Swapped In

by iibisori

Things feel pretty hopeless when your life feels like the plot of some anime. (Part of her is thankful that, at least it's a good story.) Mikumo Mori seems to just have the worst of luck, sucks that she was the one swapped in for a main character, huh? (Or is it Osamu's bad luck? Did she inherit it? The curse of the main character?)

5. Best Of Me

(And… Just like Jin said…

The day came, before they knew it.)

-0-

"Oh, by the way, four-eyes!"

"Wha— GAH?! STOP MESSING WITH MY HAIR YOU GODDAMN—!"

"Remember four-eyes, don't let other people bring you down. They've got no right to undermine how good you feel, you feel me?"

"Where the hell is this coming from all of a—?!"

"Also, remember! Nine seconds!"

"WHA—?!"

-0-

January Eighth, official Border enlistment day.

-0-

"Alright… Let's get started."

Yuma gripped his fist excitedly, his lips curling into a grin as the three of us faced forward, all wearing C-rank uniforms.

"Oh god, I can feel the cold, dead hands of anxiety grabbing and strangling me," I muttered, half serious and half joking.

"But I'm not touching you," Yuma joked lightheartedly, lifting up both gloved hands, causing me to let out a quiet snort.

"The two of you are going to do amazing," Chika reassured me, reaching up with an arm to pat my head. I bent over compliantly, allowing my pseudo-sister to ruffle my hair lightly. "There's no reason to be worried, you guys are going to get the highest scores… I can feel it. You've been working very hard."

Yuma nodded and stepped closer to the two of us as she reached up with her other hand to pat his own fluffy hair. "You've been practising nonstop with the shooter triggers ever since Shiori showed us." He lifted a hand to stick his gloved thumb up. "C'mon, have some faith in yourself."

I sighed heavily, thumping my fist against my chest a few times. "Yeah. I got to just calm down…" I trailed off, before turning to my two faithful teammates. "Thanks, guys."

The two of them gave me reassuring smiles. "No problem."

"And no one ruined my hair today," I chuckled. "I should be feeling better than usual, not going around moping like a wimp!"

Chika laughed softly. "Jin-san, Konami-san, and Karasuma-san seem to be making a habit of it, aren't they?"

"I'll say," I huffed, memories of the two males ruffling my hair, or Konami giving me a fond noogie literally every day going through my mind. "I seriously have a permanent messy bun all because of those three…"

"You're hair is getting longer…" Yuma observed quietly, circling around behind me to get a closer look at my long hair, messily wrapped up and tied into a bun at the back of my head. "You could pass off as Shiori's sibling like this…"

"You think so?" I repeated curiously, twirling a stray piece of hair in my hand. "I didn't even think of that, really… But I've already got a sister." I joked at the end, patting Chika on the shoulder gently.

"Ok, but honestly, what's the plan for today?" Yuma began with a slight smile before it slowly morphed into a smirk as he went on. "Should we just blast everyone out of the water? Maybe a few months ago, when you first stole the C-rank Trigger, you miiiiight've not passed this—"

"Gee, thanks." I dryly muttered, trying to hide my grin at his playful jab.

"—You had no battle experience, sorry about that. So are we just going to beat everyone else, aim for a high score?" He smirked at me. "After all, there's no way that somebody that can beat Torimaru every once in a while, would lose at a simple enlistment test."

I took a deep breath. "I'm… probably gonna hang back. I don't want to draw too much attention to myself too quickly."

He pouted. "That's boring though. You should just take the second top spot, then no one's going to go around underestimating you."

"I don't want people to think I'm strong, either," I protested weakly. "Or else they'll be let down when the inevitable fuck-up comes around to drop-kick me down the street."

"There will be no fuck-up." He reassured me. "Chika and I'll make sure of it, you don't need to worry about letting people down."

Chika nodded in unison, and I let out a deep sigh.

"I don't deserve you two," I chuckled. "That doesn't mean that I'm going to for a high score, but thanks, that means a lot to me."

"I'm Border HQ Director, Shinoda Masafumi. We welcome your enlistment," A loud, amplified voice interrupted our discussion. "Today you become C-rank agents, in other words, trainees. The future of Mikado city rests on your shoulders."

"Oh god, this is unexpectedly deep," Yuma whispered to me, and I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing.

"What were you expecting?" I said lowly, smothering a laugh under my breath. "'Here's a bunch of Neighbour-inspired weapons, go off I guess'?" I asked rhetorically.

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard a small giggle from Chika's direction.

"Maybe," Yuma joked back. "Maybe add on a little tidbit like, 'and don't forget to kill all of the Neighbours, but be back home before dinner!'… or something like that." I covered my mouth and fought against the urge to laugh with a vengeance, trying to listen to Shinoda's speech properly.

"—it from me. Arashiyama squad will explain the rest."

'Ah, we missed it,' I noted in my head, although the amusement from our little scene was not quite gone yet.

The focus of everyone in the room abruptly shifted, as their heads turned towards the group of four standing proudly at the bottom of the stage.

"Ooh, they're so popular," Yuma observed, the three of us being drowned out by the impressed murmuring from the crowd.

"So, we'll begin orientation. Let's split up by position," Arashiyama spoke up cheerfully, easily grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. "People who want to be gunners or attackers, stay here. People aiming to be snipers, follow Satori to the training hall." He gestured to said male before the group of soon-to-be C-ranks split up as instructed.

I turned to Chika. "You'll be fine, but if anyone bothers you…"

She nodded reassuringly. "Kick them where it hurts, or get help from the closest responsible person."

I nodded with a smirk and a thumbs up as Yuma winced, pleasant smile not fading. "…You're a bad influence on Chika, Mori…"

Chika skipped off towards Satori, and I wiped a fake tear away from my eye. "I know. Isn't it great?"

He paled slightly, duckface in place with his arms crossed. "More like terrifying… The rest of my team is scary."

"Hi, I'm Arashiyama Jun, in charge of the attackers and gunners." The male at the front of the room spoke up clearly, face calm and composed. "First off, congratulations on your enlistment."

As his eyes met Yuma and mine across the room, I gave him a nearly unnoticeable smile along with a thumbs up, while Yuma waved to him with a grin.

"Like director Shinoda said, you're trainees for now. Until you're promoted to B-rank, you can't be placed on duty. So how can you become official agents? We'd like to explain that first, so look at the back of your left hand."

I flipped my arm over, staring at the innocent '1,000' marked there.

"The Trigger holder you all have now contains one combat Trigger that you chose. That number on your hand shows how much mastery you've demonstrated over that Trigger. To be promoted to B-rank, you need to bring that number up to 4,000. Most people will start with 1,000, except in cases where you showed aptitude during provisional enlistment, and have points added already. Naturally, more will be expected of you, strive to deliver your best."

I scowled at the flat number. 'They probably docked any points that I could have gotten since I did take their Trigger… Damn, this is gonna need some work.'

"There are two ways to earn points. Get good marks in the group training sessions twice a week, or fight over points in the Rank wars. We'll have you get a taste of training first, follow me."

-0-

"Mikumo."

I jumped instinctively at the sharp voice, spinning around frantically.

"Kitora-san," I greeted as calmly as I could.

"So you are trying out for Border," She rhetorically muttered, stepping beside me. "Even after all of the fuss you put up, stating that there was no way it would ever happen."

I slumped slightly, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Well, uh, things change, you know?"

"Hey, Kitora." Yuma smoothly interrupted, stepping in between us two with a casually raised hand. "Been a while," He opened his eye slightly and gave her a small grin. "I'm in Border now, so I'll be seeing you around."

His tone was slightly icy, and I felt tense being around the two of them as Kitora's eyes narrowed challengingly.

"Ah, guys…? We should probably get going..."

In perfect sync, they broke off the intense staring, walking on either side of me as I awkwardly started towards the doors, lagging behind the main group by a substantial amount.

"So, I need to get to B-rank as soon as possible," Yuma began conversationally, voice losing some of its original disdain as I breathed a sigh of relief. "Got any advice?"

"Easy." Kitora turned her dark eyes to him, and I shivered as they passed over me. (Oh, why did they let me walk in between them, this is the fucking worst—) "Get perfect scores in training, and keep winning Rank wars."

"Ah, simple to understand," Yuma nodded sagely, his laid-back expression making it seem more comical that it was probably meant to. "Good."

"Here we are, the first training exercise," Arashiyama stated, finally coming to a halt the large door at the front of the crowd. "Is combat against a Neighbour. In this simulation mode, you will fight Neighbours recreated from Border's accumulated data."

"Oh, that's easy," I muttered, quiet enough so that Kitora wouldn't hear me. "That's all? Really?"

"I guess they don't want to turn too many people away at the door," Yuma commented. "Some people aren't good at first, but can turn out to be the strongest of warriors after a decent environment… Sort of like you. Your reflexes were good, but you flinched a lot and had too little combat experience, so it only seemed like you didn't have any talent when you actually did."

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense," I hummed shortly. "And vice-versa, right? There could be some supposed prodigies in here that turn out to be duds."

"Probably." His red eyes flickered over to the three boys that were bugging him earlier, and I stifled a snort. "…They don't seem like much, for how over-confident they are."

"Some of you have been here already," Arashiyama spoke out, gesturing over to an observation-like box as he instructed the trainees. "You won't run out of Trion or get hurt in simulation mode, so feel free to go all out. What you'll be fighting is a beginner level opponent. You've all seen this type of large Neighbour, although it's been made a bit smaller for training. It doesn't attack, but it has thick armour."

"Wait, the actual Neighbour, or the simulated one?" I whispered confusedly, ignoring Kitora's scolding glance for talking during a speech. "Cause the actual one totally attacked, I almost died."

"You get five minutes each, the faster you beat it, the more points earned. If you feel confident, go for a high score," Arashiyama smiled. "That's all, each room can begin!"

-0-

"Under a minute is good for your first try," Kitora spoke, her neutral voice unexpectedly sharp. "I suppose you'll be going soon, hm?"

I weakly nodded. "I guess."

"What time do you think you'll get?" She asked, not sounding all that curious even though she asked. Probably thinks of me like some sort of bother. "The C-rank Trigger from back then was a Scorpion, did you stick with that same Trigger?"

"…No, I got recommended to be a shooter," I replied, the feeling of nervousness not going any from as long as I was around her. The small comfort of a mini-Replica in my pocket didn't fill the hole that Yuma's absence created.

"…So I suppose you have adequate Trion levels?" She scoffed. "Don't you dare think that they'll get you very far in Rank battles, you'll fall easily if you get over-confident, especially because of something as minor as Trion amount. What really matters is how you use it."

"I won't get over-confident," I promised, trying to end the conversation.

"ROOM TWO, COMPLETE. TIME: 58 SECONDS."

The two of us paused and glanced over, watching one of the overconfident boys from before walking out of the training chamber nonchalantly as he swiped a hand over his hair.

"Wow, less than a minute!"

"That's amazing!"

"58 seconds," Kitora nodded. "Pretty good."

"Oh, Yuma's starting," I commented, turning to the side to watch my white-haired friend leave everyone in the dust. "I've gotta see this."

"ROOM 5, READY."

Yuma twisted his arm around, and I allowed a fond grin to cover my expression as I watched everyone's heads turn in unison towards the room.

"BEGIN!"

"Yeah…"

The Neighbour's head split.

"You really can't compare to him, can you?" I whispered into the empty air, listening as the entire area went dead silent.

-0-

"…Uh…. 0.6 SECONDS?!"

"WHA—"

"WHO IS THIS GUY?!"

"Hey, MORI!" Yuma waved to me across the room nonchalantly, and I ignored the familiar sixth sense as over half the people in the room spun around to stare at us two in complete shock. "DID I GET A PERFECT SCORE?"

I cupped my hand over my mouth, yelling as loud as I dared with the heavy silence. "I think you need to do a little bit better than that!"

"Really?" He grinned before turning back around to face the observation box, which I now knew had the people overseeing the enlistment. "ONE MORE!"

"Please," I whispered to Replica, who dutifully sent the message over to Yuma.

"—PLEASE!"

Another slam, the Neighbour's head split open once again. I was tempted to comment on the obvious taunting, as he made the cut even deeper this time and flashed me a cheeky grin mid-air.

"TIME : 0.4 SECONDS?!"

"EVEN FASTER?!"

"You're amazing!"

"Who are you?!"

"That's Yuma for you," I mumbled fondly, and I felt a robotic hum from my pocket that made me chuckle. With my mood successfully brought back up, I was about to jog over to my teammate and go take my own test, but…

"Now it all makes sense…!"

"Huh?" I turned to Kitora questioningly, and she spun around to face me with an expression of dawning realization.

"When those Neighbours attacked your school…"

There was a sliver of satisfaction in her eyes, and I felt as if cold water had been dumped back down my back.

"He's the one who dealt with them, wasn't he?"

I froze, my lips parted slightly in pure shock. Kitora must have taken my silence as confirmation, as she grinned victoriously.

"I knew it! So that's how it is, I knew someone like you couldn't pull off such a feat!"

-0-

"Oh, by the way, four-eyes!"

"Wha— GAH?! STOP MESSING WITH MY HAIR YOU GODDAMN—!"

"Remember four-eyes, don't let other people bring you down. They've got no right to undermine how good you feel, you feel me?"

"Where the hell is this coming from all of a—?!"

"Also, remember! Nine seconds!"

"WHA—?!"

-0-

"Ah, Mori, did'ja see me?" Yuma waved to his partner, casually walking up with a carefree expression.

He paused in front of the duo, however, sensing the slightly heavy air as Kitora smirked proudly at Mori.

"Eh? Did something happen…?" His eyes sharpened, unnoticed by both females as he glared lightly at Kitora.

"I just put it together," The A-rank proudly stated. "You were the one that took down the Neighbours at the school. I knew that this wannabe couldn't manage something so skilled, right?"

Yuma paused, before slowly turning to the higher ranked opponent. "You—"

Mori cut him off by setting a hand on his shoulder. "Yuma."

He paused, barely moving as he twisted his head back to his partner. However, he barely hesitated, even when he caught a glimpse of her cold eyes.

(—why am I letting something so small get me down like this—)

"I'll be right back, don't cause any trouble." She murmured, the two of them ignoring Kitora's confused glance as she walked away, stepping towards a nearby training room.

Yuma stood still for a moment, before turning to Kitora as nonchalantly as he could manage without giving away how much he wanted to challenge her to a Rank battle outright, just to show her not to mess with his captain.

(—The two of them know though, Yuma's different. While Mori's anger is a flame, lashing out and flickering wildly, ready to be put out or grow larger at any moment, Yuma's anger is ice. He waits, stews in his rage silently, freezing his enemies so painfully that it burns—)

"…Wow, you really don't understand anything about her, do you?"

Kitora spun around to face him indignantly. "Excuse me? What is there to—?"

"Ah, Yuma."

Kitora froze, and Yuma leaned over to the side to see around her.

"Torimaru." Yuma gave him a slight smile and waved pleasantly, receiving a good-natured wave back.

"Karasuma!" Kitora greeted in a panic. "I-it's nice to see you again! You haven't been in the Rank wars at all lately—!"

"Ah, where's Mori?" Karasuma asked curiously. "I came to see how she'd do, and visit a couple people around Border…"

Kitora froze at being brushed off, and Yuma pointed over towards one of the training rooms that were waiting to begin. "She's going to start soon… You came just in time."

Karasuma nodded, before giving the Neighbour boy a curious stare. "…You seem agitated."

"Oh, nothing," Yuma waved off, before sending a sharp glance to Kitora that absolutely neither of them missed. "Somebody just pissed me off, that's all."

"ROOM 3, READY."

All three of them turned towards the room Mori was in, watching her stand completely still in front of the Trion simulated Neighbour.

"She's not happy." Yuma murmured.

"BEGIN!"

As soon as the countdown finished, Mori had appeared behind the Neighbour in a flash, unseen by all of the C-ranks, bar Yuma, who only smirked.

Mori's eyes opened, and she sent one more bullet, that had formed in her hand, over behind her and below the Neighbour.

Below it, where a few dozen other cubes had been set and laid down where the armour of the monster was thickest.

"Meteora."

There was a bright flash from underneath the Neighbour, just before it blew up.

-0-

"T-TIME…. 3 SECONDS…!"

I stepped out of the training room.

"A-ANOTHER ONE?!"

I ignored all of the awed whispers coming from around, striding across the room, straight towards my teammate, Kitora, and my teacher.

I ignored the former and the latter for the moment, however, and stood up straight as I stared Kitora right into her purple, wide eyes.

"Hi," I began clearly. "I'm the wannabe. Nice to meet you."

-0-

After I realized that she was so shocked she wouldn't currently move, I nodded in a satisfied manner, before turning to Yuma with a small scowl. He only chuckled at me, drama successfully forgotten.

"I thought you said you were gonna go for a low score…?"

I scowled even further, which he had a good laugh at. "Y'know that was the plan, but…"

"What was it you said to Shiori…?" He trailed off with a smirk. "'Sometimes when provoked'… was it?"

"Shut it." I hissed lowly, taking slight amusement as I jabbed him in the side. Of course, he didn't feel a thing but fell backwards in a dramatic fashion regardless. I let out a snort at how mature we must've looked, just before Karasuma stepped up behind me.

"Mori," He patted me on the head, not ruining my hair more than it already was, messy bun holding strong against the abuse. "Good score. I'm proud."

"Aw, you didn't need to watch Karasuma-senpai…" I muttered. "I'm kind of embarrassed for how I got upset so easily."

"I would've done it if you didn't…" Yuma muttered, only heard by me because of Replica relaying the information, causing me to stifle a snort.

"K-Karasuma'-senpai'?!" Kitora finally unfroze, repeating my words incredulously.

"Ah, right," Karasuma pointed toward me with his thumb, pausing in the action to ruffle my hair. "Mori's my pupil. Since you two are the same age, maybe you can give her a few pointers here and there."

"Y-you mean—!" She stuttered uncharacteristically. "You coach her one-on-one?!"

"Pretty much," Karasuma confirmed, and flashes of him chasing me around with a Trigger enhanced blade or machine gun flashed through my mind, causing me to shiver.

"Something like that," I mumbled weakly, and Yuma, little shit that he is, laughed at me. I refrained from kicking him in the back of the legs, it gets tiring after a while.

"You've been making some pretty good progress though," Karasuma complimented, and I scratched the back of my head, although I could feel the cold hands of imminent doom creeping along my back, for god-knows-what-reason.

-0-

"Fine… so it wasn't a fluke…"

Yuma and I turned curiously, eyes meeting the pitiful sight of the three overconfident boys reaching their hand towards the two of us.

"You two, team up with us. The girl can work as the operator, since we already have us three, and it's only natural… to pick the best four attacks to put on the team. But when the talented work together, they can reach even greater heights."

I scowled at them, while Yuma remained blank faced.

"Uh, no thanks."

"Get lost," I growled menacingly, taking slight amusement as the three of them paled at my expression before scrambling away.

"…Wow, pathetic." Yuma commented shortly. "I would never join a team with people like that."

Arashiyama chuckled. "You're teaming up with Mikumo, huh?"

"Yyyyyyyep." Yuma stretched out his words, and I poked him in the back of the head.

"By the way, Mikumo… You really went for it, didn't you?" Arashiyama asked me, and I blinked.

"Huh?"

He laughed lightly, although not meanly. "You set up the Meteora on the underside of the Neighbour. That's where the thickest of the armour is."

"Oh, right. I forgot that I had aimed for the strongest part," I shrugged. "It was the only way I could think of how to use…" 'My side effect', I heard Jin's voice echo in my head, and in a fit of defiance and aversion to sound even remotely like him— "…my Trigger. Yeah, I just wanted to cause a big scene."

'…It's not a very good side-effect anyway. It'll just bring more attention to me that I don't care for, and it's not particularly high ranking either. People like Jin sure have it easy.'

"Oh, so that's how it is."

I jumped suddenly, the three of us spinning around to face the speaker, standing by the seats on a slightly higher level.

I paled at the sight of the person.

Arashiyama waved cheerily, if with albeit of confusion.

"Kikuchihara!"

The male himself stared at me, eyes narrowing in slight disdain. "Arashiyama. Open up a training room, would you?"

His two teammates stood behind him, blinking in honest confusion as they leaned against the railing. "…Kikuchihara…?"

He flicked out his Trigger. "This is something I want to see for myself… Or if she really is a coward."

"Mikumo?" Arashiyama confirmed. "She's just a C-rank, she's still only using a trainee Trigger!"

He narrowed his eyes at the No. 5 captain. "What I'm doing has nothing to do with the Trigger. Besides along as she consents, it's not like rank matters. I don't care about points."

I blinked, slightly panicking.

Yuma poked me in the side, using Replica to speak directly into my ear. "Oi, are you ok?"

I blinked blankly again, hearing fuzzing slightly to drown out all of the other outside arguments. "I think I'm going to be sick."

He frowned at me. "You don't need to accept if you don't want to."

"That would be embarrassing though. Everyone would think I'm a coward, literally everyone in the room is listening for my answer, and I still don't know why he challenged me, instead of you…"

He fired back a response without hesitation. "You didn't care about how weak everyone viewed you as before you completely aced the training exercise."

"… Still."

"Alright, it's your decision. Just don't regret it later."

I took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose before opening my eyes and facing Kikuchihara.

"Sure… I guess I accept…?"

I ignored the shocked glances from Arashiyama, Kitora, and Karasuma.

-0-

"This is the worst decision I've ever made," I mumbled in horror as I watched Tokieda, thankfully, clear out all of the C-ranks and escort them out of the room. "I'm already regretting this."

"Can I watch?" Yuma asked Arashiyama nonchalantly, his expression generally uncaring.

The man nodded agreeably, perfect smile in place. "Of course."

Karasuma hummed from where he had stepped up beside me. "I don't think you can get more wins than him."

"Probably," I murmured. "I wasn't really planning on it either."

"Don't underestimate him." He warned, and I nodded.

"You don't need to tell me."

"…Don't push yourself, either." He added quickly, turning away to sit beside Kitora and Yuma before I could say another word, leaving me to blink confusedly at his back.

-0-

"BEGIN MOCK BATTLE."

"I wish people wouldn't make such a big deal of this…" Kikuchihara scoffed slightly. "After all, I just need to see something for myself."

I tilted my head, not mockingly, but curiously. "Does this have anything to do with Yuma being a Neighbour? And how HQ can't get his Trigger anymore?"

His eyes sharpened. To everyone else outside of the training room, it must have looked like a simple conversation. "So you are aware. Seems like you're not as dumb as HQ thinks you are, all of the A-ranks seem to think that your entire team is ignorant to the mission to retrieve the black Trigger."

"We're not as ignorant as people wish we were," I commented shortly. "It was easy to put the pieces together, especially with someone irritating like Jin pulling the strings to go however he likes."

"Jin." Kikuchihara scowled. "Don't even remind me of that guy, he's so annoying. Besides… he has nothing to do with this."

He disappeared in a flash, and I barely had enough time to jump back from the blurry outline, just before he reappeared in an instant, first Scorpion blade missing, while the second pierced through my throat in a flash.

"RELAY SYSTEM SEVERED. MIKUMO DOWN."

My Trion body reformed in a flash, and I curiously tapped my throat as Kikuchihara stepped back again. "Huh. So that's how it works."

He scowled at me, irritation leaking into his expression. "You did it again."

"Hm?" I glanced up at him, lowering my hand from where it was tapping my neck curiously. "Did what?"

Without a word, the Chameleon activated once more, and he leapt around me, aiming to attack from the back. The faded outline was nearly too quick to see on its own, but I ducked just in time to avoid a now-visible Scorpion blade.

I front-rolled and jumped away from my position, leaving behind a trail of small Meteor that blew up the area, but…

A thin Scorpion blade lashed out front the smoke cloud, slicing across my torso and causing Trion to bleed out instantly.

"TRION SUPPLY SYSTEM DESTROYED. MIKUMO DOWN."

The Trion body reformed again, but this time, Kikuchihara didn't give me time to recover, jumping at me with his Scorpion ready to strike.

I cursed under my breath and sidestepped, backing away as I glanced around cautiously.

'He activated Chameleon as soon as I took my eyes off of him… geez, it's hard to see the outline if I didn't keep my eyes on him from the start.'

My eyes caught the smallest hint of movement from my left, and I jumped away just as a blade sliced just where my neck had been a moment ago.

The Chameleon faded, and I threw around a few more bullets to send towards him.

He clicked his tongue and easily dodged all of the explosives as he quickly made his way to me.

Just as he came into range, and aimed his blade to pierce through the centre of my head, I lifted up my own hand and spread out my fingers in front of his face, a solid cube of Meteor forming in the centre.

His eyes widened, and he brought his Scorpion with twice the speed, cutting my head in half just as the bullets exploded.

"RELAY SYSTEM DESTROYED. MIKUMO DOWN."

My Trion body fixed itself just as quick as usual, and I hurriedly glanced up to see his own wounds regenerating, the large hole in his shoulder(I missed. Jeez, A-ranks are so fucking quick—) healing without a trace. He glanced down at where the Trion had been leaking from with a contemplating expression just before his blank eyes shifted over to me.

"…So it wasn't just my imagination."

"What are you even talking about?" I finally asked, politeness fading as confusion took over.

"It's not that often I find something similar, much less something when the person's actually aware of it," His voice was low but clear for me to hear in the silent training room. "But then I hear you pretending it doesn't exist right to Arashiyama's face. What are you afraid of?"

"Afraid…?" I repeated, eyebrow quirking. "I'm afraid of a lot of things, but where are you going with this?"

He scowled fist tightening around the Scorpion in his hand. "Don't act dumb."

"You have a side-effect, don't you?"

There was a long pause, in which I slowly stood up from where I had been kneeling on the floor.

"…Maybe. Though I don't think you'd enter a mock battle with a C-rank… just to verify that."

He flipped the blade around in his grip. "It was pretty clear from the start. You could figure out where the thickest parts of the Neighbour's armour was without much issue, and you have this look on your face…"

His eyes sharpened. "Like you're looking for something that can't be seen… by normal people."

I hummed in agreement, ignoring the feeling of confusion coming from all of the spectators, unable to hear our conversation.

"Jin gets a similar expression to that… but in a way, it just makes me so much more irritated." Kikuchihara paused. "His side-effect is useful, everyone says. But no one says anything good about the general enhancing side-effects, is that what you're afraid of?"

"…Not quite," I mumbled, readying more bullets for everyone to see in plain sight.

'There's no point in hiding them, he's more more observant than he seems.'

I tried to smile, but it felt like more of a grimace. Probably looked like it too. "I just… don't want people to expect things from me. Probably should've thought twice before joining the team with the Neighbour on it then, huh?"

He let out a huff that I thought might've been out of amusement, and raised his blades. "Probably."

We charged at each other again, and I ducked under a swing of his right blade, aiming one Meteora bullet at his head, which he dodged. I avoided another Scorpion that I recognized coming out of the corner of my eye, but I was a bit too slow as it nicked my cheek.

"You're terrible at using your side-effect," He mumbled. "It's obvious that you're a novice, when did you find out about it?"

"A few weeks ago, I think—" I replied, dodging another blade that came a little too close to stabbing my Trion supply system. "I haven't gone around telling everyone, so I really don't know where to start with training it on my own."

"You're also not too smart in the strategy department," He commented offhandedly, a Scorpion blade appearing out of the side of his arm as he sliced past my torso.

"TRION SUPPLY SYSTEM DESTROYED. MIKUMO DOWN."

"It's kind of a hit-or-miss," I added, feeling the wound revert, and jumped back just as the Meteora that I stuck to his sword blew up, combining with the other bullets that I had been letting float around in the air around us. The explosion made a chain reaction that caused a loud and satisfying 'BOOM' to whistle through the air.

My eyes widened, as within the smoke, I saw a black cloud that I could only ever associate with Trion.

"TRION SUPPLY SYSTEM DESTROYED. KIKUCHIHARA DOWN."

"Oh, I didn't expect that to actually work," I commented loud enough for him to hear, just as he stepped out of the dust cloud with a scowl. "But also, I didn't think I was that bad at using my side-effect."

"You're shit." He bluntly commented. "Side-Effects like ours are flexible, in the way that they are enhancing something we already have. And everything a human has possesses more than one use. Jin can see the future, it's impressive… but it's only limited to one application."

"The ears aren't just used to hear, they're also used to pick up vibrations, and keep our balance. Now, what would happen if you enhance that?"

He tapped a finger against his ear, and I pushed up my glasses as a silent reply.

"Eyes… interpret light," I recalled, trying to remember anything from the classes at school. "It's not just picking out shapes and colours, it's taking in light, controls a large part of your flinching reflex, and see dimensions."

"Eyes see a lot more than we think," He flicked out a Scorpion, and I reacted a little too slow as it pierced through my shoulder. The wound leaked black Trion like mad, and I was worried for a moment I would have to tally up another loss. "It's a matter of how long the brain takes to process it, which seems to be what's enhanced for your side-effect. Pretty useful, if only you could use it better."

"Harsh," I whispered under my breath, before realizing he could probably hear it. "Do you have any advice for me, Kikuchihara-san?"

He narrowed his eyes at me again, charging while the Chameleon slowly hid him from view. "Stop being pathetic."

I let out a slightly startled laugh, just before I readied another set of Meteora to blow up at any moment.

"I suppose that's not a bad place to start!"

-0-

"So… the difference between shooters and gunners…"

"I don't think we need to make any changes."

"…You really don't think so? I don't think—!"

"Don't sell yourself short. With how good your reflexes and instincts are, I think you'll do fine as a shooter. Besides, I think you have a lot of potential with the Trigger settings. You don't need to switch over."

"…Thank you, Karasuma-senpai!"

"…Just don't forget, you can't charge in recklessly all the time. Shooters and gunners are positions that require you to think. If you do it thoughtlessly, it won't be as effective."

-0-

"MOCK BATTLE OVER!"

I took a deep breath, stepping outside of the training room, pulling my glasses off as my vision blurred slightly.

"MIKUMO MORI. 2 WINS, 17 LOSSES, 1 DRAW."

Kikuchihara pulled his hair out of the ponytail, expression blank as he walked just a few steps ahead of me.

"KIKUCHIHARA SHIRO. 17 WINS, 2 LOSSES, 1 DRAW."

"Mori," Yuma greeted with an unexpected smile as he raised a hand. "You didn't do too bad."

"I… didn't…?" I grinned, slapping his hand shakily as my legs staggered slightly, but barely noticeable to anyone too far away. "I didn't do too bad…?"

"Yeah, you did alright," Yuma commented, releasing my hand and placing both of his own on both sides of his hip proudly. "Man, me and Chika really did pick a good person to follow, huh?"

"Maybe, maybe not..."

Karasuma stepped down slowly fromt he stairs. "Kikuchihara. Thanks for taking time to spar with my pupil."

Kikuchihara scoffed, turning off his Trigger with a scowl. "I didn't challenge her because of you."

Arashiyama and Kitora walked up to Yuma and I, the former more happy while the latter was bewildered.

"That was a good match, Mikumo!" Arashiayama complimented, patting me on the head gently as if I were a younger sibling he was proud of. "You did well against Kikuchiahara, maybe it'll be more even when you get a proper B-rank Trigger!"

I noticed idly when he took his hand away, that my hair was barely messed up.

"That was… impressive." Kitora added on hesitantly. "But only for a C-rank! Any B-rank would have been able to do that, you're nothing special."

"Oh, so any old B-rank would've been able to get a win out of me?"

Kitora jumped in fright, just as she whirled around to see Kikuchihara step up behind me, a scowl directed at her.

"T-that's not what I meant—!"

"Mikumo." He interrupted, ignoring Kitora completely. "You're pretty weak and pathetic."

I could feel a sudden underlying hint of tension to Yuma's posture now, but I only nodded agreeably. It wasn't said in a degrading way though, unlike whenever Kitora... felt the irresistible need to insult me.

"When you get to B-rank and stop dragging your feet…" He turned slightly, already making his way towards his surprised teammates at the top of the seating areas. "…I'll see for myself how much you've improved."

I nodded with a slight smile. "Thanks. I think… I understand what you meant a little more now."

"You better!" He called back blandly. "I didn't waste my time here for your empty head to not have learned anything!"

I waved, the expressions of surprise and shock coming from everyone around us only fuelling my amusement further as I laughed lightly.

"See you around, Kikuchihara-senpai!"

I heard a distant grumble from him, just as Yuma grinned excitedly.

"...So that was a member of the No. 3 ranked team, huh?"

I chuckled, tapping my glasses so that head get the message. "Yuma, I figured it out."

He glanced at the movement, before smirking. "Eh, that's good. After all, I think it was bothering you not to know."

"Ah, it was. Beyond frustrating," I replied, ignoring the confused glances being thrown around. "But it was kind of a trade-off, so now he knows too."

"Oh, there goes the secret weapon."

I frowned lightly, knocking my fist against his skull. "It wasn't a 'secret weapon'. Besides, I need to learn how to perfect it before it's anything worth using."

Just before Kitora could open her mouth to question us, Arashiyama waved to get our attention. Two of his fingers were pressed up against where the communicator was approximately located, and his expression was one of worry that made my stomach sink to the ground. In contrast, it make Yuma grin slightly in anticipation.

"Mikumo… we've got a problem! Your teammate... She blasted a hole through the base wall with the Ibis!"

I could feel the blood slowly draining from my face and my hearing go fuzzy around me, as the distant sound of Yuma falling over and bursting into cackles filtered in through my ears.

-0-

I ran through the halls, Yuma hot on my tail as I cursed under my breath, Replica doing my friend a mercy and refusing to relay any of my words.

"UGH! I swear to god IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO HER—!"

"You're going to kill them, we know," Yuma finished for me, exasperation leaking into his voice. "Honestly, we should be more worried about everyone else there!"

I ignored his words, the two of us finally reaching the sniper training room.

"Chika!"

Soon after calling her name, I scanned the room quickly (I was NOT using my side effect, no matter what Yuma says—), freezing in shock as I finally registered the sight.

"I see… so your name is Chika…" Kinuta said with a gentle expression, patting Chika's head in a reassuring manner. "You have amazing Trion ability, you should thank your parents."

Chika seemed to be very confused but nodded nevertheless. "O-okay…?"

"Don't worry about the wall, it's made of Trion, so it can be fixed very easily."

"K-Kinuta-san?!" I muttered in shock. "Is everything alright?"

Yuma gave me a sly grin as he caught onto the sudden politeness in my voice, a complete contrast to my behaviour earlier. I gave him a nonchalant kick to the side of his foot, not seen by most in the room.

"Kinuta-san has a weakness for little girls?!" Satori exclaimed.

"Probably reminds him of his daughter, who lives with her mom. I hear she's a first year in middle school." The taller male beside him explained, face calm as he watched over the strange sight somewhat fondly.

Chika finally noticed us, a small smile appearing as she waved at us. Nearly everyone in the room's attention swivelled over to us, and I fought to keep from shaking at the staring.

"Mori, Yuma!"

Kinuta turned around to face us, expression losing some of its previous softness.

"Mikumo?! Oh, I see, Jin did mention you joining Tamakoma."

I nodded with a small sheepish smile, hand curving t o rub the back of my neck. "I apologize for any damage that was caused."

He sniffed, patting me on the back(there was an unexpected gentleness to it, I thought he was gonna slap me) as he passed by. "Good grief four-eyes, look after her right, you hear me?!"

"Yes, sir!" I saluted to him jokingly, before spinning around to stand beside Yuma as Chika was swarmed by her fellow rookie snipers.

Yuma raised a hand to hold over his eyes, peering over at the wrecked area on the other side of the wall. "Whoa, there's a hole."

"We both knew Chika was amazing… but Jesus." I patted him on the shoulder with a grin. "I don't even think that's her full power… it's not like she's dumb, if she was using a Trigger that was emphasized on its ability to take out large Neighbours, she wouldn't've gone all out."

He smirked in excitement at that, the awed whispering and clamouring in the background only fuelling his smugness. "And you're the leader for this team of monsters."

I groaned lightly, chopping the back of his head as I tried to hold back a grin. "Don't remind me, I got forced into that by you two troublemakers."

"Oh, c'mon, it's not like you'd rather be on any other team!"

There was a long pause before I scratched the back of my head with a tint of pink to my cheeks as I poked him in the temple with my other hand.

"…Maybe not. But I'm insane to have agreed to this whole thing."

-0-

"Great. So everyone enlisted. They must've stood out, I could've told you that without my side effect…. They are my charges after all. They must be the talk of the HQ by now."

"Did you hear that a rookie took less than a second in combat training?! He and another rookie completely beat the previous record set by Midorikawa!"

"One second?! That's not possible!"

"You know the hole in the wall? A rookie girl did that with an Ibis."

"C'mon, you're pulling my leg."

"That rookie shooter that took the second top record…! She managed to get a win and a tie against Kikuchihara!"

"What?! That guy with the amazing side-effect..!?"

"No, there's no way! He has eyes in the back of his head, I swear to god!"

"But… the time when they steal the show… is yet to come."

-0-

"Hm…. I think that I've done all of the training there is."

I scowled furiously.

"Aw, is Mori mad because she couldn't beat me on a single one of those exercises?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not." I paused for a moment. "Ok, maybe a little."

Tokieda watched the two of us, being the one that offered to show Yuma around… and the latter insisted I tagged along.

"A perfect score for each training exercise is 20 points," He began, effectively getting our attention. "Judging by how well Kuga did… I'd say he needs around 2,900 more points to rank-up."

"You'd be correct," Yuma confirmed, flipping over his glove to glance at the glowing number.

"That means that Mikumo needs even more than that," Tokieda turned to me for clarification and I nodded sullenly. "With group sessions twice a week, it'll take 19 weeks to get up to 4,000 points, with perfect scores all around. And even more time, if you only reach second place scores."

"Way too slow." The two of us shot down in unison.

"We need to progress faster," I mumbled. "You two want to get to A-rank as soon as possible, and for as much as I disagree with aiming for No. 1…"

"…We still need to advance to B-rank, at least." Yuma finished. "So that means we'll have to earn points in the Rank wars, huh?"

We stepped over a door's threshold, a wave of sound hitting us in a flash as the sight of C-rank uniforms greeted us. There was a large board against the other side of the room covered in different numbers, from what seemed like 100 to 400.

"This is the lobby for C-rank trainees," Tokieda stated, gesturing at the room. "I'll show you two how to start it up, you can pick an empty booth."

I waited for a moment as Yuma looked around, scrutinizing each room harshly before his eyes landed on one that he liked. We stepped into the one he pointed to, and I shut the door behind us as the two of them walked up to the screens set up at the desk.

Tokieda touched the screen, watching blankly as it lit up with a list of corresponding numbers and Trigger names. "C-rank wars consist of a one-on-one match in a virtual field. The list of points and weapons on the screen here corresponds to each agent that are currently participating. Pick anyone you want a match with, but remember, anyone can pick you as well. If you ever want to stop, just leave the booth."

"How do you get the most points possible?" Yuma asked curiously, tilting his head to the side so that I could get a good look of the screen from over his shoulder.

"The more points your opponent has, the more you can gain in return. If the points are lower than you, then you'll get much less. If you lose, you lose a lot… more so if they're higher ranked than you."

"Hm…" Yuma hummed, and the two of us turned to bow to him. "Thank you for your personal instructions, Kitora's senpai."

"—Thank you for the help, Tokieda-san," I corrected for the two of us.

"It's no problem." He waved a hand nonchalantly.

Just as he stepped out of the booth, I spun around and patted Yuma on the head while moving towards the door myself. "Alright, I think I want to wait for a bit before I go rack up on points."

"Really?" He asked in slight dismay, before sighing. "We should advance as soon as possible though…"

"Chika isn't quite ready to rank-up herself," I reminded patiently. "Besides, a bunch of rumours have spread around because of my match with Kikuchihara-senpai… I don't think I'm quite ready to go all out against somebody else so soon."

"Well, I guess it's up to you," He turned back to the screen while waving to me. "I'm gonna get closer to advancing to B-rank."

"Have fun," I chuckled as I waved to my friend. "I'm probably going to go do dodging practice, see you later."

I was about to step out, but stopped at the last second to say one last thing.

"Replica, keep an eye on him for me!"

-0-

The moment I stepped into the cafeteria-like area, everyone's eyes swivelled around to look at me.

The second I walked up to the counter and got a drink, everyone was whispering about me.

'She beat Kikuchihara! She beat Kikuchihara!'…. they say.

'How the fuck did the rumours get so twisted?!'

The actual record was 17 losses, 2 wins, and 1 tie! And now they're coming up with this bullshit… I beat him?! There's a part of me that wants to scream at them, and beat their head against a wall until they get the rumour straight, but…

'Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick.'

So many people are staring… I should've just stuck with Yuma—

"Oi, oi."

I slammed my drink down (it barely made a noise, dumb paper cups—) before turning my head to look at the speaker.

The boy was substantially shorter than me, just making it over my head even though I was sitting down. His eyes were a sharp green, and his lips were pulled into a grin, even though his body language screamed morbid curiosity.

"I want to ask you something," He interrupted my thoughts, his grin stretching up even further.

"Uh, w-what do you need…?"

I cursed my previous nervousness for making me stutter slightly.

"That emblem," He lifted a finger to point at the badge on the side of my C-rank uniform. "Tamakoma, right? Are you from there?"

My head dropped to glance at the familiar badge as I nodded. "Yeah, I was going to originally enlist at HQ, but pulled out last second. I got somebody's attention later on though, and they managed to set things up for me to join their branch."

"Hm?" He hummed curiously. "Somebody? Who?"

"Ah, it was… Jin. S-rank?" I hummed, swirling my straw around in my drink. "I don't really get why he took interest in me, myself. It just doesn't really make sense, but I'm not one to question it when he'd never tell me anyway…"

"Jin?" He repeated, jolting slightly.

"Yeah… you probably know him, even though he doesn't come around to HQ too often," I sighed, slurping on my drink.

"Hm…" I heard him hum.

"Let's have a solo Rank war."

I nearly spat my drink.

"Whoa, what?!" I glanced up at him, slightly shocked at the sudden appearance of an undecipherable emotion swirling around in his eyes.

"The two of us. Solo. Rank war," He repeated as if talking to a child. "We can still use the C-rank booths, and we don't need to bet points if you're too cowardly." He grinned, and yet my eyes picked up an emotion that clearly didn't fit with his playful expression. "C'mon, as many rounds as you want, five, or ten maybe?"

I stood up and threw my cup towards the trash, watching him warily as he followed behind me with the same obnoxious grin, leaking with negative intent. My eye twitched slightly, and I frowned.

"I'm not too interested in fighting anyone else right now. I was planning on doing dodging training—"

"We can still do that!" He said, a bit more cheerily this time. "After all, dodging is better practised when you're actually fighting against a person! It'll be fun, I'll even give you some points if you're confident enough to think you can do good!"

My frown slowly transformed into a scowl as I pulled a jawbreaker from my pocket, throwing it into my mouth. "I'm not interested."

He stared at me for another moment, before turning away with an obviously fake pout, and his arms linked around the back of his head in an overly casual way.

I thought he was finally about to leave, just before I heard a low mumble that I'm absolutely certain he meant for me to hear.

"…I guess you just don't think you can do it."

My jaw snapped shut, shattering the candy in my mouth.

'...Am I really falling for this old trick?'

-0-

Ducking under a blade.

Twirling around to the side.

Jumping over a slice towards my feet.

Shifting my shoulder over to the side by a few centimetres.

A Scorpion stabs dead centre into my face.

'…Oops, I was too late to react on that one.'

"RELAY SYSTEM DESTROYED. MIKUMO DOWN."

I landed harshly on the familiar texture of the mat, this having happened 19 times before. I pat the mattress with a groan, before sitting up and adjusting my glasses absentmindedly.

"ROUND 20 OVER. 20 - 0. VICTOR: MIDORIKAWA."

"…I lasted much longer than I thought I would."

I stretched my arms over my head, going over the match multiple times in my head as I reviewed every time he took me down. '…I was too focused on his right hand during that part… then for that time, I overlooked the fact that he can use Scorpion so flexibly, and wasn't paying attention to his feet… and for the third match, I was just being a moron. Seriously, who get's distracted by what shade of blue the sky is?'

I pushed the booth door open with a sigh. 'Well, I guess it wasn't bad practice... Maybe I should try this out with Yuma sometime...'

"Oi, MORI!"

I jolted, whirling around to face Yotaro, who I wasn't expecting to be here, riding on Raijinmaru beside Yuma.

"How dare you lose!"

"Yotaro," I greeted in slight shock. "Yuma."

Yuma gave me a friendly wave. "You sure attract a lot of attention. What happened to 'not going to fight anyone'?"

"I was…" I shrugged with a slight frown. "…That was the dodging practice I was talking about. Somebody volunteered to help out, I guess."

"Thanks, four-eyes."

I turned my head up towards the second level, seeing Midorikawa peering down at me with a slightly smug expression, posture confident and boasting. "I got an idea of what you can do. You can go now."

I held back any irritation that welled up at his smug tone but only gave him a lazy wave with a blank expression. I could feel Yotaro bristle beside me, for god-knows-what-reason, he wasn't even talking to him, and grabbed the back of his vest.

"Thanks for the matches," I called out blandly, making sure to keep my tone flat.

Midorikawa gave me a dismissive wave in reply.

I turned to Yotaro, who was scowling non-threateningly and yelling. "C'mon Raijinmaru! I'll get revenge! Let's go—!"

"What's with you?" I asked, slightly irritated. "Why are you so riled up?"

He turned to me with a frown, eyebrows scrunched together angrily, in a way that was not really scary at all. "He beat you up! We gotta go get revenge!"

"That's the last thing you need to do," I mumbled fondly, chopping his head lightly. I ignored the fact that it was the exact same action Jin had made on the first day when we visited Tamakoma. "Besides, it was just practice. It's not bad to lose often, especially if you never intended to win in the first place."

….He…wasn't listening, was he.

"I'm going to beat him up! Go, Raijinmaru!"

'…No, no he was not.'

"Say," I finally heard Yuma speak up from behind me, addressing Midorikawa, much to my surprise.

"Did you attract all these spectators?"

I blinked in confusion, before finally looking around to see many more C-ranks gathered in the room than usual, most of them whispering and pointed to me.

"…When did they get here?" I asked Yotaro confusedly.

"They've been here since before we got here!" He whined. "They won't stop insulting you, just let us go beat him up!"

"Hey, it's not Midorikawa-san's fault," I reprimanded. "They're probably just interested in the rumours, it's no big deal. It's not like anyone's insulting you or Yuma, wha—"

"Fight me, Midorikawa."

My words were cut off as the two of us spun around to stare at Yuma in shock.

"If you win, I'll give you all of my points. All 1,508 of them."

I openly gaped, too lost for words to even yell at him for his stupidity. "WHA—?!"

"...Just 1,500?" Midorikawa repeated, unamused. "You're just a C-rank. You're going to fight me with a training Trigger?"

"That's what Mori was doing." Yuma grinned smugly, in the way that always made me scream internally because I just know he's going to do something spectacularly stupid. Or stupidly spectacular. "Besides...I'm pretty sure that's enough to handle someone like you."

I could see Midorikawa scoff from the balcony, before flipping and jumping over the railing with a scowl.

"Fine, let's do it." He agreed. "What do you want if you win? 3,000 points? 5,000?"

Yuma narrowed his eyes dangerously. "I don't want any. But…"

I saw his gloved hand clench slightly.

"…If I win, I want to hear more respect out of you."

Midorikawa's expression twisted into something more scornful, before disappearing as quickly as it came. He grinned in an easy-going manner, holding both arms out to the sides. "Okay. If I lose… I'll act with the utmost respect for you."

"No, not me."

And just then, Yuma pointed behind him, a smile painted on his face hiding the simmering, cold rage lashing out from underneath his skin.

Pointed right towards me.

"You'll treat my captain with more respect."

I froze.

"Oh?" Yotaro smirked. "Yuma's pretty mad!"

-0-

There was dead silence all around until Yotaro spoke up again with a smirk.

"This is getting interesting."

I snapped out of my daze. "Hey, Yum—!"

"Hey, I scheduled a fight with him first, you know."

I spun around to the speaker so quickly I was surprised I didn't get whiplash.

"Uh… You're—"

"Yoneya Yosuke." Yoneya interrupted with a grin. "Call me Yosuke, four-eyes-chan."

"Four-eyes'-cha—'?!"

"Yosuke is Shiori's cousin," Yotaro cut me off with a grin that was eerily similar to Yoneya's. "We're buddies in the 'Yo'-name crew."

"Cousin? 'Yo'-name—?!" I spun around confusedly. "What the hell is going on?!"

-0-

"…Oh, he's in the No. 4 squad," I tonelessly commented. "I thought I heard they weren't around at the moment…?"

"He's not old enough quite yet to be brought along and out of town," Yoneya replied casually.

"Is he tougher than you, Yosuke?" Yotaro asked with his arms crossed, sitting beside me.

"I dunno, I don't really keep track of my points," Yoneya muttered with a grin. "I win some, I lose some. But Midorikawa is still in junior high… he's probably more talented than I am."

I kept my eyes on the screen, watching Midorikawa charge at Yuma with a Scorpion, the latter boredly dodging most of the slices in a lazy fashion. I thought he would return with his own attack, but instead, I watched his arm go slack as he let Midorikawa stab him from behind.

"KUGA, BAIL OUT. MIDORIKAWA LEADS, 1 - 0."

"Yuma!" Yotaro yelled worriedly, and my eyebrows lowered in slight irritation.

'…What is he doing? That was definitely on purpose…'

"BEGIN ROUND 2."

Right from the start, Midorikawa chased down Yuma once again, engaging in a quick-paced sword fight that Yuma went through with a bored expression.

Again, I saw Yuma go slack as Midorikawa launched himself behind him, cutting him in half in an instant.

I distantly heard Yotaro whine, but my eyes only narrowed further.

"KUGA, BAIL OUT. MIDORIKAWA LEADS, 2 - 0."

'What is he doing? Why did he even challenge him in the first place, and why is he losing on purpose…?'

"Look," Yoneya muttered, grinning excitedly as his eyes were fixed on the screen. "His experience is showing."

"What do you mean?!" Yotaro called out angrily, shaking his small fist in the air. "Is Yuma gonna get stomped on too?!"

"I didn't get stomped on," I protested irritatedly, heard only by Yoneya, who chuckled before responding to Yotaro.

"No, it's gonna be the other way around," He gestured at the screen lazily. "Just watch. The shrimp's gonna start winning."

Yuma stabbed Midorikawa through the chest, simultaneously getting his arm cut off.

"MIDORIKAWA, BAIL OUT. MIDORIKAWA LEADS, 2 - 1."

"Got him, he won't lose any more," Yoneya laughed. "He held out against our squad's attacks, four-to-one. There's no way he'd lose to Midorikawa one-on-one."

"Why was he losing in the first place?" I mumbled irritatedly, adjusting my glasses. "It was obviously on purpose…"

Yoneya gave me a curious glance, before turning his focus back to the screen. "I don't get what the deal is… but it looks like the albino shrimp really wants to pummel the heck out of Midorikawa."

-0-

"—I don't know why you want to ruin Mori's reputation."

Yuma glared coldly at Midorikawa from across the street.

"Mori should be doing something about it herself, since I know she's pretty tough… But sometimes she can be pretty dense. Or just feel like it's something she deserves, even if she only does so unconsciously. I don't think she even knows what's up with the match you two had, or why I'm so upset about it."

Yuma's hair shifted in the wind, the Trion simulated world dead-silent around them. His eyes darkened intentionally, and a shiver went down Midorikawa's spine.

"So I'm doing it for her. And I'll pray you'll never be dumb to do something like this again, or else I'll be the least of your worries. My partner can be pretty scary when she wants to, although I wish she'd just kick your ass from the get-go."

He gave a serene smile that didn't match the tone of their conversation in the slightest. "Don't even get me started on my other teammates… Man, if Chika or Shiori heard what you did..."

He paused, before glancing down at Midorikawa's dominant hand, the one gripping the blade tightly.

"Aren't you A-rank, you have other Triggers, right? Why not use something besides the Scorpion?"

Midorikawa gave him a more confident grin, finally raising his blade with an ounce of respect for the person in front of him.

"…This is fine. This way… I can clearly see the difference between us."

Yuma grinned excitedly, raising his own Scorpion.

"Aha. I like that expression on your face better."

And then they charged.

-0-

"ROUND TEN OVER."

I glanced up at the screen with curious eyes, before turning my head down to the room Yuma just stepped out of.

"WINNER, KUGA YUMA."

He pat the non-existent dust from his uniform, expression nonchalant as he walked over towards Yotaro and I.

"Great job, Yuma!" Yotaro cheered, thumb lifted up. "I had faith in you!"

"Why did you challenge him in the first place?" I asked curiously, before being skillfully ignored by my partner.

"Okay, albino shrimp…" Yoneya pointed at him with a smile. "You're going to fight me next—!"

"Yuma, Four-eyes!"

I jolted at the unexpected voice that cut Yoneya off, spinning around with my eyes narrowed.

"…Jin-san."

"Whoa, you sound so excited to see me!" He laughed, waving to me with a friendly grin. "Could you guys come with me? Kido-san wants to see you."

"Commander Kido?!" I exclaimed.

Yuma's face remained frighteningly blank. "…Who?"

I jabbed him in the side without blinking.

'I literally just said "Commander"…'

"It's Jin, he's S-rank…"

"Jin from Tamakoma…!"

I blinked at the sudden whispering in the crowd, watching Jin turn to them with a carefree salute.

"Sorry, but I'm not S-rank anymore, just an elite A-rank agent."

I shared a quick glance with Yuma at that statement. '…He's so nonchalant about it… it's kind of irritating how easily he brushed off the loss of his mentor's legacy… Or how quick he is to act like it.'

Midorikawa finally burst through the doors of his own booth, leaning over the railing in an overly excited way. "JIN!"

Much like earlier, he flipped and leapt over the side, but jumped over and began skipping around Jin cheerily. "You quit S-rank?! Then we can have a match!"

"Hey Shun," Jin greeted with a fond smile, twisting his head around to keep track of the hyperactive teen jumping around him. "You always have so much energy."

Yuma and I paused, staring at the sight with blank expressions.

"…What is this?" Yuma finally settled for, and Yoneya gave a small chuckle.

"Midorikawa is a huge fan of Jin. Jin saved him from a Neighbour before he could be eaten, and that's why he joined Border."

"I see," Yuma placed a finger on his chin. "So he was was jealous of Mori for joining Tamakoma."

"Wait, what?" I turned to him in confusion, but he only whistled innocently while turning away.

"Well, the two of you also beat the record he had set for the training exercise," Yoneya casually added. "He had done it in 4 seconds, and with you under a second and four-eyes with 3…"

"Wait, I beat a record?!" My mouth gaped slightly in awe. "I was only trying to beat 9 seconds!"

Yuma turned to me in confusion. "9 seconds…? What's so special about 9 seconds?"

"—Nothing!" I denied too loud to be casual.

"9 seconds was Kitora's score," Jin smugly spoke up from behind me, Midorikawa trailing behind him.

I bristled at Jin's smirk, but before I could punch him...

"Eh…?" Yuma turned to me with a smug expression, and Yoneya was right behind him with a teasing grin. "So Mori just wanted to rub it in Kitora's face, huh?"

"No, I didn't!" I protested, but everyone had already heard.

"She did!" Yoneya chortled loudly. "Oh my god, that's the best, four-eyes!"

"Would you all just stop calling m—!"

Jin yanked on the back of my Trion uniforms collar, causing my words to cut off with a sudden choke. He waved to everyone with a sheepish grin, gesturing for Yuma to follow as he dragged me over to the door. "Sorry guys, but there's a meeting scheduled! I'm a busy elite agent, got places to be!"

-0-

Midorikawa stared at the hallway the four had just disappeared down.

"… I didn't get to apologize to Mikumo-senpai…"

-0-

It didn't really hurt since I was in my Trion body, but that doesn't mean I wasn't bitter.

I could tell Yuma and Jin were taking amusement out of my saltiness, even though I could hear them holding up a conversation beside me.

"So Yuma, what did you think of Shun? Was he tough?"

Yuma nodded with a smile. "Pretty formidable. Without Konami's training, I think I would've been in some serious trouble… he'll get even stronger with time."

Jin nodded while humming. "What about you, four-eyes?"

"Don't call me that, I am so sick of that nickname," I grumbled lowly. "And I guess he was ok, I was too worked up to really care."

"Eeeehhh?" Yuma stretched out the word, staring at me unflinchingly with his signature duckface. "Then why'd you go and lose? Don't you even know what happened?"

"Something happened?" I gave him a brief confused glance. "Whatever, I didn't lose. I was doing the dodging training, just like I said I was going to."

He froze, his steps coming to a halt.

I paused, spinning back to face him. "Huh? Why'd you stop?"

There was silence for a few more seconds before his head turned slowly and ominously, his easygoing expression not fading even as his hair cast a shadow over his eyes. "…You were losing on purpose?"

"I wasn't in the mood to fight anyone, I told you that before!" I nearly shrieked, flicking him in the side of the head. "Do you ever listen to what I say?"

"So you really have no clue what he did…" He grumbled, his hand placed on his chin. "He didn't have time to apologize either, wow. That entire thing was really for nothing, huh?"

"What was for nothing?" I questioned impatiently, still in the dark about the situation. "And what would Midorikawa have to apologize for? It was just a Rank battle…"

"She has no clue," Jin confirmed god-knows-what to Yuma, who only nodded with a slightly irked expression. "But still, you were dodging Midorikawa's moves even better than four-eyes, and even without a side-effect to help you with it."

"Hey, hey, Jin-san." I turned to him with a dark glare. "Next time you provoke me, I'm kicking you down the stairs. No hesitation."

"—For people like that, I like to think of them as if they were animals when we fight," Yuma replied to Jin, the two of them ignoring me despite the bead of sweat I saw going down both of their temples. "A quote from my dad, 'Humans are often illogical. It's sometimes better to read their behaviours and personalities'."

Jin hummed in agreement, and I reluctantly set aside my threat(promise)with a huff.

"Midorikawa is pretty random…so you're better off regarding his fighting style similar to an animal, and mostly relying on instinct. Kikuchihara seemed to be a pretty flexible fighter though," Yuma elaborated.

"Probably cause of his side effect," I mumbled in agreement. "He could hear most of my attacks before they hit him, and his squad seems to be more focused on speed and stealth… Although he was focused on mostly strategic fighting, so an opposite to Midorikawa in that aspect."

"Exactly," Yuma nodded to me. "I knew Midorikawa was confident and proud, so I let him think he was better than me by giving him the first two wins. And when you lose to someone you consider lesser than you… you get angry. You lose your form, and start to get more panicked."

"Like casino dealers who let you win first, just before they wring you dry," Jin added with a grin.

"He's not going to get that reference," I mumbled uselessly, although I had no doubt that Jin already knew when he said it.

"…Midorikawa started to notice what I was doing towards the end though," Yuma added. "He started to get better, but there wasn't enough time to recover completely."

"He's definitely matured, hasn't he?" Jin said with a grin, finally coming to a halt in front of some large double doors. He pushed them apart nonchalantly, without giving me amount to prepare myself. "Here we are~"

"YOU'RE LATE!"

I jumped slightly, before calming down as I spotted Kinuta from across the room.

"What have you been doing?!" He asked irritatedly, arms crossed over his chest, as per usual.

"Hi there~" Jin only waved lightheartedly, the door shutting with a click behind us.

Yotaro grinned with a smug sparkle in his eye. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Where's Yosuke, Yotaro?" Shiori asked curiously, expression turning slightly scolding.

"He served his purpose," Yotaro stated, and I smothered a snicker with a gloved hand.

"Time is of essence." Kido interrupted, and any amusement I had faded instantly. "Get this started."

I tapped the mini-Replica hiding in my collar. "That's Commander Kido… don't piss him off, or we really will have to deal with the A-rank agents we went over a few weeks ago."

"I'll be careful," Yuma reassured, and I heard an encouraging buzz of static from Replica that made me relax slightly.

"Our scouts predict…" Shinoda spoke up right after Kido. "A large-scale invasion very soon. There were many casualties in the bombings the other week."

My eye twitched unnoticeably as a memory of the chaos went through my mind, but I pushed it aside without another thought.

"We'd like to be prepared to keep the damage to a minimum, and so, we'd like your opinion as a Neighbour."

"Hm," Yuma hummed. "My opinion?"

"We know many countries of the Neighbourhood thanks to the away missions," Kinuta cut in. "But there's not enough data! We need to know which countries are attacking, what weapons they would use, that fact that you're a Neighbour doesn't matter! As long as you are in Border, you will cooperate!"

"I see," Yuma nodded before tapping his ring encouragingly. "In that case, it'd be quicker to ask my partner. He's definitely more well-versed in situations like this."

-0-

"Mikumo, Yuma."

The two of us turned around, facing the speaker.

"Director Shinoda…"

He nodded in greeting. "I wanted to thank you for all your help today. Especially for all of the information regarding the Neighbourhood."

Yuma waved a hand, sipping on his drink nonchalantly. "It's no big deal. Just like the round guy—"

"Kinuta-san." I corrected idly.

"—Kinuta said, I'm part of Border."

"You made Kinuta-san very happy," Shinoda smiled. "He said the orbital map was worth 30 away missions."

"30?!" I mumbled, shocked by the information. "That much…? How many away missions do they have per year, anyway?"

"Neighbour Triggers have evolved independently," Replica added, now hidden from view out in the open. "Never underestimate them."

"I'll keep that in mind," Shinoda nodded. "Your father took me under his wing a long time ago. I'm sorry Yugo passed away, but I'm glad I met you. If there's anything I can do, please let me know. Kido-san may not say anything, but I know he's concerned. He knew your father the longest."

Yuma hummed, eyes flickering with an emotion that I wouldn't dare point out in front of others. "Thanks for the offer."

"In fact," Shinoda went on. "I'd like to promote you to an official agent if you're interested. You're fully capable for the position, what do you think, Yuma?"

Yuma paused.

"…A full agent…? No thanks." He lifted a hand calmly. "I can make it there myself."

Shinoda appeared startled, obviously not expecting the refusal. "Are you sure? Once you're an agent, you can go on defence duty. You can help in the upcoming attack as well."

Yuma shrugged, uncaring. "Yeah, but I'd be a solo agent for a while until Mori makes it to B-rank too. Besides, I'm a Neighbour. If I don't make it up the ladder on my own, it might be difficult for others to accept my position."

Shinoda waited for a moment, before nodding. "You're right. I apologize, I wasn't thinking."

"No, it's no problem." Yuma waved a hand. "Besides, it's not like I'll have to wait long anyway."

There was a short pause.

"…What…?"

Yuma turned to me with a smug grin. "We can make it to B-rank right now if we wanted. Some C-ranks stay at the base until really late, we can speed through this no problem."

"What?" I hissed. "Where the hell did you learn about that?!"

"Jin told me," He revealed with a smug grin, before poking me in the side. "What do you say, let's rank-up right now! There'll be no problems, I know you can do it!"

"Uh, no thanks," I refused. "Unlike your Trion-formulated-ass, I need to sleep. I'm not staying at the base until midnight so that we can fulfil one of your silly little whims."

"Jeez, what a hypocrite…" He sighed, and the two of us knew exactly what he was talking about. "It doesn't need to take that long, as long as you don't lose to anyone."

"Forget it!" I jabbed him in the side of the head with my elbow. "It's not happening, we have school tomorrow!"

He huffed, jabbing me in the side as retaliation. "Fine then."

He turned away slightly, and I was eerily reminded of Midorikawa as he mumbled something under his breath.

"…I guess you think you can't do it, huh?"

I froze.

'….Are you serious, Mori? Twice in the same day…?'

"Bring it on, MIDGET." I growled menacingly, and he spun around with a bright, innocent smile that fooled absolutely no one.

"I knew you'd see it my way!"

The two of us were so caught up in our competitiveness, that we missed Shinoda staring at us with a fond smile, before sighing and turning away, heading back to the meeting room we had left not too long ago ourselves.

-0-

I pushed the door open carefully, and Yuma and I flinched when it let out a horribly eerie creak.

"Shh." He shushed me, and I refrained from rearing back my elbow to hit him in the face.

"I'm trying to be quiet, you shrimp," I hissed lowly, peeling my shoes off of my feet as I groped around in the darkness blindly. "God, this was a terrible idea."

"It was a fantastic idea." I heard him huff in the darkness. "If only you didn't insist on visiting the desk-administration-place to get us proper B-rank Triggers, we would've been fine."

I groaned, grabbing his hand and leading him up the stairs. "Replica, can you analyze the stairs to check which ones will creak and which ones won't?"

"I can."

There was a long pause, and I sighed heavily into the darkness.

"…But you just don't want to. Understandable, have a good day."

"We have school tomorrow," Yuma whispered smugly. "C'mon, you have to go to sleep."

I really did elbow him in the face this time, but the only thing I heard in response was a nearly silent laugh.

…Smug fucker.

I finally reached the door that they'd been lending me for the past few weeks, and opened the door to let the two of us in.

As soon as Yuma shut the door behind him, I flicked the lights on and squinted in displeasure as light assaulted my eyes. "I texted my mom hours ago that'd I'd be staying here overnight," I pushed him into the corner and threw a blanket over his head. "I need to change, sit there and don't move a goddamn muscle."

"Why'd you let me in here then…?" His whisper came out slightly muffled by the cloth. "You could've just let me go to my room."

"…I'm too tired to think properly," I mumbled as I quickly changed. Once I finished, I ripped the other blankets and pillows off of the bed, throwing them into the corner I put Yuma in.

"What just hit me?" I heard him ask curiously, the only response he received being a tired groan, just before I belly flopped onto the padded area beside him.

"Nothin'," I slurred, blackness already appearing at the edges of my vision as I yanked a blanket over my shoulders. "...G'night."

-0-

"LatelatelatelateWE'RELATE!"

"It's not my fault," Yuma grumbled, carelessly sipping a glass of water. "It's not like I'm keeping track of time until morning, and you didn't set an alarm."

I set a hand on his shoulder, bending down as that I was eye level with him. "Hey, if you don't have anything useful to add? Please shut up."

"…I'll go get my bag," He speed-walked over to his room.

"Good," I pushed my uniform blazer over my shoulders with a huff. "It's too early for this, why did we have to stay up so late…?"

"Ah, morning, four-eyes." Jin stepped into the kitchen and stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth. "Don't worry, you and Yuma'll make it to school on time. My side-effect tells me so."

"Does it now," I grumbled, shoving my books into my bag. "You can tell your damn side effect to—" I trailed off with a groan. "Never mind. Thanks for the warning, I guess."

"Mmhm," He nodded, still chewing on the toast.

I paused, turning towards him with my eye twitching. "…Are you still in your Trion body?"

"Maybe," He swallowed his breakfast and gave me a smug grin.

"…I really don't want to know," I caught a glimpse of Yuma already heading out the door, and I twitched. "I have to go, I'll see you—"

"Four-eyes."

I froze, turning to him questioningly as Jin's expression grew serious.

"…Yeah?"

He hesitated for a moment, and there was a flash in his eyes of an emotion I couldn't decipher.

"…Don't do anything stupid."

I blinked. "Being stupid is part of who I am, Jin-san."

(I think that was what tipped me off)

I stared at him slowly, my eyebrows slowly drawing together.

"…What did you see?"

(I really should have known)

He blinked at me, before his lips lifted upwards into something that I would have described as a very convincing(fake) smile.

(I really should've tried harder to understand him)

"Nothing."

'I'm not putting up with this right now.'

I slung my bag over my shoulder, and on the way to the door, kicked him hard enough that he fell over.

"Bye Rindou-san, have a good day!" I called out to the branch office right before I left. "And Jin, next time I see you, I'm kicking you down the nearest set of stairs for your bullshit!"

-0-

The barrel of a sniper rife, pressed against the back of a young girl's head.

Her purple eyes widened in shock, a hint of betrayal leaking into her pupils.

There was a shot, a flash of light, and a robotic hum as the clouds overhead blocked out the sun.

And yet for a moment, there was utter silence.

A brilliantly glowing cube in hand, as the person trekked into the wreckage.

-0-

Yuma stared at Mori, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"…What was that about…?"

She scowled and huffed. "Nothing. There were just no stairs nearby at the moment."

"…I see. Never mind then," He turned away, facing forward instead. "Should we run to the school?"

"You can," Mori conceded grumpily. "I'm not in the mood though."

"I see," Yuma poked her in the side, watching her narrowed eyes slowly relax as she calmed down. "At least we got the Trigger thing over with last night, right?"

"More like this morning," Mori grumbled. "And it wasn't just a 'Trigger thing'. Even if we went through official channels to get a proper B-rank Trigger, they're still not equipped with anything other than our starter Triggers at the moment. We have to go get other kinds to fill out the entire Trigger set, but we can go over that with Shiori later."

"What were you planning on putting in?" He asked curiously. "There were a ton of shooter triggers to pick from…"

Mori relaxed more, thankful for the small talk her friend was indulging in.

"…Probably Viper. My side-effect would probably work well with it."

Yuma hummed in agreement.

"And maybe a Kogetsu, for short range… I don't really know quite yet, I'll have to try it out first to see what I'm comfortable with."

"If you add in a sword, it might throw off your balance," Yuma contributed helpfully. "And you'll have less space for the bullet Triggers."

"That's true…" She trailed off. "I guess it really depends if I want to be an all-rounder… or if I want to commit to being a shooter. It all really depends…" She paused. "I can't do this right now. My brain is crashing, I didn't get enough sleep."

-0-

"Hey, what's this?"

I opened my bag with a frustrated groan. "That bastard."

Yuma clicked his tongue at me disapprovingly. "He got us lunch, don't call him a bastard."

"Fine," I scowled. "Jin's a meddling, piece of…" I paused to think of a good word. "…Garbage."

Yuma shook his head with a duckface and lifted a spoonful of the rice into his mouth.

"Still, it's not bad," He chewed with a satisfied expression. "It might wake you up, go on and eat."

I huffed, opening the container tiredly. "I guess… Jeez, I'm so glad we made B-rank so late last night."

"Why?" Yuma asked curiously, tilting his head.

"Ok, so one of the kids in our class…" I shovelled some of the rice into my mouth. "…I think his name is Miyoshi…? Whatever, I hear he's a super Border nerd. Memorizes all of the Border agent names that go on the PR page. AKA, all of them."

"Wow, that is weird," Yuma chuckled. "What would happen if somebody didn't want others to know they were part of Border? Can they ask to not get their name put up?"

I hummed. "I don't actually know. Maybe you can ask…?"

"Mori, Yuma."

The two of us glanced up quickly, Chika sliding the roof door open with a smile.

"Oh, Li—" I cut off when I saw somebody behind her. "—Chika, how're you doing?"

She smiled at me and her friend closed the door behind her, leaving the four of us alone on the roof. "I'm fine. You two didn't leave Border until late, did you?"

I heard her friend mutter a quiet 'brr, cold', and I waved them over to sit beside us. "No, we didn't get to. It was…"

I blanked out for a second, and Yuma laughed lightly.

"More like early, everything took way too long." He paused. "By the way, who's that with you?"

"Izuho. She's one of the trainee snipers along with me," Chika introduced politely, and Izuho nodded.

"Natsume Izuho. Nice to meet you."

Yuma got up briefly to bow, and I gave my own small, tired bow from where I was sitting. "Nice to meet you—"

"—Izuho." I interrupted Yuma before he could lose his grip on common sense again. "Pleasure."

"Nice to meetcha." She bowed casually in return.

I glanced at the two of them as they sat down by the railings nearby before turned to Yuma as I shoved the rest of my lunchbox into my mouth.

"Since we're technically B-rank now, do we have any duties scheduled yet?"

Yuma shook his head. "I don't think so… But it's a good thing we made B-rank so quickly, huh? Now we can fight off Neighbours for whenever the invasion happens."

I shook my head tiredly. "I don't want to fight during the invasion…" I coughed. "I might die with how dumb I am."

I pushed Jin's strange behaviour from this morning out of my head.

"And even if we didn't make B-rank," I continued. "I heard yesterday that we can use the trainee Triggers to evacuate the citizens and help out people that need rescuing. I can help out civilians… and we can leave the fighting to the A-ranks and the more skilled B-ranks."

He hummed in thought and I shrugged while blankly staring straight ahead in a tired daze.

I blinked curiously as the sky turned a shade darker. "Wha—?"

Chika jolted as her eyes darkened slightly. I flinched as she instinctively stood up straight, and the sky continued to grow darker.

I heard the crackle of lightning in the distance before the force of the alarm slammed into us. There was a loud beeping noise from the Triggers in Yuma and I's pockets, and I pulled it out as quickly as I could.

"An emergency summons…?!"

Trion filled lightning rained upon the city, and gates began to open quicker than I could even blink.

"WARNING: A GATE IS OPENING. LARGE-SCALE OUTBREAK OF GATES CONFIRMED. ANYONE IN THE VICINITY OF THE EMERGENCE AREA… PLEASE EVACUATE AT ONCE."

(The large-scale invasion… has begun.)