A/N -

Ah, I hope this is long enough... I feel somewhat unsatisfied? Mori's character is a hard one to flesh out, and I'm trying to show things in this that didn't typically happen in the manga/anime, so thing's'll change…but who knows how it'll go.

Just so everyone knows, theres no romance between Mori and Yuma for the rest of the series, strictly friends only. Sorry, but… romance wouldn't fit their dynamic for what I'm planning? If that makes any sense. Well, Romance is still uncertain territory for all I've planned this fic ahead, so… if you've got any suggestions or maybe questions, go ahead and ask, whenever!

Also, I got my first review from Black Angel and Ice Prince! And, holy- Thank you so much for the compliment and feedback! This made me so happy, and I just felt so much better for the rest of the day!

Thank you to anyone that favourited or followed, I hope you have a lovely day!

-0-

"Okay, everyone!"

Shiori pushed up her glasses, whiteboard already filled with diagrams and information behind her. "You're all trying to make A-rank! And to do that, we need everyone to make it to B-rank! And why is that? Because you have to be B-rank; and official agents, in order to go on missions. And most importantly, you need to participate in the B-rank wars to get promoted!"

My mind was reeling from the information.

"Rank wars?" Yuma asked curiously, filling in the silence.

"Yes. To be promoted, you need—not only mission merits, you need to win mock battles between Border agents. We call them 'Rank wars'. You compete against others in your class…. and the victors rise in rank."

"Hm… So. To make A-rank, I just stomp all of the B-rank creeps?" Yuma summarized.

"And to make B-rank, you just beat up a bunch of the C-rankers," I added on hesitantly. 'Lovely.'

"So, when? Now?" He asked impatiently.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Shiori scolded lightheartedly. "Official Border HQ enlistment days occur three times a year. New recruits all become C-rank at the same time. You can't participate in Rank wars until then."

Yuma pouted childishly, just as I fell sideways to lean against him tiredly.

"No need to hurry, Yuma," Jin reassured calmly. "You'll need time to get used to our Border Triggers. You won't be able to use black Triggers in rank wars."

"Hm…? Why not?" I felt Yuma's arm shift as he held a finger up to rest against his chin. "Because HQ will come after me?"

"That too, but a black Trigger is too powerful and is automatically deemed S-rank. It's ineligible for rank wars. You wouldn't be able to form a squad with Chika and four-eyes."

Yuma shifted so the two of us could both get a good look at the ring. "So that's how it is." He sent me a quick glance that I shrugged to before sighing. "Then I won't use it."

"What should Chika do…?" Shiori scratched her head. "Should she be an operator… or a combatant…?"

"A combatant, of course." I was quick to defend Chika's desire to protect herself.

"She has so much Trion." Yuma finished casually. "And when the Neighbours come after her, it's better she knows how to fight."

Shiori tilted her head. "Is she that amazing?"

"Wait 'till you see." We said in unison, my tone blander than his.

Chika nodded along with us. "I'd like… to know how to fight too."

"Combatant it is!" Shiori decided easily. "Let's decide on positions."

"...Positions?" Chika repeated curiously.

"Field agents are categorized by combat range; Attacker, Gunner, Sniper. Let's see, which one would she be suited for…?" Shiori tilted her head with a smile. "Chika, are you athletic?"

"No, not really…" Chika replied meekly.

"Are you good at math? Have you played shoji or chess?"

"My grades are average… I've never played either…"

Shiori tapped the marker against her temple. "No team sports experience. Hm…"

Chika bowed remorsefully. "I'm sorry I have nothing going for me…"

"Huh? No, it's not a problem, we're just brainstorming!" Shiori encouraged, waving a hand loosely.

When Chika showed no signs of speaking up for herself, I sat up slightly to give Yuma's shoulder a break and leaned back on the couch cushions.

"Chika has more going for her in terms of long-distance runs and races." I began, watching Shiori's eyes light up and Chika turn to me out of the corner of my eye, astonished. "She's very serious and can persevere on her duties for long periods of time without breaks. She never shows signs of getting tired at painstaking work. She's focused, and really flexible." I finished with a small smile.

"Ooh…!" Yuma whistled from beside me, and Chika blushed slightly at the praise.

"Okay, okay! All right!" Shiori exclaimed as she wrote a few things on the board. "My analysis says the position best suited for Chika, is….!"

"Sniper." Jin abruptly cut in, suddenly reminding me of his presence.

"Aww, Jin!" Shiori whined. "I wanted to say it! Why'd you do that?!"

"Your dramatic pause was too long." He chuckled, and I smothered a laugh under my breath that Yuma and Chika both definitely heard.

I heard loud stomps coming from the hall suddenly, and our discussion was cut off as the door to the room slammed open.

"WHERE'S MY DORAYAKI?! IT'S GONE! WHO ATE IT?!"

I surprisedly swung my head backwards, observing the girl who had rushed through the door. Her hair was a perfect shade of strawberry blonde, and her panicked blue eyes seemed to be a slightly greener shade than Jin's own.

She ran over to Yotaro, who had been sleeping on Raijinmaru's back on the floor, and lifted him harshly by the feet.

"Was it you again?! DID YOU EAT IT?!"

"Mmbl….mmf….sho good…."

"IT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT?!"

"I'm sorry, Konami," Shiori suddenly apologized, pressing her hands together. "I served them to our guests yesterday."

"WHAT?!"

"I'll buy more next time!" She promised, hands clasped in front of her apologetically as Konami stretched out her cheeks.

"I want some NOW!"

To my surprise, a few steps echoed in the room from the threshold.

"What's going on? Konami's making a racket."

"And that's remarkable, in what way?"

I glanced back once more, taking notice of the two new males entering the room.

Both appeared very stoic, one with black hair bordering on the line between messy and neat, and the other was tall with short light brown hair.

'…The A-rank Tamakoma agents…?'

"Oh," The black haired male glanced at us. "Are these three the new recruits Jin was talking about?"

"...New recruits?!" Konami scowled at us. "Nobody told me anything about that! Why are we getting new recruits, Jin?!"

Jin stood up leisurely, a smug grin snapping into place that made me resist kicking him as he walked by my seat.

"I hadn't told you yet. Actually…"

He stood behind the couch we were sitting on, Yuma, Chika, and me in between my two friends

"These three… are my brother and sisters."

I saw a small sparkle in his eye and tried my best to keep my expression blank as the two males looked at us confusedly.

Konami however…

"What?! They are?!" She held up her hand, staring at us very carefully before her head swung around to make eye contact with the black haired male. "Jin has siblings…?! Did you know about this?!"

"Of course." He said with a sparkle of amusement in his eyes, and any assumptions I had that he was the serious one of the group, immediately flew away. "Didn't you know, Konami?"

She stared at Yuma, and he made a smug expression as if to taunt her. "He does kind of look like Jin…."

She spun around again to stare at the last new addition. "Did you know too, Reiji?!"

"Yeah, I knew…" The brunette deadpanned. "…That Jin is an only child…"

Konami jolted with a lost expression. "This is Kirie Konami, 17 years old. She's quite gullible." Shiori introduced, as Konami glanced around confusedly.

"You tricked me?!"

"I didn't think you'd fall for it," Jin chuckled good-naturedly. "You're something else."

"This scruffy hottie is Kyosuke Karasuma, 16 years old." Shiori continued.

Karasuma lifted a hand casually. "I'm the scruffy hottie, nice to meet you."

"This impeccably composed beefcake is Reiji Kizaki, 21 years old."

"Composed beefcake...?" Kizaki mumbled distractedly. "Does that even make me human?"

"Now that everyone's here…Let's get down to business." Jin cut in with a grin. "These three have their own reasons to make A-rank. They're going to throw themselves into the harsh world of elites."

'Such weird wording.' I thought blankly, slightly lost now that I wasn't being the one Jin messed with.

"Like Usami said… there's still some time before the B-rank wars. The next official enlistment is January 8th, in about three weeks. We need to train them over the next three weeks, what I mean is… The three A-rank agents will be mentors to Four-eyes, Chika, and Yuma, and give them one-on-one guidance."

My spine straightened as the three turned to look at us, eyes narrowing judgingly.

"What?! Don't tell me what to do!" Konami shrieked. "I haven't even acknowledged their enlistment…!"

"Konami." Jin interrupted. "This is also… an order from the boss."

Konami jolted. "The boss?"

"Can't help it if they're Rindou-san's orders." Kizaki deadpanned with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, gotta do it." Karasuma nodded along from beside him.

Konami's head lowered, and for a moment I thought she was going to growl, but she only reached over. "Fine… I'll do it. But…"

Her arm reached around Yuma's back, hand gripping his shoulder. "I'm taking this one."

'…Eh?'

"You're the toughest, right?" Konami explained with narrowed eyes. "I hate weaklings."

"Ooh. You have a good eye." Yuma smirked slightly. "But if you hate weaklings, then you shouldn't have any problems with any one of the three of us."

"Then Reiji will take Chika." Shiori gestured to the tall man with a smile. "He's the only one with sniper experience."

Chika bowed lightly to him. "N-nice to meet you…"

"Nice to meet you." He responded kindly.

"And that means my only choice is…." Karasuma glanced at me blankly.

"….I apologize in advance." I returned morosely.

Shiori clapped excitedly. "Okay then, listen to your mentors—"

"Shiori," Jin cut in with a slightly smug grin. "You didn't pick a position for four-eyes yet."

"—And work hard for the—what?!" She stumbled, whipping around to face me. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

I blinked. "Uh." After I moment, I settled for a confused shrug. "I just thought… I'd do whatever…?"

Konami frowns at me. "'Do whatever'…? Tamakoma has no room for newbies you know, much less anyone that isn't committed to this."

I ignored the sting the words brought and shrugged. "I'll do whatever I need to so that Chika and Yuma can make A-rank."

"Well, more questions!" Shiori yelled, giving a moment for everyone to sit down on the couches as she tapped her marker against the whiteboard.

"Mikumo, do you like sports more than studying?"

I thought for a moment. "Yeah."

"Are you overly competitive?"

"….Sometimes, when provoked." I hesitated. True to my worries, I heard two muffled snorts from Yuma and Jin's general direction.

"Do you have unyielding confidence in your abilities?"

I gave a nervous laugh that spoke for itself.

"Do you have any experience with team sports?"

I nodded with a bit more confidence. "Yeah. I'm not too good all on my own, but I'm pretty decent with supporting others."

She hummed appreciatively. "How are your grades? Do you play any strategic games like chess or shogi?"

I shrugged. "I've played. But I'm only really good at them half the time, and my grades are…" I stopped to think.

"Mori has really good grades. Some of the best in our class." Yuma interrupted quickly, and I shot him a small glare.

"Oh? So she's smart?" Konami asked with a quirked brow.

I made a vague side to side motion. "Sometimes, I can be really dumb."

I heard another loud snort, and true to the three-strikes-out rule, I gave Yuma a sharp kick that caused him to yelp.

"Alright!" Shiori cheered, spinning back around to face me. "You'll be a…. SHOOTER!"

When she went uninterrupted, she sent a victorious glance to Jin, who whistled innocently while crunching down on a rice cracker.

Yuma however, was a bit put out. "Shooter? Not an attacker?"

Shiori shrugged. "It fits the most. Why, does it bother you?"

Yuma pouted. "Well, I just thought that she was pretty good with the swo—"

"Annnnd that's that." I cut him off pointedly, trying to hold myself back from tackling him to cover his mouth. "Shooter sounds cool, should we get training started now?"

"Ah, yes!" Shiori exclaimed, Yuma and I's suspiciousness being surprisingly swept under the rug. "Work hard for the next three weeks, you six!" She paused, before turning to Jin confusedly. "Wait, you're not teaching anyone, Jin?"

"Hm? Me?" He asked innocently, before raising a hand in a lazy salute. "I'm sitting this one out. I've got lots of stuff to do."

-0-

"Ooh!" I glanced around the area, eyes wide and drinking in the sight of the bright room. "The basement is bigger than the building…! Is it a Trigger again?"

"Yeah," Karasuma nodded. "We used a Trigger to create space. Most of it's being used for the sniper room, this place is actually pretty small in comparison."

"Heh…?" I cocked an eyebrow. "Jeez, Triggers can really do nearly anything, huh…?"

"They aren't just weapons," He agreed patiently. "They're the technology at the foundation of the entire Neighbour civilization… At least, that's what Rindou-san told us."

"Ah… is that so?"

He nodded, before pointing to a nearby table. "First thing's first… Pick a Trigger. We can try them all I guess… But picking a weapon first is the basis of learning."

I nodded, stepping closer to the surface. "…What do they do?"

He stepped beside me, pointing to the one my hand was closest to. "That one has an Asteroid Trigger in it… the starter. Not much, but strong."

He pointed to the next one, perfectly identical to the first. "Viper. Fast with a set trajectory." He gestured vaguely to the second two. "Hound chases after a set target. Meteora, explosion. Pick one."

'Those were shitty explanations for a newbie like me.' I gave him a quick blank stare that I hoped he didn't catch.

I stared at the first one before snatching it up with a heavy sigh. "Guess I'll go through each one and see which clicks the most…"

"That's generally the idea, yeah." Karasuma took his own Trigger out of his pocket. "Unless you're already experienced like Kuga seemed to be. He can probably pick which Trigger would suit him most with just a glance."

I shrugged and activated the Trigger absentmindedly.

"If you were hoping for a talented pupil… sorry, but I guess you drew the short straw."

He activated his own Trigger, eyes narrowing slightly at me. "Don't hold back."

"Yessir."

-0-

"It means… you can keep losing, over and over again. Shrimp." Konami stated with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

"It's not shrimp." Yuma sent her a lighthearted smile, eyes closed pleasantly. "The name's Yuma Kuga. I'm looking forward to trouncing you, lady."

"Why you—!" Konami scowled. "Show some respect! I have seniority over you!"

"Oh. Really?" Yuma twirled a Trigger in his hand casually, smirking at her with a hint of smugness. "I've only got respect for… three people right now. Maybe a fourth. If you beat me, I'll consider it though. Lady."

Konami jolted before her expression hardened into something much more fierce. "You think you can beat with a Border Trigger…? I've been part of this organization longer than Jin, you know."

She smirked, holding out her white Trigger in front of her with a smirk. "Fine. Alright then… If you can beat me… I'll call you by your name, shrimp."

-0-

"I can't believe it…!" Konami despaired, face pale as Yuma smoothed down his hair from beside her.

He looked at her with a slight sparkle in his eye. "I won." Just to rub it in again.

"Y-you did not!" She shrieked. "I'm way better than you!"

"Hm… 9-1… such a high hurdle." He sighed lightly. "But only for now. I'm getting the hang of how you fight, Konami."

"Don't let it get to your head, Yuma. That was your first and last win!"

"Oh, by the way…" Yuma turned to Shiori. "Mori isn't done yet?"

Shiori shook her head, hand loosely gripping the headphones over her ears. "No… Torimaru's still fighting with her, so it may take a while…"

"Hah?!" Konami cocked an eyebrow. "Torimaru? He should've beat the snot out of four-eyes in five seconds flat!"

"Well, he doesn't rely on his instincts as much as you do… so he's not going seriously. Honestly, you guys forget, that Mori's a beginner with any kind of Triggers..." Shiori trailed off at the end. "He's really just messing around with her to see what she can do. Mikumo's not too bad, actually."

"She's probably out of her element," Yuma commented. "She seemed to have already practised with a sword… I still don't know why she's more suited to be a shooter."

He almost seemed to pout at that, and the two girls did a double take.

"What do you mean, 'practised with a sword'? She's not even a C-rank. Like Shiori said, she's never used a Trigger before." Konami huffed.

"Hm." Yuma turned to them, tilting his head curiously. "Jin didn't tell you?"

"Tell us what?"

"Ah, nothing," Yuma covered up a smirk with his hand. "He'll probably throw it in your faces later to see your reaction…"

The doors from nearby opened suddenly, jolting the three out of their conversation as they turned their heads to take a look.

Mori stumbled, wobbling and swaying side to side as she panted tiredly, with Karasuma stepping in casually, not far behind her.

Shiori handed Karasuma a cup of water, and he took it gratefully before taking a long sip, staring at Mori thoughtfully the entire time.

There was a long, expectant silence.

"…So?" Konami inquired curiously.

Mori staggered over to Yuma, before abruptly dropping like a rock onto the couch, and falling over to lean on his back, much to Konami's astonishment.

The brunette girl let out a small scream, the sound muffled by the clothing of Yuma's Trion body. He only laughed in response, grabbing the cup of water Shiori had offered his friend to hold for her. "So, how was that?"

"Mmf." She grumbled, not lifting her head to give him a proper response.

The three turned to Karasuma instead, who only glanced up thoughtfully.

"...She has good battle instincts… definitely."

"Doesn't she?" Shiori asked. "That was a good first shot she made, it almost took off your head!"

"I wasn't using my Trigger at full power, Usami," Karasuma stated blandly. "But still, even though I was holding back... she's quite impressive."

"Really?" Konami muttered disbelievingly, and Yuma shot her a smug glance.

"She's obviously a bit out of her element though," Karasuma added, unknowingly repeating Yuma's words from before. "It's as if she's not used to using any ranged weapons... I was thinking about using a gunner Trigger instead to start, it might help her a bit more."

"Oh, that's a good idea," Shiori encouraged cheerfully. "Sometimes the regular shooter Triggers aren't what people are used to. Having something that's less widespread might help her get her bearings better."

"Mmmmgh fffgh."

"I can't understand you when you're like that." Yuma laughed lightheartedly, before turning back to Shiori. "So, what about Chika?"

"Ah, Reiji's on defence duty today," Shiori informed them. "So Chika's practising on her own with the non-motion targets... she'll probably run out of Trion in... around one or two more hours, so she can come back in by then."

Mori let out a muffled snort, and Yuma gave the curious agents a quick smug chuckle.

"Chika's gonna be there for a while then, I guess we can go back to fighting..." He mumbled to his partner beside him and got up with a huff. Mori leaned off of him to get up herself from beside him.

She tilted her head, finally opening her mouth to give her friend a coherent sentence. "…Yuma, how well did you do against Konami-senpai anyway?"

He hummed. "9-1, she won."

Mori gave out a displeased grumble at that. "Bring it up to 8-2 soon. We've gotta progress as quickly as we can."

"Alright, Alright~" Yuma waved to her and walked past the shell-shocked Konami, waving his hand carelessly. "Well, you've got to land at least two hits on Torimaru by then, okay?"

Mori scowled determinedly, stomping past an amused Shiori and towards the first training room door. "You don't need to tell me twice!"

-0-

"Oh, my!"

I sipped on my drink loudly and obnoxiously, leaning sideways so my back was resting against Yuma's side.

"What's with these numbers?! They might as well be from a black Trigger!" Shiori marvelled.

"How do you do it?!" Konami questioned, tugging on Chika's cheeks playfully.

I grabbed a sandwich from the table.

"Amatori's Trion is near S-rank level," Kizaki commented, a sliver of pride leaking into his usually blank tone. "She has patience and focus, and she's suited to being a sniper. When she learns how to fight… she has potential to be an ace."

"Oh, my!" Shiori gaped, before placing a finger on her chin. "Such praise from Reiji. Could Chika be our most promising star?"

Konami twitched before grabbing Yuma's collar and yanking. "Yuma's more powerful! He's as good as the top B-ranks already. He'll make A-rank as soon as he gets used to Border Triggers!" I fell sideways when my headrest disappeared, but only sighed disappointedly and moved back to where I was supposed to be sitting.

"I'll become stronger than Konami," Yuma commented casually. "A certain someone will be disappointed if I don't."

"I think not," Konami muttered through clenched teeth, wounded pride causing her to not hear the last comment. "Don't get cocky."

Shiori hummed, pulling out a notebook. "Then we should explain Triggers to Yuma. Usually, we make you wait until B-rank."

I took a large bite of my sandwich, just as Konami turned to Karasuma. "What about you guys, Torimaru? Can four-eyes be of any use?"

Karasuma glanced off into the air, before nodding. "She's pretty good, but not too high level at the moment. Her instincts are good though, and she learns quite quickly. Something tells me that… maybe she'll be able to go toe-to-toe with Kuga… at some point."

I choked harshly, coughing painfully as Yuma had a good laugh at my misery.

"W-what?!" I coughed again. "I'm not that good, there's no way I could ever get near his level!" I yelled.

"Aw, I was so excited to fight you," Yuma complained, leaning over and poking me in the cheek, much to the Tamakoma agents astonishment. "After that scene with the C-rank Trigger, I got so excited to see you seriously."

I reached right back over and jabbed him in the side, ignoring Konami's questioning 'C-rank Trigger?' in the background. "I thought we aren't supposed to talk about that— and besides, those were amateur moves!"

He stuck out his tongue at me, and in a small burst of playful childishness, made a loud 'bleah' noise.

"Fine then!" I scowled and reaching out sideways, looping an arm around an exasperatedly fond Chika's shoulders. "I bet anything, that Chika'll be the ace! She's got more Trion than you!"

Yuma was about to send a playful jab back to me but to everyone's astonishment…

Chika lifted up both arms and poked the two of us in the cheeks so suddenly that I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Yuma and I froze, startled and confused.

A long silence prevailed, my mind screeching to a halt as I tried to process what just happened.

Chika nodded, satisfied, once she saw that we weren't bantering anymore, and pried my arm from around her and stood in between us, patting our heads with a serene smile.

"We should all be the aces, wouldn't that be more fun?"

I paused for a moment, just as Shiori spoke up from behind us with a small grin.

"Just as I thought, Chika is the ace. She tamed the two beasts with just a touch."

"I'm not a beast." I twisted my head to mutter irritatedly to Shiori, ignoring the way that Chika was dragging Yuma and me by the arms to sit beside her on the longest couch.

"Ah, she really does have them wrapped around her finger," Karasuma commented amusedly, sipping on his tea. I ignored the loud muffled snicker from Konami's direction with a vengeance.

"Chika does have a point though," Yuma commented, considerably calmer. "We should all just be aces."

"That's not how that works…" I sighed heavily and leaned back on the couch. "Jeez, something about bantering with Yuma just gets me all hyped up, no matter how tired I feel."

"It's because you guys are good friends," Chika said with a smile. "It's surprising how long ago you guys met, considering how close you guys are."

"Wait." Konami paused. "How long have you guys known each other?"

I paused for a few moments in thought, before leaning backwards at the same time as Yuma to peek over Chika's shoulder as I dropped my voice down to a whisper.

"A week?"

He hummed contemplatively, before nodding and whispering back.

"Around a week."

We got back up, and I looked at Konami with a nod. "A week."

All of the A-rank agents and Shiori's heads snapped to look at us so quickly, that I was worried they had snapped their necks, causing me to flinch back.

"A WEEK?!" Konami shrieked, and Karasuma stared at us with wide eyes.

"Huh?" Yuma tilted his head. "Why is that so surprising?"

"YOU GUYS ARE SO… CLOSE!"

Reiji gave Konami a small slap on the back for her bluntness and shut his slightly gaping mouth.

"That is true though," Shiori commented, shocked. "You two are… very informal with each other. I wouldn't have expected you two to not have known each other for very long, with how friendly you are."

I paused for a moment, before glancing at Yuma and Chika. "Is that how it works? I've never had friends really… Yuma never told me off for always leaning on him, so I didn't really stop…"

Yuma shrugged, and I missed the incredibly fond smile that Chika sent to us. "Ah… I didn't mind, really."

He whistled pleasantly as he gave me thumbs up. "Besides, when you watch someone get smacked through a building and end up saving them from certain death, you can become great friends."

There was a long pause as everyone digested his words, myself included.

I slapped him upside the head as Konami shrieked in surprise. "You went through a building?!"

"It wasn't through a building!" I rebutted, slightly raising my voice to be heard by everyone over Konami's panicked yelling. "It was just a brick wall!"

"That's not any better!" Shiori objected hurriedly. "When did this even happen?!"

"Ah...?" A brief image of a Bamster looming over my head threateningly went through my mind, along with a quick flash of Yuma with a shroud of black Trion crackling around him. "…A week ago?"

"The day we met!" Yuma confirmed merrily, much to everyone's astonishment.

Chika sent me a slightly scolding stare for not mentioning it to her, and I made a mix between a confused and irritated noise while I gestured to the side vaguely, trying to defend myself. "It wasn't that bad!"

"Yeah," Yuma grabbed another sandwich. "She only bruised her ribs, which is pretty decent, considering how big the Bamster was."

There was dead silence in the room.

"…Bruised ribs?" Chika repeated, pleasant smile not fading as she turned to stare at me judgingly.

"Bamster?" Karasuma and Shiori muttered questioningly.

"…That's decent?" Konami paled slightly, glancing at me worriedly.

I sighed irritatedly, patting my side nonchalantly. "It's healed by now, everyone can calm down."

"It was huge though," Yuma chuckled. "It's easy to get close to someone when they need you to save them every other day."

"Hey!" I protested. "I only needed you to save me… twice! I've saved you…"

"Once." He filled in with a smug smirk. "You hid me from Border, that's it. 1."

I froze, before jabbing a finger in his face with a playful grin. "I bought you food! 2!"

He paused. "That you did. But I saved you from the Bamster, and I took care of the Illgar like you asked me to. 2-2."

"… I dealt with the Marmods! And I defended you during the Border meeting after the battle with the A-Rank agents. 2-4."

"I sent Replica with you during the bombing," He challenged smugly, the two of us not noticing the amused glances of everyone else in the room. "3-4."

"I've still got more than you!"

He paused to think. "…I helped Chika find out how much Trion she had. 4-4."

"Alright, alright~" Shiori smoothly interrupted. "You both saved each other a bunch. But I think you should get back to afternoon training soon…"

We all glanced at the clock.

"Oh, she's right," Yuma muttered. "Well, let's go. I can feel another win coming on today." He pointed to the training room while looking back at Konami.

"Huh?" She narrowed her eyes challengingly, panic from earlier easily forgotten. "Dream on."

-0-

"Hm… Three wins, seven losses again today…" Yuma muttered nonchalantly, hair frizzed up once again. "That fourth win is a tough one."

"You're not the only one who's improving," Konami muttered, positioning her hands on both sides of her hip as she huffed.

"Winning three times against Konami is a feat in itself," Karasuma stated calmly, staring down at a notebook in his hands.

"Torimaru, could we have a bout sometime?" Yuma asked curiously.

"Maybe next time," Karasuma replied, the two of them ignoring Konami's offended squawk in the background.

"How come Torimaru gets your respect already?!"

Yuma stared at Karasuma, eyes glimmering with an unsaid question as the man himself sighed.

"I have my hands full thinking of ways… to make your partner stronger."

Yuma nodded, before pausing as the word registered in his mind.

"...Partner?"

"Yes," Karasuma twirled his pen idly. "I thought that was the appropriate word, considering the two of you seem to have no interest in romance whatsoever."

Yuma hummed, before nodding approvingly.

"I like that word."

He paused. "On a side note, can she hit you at all during matches, currently?"

Karasuma sent him a quick glance, before flicking his gaze back down to the paper. "…Once per match, consistently."

"Eh~?" He smirked smugly, much to the amusement of Konami and Karasuma. "I one-upped her then, 5-4 it is."

He pat his head one more time before pausing and turning to Karasuma. "You know… Jin hasn't been around lately."

Karasuma scratched his head absentmindedly with the pen. "He said he had stuff to do."

"He's probably sneaking around," Konami commented with narrowed eyes, sipping her drink. "His hobby is behind the scenes manipulation."

-0-

"We're almost there!" Yotaro yelled encouragingly through his mini speaker. "Hang on."

"Oi, oi…" I side eyed him. "I'm not doing that bad, am I?"

"You're doing fine," Kizaki reassured, turning his head back to me. "Do you two jog often?"

"We used to, together," Chika informed him softly in between huffs. "We haven't gotten around to it since my brother was around though…"

I felt my eye twitch but ignored it. "I've been," A Huff. "Busy."

"Well, muscles don't matter in a battle of Triggers, but controlling a Trion body has the same sensations, it's based on muscle memory," Kizaki told us, slowing his jog slightly to lag beside us. "The better you are at moving your real body, the more smoothly you can move your Trion body." He glanced at the two of us. "Don't underestimate the value of physical training."

"Okay!"

I sighed. "Okay…"

"Mori. Don't die!"

"I'm doing fine, you little brat!"

-0-

"Good work!" Shiori cheered while handing Chika and I each water-bottles. "How was that?"

"Good," Chika responded quietly while I took a long gulp of my water.

"Haven't done that in a while," I laughed, patting Yuma on the back. "I think the last time I've gotten that much exercise was when I was running around in a city being bombed."

Yuma laughed, and the small disapproving hum I heard from Replica made me happy enough to miss the confused glances of the Tamakoma agents.

"I still think you were being dumb." He commented dully.

I gave him a cheeky grin that was near unnoticeable. "Never said otherwise."

"Alright, Yuma, Mori, do you two want to go over the Triggers before it gets too late?" Shiori asked cheerfully, waving an arm towards us, providing a momentary distraction.

"Triggers, huh?" Yuma mumbled before I nodded for the two of us.

"We'll be right there, Usami."

She nodded to the two of us, and I took a deep breath before gulping down the rest of my water. "Let's do this quickly, I want to see what kinds there are."

"There was the one you had before," Yuma pointed out to himself, slightly including me. "It looked super light, it might work best for me."

"Probably," The two of us waved to Chika with a smile as we exited the room. "See you later, Chika."

"Bye, ne— Mori."

I gave her a curious glance but walked through the door regardless.

-0-

"Okey-dokey, let's go over the Triggers." Shiori cheerfully dropped the box of technology in front of us. "Oh, are we sitting on the floor?"

I shrugged, Yuma leaning back against my chest as he sat in front of me. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Should we get up?" Yuma asked curiously, peering up at her.

"No, no!" Shiori shook her head with a smile. "I admire how close you two are despite all of the banter, it's impressive! Besides, we have more room like this."

I nodded to her with a grateful slight smile, and she gave me a short pat on the head as she bent down.

"Alright," She stuck a tool into the Trigger's centre, and a whirring sounded out before the case popped off. "So this is what's inside the Trigger holder."

There was a rectangle board that fits inside the Trigger, with lines resembling wires twisting around and towards eight smaller chips embedded onto the board.

"These little chips are the actual Triggers. They decide what outward form the user's Trion will take."

"Oh, so it's like a balloon." I thought out loud. When Yuma tilted his head up join Shiori in giving me a curious glance, I quickly elaborated. "It's as if your Trion is the air… so when you pump it into the Trigger, it'll fill up and inflate it so it can take form… Sort of," I trailed off unsurely, wondering if I was doing something wrong.

"That's totally an accurate description," Shiori hurriedly reassured me. "Actually, that's one of the best comparisons. If you were to break the Trigger's form… or the balloon, so to say, you would need to make a new balloon, and fill it up with new air, and thus, expending more Trion."

"Pretty good analogy," Yuma complimented, patting my leg absentmindedly. "You're pretty good at this stuff, considering you were a civilian just a few days ago."

"You know, Jin said that a few days ago…" I sighed in exasperation. "You two are too alike."

"They are similar, aren't they?" Shiori giggled, before holding up a Trigger. "Anyways, you can set up to eight different types of Triggers, switching between offensive and defensive ones."

She handed Yuma one to take a look at, and I watched from over him, my chin resting on his head.

"This side is the main Triggers for your dominant hand," She pointed to the top row before her finger shifted to the bottom row. "These are the sub Triggers for your other hand. You can use two types at the same time."

"There's a lot you can do with combo's," Yuma observed casually, twirling around the Trigger in his hand.

"Pretty much," Shiori grinned at the two of us with a thumbs up. "First, let's look at the attacker Triggers."

She turned and reached out behind her, before spinning back to us with a laptop in hand. "I've compiled recordings of different border agents using the Triggers for you guys to watch, from the rank wars. So you guys can get a good idea as you watch how they can be used."

"Ooh~! As expected of Shiori," Yuma complimented, and I gave the woman a small smile and a thumbs up.

"Compliments will get you nowhere!" She playfully returned, adjusting her glasses slightly, before tapping a key on her computer loudly as the screen flickered to life.

On the screen, various clips of Border agents were played, most of them at different speeds to see exactly how each person was moving and using the thin sword that I had used against the Marmods.

"Oh, it's this one," Yuma murmurs quietly, evidently having the same thoughts as me.

"This is a lightweight blade that speed-oriented attackers use often, called the Scorpion. The blade can materialize at will, and it weighs almost nothing. You can manifest the blade from places besides your hand," She pointed to the screen as it pauses, a short black haired male frozen on the screen as he swings around two blades skillfully. "By adjusting Trion, it's shape and length can be modified. On the other hand, it's not very durable, so it can break pretty easily if you block with it, it's basically used for offence only."

She paused with a smile. "One of the top attackers actually uses it, Kazama Soya."

"Do you know him?" I asked curiously, sensing the slight fondness in her voice.

"Eheh, was it that obvious?" She chuckled, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. I dug my chin into Yuma's head when I felt him about to nod bluntly, and he began to pout at me.

"I was actually his team's operator for a while when I still worked at HQ." She replied happily, much to our astonishment.

"Seriously? You were part of HQ once?" I murmured, shocked. She nodded cheerily, pushing up her glasses.

"Kazama actually had me as part of his team before some of his other teammates." She recalled. "Ah, I haven't spoken to some of them in a while… especially since they went on the away mission… Actually, they were supposed to be back by yesterday, maybe I can go visit sometime."

"Away mission?" Yuma muttered thoughtfully. "What ranking is their squad?"

"Third best squad." She bragged proudly, despite not being on their team anymore. "They're something else, aren't they?"

"That's amazing…" I breathed softly, thoughts running through my mind. "They must all be really skilled."

"They are," She agreed easily, before returning to her laptop.

"Next. The most popular, all-purpose blade. Kogetsu."

Her fingers lashed out at a few more keys before the computer went back to flickering through agents again, but I noticed more diversity in people this time.

"Unlike the Scorpion, it's not easily manifested or retracted, but it has a nice balance of durability and striking strength. It's pretty heavy, and you can't change its shape or length." She nodded towards the screen as multiple clips of a dark grey haired man —it looked dark brown in the light sometimes— wearing a long trench coat wielded a long blade, the slices reaching meters away at times.

"And also… By spending Trion and using its special Trigger options, it can momentarily extend its attack."

"Whoa… that was so cool." My eyes were practically starry. "What ranking is this guy?"

Shiori gave me a pleasant smile. "Number one attacker!"

I froze.

-0-

"Did you kill her?" I distantly heard Yuma inquire.

I let out a strangled noise. "N-n-number o-one….?"

"Un," Shiori nodded cheerfully. "Number one squad too!"

I fell over promptly, and I heard Yuma whine at the loss of his headrest.

"Ah, I think she really died this time."

"Did she?" Shiori asked.

I felt myself being moved, and Yuma easily picked me up and shifted so that my head was lying against his legs.

My mind blanked. "What."

"Oh, she's awake." Yuma pointed out with a grin. "I thought you saw the light at the end of the tunnel for a minute there."

"All I felt, were the cold, clammy hands of death picking me up and moving me." I joked dryly, and I heard a muffled snicker from Shiori's direction.

"My hands are fine!" Yuma protested dramatically, lips pursed to pout. "And you can't blank out like that just at the mention of number one... since that's what we're aiming for anyway."

My hand, which was previously resting against his leg, beside my head, tightened into a fist. "We're what."

"Aiming for number one."

I paused, tilting my head to stare at him with a hopeless expression, before speaking softly and meaningfully. "Why?"

He shot me a smug grin. "Only the finest."

"Well, if you're done panicking over there…?" Shiori cut in teasingly, and I took a few deep breathes to calm myself, before sitting up.

"I'm good," I said, mostly to myself. "I'm good?" I ignored the amused expression Yuma sent me. "I'm good." I turned back to the two of them. "Alright, I won't panic like that again. I apologize."

"It's not a problem," Shiori reassured me. "In fact, it was sort of amusing."

"It was indeed amusing," Yuma commented with a grin, and I gave him a light chop on the head.

"Don't pick me up ever again without warning," I paused, before adding a meaningful, "Cold hands."

His eye twitched, and as soon as I turned away to face Shiori, he stuck his hands up the back of my shirt and I let out a loud and high pitched scream.

"OHMYGODGETAWAYFROMMEYOUCOLDHEARTLESSHOLYMOTHERFU—!"

"Language!" Shiori scolded, before taking pity on me and reaching over to drag Yuma away from me. "Honestly, can you two be serious for more ten seconds, without Chika here to keep you in line?"

I recovered my composure with an awkward cough, hands still holding the area that Yuma's cold hands touched from over my sweater. "I deeply apologize." The two of us muttered, somewhat embarrassedly. "It won't happen again."

"You better hope it won't," Shiori huffed playfully. "Because I'll be your operator, and if this happens during a rank wars match…"

"It won't happen." We hurriedly assured her, sweat dripping down our temples.

"Good." She settles with a smile, looking back at the two of us. "So, shall we continue?"

Sweat dripped down my temple. 'Ah... Usami and Chika are both forces to be reckoned with...'

-0-

"Hm… Kogetsu… or Scorpion? Which should I choose?"

I shrugged to Yuma's muttering. "It's weird that there are only two attack Triggers. Considering how long Border's been around, and how many away missions there have apparently been… Was I expecting too much by thinking there'd be more?"

"Oh, there's still one more!" Shiori chimed in helpfully. "The Raygust! Unlike the other two, the Raygust is a defensive Trigger. The blade transforms, like the Scorpion. There's a shield mode that increases durability in exchange for reduced attack power."

"Oh?" Yuma let out a contemplative hum.

"But it's the heaviest of blades," Shiori warned. "Attackers like to, well, attack, so it's not as popular as the other two. But there are people that are good with the Raygust. Reiji, for one."

"Reiji, huh? Hmm, I see." Yuma repeated thoughtfully.

"So about the Kogetsu..." I trailed off. "Can you tell me more about the number one attacker? He seemed really skilled."

"That was Kei Tachikawa, top user of Kogetsu at HQ," Shiori pointed to the air vaguely. "He used to the be Jin's rival."

"Rival?" I repeated, slightly shocked.

"Who was stronger?" Yuma inquired bluntly.

"Probably… Tachikawa." Shiori tilted her head, replying dramatically.

I let out a surprised noise, slightly startled. "Jin-san isn't so great after all?!"

I felt a light kick hit me in the back of the leg, and my shoulders dropped slightly. "Okay, I deserved that."

"Until a few years ago…" Shiori began, unperturbed. "The only Trigger we had for attackers was the Kogetsu. So Tachikawa and Jin were number one and number two at that time in the individual rankings. Jin said, 'I can never beat Tachikawa with Kogetsu'… and developed the Scorpion with the engineers."

"Jin made this?" Yuma gestured carelessly to the blade in his hand.

"Wow, Border agents sure have a lot of drama going around," I muttered, and Yuma gave me another kick, to which I groaned at. "I deserved that again, didn't I."

He didn't deign me with an answer, and Shiori continued. "After Jin started using the Scorpion, there were dead even. But in total, Tachikawa probably had more wins."

"So…" I waved a hand in the air. "You said… 'used to be'…?"

"Well, Jin got his black Trigger." Shiori shrugged, before stepping back to lean on the desk behind her. "Usually only someone compatible can use a black Trigger, but Jin's black Trigger wasn't particularly picky. There were more than 20 agents at the time who could activate it. So they had a competition between all the candidates."

She looked up slightly, pushing up her glasses. "And Jin… blew them all away."

"Did that settle their rivalry?" Yuma asked.

"Not quite…" Shiori shook her head. "Tachikawa couldn't participate, he wasn't compatible. So even now… they still haven't settled the score."

"Heh…? That's kind of mean of Jin." I muttered. "Leaving without settling their rivalry… Kind of mean."

"Well, the black Trigger is his mentor," Yuma pointed out. "I know I wouldn't hesitate to go for it."

"I suppose." I conceded. "He could still have a match with Tachikawa, without using the black Trigger though… It sounded like it was implied that they haven't had a match since then..."

I rested my chin on my hand, before turning to Shiori. "Usami-san, what do you think?"

She only stared at us blankly with an unreadable expression on her face.

I blinked confusedly. "…Eh? Did we do something wrong…?"

She hurriedly shook her head. "No, no… I was just thinking, you two have a strange relationship."

The two of us blinked cluelessly.

-0-

"Anyways, the next Triggers are for gunners and shooters." She lifted up a few more Triggers, the three of us settled down on the ground once more. "There are four types of gunner Triggers, each with distinctive features. Torimaru showed them to you, didn't he, Mori?"

"Vaguely," I muttered, slightly downcast that the only one I'd gotten around to trying was the Asteroid.

"Now, now, don't feel bad about it," She reassured, patting my shoulder. "I think Torimaru was being vague on purpose, to see how you'd react, anyway."

"Alright then," I accepted. "But I still wish I had proper demonstrations."

"Well, that's what I've got these videos here for!" She cheered. "Examples!"

"Thank you." I murmured gratefully, adjusting the computer so that I could see it better.

"Well, the first one is the Asteroid. No special attributes, but powerful bullets," She began, the screen flickering through a few gunners, mostly shooters. I noticed the bullets going straight forward, and took note of it mentally.

"Then there's the explosive that affects a wide area… Meteora."

There was a clip on the screen of a dark blonde teen —wearing a trench coat identical to Tachikawa's— both hands raised as large cubes formed and spread out, before shooting forwards as he jumps back. The bullets impacted against the targeted wall, and…

The explosion that shook the area caused the camera taking the footage to shake, but my eyes were so focused on the explosion showed on-screen that I couldn't care less.

-0-

"Uh… Is she ok?"

Yuma paused and looked at Mori worriedly.

"…Is she?"

Moir was frozen still, eyes wide and unblinking as she stared at the screen—which was blank, the clip ended a few seconds ago.

"…I thought she said this wouldn't happen again…?" Shiori trailed off.

"No, I think this is different," Yuma snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, no reaction. He slipped he glasses off, and still, no response. "…Should we get a doctor?"

"I'm considering." Shiori hummed. "What happened?"

"Does she have a crush?" Yuma suggested, and that served to snap Mori out of her daze.

"'Crush'?"

"Oh, she's alive," Yuma commented, yet there was no amusement. "Are you ok? Or was I rig—?"

"I do not have a crush." Mori cut him off sharply before her eyes glazed over once again.

Yuma gave her a small slap, and she yelped, more in surprise and less in pain. "What was that for?!"

"You were going to la-la land again," He commented drolly, eyes flickering with a surprising amount of worry. "Are you ok?"

She paused, before nodding certainly.

"I want the Meteora. As my starting Trigger."

Shiori and Yuma blinked, before glancing at each other in surprise. "Are you sure?" Shiori asked for confirmation. "You shouldn't choose so quickly, there are still others—"

"I want it," Mori repeated determinedly. "That's the one. I can tell."

Yuma tilted his head, less worried now that Mori stated what was on her mind. "…And… how would you know that?"

She looked him right in the eyes, without blinking, and with a blank expression, whispered. Tone soft and quiet, yet with far more emotion than her words had any right to have in any scenario.

"I want to blow shit up."

-0-

"What are you plotting? Jin."

Kido's glared menacingly at Jin. "This 'deal'… is far too good for our side. What are you really after?"

Jin shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not plotting anything. I'm just supporting the younger generation, in a cool way." He paused. "It's not that I want to beat 'your side'. I'm not in this tug-of-war for Border's leadership."

Jin's eyes narrowed slightly. "I just… don't want you grown-ups interfering with the battles of my juniors."

He paused meaningfully, before nodding at Kido.

"If I may add one thing… Kido-san. My juniors will one day be useful… for your true objective." When Kido's head twitched up in shock, Jin added, "That's what my side-effect tells me."

Kido paused to think, before nodding. "…Fine."

"We have a deal. In exchange for the black Trigger, Fujin… Yuma Kuga of the Tamakoma branch... is officially approved to enlist in Border."

Jin relaxed at that statement, his carefree grin sliding back into place as he stepped back from the table, his precious mentor's Trigger left on the surface. "Well, I've got to get home in time for dinner!" He joked, hand wrapping around the doorknob.

The tense aura around the room never left, ever as the door swung open easily.

However, he paused at the threshold. "By the way…"

He turned back towards the directors gathered around the table, eyes sharpening dangerously. A shiver went down their backs.

"…if you even think about slapping Four-eyes name on the headline for the whole C-rank Trigger incident…"

His tone was icy, yet had not lost that hint of carefreeness that everyone associated with Jin.

"…Well, I'll just say there'll be consequences. Four-eyes deserves to start off her Border debut without any grief, you get me?"

And the door shut with a click.

-0-

"Hey, welcome back, Jin!" Shiori greeted pleasantly.

"Good evening," Mori waved boredly.

"Yo," Jin waved back. "I'm honoured that you exerted effort enough to wave to me, four-eyes." He reached out a hand to ruffle her hair. She didn't bother trying to stop him this time, actually slightly indulging in the fondness in the action.

"You haven't been around, what've you been up to?" Yuma asked curiously, chewing on a snack.

"An elite agent is a popular guy." Jin bent over to grab one of his own, removing his hand from Mori's head reluctantly. "Yuma, are you getting used to Border Triggers?"

He nodded, giving a smug thumbs up. "Shiori has been teaching me a lot. The day I lead Konami in wins is nigh."

"Ooh, great." Jin gave a relaxed grin. "So how's your own training, four-eyes?"

Mori paused for a moment, before turning to him with starry eyes. It startled him, just a bit. "I found the perfect Trigger for me."

"Hm?" He hummed curiously, no doubt knowing what she was talking about due to his foresight, but indulging her.

"Meteora," She muttered excitedly. "I'm going to blow everything to bits."

"Alright, but about the training…" Shiori cut in quickly. "Torimaru is pretty busy with his job, huh?"

"He left me a training regimen," Mori offered. "And I've got tons of time to practice."

"Well, Kyosuke's a good teacher, you'll be fine," Jin reassured, popping the snack into his mouth. "Work hard, young'uns. The real deal will be here before you know it."

He stepped over to the door with a wave. "Nighty-night."

"Good night!" Shiori called back.

"See you," Yuma returned.

Mori only stared at him, eyes narrowed slightly in a way that made Jin tilt his head in confusion.

"Four-eyes? Not gonna wish me good night or something?" He teased, but she only blinked before handing him another cracker.

"…Get some sleep, Jin-san." She muttered, somewhat embarrassed for showing worry. "You look like a zombie."

He jolted at that and stared back at the younger girl with wide eyes.

-0-

"Eh? I didn't think so." Shiori mumbled, and Jin only recovered hurriedly with a laugh.

"Well, I'll do that. It's so nice of you to worry, four-eyes!"

He shut the door behind him as a mumbled denial of 'I wasn't worried' was muffled by the door, much to his amusement. He stepped down the hall, before falling back onto his bed, once he arrived in his room.

"…Phew…"

There was a beat of silence as Kazama's words echoed in his head.

'You were so determined to get that black Trigger… isn't it your teacher's memento?'

He shut his eyes peacefully, arms curled back to tangled his fingers together from behind his head.

"Everything's going to be fine." He whispered.

"The future… is moving forward…"

-0-

"Psst. Yuma."

Yuma turned over absentmindedly, the distracted fog around his mind clearing away as he distantly wondered who was still awake at this ungodly hour.

His eyes met green, and a wave of surprise swept over him as he recognized the glasses perched on the persons face.

"Mori," He greeted pleasantly. "Why the hell are you still awake?" He asked… less pleasantly.

Her eyes were blown wide as if she had been lying awake in bed for hours with thoughts swirling around her mind, until she gave into the pressure to get up to find him.

...Actually, that's probably what she did.

"Yuma." She repeated in a quiet tone. "I have… an idea."

"What is it?" He groaned, because what else to do, but indulge your sleep deprived best friend when she starts to get those 1 AM thoughts and you physically can't fall unconscious.

but once she opened her mouth, Yuma wished nothing more than for the ability to just roll over, fall asleep, and forget she even suggested anything.

"Let's steal a Trigger."

-0-

There was a brief pause as Yuma digested her words.

"'Let's steal a Trigger'," Yuma repeated blandly. "That's what she says at 1 AM in the morning. 'Let's go steal a Trigger', she says, like this is completely normal. Maybe it's just the absurd hour that's getting to me, but I feel boundless exasperation." He paused for a moment before his red eyes shifted to stare at her. "Is this going to be a thing with you? You stole that C-rank Trigger too, only you don't have a good excuse this time."

"No, I've got… a reason," She murmured distractedly. "It's really important… I've been thinking about it since…" She trailed off.

"Do you now," Yuma humoured her lightly. "You don't look so good, maybe you can tell me in the morning. You should get some sleep."

"We can't steal Triggers in the morning…" Mori mumbled. "We gotta do this now… I just need some… tea. Or something. A drink?"

"A drink." Yuma parroted blankly, getting up off the couch and nudging her towards the kitchen. "Well, if you insist. You can try to discuss the thought process behind any of… this."

"A drink… Can you pour me some milk?"

"Sure," Yuma chuckled slightly at his friend's drunken, tired state. "Just gimme a moment."

-0-

Mori set down the cup, glass now emptied of its contents as she took a deep breath.

"Ok." She sighed. "I feel more awake now."

Yuma hummed from the seat across from her. "I'll bet."

"Alright, so about the Trigger thing," Mori coughed, leaning her cheek onto her palm. "I was half awake, but I meant to use the word 'borrow', instead of 'steal'."

"Mhm," Yuma nodded blankly. "That makes this so much better."

Mori jolted sleepily. "Wait, I've got an explanation. My thoughts were running around without my permission while I was trying to go to sleep."

"So?" Yuma looked at her, watching her eyes un-focus and re-focus in her tired state.

"Usami was talking about these Triggers," She started, slurring slightly at random parts, but slowly straightening out so Yuma could tell she was waking up. "The Bagworm."

"The one that hides you from the radar," Yuma filled in for his friend. "She told us about it after I tackled you."

"After I said I wanted the Meteroa," Mori groaned a little. "I still don't think I deserved that."

"You said 'I want to blow shit up' in all seriousness," Yuma replied nonchalantly. "I got worried for your sanity. Anyways, continue…?"

"Ok, so, the Bagworm." Mori waved her hands around drunkenly, gesturing at something Yuma couldn't see, or understand. "I want you and Replica to copy it."

He blinked, and a black blob formed up beside his head to join the conversation. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, Replica. I forgot you were there." Mori blinked blearily. "I was thinking about HQ earlier."

Yuma tilted his head curiously, lips pursed. "What about them?"

"They've been awfully quiet about you lately…" She trailed off. "The way Jin-san was talking the other day… I didn't think they'd give up so easily."

"You don't need to worry about the two of us," Yuma grumbled, slightly scoldingly. "Replica and I can take anyone they send at us."

"…Still, I'm not sure. Why haven't they made a move to kill you yet?" She thought out-loud. "It's… almost as if they're waiting for something. But I don't know—"

She paused, and Replica and Yuma turned to give her a questioning glance.

"What is it?" He asked curiously, and she tilted her head upward as if to remember something.

"'There's no need to shuffle units around'," She repeated Kido's words. "So they're hesitant on gathering too many units, especially for a Neighbour black Trigger."

"You can't blame them," Replica added. "Black Triggers are famous for their ability to single-handedly turn the tides of war. You must be cautious with them, especially with an organization like Border, when most of the agents are relatively young… and have civilian families."

She hummed in acknowledgement. "So they'd need something strong… someone strong."

She froze suddenly, and her head snapped towards Yuma so quickly that he jolted in surprise.

"Yuma, when did Shiori say that the away mission squads were coming back?"

Yuma jolted, and Replica stopped bobbing mid-air for a brief moment.

Replica floated down to rest on the table, and his robotic, worried voice sounded out from wherever his voice came from. "She mentioned that they should have been back by yesterday… or the day before, considering that it's 2AM right now."

Mori ignored the slight jab directed towards her, and her eyes widened as her voice came out in a whisper. "They were waiting for the top squads to come back," She whispered in horror. "They're going to send all of the top squads all at once towards Tamakoma then, and they're going to kill you."

"Now, now," Yuma gestured for her to sit down placatingly, tone easygoing. "Do you really have so little faith in me? There's no way they can chase me away, you know."

"That's not the point," She whispered worryingly, only grabbing his gesturing hand and dragging him towards the room holding the triggers as quietly as she could. "The point is that if you beat them up with your black Trigger, or get in a fight with anymore A-rankers, they'll never let you join Border!"

He paused in contemplation, before sighing. "That's true."

Mori nodded determinedly, no longer dragging him as he began to walk alongside her. "We gotta go copy the Bagworm for you, it'll be an easy way to get away from any fights peacefully. As long as you can run away properly."

"This is still a reckless idea." Replica commented dryly as he floated between our heads, evidently resigning himself to be the voice of reason between us two chaotic goods, but acknowledging that he has no power to stop us by force. "Copying a Border Trigger is easily identifiable if seen, and could get us into trouble anyway."

The two of them paused momentarily in our footsteps, before continuing at a slower pace. "That is a problem."

"I think it's worth it though," Mori muttered. "It's better than you going into a battle with A-ranks, wearing a smug expression and basically yelling 'I'm better than all of you' before you start fighting."

"Would we do that?" Yuma asked Replica quietly, tilting his head to look at his robotic chaperone.

"…No comment." He only returned, much to Yuma's surprise.

"...Replica, I think you're taking after Mori a little too much," He muttered in betrayal. "You didn't make fun of me like this, before."

"You're too much like, Jin, I had to find my own successor." She returned jokingly, patting Replica on the head with a small laugh.

-0-

"So, here we are," I muttered, walking along the aisle as I looked left and right for the right Trigger. "Bagworm, Bagworm, where is it…"

"Hard to see in the dark," Yuma commented, falling into step right behind me.

"Oh, here it is." I grinned slightly, stepping sideways to let Yuma see. "Right beside the—"

We both cut off as we stared at the small label taped to the Trigger right beside the Bagworm Trigger, just before our eyes slide sideways to each other and gained a maniac gleam.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

He smirked, just slightly. "Most definitely."

Replica made something that sounded suspiciously like an exasperated sigh.

-0-

"And… It's up." I turned on the trigger, the long cloak draping around my Trion body. I barely noticed my tiredness flying away as quick as lightning, still too preoccupied with my excitement with our new idea. "Alright, do this one quickly so we can go onto the next one."

"One second," He gestured to Replica. "Go on. You need to analyze it first, I think."

Replica sighed again, louder this time, and bobbed in the air as he moved forward. "Roger."

Yuma activated his black Trigger in the background with a duck face, his black Trion covering his clothing and replacing it with the familiar black armour.

Replica stuck out his tongue for a few more moments, the end touching the Trion cloth wrapped around me. "Analysis complete."

He sucked the wire back up, before floating backwards and merging with the forearm of Yuma's black Trigger. "Seal has been set to 'Omit'."

"Ooh, let's try this out," Yuma lifted up his hand, a new seal appearing with a strange circle pattern, and 'X' crossing through the middle as the kanji read 'Omit'.

A pitch black cloak covered his shoulders, the outline and button holding the cloth together coloured a blood red colour that stood out in the darkness. His eyes widened in marvel, and he let out a quiet 'ooh'.

"That looks so cool. Do you really regret this at all, Replica?"

"Yes," His voice rang out from Yuma's forearm. "Yes, I regret a lot of things. This is one of them, because Border will take offence to us stealing their Triggers."

"We're not stealing them," I objected playfully, turning off the Trigger I was using before holding the other one that we looked at earlier into my hand. "We're borrowing them. Besides, it's not even any of the offence-based ones."

He stayed silent, and I let out a small chuckled as a new trion body formed around me. "Oh, this is going to be so awesome."

"I second that," Yuma agreed with a glimmer in his eye, the copied Bagworm collapsing from around his form. "Shiori was so excited about telling us about this Trigger too, I'm super excited now."

"Well," I activated the trigger, feeling my Trion body shift as the changes were made. "Here goes nothing."

And with that, I disappeared into thin air.

"...Whoa, she was right," Yuma muttered from in front of me, looking right through me. "The Chameleon really does make you invisible."

I lifted a hand up in front of me, seeing a small outline. "Not entirely. I can still see the edges, but only if I'm looking hard enough."

"Really?" Yuma squinted his eyes in my direction, before shaking his head. "I can't see anything."

"Either way," I giggled excitedly. "Replica, you're up."

"I have many regrets." The Trion soldier mumbled, a small black tube-like blob extending from Yuma's forearm, before the end formed some sort of pseudo-mouth-like form. There was an elongated pause before their mouth cracked open to speak. "Unfortunately, my analyzation is complete. Seal has been set to 'Blend'."

Yuma lifted up his hand once more as a cloud-shaped seal appeared before he joined me in being completely unseen.

"…Oh, this is just as cool as I thought it'd be."

I covered my mouth with my hands and laughed as quietly as I could, the two of us trying to not wake anybody as we laughed freely.

-0-

"Jin, do you know where Mikumo is?" Shiori asked, somewhat worriedly. "She said she was staying over, but she's not of time in her room…"

Jin leaned on the doorway, looking considerably more well-rested(not that the difference was noticeable). He gave her a fond smile before lifting his finger to his lips, silently shushing her.

She blinked in surprise, before walking towards him and peeking through the doorway to the living room.

She paused abruptly before a small, soft smile formed on her lips as she drank in the sight of the two figures on the couch.

Mori was lying on the couch, head drooped down as she slept soundly on Yuma's shoulder. Their shoulders were touching, and her arm was wrapped around his own loosely as they shared the blankets.

At the sound of Shiori's quiet footsteps, Yuma cracked open a previously closed eye, having pretended to be asleep despite his inability to do so.

"Shiori, Jin." He greeted, voice a near whisper. "Please don't wake her up, It took so much time to get her to finally fall asleep."

Shiori gave a small giggle under her breath and pulled her phone from her pocket. "Well, you can't stop me from taking photos, can you?"

Yuma gave a one-sided shrug, doing everything in his power to move the least amount as possible and Jin laughed quietly while waving over to Shiori.

"Send me a copy, would you?"