So yeah, time to meet Tachikawa. Also, it just occurred to me that there's no real end goal to Promises.

POV: 1st Person, Lucca

"Excuse me, I have an appointment with Tachikawa-senpai in a couple minutes. Do you mind letting me in?"

"Tachikawa-senpai having an appointment? I haven't heard anything of this. Are you A-rank, B-rank?"

"Arashiyama Squad."

Shinoda had arranged everything with Tachikawa so that I would take lessons from him, which was really nice of him. Unfortunately, he forgot to account for the very annoying person that was at the door. Who kept insisting that I wait outside while he did a check on what I was doing here. Unfortunately for said person, I was about two ticks away from blowing up his trion body with a meteora or an asteroid. Probably an asteroid. I don't really want to cause damage to the base, even if it can be repaired with trion.

"Those of us in A-rank no. 1 don't have all the time in the world to deal with others. And someone from Arashiyama Squad having an appointment with Tachikawa-senpai is rather suspicious in and of itself."

"Technically, General Manager Shinoda set up this appointment for me."

"All the more suspicious. Do you have any proof that Shinoda set up this appointment?"

At this point, I was losing patience, so I formed about two hundred blocks of trion to aim at him. "Listen here you little piece of shit. You can either let me in and we can talk through this civilly, or I can blow up your trion body and walk in over your unconscious body. Now, which option will it be?"

The guy fell down as he tried to get away from me. I think he was trying to speak or beg for mercy, or maybe something else, but I couldn't really hear him.

"The first option. As amusing as it would be to see the second, I'd rather that you didn't blow up our squad member." A new voice said from the door.

As I dissipated the blocks of trion, I turned to the guy at the door and bowed down. "Sorry about that. He was really testing my patience."

He waved his hand in dismissal. "It's alright. Yuiga acts like that to a lot of people. I'm Kohei Izumi, shooter for Tachikawa squad. You're Lucca, right? The guy who made record time for reaching A-rank? I saw some of your solo rank replays while our captain was reviewing them. I have to say, that's some really fancy shooter work that you have worked out."

I shrugged. "I'm mainly here to learn how to use Kogetsu right now, though we could exchange ideas on shooter strategy from time to time, I guess."

"Hey, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. Maybe after your lessons with Tachikawa. Does that work?"

"Eh, next lesson. I have to help the rest of my squad with working out enrollment stuff, as well as patrol afterwards."

"Aww. I guess we can wait until then. Come on in."

When I walked into Tachikawa Squad's operation room, I noticed Tachikawa pretty much right away. Honestly, it was pretty hard not to notice him, as he was staring at me with an interested look in his eye.

"You're Lucca, right? The Neighbor that sensei asked me to teach regarding using Kogetsu?"

I nodded. "Yep. That's me."

"Seeing as it's a request from sensei, I can't really deny you, but before we start, I just have a couple questions."

I nodded. "Alright. What are your questions?"

"First off, you're a Neighbor with a black trigger. Why do you need lessons on Kogetsu? With your black trigger, you could technically qualify as an S-class agent directly."

Ah, so that's what the questions are going to be about. "Two reasons mainly. First, I don't want to rely that much on my black trigger. Secondly, learning how to use Kogetsu will indirectly improve my ability to use my black trigger."

"Alright, that's fair. Second, what exactly are you doing here? I heard a lot of the details from Shinoda regarding how you're here for protection, but is there anything else to it?"

"Let me guess, it seems too convenient that a Neighbor with a black trigger suddenly decides to show up and offer his abilities to Border in exchange for protection?" I asked.

"Exactly. You have another motive, don't you?"

I shrugged. "Guilty. Though said motive is more of a personal goal than something that has to do with Border. If I don't achieve it, that's fine. There's a good chance that things will still work in my favor."

"And this goal is?" He asked.

I hesitated. While it's true that everything should still be alright even if I don't achieve my goal, the goal is still really personal to me. The problem is, if I don't tell him, there's a good chance that he will report this information to Kido, and in exchange they'll keep a very close eye on me. Much as I wouldn't mind, it would restrain their resources for defense. And if another large-scale invasion happens, which it probably will, Border is liable to receive more losses.

In the end, I figured it would be better to tell Tachikawa part of it, just to get the curiosity out of his system.

"My goal is to see to the death of two people from my homeworld that have caused me much suffering. While I would like to kill them with my own hands, I will settle for any other method that I can use to kill them."

Tachikawa seemed to register this information for a little bit before standing up. "Right then, let's get to your training today then. I'll teach everything you need to know about using Kogetsu."

I stood up and bowed. "Thank you very much, Tachikawa-senpai."

"The first thing we'll have to go over in using Kogetsu are the techniques. Once you learn the techniques, it'll simply be a matter of practicing them with me until you have them mastered. To do that, we'll be having at least ten matches every single day so you can practice the techniques, though I'm willing to go up to thirty in a day. It's up to you."

"Can we go over techniques for now? I can figure out how many matches I'll need later on."

Tachikawa nodded. "Alright. From looking at the replays of your solo ranked battles, I can say you have a pretty good handle in terms of your battle sense. But where you're lacking—" he pulled out a datapad with multiple clips on it "— is in your offensive variation."

I watched all the clips and started noticing a trend right away. If I force someone into a zone that I create with Viper, I use the same move to attack with Kogetsu every single time. Come to think of it, that's where Kitora and Midorikawa were able to exploit an opening.

"As you can easily see here, your offensive variation is pretty much nonexistent. Which is why we'll start with your offensive techniques. While using shooting triggers the way that you do allows you to maximize your advantage in close-range fights, it won't be enough against an opponent that knows what he or she is doing, as shown when you went up against Kitora and Midorikawa. On the other hand, your defense seems pretty good, though I've noticed that your defensive moves have been more responsive and improvised instead of being standard. Why is that?"

I thought for a moment. "Probably because of my side effect. I process information way faster than anyone else and can make deductions based on the information that I see."

"I see. As it stands, your defense is decent, but can use improvement. Improvising like what you've done works, but the form you use doesn't maximize efficiency. I can't teach you that in whole, but I can still show you some things that will help you improve your defensive ability."

I nodded. "So what are we starting with?"

"Let's start with offensive techniques in general. Afterwards, I'll show you the best situation to use each of them in, based on your opponents' posture and positioning, as well as ways to transition from defense to offense and back immediately."

POV Change: 1st Person, Ai Kitora

When Lucca got back to our operations room, I was a bit surprised to see that he seemed really worn out. Is he going to be alright during patrol?

"What happened to you? You look completely exhausted."

Lucca waved his hand in dismissal. "Tachikawa worked me to the bone. I'll be fine for patrol though. But nevermind that, what do we have to do regarding recruitment?"

Huh. I guess Tachikawa isn't as laid-back as I thought he was. Tokieda-senpai spoke. "Well, recruitment spiked up pretty high ever since the press conference. We have somewhere around 130 potential recruits right now."

That many, huh? And you guys lost around thirty agents right after the invasion? What caused the spike in recruitment? Aria asked.

Ever since Aria made her presence known to us, she's pretty much been a part of all of our discussions. It's been rather beneficial, as even though she wasn't as involved with military stuff as Lucca was, she was still able to provide a lot of insight. And she's actually really fun to talk with from time to time.

"Definitely the press conference. Everyone got really worked up over the news of the expeditions to the Neighbor worlds." Arashiyama commented.

"Yeah, all thanks to Mikumo." I commented drily. Thanks to him, our workload regarding induction just multiplied.

"Well, couldn't we have induction every month instead of every four months then?" Lucca asked.

"That's what we were thinking. There's just one other thing we're having a problem with." Satori said, frowning.

"Oh? What is that?"

I sighed. "We're not completely sure as to how to sort them out. It's a given that we'll only take in around thirty per induction, but as for how to sort them, even I'm not sure."

"We can't just take in those with high trion. It would be unfair for the rest. And there are other areas where trainees are more proficient. We can try making a weighted score to rate them by, but sorting through all of that without a designated program to do so will take a while. We need to make sure that a fair number of people from each weighted group will be in each induction." Arashiyama commented.

"We also considered letting them in by people who tested well in other areas that weren't related to trion, though they might be better for operators. It's a lot of material to sift through."

In that case, why not let Lucca handle it? His side effect can process all of this stuff way faster than a computer.

Lucca groaned. "Way to put me on the spot, Aria."

I almost laughed, but for the sake of being professional, decided against it.

Tokieda nodded at Aria's suggestion. "That would probably work. Lucca's side effect could get through this stuff pretty quickly. Not to mention any more applications that might come through.

"You sure you can handle it, Lucca?" Ayatsuji asked.

Lucca sighed. "It's not that I can't handle it by myself, it's just going to take a while. We can make it faster if you help by typing down the group designations as I make them."

"I don't know…" Our operator commented hesitantly. It did seem tedious, what Lucca was asking help for.

"Two boxes of my homemade daifuku mochi in return for helping." Lucca pitched an offer before she could come up with any particular reasons for not helping.

"It's a deal!"

Everyone couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. Ayatsuji has such a sweet tooth. And Lucca had proved himself the master of making any food that he set his mind to. His daifuku mochi are amazing.

Before Lucca could started working, General Manager Shinoda appeared.

"Lucca, Commander Kido was looking for you."

POV Change, 1st Person, Lucca

"What does he want? Is this about Liberi's military and political structure? I did say I would tell you guys more about it, so that wouldn't be surprising." I asked.

Shinoda shook his head. "Part of it might be, though I guess Kido might want to hear about that later."

When we got to the meeting room, it wasn't too surprising to see the executive branch there, though I was slightly surprised to see a few agents there as well, who I recognized as being members of Kazama Squad.

"Ah, Lucca. Good. Come on in. We have a few questions for you."

I nodded. "Of course, sir."

"I hear you have started taking lessons from Tachikawa. Why is that?"

I scratched my head in slight awkwardness. It was kind of embarrassing. "Well, I was honestly hoping to one day just retire and live my life out in Mikado City. To do that, I want to have a good amount of savings built up so that I don't have to worry about making money. I heard that salary grows larger as you rank up, whether in solo rank or in team rank. To help with that, I asked Tachikawa for lessons so I could get to a good standing in A-rank. My abilities won't cut it without the lessons. Don't worry though, I'll be around if you need help with anything that you need help with. I won't abandon Border."

I think a couple of them laughed. General Manager Shinoda and Branch Manager Rindo even cracked a small smile.

Kido remained impassive. "I see. Thank you for your continued assistance. However, there was something else that was brought to our attention. Three days ago, we heard some rather disturbing things regarding your past. One of our prisoners here told us about how you almost killed him, but not before torturing him to the point that he is scared for his life with you so close by."

So that's what this is about. I nodded. "If you're talking about Hyuse, yes it's true. I did act very uncivilly to him. He tried to capture my sister, and I saw fit to end his life for what he did."

"What we need to know is that you will not attempt to kill him here." He said.

I shook my head. "As a current agent of Border, I will abide by all protocol that other agents follow. I promise that much, commander."

"Very well. In that case, in the scenario where we obtain another hostage, you will not attempt to kill them, correct?"

I nodded. "If I may, sir, I want there to be two exceptions to this rule."

Kido stared. "Oh? Who might these two people be?"

Lucca no! I heard Aria scream in my head, knowing exactly who I was thinking of when I had this condition in mind.

"Auriel and Lia Dux, the current two strongest trigger users in Liberi, holders of the black triggers Pendolos and Skeptron, and my parents."

These are who I was talking about when I told Tachikawa that there were two people that I wanted to see dead. I didn't think I would let out this secret so soon, but if I want to get the permission to kill them as an agent, this is the way to do it.

"Denied."

I blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"If we capture the two people you spoke of, permission will not be granted for you to kill them. They will remain prisoners of war at Border. As prisoners, they will hold much more value than if they are dead."

I bowed as I realized how unreasonable I must have sounded. "I understand sir."

People like mother and father are probably bound to have lots of information that Border could use, from trigger technology to potential hostage exchange.

"Now, since we are on the topic, could you tell us what you know about Liberi?"

I stood up straight. I may have been disappointed by the lack of agreement from Kido, but that was not part of my original agreement. "Of course, sir. As you know, Liberi is the marine nation. As such, they've developed trion soldiers and triggers for the most part that allow for sea to air and sea to land combat, though their land to land combat is no laughing matter. Like all other nations, they have access to trion soldiers that we see quite often from most countries, such as bamsters and mole mods. They also have their own specialized trion soldiers, but those are fit only for underwater ventures. As headquarters prevents any portals from opening outside of the danger zone, we can ignore those. Liberi specializes in defense, as until about three months ago, they had no defeats on home soil in more than eight years. "

"Why was that?" Kazama asked, intrigued.

"Two reasons. First, our specialized trion soldiers are exceptionally good for artillery strikes that we use to prevent the enemy from advancing. Second, I was in charge of organizing the defense of Liberi back to when I was nine years old. Aftokrator's second invasion of Liberi was the first time we ever suffered a defeat. My father, the supreme commander, does not take lightly to failure. He would have taken away my trigger and left me to the streets, so I ran away before he could do that."

"So that's how you eventually ended up here. If you don't mind, can you detail Liberi's black triggers for us?"

I nodded. "Arashiyama Squad has detailed my black trigger for you guys, so I'll go on to the others. There are three other black triggers belonging to Liberi. Pendolos, Skeptron, and Iratze. Pendolos, which belongs to my father, is essentially a speartip on a wire that can be manipulated to move anywhere within its range. The wire is practically unbreakable, and will be left along the path of the trigger. Kind of like a Viper. Skeptron, my mother's trigger, is essentially an overpowered version of our own Hound trigger, as once the user locks onto a target, the bullets from Skeptron will dodge anything that is not the target in order to hit the target. Iratze is significantly different from the other two and is used mainly as a defensive trigger, with its ability to completely repair trion bodies on the go. It basically has an internal battery that is used for trion repairs."

"What are the weaknesses for each one?"

"Pendolos has two weaknesses. Its range is limited, and the user must stay still when creating things with its wires. You could probably win with a couple well-placed snipers. Skeptron has a significant recharge time, during which you have plenty of opportunity to do damage, while Iratze can only repair two trion bodies at any given moment. The biggest weakness though, is that if its battery is exhausted, it will begin eating at the user's trion supply in order to fix other trion bodies. The battery will recharge over time, but it takes about thirty minutes to recharge. I'm not sure as to who holds Iratze at the moment."

"How do you not know?" As I was defensive coordinator for Liberi, they probably figured that I did know. And for a while, I did. There was just one catch.

"Because every single man and woman loyal to me was executed by my mother after the loss we suffered against Aftokrator. Among them, the old holder to Iratze and my mentor. If we could, I would rather pick up this conversation another time." The memories threatened to flood my mind at any moment, and I couldn't afford to let that happen right in front of them. It would raise too many questions.

"Hmm. Very well. Dismissed. Thank you for your time, Lucca."

I nodded, eager to get out of the place before my mind exploded.

Unfortunately, I didn't get very far before my memories triggered and I was incapacitated by a flashback. I couldn't do anything except grip my head and hope that the flashback stopped soon.

Flashback

About a week after the battle against Aftokrator that we lost, the men directly under my command were detained. I was at home when I heard the news. Rumors had been afloat in the military that I might be relieved of Sword Saint, which had me worrying. At least until I heard the news. I practically sprinted towards the training grounds when I heard the news.

There had been only one other execution that occurred during my days in the military. The person in question was Aftokrator's spy, who I personally executed after learning about how he tipped off Aftokrator about Aria's existence.

This time, it was different. I watched in horror as the ten soldiers that had served directly under me were all lined up on posts in the middle of the training grounds. I stepped forward, intending to remove the soldiers from the post. I knew what those posts were for, and damn the consequences, I would get my men down from those posts.

Unfortunately, before I could get there, a group of soldiers appeared, who created a blockade so I couldn't pass.

"What is the meaning of this? Stand aside, now!" I commanded.

"I'm sorry, sir. Our orders come from your father, who precedes you in rank."

"My father be damned! I order you to stand aside!"

"My goodness, Lucca. I thought we taught you to remain composed at all times. We never taught you to lose your temper over a simple execution." The most distasteful voice in the world echoed out from behind me.

I turned around to face my father. "A simple execution? Those are my men that are being executed. What is the purpose to this, General Auriel?"

The smirk on my father's face only grew more feral. "Why, Colonel Lucca, I thought I already told you. We don't accept failure here."

I glared at him coldly. "And yet you don't execute me. Why?"

"Well, it would hardly be fitting for us to execute you along with your guard, who failed to protect you. Besides, family events shouldn't have any casualties from the family in question."

"What do you mean family—" I turned around and caught my breath the moment I saw who the executioner was. "…No…"

Lia, my mother, was standing as the executioner. She was using an Arpio trigger, the closest thing we had to a harpoon, and had it poised above the heart of one of my guard. The look on her face spoke of no regret. Rather, she had the same cruel smirk on her face that father did, almost as if she enjoyed executing people, though I knew this was far more personal.

Before any other thoughts could register, she stabbed the first man through the heart, killing him almost right away. It stopped me in my tracks, as I could only stand there, mourning the man who had been my best friend.

"Alessio…"

The woman next to him who had been his betrothed was next.

"Gemma…"

The next man managed to make eye contact with me. I still remember that one time the two of us got into a cooking competition and I won by one vote. He claimed I cheated because I had my side effect, but it was all in good fun.

"Eustace…"

My mother proceeded to the next two and killed them at the same time. Twins, the two of them. They pretty much did everything together, much like how Aria and I would have been if Aria's body had been more stable.

"Gisella… Ezio…"

At this point, my mind could take no more. But before I could activate Sword Saint and charge in to try and save them, I found myself bound in the wire that was used in Pendolos.

"Come now, Colonel. You can't stop an execution that's been ordered by a higher-up. It simply isn't done. Besides, we'll find a new guard for you before long."

At this point, the only thing I could do was watch as my mother went on to the next person in line and continued her work. I could only watch, as Ark, Seria, Viola, and Lupin all fell at my mother's hands.

As if that wasn't enough, they had put a tenth post up. My eyes widened as I recognized who it was.

I couldn't hold back myself. "No! Stop! You can't kill Lucian also!"

Everyone ignored my pleas, as my mother turned and proceeded to raise the Arpio trigger, ready to plunge it into the man who had been my teacher and more of a father than my biological father had ever been.

Somehow, Lucian heard me. He managed to raise his head and say something. It was only because I was looking up that I was able to read his lips.

"Run." He said.

That night was the start of my long journey that eventually led me to Meeden.

Flashback End

After the flashback ended, I uncurled myself and found my squad leader standing in front of me.

"Lucca? Are you alright? What happened? I wanted to move you, but Aria told me not to do anything until you recovered."

As I stood up, Aria explained. Lucca has this mental disorder where he finds himself reliving the past in flashbacks. It usually happens after he remember stressful things that relate to what happened. Depending on the level of trauma, it can do anything ranging from making him remember the events as he does everyday activities to physically and mentally incapacitating him.

"Posttraumatic stress disorder."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"It's a mental disorder that affects people through mental triggers. A lot of soldiers in militaries are affected by this, especially if they witnessed something traumatic. People in abusive families are usually affected by it as well. Is there anything in particular that can trigger this response from you?"

"Certain events of my past that I would rather leave quiet." I muttered, still in a bit of shock from that flashback.

"Right. What caused it this time?"

Aria took the initiative to explain, to prevent me from possibly focusing on something else from the past. Commander Kido asked for information on Liberi. Something in Lucca's information regarding Liberi triggered his reaction this time. I'm not sure what, as I can't read Lucca's mind.

"I witnessed that execution again." I muttered.

"Huh?" Both squad leader and sister sounded their confusion.

"Lucian's execution…"

Aria's shock was evident. You mean mother actually… Oh no… So that's why you want them dead.

"Who?" Arashiyama asked.

I shook my head. "Another time. I have to help you guys sort out the applications, remember?"

"No you don't. Take a break, Lucca. That's an order from your squad leader. Don't worry about cooking either."

I blinked, surprised. "Seriously? I'm fine, I can still work, you know."

Plus, cooking is actually one of Lucca's favorite pastimes. You are NOT taking that from him. Aria added.

"You are not ordering me not to cook. How are you guys going to survive off that muck that they serve in the cafeteria?" I asked, a playful smile on my face.

POV Change, 3rd Person: Jun Arashiyama

I couldn't help but laugh a bit as we walked back to our operations room. "Hey, the food in the cafeteria isn't bad. Besides, everyone else survives off of it just fine."

"That's because they haven't had a taste of my cooking. I don't mess up meals."

"Then why don't you help from the cafeteria from time to time?"

Are you kidding? Lucca would work them to death with his perfectionist standards for cooking. Aria almost sounded like she was laughing.

"Hey, I wouldn't be THAT mean to them." Lucca complained.

Alright, you would work them to exhaustion. Happy?

"Not particularly, but I guess that's an improvement."

"You two really have that sibling dynamic down." I chuckled. Why couldn't my siblings be like that?

Both Lucca and Aria spoke at literally the same time. "Comes with being a twin."

After all— Aria began

"The two of us—" Lucca continued

Have been at this for ages. Aria finished.

"Did… you two just finish each other's sentences?" I asked.

"To be fair—"

This is hardly—

"The first time—"

That we've—

"Ok, ok! I get it! It's already hurting my head, trying to follow you guys talk."

Lucca had a mischievous look on his face. "Maybe you should take a break, squad leader."

Did he and Aria do all that just to prove that he could still work? "Oh fine, don't take a break. But you're not working on the applications now. I stand by that order."

How about I work on it instead? I can use Lucca's side effect, you know. Aria asked, as we finally made it back to the operations room.

Huh?

Well that was heavy. I wanted to lighten things up at the end. Aria might be a bit unnecessary as a person, but I have fun writing her from time to time. As of right now, there's no real purpose to her, but I have a couple ideas. One of which involves turning her into an autonomous trion soldier, the other being a secret for the moment. One simple hint: She's a catalyst.

Oh yeah, shoutout next chapter to the people who figure out the references/inspirations for these triggers. Two of them should be easy for anyone who's an avid bookworm. You have an indefinite amount of time. Basically until I release next chapter. Which can range anywhere from one week to two months.

Pendolos (Auriel's trigger)

Skeptron (Lia's trigger)

Iratze (formerly Lucian's trigger)

Armatus (Lucca's trigger)