"What?!"
It echoed out through the A rank halls in Border HQ. Disrupting Arashiyama squad from their usual paperwork as well as prompting several A-rank agents to look into the hall to see where it came from. The continued rambling and incoherent jumble of words was originating from the Tachikawa squad room and everyone rolled their eyes before heading back into the operating rooms.
Back at ground zero, Kohei Izumi was currently holding down a thrashing Takeru Yuiga and pinning him onto their couch.
"No! I refuse to partake in this training! You can't make me! I have rights! Call my lawyer!"
"Oi, Yuiga calm down and shut up. You haven't been to the training rooms since four eyes won 100 matches against you. Don't you want to prove that you are an elite A-rank?"
Yuiga stopped struggling and widened his eyes. His senpai was right! He couldn't let four eyes tell everyone that he had beaten an A-rank agent like himself. He could not live with that shame.
"You're right Izumi-senpai!"
Izumi, confused by Yuiga's complete 180 could only raise his eyebrows and gesture to continue.
"I can't let anyone know that I, an elite A-rank agent, was beaten by a half baked B-rank agent." We must reach the solo Rank War room to fix this embarrassment." Yuiga then rushed out the door leaving a trail of dust and a deadpanned Izumi watching his idiot teammate rush off to get his butt kicked. There was no way he was going to miss this. He jogged out the door ignoring the looks everyone was giving him as he went down to the solo Rank War room.
Yuiga had reached the Rank Wars lobby and searched the room looking for an opponent. He was so engrossed in searching for someone suitable to fight that he failed to notice the orange clad girl with purple hair right behind him.
"Yuiga-senpai, what are you doing?"
Yuiga screamed before falling onto the floor. He turned around and looked up to see Fumika Teruya from Kakizaki squad looking down at him with her usual smile on her face.
"Don't sneak up on an A-rank agent like myself."
"I'm sorry Yuiga-senpai. It looked like you were looking for someone to face. I thought I could ask to be your opponent." She finished bowing her head slightly.
Yuiga contemplated this. On one hand he wanted to fight someone to prove his worth. On the other, he wanted to fight someone from the lower tier squads. He wanted to sweep his opponent. He decided that the borderline low tier squad member was a good choice.
"Fine. I will face you. But, be prepared to be amazed by my skill as an A-rank agent."
"Thank you, Yuiga-senpai. Let's go get ready in the training rooms. Does a match to ten with full trigger loadouts sound good to you?"
"Yes. Yes. That will do. Now, let's get on with this match."
They both went upstairs to the second floor into empty training rooms. Yuiga however missed the smile on Teruya's face morphing from pleasant and comforting into something more sinister.
Izumi had entered the Rank Wars room to see no sign of Yuiga anywhere. He quickly scanned the lobby to see if he could figure out where he was hiding.
"Where has that idiot gone to? I wonder if he just lied to get out of training? Wouldn't be the first time he did that." He thought idly as he continued his futile search for him. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud and boisterous voice.
"Yo, Bullet Brain. What are you doing here?"
He turned around to see Yoneya and Midorikawa approaching him from the elevators.
"Oi, Spear idiot, have you seen Yuiga around? I've been searching for him for the last twenty minutes."
Yoneya thought about it before shaking his head.
"Haven't seen him. Why would you think he would be here? You know he hates solo matches as much as Kageura hates… well everything really." He finished. He didn't even care to react to a pair of eyes glaring at the back of his head.
"If you're looking for Yuiga-senpai, he just went up to one of the rooms for a match."
The three turned around to see Hisato Sasomori walking up to them.
"Eh? You mean Yuiga willingly entered a solo Rank Wars with someone. Who is going against him?" Midorikawa asked, tilting his head to the side.
"It was Teruya-senpai from Kakizaki squad."
Midorikawa and Yoneya vaguely remember hearing that name in passing but couldn't place a face with the name. Izumi remembers her as that one girl from Kakizaki san's squad. He remembered the Rank Wars they had in the factory zone against Katori squad and Tamakoma Second.
"Why would Teruya san want to fight against Yuiga? Ignoring the fact that he is the weakest A rank at border, he is still at least mid B rank in skill."
"Ranks do not not determine a person's skill, Izumi-san. That is especially true with Fumika-san."
The four boys turned towards the voice to see Toru Narasaka and Ryo Utagawa walking towards them.
"Narasaka-san, Utagawa-san, what are you guys doing here? You guys barely watch Rank Wars at all."
"We came to meet up with Fumika-chan. She said she wanted a spar with us." Utagawa replied evenly. "Anyway, where is she? I don't see her anywhere."
Before any of them could respond to Utagawa's question, a loud feminine voice played over the intercoms.
"Battlestage: Cityscape B. A ten-round solo Rank War. Begin."
All six of them turned to the screen to see Teruya charging towards a terrified Yuiga.
Everyone winced when she decapitated Yuiga in one swift motion from her kogetsu.
"Trion body supply damaged. Yuiga bail out."
As the second round started, Utagawa decided to break the silence. "So that's where she is. I almost feel bad for Yuiga."
"Why? Maybe losing to her will finally get him to actually improve." Izumi replied.
"Facing Teruya-chan in a solo Rank War is probably the worst way for Yuiga to improve himself Izumi-san. She is way above his skill level." A high pitched scream coming from Yuiga interrupted Narasaka's explanation. Everyone looked up to see Yuiga hopping through the alleyways with a leg missing while Teruya slowly approached him, kogetsu drawn and eyes shadowed over. Everyone except Utagawa and Narasaka shivered as they watched Teruya stalk her... prey. It was the only way they could describe what was happening.
Yoneya let out a whistle watching Teruya finish off Yuiga signifying the halfway point of the bout. "Damn, Teruya is scary isn't she? Anyone knows why she's being cruel to the guy? It's not like he's done anything to upset her right?"
"Are you aware of how Yuiga had been accepted to A-rank?" Narasaka asked the spear wielder.
"Yeah, his dad is that big sponsor for Border and Yuiga thought he deserved to be an A rank agent. What does that have to do with why Teruya is tearing him limb from limb." Another scream of terror ringed in their ears as the announcer declared Teruya the winner of the round 6th round. "Literally."
Utagawa decided to jump in. "Fumika-chan was never a fan of Yuiga in the first place. When we were all in enlistment day, we had run into him proclaiming how he was worthy of becoming A rank even though he had never enlisted regularly. When she found out that he had gotten into Tachikawa's squad. Well, lets just say she lived up to her title rookie of the year."
"Hold up." Midorikawa exclaimed "If she is as good as you guys are making her to be. Then why isn't she part of one of the A rank teams and instead part of Kakizaki squad. Kakizaki-san is a nice guy and all but he is not exactly the strongest fighter."
"You had just answered your own question Midorikawa." Utagawa replied.
"Eh?" He blurted.
"Teruya had enlisted after she watched Arashiyama squad in an interview when Border first started out. Originally, Kakizaki was part of Arashiyama squad and she had found him to be someone she could follow. At least, that's the explanation she has told us."
"Are you still going on with that ridiculous idea that Teruya has a crush on Kakizaki-san? Their relationship is strictly platonic at most." Narasaka asked.
"What? It is not impossible. Don't tell me you have never thought about it?" Utagawa defended.
The announcer echoed through the lobby as Narasaka was about to reply.
"Yuiga, bail out. Ten rounds completed. The winner is Fumika Teruya."
Hisato winced as he looked at the scoreboard. "Damn, Yuiga-senpai lost 10 - 0. That can't feel good. Especially for him."
"Maybe this will finally convince him to practice more instead of skulking in the operations room the whole day." Izumi grumbled.
"I wouldn't count on that Izumi-senpai." Midorikawa then pointed towards the stairs to see Yuiga and Teruya walk down the stairs to meet their spectators. When they reached the bottom, Teruya turned towards Yuiga and gave him a polite bow.
"Thank you Yuiga-senpai. That was a great match today." She replied politely. There was not a hint of malice or anger in her voice. Yuiga had only looked at her before screaming in agony as he was running as fast as possible away from her. His screams were echoing through the hallways with every C-rank agent looking at his smoke trails with confusion, sympathy, and curiosity.
Teruya looked at the fleeting smoke trails then turned to face the six huddled agents. She started to approach them waving her hand in the air at them.
"Ryo-san, Toru-san, when did you guys get here?"
"We've been here since the beginning of your match. Did you really have to humiliate Yuiga that badly Fumika-chan?" Utagawa asked. Eyebrow raised and an amused smile on his face.
"I did no such thing Ryo-san. I only fought Yuiga to the best of my ability. I must have just gotten lucky or he was having a bad day." She replied sweetly, a smile ever present on her face.
Utagawa just shook his head. "Well, I guess it's time for our match now right? Which map do you want this time?"
Before she could answer. Yoneya had jumped in the conversation.
"Oi Utagawa, do you mind if I go and fight Teruya-chan first? After seeing her annihilate Yuiga. I want to see if she lives up to all the praise you and Narasaka gave her." He finished, smirk never leaving his face.
"Ugh, Yoneya, I don't think-" Utagawa started before Teruya interrupted him.
"I accept the challenge Yoneya-senpai. Shall we get started then?" She asked.
"Alright! Let's get this match started."
Everyone watched as Yoneya hurriedly rushed to an open room while Teruya walked towards the stairs to find a room.
They all turned to look at Naradaka and Hisato asked "So, who do you think is going to win Narasaka-senpai?"
"If I had to guess, I think they will end up in a stalemate."
"Huh?" Izumi asked. "You don't think Yoneya is going to win the match. I thought you would have more faith in your teammate."
Narasaka shook his head "It's not that I don't have faith in him. I just think that you are underestimating how proficient Teruya-San is in battle."
The announcer had come to life to signify the start of their match. Everyone had turned to the large monitor to see Yoneya and Teruya teleporting in.
"Battlestage: Riverbank A. A ten-round solo Rank War. Begin."