaching them how the Border agents fought and with their experience, they were going to learn from this and be ready to face anything they tried to throw at them.
"I'll let Yuta and Rokuro-kun know they can retreat." Hana said.
*Mimics*
Yugo leaned his shoulder against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Mogami sidestep the agent in purple. He swiped his sword at Miura's back, giving him a shallow cut there. "Trying to bleed them of their Trion slowly?" He questioned. "What's the purpose of being so nice?"
Mogami stepped back from the agents, but didn't turn to face Yugo. While he didn't find these agents to be too much of a challenge, he wasn't going to take his eyes off of them to give them a chance to land a hit on him while he was distracted. "One might call it more cruel by making them think they have a chance."
Arafune stabbed his Kogetsu into the ground to help leverage himself as he pushed himself up to his knees. If it wasn't for the fact that he lost his leg, he would have just stood up. He glared over at Mogami and Yugo, who was just so casually staring at him and Miura. If he was over here, did that mean Suwa and the others got killed?
Yugo hummed. "Either way, you are still doing it. Why not just kill them and get it done with?"
"Can you really speak?" Mogami asked. "You let your targets leave."
"I at least killed one of them." Yugo replied.
Mogami replied by swinging Fujin two times. The last six wind blades on his blade disappeared into the ground. It wasn't like before where he hadn't hidden the wind blades in the ground so the agents could prepare to counter them. No, this time, he sent them flying into the ground so he could send three at Arafune and three at Miura, attacking them from behind to behead each of the agents.
Yugo raised a brow, not quite showing surprise like the agents were as their heads fell off before they were each bailing out. "Is it a competition now?"
Mogami sheathed his Kogetsu and deactivated Fujin so he could store it in the pouch at his side. "You've been killing every agent in your path for days now. Why the sudden leniency to allow those two to escape?" He asked, still refusing to turn to his friend.
"You're the one who suggested retreat earlier at the train station." Yugo pointed out, staring out the window to watch the trails of light that were the agents heading back to HQ.
"Yes, because there was no reason for that fight." Mogami said, disregarding the fact that they lost Yugo's Black Trigger in that mess. "I've always been the type to protest pointless fights."
"It's only pointless to you." Yugo said. "To these agents, it's very important."
"And to you?" Mogami turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at Yugo, but his friend was still staring out the window. "Do you care to get the ring back from Yuma? Or do you want these agents to succeed in killing you?"
"You know very well that the answer is yes to both."
"Which is why you let those agents leave."
"Had I not made the snide comment, you would have let your opponents escape as well." Yugo pointed out, pushing off the wall so he could take a step closer to his friend. It wasn't like Mogami to rise to the bait and kill the agents in response to that, but whether they retreated by choice or got killed, they were heading back to HQ either way. Killing them at least got them out of Mogami and Yugo's way faster. "I know Fujin is clearing up your mind. It's why you haven't been trying that hard to fight against any of these agents."
"It seems the self-control you managed to gain from the few hours you held your ring hasn't been lost either." Mogami replied.
"Perhaps, or perhaps it's because I don't care much for these kids."
Mogami snorted. "Right. The only kid you care about right now is the one where you can't determine whether you want to kill him or not." He pivoted on his feet to fully face Yugo. "Yuma is causing all the strife right now. These agents are his friends and they want to save him from you. You are at constant conflict with wanting to die to save him but also needing to prioritize your survival by taking the Black Trigger from him which will kill him. Until we get the Black Trigger back from him, we aren't heading back to Meraki which is what we need to be doing soon. They will be heading out of range in a few days. The agents will keep coming after us because they want this back." Mogami planted a hand on Fujin at his side. "And they know you being here is what is killing Yuma so they'll want to kill you too."
"We can kill the agents as much as we want. It doesn't accomplish anything when they can just bail out to HQ when we defeat them. They will just keep appearing to get in our way." Yugo replied. "And if Yuma doesn't leave HQ, which is crawling with agents, how do you propose we get the ring back from him?"
It was a question that needed answered because Mogami and Yugo both relented to the agents taking it back earlier. That decision was going to make this harder for them, but though they were going to go against Border to get it back as they were required to do, Mogami knew neither of them truly wanted to succeed in that mission but it wasn't their choice.
"Yuma is the source of conflict. When you're around him, you're a mess of love and hatred for him." Mogami said. "I, on the other hand, have no such feelings for him, so how about I kill him for you and take the ring so we can get on with getting out of here?"
*Mimics*
He needed more coffee. He didn't have enough sleep nor enough coffee to be dealing with this right now. In fact, perhaps he had had fallen asleep on the walk over here and was now engulfed in a nightmare. Shinoda wanted so much for that to be the most logical answer as to why his mentor's son was currently missing an eye.
Sadly, Shinoda knew that the nightmare he was thinking of was just the current reality of the situation they were in. He wished this sight was surprising to him, but knowing Yuma was in a Trion body that was breaking and being drained of Trion by a Mimic, it only made sense that pieces of that body would start to be lost. At least it was only an eye he had lost and not a limb.
"You look like shit." Yuma said, scowling at the director. "I swear, we just had a talk the other day on how a commander should stay well rested. A commander dead on his feet is of no use to anyone."
Shinoda couldn't help it. The words, the scolding look. It just reminded him so much of Yugo that Shinoda found himself laughing. There wasn't even anything funny about the situation, especially considering that even with how tired he felt and looked, Yuma still looked a lot worse than him.
"You can give a lecture to all HQ personal on self-care next week, Yuma. Heaven knows, there are a lot of workaholics here." Rindo said, clapping Shinoda on the shoulder to shake him a bit. He needed his friend to snap himself out of it. He really must be exhausted out of his mind if he was going to laugh at their mentor's son acting like their mentor. Seemed like a logical expectation to him.
"That somehow doesn't surprise me. Kido-san and Kinuta-san seem like they live here." Yuma muttered. "And Jin-san."
"Ah, Jin becomes a workaholic only when an attack like we are in now is underway or he sees it coming and is working overtime to prepare for the invasion." Rindo replied as he shoved Shinoda into a couch and sat next to him. He prodded his friend's shoulder. "Don't fall asleep now."
"No, let him fall asleep." Yuma looked over at the director with a frown that was a mix of concern and annoyance. "He definitely needs it."
Shinoda shook his head, getting his laughter under control while trying to get his mind to work properly once more. He drained the last of the coffee that Rindo gave him, silently wishing for a second cup, but didn't let that thought distract him from focusing on Yuma in front of him. "Kazama sent out a memo to all agents to not fight the Mimics for the time being. I was wondering for what reason he would do that without consulting me, but seeing the state you're in, I guess that is the reason. Though, I feel like that is more of a reason to go after Yugo-san even more vigorously."
"Ah," Yuma nodded, raising his hand to show off the ring on his finger. "Miwa squad got me my Black Trigger back, but those few hours without it really drained my body of Trion which is why," He gingerly prodded the skin around his missing eye. "This happened. Attacking Dad now will likely kill me so Jin-san wanted to see what would happen if we waited a bit to try to let the Black Trigger stabilize my body a bit."
Shinoda quirked a brow. He had clearly missed a lot earlier. "I see. And you don't think going to see Kinuta-san might be beneficial?"
Yuma wrinkled his nose in reply. He had no desire to go back to the lab.
"I doubt there is much Kinuta-san could tell us right now. We are in unchartered territory." Rindo said, giving his agent a sympathetic smile. He knew Yuma hated being confined to that lab. If these were to be his last days, he knew Yuma didn't want to spend them in a bed in a lab.
"It would at least tell us the condition of Yuma-kun's body." Shinoda argued. "If it really is stabilizing or not now that he has his ring back. We can't just take a guess that his body is stabilized so it can handle us killing Yugo-san now without hurting him. The situation is too dangerous for us to just take that risk."
"And?" Yuma retorted. "What if my body doesn't stabilize at all? We can't hold out on killing Dad forever just because it will hurt me."
"It won't just hurt you." Shinoda replied, locking eyes with the young agent. "It will kill you, Yuma-kun."
Yuma met Shinoda's eyes head on, unflinching. "If it means preventing Dad from killing me with his own hands and becoming a slave forever to Meraki with that hanging over his head, I'm not afraid to die."
He didn't know why he expected anything else to come from Yuma. A bold declaration like that was just like a Kuga. Still, that didn't stop the wave of irritation from washing over Shinoda. "Don't talk about dying so easily."
"I'm not taking this lightly." Yuma countered. "On the contrary, I think it's Border taking all of this too lightly. I understand it's just them all wanting to help me. I'm not faulting them for wanting to help a friend. It is a sentiment I completely understand. At some point though, there is a realization that all the effort is useless. Some things are just inevitable. Why continue a fight you know you can't win?"
A weak, humorless chuckle escaped Rindo. "A question you already have the answer to. It's the same reason you continued to fight against Viza." He said, drawing Yuma's eyes to him. He made sure to keep is eyes on Yuma so he understood. "Because it's worth it. You have a reason as to why you need to win so you continue the fight even when it feels hopeless."
"I won that fight."
"Yes, you did." Shinoda agreed, latching onto the line of thought Rindo had thrown out there. "Against all odds, you defeated an opponent you should have had zero percent chance at beating."
Yuma's cheeks puffed up in frustration before he breathed out slowly as he let the tension in his muscles relax. "You're trying to get me to say the chance of victory is only zero when you give up the fight, but that's not true. There are people strong enough to stomp someone into the ground, giving them no chance to win." His fight with Viza should have been one of those moments, and would have been had Yuma not been influenced by Osamu's way of thinking, about risking it all because he couldn't run away. Yuma didn't win that fight because of strength. He won based on a surprise maneuver that would never succeed a second time.
"But you can't know that will be the case if you give up halfway through the fight." Shinoda argued.
"If you have enough experience, you can see the pointless effort." Yuma immediately winced after the words left his mouth. At this point, he was just talking about a fight against a strong opponent in general. For his life, he didn't see all the effort of his friends to be worthless. In fact, seeing everyone's determination and the work they were putting in to help him was warming his heart. He never thought it would be possible for him to have allies that were so determined to have his back and make it possible for Yuma to trust someone again. "I'm not explaining this well." He glanced over to Konami who had her back to them as she made tea.
Tea was good to help people relax and every person in this room needed it. They were all too high strung with Shinoda being the worst. Calming down and getting some sleep was what he needed, not more caffeine. Konami knew the commander was craving more coffee, but this was a Tamakoma squad room and he would get what she served and he would like it.
"Don't stop on my account, Yuma. Please, continue this trainwreck."
That was 'Konami speak' for 'choose your next words carefully.'
Yuma didn't even try to look at Shiori. He had a feeling if the directors weren't in here and he wasn't already hurt, the two girls would be ganging up on him to throttle him for his words.
"I just meant we can keep trying things, but at some point, we will run out of time. I don't want to die." Those words that Yuma hadn't spoken in years because he truly did want to die so he was just waiting for the time his father bought him to run out were so hard to say. Those words which would have been a lie a year ago were now becoming a truth and were the staple of his life this week. "But if it comes down to it, stopping Dad and Mogami from leaving for Meraki with the Black Triggers must be the top priority."
Konami turned to the group, practically slamming the tray with the mugs of tea on it on the coffee table between the boys. It caused some tea to splash out of the mugs onto the tray, but she took no notice of it as she gave her mentee a warning look. "Shouldn't be too hard to prevent that if you keep a hold of your Black Trigger from now on."
Yuma raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't lose it on purpose the first time."
Shinoda grimaced at the reminder of Yugo stealing the Black Triggers right under their noses last night. "For that, I am sorry, Yuma-kun."
"What are you apologizing for?" Yuma asked confused.
"We promised that we would protect you, but when it really mattered, we failed in stopping Yugo-san from reaching you." Shinoda's eyes flickered to Yuma's missing eye.
Yuma turned his head slightly to the side to get his missing eye out of Shinoda's vision. "Nothing of what is happening is your fault. I'm not blaming anyone for what happened last night. You all tried your best to stop them, but they had tricks up their sleeves that we weren't prepared for."
"Like the Rads." Shiori said, coming over to join the group with a towel to clean up the tea that Konami had spilled. She dried one of the mugs off and handed it to Shinoda. "We knew Kuga-san could open the Gates, but none of us expected him to use Rads to open them constantly and to siphon the agents' Trion to call so many Trion Soldiers to fight for him."
"Or that he would manage to break into HQ by using Yuma's Trigger." Rindo added.
Yuma rubbed the back of his head at the reminder that his dad had his Border Trigger. At least he knew where it had disappeared to now. "If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. All of this happened because I didn't move fast enough to avoid that Mimic. Dad appeared because of me. Mogami appeared because Jin-san was trying to protect me. Dad got into the base because he snagged my Trigger when I dropped it."
"No one is to blame for us getting attacked." Rindo replied gently.
"If anything, the one to blame would be the one who created the Mimics." Shiori said.
Yuma whipped his head around to glare at Shiori. "Don't." He snarled, surprising his operator at the amount of anger that was present in that one word.
Konami raised a brow. It wasn't like Yuma to get angry. It was true he was more on edge and frustrated this week, but usually he didn't let anger show, especially for such a small comment. "Oh," Konami's eyes widened. "Earlier, you said people came to your mom about Mimics. I didn't think anything of it since you said Mimics were from Tropoi, but was there more to it?"
Yuma stared at his mentor for a moment before sighing. It's not like it really mattered if they knew or not. "My mom created them before I was born. Around the time when I was five, Meraki attacked Tropoi and killed her as they were stealing her design. They repurposed them into the weapons that are attacking us currently."
Shiori paused in wiping up the tea as she looked over at Yuma in shock. It had been his mother? Well, that would certainly explain why Yuma had been so on edge all week and why these Mimics were making him so mad. It was completely disrespectful of his mother's creations. "I'm sorry, Yuma-kun."
Yuma shrugged. "You had no way of knowing. Honestly, I didn't know Meraki had stolen the design that long ago until Dad told me last night. He never told me much about what happened to Mom when he dragged me away from Tropoi. It at least explains why when he took me to Meraki, he told me not to go outside ever while he was investigating the country."
"He took you there?" Shinoda asked sharply. "To the people that were willing to kill to steal a Trion Soldier design?"
"It's the Neighborhood. Everyone is willing to kill for the slightest thing. The soldiers there are that cruel. It doesn't matter what country it is." Yuma replied, reaching forward to grab one of the mugs of tea off the table. "It's not like Dad to go after people who have wronged him out of anger, but the fact that we went to Meraki right after we left Tropoi, I think he was going after revenge. Though, since I was so young and Dad didn't talk to me about what had happened back then, I have no idea if he got his revenge or not."
Rindo stared at Yuma as he sipped his tea. "Kuga-san was a very levelheaded person. Revenge isn't something that ever crossed his mind, but he also never had his wife killed until that moment. Still, even with that, I can't see him acting out of hatred and anger. Perhaps it's because I can't imagine Kuga-san ever losing his collected nature."
"Mmm," Yuma hummed. "I don't think I ever saw Dad get mad. Even when I made mistakes, he never showed me anger or annoyance." He glanced up at the ceiling, smiling softly. "He was always smiling, accepting of my mistakes and teaching me how to correct them. Though, it was also possible that he hid any anger he had from me."
*Mimics*
Mogami slammed through the wall, all air escaping his lungs as he slammed into the ground with rubble raining down all around him. Instead of feeling any pain, he just found himself laughing as he rubbed his cheek as he sat up and stared through the hole where Yugo was still standing in the hallway. "That's a much better reaction than that bullshit talk about your son needing to die."
Yugo narrowed his eyes, glaring down at his friend in annoyance. "Was that supposed to be a test?"
"Come on, Yugo. I have no feelings of hostility towards you son. You may be my partner and I'm here to help you retrieve the Black Trigger from him, but I'm not going to strike the kid with my sword. It's unnecessary violence." Mogami pushed himself to his feet, but didn't make an attempt to approach Yugo. He can't feel pain from a punch while in a Trion body, but that didn't mean he wanted to continue to take punches from his furious friend. "The fact that you managed to react in such a way shows that holding your Black Trigger for just a few hours has given you some control over yourself."
Yugo grabbed the broken wall in a strong enough grip that the already broken wall began to crack even more under his grip. That was right. He had to think clearly. Mogami wasn't the type to willingly kill anyone. Perhaps, this Mimic of him might have no problem killing anyone if they got in the way of him achieving his goal, but ever since he got a hold of Fujin, he had been a lot more relaxed. It wasn't to say he had full control, but he had enough that he didn't feel the need to fight the agents more than he had to. He was willing to just avoid them until it was time to head back to Meraki.
It was more control than what Yugo had right now. While he had no desire to see his son hurt, there was still that part of Yugo that was thinking of how to get to his son to get the Black Trigger back. Hearing Mogami say he would kill him had pissed him off greatly as no one was allowed to hurt his son, but that was very hypocritical of Yugo when he had been the one hurting Yuma physically and mentally all week. To make it worse, Yugo felt the burning desire in his blood returning and getting worse by the minute. Having felt the relief of having his Black Trigger on him for a few hours which had removed the burning completely from him, now that he lost it, the feeling of needing to get the Black Trigger again felt so much worse this time around.
At the same time, Yugo was choosing to stand here and endure the pain radiating through every inch of his body because the fog over his mind had cleared up enough for him to remember the fear of seeing his son's dying body five years ago. It was the same type of fear he was feeling now, but this time around, there was no assassin to be angry at for hurting his son. Instead, his anger was all directed at himself for allowing this to happen. It was for this reason, he was standing here allowing himself to feel this pain burning through him. He didn't want to go near Yuma again.
If he did, if he saw Yuma now, Yugo wasn't sure he could resist the urge to kill Yuma and then take the Black Trigger afterwards. He loved his son, but his Mimic self might not be able to resist the pain much longer and will just want to end this once and for all by killing his son right from the start which was another reason he had punched Mogami so hard.
A part of him almost agreed to having Mogami go and kill Yuma for him.
Just to end it.
How much longer could any self-control Yugo had survive?
"I know you want to die because that is the only way to save your son because it's the same feeling I have. I want to die just to avoid having to see the pain on Jin's face anymore." Mogami said as he planted a hand on the desk behind him to leverage himself. "But it's not an option for us. We are programmed to protect our survival above everything else. I won't kill him outright, but I am going to get that Black Trigger back, Yugo, and then we are leaving. We can't ignore the mission."
It would kill Yuma though. At the very least, he would have another day or two after they stole the Black Trigger again. He would have those couple days to make peace with it. Well, as much peace as Yuma could find knowing a Mimic of father was out there working for Meraki as an enemy and the one that led to his demise. Yugo would die inside with the way this worked out, but Mogami was right. The little self-control they had gained wasn't going to be enough to stop them from completing the mission.
"I'll look into what is preventing me from opening the Gates." Yugo decided. He didn't want to see Yuma right now so Mogami was right in deciding that he should be the one to go after him this time. They would both be heading to Border though. That's where Yuma was and HQ was likely the place he needed to look at to find what was going on with the forced Gate closures.
"So," Mogami said. "When would be the best time to attack?"
