I don't own World Trigger!! Daisuke Ashihara does.
(Changes from italics to normal font means different units are talking)
-EXTREMELY LOUD FOGHORN NOISE-
They were both jolted out of sleep as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Kinuta's barked across the room, followed by giggling.
Kyoko woke from her chair to a mildly terrifying view, her brain greeted by the vision of the rest of the upper management circling them.
Shinoda was met with an unfortunately much more terrifying view, with Kido standing directly in front of him and gazing down in silence, flanked by Viza and Rindou, who both had identical grins plastered on their faces.
Kinuta scowled, making his annoyance even more profoundly known.
"I thought this was going to be a week-long expedition!" he barked. "Do you know how much trion I used to fuel the ship? And after we went through all that effort of defending the ship from Galapoula - "
Kido held his hand up for silence, stopping the pudgy man mid-rant.
"Two black triggers were gained. A veteran neighbour has joined Border, willing to join arms, along with the Tamakoma prisioner."
"Former prisoner!" Rindou chirped. "He's agreed to continue helping Border as well!"
"A valuable asset, and potential candidate for Fujin." Kinuta muttered.
"Useful for PR as well," Netsuki mused. "If we can get the boy to smile, we might be able to get some favourable press."
It was then that Kido turned his stony gaze to Shinoda.
"Punishment for wasting trion -"
"BUT-"
"Not paperwork-"
"No, I'll take paperwor-"
"Trigger research."
"And PR." he added as an afterthought.
Shinoda mentally tripled the amount of work the expedition had caused.
Netsuki clapped his hands in delight.
"We could have an Exhibition Match!"
"Over my dead body." Shinoda muttered.
-LINE BREAK-
A week later, he was stuck in the conference room, arms crossed defiantly.
"No." he said firmly, willing his Side-Effect to kick in and scare everyone out of their stupidity.
"We are not having an Exhibition Match."
Netsuki gazed at him nervously over his 56-page PowerPoint presentation.
"But it's good press!" he argued.
Rindou grinned from across Shinoda.
"Aw, c'mon! It'll be fun!"
Kinuta nodded his head slowly.
"It would certainly be useful to see how Antarakishimosu fends against our agents..."
"Karasawa?" Rindou prompted.
"It would certainly be fun to watch," the younger man drawled. "And probably send quite a few donations our way…"
"I refuse to take part in this ridiculous exercise-"
"All you have to do is beat them up!"
"Assuming I agree to take part, what's stopping me from just using Salamander on everyone?"
"No one's telling you to use Salamander all the time!" Rindou sighed, exasperated. "Just use it with Kogetsu or something - get everyone's blood pumping, yeah?"
"Please don't talk like that."
"Masafumi," Kido rumbled. "You will take part in this exercise. Or else…"
"You will find yourself taking in part in the upcoming classical movie marathon." He said, eyes flashing ominously.
"Okay." Shinoda gulped. "No problem."
Rindou grinned at his friend's sudden obedience in the face of suffering through another marathon.
"Excellent! Let's go beat up our ickle-little rankers!"
Miwa twitched angrily behind Kido.
-LINEEEE BREAKKKK-
"Right, so you're going to be the bait," Shinoda said. "And the both of us will cover you as much as possible
"Awww, look at you, getting so into the exhibition match!" Rindou cooed.
Kinuta and Kyoko shifted uncomfortably from their positions while Shinoda gave Rindou a stony glare.
"On second thought, let's just cut him down first." He snapped. "We might as well get all the free points possible."
"With all due respect sir, I don't think we're allowed to do that." Kyoko replied.
"Unless you want to watch The Great Escape again." Kinuta mumbled.
Shinoda grimaced.
"Just stick to the original plan."
-VARIOUS PEOPLE SHOUTING IN THEIR SQUAD ROOMS-
"Don't you dare give me Yosuke's headband again-"
"Wait, so are we just sticking with the normal plan? Just sticking Kogetsu through Yuiga?"
"WATCH OUT FOR MY DOUBLE SNIPE!"
"Do you think we should invite Kyoko over for fried rice after this?"
"But what if Director Shinoda kicks us out Border for poisoning her?
"Do not engage with the Director-"
"Like with an engagement ring?"
"You know perfectly what I meant."
"Make sure Ibis is loaded."
"What about the prototype for Koge- hey, isn't that Reiji's trigger?"
Sorry for the very untimely updates - school life is super hectic.
And as long as school remains hectic, so will updates.
Thanks for sticking around anyways!
(I live for reviews - thanks to everyone who did!)