"Sorry for sleepin' on you," I slurred, rubbing the sleepiness from my eyes as my other hand groped around blindly for my glasses.

"No problem," Yuma spoke up, from wherever he was and I could imagine his stuck out lips and lazily shut eyes as I listened to his voice. "I'm just glad you slept enough, after all of the… excitement yesterday."

I nodded blearily. "About that," I pushed my glasses onto my face, at last, the world sharpening enough for me to see at last. "We should… probably tell Chika everything we know. It'd be rude not to since she's our teammate now."

He hummed in agreement and as I glanced at him, true to my thoughts, his signature duck face was present on his face. "Probably."

"That includes your Trion body too." I cut in sharply. "And whatever could cause trouble for us in the future, it's important that she knows when the time comes."

He paused for a moment, but got up so quickly after that I decided to ignore it. "…Are you sure you want to tell Chika?"

I nodded, finally wide awake as I lifted myself off of the couch. "Yeah, certain. Chika… Chika's stronger than we know. She deserves to hear the truth, you know?"

He nodded, and we both heard the robotic hum of agreement that came from Yuma's ring.

"I'll tell her then. Maybe we should have some sort of meeting spot, just so we're not overheard."

"A smart idea," Replica commented shortly.

I nodded, getting up to go to my own designated room to change. "You guys can come sleep over at my house today. Mom won't mind, she likes Chika a lot, although you're my friend, so she might bug you a little."

-0-

"Karasuma-san—"

"You can call me Torimaru," Karasuma interrupted politely. "Or Senpai, either is fine."

"Karasuma-senpai," I corrected. "Are there any available logs from previous matches with other teams?" I paused, a flash of the computer Shiori owned going through my mind. "Shiori-san showed us some short clips, but there were somethings I wanted to see in full detail and go over, so I was just wondering…"

He nodded, before opening a nearby drawer and pulling out a USB key, handing it to me casually.

At my astonished expression, he shrugged. "Usami watches a lot of them on her free time, especially clips from her former team. Just return it before the end of the week, alright?"

I nodded excitedly, bowing slightly before jogging to the door to put the drive down by my sweater. "Thank you, Karasuma-senpai!"

"…You seem pumped up," Karasuma commented, staring at me from across the training room.

"Was it that obvious?" I wondered out loud, before shrugging at him with an almost unnoticeable smile. "I've got plans for today."

"Hm," He hummed, before pulling out his Trigger. "Are you ready to start?"

I nodded, pulling out the Meteora Trigger excitedly. "Let's go!"

-0-

"Oh, Shiori," Jin waved to the glasses-wearing girl with a smile. "How're you?"

Shiori waved back excitedly, but her eyes never strayed from the screen in front of her. "Hi, Jin! I'm fine, what about you?"

"Good," He peeked over her shoulder with an easygoing grin. "Whatcha' looking at?"

"Torimaru and Mikumo are training." Shiori pushed up her glasses. "She's doing so well, I'm so proud! It's the power of the glasses!"

"Heh…?" His eyes scanned the screen absentmindedly before his eyes caught sight of Mori, who was running across the room while firing continuous Meteor, and causing the room to strain against the non-stop explosions.

What he saw though, was a flash of the future. Not anything bad, just… surprising, so to say.

"Ooh… I'll have to tell her later." Jin mumbled, waving goodbye to Shiori as he strode out of the room casually, pushing a bit of speed into his steps as he headed over to the training room where Yuma and Konami were training.

-0-

I jumped to the left to dodge a gunshot, just before I ducked down to avoid another one.

I lifted my right leg up, before swinging it back down to stomp and jump away from a bullet that hit the wall a little too close for comfort. The Trion simulated wall shattered and blew up under the force of the bullets, and I shivered in slight fear.

"You're going to have to be quicker than that," Karasuma warned, hefting up the machine-gun like weapon. "Although I didn't expect you to be able to dodge that."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence!" I called back over the wall snarkily.

I soon paid for the act of giving away my position, as I saw 5 more cannon-like bullets soar towards me.

I let out a clipped scream as I spun around the corner of a house, narrowly missing the large explosions that followed.

'If you just kept your damn mouth shut, this wouldn't be an issue!' I scolded myself in my head, jumping and sprinting away from the chaos that was behind me.

"I'm fu— I'm screwed. I'm so totally screwed." I mumbled blankly, rocking back and forth with my arms locked around my knees. "This is how it ends. Shot down by a comrade, murdered by my mentor, without even properly learning how to fight for myself, no better than a defenceless baby dee—"

'Wait. Maybe I can get some help from Usami…?!'

"Usami? Could I please have some assistance?" I whispered curiously into my communicator, crouching down and curling up in a ball behind a wall as the loud echoing of explosions sounded from behind me.

"What do you need?" She replied cheerily. "Also, interesting monologue, heh heh…"

"…Let's set that aside for now," I said embarrassedly, coughing into my palm as another explosion rang out, closer this time. "What can you do to help?"

"I can calculate trajectories, help find escape routes, verify Torimaru's position for you, adjust your Trigger settings manually… That last one is limited though," She listed enthusiastically, and I could imagine her pushing up her glasses proudly.

"Huh, that's pretty cool," I commented casually, trying to keep myself calm as the last explosion burst out from the area right behind my wall. Before I could be blown to kingdom come, I did a front roll and landed on my feet, already jogging away as calmly as I could just as the area where I had just been, joined the rest of the simulated city in ruin.

"It is, isn't it?" Shiori repeated, just before I hear a slightly distant typing from her end. "On another note, I've gotten Torimaru on your Radar, you know how to work that, right?"

"Yeah," I flicked my hand up absentmindedly, the translucent disk popping up with a red dot and a blue dot. Considering the blue dot was the one slowly moving away from the red dot, I could tell it was me.

"It's super vague." I murmured, and I heard Shiori chuckle over the communicator.

"It works." She paused. "I can increase the Radar precision for a few second in exchange for some Trion…?"

"With the training mode, we have infinite Trion, so go ahead." I grinned and formed a Meteora cube over my hand. "Well, I really wanna get a tie at least, so let's get to it."

-0-

"The fourth win is so hard," Yuma whined uncharacteristically, swinging his legs carelessly and sipping on his water obnoxiously with a duck face.

"You're actually not doing too bad, Yuma." Konami sniffed. "You're… pretty decent for a so-so."

"So-so? That's all I am?" Yuma repeated, his legs pausing in their childish swinging. "Hm… I have a lot I have to improve on, then."

"That's right, you still have to get better to get at my level." Konami boasted proudly, holding her hands on her hips with a grin. "No. 3 attacker won't go down that easily, you know!"

Yuma blinked, before nodding. "Oh right, the rankings. I forgot about those for a second there…"

"Speaking of seconds, can I borrow you for a bit, Yuma?"

The two attackers turned their heads to the door questioningly, eyes locking into Jin, who was casually leaning against the door. He stepped over the threshold and into the room, his easygoing smile sliding into place as he waved at Konami pleasantly.

"What do you need?" Yuma questioned, putting his water down on the nearby desk.

Jin lifted up his hand, gesturing to his fingers subtly. "I gotta get Replica-sensei for something, and we need to go check something that I thought you might be interested in."

Yuma stood up off of the bench, brushing the non-existent dust off of his pants. "Did something hap—?"

A loud scream of joy echoed down the hallways, the loud volume cutting Yuma off and causing Konami to nearly topple over ungracefully, but she stabilized herself on the nearby desk at the last moment.

-0-

There was a moment of silence before Yuma leaned over sideways to look past Jin and to the door. He slapped his ear a few times since they popped, and cocked an eyebrow questioningly.

"…What just happened?"

Jin shrugged along with Konami, who had started towards the exit huffily, swinging open the door and stomping down the hall with Jin and Yuma not far behind.

"…Jin?"

The man in question shrugged with an infuriatingly lighthearted grin on his face, just as Konami threw the door open that leads to where the excited shrieking was coming from with a shout.

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?!" She yelled, in a very Konami-like fashion.

The two boys peeked in from behind her, curiously trying to see what was happening in the room to cause all of the joyous screaming.

Shiori was shaking Mori back and forth happily, screaming excitedly. Even the girl being shaken herself was letting out a happy stream of mumbled words that no one could understand quite clearly.

Karasuma was standing off to the side, brushing off imaginary dust from his shoulders, staring at Mori with a small, nearly unnoticeable glimmer of pride in his eyes.

"AAAHHHHHH, THIS IS GREEEAAAT!" Shiori screamed happily, lifting up Mori in her excitement, whose eyes had suddenly widened as Shiori twirled her around in the air.

"Whoa, what happened?" Yuma asked, just as Shiori finally let Mori down, facing the shorter boy with a wide smile.

"Miku finally got a win over Torimaru!" Shiori cheered, grabbing the Neighbour boy by the shoulders happily.

"'Miku'?!" Mori repeated surprisedly, shock causing her to stand up straight with a slight blush.

"She beat Torimaru?!" Konami shrieked, whirling around to face the brunette himself, who shrugged.

"It was a good plan," He muttered helpfully. "I feel a bit proud of how perfectly executed that was, she did well." He patted his student on the head absentmindedly, ignoring her embarrassed babbling.

"It was by pure chance!" She protested in a rush, trying to bat away his hand half-heartedly. "Also, Shiori was helping me out!"

"That I was!" Shiori confirmed with a wide smile. "But you did all of the work! That was amazing, you were so quick!"

Mori waved her hands around wildly, eyes widening further as Shiori complimented her. "I-I-I w-wasn't—!"

"Ah, so that's it!" Shiori cheered, pointing at me in a hyper frenzy. "You're weak to praise, aren't you!?"

The was an elongated pause.

After a moment for that statement to sink in, everyone's heads turned slowly turned towards Mori.

Mori, whose ears were turning bright red as her lips wobbled as she tried to hide her obvious embarrassment as Shiori smiled excitedly at her.

"Oh?" Yuma inquired smugly, breaking the silence.

"You ARE!"

"Am N-NOT!" Mori protested, waving away Shiori's arms weakly as the older teen tried to pat her head.

"Oh hoh?" Jin reached over easily, his height giving him the advantage as he ruffled Mori's hair with a smug expression. "Aren't you?"

"N-no, I'm not!"

"Aw, you're adorable, Miku~!" Shiori cooed, taking advantage of Jin's distraction and swooping in, squeezing Mori's cheeks as they slowly turned red. "You're getting all flustered~"

Konami watched worriedly as the younger female teen slowly turned a bright, flushed red before she became completely still in her mortification. "I-is she ok?"

"Oh, Konami, didn't you know?" Karasuma turned to her with a blank expression. "People can die if they get too embarrassed. It seems we'll have to pay for her funeral."

"EH?!"

"It was a lie, no worries," Jin cut in with a thumbs up, stopping the prank before it could get too far. "But anyway, since you guys are done fighting for now… Could I borrow four-eyes and Yuma?"

"I don't see why not…" Shiori pouted, finally releasing the younger girl. "Well, we need to work together like that again sometime, Miku! You can be super destructive when you really want to, huh?"

"I-I'll think about it, Usami-san." Mori stuttered, pushing up her glasses and attempting to slap away the flush from her cheeks.

"Call me Shiori!" She glasses wearing teen said cheerily, just as Jin led the two other teens towards the door. She only received an embarrassed nod from Mori.

"Ah, you were so red…" Yuma commented teasingly, poking Mori in the cheek as the blush came back with a vengeance. "And… 'Miku'… huh?"

Mori slapped his cold hand away from her face with a scowl. "Shush."

-0-

"So anyways…" Jin trailed off, leading the two teens to the living room, which was currently deserted. "I have something to tell you guys."

"Do you now," Mori commented, still slightly embarrassed from the scene earlier. This was apparent from the way she was still hiding her face in her hands.

"Well, it's more of a thing…" Jin hesitated, and the two younger teens nearly did a double take. "…It's kind of important."

"Hm?" Yuma hummed, wordlessly encouraging for him to go on.

"…I think it'll be easier if I just come right out and say it," Jin finally settled. "Mori has a side effect."

Everyone in the room froze, eyes widening as they stared at Jin, unflinchingly.

"What." Mori finally choked out.

-0-

"We're going off now," I called out, my two teammates beside me.

"Bye~!" Yuma waved a hand across the doorway to Yotaro lazily, and the boy saluted back with a grin.

Chika bowed lightly with a small smile. "I'll be staying over at Mori's house today if you don't mind…"

"Alright, have fun you three!" Shiori cheered, patting Chika on the shoulders. "Don't get into any trouble!"

I snorted quietly, heard only by my two closest friends beside me.

"'Don't get into trouble', she says," I mumbled quietly, and a small chuckle came from my left, and a fondly resigned sigh from my right.

-0-

"Did you guys have something you needed to talk about with me?" Chika worriedly asked once we were out of range of the building. "Did I do something wrong?"

"What?! No, no, no," I reassured quickly, waving my hands around in a panic. "We just wanted to share something with you, and…" I trailed off.

"It's sort of important," Yuma picked up, hands linked around behind the back of his head, and signature duck face present. "We just had something to share… and wanted your input. Since you're our teammate. Also, Jin brought up something outrageous that we need to tell you."

"Oh," Something in her expression calmed, and her soft smile returned as she stared at the ground. "That's good… I was worried something was wrong since you two looked so serious."

"It's kind of wrong…" I mumbled, before hastily correcting myself as her expression morphed into one of panic. "Not too bad! It's just something we need to think about, hopefully, we have some more time to prepare!"

"…Probably not," I heard Yuma mumbled quietly from my other side, and I jabbed him lightly to silently tell him not to worry Chika.

"Subtle, cold hands," I whispered to him, and he flashed me a smug expression for god-knows-what-reason, before changing the subject.

"So anyway, where are we going right now…?" He linked his hands behind his head casually. "I'm just following you two, so I have no clue where we're headed."

"We need to go buy groceries," I muttered, loud enough for the two of them to hear. "Mom told me to go buy something for dinner since we have guests over."

"Ooh, that's exciting. The food here is so good… Like those 'burgers'." Yuma licked his lips with a satisfied expression, and Chika laughed quietly.

"I'm thinking hotpot," I thought out loud, scrolling through my phone to read the texts from my mom. "Maybe we can even buy some ice cream, try out some new snacks since Yuma's around." I slowly turned to Chika. "Are you hungry at all, Chika?"

She paused, before scratching her head with a small tint of pink to her cheeks. "Maybe a little…"

"Snacks it is then," Mori settled, facing back forwards as the for market finally came into view. "There's probably some good stuff around here somewhere."

"There's a good Teriyaki place two blocks down…" Chika recalled softly, nodding towards one of the side roads in the market.

"Ah, you're right," I agreed, ignoring Yuma's confused glances between the two of us. "Or we could go grab Mochi. Isn't there a new sweets place over there that's trying to compete with Kanoya…?"

"Ah, you're right," Chika hummed, walking alongside me. "…We should probably get the groceries last, or they might get ruined while we're walking around with them."

"That's true, that's true…" I sighed. "Well, I'm not too sure about them quite yet, so let's not go there."

"What is this… 'Kanoya'?" Yuma finally interjected, moving so that he was walking in between the two of us.

I gestured vaguely back in the direction where the Tamakoma branch is. "It's the place that Shiori gets the dorayaki from."

When Yuma perked up at the word 'dorayaki', Chika leaned over and gave him a small smile. "It's kind of expensive… but they have lots of other sweets, and it's really good."

"Oh how?" Yuma placed a finger on his chin, an excited sparkle in his eye. "'Kanoya'… huh?"

"Honestly, I prefer savoury food," I muttered, scratching the back of my head absentmindedly. "I like croquettes… or udon. Although I'd never pass up yam tempura…"

"Hm… Tempura?" Yuma repeated, murmuring to himself. "So many new foods… The earth really is amazing…"

"Ah, over there." I grabbed the two shorter teens by their sweaters and jackets, tugging them to the left. There was a fairly average food stand painted with red and white stripes, set up right beside a building under construction. "Taiyaki. C'mon, let's get the food and get out of here."

"Do you not like crowds?" Yuma asked curiously, allowing me to drag him as I pulled them towards the food stand. "Or are you just mad about what happened earlier?"

"Earlier?" Chika inquired politely, tilting her head.

"No, I'm not too mad about that," I admitted quietly. "Jin doesn't know everything, all the time, so it's not like he planned this… It was just so sudden, so I didn't know how to react…"

"Did something happen with Jin-san?" She asked, increasing her pace for a moment so that she could keep up with me.

"No—Well, kind of," I paused, trying to think of the proper words. "He kind of just… sprung something on us. so I don't really know what to do, or how it'll affect me quite yet."

"If anything, it's a good thing," Yuma commented nonchalantly. "We should probably go more in-depth about side-effects for Chika, she might be lost…"

Chika shook her head, turning to speak with Yuma as I walked up to the counter of the stand to order. "Usami-san explained them to me because I have high Trion. I… I think I have one too."

Yuma nodded. "Yeah, Mori kinda figured, once we explained them to her. She's pretty smart in that aspect, huh?"

"Oi, don't go around saying stuff like that." I snuck up behind him, the bag of snacks in one hand as I delivered a swift chop to the head with the other. "We both know I'm the dumbest on the team."

He gratefully took the taiyaki that I held out to him with a pout. "You know, you keep saying that…"

"Mori is sensitive to compliments," Chika commented, and I felt my face burn red for the second time today as Yuma's expression turned smug.

"See?" He gestured to Chika. "Even she knows it."

"Drop it," I hissed embarrassedly, chomping him in the head again as I held out the second taiyaki to Chika. "I am not sensitive."

He whistled innocently. "Alright, alright, if you say so~," He said, before biting deep into the fish pastry. He paused after a moment, chewing and swallowing as he pointed to the taiyaki with a satisfied expression. "You know… this is really good."

"It is," Chika nodded, taking small bites out of the treat. "Thank you for the taiyaki…"

"Oh, right." Yuma nodded to me half-politely. "Thank you for this delicacy…"

I waved them off. "It's just a taiyaki, no big deal."

"It's so tasty…" Yuma mumbled, stuffing his cheeks with the red-bean filled pastry.

"What did Kasumi-san ask you to pick up?" Chika questioned, our pace slowing slightly as I pulled up the texts on my phone.

"Ah… There's ground beef, green onions, salmon… fishballs, and rice noodles. She says she has most of what we need…"

"There's the store over there," Chika directed us towards the nearby building, and Yuma and I followed diligently. "They should have all of that."

"Hm… let's get this over quickly," I mumbled, patting the two of them on the heads absentmindedly. "It's getting kind of late."

I pulled the two of them away, just as Chika flinched under my hand and I heard a loud clatter from behind and upwards from my position.

I turned slightly, eye quirked confusedly. "Huh—?"

The was a blur of grey flying by my eyes and a loud slam, as a large steel beam fell from the sky and to the ground where the three of us were standing, not even a few seconds ago.

I stood stiffly, face paling drastically as everyone in the vicinity stared at our group in shock. Chika's hand had tightened into a fist around the cloth of my jacket, and Yuma was staring at the beam nonchalantly.

My pale face slowly turned upwards, as I glanced at the crane carrying multiple stacks of steel beams, presumably where the one at our feet had fallen from. My eyes widened further, as I saw one of them tip slightly and sway in the air.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," I whispered vehemently, pulling on their shoulders urgently as I stepped backwards.

Yuma sighed, a bead of sweat betraying his false-nonchalance as he allowed me to drag him. "I feel like we're all just bad-luck charms…"

-0-

"Mom… I'm home..."

"Thank you for inviting me…"

I paused, before quietly adding on to my greeting. "…We totally didn't get into any trouble."

I slipped my shoes off at the door, tiredly walking through the hall towards the kitchen in my socks. Yuma and Chika followed not too far behind me, the latter more shy than the former.

"Mom? Where are you?"

"Right here."

Yuma and Chika jumped, frightened as a voice spoke up suddenly from behind them.

I spun around, facing my mother with a slight smile as she stood up straight from behind my two friends.

"…I'm home."

She nodded to me, a nearly unnoticeable smile present on her own visage. "Welcome back."

"…I'll put the groceries away," I offered before she shook her head and took the bags from me.

"Stay with your friends," She replied, stepping past me in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll come to talk to them in a moment."

"Alright," I led the two of them towards the doorway of my own room, waving back to her. "Actually… we need to talk about some stuff first, so could you just call us down for dinner?"

She nodded, before turning the corner to the kitchen, leaving the three teens alone as they stepped towards the door to Mori's own room.

Mori opened the door and let the other two in, shutting the door with a click.

-0-

Yuma stood there awkwardly for a moment, before glancing at Chika. "…So it was her mom that she got the awkwardness from?"

I slapped a palm to my face, groaning as the hand dragged down slowly. "…We're not awkward."

"You two barely communicated…?" Yuma mumbled out loud, pressing a hand to his chin as his legs crossed and he fell to the floor in one fluid movement. "And neither of you guys smiled…"

"It's not like there was much to smile about," I rebutted, collapsing onto my bed with a sigh. "Dear lord, the three of us are just unlucky aren't we…?"

"I'll say," Chika mumbled, seating herself down on the edge of the bed, beside me. "The first time we were together, we were attacked by Border agents, the next time, we nearly get crushed by a steel beam."

"We were fine when we were in the Tamakoma building…" Yuma observed amusedly. "Maybe we just can't go outside altogether."

"Even two of us causes trouble," I groaned. "Yuma and I have gotten into waaaay… too much trouble…"

"Speaking of trouble," Yuma mumbled, poking me in the leg. "We should probably start talking about the thing now…"

I ignored Chika's confused glance, sighing before sitting up. "The out-of-the-blue thing, or the dangerous thing?"

He paused. "Out-of-the-blue thing first…?"

"Alright…" I slid off the side of my bed and onto the floor, gesturing over to Chika. "Let's sit on the floor for this… Well, I guess it all started with…"

-0-

"…I think it'll be easier if I just come right out and say it," Jin finally settled. "Mori has a side effect."

Everyone in the room froze, eyes widening as we stared at Jin, unflinchingly.

"What." I finally choked out.

Jin chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "I know, this is probably really sudden… But it was something I saw when I came to check on you during your match with Kyousuke."

"Actually, observed? Or with your side-effect?" Yuma asked curiously, patting my frozen form on the back reassuringly.

"Eh… Honestly, both." Jin took a seat at one of the nearby couches, gesturing for us two to follow him. "Anyways, I don't want to give away TOO many nitty-gritty details, so I figured Replica-sensei could just check for you two."

My surprise morphed into incredulity. "He can do that?!"

Yuma made a so-so gesture, tilting his hand in both directions. "It can be pretty loosely checked for… but unless its a simple enhancement of the 4 senses, it'll be more difficult to diagnose it." He paused, just as a black blob formed itself from his ring. "Especially if you yourself didn't notice it."

"Indeed." Replica commented. "I can, however, get some more diagnostics from Jin… Due to the fact that he seems to be more aware of this than we are."

"Jin being sneaky isn't really anything new…" I ground out, sitting down tiredly at the nearby single couch. "Ok, how do you do this?"

Replica stuck out his tongue, similar to how the gauge looked for when they checked Chika's Trion level. "Please hold this, while I ask you some questions. I will also be using my previous knowledge to diagnose you so that we have more information."

"Go off, I guess," I mumbled, grabbing onto the wire loosely as a low whirring noise came from Replica. Yuma whistled casually and sat down on the couch next to me and directly across from Jin.

"…Has anything ever seemed off to you?" Replica began.

"Oh, the classic 'did you notice anything'," I grumbled. "No, I didn'—"

I cut myself off with a sudden expression of dawning horror, and Yuma sat up suddenly. "Wait, you did notice something?"

I scratched my head, confusedly. "…There was ONE moment, but I just sort of forgot about it…?"

"How could you for—?"

"It was when Miwa squad attacked, not another word." I grit out, slightly embarrassed for my poor memory.

Jin hummed. "I suppose I can't fault you for forgetting at the moment, a lot was going on at once…"

"There was," I reluctantly agreed. "It was when Miwa-san attacked Yuma, I could see his bullets."

"Oh yeah, that's definitely out of the ordinary," Jin commented with a laugh. "If the lead bullet Trigger wasn't equipped, then it should have been too fast for you to even see, much less in your flesh and blood body."

"That's pretty impressive," Yuma complimented with a small smile to me. "Same with when Yoneya attacked, huh? I heard you try to warn me."

"…Yeah, at that point too." I dragged a hand over my face with a low groan. "Man, I feel so dumb right now… Why does this happen to me?"

"It seems to not be an S-rank, nor an A-rank side-effect then," Replica commented. "The signs are pointed to Enhanced sight, however…?"

"Why would I have glasses if my sight was enhanced...?" I mumbled, voicing Replica's unsaid words. "That's definitely not it."

"But it's something to do with her eyes…" Yuma glanced to Jin for confirmation, who nodded leisurely. "Still, it's something that affects her eyes, which is super helpful in the long run for someone using bullets."

"Ah, I knew the Shooter position was meant for me…" I murmured happily, sinking into my seat. "The sound of explosions is just a bonus…"

"Calm down over there, explosion-happy-four-eyes," Jin grinned, adding more onto the nickname, much to my annoyance. "I'll give you guys a hint… Her side-effect helps with the information flow."

I paused, before sending him a disgruntled glance. "'Information flow'…? What kind of crap hint is that?"

"…It's not as crappy as it seems," Yuma commented after a moment to think. "Something like… 'Enhanced sight-to-brain connection'… or sorts?"

"Of sorts," Jin confirmed with a smug grin. "Pretty cool for our little four-eyes, huh?"

"DO YOU HAVE TO CALL ME 'FOUR-EYES'?!" I finally blew up, standing up straight and out of the chair.

Jin chuckled, before pausing and staring at me straight into the eyes. "You don't know what this means quite yet, but don't kill me, ok? Arashiyama squad was involved too, and it was all completely worth it."

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

-0-

"…And so…" I finished. "Apparently I have a side-effect. That I have no clue how to flippin' use. Yay. Go me."

Chika sat across me in silence for a few seconds, before nodding. "You've… always had unusually quick reflexes. Do you think that was what it was?"

"Wait, you mean when I caught that bookshelf that was about to fall on that little boy from a few years back?" I recalled in a questioning tone. "Oh yeah, now that I'm thinking about it… there've been a ton of instances."

"A bookshelf?" Yuma mumbled, lost for a moment before he shook his head. "So Mori's been stupidly selfless her entire life, huh?"

"I am not!" I protested at the exact moment Chika nodded with a knowing smile.

"She has."

I froze at Chika's words, before slowly turning to her with a betrayed expression. "Chika, you too?"

She giggled slightly, and I sighed in unison with Yuma's cheerful laugh.

"Well, we should probably get to the next topic, before dinner's ready and all," I said, trying to keep my voice as impassive as possible. "To start… Yuma, you should probably explain first."

Yuma sobered up quickly and waited for a few moments to prepare himself before shuffling to face Chika.

"Chika… You know I'm a Neighbour, yeah?"

She nodded hesitantly, slightly worried but the sudden, seemingly out-of-nowhere heavy air.

Yuma hesitated, before opening his mouth. "I'm—"

-0-

There was a long pause, as Chika stared at the ground. Yuma and I were exchanging nervous glances, wondering if this was actually the right choice, to share this with her.

After a few minutes, I finally opened my mouth to speak. "Chika—"

"I'm fine."

My words froze, and my tongue felt like it was glued to the top of my mouth as she finally lifted her head up, staring at the two of us determinedly.

"I'm fine. Actually, I'm so happy… That you two trusted me enough to share this."

"There's no reason why we wouldn't—"

"There is." She cut me off, trying to get her point across. "You two… you guys are so close. I never understood… Mori, you've never been someone to trust someone so easily, to let them into your life, to let them into your personal space, you've always been wary around people… ever since brother left."

My words choked up in my throat, leaving me silent.

"I didn't understand at all, but with no warning, one day you were walking alongside this white-haired boy, who you joked with, messed around with… you were smiling again, to someone who wasn't your mother, or me. And then, you so familiar with everyone at the Tamakoma branch, in such a short time. I didn't know what had changed, why this never happened before… what I did wrong."

I wanted to tell her so badly, that she didn't do anything wrong, it was all my fault, but she had shocked me to silence.

"…But It wasn't that you had changed. It was because Yuma was here, wasn't he?" She paused, nodding to Yuma gratefully. "He was there, and while I don't know exactly what you two consider each other, what your relationship is exactly… I'm so happy. I thought it was something that I couldn't have a place in, something that I should never intrude in. And here you two are, trusting me with important information like this… I can't help but feel happy."

Yuma, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up. "…Chika, I… Even though it's been such a short time, I consider you one of my greatest friends. And… I could never lie, much less about something like that."

Chika nodded, her eyes wobbling. I worried for a brief moment, that she would cry before she shook her head determinedly and looked up at the two of us with fierce determination in her eyes.

"…For putting your trust in me, you two… You'll never regret it. I promise."

And at that moment, I knew I could no longer consider her my 'fragile' sister-like figure. She was my teammate now, she was a fighter, and it was about time I acknowledged it.

"…I know I won't." Yuma finally spoke clearly, turning to the two of us with a proud grin. "The three of us are going to be amazing. Partners."

I nodded, slapping myself in the cheek quickly to snap myself out of my awe. "Partners."

Chika smiled, copying our nods. "…There's one thing I want to ask before we continue," She murmured, facing me with a slight tint of pink on her cheeks.

"Can I call you… 'Big sister'?"

I froze in surprise but seeing a slightly panicked expression take over Chika's expression, I hurriedly reassured her.

"I-I'd really like that!" I said, in just a pitch too high that made Yuma laugh at me as quietly as he could safely manage. "I would really like that… I just w-wasn't expecting something like that just now… C-can I call you… 'Little sister'…?"

Chika smiled at me. "…I'd like that."

"…You two are too adorable," Yuma murmured, and my head whipped around to him as my blush grew larger. "Just too cute… it's amazing that you two weren't already calling each other that before I met you…"

"T-things came up!" I defended, digging my hand into my pocket. "And now that all of that's over, we still have to get to the third part!"

Yuma nodded, and I slipped the USB that Karasuma had given me from my pocket, holding it up in front of me with a slight grin. "I got all of the logs that I could manage from Karasuma-senpai! We can use these to determine how to take down our enemies!"

"Enemies?" Chika repeated, and Yuma turned to explain.

"Not only are more Border agents going to come after us because of me, but we're aiming for the number one spot, so we're bound to end up fighting most of them at some point."

My excited posture immediately drooped. "Did you have to bring that up again?"

He gave me another smug grin, repeating his words from yesterday in a true Yuma-like fashion. "'Only the finest'."

Chika giggled at the two of us, and I sighed wearily. "I think dinner's gonna be ready soon, so let's just… make a list first. We'll go over the video clips and possible strategies afterwards."

"During the actual sleepover part of the night?" Chika filled in for me, and I gave her a proud thumbs up.

"That's my little sis, you're learning well…" I praised her comically, earning another amused chuckle from both her and Yuma.

"What do you even do during a 'sleepover'?" Yuma questioned, not having known due to the bigger part of his life being spent fighting in a war or travelling with only his father and Replica for company.

"Uh…" I hesitated. "I've only ever had sleepovers with Chika and Rinji, so… I don't have too many examples. I guess we just hang out in our pajamas?"

"Sometimes you share snacks, or watch a movie together," Chika listed, always the most helpful out of the three of us. "It really depends on what's most fun for the people…"

I paused, before turning to the two of them. "Do you either of two have a problem with watching logs and strategizing…? I'm pretty sure it can be sort of boring at times…"

"Then we'll have to make it fun," Yuma replied in a matter-of-fact tone, and the simplicity of his answer made me smile. "Besides, it's not just us three."

Chika and I blinked in honest confusion, just before Replica formed in the air beside Yuma.

"Greetings, Chika, Mori."

"Replica!" I patted his robotic form with a content grin. "Now we have the whole group, this is great—!"

I cut myself off, my expression dropping slightly.

"What?" Yuma quirked an eyebrow at me and my loud sigh cut through the air.

"Aw…Replica can't be with us during dinner, with my mom there…"

"It's not an issue," Replica reassured. "I will still be present and can speak with Yuma, unnoticed. And I am free to assist when you are discussing after the meal."

"Oh, that's good," Chika smiled brightly at us. "I was worried there for a minute, it's so nice when all of us are here together, huh?"

I squinted, leaning over to whisper to Yuma. "God, she's too bright."

"Too precious," Yuma agreed easily, eyes shut.

"My visual receptors have stopped functioning," Replica commented, bobbing in the air beside Yuma's head.

"Eh?" Chika blushed slightly, staring at the three of us in surprise.

"Ah, nothing, nothing," I waved casually, grabbing around my desk of a piece of paper and a pencil, bringing down said items to the ground with us. "Alright, so to start…" I wrote down the first name. "Tachikawa Kei… No. 1 attacker, as well as the leader of the No. 1 squad, according to Shiori-san."

"Ah, dangerous, dangerous~" Yuma grinned proudly. "Though Replica and I could probably take him."

"Not without your black Trigger," I commented dully. "Also, Konami-san, according to Shiori-san, is the No. 3 attacker… If you can't beat her with a Border trigger, you have no chance of beating Tachikawa."

"Eh…?" He nodded in begrudging agreement. "I suppose I can't quite yet… But rankings aren't everything, you know."

"That's true," Chika nodded to Yuma's comment. "Usami-san told me that somebody's rank can be lowered as punishment for disobeying orders… So there could be some really skilled people hiding in the lower ranks."

"Good observation, as expected of the great Chika and Yuma," I grinned just slightly. "Well, Tachikawa's also apparently been able to beat Jin when they both had normal Triggers, so let's just go off on a limb and say that he's deserving of his rank… Don't underestimate him, or you'll die."

Yuma whistled. "I won't, I won't~"

"Good," I settled, writing down the next name. "So, also… Kazama Soya. One of the top attackers, rank not yet determined, leader of the No. 3 squad."

"Oh yeah, Shiori didn't specify what rank he was, did she…?" Yuma trailed off with a silent question.

"She did not," I confirmed for everyone in the room. "I'll go off and assume that he's the No. 2, or 4. Since he's gone on the away mission, he's obviously got some serious skill that can't be ignored." I paused with a shudder. "Jesus, Yuma's probably the only one that can go against most of these people…"

Yuma shook his head. "Don't get so down about this, it's not something so easily comparable. Just think of it like this; you two just need to get better so that you can go against these people when it counts."

"Good point," Chika admitted. "But the two of us still have a long way to go before we can fight alongside you."

"Probably," I chuckled slightly, relaxing beside my closest friends and family. "I'll have to work a lot harder then. So, next…"

I scribbled out another name. "She said the amazing shooter guy was 'Izumi Kohei'… right?"

"Yeah," Yuma confirmed. "The guy that was in the most of the shooter Trigger clips she showed us."

"He's definitely someone to be careful of…" I sighed. "Why do we have to fight all these skilled people…?"

"Because we're aiming for the No. 1 spot," Chika replied, so suddenly and so confidently that I froze on the spot before turning to shoot Yuma an accusing glance.

"This is all your fault. I'll never be free of this fate now, we'll be aiming for No. 1 for the rest of our lives now."

Yuma chuckled, causing me to shake my head in exasperation, Chika giggled quietly as Replica let out a robotic sound that might've been a chuckle. "The four of us are all horrible influences on each other." I paused before adding a quick, "Except for Chika."

"Chika's not a bad influence on anyone," Yuma admitted shamelessly. "So, who's next on the list?"

"Well, until we go through the logs that I got from Karasuma-senpai, we aren't going to know most of them…" I scrunched up my face. "We didn't even get to see any snipers. Shit, snipers scare me the most, I wish Shiori told us about them more."

"Why do snipers, of all positions scare you?" Replica asked curiously.

My head whirled over in their direction so quickly that I heard my neck crack ominously. "Dude," I whispered vehemently, eyes darting around as Chika's gaze sharpened. "They have guns that can shoot you from miles away, they're literally out of an average attacker and-or shooter's range, and if they're skilled enough, can still excel at close combat." I shivered, paling drastically. "Snipers are dangerous, man. Jesus— wait, speaking of snipers, we can add Miwa squad to the list…!"

I glanced down at the paper, scribbling out the three names of the squad members. "Miwa Shuuji, Yoneya Yousuke, Narasaka Toru, and Kodera Shohei…" I groaned. "I'm pretty sure they're relatively high ranking since Miwa was standing beside Kido during the meeting, and definitely part of the 'Kido faction' that Jin was talking about…" I paused, before directing my question to my partners. "Do you guys have anything to add? Guesses on their squad ranking maybe?"

"Hm…" Yuma hummed. "In terms of ranking… they're probably top ten, at least. They were good, just like Jin said at the time."

"Based on what you guys told me…" Chika began, unexpectedly speaking up. "Arashiyama squad, the PR squad, is No. 5, right? With Tachikawa squad as No. 1, and Kazama squad as No. 3… in terms of the top ten, that leaves No. 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10."

"Oh, narrowing it down! Good job, sis." I nodded in pride. "But that still leaves a lot…" I paused. "Wait, I think I heard Karasuma-senpai and Jin-san talking about the No. 6 and No. 4 squads being out of town for some missions, or something or other."

Yuma clapped approvingly. "That leaves No. 2, 7, 8, 9, and 10."

Chika and I turned to Yuma and Replica. "What do you guys think…? You guys were the ones that were fighting them."

Yuma let out a long, drawn-out hum as he thought. "Well… This is a loose assumption, but I'd assume 7, or 8."

"Oh?" I inquired.

"From the clips I've seen of the No. 2 attacker, Kazama Soya," Yuma began. "I don't think that Miwa could beat him… Yoneya neither. And there's still the factors of Kazama's teammates, they could be just as dangerous as Kazama himself."

Chika nodded in agreement. "A side-effect or a unique Trigger is a possibility…"

I snapped my fingers multiple times as I tried to recall anything of importance. "Shiori-san did say that A-rank squads have more privilege in terms of Trigger modification, so yeah, that could be dangerous."

"Wait, do you think that Reiji's squad is anywhere on the leaderboard?" Yuma asked casually, Kizaki's first name slipping out his mouth without any trouble. "Cause if so, they'd definitely be the No. 2, to fill in the blank."

I pursed my lips uncertainly. "…Karasuma-senpai's Trigger seemed a little too specialized, even for an A-rank squad… Besides, Tamakoma seems to act as a completely different force than Border at times…"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't allowed to be part of the rankings just because of that," Replica added. "From what I've seen from Yuma's spars with Konami, it seems like her Trigger… has more Neighbour technology than Border would normally allow."

"You don't think Border would like that…? That's a good point." I mumbled. "So let's just assume there's another squad we don't know about, that takes up the No. 2 spot. So that leaves Miwa squad in…"

"No. 7 or 8, just like Yuma assumed." Chika filled in. "Still too high for either of us to deal with."

I groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I know… We can't really deal with any of these people… On the flip side, Shinoda-san seemed against going after you, Yuma, so I think we don't have to worry about Arashiyama squad any time soon."

"Oh, that's good." Yuma's eyes sharpened slightly. "Although I wouldn't have minded beating Kitora."

I turned to him, slightly disturbed. "Why do you even hate her? I don't get what happened between you two…"

Just as Yuma was about to open his mouth, a sharp knock echoed from my doorway.

"Time for dinner."

-0-

"Ooh, what's this?" Yuma asked curiously, stepping into the kitchen in front of me.

"Hotpot," I replied, before turning to my slightly confused mother. "Kuga Yuma, foreign, doesn't know too much about Japan."

"Ah, I see." She nodded to Yuma. "If you have any questions, Kuga, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Oh?" He bowed just slightly. "Thank you for your hospitality…"

"Well, let's go eat…" I pulled out a chair for my friends, giving the two of them a questioning glance. "Do either of you two want anything to drink?"

"Water is fine," Chika shyly replied, and Yuma gave me a carefree wave.

"Same for me."

"Alright," I grabbed four cups from the cupboard, filling all four of them up with water, pulling an ice tray from the freezer to drop a few into my own glass.

"So," I heard my mother begin from the other room, sitting down across from my two friends. "When and how did you meet Mori, Kuga?"

I groaned quietly in slight embarrassment.

Yuma replied quickly. "We're classmates, the teacher told her to help me find my way around… and stuff."

"And stuff," Mom repeated, before nodding as I set down the glasses, sitting down and taking a long gulp of my own water glass. "I see. So are you the reason she's decided to join Border?"

I turned my head to the side sharply and choked, erupting into a coughing fit that made Chika get up and rub my back with a worried expression.

"Maybe," Yuma ignored my suffering. "I personally think it was a decision that Chika made, that convinced Mori. But then again, I can never be sure about what she's thinking."

Mother nodded, also nonchalantly turning away from my choking. "That is true, she seems to run off and do whatever makes the least sense to everyone around her. Can I trust you to keep an eye on her then?"

Yuma nodded certainly, just as I let out one last cough and turned to the two of them with a bewildered expression.

"To the best of my ability."

Mom waited for a moment, scanning his expression before nodding in acceptance. "Good."

Yuma grinned at her cheerfully, before reaching over and grabbing his glass of water as if the previous conversation never existed.

Now that I was confirmed, not going to die, Chika nodded to herself and sat back down as I blinked at everyone in honest confusion.

"…What the hell?!"

Chika giggled, while Mom sent me a disapproving glance for the language.

-0-

I lifted up one finger.

"Ok, I'm going to go shower. You three will not move from this fucking—"

"Language," Replica dryly reprimanded.

"—flippin' spot. You will sit right there, and not move a muscle. Understand me?"

Yuma pouted. "Boring. I'll have nothing to do."

I sent him a sharp glare, before disappearing around the corner.

-0-

"—Aaaaaaaand I'm back!"

I slid down the hall with my socks, coming to a perfect stop right in front of my open bedroom door.

Yuma blinked, sitting cross-legged on my bed. "Wow, you did that in five minutes."

"Alright, no one moved?" I glanced at the three figures suspiciously. "No steel beams fell from the sky? Jin didn't come out of the shadows being a creep, as per usual?"

Chika glanced at me worriedly. "Were you that worried we'd get in trouble…?"

"No Neighbour gates opened nearby? Yuma didn't activate his black Trigger and go running around like a maniac? Nothing—?"

"Nothing happened." Replica blandly intoned, and Yuma let out an amused chuckle. "As much as it seems otherwise, I am capable of making sure Yuma will stay in one spot and not cause trouble."

"…Alright, onto the next matter…" I switched the topic quickly.

"You really have no faith in me?"

Chika gave the Trion soldier an embarrassed smile, and Yuma grinned at him smugly.

"…I see how it is."

"Here's my computer…" I pulled said electronic from where it was plugged in at my desk, keeping it at an arms distance away so the water from my hair didn't drip onto it. "Let's get cracking on these videos, shall we?"

"Oh, your hair is still wet," Chika waited until I had set the computer in front of us, before grabbing my towel and swiftly beginning to dry it for me.

"Whoa, you don't need to!" I protested, trying to stop the towel from moving. "It's fine how it is, I don't need it dried!"

"You'll get a headache if I don't," Chika scolded, and her action of kindness caused me to pause and let her do as she pleased.

Yuma paused, staring at the two of us before sighing. "Shiori was right all along… Chika's the true ace here…"

"I can't even deny it," I chuckled, feeling the towel finally released from my head and drop down to my shoulders, my hair much drier than before. "Chika's just too amazing for us."

"Eh? Oh, no, you two are much better than I am," Chika blushed, patting us on the head. I took the gesture of affection with a small smile, feeling safe in the company of my teammates.

"Enough of the flattery," Yuma joked. "We still have a bunch of clips to watch, don't we?"

"Ah, that's true…" I trailed off. "Lemme grab my list again, for new people to add."

"Here you go," Chika held out the paper to me with a smile, which I took gratefully.

"Alright…" I plugged the USB into the computer port and watched the files upload onto my screen. Clicking on the icon, I scrolled through what seemed like millions of files named various surnames, squad names, random numbered files, etcetera.

"Oh Jesus christ," I whispered, shuffling back slightly so Chika and Yuma could look over from both sides of me to see all of the text. "I don't think we can get through all of this in one night, and I don't know what's important or not."

Yuma whistled. "There's more than I thought."

"I should have been expecting this…" I mumbled dejectedly. "I need to get used to expecting the unexpected, or else I'm going to be a horrible leader…"

"Don't say that," Chika murmured to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You're going to be an amazing leader, that's why we picked you. Because it was what was the best, and the only way we would have gone."

"…What she said." Yuma repeated cheekily.

"Good talk," Replica blandly stated, in such a deadpan tone that I snorted and nearly choked.

"Oh my god, you guys are the best," I chortled, reaching over to begin scrolling. "We should probably get started on the people that we don't have quite yet, right?"

-0-

"Oh, right there," Chika pointed to a small string of numbers beside a typed out 'Kazama_soya', along with a number at the end to differentiate it from all of the others just like it. "I think that means 'rank No. 2', for his solo attackers ranking…"

"Oh, good catch." I complimented as I scribbled out a jot note reading as 'no. 2 attacker' below his name. "There, we can start putting together a proper list now… Oh, here's a video of the No. 2 team, Fuyushima squad."

Yuma pouted as I clicked on the file, waiting for it to load. "So it's true, Konami's team really doesn't count towards the rankings… what a shame."

"They still have solo rankings though, which, I don't know how on earth that works," I groused. "Teamwork is just as important as solo skill, so it's possible that they're even stronger than Tachikawa squad… God, I wish we had a proper list for this that wasn't so flawed…"

"It is a shame since that means they don't participate in any Rank wars…" Chika trailed off. "I sort of wanted to watch them in action."

"It seems like it would be a sight to see," Replica agreed, sinking down in the air to rest on the coffee table beside my computer. "Especially with the unique Triggers, the combinations between the three of them could prove to be interesting."

"It's done loading," I said shortly, watching intently as…

I paused.

"…What is even happening there?" Yuma verbalized for me, carefree expression screwing up as he squinted at the screen.

"…I see some markings… wait, that's their squad symbol." I scratched my head while grumbling. "It looks like some sort of teleporting Trigger, which I didn't know existed. And I think the guy taking out literally everyone is the team sniper… Touma Isami, according to the files."

"He's hitting all of them directly in the head. Dead centre," Chika observed calmly, but there was a hint of worry in her tone. "…He has to be the top sniper, my memory's a bit fuzzy from Yuma's fight against Miwa squad, but… I don't think that either of their snipers were this good."

"There were two, the nervous looking one, and the emotionless guy. Kodera Shohei and Narasaka Toru… I think the latter is more skilled." Yuma rocked back and forth, recalling the details of the battle casually. "He's the one that blew off my arm, I'd say he's one of the top snipers too, but not as good as this guy."

"This guy is aiming with the intent to kill," I said with false cheer, a bead of sweat going down my neck. "Lovely! My greatest nightmare. This guy doesn't even shoot in an annoying way like the other two snipers were doing, every time he shoots…"

"…He's aiming for a kill, and that's nearly always what he gets." Replica finished for me. "If there's someone he doesn't finish off, it's usually because he got greedy and went for two opponents at once. But he always manages to get one, every time."

The video played again, showing a focused sniper shot go clear through the opponents head.

"Ok, but he's not the captain," I commented, gesturing at the file names. "The No. 2 squad is called 'Fuyushima', which means that their captain…"

Yuma nodded. "The one doing all of the fancy traps and teleporting stuff. But that's only two of them, is that even allowed?"

I sighed in aggravation, dragging a hand through my hair. "I hate all of the nitty-gritty details… can't we just aim for a comfortable space in the lower ranks? I don't really want to try so hard, or else people are going to expect decent results from me…"

"Oh c'mon, you know I wouldn't be satisfied with just a low rank," Yuma said cheerily, and Chika gave me an embarrassed smile to show her support for his decision.

I groaned. "Moving on…" I clicked on another video and wrote out a quick 'Touma Isami' and 'Fuyushima Shinji' on the paper. "Kazama squad, the entire team this time."

There was a few flashes on the screen, and as we scanned the clips, I realized that Shiori had saved the most Rank wars and recorded fights for this team.

"…I think they're doing something." Yuma began, snapping me out of my thoughts. "They're super in-sync, it's kind of creepy. And they don't really pay as much attention to what's in front of them…?"

I narrowed my eyes at the clip, searching for something that I couldn't quite yet understand. "I think the guy with the ponytail is the one that's doing most of the work," I mumbled, noticing his laid-back expression… as if he knew what he was doing. "Kazama's without a doubt the most skilled out of all of them, but the ponytail guy is definitely doing something, and I don't know what." I paused. "That kind of pisses me off."

"…I think it's a side effect," Chika commented. "I don't have too much of a concrete reason, but it's just a feeling." She paused, before turning to me with a slight smile. "Big sister always told me to trust my gut feelings."

"Atta' girl," I sent her a thumbs up, before writing down the two names on the files. "Utagawa… Ryo… Kikuchi…hara… Shiro… Possible… side effect…" I capped my pen again. "Ok, got that down—"

"Actually, Mori," Replica began, cutting me off slightly. "I was thinking, have you not considered asking Usami about all of this? She's clearly with more knowledge of HQ than us and is still part of the team. She could provide you with most of the information you lack."

I paused, my mouth shutting promptly as I struggled to word my thought process.

"…You're right, Shiori-san's much more experienced than us… in terms of things like this."

Replica bobbed slightly as if to nod while Chika and Yuma glanced at me curiously.

"She was once a part of HQ, and was the operator for a high ranking squad, and is now being the operator for our own, all because Jin asked her to." I paused. "I don't want to feel like she's dragging us along by the hand, I want… I want to be a good leader for you guys…"

I turned away from them, slightly embarrassed for my reasoning. "Or… something like that…"

"That was pretty cool of you to say, leader," Yuma teased, and I scowled light-heartedly as Chika giggled. "You 'ought to be inspiring like that more often, maybe then people will believe that you're as badass as I know you are."

"I'm not badass," I protested with a chuckle and a blush, reaching over and ruffling his hair playfully. "It's just your eyes going bad, maybe you'll need glasses like me."

"…That would be weird," He admitted before his voice lowered into a thoughtful whisper. "Can Trion bodies even get bad eyesight…?"

"I would think not," Replica reassured fondly. "If there is no growth, I would assume that it would not deteriorate either… also factoring in the Trion regenerating that you possess."

"That's true," He agreed, leaning sideways and onto my shoulder. "Anyways, who's next?"

"Ok, so with the fact that the No. 6 and 4 squads are still out and about, let's forget about them for now…?" I grabbed a pillow from my bed behind me and handed it to Yuma. "I don't think we need to bother with Arashiyama squad and Miwa squad quite yet—"

Yuma lifted up a finger and opened his mouth.

"—Yes, I know, we're aiming for No. 1, so we should watch them anyways, I don't care. I don't want to do this all night."

He shut his mouth and gave me a cheeky grin.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," I threw another pillow at his face. "I'm still trying to figure out how to make sure these people don't attack us before we get you properly registered for Border…"

"Oh yeah, that'll be fun." Yuma's sarcasm was not appreciated. Though at least it made Chika laugh.

"We should probably consider other options, other than simply fighting all of them off until registration day," Replica suggested. "Running away or hiding were some good ideas, but they won't help us to not get turned away at the door either."

"I think Jin-san has something planned for that, but just isn't telling us," I grumbled in an annoyed tone. "There's no way he'd go through all of the trouble to get us to join Tamakoma if there was no way to register Yuma, right?"

Chika nodded with a thoughtful hum. "Jin-san always seems to be prepared for everything."

"This doesn't make sense though," Yuma wondered with a carefree duckface. "They came back the day before yesterday, why haven't they attacked yet? The sooner, the better it would've been for them…"

"And it's not like we can just write it off as them being dumb," I added. "All of the clips we just watched showed most of them to be pretty intelligent in terms of strategy, and there's no way Kido-san would've made it to being the commander of Border is he was a moron."

Chika hummed. "You said that if Yuma joins Tamakoma, the balance would tip, but if Jin-san already has a black Trigger…" She trailed off, and Yuma and I gave her a curious glance.

"You good?"

She blinked, turning back to the two of us in shock. "…If Jin already has a black Trigger… and HQ willingly let Tamakoma have control over it… that's implying that they have a black Trigger of their own."

I froze.

Just before systematically falling backwards, grabbing a pillow, and pressing it to my face as I let out a muffled scream.

Yuma scratched his head in a sheepish manner after I broke the uncomfortable silence. "Man, I can't believe that didn't occur to me earlier… But still, why wouldn't they just send them to deal with me then?"

"Perhaps the black Trigger is too destructive to risk letting loose on Tamakoma," Replica gave his own input. "It would look bad to the public if a black Trigger was responsible for any destruction to the city, and even more so if the destroyed area is a Border's branch office."

"That's true…" I shifted the pillow off of my face and sat up again. "But that leaves HQ with one black Trigger, there's still no way that they'd let Tamakoma get out of this feud with possession of two black Triggers—"

I cut off with a strangled cough as a vivid, clear memory flew through my mind.

"Mori?"

"Oh, that bitch." I choked out.

-0-

Jin chuckled, before pausing and staring at me straight into the eyes. "You don't know what this means quite yet, but don't kill me, ok? Arashiyama squad was involved too, and it was all completely worth it."

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

-0-

"He didn't have fucking Fujin with him when we were talking," I mumbled out loud, my thoughts running through my mind at the speed of lightning. "It's way too precious to him, there's no way he'd just put it down, so he definitely gave it up, since there's no way that HQ would let us have more than one black Trigger. Oh, I'm going to murder hi—!"

My annoyed ramblings were cut off as a black blur was launched at my face, courtesy of Yuma.

I coughed as I fell backwards, my back impacting against the wood floor as Replica rolled over, from where he had slammed into my face.

There was a tense pause.

"…Are you alright now?"

I coughed. "Yeah, one second. Sorry about that."

Replica hovered into the air, setting himself up right before falling back down to rest on the table once again. "Please do not throw me at your friends again, Yuma."

"No promises," I heard the white-haired boy mumbled under his breath, just as I sat up.

I turned to Chika and bowed my head slightly. "I apologize for cursing…"

She waved her hands in a reassuring manner. "It's no problem, it happens all the time. Besides… I'm somewhat disappointed with Jin-san too."

The silence returned, but Yuma was the one to speak up this time. "…Did he really have to?"

"He did it anyway." I sniffed. "So that's why no one attacked, he's already made peace with the higher-ups. I just can't believe that guy…"

"…Do you two want to go to bed?" Chika suggested meekly. "I understand you guys are upset with Jin for giving the Fujin up for your sake when it meant so much to him… but maybe we can keep watching the clips tomorrow."

I thought about it for a moment, sitting up to give her a small, short hug. "Sorry for bothering you, Chika."

"It's no bother at all," She reassured, hugging me even tighter before I could let go. "I'm sorry that this is how it all had to work out…"

"…Let's just prank him when we get back." Yuma suggested with a small smile. "So many pranks, that he just can't predict them all with his side-effect."

"Yeah, that's a nice idea," I admitted quietly. "I promise I won't kick him down the stairs…"

"Good." Chika and Replica spoke in unison.

-0-

A/N -

I'm so thankful for the interest that people have taken in this…! I hope that you all have lovely days, I don't deserve any of the support I've received!

On another note, I'm trying to make weekly updates that are a decent size, and it seems to be falling on a Saturday for the past few chapters… so for as long as I can keep up this schedule, that's something to look forward to!