Chapter 8: Arin & Raito

Late on a Thursday night, a young military officer by the name of Raito was sitting in a cafe in Vale, doing paper work or some laptop things, I 'unno... As the closing hours came near, Raito closed up his work and packed it all away in his briefcase and left. However, by pure coincidence, on the street he came across his old drill sergeant from his training campus, Sergeant Grants. As Raito made his way back to the hotel his squad was temporarily situated at, he and the sergeant walked together, reminiscing about old times and such.

But then! The two were walking down the sidewalk, and across the street was one of the local taverns. From where they were, the two soldiers could see a tall, drunken, but somehow undeniably handsome student being thrown out of the bar onto the street. They went over to investigate and realised that they recognised the student: he was an old fellow trainee of Raito's, Arin Heartly.

They noticed that the young man was knocked out from his drunken state, but more alarmingly, he had a gun on him! They could see that there was an odd looking handgun in his coat pocket and decided to confiscate it off the drunken body, to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. Raito was the one who kept the gun.

The two continued on down the street, talking, until suddenly, Raito shoved Grants into an alley way. He produced the gun they took from Arin and shot Grants 3 times. After he confirmed that Grants was dead, Raito ran back to Arin and placed the gun back on his still unconscious body. Ratio then hurried back to wherever his base of operations was.


"... that's about how it went down." Arin concluded his explanation. "I pieced it together from a bunch of testimonies from the homeless. How accurate is it?"

Raito had his head hung low, refusing to make eye contact with Arin. "Yeah..." he mumbled. "That's about it."

"So... Are you gonna turn yourself in?"

"I..." Raito lifted up his rifle and aimed it at Arin. "I cannot."

In an instant, a bullet fired from Raito's gun. In panic, Arin rolled to the side to dodge it and then, with his left arm, shot three bullets wildly at Raito, who stepped to the side. 'Damn it! I have to stop that... I only have very limited ammo.' Arin scolded himself. If his math was still good enough, he noted that he only had four bullets left. "R... Raito! What the hell's wrong with you?!" Raito flinched as Arin yelled at him. "You go ahead and kill the old man, and now you're blaming me?! What gives?!"

"SHUT UP!" Raito yelled as his lifted his head. Arin could now see that Raito was barely holding back tears. Raito then shot randomly in Arin's direction. With his lack of precision, Arin was fortunately able to dodge out of the way of the bullets and make his way behind one of the courtyard's pillars.

He had his back against the pillar. He listened to what Raito was doing, and recognised the sound of plastic and metal clinking together. 'He's reloading... Damn it, I missed my opportunity to attack. That Raito... Has he gone mad? In any case, I'll just have to beat him!' Arin checked his ammo, confirming that he had four regular bullets left. 'I hardly have anything left to shoot at him... But I still have the knife, and Raito obviously needs to aim his rifle from a distance. So I should close the distance between us!' Arin slid the magazine back into his weapon, but then felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder. 'No! Not now!' he cursed as he grasped the shoulder. He took deep breaths and the pain eventually died down. 'I can't let this last much longer...'

Arin firmly gripped his gun, he had a small strategy that he could pull off. He took a step out onto the right side of the pillar, then leaped back to the other side of the pillar. Like he expected, his fake out worked and Raito shot the empty space to the right of the pillar. 'Okay! Arin, you've trained at Beacon for months now, time to show what you've learned!' Arin focus as much as he could on the bottom of his feet, channeling his Aura there. He took a large bound towards Raito.

Raito's eyes widened as the difference between the two closed. He began to adjust the aim of his sniper rifle, but- "Like I'll let you!" Arin already fired the remaining bullets in his clip at him, forcing Raito to block them by twisting his rifle so the body of the gun was shielding his own body. As his final attack in this assault, Arin thrust his gun-knife forward as he reached Raito, hoping to stab him. However, just before Arin was about to make contact, Raito lifted his leg, and kicked Arin in the gut, stopping him in midair. Arin choked in pain as he fell to the ground. Unfortunately, when he fell, Arin landed on his right shoulder, sending bolts of pain throughout his body.

Raito sighed sadly as he saw his former friend lie on the ground, writhing in pain. Arin panted as the pain subsided and lifted up one leg, making him now kneel on the ground. In a desperate attempt, Arin swung his gun-knife at Raito, who simply kicked it out of his hand, making Arin back fall onto the ground. "... why?" he muttered as he once again got to his knees. "Why did you kill him, Raito?!"

"It... It was his fault." Raito replied calmly.

"What?"

"It's all his fault!" Raito yelled in anger. "Do you know what he said?! On the Thursday night we found you?! He said 'It's a pity that the poor man threw his life away'! And the only thing I could think of was 'Don't act all high and mighty! It's your fault that he's like this!'"

"R-Raito, you..." Arin mumbled, unsure how to response to his friend's rant.

"I didn't intend to kill him form the start, but... all I could think of is that if it wasn't for that stupid man's graduation tradition, you wouldn't have got hit in the shoulder... the four of us would've still been together..."

"Raito... I understand where you're coming from, but... you didn't have to kill him."

"I'll admit, my choice to take his life was a bit... spur of the moment." Raito admitted. "But there's one more reason: My life was ruined by him too!"

"Your life? W-what do you mean?"

"The only thing I'm defined by in the army is... attacking you." Raito explained, clenching his fists as he did. "People keep calling me 'The Team Killer' and stuff like that, the hire ups refuse to promote me anywhere beyond a Private, I'm always given the short end of the stick when it comes to jobs... I didn't really think ahead when I killed Grants... but fortunately, everyone thinks it's you. Even your team's convinced. It's over for you." He lifted his rifle up until it was aimed at Arin.

As Raito declared his victory, Arin's heart sank. "But... Raito, you don't have to kill me!"

"Shut up!" Raito let out a frustrated grunt. "Don't think that you're off the hook!" Raito's rifle shook from his shaking hands. "You're also partly to blame for getting your scar! If you weren't so reckless, you wouldn't have gotten in the way of the bullet..."

"What? But you just said that it was Grants' fault!"

"I suppose it was partly... but you also had a part to play! You got injured, sure, but it was your own damn fault!" Raito yelled, his voice trembling. "All because of you..."

Arin was about to open his mouth to argue back, but then a thought occurred to him: '... maybe he's right. Maybe all that's happened is my fault for being too greedy back then...'

Raito lifted his sniper rifle up to his face and aimed down the scope. "I really didn't want to do this, but... goodbye, Arin."

'Yeah, he is probably right... If it weren't for me, I wouldn't have gotten injured, and Raito wouldn't have had a miserable life... Maybe I should just-'

"TOOOOOOOOOOH~!" A loud cry rang through the night air, surprising Arin and Raito.

"What the..." Raito looked up and saw a figure high in the sky, above the building of the courtyard. But then the figure began come closer...

Then, in a flash, the figure sped towards Raito, impacting the base of his foot onto Raito's face. "DREW KICKU~!" Drew cried out triumphantly as Raito began to topple backwards.

"Oomph!" Raito grunted as Drew jumped off his face. Raito stumbled backwards from the impact.

"D-Drew!" Arin gasped Drew landed next to him. "Why are you-"

"Ooowww!" Drew fell on the ground and rolled around in pain. "I didn't know landing stings happen with people's faces too!"

'Wow...' Arin sighed to himself. 'The one time he actually does something that's half cool, and he manages to make a fool out of himself. That... that's a talent.'

Drew got to his feet and shook the foot that he kicked with. "Jeez, that hurts... Oh good, you're okay." Drew offered his hand to help Arin up.

"Thanks..." Arin grasped his partner's hand, still confused with Drew's sudden appearance.

"LEADER!" They all heard Richard cry as he and Nina entered the courtyard. He rushed over to Arin and Drew's side. "Target located! Shall we prepare for retraction?" he reported to Drew.

"Hey Drewy~! Oh, you found Arin?" Nina asked as she caught up.

"Yep! And we'll get Arin back home after we beat this guy!" Drew explained as he pointed at Raito.

"W-Wait a minute!" Arin interrupted his friends' ramblings. "First off, Drew, why were you flying over that building a second ago?"

"Nina threw me." Drew replied blankly.

"Why?"

"Because we heard you guys fighting, and I wanted to make a dramatic entrance!"

"God damn it... But why are you here then?"

"We decided to retrieve and protected you until you are proven innocent!" Richard declared.

"W-What?" Arin gasped. "G-Guys! What are you talking about! I'm wanted for murder! Everyone thinks I did it! If you go against-"

Arin's desperate pleas were stopped when Drew grabbed him by the collar of his coat, his face full of disgust. "Ugh, shut up..." he dreadfully groaned.

"Eh?" Arin gulped, losing his aggression.

"For the past 3 chapters, I've been giving friendship speech after friendship speech after friendship speech-"

"The past 3 what?"

"-And I'm sick and tired of it!" Drew moaned as he stomped the ground in frustration.

"W... What are you four rambling about?!" Raito yelled as he returned to his feet, now recovered from Drew's kick.

"Ah! The villain appears!" Drew declared as he turned to face Raito.

"Apprehending of criminal: ready." Richard confirmed his combat readiness.

"Everyone~!" Nina cheered as she retrieved her baseball bat from her bag. "Let's batter up the bad guy!"

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Raito laughed nervously. "Don't you remember all the evidence? Arin's the criminal!"

"Is that so?" Drew grinned menacingly. "Cause from what I heard, you're not exactly innocent yourself!"

"Wh-what?"

"Let's just say a friend of a friend was out and about on Thursday night. And she saw a certain someone take this Grants guy into an alleyway..." Drew grinned as Raito stared in horror.

"... You..." Raito grunted as he shook in anger, failing to find words to argue back.

"And now we must disengage the criminal!" Richard yelled, pointing at Raito.

"Yeah!" Nina also cheered. "We're Hunters! And Hunters do this sort of thing, right?"

"Yeah, I think so..." Drew responded.

"Guys..." Arin smiled to himself. "You... did all this for me?"

Drew quickly turned his head to Arin, his face back to being angered. "Dude. Enough explanations. Friends, teamwork, good. Got it memorized yet?"

"Hehe..." Arin chuckled as he walked over to his gun-knife and picked it up from the ground. "Yeah, bud! I'll remember it!" he laughed as he beamed at his teammates.

Drew shuddered to himself. "Arin... Arin's smiling..."

"I-Indeed... It is unsettling" Richard also tensed up.

"Did he really just call Drew 'bud'?" Nina asked.

"Aw, shut up you three!" Arin chuckled as he joined his team and faced Raito. "But Drew?"

"Yeah?"

"Not that I'm entirely up for it every time we fight someone... But if I were you, I'd say it's time for that, would you say?"

Drew's eyes widened in happiness. "... Really? We can do that?!" he squealed.

"Sure, go for it this one time."

Drew bounced up and down on the spot before dashing over to a confused Richard and Nina and dragging them beside Arin, and stood in the middle of them.

"Leader, I must ask: what are you-"

"Tremble in fear!" Drew declared at he pointed at a very confused Raito. "The Fiery Hero: Team DARN's D!" Drew shouted, posing dramatically with his arms.

"The Hotshot Hero:..." Arin joined as he spun his gun-knife in his fingers. "Arin Heartly!" he declared as he extended his arm and pointed his gun-knife at Raito.

"He didn't say 'Team DARN's A' though..." Drew silently wept to himself.

Richard saluted at Raito. "Current mission: Apprehension of the Murderer of Sergeant Grants. Status: In progre-"

"Hey everyone~!" Nina squealed as she held a growling Moonmoon up into the sky. "Did you hear? Moonmoon has been very picky with his food lately! I usually mix his meat with nutritional nuts, but he's been poking though the nuts and just eating the meat! I'm concerned about his health... Malnutrition is a big problem with-"

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway!" Drew cut Nina off from her rant. He extended his fist, casually pointing it at a still baffled Raito. "It's Space Time, ya sonuvabitch! The four of us together are..." Drew out stretched his hand. "Team DARN!"

Arin, Richard, Nina and Moonmoon all braced themselves for an explosion. That didn't come. "No kaboom?" Nina inquired.

"Of course not! We're in a city setting! In tokusatsu production, if they were to do an explosion in a city setting, they might permanently damage a building, or hurt someone!" Drew explained. "They might edit in an CGI explosion in post, but for now just roll with it."

"And, uhh, 'It's Space Time'?" Arin questioned the change in roll call.

"It's 'cause in this Arc has we've been focusing on friendship. It was appropriate."

"That still doesn't explain it..." Arin sighed, now regretting letting Drew have his fun. "And what do you mean 'this Arc'?"

"Anyway, for now..." Drew drew his sword. Arin readied his knife-gun. Nina took out her baseball bat. Richard held out a small, rectangular, black device, no bigger than his thumbnail. With the press of a button on the side, an orange material emerged from it, and with the sound of air being sucked in, a basketball was left in Richard's hands. "Team DARN: Attack!"

Drew dashed towards Raito first, slashing vertically at him. Raito held up his rifle and the blade bounced off the barrel in response, making Drew stumble backwards. Nina was right behind him however "Here I go~..." She jumped over the stumbling Drew, hitting the barrel with her bat.

'Like it'll be that easy...' Raito angled his gun to the left so as Nina's bat slid down it. He used her momentum to make her tumble forward onto the ground.

"Like it'll be that easy!" Raito heard Richard cry out from behind him. Richard had strafed around him and due to Raito knocking Nina down, he was now behind him.

'Wh-when did he?'

"As a soldier you should know, all warfare is based on deception!" Richard fired his basketball into Raito's back. It bounced off hi back and back in Richard's hand, effectively winding Raito.

Drew and Nina distanced themselves from Raito. "Arin, now!" Drew ordered as Arin rushed forward.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Arin yelled as he slashed downward at Raito. However Raito was able to raise his arm to block the knife. It impacted with his forearm and left a small flesh wound.

Arin stepped back, and was soon gathered by his team, all ready to continue their attack, and leaving Raito to hold his arm in pain. "Everyone! It's time for the finisher!" Drew told his team.

"Right! And I've got just the thing..." Arin grinned as he retrieved the gun magazine with the dust powered shot. He removed the empty clip and and inserted his new one. He turned to Drew and held out his gun-knife. "Here."

"Huh?" Drew asked, surprised.

"I can't aim straight... You should be the one to do it."

Drew shook his head disapprovingly. "No."

"What?" Arin asked, surprised. He thought Drew would jump at the opportunity to take the finishing blow.

"Raito is part of your tragic past, not mine. This is something you have to settle."

"Drew... But I still can't-"

"Don't worry." Drew gently rested his left hand on Arin's shoulder. "We'll support you!"

"Indeed!" Richard declared as he gripped Arin's left shoulder, more tightly. "It is the common duty of team members to support each other!"

"Yeah!" Nina smiled as she held onto both Drew and Arin's shoulders.

"Right..." Arin took a deep breath and held up his gun to Raito.

"Not so fast!" Raito also held up his rifle and aimed at the team.

Without the team breaking the formation they were in, Drew declared "Finishing move: Team DARN Cannon!"

Raito fired his rifle, sending the bullet at the team. However, in the same moment, Arin pulled the trigger of his own gun. The Dust vial ignited and fired out of the barrel in a large beam. The force at which the beam fired was so great that it knocked team DARN over. Then the laser hit Raito's bullet head on, but the beam was so large that it consumed the bullet and disintegrated it. The beam then continued on to its target, impacting on Raito's rifle and causing a small explosion on it, sending Raito flying backwards into a wall, making a small crater and a small dust cloud from the impact. "No..." Raito coughed after falling to the ground.

The four members of DARN slowly got to their feet. "Okay... Didn't think it'll be that strong..." Arin grunted through the pain.

"I have a possible explanation!" Richard yelled as he jumped to his feet, full of vigor. "Similar to our event in Forever Fall, our combined Aura may have acted as a catalyst for the Dust!"

"Of course it was! Team attacks are meant to combine the whole team's power into one!" Drew passionately explained.

"Drew, I don't think Aura works like that..." Arin sighed. The four of them were standing and staring at Raito, who was slumped down on the ground, coughing from the attack.

"So... we beat him?" Nina asked.

"Looks that way." Drew wiped his hands off of each other, signifying the completion of their mission.

"Now all that's left is to call the police and then..." Richard began checking off his mental checklist until he saw Arin walking over to Raito, with his gun-knife still gripped firmly. "Arin? What are you doing?"

"Y-Yeah. I think Raito's beat already Arin..." Drew said nervously.

"Drew... You trust me, right?" Arin called out to Drew without turning around to face him.

"... Yeah?"

"Then trust me on this."

"... Alright." Drew smiled, losing his all suspicion he had.

Arin continued walking toward Raito. "L-Leader!" Richard complained. "What are you doing?!"

As Arin continued toward his fallen enemy, Raito regained his senses and noticed Arin approaching him. "N-No... Stay back!" he yelled. He picked up his rifle off the ground and pointed at Arin. The barrel had been melted and curled back from the impact of the Dust beam, making it unable to shoot anything, but Raito was desperate enough to use it to smack Arin with it. "I-I'm warning you!" Raito began to flail it about, only for Arin to kick it to the side. Arin stared at Raito blankly. Raito had fear written all over his face. As Arin stood before Raito, he held his gun-knife above his head. Realising that this was probably an attack, Raito frantically tried to back up, but pushed himself further into the wall. "No! Stop!" he cried. He closed his eyes and held up his arms in a cross position, in hopes of blocking him. And then Arin hit him. He lightly landed the base of his gun's handle on the top of Raito's head. Raito opened his eyes and looked around in confusion, only to see Arin smiling gently at him. "H...huh?"

"You know, that was a really stupid stunt you pulled..." Arin chuckled, surprising everyone. "Yeah, the old man was a bit strict at times. And... I guess if it weren't for him, I'd still be with you guys..."

"Arin..."

"But... I guess I'm also blame aswell..." Arin lightly sighed as he stared at the ground. "I didn't trust you guys back then. I didn't trust my friends... I thought that I was all that was need to beat the Grimm -no, I wanted to be all that was needed. And my selfishness of trying to take all the glory came back to bite me..."

"No! Arin, you're not-!" Raito tried to stop Arin's now self loathing thoughts, but was cut off by Arin laying his right hand on top of Raito's head.

"And I'm sorry..." He began to ruffle Raito's hair. "I caused you so much suffering too..."

Raito's eyes starting to overflow with tears. He shoved Arin's head off his head before giving Arin a large Bear hug. "I'M SORRY!" he cried as he broke out into tears. "It's my fault that you got shot! *sob* I knew deep down that it was all my fault, but-*sob*- I just didn't want to admit it! *sniff* And I killed Grants and blamed it all on you, and I cause you so much pain, and I'm just so sorryyyy!"

Arin lightly patted his friend's back, supporting him. "It's okay, buddy..." Arin said, his voice wavering slightly, and trying to hold back his own tears. "I forgive you."

"Ohh..." Nina smiled at the tender sight. "That's so heartwarming."

"Indeed." Richard calmly agreed. "Even I have to admit, I feel for those two. Right, Leader?"

Richard and Nina turned to Drew to see him with tears flowing down his face and his teeth and fists clenched and shaking. "Such... intense... Broness!" he mumbled.

"FOOL! Don't you realise how disrespectful you're being?!" Richard yelled, smacking his Drew on the back of his head.

"Yeah! Drewy, how could you?" Nina pouted. Even Moonmoon, who was sitting on the ground, was whining with disapproval at him.

"But... it's just so beautiful, man!" Drew managed to get out between tears.

The argument was cut short by the sound of sirens filling the air and red and blue lights flashing from the entrance of the courtyard. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance to see Rosalind and Jean rush in, with pistols raised at everyone. "Freeze!" Rosalind barked. And then she spotted Arin. "You..." she spat as she dashed towards him. "You won't get away this time!"

Raito got up and stepped between Rosalind and Raito. "Rosalind, wait a minute!"

She grinded to a halt in front of Raito. "W-What is it?" she hesitantly asked, confused by Raito's intervention.

"I..." Raito gazed over to Arin and then back to Rosalind. "... I have a confession."


And so, Raito explained everything. How he killed Grants, how he framed Arin for it, how he lied in front of every one... Rosalind and Jean's faces remained blank and detached from reality throughout Raito's explanation, only showing hesitance when Raito put up his hands, asking to be arrested. Rosalind's hands shook slightly, but eventually she cuffed him and calmly escorted him to their car and put him in the back seat. Rosalind and Jean seemed to have an expression that was a mix confusion and sadness. Arin walked up to them, patted their shoulders and said a few words to them. Drew and the others were too far away to hear exactly what he said, but they gave a weak smile in response. The two got in the car and drove away...


Later that morning, 7 a.m., team DARN's dormitory.

"... So, after much consideration and reviewing the facts, I, as the leader of team DARN, have come to the executive decision that... you deserve this." Drew ended his long-winded speech by handing a can of beer to Arin, who was sitting on their couch.

Arin accepted the tin can and chuckled to himself. "It's warm, you idiot."

"Well jeez, if you don't want it..."

"Hehehe, I'm kidding! Thanks." Arin thanked as he opened the can

"Yeah, you better be grateful..." Drew sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "After, what, three days of running around Vale looking for you? I'm the one who probably deserves it..."

"Yeah... I think we should keep you far away from alcohol..." Arin mumbled as a bead of sweat rolled down his head.

"What's that supposed to mean? I think I'm old enough to drink!"

"You really aren't... And it has nothing to do with age, you just aren't mature enough."

"Yeah, even I have to agree with that." Nina peaked up from behind the couch from grooming a reluctant Moonmoon.

"Oh, like I need to be told that from the pet lover." Drew sarcastically retorted.

Nina looked up and gave Drew her signature evil glare. "Could you repeat that?..."

"N-Nothing.."

"LEADER!" Richard cried out as he burst the door open, holding up a newspaper. "I have the early morning paper, as you requested!"

"Good..." Drew reached over and retrieved the newspaper from his teammate's hands. "I can't wait to hear what the press has to say about our fight! I can just imagine it! 'Beacon Students apprehend dangerous murderer'..." Drew's smile faded as he held it out and read the headline to himself.

"Is... anything wrong?"

" 'White Fang heist foiled by Hunters and Huntresses in training'..." Drew recited the headline. He then flung the paper into the corner of the room. "This is absolute bull! Why aren't they covering us?!" Drew huffed and sat down on his bed, arms folded like a child.

"There weren't even any reporters at the place! How do you expect them to get a story about us?!" Arin yelled back.

"Well... I still think they should've covered it! Damn it, whoever it was that fought the White Fang are jerks! I mean, who does that?!"

"'Whoever it was that fought the White Fang are jerks. I mean, who does that?' Another great out-of-context line from Drew Naywing..."

"Wait..." Drew walked over to the fallen paper, picked it up and began flicking through several pages. "I can still read the comic strips."

Arin let out an audible sigh, covering up his content smile as he gazed at the scene of his partner grinning to himself. Arin then turned to face Nina, continuing to groom Moonmoon's fur. 'Her love of her pet...' He then turned to Richard, standing to attention beside the door as he hasn't gotten permission from his leader to be dismissed. 'His strictness...' And finally, he looked over at Drew, chuckling lightly to himself. 'And his... idiocy... Raito, Rosalind, Jean, I wasn't a good enough teammate to you guys. Hell, I wasn't even a good enough friend to you. I was egotistical and greedy back in the day. But now, I have another chance... And I'll try my best to help these guys out, and be the best friend I can be!'

"Oh Garfield, you can't eat all that lasagna!" Drew chuckled lightheartedly.

'... 'try' being the key word.'

AN: Aaaaand... Arin's Arc is over. It's hard to imagine it, but reviewing all the major plot points and arcs I have planned coming up, we're about a third the way through team DARN. So congratulations to everyone who soldiered on through the horrible jokes and lazy writing! You just have to get through all that, times two and you'll be done with this!

But yea, next time it's Richard's Arc! And do you remember how Richard uses a basketball? There's a reason for that...