This is basically a continuation of where I left off last chapter.

POV: 3rd Person

The moment Lucca left one of the entrances to the base, he deactivated his trigger. The red uniform disappeared, replaced by a black jacket and white shirt, as well as a pair of jeans.

Lucca looked over at Rei. "Not turning off your trigger?"

"I'll wait until we get closer to the shop. The less effort I need to exert in my regular body, the better."

Lucca stored that information away for later. Few details were so insignificant that he would ever leave them out.

As Lucca and Rei started walking to the coffee shop, they were completely unaware of the fact that they were being followed by six people at once, who incidentally had all decided that there was something suspicious about their squad member walking around with other squad member. Some of them did have their reservations though.

"Are you sure we should be stalking them?" Kitora asked. "I doubt Lucca's going to like it if he finds out we're following him."

"Oh come on Kitora. It'll be fine." Satori said.

"I still don't understand why you all decided this was a good idea. Or why I was dragged into this also." Kitora said, referring to everyone in Arashiyama Squad and Nasu Squad.

"Hey, it's important that we keep an eye out for our own squad members, right? And this is the closest that Lucca has gotten to being on a date." Satori said.

"Still, it doesn't take all of us! And why do you care so much about whether or not he's hanging out with a girl?"

He looked mischievous. "Hey, supporting our team is a good thing."

Kitora sighed. She was never really one to understand Satori's train of thought. Instead, she turned to the next member of the squad. "What about you, Tokieda-senpai?"

"I'm concerned. Lucca's never actually travelled around the city without one of us accompanying him before." Tokieda said.

"Alright, that's actually a legitimate reason." Kitora said. At the very least, it made sense that Tokieda was concerned for Lucca, as he interacted the most frequently with him.

"I'm taking him back home later." Arashiyama said.

"I guess that one works also. But it doesn't explain why we're stalking him right now, Arashiyama-senpai." Kitora asked. He pretended he didn't hear the question.

"I'm worried about Nasu-senpai going off with a Neighbor like this." Kumagai said, concern on her face.

"How do you know that Lucca is a Neighbor?" Tokieda asked. Last they checked, the information wasn't released to all of Border, although it technically wasn't confidential.

"We met him when he first came here. He was stuck under one of those new model Trion soldiers at the time and we got him out. We figured out he was a Neighbor a moment later when another one of the new models came through the portal to attack us. He destroyed it with one shot."

"Huh. That's interesting."

"That reminds me, why are you here Akane-chan?" Arashiyama asked.

"Because I want to make sure this goes well for Nasu-senpai." She said. "That and the coffee shop has some good soft-serve ice cream."

Kumagai looked exasperated. "You and your ice cream."

Kitora thoughts ran something along the line of "My coworkers are crazy."

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca

Once we were about a five minute walk away from the shop, Nasu deactivated her trigger. As her trion body was replaced with her regular one, which pretty much looked the same except for the fact that she was wearing a blue cardigan over a plain yellow shirt instead of her Border uniform. Which was fine by me. We looked like completely normal people.

The moment she deactivated her trigger though, she looked exhausted. She might've collapsed too, if I hadn't caught her.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She nodded. "Just give me a moment."

A moment later, she recovered and we started walking over to the coffee shop. As we were walking, I kept my side effect trained on her, watching to make sure she was really fine. After about two minutes of being sure that she was fine, I deactivated it. Gave me a bit of a headache though.

Nasu noticed me rubbing my forehead. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Small headache. Nothing to worry about."

Physically speaking, her body was somewhat weak, but it was technically healthy. There must have been some other condition that kept her body weak though, otherwise she wouldn't be acted the way she did.

After Nasu ordered some coffee for us (I was still learning how to read stuff), she sat down at a table while I waited for the coffee. Once we got that, I brought the coffee over and we started chatting.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Well first things first, I'm curious. Where are you from?" She asked.

"Ah. I'm from Liberi, the marine nation."

"And you guys bartered?"

"Yep. We didn't have a real monetary system. We just traded based on what we did and didn't have. Payment in the Liberi military pretty much consisted of us getting small allocations of certain resources, which we would use to trade with other guys."

"Oh. Why did you leave?"

POV Change: 1st Person, Rei Nasu

I'm pretty sure Lucca was about to answer, but then he suddenly stopped and looked over my shoulder, facepalming himself as he saw who it was.

"Could they really not give me a break?" Lucca asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't turn your head, but literally all of Arashiyama Squad is about twenty meters away, trying to look inconspicuous, as well as your own squad."

I took his word for it, but I didn't understand what the problem was. "So? Akane-chan likes the soft-serve ice cream that they have here. And the rest of the members in your squad might just be here for a small break."

Lucca shook his head. "Nope. Not a chance. They're here to spy on us. I can tell that for sure. The way Satori's eyes seem to lose focus on anything the moment I look his directions is a clear indicator. Same goes for everyone else there. Satori's is just the most obvious. Although Kitora looks like she doesn't want to actually be here."

I'll admit, I was a bit irritated. The first time I get a breath of fresh air in my regular body in a while and I'm being spied on. Almost like it's that first date where your friends spy on you just to see how it goes.

"Should we stop talking?" I asked.

Lucca shook his head. "That would make them more suspicious. But I guess it really doesn't matter. Your squad knows that I'm a Neighbor, right?"

I nodded. "We figured it out after we figured that your trigger wasn't Border regulation. Speaking of which, where is that trigger?"

Lucca raised his left hand slightly, showing me the fingerless glove that he was wearing… no wait. The glove isn't on his hand, is it? My eyes widened as my gaze went from the glove to the fingers. There was no seam or sleeve where the glove ended and the finger began. It was like…

"You noticed it, didn't you? That this glove is grafted onto my hand, right?"

I nodded slowly, not sure of the meaning behind this. It was somewhat horrifying though. "What did the military do to you?"

Lucca shook his head. "The military didn't do this to me. I willingly let it happen?"

"But what is the glove?"

"Besides being a trigger?" Lucca asked. After getting a nod from me, he continued. "It's also the last memento I have of my sister Aria."

"Last memento… as in what?"

"I'm technically not allowed to say what this actually is." Lucca pointed out.

"Wait a second. You don't mean that glove is a—"

"Yes, it is." Lucca confirmed.

'Black Trigger' were the words left unspoken, but I understood well enough what he meant. After all, there's only one way to make a black trigger. And they're technically supposed to be kept secret from the public.

"So that's why you're in Border now?"

"Yep. The deal I made with Kido. I join Border as a regular member and offer the power of this trigger in exchange for protection."

"That's an interesting deal."

"Yep."

"So what have you done since then?" I asked. He couldn't just have been working as an agent that entire time."

Lucca shrugged. "Not much really. Just learning the culture here and occasionally cooking for my squad."

"You can cook?" I asked, somewhat incredulous. A Neighbor moves here from and he already knows how to cook?

"Hey, I did it all the time back when I was in Liberi. Cooking styles may change from place to place, but the tools remain relatively similar."

"Who did you cook for?"

"Mainly myself and my sister."

His sister. He hasn't really said that much about her. "Can you tell me more about your sister? You said she was sickly, but you didn't really elaborate."

Lucca shook his head. "I'd rather not. Same way you would prefer not to talk about your condition."

"Oh…" I guess that's fair, but I really want to know more about her.

"Although," My head perked up when I heard him say that, "You do remind me of her somewhat."

I was curious. "How so?"

"The way she told people to mind their own business when they asked her if she was sick. You respond in almost the exact same way" He said.

I took that information in, not sure what to make of it. Maybe that's why he was willing to talk with me. My thoughts were so focused that I didn't even realize that I almost collapsed. Lucca, on the other hand, had noticed almost right away and had ran over to steady me before I fell.

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca

"Are you alright?" I asked.

Rei nodded. "Sorry. I'm just exhausted from being out for so long…"

"Does this happen a lot?"

"Only when I go out for too long. It's why I decided at first not to get coffee with you."

All of a sudden it made sense. When we're off duty, we're supposed to have our triggers deactivated so people don't immediately identify us as agents if they think we're familiar. That's probably why I don't see Rei outside at all. It would also explain why she waited so long before turning off her trigger. Going out without her trion body must put stress on her physical body. Normally, a flesh and bone body could take on that strain, but with her weaker body, it must exhaust her faster.

I shook my head. "It's alright. We should probably get you back home now."

As I looked around, I noticed that the shop was suspiciously devoid of any Border agents, stalkers included. Weird. But that doesn't really matter right now. What matters is getting Rei back to her home. What would be the best way though? I could probably carry her, but that might not be the best option for us. While my sense of direction is really good, I'm still not adjusted to Mikado City. It hasn't even been a week since I got here, after all. In fact, it's only been five days. Getting her back faster is better, so maybe some other method would work. Not sure what though.

"What's the fastest way to get back to your place?" I asked.

"Maybe a taxi?"

"Taxi? What are those?"

Rei looked at me somewhat incredulously. Well, as incredulous as an exhausted girl can look. "You're telling me that it's been a week since you got here and you still don't know what a taxi is?"

"Hey, give me a break. I don't travel outside of Border that often. So what is a taxi?"

"Basically they're cars driving around that you can get into to get to places. You just need to pay for them."

"And they know how to get from place to place?"

"Once you give them an address, yes."

"Huh. Never knew that. That's convenient."

I took her by the shoulder, carrying her outside where I waited for a taxi.

"Wait a second, what do they look like?"

Rei just pointed one out. Which was conveniently located close by. Suspicious.

Once we got in, she gave the driver the address and we sat in the back, just waiting for the driver to get to said location. Once we got to said place, I paid the driver and helped Rei out of the car, helping her walk to the door. I'll be honest, I was a slight bit ticked with the person who opened the door.

"Where exactly did you guys go?"

Yuko Kumagai looked at me confused. "What?"

"Don't give me that. You guys come to the same coffee shop as us to spy, and then you disappear into nowhere? I mean, come on! Where did you guys go exactly?"

"Umm… well… we kind of decided to go back after a while? I mean, you two were just talking, so we figured we could leave you be, I guess."

I sighed. It didn't explain the conveniently located taxi earlier, but I guess I can figure that out another time. For now, getting Rei back safely was all I was really concerned about.

"Whatever. Just help me out here and get her to a bed so she can rest."

Before I left, Rei asked another question. "Hey, Lucca?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we talk more often? I really enjoyed talking with you." She said.

I thought for a moment. "Pretty sure it was more of an interrogation instead of a chat."

"Alright, that's true. But next time it'll be more of a chat, alright?" She asked.

I thought about it for a moment. Talking was fun, but going to the coffee shop again was probably a bad idea, seeing as Rei collapsed there earlier and it was kind of a hassle to carry her all the way back. Chatting at Border wouldn't be that great of an idea either, seeing as we were technically working at that time and professionalism was a must at work. Not to mention I would probably never hear the end of it from Satori.

"Any places in mind?" I asked.

Rei must have been reading my mind, because she had an idea right away. "How about you come and visit me here?"

"Come again?" Did I hear what I think I heard?

"I mean, it would be helpful if someone else could come by when Kumagai isn't around. And sometimes I just need a bit of casual conversation."

"I was under the impression that the two of you lived together." I said.

"We do, but I can't work every day."

"Huh. I guess I could come by." It'd be a good idea to check up on her every once in a while if possible.

"Great! It's settled then."

"I guess. I'll see you later, Rei."

What did I just agree to?

POV Change: 1st Person, Yuko Kumagai

After Lucca left, I turned to talk to my squad leader. "Nasu-senpai, are you sure you're alright with this?"

She was confused. "What do you mean?"

"He's a Neighbor, he calls you by first name, and you'll be home alone with him. None of which are good ideas." I pointed out.

"He's also a really nice guy who's suffering from culture shock. Besides, I want to know more about him. He's really interesting to talk to."

Know more about him… she doesn't mean that, does she? "Nasu-senpai, do you have a crush on him?"

Said squad leader's face almost turned bright red. "No! Well, maybe a little bit… but it's not like that!"

I sighed. If she was going this route, at the very least I could try and make sure she wasn't hurt during it. "Just… be careful, alright? I don't want you hurt or anything like that."

"I think you might be worrying too much about this."

No, I don't think I'm worrying too much.

POV Change: 1st Person, Lucca

The next day at our operations room, I had a few choice words to say.

"Really guys? Spying?" I asked.

The rest of Arashiyama squad looked rather abashed at being berated by me, seeing as I usually wasn't the one doing the berating.

Satori was especially nervous. "Umm, what are you talking about?"

"Come on. You guys were in the same coffee shop, spying on us. Why in the world would you do that?"

"Would you believe that we just wanted to grab some coffee?"

"Not a chance. Especially not when you actively try to look inconspicuous. It makes you look way more suspicious."

"Huh. So don't try too hard to look inconspicuous. I'll remember that next time I need to spy on someone."

…

"Ok fine, I'll stop spying."

I sighed. My squad is crazy. "By the way, you guys didn't happen to order a taxi, did you?"

Arashiyama answered that question. "That would be Kitora. She figured you could use a way to get back to the house. We thought the two of you could use a little bit of privacy."

"What do you mean, privacy? It's not like we're a couple!"

"Oh come on, there's no need to—"

The phone started ringing, which stopped the conversation for the moment. Arashiyama went over to pick up the phone. After a few moments, he hung up. "That was the general manager. The press conference is starting in a few minutes."

"Press conference?" I asked.

"Basically a bunch of news reporters ask Border some questions. Mainly about the most recent invasion." Kitora said.

"Oh yeah. That invasion. There were 15 agents that quit, right?" I asked.

"Numbers were updated. We're at 20 people who quit." Ayatsuji pointed out.

"Not to mention six people died and 32 trainees were kidnapped." Tokieda said.

"Let me guess. Rabits?"

"Yes and no. The trainees were kidnapped by the rabits, yes, but there was a humanoid Neighbor that invaded the base to disrupt our situation. That's the six deaths that happened."

I was confused. "How'd the Neighbor get in? You need proper trigger identification to get in."

"This one used the air vents, from what I heard."

I frowned. "Air vents?"

"Apparently his trigger lets him transform into a gaseous state."

Wait a moment… "Neighbors send at most two people with black triggers. And Hairein was one of them, which meant that the other one that usually accompanies him was there as well. That already adds up to two. The gaseous trigger is also a black trigger. Did the portal trigger user not appear?"

"If I remember the reports correctly, agents actually engaged with a total of four black triggers."

"Four? What happened to Aftokrator to make them that desperate?"

"We're still trying to figure that out."

Huh. "Should we check out the press conference?"

"Sure, I'll turn on the television." Arashiyama said.

With that, he flipped on the television and we all watched the press conference.

Pretty sure this was a pretty awkward chapter, especially in flow and such. Hopefully I won't do too bad next chapter.

As always, R&R

And please don't say something along the lines of 'next' or 'next please'. That is easily one of the most pointless reviews someone can leave, due to the fact that it's not all that useful for figuring out what I can improve on. I want criticism, not just people asking for more stuff.

XWX