I don't own World Trigger! Daisuke Ashihara does.
EDIT: HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR!
"Lead Kogetsu!"
Tachikawa's already pale face turned alabaster, a stark contrast to the dark purple tones of his teacher's blade.
Shinoda hefted the Lead Kogetsu, drawing away from Tachikawa, pulling the heavy sword away with him.
"A bit bulky," he noted, grasping the handle with both hands. "Not very feasible." he muttered, abruptly swinging the sword at Tachikawa - albeit at a slower place.
Tachikawa let out a startled yelp when one of his Kogetsu shattered, before dodging the incoming attack with Grasshopper.
Giving his beloved-yet-scary mentor one last terrified look, Tachikawa fled.
"Kido better not let you use that trigger." Kinuta harrumphed. "Look at that horrendous crack you've put in my floor! If that happens outside, are you going to pay for it?"
He studied the cracked pavement, looking over where a good chunk of the blade had simply sank into the cement, leaving only the hilt peeking out.
"Perhaps this wasn't the best idea." he admitted, struggling to pull out Kogetsu even with the trion enhanced strength. "But it might be useful in dealing with some Neighbours."
At this point, he'd given up on pulling out the sword and simply drawn a new one instead, heading to where his best friend still was.
He'd only been moving for a few minutes before he knew he was in the right place.
The tell-tale banter regarding the merits of fried rice accompanied by the sound of of Hound was a dead give away.
"Director!" Kako greeted respectfully, sending a barrage of bullets his way.
"Kako." he responded, wrapping a shield around himself, directing a more cheerful greeting at the opposing unit's younger member, who gave him a rare smile.
Rindou swung an arm around his shoulders cheerfully, completely at ease despite the bullets swarming them, exploding against their combined shields.
"Masafumi! You sure took your sweet time with Kei, didn't you?" Rindou chattered, letting loose a blast of Asteroid at Futaba.
The girl in question gave him a dirty look, parrying Kyoko's attack, diving behind Kako's shield instead.
"Idaten!"
There really wasn't much choice - Kyoko raised a shield reflexively, and threw her Kogetsu.
"Ow." Kikuchihara deadpanned, pursing his lips as he examined where Kogetsu had lanced through his leg.
"Futaba." Kako reprimanded, noticing her younger team mate standing stock still. "Think carefully before you use Idaten."
The girl nodded seriously, eyeing her surroundings warily.
"Takumi, go deal with Kako." Kinuta hissed. "Let the others go against Kazama - you two, watch out for Ninomiya. He's only a few streets behind."
Kyoko drew Kogetsu once more, keeping a steady shield up as she backed away from Kikuchihara, pulling close to Shinoda.
The wary silence was interrupted by Ninomiya's explosive arrival.
"You!" he bellowed, glaring at Rindou, who suddenly looked rather meek. "What on earth was that god-awful tune?"
"Can't handle a bit of Christmas carolling?" Kako smirked smugly.
He sent her a blast of Meteor in response, choosing to ignore her jibe.
"Senkuu." Shinoda muttered, directing the piercing attacks around his shields and straight at Futaba instead.
Kikuchihara's voice floated from somewhere around him.
"Yeah, good choice. Idaten's too annoying to deal with."
Kyoko's head snapped up at the disembodied voice, but seeing Shinoda shake his head, she returned to her continued onslaught on Futaba.
oOoOoOo
"Good choice by Kyoko - throwing that Kogetsu was the best move available." Azuma commented.
"Futaba's grown up too," Usami said tearfully. "She used to use Idaten all the time."
"Well done." Kido rumbled.
"A heart-warming moment indeed." Karasawa said dryly. "Now all we need is for Masafumi to stop using Kogetsu, Takumi to -"
He stopped as he felt Kido give him a stony stare.
"Right." Azuma said. "Tachikawa's ran into Kitora now - Kei's distracted by the wires and her now, perfect opportunity for Ken to do his double snipe, but Miwa doesn't seem to be wanting to help Kei - if anything, he's probably going to take out Ken as soon as Kei gets shot."
"Fun times." Karasawa muttered, his tone slightly more subdued.
They watched as Satori shot his double snipe jubilantly, taking out a silently grateful Tachikawa (he really didn't feel like running into Shinoda again), and got stabbed through the back by Miwa.
oOoOoOo
"MIWA?!" Satori yelped.
"Goodbye." Miwa responded, hurriedly pulling Kogetsu out and jumping off the roof, eager to get another point in before the remaining members of Arashiyama squad got a chance to regroup.
"TSUJI!" Yosuke called cheerfully, ruining any hope of stealth. "Nice kill!"
He glowered darkly in response, fighting the urge to accidentally stab his friend.
Yosuke must have been dropped on the head as a child, Miwa mused, momentarily losing himself in his thoughts, leaving his friend ample time to throw an arm around his shoulder.
No matter, Miwa decided. A good old-fashioned Kogetsu to his neck would give him the respite he needed.
He studied his friend's neck seriously, wondering how much of a bonus Shinoda would give him - Yosuke had begun bugging the Director, barging into his office - technically the Director and Koyoko's shared office- throwing himself onto his desk, pleading for a quick spar and generally causing a small disturbance.
"Tsuji." Tsukimi called, her gentle voice breaking him out of his thoughts. "The Director said that you're not allowed to stab Yosuke, but that he appreciates your offer."
"What!?" The two boys asked simultaneously.
"When?" Miwa questioned, shrugging off his friends arm, resolving to stab him after the match.
"This morning." she responded. "He sent me an email at 2 a.m."
Yosuke whistled, loudly, briefing forgetting that Miwa had wanted to kill him.
"Man, the Director's sleep schedule is whack. How on earth does he still have good skin? I swear, my Mom's got a million of those creams things and she still looks old."
"Skin?" Miwa questioned half-heartedly, more focused on finding Kitora.
"Yeah!" Yosuke answered cheerily. "Mom's got a huge crush on him - Dad's getting kinda jealous, probably because she keeps replaying all the press interviews he's in."
He stopped to give his friend a hard look.
"You're lying." He accused.
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Yosuke said solemnly.
"Isn't the Director too young for your mother?" A foreign voice rang out.
The two turned to face a Kitora who seemed to be already regretting her outburst.
"I mean that, er, you shouldn't be discussing the Director being a fantasy love interest of your mother -" She said, rapidly trying to back-pedal her way out of the situation.
"Aw, let my Mom have her fun!" Yosuke pouted. "Besides, it's not like the Director's that young - he's 31, isn't he? Mom's like only 10 years older than him."
"31?" Kitora choked, battle forgotten. "Azuma said that he's 33!"
Miwa frowned at both of the idiots standing in front of him.
"Azuma's lying. The Director's the same age as Rindou - they're both 28."
The two agents looked far too surprised for their own good.
oOoOoOo
"Oops." Azuma mumbled sheepishly, avoiding Kido's annoyed glower.
"Paperwork." Kido hissed, covering his microphone. "For getting in the way of our pre-determined plan."
Karasawa smirked.
"Paperwork for you too, Katsumi." Kido growled. "Wipe that smirk off your face."
In which a mother regrets having a son
"Oh, my dear Masafumi…" The lady said tearfully. "I'm so sorry that our relationship had to come to that." She said, sniffling, as she watched the live news broadcast.
"I'll make sure to properly discipline Yosuke when he comes home." she said, her eyes narrowing.
Her husband gulped beside her.
Good luck, son.
NOTES:
I know Shinoda and Rindou aren't 28, but it is awkward to have such a weird (and large) age gap between Kyoko and him - Karasawa's still a year younger than the old Border duo, so it's still kinda OK. I mean, everyone looks super young in the manga, right?
Lead Kogetsu didn't really get a chance to shine, but that's fine- that's what the next chapters are for!
I do realise that this is an Exhibition Match and that both Miwa and Arashiyama Squad would never be caught dead chatting in a real one, but while this is meant to showcase Border's elite and their fire-power, it would be favourable for Border to show that even the A-rankers are like normal kids and that Border is still a chill place - probably would serve to boost enlistment places by seeing how 'friendly' A-rankers are too.
Also, I feel like Kitora would be curious about Shinoda as well, given that he is her superior.
Had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I hope everyone enjoyed it too.
I'd also like to apologize for the atrocious grammar in the opening lines of the last chapter - I'll get around fixing it soon. I'll also be checking up my grammar again in the next few days, so I might have to edit and re-upload a few chapters.
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