Alright, this talk definitely couldn't have waited until after I was all healed and ready to run around like a maniac.

…But seriously, was this crutch necessary?

'Yes', a scolding voice that sounded suspiciously like Replica echoed in my head. And like the mature teen I was, I mentally stuck my tongue out.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, stumbling just slightly as I came to a sudden halt.

"C'mon, C'mon, where are you…" I scrolled through my contacts furiously, ignoring any strange glances I received from other people on the sidewalk. "He's gotta know…! Aha!"

I slammed my thumb on the button so hard it almost hurt, but that hardly mattered.

"Pick up, pick, up, pick up…."

A beep.

"Elite agent Jin here, how can I help you?"

"Jin, can you tell me where Yuma is?" I asked bluntly, hobbling over to lean against the nearest wall. "You probably already know, and I need to find him. Now."

"…Couldn't even wait 'till you got back to Tamakoma?" He mumbled questioningly. "You're impatient."

"I'm not impatient, this just needs to happen A-S-A-P. Give me directions or I'm calling Konami next."

"Wait, don't hang up on me!" I heard him chuckle, just before the tell-tale crunch from his favourite snack echoed through my phone speakers. "He told me he was going to take a walk a few minutes ago, lucky for you. He JUST left."

"Was it me being lucky, or did you just strongly advise him to take a walk?" I shot back in suspicion.

"Now now, no need to fret the details!" He laughed without a care. "As far as I could see, he was wandering over in the direction of the okonomiyaki place."

"Okonomiyaki?" I repeated with a hint of irritation. "Jin, there's more than one okonomiyaki place in Mikado. Be more specific."

"Oh, you know." The mental image of him waving off into a vague direction sprung to mind as he paused. "…Somewhere."

"Jin, I swear to god if you don't—"

A chime rung out from my phone, the sound startling me as I yanked the offending object away from my ear. One irritated look at the screen though, and a highlighted bubble of text appeared at the top.

'Jin Yuichi has shared a location with you!'

"…Thanks, Jin." I reluctantly thanked before I positioned my thumb to hang up. "I'll treat you to something later, maybe ramen…?"

"No need, I was just helping out a kouhai. It was no big deal."

I tossed my phone into my pocket and with a deep breath…

I continued to run.

-0-

The phone rang lightly, the sound reverberating within the room.

Chika jolted, hand reaching out tentatively to lift the small speakers towards her ear. "Hello… You've reached Amatori Chika."

"Chika-chan."

Chika relaxed, the familiar voice over the phone echoing in her ear. "Kasumi-san, hello. How are you and big sister doing today?"

"Fine," Kasumi answered pleasantly. "How are you?"

"I'm good." Chika nodded despite the other woman not able to see the motion.

"I apologize for springing this on you with such short notice…" Kasumi began. "But I'd like to invite you over to our house for dinner, and maybe a sleepover."

Chika blinked, sitting down slowly on the nearby couch. "Huh?"

The was a barely noticeable whistle of wind on the other end, which gave Chika the feeling that she had been taking this call while walking somewhere.

"I believe that Mori has something that she'd like to speak with you about, and I don't believe that you three have much time to put this off."

-0-

Yuma stared blankly, red eyes not breaking eye contact with me despite the searing hot grill in between us.

I inwardly sighed, and unwilling let my gaze drop to the floor as I blinked.

'…How am I going to do this?'

He finally glanced away, poking the pancake sizzling on the grill. "…So, how's your day going?"

(Weird. Tiring. Maybe better than yesterday, I don't know.)

"It's alright," I took a small sip of my water. "How's yours?"

"Boring," He laughed dully. "Everyone seems to be doing something else. I had a few days where I went really quiet, and now everyone acts really guilty around me." He paused, and I took the opportunity to haphazardly shove the pancake into his plate. The movement was awkward with one hand, and it ended up landing on it's side. "…It's honestly kind of annoying, I wasn't the one that got hurt. I barely even know what happened."

"They didn't fill you in?" I asked conversationally, shovelling my own serving of Okonomiyaki onto my plate. "It was messy, but there must've been something they could tell that you didn't already know."

"Everyone kind of assumed I knew all I needed to know, I guess.." He glanced at me slowly, the two of us careful to keep this from blowing up more than we wanted it to. "But I also don't think that anyone really knows what happened there. You're the only one that really understood what was going on, everyone else was just trying to help you."

There was an elongated period of silence, the chattering of other customers and the telltale sizzle of the grills being only background noise.

"It's really just a mess of misplaced pieces." I started, taking a deep breath. When I exhaled, the breath came out shaky. "So many things happened after I left with Kitora and Satori…" I thought for a moment. "Maybe we should just stick together for these things, everything went to shit just after we split up."

"You do need someone to cover your back." He agreed, trying to take a bite of his okonomiyaki. It burnt his tongue, and he pulled the fork away from his mouth with a wince. "Are you feeling open enough to share what happened, or do I need to wait a little longer?"

"I didn't sprint through the streets with a crutch to find you, only to run away from the problem," I grumbled. "I'm just thinking about how to phrase this."

"Take your time," He joked while raising his cup to his mouth, the cold water soothing his burnt tongue.

I took a bite of my own meal, savouring the flavour and warmth as thoughts swirled around in my mind.

"…Alright." I swallowed, hand reaching out to fiddle with my chopsticks. "I should start at the beginning, shouldn't I."

"You should," He nodded, setting down his glass. "Because the only information I have, is when Jin told me you might die and Chika would get captured, and that was in the middle of the invasion. Everyone's been awfully quiet, you know."

"…Sorry." I apologized shortly. "Even Chika didn't talk to you about it?"

"She's been training practically nonstop," He waved off, cutting a piece off of the savoury pancake in front of him. "But it doesn't matter much, it's probably easier if I hear it all at once. And I think you know more than anyone else about this."

"…So to start with, Kitora, Satori, Replica and I were heading towards the C-rankers," I began slowly, recalling the details of the battle as best as I could. "A bunch of Rabbits showed up, but we took care of them relatively easily. I had help from Satori, and Chika jumped in to fight the minute that Natsume was in danger. After that… I think that was the point where Karasuma-senpai and the others showed up."

"The rest of Arashiyama squad was… loosely kept up to date about that." Yuma licked all of the sauce off of his lips. "'Loosely'."

"Then the humanoid Neighbours showed up," I listed blandly. "I was obviously too weak to help hold off either of them or protect the trainees on my own, so Karasuma-senpai came to escort the rest of us back to HQ while everyone else stuck behind. The rest of it's a bit of a blur, but it's not really important."

"It's not?"

"It's not," I repeated dully. "We got to the HQ door, the one a bit farther from the building. An enemy black Trigger crushed the entrance, and then you and Jin showed up."

"I remember that," He leaned back in his seat with a carefree expression. "I beat the old man black Trigger. That was actually a pretty fun battle, if only it was under different circumstances."

"I'm glad you had fun," I replied genuinely, nodding lightly. "I didn't have that much fun, but the first Rabbit we took out together was a big rush."

"Oh, that was fun too," He agreed, watching the second batch of okonomiyaki cook against the metal sheet. "If only we could do that again, that was an amazing shot you did."

"The boost was so overpowered." I chuckled, before getting back on track. "After we ran away again, Karasuma stayed behind to hold off the black Trigger that crushed the entrance. I heard from Shiori that Kikuchihara-senpai and Utagawa-san ended up joining him, and Konami again later. Then, more Rabbits got teleported to us."

"…I just realized this." He cut in curiously. "But when did you stop using a '-san' with Shiori…?"

"It was too much of a hassle to say mid-battle," I leaned forward, straining to pat his cheek over the table. "Focus."

"Right, right."

"After that…" The figures flashed through my mind, bright smiles present on their faces. "Yoneya-senpai, Izumi-senpai, and Midorikawa-senpai helped us out and we managed to clear out most of the Rabbits. I think."

"Don't you get tired of saying '-senpai' all the time…? It's longer than '-san'."

I pointedly ignored him. "Another black Trigger showed up. Midorikawa-senpai had to bail out, while Izumi-senpai and Yoneya-senpai told Chika and I to run away. We got chased around by a Rabbit for a while, but killed it in the end."

"This whole story is very back-and-forth."

"It is, isn't it?" I sighed, my eyebrows drawing together as my brain ran through what happened next. "Chika insisted we go back to help them, and that's what we did. Izumi-senpai had been kidnapped by the Neighbour and got turned into a cube. Yoneya-senpai was holding the Neighbour and a Rabbit off, and we didn't know how long he would last by the time we got there."

"A black Trigger and a Rabbit at the same time?" Yuma whistled. "We should have spar sometime, he's probably better than last time."

"…I think this is where things got dicey." I muttered, and he immediately sobered up. "Replica made a Rabbit somehow, and with Chika and his help, I used the 'blend' seal to steal Izumi-senpai back. Then, the four of us ran away."

He didn't cut in with a comment to help lighten the mood, so I continued.

"Yoneya split up with us to go meet up with Miwa to protect the rest of the C-ranks, and Chika and I were planning to cut straight through the emergence area to get to HQ with Izumi-senpai, instead of going around to meet with the rest of the C-ranks. The black Trigger started to attack us again though, and we were almost cornered. I wasn't really thinking straight…" My eyebrows scrunched. "…But I switched Triggers with Chika, and I made her bail out."

A deafening silence reigned, and I slowly closed my eyes in preparation for the resulting lecture that this would get me.

(I'm so tired of being lectured.)

-0-

It didn't surprise Yuma as much as it probably should have.

It was somewhat surreal, having people all around him ducking to avoid his gaze, apologies spilling out the moment they met eyes with him, all because he and Chika were the closest to Mori out of everyone, barring her own mother.

(It was tiring.)

But he knew it was tiring for them too, so he never asked them what had happened in the first place. He had gotten a basic idea that Mori had messed up somehow, but he had zoned out when Chika was explaining to Kasumi-san.

(No one seemed to realize that Yuma had no idea what had happened in the first place, except for Jin. But the man himself had probably avoided the details so Yuma could hear them from the source herself, so he didn't press the issue.)

He didn't really have a clue, but everyone was mad at Mori for some reason. Mad, and yet all carrying regret for not stopping everything that had transpired. All he knew, was that she and Chika were together. Then, they weren't.

Chika was safe, but Mori wasn't.

Honestly, the only reason Yuma was mad at her, was because she got herself injured in the first place. Idiot got herself landed in a hospital, honestly.

(If she waited for Yuma to cover her back, she would've been fine.)

He didn't really care what had actually happened, no matter how curious he was. It didn't matter in the end, because Mori was still alive.

Except that wasn't what everyone else thought.

(If Yuma stuck around to cover her back, she would've been fine.)

People often forgot, Yuma did nothing but fight in a war for the larger part of his life. And before that, the only ones he had to speak with, were Yugo and Replica.

His social skills were absolute shit, beating Mori only by a small margin.

Then, everyone felt awful all of a sudden. Yuma watched silently, expressions dropping one by one as Mori wondered out-loud why they were so worried about her in the first place. Karasuma lectured her and tried to tell her that she mattered to all of them. Everyone at Tamakoma.

(And yes, he understood everything they said. But didn't they see, Mori would never understand just by being told? Her worth, what they had all seen in her, she wouldn't understand why they cared until she saw it for herself.)

Living life on a war's battlefield had done wonders to Yuma's social perspective.

Going back to the first point though— Yuma wasn't all that shocked. It was always a possibility, he had all the pieces.

Mori had always cared for Chika more than herself. She gave up on her dream for the younger girl after all.

Mori didn't have a high self-esteem, which brought in self-worth issues. And people that didn't think their lives were worth anything, believed that they had nothing to lose.

And sure, she'd shown on occasion that she had a (barely) functioning survival instinct, and didn't want to die (on purpose), but that didn't quite matter.

If Chika was in danger, Mori would give up her life a hundred times if she could. All to save Chika.

Hearing the truth about what happened during the invasion wasn't climactic.

It should have been expected, that's all.

(…Why did this come as such a surprise to everyone else?)

-0-

I felt a light pressure on my forehead, the gesture making my eyes snap open in shock.

Yuma chuckled lightly, eyes suddenly seeming a lot more sullen than he'd been letting on since Mori had seen him since waking up.

Since the invasion.

"You look like you were expecting me to gat mad at you or something."

I blinked, suddenly overwhelmed by relief. Why? "…I— Sorry. I don't know what I was preparing myself for."

"It's fine, I get it." He leaned back, drawing his fist back from my forehead and slumping in his chair. "Ever since you woke up, everyone's been lecturing you. Getting upset. They want you to understand how much you matter to us, but that's not how it works. I've been watching you for long enough to know, no matter how much we say, you won't see what we do." He paused, a sudden smug grin lightening the mood. "Then again, not to brag or anything, but I am your best friend. It's no wonder I'm the one that knows how your weird brain functions the most often."

"…Sorry, but my mom has you beat in that department," I jokingly admitted, setting my fork down with a near-silent 'clatter'. "I just… I didn't know what I was doing. And I want everyone to understand that, that's why I've never been afraid to admit that I'm dumb. I don't think for a lot of the bigger decisions I make, and put too much thought into the little things. That's just how I am."

"Yeah, I know." He laughed, messily cutting the last pieces of his okonomiyaki into pieces with the edge of his fork, only barely succeeding. "You've up-front told me so many times, I was starting to get the idea that it was your motto."

"Could be."

"That's a horrible motto to live by," He reached over to pat my shoulder. "You should change it."

I pointed at him with mock-grumpiness, the tension slowly leaking out of my shoulders. "You, my friend," I bit into a piece of the savoury pancake. "Need to stop being so blunt."

"My social skills are non-existent," Yuma shamelessly admitted, mouth half full of okonomiyaki as he spoke. His expression sobered up once again afterwards, though it was difficult to take him seriously with chipmunk cheeks full of food. "But honestly, my dad's been one of the only people I could speak with for the bigger chunk of my life, Replica just behind him." Yuma swallowed, eyes glazing over as he stared off into the air. "Dad was a pretty straightforward guy. He didn't believe in the social crap that seems to exist wherever I go—"

"I did not swear so you could throw the words back in my face. Don't say 'crap', I swear to god."

"—Boys could cry without consequence, girls could be stronger than men, adults were responsible for guiding their children, not controlling them, and problems were better off being shared with family and friends that you could trust, instead of ignored. That's how I've lived my life with Replica and dad, so I don't really understand what goes through your mind at times."

I paused. "…Mom didn't raise me with the so-called 'social-crap' mindset."

"Yeah, but it got hammered into your head because of the society around you," He retorted, expression as carefree as ever despite the heavy topic. "Can I finish?"

"If you have somewhere you're going with this," I grumbled, leaning into my palm with my hand supporting my head.

"What I'm saying, is that I want that kind of bond with you," He continued seriously. "I want to be able to trust you, and while most of the time I can tell exactly what you're thinking with just a glance… I don't get your more complicated thought process at all sometimes. I want you to trust me so that you can talk to me without feeling like…"

He paused. "…Without feeling like I'll abandon you the minute you mess something up. I know you don't have much faith in yourself, but by extension, it's almost like you don't trust me as much."

"I want to be a better friend. Is what I'm trying to say."

After a few moments of bleak silence, where I determined that he was finished for the moment, I shakily exhaled, slumping and allowing my head to fall onto the table with a slightly louder 'thud' than I had intended.

My bangs shadowed over my eyes, and I slipped my glasses off and set them down beside my head as I rested my face on the flat surface, inches from the burning grill built into the table.

There were a few more moments of silence on both of our parts before Yuma cut in with a slightly confused "Mori…?"

I didn't lift my head up quite yet. "Mm?"

"…Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I took a deep breath. "I'm just trying to gather my thoughts. I don't know how to phrase what I'm about to say next, but I feel like a shitty friend."

"You shouldn't."

"Maybe," I paused. "But I do. Can I talk—actually, more like ramble— for a few minutes?"

I heard a slightly louder sizzle —probably since my head was resting beside the grill— just before Yuma's voice sounded out. He probably made his own attempt to push a pancake onto his plate. "Sure, go ahead."

A deep breath.

"…I think that other than Rinji, you're my very first friend. Like, other than anyone that I consider family, like Chika and mom. And even then, Rinji was still like Chika in that aspect. You mean more to me than anyone else, but since I'm sort of new at this friend thing… I don't know how to act. I'm not used to having someone to lean on, someone that I'll rely on, someone that will rely on me with unwavering trust."

I thought back to the confident grin he gave me when he asked me if I'd go for a high score on the first training simulation. He had no doubt that I could achieve it if I wanted to. No doubt, whatsoever.

"And you did trust in me, no matter how much I don't get where on earth it came from. And I feel like I've put my trust in you too, but that's something that I'll have to hear your own opinion on. I don't get where a lot of your faith has appeared from, or why you have such a high opinion of me…"

A flash of the C-rank booth lobby, where Yuma had challenged Midorikawa. I didn't get why he had done it at the time, or why he had demanded that the latter treat me with respect and announce so brazenly that I was his captain, but I think I get it now.

"But I don't want to betray the trust and respect you gave me. So I'll try to hold on until I can… See whatever 'worth' you saw in me, and I'll trust that if I ever do something wrong, you'll let me know. If I ever slip up, I'll… try to have faith, that you're a better person than my insecurities think you are. I'll try to hold on to the hope that you won't leave me behind, no matter what."

I finally dragged my head back up to look into his eyes, facing his completely shellshocked expression head on.

(I feel lighter.)

"So, Yuma," I began, my voice unknowingly shaking. "I apologize in advance for all the trouble I put you through, but will you be my friend?"

There was a long pause before he chuckled under his breath. There was a strange sort of amusement swirling around in his eyes, but it was accompanied by an emotion I wasn't as familiar with: pride.

(...Why is he proud of me? Have I really changed... that much?)

"You know," He laughed. "If I were anyone else, I'd probably think that this was a confession."

"…Sorry, this is probably really rude to say, but not in a million years." I smothered a grin, my expression shaking at the sudden humour brought into the situation. My hand was outstretched over the table, and he reached out to shake it firmly.

"I didn't think so." He chuckled, slipping something into my hand at the last minute before we pulled away. "No offence, but I wouldn't ever date you either. 'In a million years'."

A mini Replica, fitting perfectly in the centre of my palm.

The one that I had left in my school blazer, the one I had been wearing during the invasion. The bloodstained blazer had probably been thrown out by now, but he managed to grab this before it was disposed of.

He lifted up his own mini Replica, probably the one that had accompanied him during the invasion after the Trion soldier himself headed over to protect Chika and me.

"We've got a goal to strive towards now. Are you still going to object to aiming for No. 1 now, or will you let Chika, Shiori and I drag you there without question?"

I let out a startled giggle at that, pushing back the tears in my eyes as my gaze remained on the lifeless Trion soldier in my hand.

"I'm still going to put up a fight on that front," I began, haphazardly shovelling another okonomiyaki onto his plate as the mini-Replica rolled around in my other hand. "But now, we definitely need to go on that expedition mission as soon as possible. No matter how much attention that attracts."

(This was all we needed. I just wanted him to be beside me, and he just wanted me to see my so-called 'worth for my own eyes. So we'll wait together, until I see it myself.)

The pancake landed lopsidedly on the side of his plate. He made a face at it, and I let out another laugh at his expression.

"Man, we suck at this." He frowned, before giving up and jabbing the whole pancake onto his fork and lifting the whole thing up in one go, lifting it towards his mouth. "I get why you do since one of your arms is in a cast and all that, but why me?"

I tucked the mini Replica into my pocket, pushing my plate away as a near-unnoticeable, dull ache formed in my stomach.

(Probably ate too much, but I don't really regret it. I don't regret any of this meeting.)

"It's probably painful to watch us, for all of the regulars and employees around here." I watched him shovel the whole fried meal into his mouth, before eyeing another okonomiyaki he had begun cooking on the pan. "—Also, how much are you planning on eating?!"

He paused, before glancing up at me, expression slowly twisting with a grin. "For the invasion, we got a really good bonus for all of the hard work. So I can eat as much as I want."

He glanced down at the slowly cooking pancake again, before shrugging. "They probably also wanted to give us proper compensation since you almost died, and they hid it from the public… But we also had my black Trigger. Oh well, we got paid, so I have more money now."

"Jesus Christ," I muttered, amusement rising in my stomach. "They gave us an award? I didn't think they would, given that Chika was still a C-rank."

"About that." He slid the spatula underneath the sizzling snack, attempting to flip it onto his plate. He miserably failed. "They were mostly using the award-prize-things as an excuse to rank Chika up so she could have a Bail out Trigger, and so, she got a promotion."

"Oh, that's how it happened." I watched in faint amusement as he scowled at the pathetically folded pancake. "I was wondering about that, since she can't shoot people… So she couldn't have gotten enough points to rank up through the solo rank wars route, and I was kinda curious."

"Yeah, so that's how it happened." He shovelled the savoury treat into his mouth again (swallowed it whole, what the hell Yuma), eager to try flipping the next one correctly.

(Is this a game to him at this point?)

"Is that your fifth serving?" I dryly asked with barely concealed amusement. He gave me a wide grin, eyes rising from where he'd been staring at the other okonomiyaki cooking on the pan.

"Maybe," He waved the spatula around with a smirk. "I wasn't keeping count."

He, very carefully this time, slides the utensil underneath the pancake, trying to lift as much of it as cleanly as he could. He glanced at me and gestured wordlessly, but I shook my head.

Shrugging, he tossed it on his plate and I sighed at another failed attempt. "As much as I'm glad that the important, heavy stuff is out of the way…" I smothered a laugh at the sight of his displeased expression. "Is this what you're going to be doing until you get it right?"

"I 'ill do it pro'erly," He vowed solemnly, the moment ruined by his mouth full of food. "'ne day."

"Right, right." I watching him finish the serving within seconds, fork and spatula raised to scoop up another one. "Dude, just give up. Watching you eat so much is giving me a stomach ache."

I watched with a horrified fascination as he narrowed his eyes at me, mouth stretching into a wide Cheshire grin.

"Never."

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

A metal spatula cut right in front of Yuma's own, the sharp edge nearly grazing my friend's utensils as the offending object slid underneath the pancake perfectly, lifting up, and slapping down on Yuma's plate with perfect accuracy.

Yuma blinked in shock, and the two of us glanced up at the person looming over our table menacingly.

Sharp, narrowed eyes flickered between us two irritatedly.

Yuma pouted, setting down his utensils to cross his arms with mock-irritation. "Why'd you do that? I had it that time."

The tall teen snorted, black hair flicking around wildly. "I don't think you did, midget. It was getting fucking aggravating watching you—"

"MASATO!" An older voice yelled out from behind the counter, causing the teen to turn around to the source. "We've got other customers around, keep moving!"

"Geh." He waved off the man lazily, before turning away from our table. "I'm getting to it, just hang on."

I heard him curse under his breath, just before he was off.

I broke the silence after a few long, tense moments. "…Someone like that works here…?"

Yuma took my words as an invitation to continue eating, picking up his okonomiyaki with his fork. "Who knows. Had a mouth almost as bad as yours though."

I scowled, poking him in the cheek. "For the last time, I'll swear if I want to."

"Then don't complain when everyone at Tamakoma picks up some of your foul language."

I brought my hand back down, resting my head on my palm again as I turned to the black-haired teen slowly trudging around tables and talking to customers. "…That's some impressive hair."

Yuma glanced up, red eyes scanning the spiky black locks. "Yeah, I guess so."

He paused, before squinting dubiously. "…How does it stay like that?"

I flicked my working arm upwards, waving my fingers as I moved. "Magic." I paused, considering said hair for a moment. "The spikes do look really cool though. I didn't see any sign of gel though… Magic doesn't seem too far off all of a sudden. That's amazing."

The teen jolted all of a sudden, before spinning around and glaring at anyone daring to look in his direction. He didn't seem to notice us again yet though.

"He scowls a lot too." Yuma pointed at me, poking me in the cheek to accompany his words. "Kind of like you."

I slapped his hand away lightly, hiding a grin behind my hand. "I do not scowl all the time. Besides, you're one to talk about hair. Yours is inhumanly fluffy, it's ridiculous."

"I think I saw sharp teeth too," He commented. "Is that normal for Meeden?"

I opened my mouth but paused halfway as I turned back towards the black-haired teen questioningly. "…It's actually not…?"

I think I heard Yuma mumbled a careless 'that's so cool' in between bites, but I was distracted as the teen once again, jolted and looked around with a scathing glare. This time, he did see us, and his eyes narrowed as he met gazes with me.

My eyes widened, and I leaned back in my seat as he began stomping over in our direction. "Uh."

Yuma looked up, okonomiyaki hanging halfway out of his mouth. "What'd you do this time?" He met eyes with the teen and blinked without a single change in expression. Even as the male stood at the edge of the table again, eyes even angrier than last time. "…Oh. You. You're back?"

"Look, whichever one of you fucks is doing that—" His sharp eyes flickered between us two, shooting daggers with a single glare. "—Cut it out, or I'll kill you."

"Doing what?" Yuma asked, twirling his fork in his hand absentmindedly, short stature requiring him to tilt his head upwards to meet the teen's eyes.

'…He's acting weird.'

"For fuck sake—" The teen fumbled for words, gesturing vaguely with irritated movements. "—…That."

The two of us only lifted a questioning brow slowly, and the male let out a string of curse words under his breath that I took note of so I could repeat them later.

"Look," He waved a sharp, metal spatula in Yuma's face, sending an irritated glare towards both myself and my friend. "Usually, I'd beat the ever-living crap out of you, but I got roped into this fucking job for today. Just don't fucking look in my direction, it's distracting, and everything's going to be peachy. Clear?"

I noticed Yuma raise an amused eyebrow, and I could already tell this situation was going to end in disaster.

"How can I stop, when I don't even know what I'm doing?"

The moment the slightest hint of mockery leaked into Yuma's expression, I saw the teens eyebrows draw together in frustration and anger. Mostly irritation though, as if there was—

…Oh.

Now I think I get what Kikuchihara meant from before, although it's only a little obvious. Or is it because I can notice the slightest body language with my side effect…? Great, now I feel like a creep.

"Do you have a side effect?" I asked bluntly, just as the teen reared back his arm with the spatula in frustration. I caught everyone at the table off guard apparently, as the teen paused mid swipe and Yuma's eyes widened near-unnoticeably, amusement fading in an instant.

There was a long pause, in which I slowly regretted ever opening my big, fat, mouth.

"…What the hell?" The teen growled, turning back to me. "What the fuck is up with—"

"Masato!" A middle-aged man yelled, audibly the one that had yelled at 'Masato' earlier. The man stepped up behind the teen with a scowl, hand lashing out with his index finger pointed sternly at the door. "If you're not going to work and only fight with customers, then take it outside!"

The three of us had approximately ten seconds where we exited the restaurant in a hurry, the small time frame a blur of kicking, screaming, and hurriedly paying the bill, just before we were all awkwardly standing outside of the store.

The teen, 'Masato', turned to send us a scathing glare as he jammed his hands in his pockets. His voice was poisonous, and I wobbled on my crutch to stand (I was NOT hiding—) behind Yuma as the teen turned to us.

"This is all your fault."

-0-

"…So." He began, and I looked off to the side awkwardly as his (toned-down) glare slid to Yuma. "Shrimp." Then to me. "Four-eyes."

"I am growing increasingly sick of that nickname," I grumbled uselessly under my breath, leaning heavily on my crutch. "But sure, I guess that'll work for now."

Then, after a long, tense silence, Kageura snorted.

Yuma's smile didn't waver and with his arms crossed over his chest, and he didn't even turn to me as he spoke. "I think he's laughing at us, captain."

"Oh, calm down shrimp," Kageura growled, slamming a fist into Yuma's head. I bet that if the latter weren't near-immortalized in a Trion body, he would've flinched at the force of the hit. "I just find it hilarious, how the so-called 'dark horses' of Border are toddlers. Fucking funniest shit I've heard in a while." He leaned over Yuma menacingly, and I decided to avoid commenting on the obvious height difference. "How do your opponents even manage to hit you, midget?"

"… 'Dark horses'…?" I repeated dubiously. "Who came up with that…?"

Kageura stood back up and gestured vaguely into the empty air, the streets nearly empty of people with the invasion's aftermath nearly over. "Even I knew about it, and I don't watch the fucking logs. Fuck, everyone's freaking out about it. A C-rank —not even an official team— got one of the highest awards from the damn invasion… And then utterly clobbered everyone in the first round of Rank wars. Not to mention, they didn't even need their so-called 'captain' to do it."

He paused, eyes only briefly noting my crutch. "I see it wasn't for the same damn reasons that were being tossed around though. Fucking rumours, I swear to god."

(… Rumours are being tossed around already?)

"This is a thing?" I looked at Yuma. "First you're the 'White demon', then Chika was 'Tamakoma's Trion cannon'… Now 'Dark horses'…?"

He nodded, slight amusement bleeding into his expression. "It's hilarious."

"See?" Kageura snorted. "You two aren't the arrogant jackasses I thought you'd be based on the rumours going around lately. Makes me fucking sick." He paused, before turning to us with a poisonous glare. "Though if you pull the shit you did earlier again, I'll kill you."

"What'd we even do…?"

I elbowed Yuma lightly with my good arm. "It probably has something to do with his side-effect. We were talking about him, it's probably something do with that. Some kind of perception-based thing, maybe."

"You two were fucking talking about me." He kicked Yuma in the legs and just barely refrained from doing the same to me as his eyes flickered back to my crutch. "I knew it, it's such a gross feeling. What the fuck was there to talk about anyway?"

"Mori was commenting on your hair," Yuma gave away shamelessly. "I thought your teeth looked cool too, but how did you get your hair like that?"

Kageura's scowl stretched. "I didn't do anything to it, it's just like that."

Yuma blinked, eyes sliding back up to inspect the messy spikes flicking out. "No way. Really—Let me see!"

Kageura jumped back, avoiding Yuma's quick hand as he ducked. "Get the fuck away from me!"

"Wait, how did you get it to be like that naturally? It's so spiky—"

"BACK THE FUCK OFF, YOU DAMN GREMLIN!"

I sighed, watching the two boys interact with a small, amused smile.

"… They're getting along well, I'd say."

-0-

"Do we really need a plan for this…?"

Chika nodded patiently, while Shiori muffled a giggle with her hand.

"Konami said that the next two teams are so-so," Yuma commented with a grin. "Which means that they're going to be a challenge, so we need some semblance of a plan."

"Some semblance of a plan." I scrunched my face up, stuffing a cookie into my mouth. "… I might be able to manage that."

"First things first though…" Shiori moved the laptop over closer to herself and away from us. "… You need to fill up your Trigger slots. And practice with them."

I blinked, pausing mid-chew. "I forgot about that."

"How on earth did you manage to forget…?"

"I think I already know what I want though," I continued eating, shoving another cookie in my mouth. The four of us had gone through half of the bowl, which Chika soon dragged away from me and towards her and Yuma. "A few shooter Triggers, and a Scorpion just in case someone gets too close. The Meteora is nice and I like it, but it doesn't have too much versatility in close-combat. It really only worked against the actual Trion soldiers themselves, but it'd only work half the time against another Border agent or a humanoid Neighbour."

"And yet, you picked it," Yuma smugly grinned at me. "Just because you wanted to blow things up."

I shoved my hand in the back of his head and glanced down at the Triggers scattered on the floor in front of us. All four of Tamakoma-2 had gathered to sit on the floor of a training room, set up like a miniature picnic for us to enjoy watching me mess around with Triggers and all of us to formulate plans for our next rank wars battle.

"Astroid is a must." I twirled said Trigger in my hand, eyes straying to the makeshift-label on the Trigger holder with Shiori's familiar handwriting decorating the label. "Along with that, I should get two shields, a bagworm… And Hound sounds good. That leaves…"

"One leftover Trigger spot." Shiori adjusted her glasses with a proud gleam in her eye. "I think that's a pretty well-rounded Trigger set, do you want me to put it together for you to practice with, right now?"

I hadn't responded yet, but she was already tearing apart the Trigger holders and retrieving the Trigger-chips held inside.

"… Please do."

"A Scorpion, huh?" Yuma laughed, leaning backwards. "Brings back memories."

"I wish it didn't." I stared off into this air with an unintentionally bleak expression. "One of my many, near-death experiences."

"That was completely your fault though," He complained, and I pointedly ignored Chika's fondly exasperated shake of the head. "You ran right into battle."

With nothing in mind to retort, I jabbed two fingers into the back of his head.

"Alright, you two should stop that." Shiori chopped me lightly in the head, handing me the Trigger. "You have a lot of catching up to do, missy, we only have two days until our next match."

"Yeah, yeah…" I stood up, shaky without my crutches. The doctors had given me permission to walk without them, as long as it wasn't for long. "As long as I don't aim anything at you guys, I'm free to go crazy, yeah?"

I was given an encouraging nod by my sister, a loose thumbs up from Shiori, and an excited grin from my best friend.

(Two days. Two days to catch up, two days until our next fight.)

"Trigger… On."

(… I've got this.)

-0-

"What happened?" Konami whisper yelled, peeking around the corner of the doorway. "It's like a switch flipped, They're not— They're not angsting anymore!"

"You're not sulking anymore either, Konami-senpai," Karasuma retorted dryly, just before she reached over to punch him in the side.

"I don't wanna hear that from you!"

"Well, all's well that ends well," Jin leaned against the wall, facing away from the door that the four agents were gathered around. "Told'ja it'd work itself out eventually. Mori had a chat with both Yuma and Chika-chan, don't worry about it. Though Kyosuke's lecture was a nice touch too."

Kizaki reached over and accepted a rice-cracker from Jin politely. "They're all doing well, it seems. All of you are feeling better too."

Jin blinked, the two teens beside him not too far behind.

"…Now, what'd you mean by that, Reiji?"

"Nothing," The taller man denied, biting into the snack. "If you didn't notice it yourself, then there's no reason to mention it."

"You guys are being vague and annoying again!" Konami complained angrily, the younger team inside the training room thankfully not hearing her loud voice. "That's it, get into the other training room! Free-for-all, right now!"

"Eh…?" Jin laughed with faux-casualness, stepping back near-unnoticeably. "I forgot to mention it, but I have a job that I need to do right now—"

Konami grabbed the edge of his collar, preventing his escape. "I don't care if you have an errand, we're going to fight! All four of us, right now! I'll beat the snot out of you!"

"Konami-senpai, he was lying. Jin-senpai doesn't actually have anything to do right now."

The female gasped, looping an arm around Jin's neck. "HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME!"

"Ow, ow," Jin laughed. "Now now, let's not—"

"Maybe we should make teams this time," Karasuma began casually. "Maybe, 'everyone vs. Jin-senpai' this time, just to see how it'd go."

"…You young'uns are so cruel…"

"Jin, people are going to think you're an old man if you keep talking like that."

"Et Tu, Reiji!?"

-0-

I was bodily flung to the side, an explosion having been set off just a bit to close to myself. The blast was decently powered, but not nearly strong enough to reach my teammates, who were quite a ways away in the corner of the training room

"Fuck—"

"Language!"

"Oh, shove it!"

-0-

February fifth, Tamakoma-2's second official Rank wars match.

"Tamakoma-2's opponents today, are the close-combat oriented Suwa squad, and the long-range Arafune squad. Two units with clear-cut fighting styles!"

"Since Tamakoma-2 is ranked lowest, they get to pick the stage. They'll want to get the topographical advantage."

"Ok, the stage has been decided! The stage picked by Tamakoma-2 squad is—!"

-0-

"…Why don't we just… Pick something without a reason?"

Mori gained some strange glances from her teammates, and she groaned as she glared lightly at her computer screen. "Seriously, is this necessary? Both Yuma and I are better at improv anyway, while Shiori and Chika are amazing at adapting. Why don't we just pick something random so everyone will get confused? They'll wonder what the reason we chose the stage was when we don't actually have one. It'll throw them for a loop, make them paranoid."

There was a brief moment of silence before Yuma snorted and buried his face in his hands.

"…I guess that's our crazy captain for you."

Chika giggled, while Shiori pat their captain on the back encouragingly. "As expected of Miku-chan. Only the weirdest ideas."

Mori blinked, sitting crisscrossed on the floor with the rest of her team. "What? It was just an thought, and I was being serious. My side effect makes it easier to make plans on the fly for me, while Yuma comes up with the best ideas up on the spot. And you two are flexible, I trust that you'll be able to handle whatever we think of."

Shiori scrolled the page of stages randomly, while all four of them shut their eyes in preparation. "Alright! The randomly chosen stage of today is….!"

-0-

"—CITYSCAPE E!"

The large screen in the lobby shifted, and a photo of a large, empty city was shown. The buildings were more modernized than most of the other stages, with skyscrapers reaching high—although not unreasonably so—with little space between buildings, parking lots, and other geographical landmarks. There were four particularly tall buildings, one reaching what you'd expect of a famous skyscraper, and the other three with varying heights although much smaller. The rest of the buildings were still tall, but comparatively, nothing compared to the other four in the city.

Azuma blinked, while Midorikawa whistled. "This is one of the more difficult ones, due to how many floors there are on some of the buildings, huh?"

"Yes…" Azuma inspected the screen. "At first glance, it seems like a great setting for snipers, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. There are many buildings for attackers and shooters to hide behind. Not to mention the seemingly endless number of buildings and floors in the skyscrapers… it's a stage primarily used for large-scale sniper training, where it's easier to find opponents with the larger numbers."

"Such a peculiar setting…!" Taketomi marvelled. "What could Tamakoma-2 have in mind? It'll be extremely dangerous to properly utilize Agent Amatori's cannon abilities with the little space, she could topple over a building if they're not careful! Dangerous indeed…!"

"This'll be super hard for Arafune squad in comparison." Midorikawa felt like he should laugh in amusement but politely refrained. "Suwa squad technically has the upper hand now, but anything could happen with the never-ending number of hiding spots on this map… I wonder what Yu—Tamakoma-2 had in mind right now?"

"Whatever it is..." Azuma glanced up at the screen in mild curiosity. "...This match is bound to be interesting."

-0-

"This is going to be glorious," I stated firmly, staring off into space as I flopped on my mat lazily. "We're going to win, no matter what."

"Mori, you shouldn't stress so much," Yuma lectured me, stepping up to the side of my bed and leaning over my head with a comforting grin. "Just remember what we talked about last time, right?"

I took a deep breath, memories flashing through my mind.

Yuma tapped my head casually. "If you can't believe in the trust you put in yourself—"

"—Then believe in the trust you guys put in me," I finished quietly, which I capped off with a hesitant smile. "I remember. I even have Replica in my pocket in case I get lonely on my own."

"Do you now?" He laughed, although not meanly. "I keep mine in my pocket at all times, even in my Border-Trion body. It's nice."

"It is comforting," I admitted, taking a few deep breathes before I sat up. Chika was standing by Shiori—who was seated at the desk— with a comforting, determined smile. All three of us were decked out in a teal-like blue, with black and white accents decorating the team uniform.

"Who designed my uniform anyway?" I changed the topic jokingly, glancing at my rolled up sleeves. The sleeves had been getting in the way while I was practising with the Asteroid and Hound (They wouldn't have been getting in the way if I just tried giving up on the idea of hiding bullets in my sleeves. But no matter how much Yuma laughed as I blew myself up, I still thought it was a cool idea.) so I rolled it up around my elbows. The gloves were surprisingly comfy, and the collar that matched Chika and Yuma's didn't—surprisingly—get in the way. I actually liked the collar.

"Does everyone remember the plan?" I asked, stepping closer to both girls with Yuma right beside me, hands linked behind his head.

Shiori giggled at me. "By 'plan', do you mean 'Just make sure you have fun, and blow some people up'?"

I nodded, pumping as much certainty as I could muster into my voice. "Absolutely."

"Well, it's almost time." She sat down and gave a playful salute. "Get ready!"

"It's go time," Yuma whispered, just loud enough for us to hear as we faded from the room with a flash of Trion. "We've got this in the bag."

"BEGIN RANK WAR."

-0-

A / N -

Me, at 3AM in the morning today : …..I FORGOT TO UPDATE SHITFUCKFUCKFUCK—