Unneeded

by TheAnimeTrain

The B-Rank Wars have finished and Border's members begin to settle back into their routines however they can. Along with this comes the appearance of new faces along with old ones. Unseen by them all, those who remain unneeded continue to move around.

15. Performance

Inukai's smile fell the moment he received the message.

The group who had beaten Sekai had come across someone else.

He had an instant motion to run away.

Before he could take a full step, someone threw him to the ground and sat down on his back.

"Get off me! I need to make sure Shiro is okay! And I need to get to that demented guy!"

"And what do you think you can do against Misó exactly? It took Kanzaki, Shiro, and help from others to deal with him originally. We need to go on the assumption that he will be the same."

Inukai glared up at Yuki, who was crouched down in front of him.

Kageura was sitting on him, saying something about an "Idiot Cushion".

"Yuki, are you-"

"Hey, Yuki, be careful. You don't want a repeat of things, do you?"

Minoru walked up from the side and placed a hand on Yuki's shoulder.

Remembering what happened between the two of them, Inukai chose to take a breath to calm himself down.

"Right... Sorry about that, Inu. I'm worried about that too. Not just Shiro, Mitsuteru and Urushima were also involved. I'm only saying that going it alone against that guy isn't a good idea."

"Yeah... I get it. I still really want to go, but what we're going to be dealing with here is also important, isn't it?"

"Pyrínas wouldn't have bothered saying anything if it wasn't."

That was right. There was a reason they had gathered here, where they could speak freely without others listening in on them.

Yuki knew that a lot of people were worried now, but they had other people they could rely on for this.

None of them were alone.

Yuki saw him calm down and nodded to Kageura for him to get off.

But...

"Nah. I'm good here. Nice and comfortable."

"Is an Inu Cushion really that good? I would think it's actually pretty pathetic."

"There's a lot of places on this thing that suck, but it gives me some satisfaction."

"Well, I'm not gonna be the one to deny you that," Yuki said with a shrug.

Inukai tried his best to get off the ground, but the way Kageura was actively pushing down on him made it difficult.

"Oh, that's right. I was asked for a favor recently. Does anyone mind if I go now? I really just came to make fun of some people," Mei said with a raised hand.

"When did she become so honest!?"

The people from the same class shrugged their shoulders and turned to Mei.

Yuki spoke up for them.

"Does it have to do with our other former teammate?"

"That's right. She looked like she had been having trouble, and Akasora-san had personally messaged me on the matter earlier in the day."

"Then have at it. I'm sure you will have more fun there than with these idiots."

"Looks who's talking!"

These people never changed.

"...It is good to see that you all remained the same. ...I had been told that you all had spoken about some serious topics recently."

.

...He's finally here.

Kimura's thought allowed Suzaku to make some connections so that they would be able to record everything.

Yuki had been fine enough due to knowing a lot about this person, but that was all there was to it. The rest of them knew of him, but not all of them had a connection with him.

"You're finally here, Pyrínas. But I thought there would be more to it than just this."

Supposedly there had been something they were meant to help him with. That something was meant for other people, but Pyrínas appeared as the only person in front of them.

It meant that something was also being kept from them.

During the recent incident with Yuki, Pyrínas had supposedly done something to help himself and his own personal ego.

Doing something like that could be viewed as dangerous for them, so Border had made it a point for the Yagura Branch to keep an eye on him.

...But he took on characteristics of how Yuki had been, right?

"That means this guy really is going to be a pain in the neck."

"Yeah, he might start doing things with no reason and cause issues, won't he?" said Jinsei.

"I have just about had it with those kinds of things," added Kon.

...I guess it isn't surprising he is getting this much flak around here.

But Yuki had changed since that incident had happened. He had finally gotten over his old way of thinking and effectively crossed the line to where the rest of them were. That allowed him to claim that he could ask for help and not worry about it after that. However...

"It must have taken real courage for someone like this guy to walk right up to a ground of Border members," said Kanda. "He may have a good connection with the Yagura Branch, but that doesn't mean the rest of us will be there for him."

Hitomi responded to him.

Demon Child: "He must have been ready for what was coming. Even now, there could be problems if someone saw him with the rest of us in the Forbidden Zone, but..."

Artist: "If we do help him, there would be hardly anyone who would come forward to actually stand against him, right?"

There was one person who had to consider what that would mean:

"Kimura."

"Right. It feels like we just found so much more we need to do."

"It really does," agreed Suzaku before Hitomi's voice reached them.

Demon Child: "This connects to Misó coming back, doesn't it? You all saw the message left behind because of his appearance, didn't you? We have people who have already met him again."

Suzaku had set the transmission for a private chat, so they did not need to worry about the information leaking out.

Umi: "Pyrínas is someone who has a full attachment to the kids who frequent the Yagura Branch."

Manager: "We might find out more about the situation if we do end up helping."

"But," added Kimura as she looked up.

"Pyrínas. You said you wanted help with something, but it's more than just simple help, right? Considering how well off you appear to be with moving around the city."

However...

"I doubt that even you know exactly what you need help with? What do you have to say about that?"

.

"...You're pretty sharp on the weirdest things."

...How scary, Pyrínas added in his mind as he inhaled.

"...That is true. ...I am not sure what it is I need help with here. ...You understand what that means, don't you?"

He could not say it himself.

And that was why the Hogo Squad Operator quietly said what she said.

"We need to figure it out ourselves?"

Pyrínas did not nod. If he did, it would hold a certain meaning.

...I would be saying that this is more than simply helping me.

That would also mean he would not be helping the ones he had promised.

Of course, he understood that this was due to the memories of Yuki that he had obtained. Those memories conflicted with his optimal thinking as a broken off piece of the Pyrínas System that allowed him to think about things in a way different from anyone else. And...

"I guess that's the sort of things we should expect."

Because...

"You are taking after that idiot over there, right? We understand that things can't be easy for you while you're in that sort of problem."

"...You might be overestimating yourself there."

"I really wish I could say I wasn't. ...But make sure you think about this."

Pyrínas continued while prepared for his shoulders to droop.

"...I am aware that I am acting strangely, so I will be trying to fix that. ...The system I use for my normal thought process is mixed together with something else, so I will need to alter that and reorganize everything."

The Border group fell silence, so Pyrínas continued.

"...I am unsure of what exactly I need your help with, but I have no doubt that you all can help me. ...There is something I want to get done, but I am still in a situation where I am unsure what it is I want to do. ...But that is why I came here."

"So you want us, as people, to help you."

"...That is right," he confirmed, so the Hogo Squad Operator asked a question.

"How will you settle into everything again? How will you change your own mind for this new lifestyle?"

.

Kuni: "Okay, a question. Is this guy really this hard-headed? And if his head is hard, is it this hard? Oops, I was aiming for Mizukami, but I groped Yuki-kun instead!"

Shōgi Boy: "That's doubly insulting!"

Artist: "I mean, this conversation is not something we thought would be happening when he got here, right? It's true that there's something up with Pyrínas-san. ...But isn't this something that someone like Tsukiko-kun deal with at his branch office than here?"

Demon Child: :Kagami, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Manager: "...Oh."

Artist: "Do you get it now, Kawa? ...You see, it's like talking to a child who isn't sure about what exactly they want, just that they know they want something. Those kinds of thoughts are more Tsukiko-kun's, aren't they? It will only cause trouble if others start viewing it as troublesome."

White Fox: "In other words, if Pyrínas is the diligent, wise, and dedicated type and also an obedient, modest, and yet proud man, he might end up causing trouble when he doesn't even know he is causing it?"

TetsuG: "You're just thinking you have something worth praising, aren't you?"

White Fox: "Umi? Punch this boy in the jaw...yes, right about here."

Umi: "I think that's more your risk, Yuki."

TetsuG: "You better get that hand away from my face."

.

Kimura wondered what to do while she ignored the idiots punching each other.

...Really, what are we going to do?

"Hey, so you don't know exactly what you want, right?"

"...Hmm, I supposed I could narrow it down to what I really want, but I am willing to bet that will be a pain in the ass."

"You know, Pyrínas, doesn't that mean you're shoving this 'pain in the ass' onto us?"

"...Huh? ...I suppose so. ...Oh, but there is something missing from this conversation, so maybe I should find a way to fix that."

"I see you aren't denying that it's a pain."

"Crossdressing Kimura-kun, it seems to me that Pyrínas's darkness is only continuing to grow."

Is darkness all you ever see? Oh, wait. you talk about the Warriors of Light too, don't you?

"...Hey, I have narrowed things down without allowing that secondary influence alter anything. ...There is a solution to this problem."

"You mean other than forcing us to know what to do?"

"...You should meet him."

Pyrínas clapped his hands.

A figure appeared in response to that noise.

...He's short.

Someone who was still just a young boy stepped out from the right side from behind Pyrínas.

When he noticed her watching him, he straightened his back and walked forward while facing straight ahead.

The way he walked suggested he had trained in some kind of policy.

...Based on his height, is he a first year?

No, he may have been even younger than that. Also...

"Pyrínas. About that boy..."

Kimura asked about the thing other than his height that had puzzled her at first glance.

"Why is he wearing your usual jacket?"

.

Senshi viewed the boy from a good distance away.

He was an outsider, but the short boy walked straight to Pyrínas's side with his arms held stiffly at his sides.

...Who is that?

There was no answer to Kimura's pervious question, so...

"Are you going to use some other method to provide the answer?"

"...Exactly. ...Oh, and he is pretty young, so use that as a hint. ...Now watch carefully."

Once Pyrínas said that, a light appeared in the sky.

It was a reflected light. When Pyrínas raised his own right hand, several blades flew up above the boy's head.

...A group of swords. Scorpion.

Senshi could tell there were 36 of them, they varied in size, and they had flown up to a height of about 30 meters. And that they were directly above the boy.

Pyrínas remained neutral and spoke to everyone while light was reflected from so high in the air.

"...I will now let them fall."

Fall they did. Almost all of them took a deadly downward course toward the boy's head and shoulders.

Senshi read the paths of all the blades and concluded that staying put was his best bet if he had no way to resist them.

Where he was, he would only be stabbed 28 times, but if he moved, he would be stabbed an average of 32 times.

...Moving increases your upper surface area compared to standing straight up.

But the boy chose to move. This was not hesitation or an attempt to escape. He lowered his hips to fight back. And his chosen method was...

"A sumo stomp?" Senshi wondered aloud.

"No, Senzai." Arafune gave him a sidelong glance. "Look carefully!"

Arafune, you are always so intense when it comes to me.

At any rate, something appeared on the boy's arm.

It was bulky, but Arafune was absolutely right.

...That is not a sumo stomp!

The large object looked much like a gun, but there was a clear distinction between its parts.

And when he swung the object, he dragged around something that shone like the blades above him.

"Chains?"

"No again, Senzai. Look more carefully."

"...You are being mean, Arafune."

Arafune wrinkled his brow, turned the other way, and stomped hard with his right foot. That's the Arafune I know. A truly resonant stomp.

When Arafune turned back around, he frowned and glared with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"It's a blade!"

Once Arafune mentioned it, Senshi could tell he was right.

The large object looked like a gun. But the thing being swung around solidified into that of a blade similar to Scorpion, but more solid than it.

It was clear that he was using a Trigger to deal with this.

"Impressive analysis, Arafune! When did you figure it out!?"

"From the very beginning!"

There is no need to shout, Arafune.

But the boy opened his mouth.

...Oh?

He crossed his arms, sent the blade into the air, and spoke.

"This is not what you told me!"

.

Arafune could tell how skilled the boy was.

...He just got stabbed 20 times.

The shocking thing about the interaction was not that he had been stabbed so many times. It was the fact he was able to lower the count by 8 blades.

After all, staying still would have been fine enough if he was so unskilled.

Scorpion users would have moved more than him with twice as many blades, seen the ways around each attacking blade, and cut down the most dangerous ones that were going for them. While it might sound easy, they would have needed more precision than Kōgetsu users due to the small blade surface that was available.

Breaking enough to cut down the amount of stabs gave them all an understanding of how this boy was without the object on his arm.

This boy had shown them that.

And not just that. It had been done without his knowledge.

Arafune's own experience as an Attacker told him how much difference there was.

...But...

"Is something the matter, Arafune?"

"No, I just have a question is all."

But that was not something to ask now, so he chose to speak with Murakami about something else he had noticed.

"Hey, Murakami."

"Yes, that's right. Something about that caught my attention too."

He took a step forward, and...

"Excuse me. There is something I wanted to ask about what we just saw, Pyrínas."

After speaking up and moving forward, he bowed toward the boy and opened his mouth to speak.

"By any chance, are you a Neigh-..."

But he was cut off by a sudden scream from Pyrínas.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

.

"?"

Arafune and Murakami exchanged a glance.

...What was that about?

However, Arafune knew what Murakami had planned to say, so...

"Hey Pyrínas, there's something we want to know here. Sorry for interrupting, but is he a Neighb-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

When Pyrínas cried out again, Arafune and Pyrínas exchanged another glance.

"What does this mean, Murakami?"

"Right, I have no idea."

"You have no idea?"

Looks like he's still pretty straightforward after everything. But...

"Pyrínas, is he a Neighbo-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Neigh-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Nao."

"...Nao? ...What is Nao supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I was just seeing how you would respond. Although it seems to have been unnecessary."

Still, he more or less understood what Pyrínas's bizarre shouting was about.

"We aren't allowed to talk about where that buy's from, are we?"

.

Umi: "Incredible, Arafune. You actually figured it out on your own."

Artist: "Most of us would just have fun with it for a while. A long while."

Demon Child: "It wouldn't end until the enemy self-destructed or someone else made a victim of themselves."

SenSen: "I expected that from Fuyushi, but not from Arafune. I guess he just wanted to get this over with."

TetsuG: "Hey, Prez! This guy... Tell this guy to get off my back already!"

.

"But," said Kimura while turning toward Murakami. "Murakami, why do you think he is a Neighb-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Eh? Oh, sorry, Pyrínas. ...So, Murakami, why do you think he is something like that? It didn't look like you realized it as soon as you saw him."

"Right." Murakami nodded. "I realized he must be like that because of the current situation. As someone who knows Hoshi, I know how even some of the prototype Triggers look, so this Neigh-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"I'm sorry, Pyrínas. ...Now, I know what majority of those prototype Triggers look like, including what all the standardized Triggers look like by this point."

"Right. I would expect as much."

Kimura knew this because of his Side Effect and that he knew Yuki so well.

White Fox: "The same can apply to even the specialized Triggers. Hoshi really liked to talk some of those things.

Manager: "Well, it was useful when I needed to fill out paperwork. Being certain on things like that can lead to things being made easy, especially with how our squad use to be with these sorts of things. That's one of the things I'm glad about from back then."

In that case, what did Murakami see that is so different?

"Murakami, what connection is there between you knowing that and this supposed Neigh-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Sorry, Pyrínas. This isn't easy."

Kimura asked Murakami a question.

"What connection is there between that and this?"

"Right. I should recognize that Trigger he has on him, in this case."

"Oh, so that's it," said Senshi. "So Murakami could use that toy with the boy when having se-..."

"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Are you okay, Hogo Manager?"

"Um, well, I hope so. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Right." Murakami nodded. "But I have never seen that kind of Trigger anyone in the things from R&D or from the descriptions that Hoshi has given me. However, it could also be a foreign thing, considering how many foreigners we have been getting in the city recently."

"Using process of elimination from there would be a bit of a gamble. But the fact Pyrínas brought him clinched it, didn't it?"

"That's right. I trust Pyrínas because of how he is, so if he were to help someone it would be either a child or a person in a similar situation. And he must have decided this in a rush."

"Hey, hold on a second, Kawa and Kō."

"Yeah? What is it, idiot?"

"Hmm." The idiot tilted his head. "You keep saying things in a vague way, but can't we come up with some name for him. Y'know, since Pyrícchi's gone crazy."

"...I have not."

You are acting pretty crazy. Well, maybe you were just crazy to begin with.

But it would not be that easy to come up with another name like the idiot requested.

"What kind of name were you thinking of?"

"Well, what's his actual name?"

"...Xeno."

"Don't tell them that!"

Life: "Hmm, you could probably change things out for a Z, but we already have someone with a weird name."

Class Rep: "Who's that?"

Shōgi Boy: "He's probably talkin' 'bout Sthe-chan, from SenSen's squad."

Mi-Kon: "Then why not use a misreading of a general thing instead?"

Arafune: "I hate to interrupt, but since those general things are all things involving us as well, using that alone would probably lead to confusion down the road."

Kon nodded at Arafune's comment.

"We can start by taking the Xe from Xeno as a general clarification, but the problem is what comes next. Oh, but I can we can read it as Ze instead. I would like some kind of abbreviation or imagery that would clearly distinguish him from others around us."

She opened her phone.

"Suzaku-kun, please connect me to Akasora-san. Everyone should be satisfied if I receive a hint from him."

.

Suzaku transferred Akasora and Kon's conversation to everyone else's phones.

...He was a teacher, so this should be fine.

After all, he would execute the crazy people during class. That sounded a little wild when put it to words, but the reality was even wilder, so he did not mind. However...

"There, you're connected. Go ahead, Kon."

"Oh? Did something happen?" asked Akasora. "Aren't you in a meeting? Is Kimura working hard?"

"Yes, Kimura has been itching to get started ever since hearing there has been fights all around today."

"Sounds tough."

"That said, I believe we are still in a lull, so you need not investigate further, Akasora-san."

Kimura shouted in protest, but Suzaku felt this much was to be expected.

But then Kon looked everyone in the eye and nodded to say she was getting down to business.

"Akasora-san, we have an important matter to discuss with you, so do you have a moment?"

"Huh? A branch director can't get involved with another branch's actions. ...And I am kind of busy right now."

"Busy with what?"

"I'm having a late lunch. I mean, today has been crazy, so much fighting, right? So I'm having udon and punching some things today."

"I see," said Kon as she closed the connection.

.

Pyrínas saw Kimura Kawaguchi raise her right hand.

"We have decided to call that boy Zentaro."

"Why the hell would you do that!? And what does it even mean!?"

"Our idiots' teacher gave us the idea, so just give up."

"...Akasora, huh?" sighed Pyrínas.

This group of cannibals had their own influence, but that teacher and branch director's words meant a lot. Not even this group or he could defy that man's words here.

That was likely what she meant here.

"...Then I will play along. ...Hey, your name is Xentaro from now on."

Xeno gave him an accusing look, but he did not care. Then the group's idiot called out to the boy.

"Hey! Don't let it get to you, Xentaro! It's better than being called short and skinny, right!? So rejoice!"

Suzunari's Operator sent a fist the idiot's way without even looking to the side. "Ahn!" he moaned while collapsing to the deck with the Operator glaring at him.

"Do not be silly. Now Xentaro must go by Xentaro until the day he dies and that will be a life of hardship. After all, if he removes his pants and does not live up to his name, he will be deemed in violation of contract."

"M-man, the Xentaro Manifesto sounds rough!"

Xentaro gave Pyrínas an even more accusing look.

"Hey, I don't want that name."

"...Don't say that. ...Because arguing with them is useless."

But he did have something prepared, so he patted Zentaro's shoulder.

"...Hey, everyone! ...I have something else to say."

It was...

"...There is actually someone else he is with."

.

Manager: "He has someone he's with!? Suzaku!"

Umi: "He might have some way of dealing with these sorts of things, since I haven't caught wind of this yet."

Manager: "Did you try a...direct search, I think it was called?"

Umi: "Please don't say things when you aren't too sure how to say them... Listen. There isn't a special system for this kind of thing. It's just just that we can't find anything if nothing is used. Even if someone comes along, we won't notice them until they do something."

Secretary: "Idiot? In that case, search for any records of sighting for this kid and anyone else he has been with since he got to Mikado City. Even that guy he's with there, no matter if he's always at the Yagura Branch."

Umi: "I already did that, stupid."

Zoe: "Umi-kun."

Umi: "Eh? Oh, sorry, I guess. I snapped at you because you're always like this. Just stop that we won't have a problem."

Du-Sis: "My brother got there ahead of you and you even had him apologize when he complained about it? How slow and incompetent are you?"

Demon Child: "By the way, he's been going on about something he wrote recently."

Du-Sis: "Ha ha. Oh, is that what this was? Did you want someone you wrote about instead of Cana-chan, idiot?"

Almost Everyone: "Eeeeek!"

.

Now, then, thought Kimura as she viewed the narrowed-down information they managed to find.

The screen displayed footage from earlier in the day and the day before. Yuki had apparently been in charge of keeping track of them and had made sure to get a good image of both of them before being found out by the former Kotowari Squad Sniper.

It was more blurry than it could have been, but it was clear as to what she was seeing. The image was...

"Green hair?"

As soon as Kimura said that, a few of their group reacted: Inukai, Akashi, the Arafune Squad Duo, Kitazoe, the Operators...

...It would be faster to list the ones who didn't react: the idiot, Kon, Suzaku, Kunichika...

That was also a long list, so she realized this too was a mistake. But all those who reacted spoke up as one.

"Green hair!?"

"Yes, I know that hair color is strange, but why do you sound so shocked?"

Demon Child: "You don't know what this means!? Xentaro is an incredible person!"

"Eh?" said Kimura as she turned to look at Xentaro. The idiot behind her must have done the same because...

"The incredible Xentaro!"

"Stop! Don't call me that!"

"Ahhhn, noooo! This Xentaro is increeeeedible! Just increeeeeeeeeedible!"

"Kimura, this is not an act meant to entertain. He has simply been harassing people lately."

"Hey, hey. Can I ask something, you guys? I don't really know what's going on right now so make sure to fill me in on this too. Especially since Tachikawa-san will probably be asking about it if he finds out about it."

"I'm not sure what they're going on about, but...Kimura? Green hair does indeed make him an incredible person. After all..."

Kimura tilted her head as Yuki explained for her.

"Suzume made a doujinshi featuring a boy who likes someone with green hair. He almost always makes the lists of the top three pathetic people for main characters."

"...Huh?"

"Hey! Xentaro! So all you are is big and thick!? Hey, everyone! I think we should give him another kanji to help increase his stamina!"

"Senshi! Senshi! Do not think about what he means! Clear your mind!"

"Prez? Is this some kind of Shinto training?"

But while the cannibalistic group of idiots had their fun, Xentaro was clenching both his fists.

"Stop it! Don't just make up names for people! That's not very mature!"

"Eh? ...Hey, Xentaro! Have you had your coming of age ceremony?"

"What does that even mean!? You make no sense!"

A stir ran through everyone upon hearing that.

"I can have Suzume draw this, right!?" asked Hitomi. "He's chuuni, a something-or-other, and a pathetic Zentaro, so he's gotta be a bottom! Right!?"

"Hey, Kagami!" shouted Kimura. "Restrain your helper!"

"I would, but it's faster to let her do this to get it out of her system," said Kagami. "Kind of like you with fights, Kawa."

"What is that supposed to mean!?"

But there was something she had to ask.

"How is that main character pathetic?"

"Right." Like before, it was Yuki who answered. "He generally had unbelievable results in training, but during actual battles, he would either achieve nothing or run away. And the worst example of that was...hmm."

Yuki scratched his head in hesitation, but finally continued.

"When someone was about to blow themselves up, he was working as a guard for some clan or other. but when their estate was surrounded, he ran away to save his own hide."

.

Arafune turned toward Kimura when he heard Yuki's explanation.

"I believe I know more or less what is going on, Kimura. That Neighbor that Murakami threw during his fight with Denji might be related to this guy is some way, what with both showing up randomly."

"Then this is what Pyrínas wanted from us: a way to get him out of here because others are connected to his situation of being here with someone else, so we should help him?"

"Right," confirmed Arafune while opening his phone.

He had done a fair of amount of research into the current incidents going on at the moment.

"Personally, I could care less about what we end up doing, but this might end up being an annoyance if we leave things as they are. And if we disregard Misaki's doujinshi character, this kid is an unknown person, but he's connected to the Neighbor that had shown up before. There is also the problem we now have with Misó coming back here."

But right as he said that...

"Wait just a minute."

Someone spoke up and stepped forward.

"I am acting as former leader of the Wanderers now. Futoyuki."

.

This meeting had felt meaningful for Futoyuki. After all...

"About that Xe-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Pyrínas shouted and then patted the boy on the head.

"...You shout!"

"Wh-why does it even matter if my name gets out!?"

"...They will claim it is my fault you came here."

"Heyyy!' Hikigane Squad's idiot raised his hand. "Pyrícchi, didn't you bring him here?"

"...What? ...Yes, I brought him here."

"Then it is your fault!"

Despite everyone shouting at him, Pyrínas spoke to the boy.

"...Listen, you can sing, can't you? ...Then try shouting. ...Understood?"

He stared at the boy and inhaled.

"...Hey, Neighbor Xe-...hey. ...You are supposed to shout."

"Huh!? Don't spring it on me like that! Give me another chance!"

"...Fine, then. ...Here I go, okay? Neighbor Xe-..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Pyrínas pressed down on the boy's head.

"...You do not have to match my voice's pitch. ...That was kind of creepy. ...And do it a little sooner than that."

"He sure is demanding..." everyone muttered. Futoyuki agreed, but...

...He really has changed a lot.

A broken off piece of the Pyrínas System was growing as a person, but should he be glad or wary? Futoyuki thought about that as he looked to the boy.

"Sorry about that. The Wanderers have a question concerning the boy."

"Xentaro! His name's Xentaro!"

Oh, that name sounds cool!

This was an important matter for the Wanderers, so he calmed himself down.

"I heard about this meeting from Jin. If what you guys are saying is true, this guy has some connection with the other trion soldier and Misó? I need to make sure so I can do something about it."

.

"Huh? What're you looking at me for, Kawa? Am I just that cute?"

"No, we need to make sure someone like Hikigane won't get in the way. ...The boy is a something-or-other and Hikigane is an Unneeded. In other words, someone who will get in our way."

"Really?" asked the idiot, so Kimura nodded.

"So even if Futoyuki wants this, we need to make sure it's fine."

"What's the deal, Xentaro? Can't you do anything on your own? 'What Xentaro Can Do On His Own'. Hey, Demon Child, how's that for a title?"

"Oh, sorry. I've already told Suzume something like 'Xen-Tits-o' and 'Neigh-butt-or'."

"Two doujins!? He's gonna be a big seller, huh!?"

"Stop! Wh-what is with you people!? Is this what they were saying about being made into paper!?"

"We're probably going to be your saviors anyway," said Kimura. "So just give up now."

"Huh!?" he shouted back at her, but she stopped thinking about it since it was hopeless.

"So how about it, Kirikari?"

"I can't really promise anything for him. But there is something that's bee bugging me since we started talking."

"What's that?"

Kimura's question as followed by a growling sound.

It was coming from...

"I'm pretty hungry. Can we go get something to eat before finishing this conversation?"

.

Zoe: "I didn't want to say anything, but..."

Life: "We can't go to the Red Lightning because of Mei's parents heading over there."

Kage: "My place is out of the question. It'd be too busy for us to get anything done."

Zoe: "And we would have to ask Ariake-kun over, right? Kage really doesn't want to get him involved."

Kage: "When the hell did I say that!?"

Inu: "Aw~ You hear that, Yuki!? Mitsuteru has someone like that in his corner."

Black Wolf: "Oh, I also want to keep him out of this. He just won a fight and had Misó in front of him, so I don't want him building up too much tension."

Kage: "It isn't like that, dammit! If anything, it's because people like this guy will be there!"

Inu: "Hey, don't just point to me!"

Almost Everyone: "We understand."

.

"Alright, it's been decided," Kimura said with a clap of her hands. "We're going to go eat udon."

"Where did that come from!?"

Kimura waved her hand at them all.

"It's easy for all of us to go there. It's right near the Forbidden Zone, so we don't have too far to go. Besides, it gives everyone who isn't here a chance to meet up with us."

"Don't expect Kanzaki to show," said Yuki, stepping forward. "I heard that she's going to be busy training."

"I will make sure that Ōji is there," said Kurauchi.

Kimura nodded to the two of them and turned back to Pyrínas and Xentaro.

"Looks like this will be the case. You have someone to meet up with too, right? You can go get them and meet us there. I assume you know the place, Pyrínas?"

Pyrínas nodded before lifting Xentaro up and over his shoulders. The boy put up a fight, but it was pointless.

"I think I'll go with them too," Futoyuki said.

Kimura was worried that they would continue the conversation without them, but she was stopped by his next words.

"He's a Wanderers fan, right Pyrínas?"

"...That is correct."

"Great! Let's get to talking then, Xentaro!"

"That's not my name! ...Sir."

Will they be alright?

It wasn't their problem at the moment, so she let it go for now.

Instead, she looked over in the direction she knew Kanzaki was training.

I'm a bit worried about that situation, though...

---

In a place atop a white surface below the sky, information from a certain meeting was displayed on floating screens.

The screens were translucent and could be seen from the other end.

"I guess this could also be considered a sign frame, right? Like the ones our mutt uses to fall forward."

The place stood on was the top of the white cliff-like wall on a large building that had been recreated using a virtual room. A meter long torii-style sign frame displayed information on a meeting being held by their upperclassmen.

One of the people reading it there spoke.

"They all seem to be enjoying themselves. Will they be okay?"

It was Suzume. She wore a Kotowari Squad-style summer uniform and stood in the sky beyond the building wall.

She stood on some scaffolding. And rather than a board laid out for a foothold, she stood atop one of the supporting rods.

While the building could repair any damages done to it with trion, there had still been the need for maintenance, meaning things like explosive blast, shockwaves, and wind needed to be accounted for. Some of it had been measured, but there was still work to be done.

Scaffolding of steel had been set up for an inspection and repairs and the tube-like ends stuck out into the sky.

However, the walking surface had yet to be added to the scaffolding. Only a course grid of steel had been built up vertically over a wide area of air.

"All of the steel is about thirty centimeters thick. They make for midair footholds over an area of about a hundred meters. The honestly plan to add on an actual floor and make sure the city's buildings can withstand such things again, but they haven't had time with all the effort going to others places as well."

Suzume spun around on a piece of steel about a dozen meters away from the building.

Below her, thin clouds flowed by and the somewhat blue-tinted ground was visible.

"We're over 3 kilometers up. ...What stage could honestly be grander?"

.

Suzume stepped lightly through the sky. She moved only her ankles to leap to another steel about three meters away. She did not quite make it far enough, but she placed the tip of her toes on the end of the steel scaffolding and pulled herself in.

When she turned back, she saw the rest of the virtual city.

She saw three people there. Mei waved at her, Ken showed off his teeth with his hands on his hips, and...

"Samurai Girl, do you honestly have your feelings in order yet?"

She called out to Kanzaki Shizuka.

...Honestly, I was wondering what I was called here for.

According to to Mei, Akasora asked for her to help with Kanzaki's training.

As far as Suzume could see, Kanzaki had had a lot on her mind. She had fallen from the wall during training and failed when she should have achieved victory in battle.

But according to Akasora's words, this was not just a slump.

"Mei-san...I just have to deal with this myself, right? Heh heh. Everyone wants a piece of me. Have I honestly turned into that foolish boy?"

"Suzume, this isn't a game."

"I know that."

Suzume could tell her eyebrows had risen in a smile. She gently grabbed her right side skirt and stepped back along the scaffolding with her right toe tip.

Then she stood on the edge of the steel with just her right toe tip. This meant only about two centimeters of her foot was touching the steel, but she looked to Kanzaki all the same.

"I will give you the scaffolding I just left. You should thank me."

"Right," replied the girl. "Shitokei-dono, how can I complete this training?"

"If you...oh, right. Suzume! How much can she stab you!?"

"Heh heh. Mei-san, that's simple. It's 'easy mode'. Write that with kanji and it means 'stubborn hairiness'...wait, what is this!? It was honestly supposed to be simple, but now it's looking surprisingly hairy! Hey, Ken-kun, what am I supposed to do now!?"

"Um, Takato-san? Suzu-chan is always like this at school too, but is there anything you can do about it?"

"Hmm. We always leave her to you and your classmates, Satori, so you and your friends can do what you want with them."

Suzume smiled bitterly as Ken's shoulders drooped to say that was hopeless.

That's fine, thought Suzume. If you have any complaints, just come out and tell me. It's up to me whether I listen to them, though.

...You honestly won't be able to make those complaints at school much longer.

They would graduate in another two years and there was the situation with Border. She did not know what was going to happen, but that was why...

"It's best to do everything you can to enjoy yourself as you are."

Suzume placed her right hand on her summer uniform's chest.

"Samurai Girl, stab me here even deeper than before."

Kanzaki would know what she meant by "before": when they had fought at the park. Kanzaki's blade had been unable to fully reach Suzume then.

"Try to do it properly this time."

"Of course. I am grateful."

Kanzaki bowed and made a light jump.

She was coming.

She immediately covered more than a dozen meters and landed on the scaffolding in front of Suzume.

.

As soon as Kanzaki jumped, she noticed movement on the sign frame on top of the area.

Kimura and Taiyōko were involved with something important.

...Those two.

They were fighting. Her last former teammate had also fought today against someone she always viewed as unreachable, yet who had been taken out by a simple boy.

Both Kanzaki and Ariake were from the same squad. Kanzaki had not been able to defeat her opponent, but Ariake had done so readily. But...

...I wonder...

Kanzaki wondered if a gap had opened between herself and her former teammates. There was a clear difference between the people who had won today and Kanzaki who was trying to recover herself. But...

"Now, then," said Kimura. "Let us continue elsewhere."

Yes, thought Kanzaki as she landed on the scaffolding and faced forward.

Suzume was there. And she heard Kimura speak.

"Are you ready?"

Yes, repeated Kanzaki in her heart as she leaned forward. She was preparing to give herself initial speed.

Then she spoke while imagining the speed inside her.

"We are ready."

Kimura was, the others were, and Kanzaki was.

"We have never been more ready."

With her back to Kimura's words, Kanzaki accelerated her body.

She moved forward.

---

"Satori, how much support are you providing as the Sniper of Arashiyama Squad?"

Satori did not understand what that question meant at first.

"Are you talking about Suzume and Kanzaki's training or the meeting going on, Takato-san?"

Mei smiled bitterly and answered without looking Satori's way.

"I'm talking about both. You're pretty strongly in my former teammates' camp, Satori, and you're also in their friends' and allies' camp. And you don't hold back in either case, do you?"

"When you put it like that, I can only say that's due to my personality..."

"So take care of Suzume. There are others, including Yuki, but she decide to leave Kotowari Squad, so she doesn't have the full backing of her squad anymore. She was clearly looking to the next stage."

"What do you mean by the next stage?"

"What I mean is," Mei nodded and looked to Suzume's hair dancing and Kanzaki's hair flying in pursuit atop the scaffolding. "Kanzaki is pretty flexible. I thought she would move more stiffly. ...Suzume is always wiggling around, but she bends pretty far when you go along with it, Satori."

"If I get out of shape and can't do the splits anymore, Suzume always forces me to do it..."

"Ha ha." Mei laughed. "Anyway, about the next step. It looks to me like everyone will be able to act like that."

Listen.

"Border became what it is today due to everyone around it, but things have changed in just a short amount of time. We are here now. We are together now. We work to protect others and we live in this city. We become active when we see we can be. ...So even if this started with a small group of us, thinking of our current situation based on that means to deny what we have now."

"—"

Satori's pulse began beating faster.

In front of him, Kanzaki was pursuing Suzume.

According to Mei, the girl had felt her own limits and wished to surpass them.

That desire was likely a reaction to the current state of Mikado City and Mei's next words seemed based on that premise.

"A foundation is important, but it's just a foothold. What you need to hold in your arms now is a brand new weapon that can break through your obstacles and pave the way forward. And..."

And...

"There are idiots all the city at this point. They're trying to create something new, not preserve something old. That something does not yet exist and you could say our future is lawless until it does exist. In that case, anything goes as long as it seems like the best option. So Satori, take care of whoever you can. That includes Suzume too."

"Oh, come on. I'm still in no position to be taking care of anyone..."

"Right." Mei patted her on the back. "I know you can't say no if I ask you, but I'm asking you anyway. ...Do you know why?"

It was not to increase Satori's sense of obligation. He knew Mei enough to know that. He knew it all the more because Mei knew him quite well.

Mei was saying this:

...If I ever feel like I'm creating a wall between us, I can use this request as an excuse to follow her regardless...

That woman must have seen right through him. Satori was a Border members and Arashiyama Squad's Sniper, so he could not always act freely. His role was often that of a supervisor, so it was often hard to know whether or not he should ask for something himself.

"The others are always acting of their own volition," said Mei. "But Satori, you are also like them. You play a lot with them and get serious with them. So feel free to act first and make up your mind later. You like her to the point of holding yourself back when it comes to her, right? Before you decide whether you should or not, make sure you won't be leaving behind any regrets. And..."

And...

"Just Asano and Kōchō, you're as much of an important person to us as someone like Hoshi. Feel free to follow your heart and go for the answer you like best. I'll root for you, although I'll be rooting for others too. And if you're going to do that, you'll need to get Yuki on your side."

"U-um, uh..."

Satori asked just to be sure.

"What are we talking about here?"

Mei glanced over at his hesitant question and formed a smile on the corners of her mouth.

"You really are hopeless if someone doesn't ask you to do it. You're just like some other idiots."

Satori did not find it weird when this woman spoke of others she knew. And then Mei patted him on the back.

"So make sure you're also just like them when it comes to the fights that truly matter. I guarantee you'll get the answer you want."

"Um, but, uh..."

"Right." Mei nodded with a bitter smile. "We're talking about a very serious issue. ...Now, look over there, Satori."

Satori did so and saw a slow change coming over Suzume and Kanzaki's movements.

Their movements were growing larger.

---

Suzume felt a smile on her lips.

...Finally. Yes, finally.

She was finally feeling it. Her movements were starting to take the form of a large dance.

After all, this was training. She needed to "match" her opponent. So she had sealed away her more serious movements until that opponent could keep up.

She was gradually releasing those movements now. She had initially taken up her position on the scaffolding to judge her opponent's skill, but Kanzaki's movements were growing larger and faster.

...But she still has a long way to go.

The girl was simply matching Suzume's tempo and taking great leaps with a set timing.

Kanzaki was doing nothing more than repeatedly taking a kind of jump she was unaccustomed to taking. But...

"Good."

It was like smelling a food one loved. It was like stepping through the door of one's favorite shop. It was like waking up in the morning and finding that beloved person by one's side.

Kanzaki's movements gave off that hint of greater things to come.

The movements of the dance had seeped into her body.

The order in which she moved her legs and how she swung her body expressed the dance's theme.

By placing all of those movements into a single current, the dance became more than just a form of exercise. It was a medium of expression.

This was the same.

Right now, I am waiting even as I continue to flee, thought Suzume.

It was just like a couple chasing after each other at the beach.

It was just like a prince and a princess attempting to take each other's hand at a ball.

It was just like a brother and sister fighting over the snacks they held.

"But those foolish boys honestly get worn out so easily. Yes."

She was doing more than "continuing to flee". She was also "waiting".

She would occasionally slow the timing of her jump.

But she did more than slow her timing. She would also change direction or adjust her body's movements for the jump after that.

She also never forgot to keep one motion flowing into the next. She would jump, and...

"—"

Kanzaki jumped and approached. Her footsteps were growing louder. She was beginning to put real strength behind her jumps in order to keep up with Suzume's movements.

She closed the distance between them like that, but she had yet to use any acceleration Triggers.

Neither had Suzume.

Suzume used the leaping motions as a part of her dance. From a dance-perspective, repeatedly jumping from one end of the stage to the other was a beginner-level skill.

But Kanzaki seemed unaccustomed to making such long jumps so many times in a row.

Suzume was sending the spring of her body back and forth like a pendulum, but Kanzaki would build up strength, release it, and then repeat the process.

Suzume knew why. Making such frequent long leaps was unthinkable in a battle. And if Kanzaki wanted to make these long jumps more easily...

"Heh heh. You honestly know what you have to do, don't you?"

Suzume narrowed her eyes and looked back toward Kanzaki.

She saw light behind her. It was trion light, the light that resided in Triggers. It was...

"Kiyome. ...Use that to jump after me with everything you've got."

.

Kanzaki activated her Trigger.

To leap in quick succession, she opened the Trigger circles for Kiyome on her leading toes, knee, and shoulder.

The bluish-white sign frames instantly purified her path forward.

...Right!

Her body felt lighter. The space before her contained the chill of clear water. She felt like jumping through there would clear everything up.

She pursued Suzume.

She knew Suzume's jumping technique was based in her dancing skills.

It was a unique technique, but it was still pathetic that an A-Rank of all people had to use a Trigger to keep up with a B-Rank.

"But..."

This was training for her. After deciding to teach her on Akasora's behalf, Shitokei had set up this time for her.

Kanzaki decided she would pursue Suzume without worrying about appearances.

If Suzume was making leap after leap, then...

...I will keep up by using Kiyome's acceleration to double my own leaps!

So Kanzaki made accelerated jumps to keep up with Suzume.

A moment later, Kanzaki saw Suzume crouch down in preparation to jump backwards. And...

"!?"

Suzume had not done anything, yet Kanzaki was sent flying into empty air.

---

Satori did not understand what had just happened before his eyes.

Kanzaki had activated her Kiyome and then suddenly been "thrown" right and diagonally up from her direction of movement.

"...!"

She flew in a parabolic arc seven or eight meters tall and twenty meters long.

The way she flailed her limbs and the way Mei smiled with her hands on her hips made it clear Kanzaki had not done this on purpose.

"Young children have so much energy."

"Youth can send you flying through the air...?"

Satori could receive real time data from the system set in place on people's usage of trion and Triggers. His sign frame was currently showing the data on Kanzaki and Suzume, but...

"Um, Suzu-chan and Kanzaki-san didn't do anything, right? Kanzaki-san used Kiyome and Suzu-chan just jumped backwards. Isn't that right, Takato-san?"

"Could you just call me Mei."

The woman made the request with a bitter smile, but Satori's personality and habits found it hard to follow through.

I'll still try, though! he thought bravely.

Gummy: "Did she fall? Should I have something pick her up?"

Satori looked up and saw Kanzaki spinning around at a height of about six meters.

If she could reorient herself like that, then she was fine, so Satori sent a message to only Ayatsuji.

Twin-Snipe: "I think she's fine. But inform anyone else in the room just to be certain here."

Gummy: "Sure thing. Yup, yup. I'll tell them there's some exciting training going on."

It certainly is exciting, thought Satori as he saw Kanzaki force a midair side flip and just barely get her feet on the edge of the scaffolding. But her angle and position were not quite enough to bring her body on top of the scaffolding. So as Satori watched, Kanzaki crouched down...

"—"

And she leaped backwards.

Kanzaki's hair flowed out in front of her and she reached the scaffolding behind her. Satori heard a bitter laugh next to him.

It was Mei.

"She's hesitating. And the cause is pretty deeply rooted."

"Um, what exactly happened earlier?"

"It's simple. Suzume just shifted the timing of her jump a little."

"Eh?"

Satori saw Suzume return to the previous scaffolding and calmly spin around. She extended one leg and both arms as she wiggled her spinning body back and forth.

"She kept the build-up for the leap inside her? Honestly, it's a shame she's such a capricious girl."

"Yes, Suzu-chan has always been pretty amazing... Or she would be if she wasn't so capricious."

"I know what you mean."

After that, Satori tilted her head and asked Mei a question.

"How did shifting the timing of her jump send Kanzaki-san flying?"

"Because Kanzaki is a coward," said Mei.

She looked to the side, titled her head, then looked back before.

"Yes, I think I'll go with that from now on. It would only make things fair."

Satori felt like this was something to worry about, but said nothing and let her continue.

"Listen. When you pursue your opponent, they run away. Shizuka had caught onto that tempo and felt like she could close the gap between them. So just when she started moving in...Suzume stopped for a moment. Suzume perfectly predicted when Shizuka would use her acceleration Trigger and did it just before Shizuka moved forward. The acceleration Trigger she uses make use of purification, so it's all over if it's thrown out of order. That's how Suzume ended it."

Meaning...

"This battlefield is under Suzume's control. And for a simple reason. This is the cause of Shizuka's slump, it's the source of her cowardice, and it's incredibly simple. And Shizuka has of course realized what it is. It's just that she refuses to accept it."

Mei smiled as she spoke.

"So," she continued. "Suzume, go ahead and expose all of Shizuka's weaknesses. If you don't, that conservative girl won't be able to trust herself even if she does think about changing."

---

She really got me, thought Kanzaki as she made a back jump.

...I would expect no less of Suzume-dono!

This was not an issue of an A-Rank against a B-Rank. She had already lost once to this opponent.

Since the park, Suzume had given her snacks, groomed her hair for her, and otherwise behaved like a friend during breaks between trivial days, but training was different.

Kanzaki was currently up against a formidable enemy.

...I need to stay focused.

She held a weapon in her hand, but she had her worries about the Kōgetsu-Spear. She had her worries about herself as well. She needed to keep those worries from showing while training and, if possible, rid herself of them entirely.

She would continue training for that purpose.

"In that case..."

She activated Kiyome. Light appeared on her toes, knee, and leading shoulder.

"..."

She started forward, but...

"Too slow."

After Suzume's unexpected comment, the color white filled Kanzaki's eyes.

.

Kanzaki had no clue what had happened.

White round masses suddenly appeared before her eyes.

"Look, look, look. Here are some awkward cushions."

As Kanzaki tried to move forward, her face was buried. And when she thought about what this was...

...Suzume-dono's chest!?

Impossible, thought Kanzaki. Not the size. Taiyōko Sister-dono and Kunichika-dono's are larger. The movement is the impossible part. Suzume had been moving slowly, yet she had somehow arrived right in front of her. Which meant...

...She predicted my timing...

"Take this: Busty Press."

As Kanzaki had tried to move forward, her face had been buried in Suzume's chest and she had been robbed of her momentum. Then Suzume raised her hips as if to lift Kanzaki up.

...Kh...!

Kanzaki's forward momentum was lifted up by the resiliency of Suzume's breasts.

Kiyome made a valiant attempt to account for this unplanned change of direction. It changed the forward-directed acceleration purification in accordance with the user's wishes.

But those wishes did not successfully change the Trigger's direction even for an instant. Kiyome shattered and its power briefly fell out of equilibrium. This meant Kiyome tried to launch her upwards and she was also being pushed back, so there was only one direction she could go.

"...!"

Kanzaki was tossed into the air as if she had bounced off of Suzume.

---

"She flew pretty far this time."

"Satori, isn't that a little quick to get used to this? Are you okay?"

"Well, you know..." said Satori as he watched Kanzaki's parabolic arc.

He doubted the girl would fall, but...

"Suzu-chan shows less restraint the more stubborn her opponent is, so I wonder if Kanzaki-san will be okay."

"Satori, you really know these kids well, don't you?"

"They have a long history of dragging me into their messes. Oh, but I also just join in a lot too."

His sign frame showed that Suzume had yet to use a Trigger. The girl simply spun around while keeping her eyes on the sky. She made a gentle rotation to keep her gaze on Kanzaki's airborne arc.

So as Kanzaki fell...

"Suzu-chan is going to go after her without showing any restraint."

---

Kanzaki thought to herself as she flew about forty meters through the air: What is going on?

It was not just that her technique was not working; she could not even use it.

She could not do anything.

She did not know if this was a different form of combat or a different level of combat.

But there was one thing she did know and one thing she could think while flying through the empty air.

...If I had even once run across an opponent like Suzume-dono in my past battles...

Her words of conviction sent her pulse racing as she spoke them aloud.

"I would have lost and Border would have met defeat."

When she put it to words, she was astonished by her own weakness and fragility. But...

"What are you honestly zoning out for? Get up."

As she fell through the air, her body was spun around without warning.

After that half-rotation, she found her feet standing on the scaffolding. And she saw something in front of her weak gaze.

...Suzume-dono!?

She reflexively raised her head.

"Youuuuu weak-willed fool!"

A blow with a tornado windup struck Kanzaki on the cheek and she flew through the air again.

---

...Wow, it's been a while since I saw that...

Satori blankly watched Suzume's tornado slap and its result.

Saying this was "the first time since Hisato" would probably upset Hisato, but when Suzume did this...

"She must be pretty mad."

"That you didn't say 'as mad as she can be' shows just how well how you know her, Satori."

"Well, you know..." said Satori as Kanzaki made four full rotations in midair, but Suzume used the rotation of her own body to grab Kanzaki's collar. Then her hair whipped behind her.

"...!"

With an intense sound, Suzume headbutted Kanzaki.

---

...Kh!

Kanzaki received an unavoidable hit.

Suzume had her by the collar and was swinging her around. However, Suzume only had her by the collar with one arm and Kanzaki's feet were not dangling in midair. But...

"...!?"

When she tried to plant her feet on the scaffolding, Suzume forced her off balance, but when she tried lifting them up, Suzume swung her around. This did not mean Suzume had incredible arm strength. She was simply using the shifts in body weight and unnecessary movements that Kanzaki used to move away.

Kanzaki knew what this meant.

...I am making needless movements and losing my calm!

She did not think Suzume was taking advantage of her. She was trying to do this properly, and yet...

"You are honestly a hopeless girl."

Another headbutt hit her.

"Why do you always try to follow the other person's lead?"

A reverberating blow hit her between the eyes. The stinging pain spread to her nose as well.

"Why are you only looking at yourself?"

You are contradicting yourself, thought Kanzaki. But as she hung her head, a blow hit the top of her head.

"You follow the other person's lead and never decide anything for yourself. But even as you do that, you only evaluate your own performance. ...You honestly have an egocentrism that relies on others. Could you be any worse?"

"But...!"

What other option is there? thought Kanzaki. She was inexperienced and her enemies were all powerful and skilled. There were times when she could only fight a defensive battle like with Tachikawa in Mikado City. But...

"I honestly don't know who your enemies are. Heh heh. After all, I'm not you."

Suzume swung her outwards as if to fling her away but then pulled her back in.

"But your enemies must have wanted a proper fight with you. And yet you wouldn't honestly fight in your own style. No, that isn't quite right. I'm betting..."

I'm betting...

"You still don't have a fighting style of your own."

.

Kanzaki was utterly dumbfounded.

...I don't have a fighting style of my own?

As soon as she thought that, an impact passed through her forehead and out the back of her head.

The blow was powerful enough to shake her vision and weaken her knees.

"Kwah..."

She moved her legs to somehow support herself, but her feet were trembling and dancing. She could not even call herself an acceleration Trigger user at this point.

But, she thought.

...If I don't have a fighting style of my own...then isn't it hopeless?

Border was sure to face powerful enemies in the future. What would happen if she fought those future opponents while inexperienced and with nothing to call her own?

But the sharp gaze of the dancer was still directed right at her.

Those eyes seemed to be looking through her eyes and into her brain and her deepest thoughts.

"A sheltered flower will wither on a shorter cycle, but it will honestly bloom again before long."

Suzume tilted Kanzaki's limp body upwards.

That placed something in Kanzaki's field of vision.

A sign frame floated in the sky and it displayed...

...Kimura!

That was information from another confrontation. That older acquaintance of an A-Rank was speaking with many others to figure something out that she was clearly not needed for and return everything to normal.

"Do you understand?" asked Suzume. "Again and again, that flat-chested non-Combatant has honestly been defeated, felt resignation, made lame jokes, and desperately endured the fear as everyone relies on her. ...Of course, I'm not telling you to become her. You mustn't honestly compare yourself to others."

Suzume continued.

"Anyone, even my foolish former teammates, can do that much."

.

Kanzaki's mind went blank at Suzume's line.

"Anyone...can do that much?"

"That's right. Silly girl. That's what makes you so ignorant of the world. You must have had a lovely upbringing. Think about it honestly. Heh heh... Just how frustrating does it have to be for Mr. Idiotic to become someone who can rely on others? And if Mr. Idiot can rely on everyone else now..."

Yes.

"Then anyone can rely on those around them. That is known as being stupid enough to let yourself be with everyone else that you both love and hate...in the world of humans, at least."

"B-but I am not trying to be an idiot!"

"Then what do you want to be?"

She could not answer that.

Of course she could not. She simply wished to be stronger.

She was still searching for what came after that.

But a powerful gaze pressed her for an answer.

"So a foolish girl who doesn't even know what she wants to be is honestly trying to fight those who are trying to become something? And you have the nerve to hesitate and self-obsess? Just how sorry for yourself do you feel? You have your head in the clouds and you had a sheltered upbringing, but I will honestly end that for you here. After all..."

After all...

"You were a flower raised to be let loose in the wild, but the final choice was left with you. So I will honestly test you to see if you have blossomed yet. And then I will replant you here."

"Test me?"

"Of course," replied her opponent. "I know you are the type to follow your opponent's lead. So I will take away one of your options."

Are you listening?

"Kanzaki Shizuka. Samurai girl. Before my next dance comes to an end, I will decide whether or not you give up. And you can use that to think about whether you will continue to follow your opponent's lead or not."

A moment later, Kanzaki saw a certain color.

It was blue.

It was the color of the artifical sky.

Suzume had sent her flying with a single blow from her toe tips.

But Kanzaki also saw a girl with the same starting point as her putting information in the floating sign frame.

Kimura was fighting.

---

...Wow.

Satori was riveted to the spot by the scene before him.

Suzume was dancing along the scaffolding. And she was no longer using the slow and powerful movements she had used before.

Suzume was making a single "dance" out of contradictory movements: instant and stagnant, quick and leisurely, direct and indirect. After a gentle rotation of her arms, she would make an instant leap. After a gentle landing, she would make a rapid crawling movement using a single toe tip.

From one movement to the next, Suzume's dance demonstrated great variety.

...She's definitely in a good mood.

Her footwork was intense, but it looked calm at first glance because it all flowed together.

Kanzaki was overwhelmed by that footwork and movement. After all, Suzume was continually sending her flying through the air and pulling her back in.

"Is she going to be okay?"

As Satori asked that, he heard a solid sound. It was the sound of Kanzaki being launched skyward.

That tone never seemed to end.

.

Satori watched the "dance" that was Suzume's attack.

Her attacks were nothing more than steps.

Just as Kanzaki took a step, she would take a step of her own.

...Is it something like the deashibarai in judo?

Sending an opponent flying did not require an attack exceeding their weight. One only had to read their line of movement, and...

"Trip the axis of their body or limbs. It's the opposite of escorting your partner in a dance. By tripping their axis, their own power loses balance and sends them flying."

As Mei explained next to Satori, a great sound rang out and Kanzaki floated up into the air.

But Suzume reached out an arm, forcibly pulled the girl back, and...

"—!"

Threw her again.

Suzume once more collected Kanzaki from the air and took her hand. She pulled her back and threw her away again, but this time she held onto her collar, spun her around, swung her around, threw her, continued spinning to catch up, and made a counterattack.

She never stopped.

Satori could not help but comment on the movements and noise.

"This is a new song of Suzu-chan's."

"She really needs to study more instead..."

She sure is a strict person, thought Satori, but the impacts and sounds of a body flying through the air continued.

This dance was undoubtedly following a song. Suzume would eventually complete an official version and ask Satori and Taichi to perform it with her.

...She's probably planning to perform it at a festival...

In the deep blue sky of an early summer afternoon, Suzume made music with the tempo kept using Kanzaki.

---

Kanzaki did not understand what was happening.

She was being knocked into the air, but there was no impact.

She was being knocked into the air, but it was not being forced onto her.

She was being knocked into the air, but she felt no pain.

She was simply hanging in the air like sound.

She was simply flying through the sky like wind.

She was simply floating in the heavens like clouds.

She was being rapidly and repeatedly escorted through changes to her axis and all resistance seemed futile.

If Noah Shor was naturally gifted with the ability to balance himself, this dancer was naturally gifted with the ability to view other people's balance.

But knowing that...

"...!"

...changed nothing in reality.

Kanzaki was knocked away and spun around in a soundless current of no tension, power, malice, or wickedness.

Even when she did manage to place her toes or her heel on the scaffolding, her body would immediately be spun on its axis.

How was she supposed to resist this? She had no idea. She could only let herself be spun, thrown around, and used to keep a tempo.

...Will she not even let me fall!?

Suzume would catch her. When her toes or heels were tossed up from the scaffolding and her arms or shoulders were grabbed to swing her around, her body would straighten, her back would stretch out, and her head would face forward.

That was the axis of her body. It was the line of power that straightened her posture.

Most likely, Suzume was lightly striking that from ahead so the power would pass straight through. It passed through so directly that it used her own body's movements to both straighten her posture and...

"—!"

...send her flying.

It was a lot like something she already knew. It was just like when Kiyome failed and misfired.

And a thought occurred to Kanzaki.

...Was I really this incapable of controlling myself!?

When using Kiyome in the past, she had thought she had linked her movements together.

But this series of steps at such close range led to a different result.

...I can't link anything together!

Her movements were not precisely passing through her axis.

She quickly realized why.

She had never before fought a close-range battle on this level.

Her father had used a spear and Akasora had naturally trained her on that basis as well. She had been given a fair level of combat training with a sword, but it had mostly been with a spear. And this current battle was even closer range than a spear, sword, or fist. This was on the level of throws and holds.

Kiyome and other acceleration Triggers were not made for situations like this.

That meant using Kiyome had no meaning here. Of course it was not working.

"But do I need the skill to pull it off even in this situation!?"

It was not that she did not have to do it because it was not necessary.

She had to be able to do it even if it was not necessary.

And she realized that someone here was trying to make her impossible into the possible.

That person was Misaki Suzumebachi.

She had said she would take Kanzaki's right to give up. This was the same.

"Are you going to take away my impossibility!?"

The answer was obvious. That entire squad took away other people's impossibilities. That was who they were.

And as she was thrown into the air, Kanzaki looked to her former teammate.

Rampage Dress.

If her partner was that white fox, then the ones they looked after would be on the level of their own names.

Kanzaki had heard about them from Kimura. As fakers who hid themselves, the white fox and Rampage Dress had led a group of troublesome children as their leaders as well as establish what they could consider normal now.

If neither one of them were fighting her, then it would be left up to one of their former teammates. In this case, it was Suzume.

"Heh heh."

That girl laughed as her hair danced around her.

"You're overthinking this. Just to be clear, I received no training at all from Yuki-san or Mei-san. Don't mistake me for the athletic type. If anything, I'm honestly the cultural type. So if you're mistaking me for a master swordfighter..."

Then...

"You're saying the Far East's master swordfighters can be matched by nothing more than my natural cultural senses."

Kanzaki's vision was flying through the air and her hearing was spinning around, but the voice still reached her.

"Listen. ...I have a dream. And it isn't just what you see here."

She added a "so".

"Respond, warrior girl. I'm willing to teach an honestly ignorant country girl the steps, but a warrior should be able to at least recognize this, right? ...Here, I'll match our voices and then move out ahead just this once, okay?"

"Huh?"

Kanzaki's question was useless and she was caught off guard regardless.

"C'mon. 3, 2, 1...go!"

When she was sent flying this time, Kanzaki realized something had changed.

She had to preface it with a "most likely", but...

...Our movements have changed!?

---

"It's started..."

Satori instructed Ayatsuji to begin recording and gathering data.

Suzume was using a very un-Trigger-like Trigger.

"That's Suzu-chan's stage creation, Turning Point."

While Turning Point was what she chose to do, it was using her Trigger as a whole instead of a single one. It provided no protections or special effects. All it did was decorate a song and dance using her trion.

The sign frames that started up contained the different songs she had written in the past and different adlibbed chord patterns, and they could provide the optimal sound and lighting based on Suzume's instructions and movements.

...The main defining trait is how light it is.

All the fat had been trimmed in making Turning Point and it was the base of the other styles Suzume used. Even Summit Dance had been made by adding trion protections and effects on top of this.

But, thought Satori. If Suzu-chan is bringing out Turning Point on its own...

"She's testing out a song pretty early on."

"She doesn't like going for half measures in anything, so it should be fine," said Mei with a smile. "And she has performed this one at my place before."

Then a voice reached them. It was Suzume's voice. The sound of Kanzaki being sent flying acted as a hand drum's four-on-the-floor beat and the tempo was around 135.

"Where shall I go tomorrow? I can go anywhere today.

"Where shall I go today? I think I'll go there."

The blows to Kanzaki's axis rang out and the sky began to give tension to the sound.

It was music. The low beat of a bass drum joined with the melody of strings, but Suzume's voice remained light.

"I'm going dancing somewhere in the city. Somewhere in the city where you are not.

"I'm going singing. I can go at any time to find you where you will be tomorrow."

Her voice reverberated through the air.

"I take your hand, and dance, and smile, and make so many selfish requests.

"Let's meet somewhere again tomorrow too. Give my present self a push forward tomorrow too."

...This is a trance focused on a high-speed loop.

The song name on the sign frames was Today's and Yesterday's Dance. From the sound, it seemed to be based on the Gagaku trance music popularized by Kogane, a band of their upperclassmen who had graduated this year. Their song had been titled Routine, so this may have been an alternate "underclassman" version. Satori felt they would have difficulty performing this song even with Suzume's help, something she would often provide to their whole class, but this was only the first verse. Still, it sounded nice, and...

"La la..."

Kanzaki flew through the air as Suzume hummed an interlude, but then Satori saw something.

...Kanzaki-san's movements are changing, aren't they?

Satori looked over to Mei who crossed her arms.

"This is a large step forward. ...She's done it by matching the song, but she's at least falling feet-first now."

---

Kanzaki ran.

The sound guided her.

The song let her run even when she was sent flying and her footing was uncertain.

Running was a series of rhythms. It was the same as using Kiyome. But...

...This rhythm!

Suzume had likely chosen a song that matched her movements.

Even when she was spun around or sent flying, she could follow the song's lead to always land on her feet.

"—"

And she could keep going.

Kanzaki belatedly realized that Suzume's right hand held her left hand, the one that did not hold the Kōgetsu-spear.

That was the girl's way of escorting her, and...

"Heh heh. Are you ready for the third time around? ...I hope you have a handle on it now."

Suzume let go.

"Let's up the tempo. I won't ask you to follow my lead, but you know what that means, don't you?"

"Of course." Kanzaki nodded. "I will do my best to respond in advance."

A moment later, Kanzaki was thrown into the air with even greater speed than before.

---

Satori was the first to notice because he was monitoring Suzume and Kanzaki's training.

...Huh?

Kanzaki was thrown out into the air and flipping around again and again, but...

"She didn't use Kiyome."

"She's redoing it all from the ground up. She'll use it eventually, but she can get pretty far just with the standard bodily reinforcement our Triggers give us. Shizuka was trained to do that."

Is that how it works? wondered Satori before realizing something.

Twin-Snipe: "You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize just how crazy our upperclassmen really are. Just speaking with Mei-san is giving me a real feel of how crazy they are."

Yoshi: "Are you really just figuring this out? We've been saying this since Daigo turned into Yoshitsune 2.0 because of Yuki-san and Hisato started contemplating being Benkei."

Decoy: "You can ignore him. He hasn't been getting too much sleep recently, so he's pretty annoyed."

Twin-Snipe: "Suzu-chan might want us for a performance, so make sure you're awake for that.

But Kanzaki was gradually regaining control of her movements. Suzume had clearly been throwing her out into the air before, but now...

"It looks like she's spinning herself around."

"She's figuring out the locations and meaning of the axis lines that Suzume has been exploiting. From what I can see, her accuracy is poor, but she's grasping this with some real conviction."

"Conviction?"

When Satori asked that, Mei's eyebrows rose and she smiled at the boy.

"I'm talking about her individual style. ...For example, Shor's own Side Effect has a natural sense of balance. Not only can he stand on a blade, but he could probably settle down and live there. His balance is a very 'polite' thing and he has a great sense for 'accepting' it. If there's a foothold there, he touches it, reads it, and responds accordingly."

"What about with Suzu-chan?"

"While she does have the same 'politeness', she has more of a sense for 'providing' balance. If there's a blade, she can determine its balance at a glance, but instead of accepting that, she more actively moves in to ride it. She has excellent balance, but she never stays still. She provides her own balance to her opponent and maintains it by continuing the dance."

And...

"Shizuka can't reach either of their heights."

What Satori had seen was enough to know that Mei was telling the truth there. Satori gasped a little, but...

"Then what kind of technique is she trying to grasp here?"

"Just watch."

Kanzaki took a leap atop the scaffolding. On the outskirts of Suzume's dance, she spun herself around when sent flying and she was repelled again when she placed her feet on the scaffolding. But...

"She's gradually developing her own pattern. ...Can't you tell?"

The corners of Mei's mouth rose.

"With acceleration Triggers like Shizuka's Kiyome, you have to continue stringing the acceleration together. Since she has to pave her own path of acceleration, she can't use the 'acceptance' form of balance. She has to 'provide' her own balance to make any location into her own path. Also..."

Before Mei could continue, a solid sound rang out.

Suzume had repelled Kanzaki's axis.

Kanzaki was knocked back into the sky, but then something changed.

...That was fast!?

Kanzaki's rotation clearly accelerated.

"They're on the fifth time through the song, so she knows what is coming where. And instead of waiting for the sound and reacting, she's moving out ahead of the music. ...Suzume's doing a good job here. She's made dancing to the music into a way of attacking first. To Shizuka, this is a performance of her martial arts forms, but once she is allowed to surpass those set forms, it becomes a real battle with certain limitations in place."

A solid sound rang out. Kanzaki leaped and spun around.

...Ah.

The girl's hair drew a clean circle for the first time. She had made an undisturbed rotation, which was...

"Kanzaki-san's normal movement..."

---

Kanzaki realized her body was moving.

...Did I surpass it?

She was following along with Suzume's dance. They had already passed the fifth run-through, so she knew the song and dance perfectly.

But that did not mean she could move ahead of the dance and keep moving.

Suzume was adding some slight alterations to keep Kanzaki from exceeding her so easily. But in that...

"...!"

Kanzaki saw her own axis line.

She had learned it all too well after Suzume hit that line and sent her flying time and again.

Where did her strength flow when she took action? How short or long was the line? She could see that wavering line now.

She understood it.

Her strength moved from her right toes, passed through the front of her ankle, wrapped around her inner shin a little, and slipped below her kneecap. It rose through her thigh, twisted around toward her crotch when moving forward, and wrapped around toward her butt when moving back.

By matching the bending of her joints to that pulsing strength, she could change the thickness and heat of that axis line, but...

...That strength passes through one spot more than any other!

It created a power that pinned her to the ground.

That strength was not released. At the front end of her foot, it travelled directly out and through the floor.

Suzume's attacks were clearly carving into her body on that axis.

"Suzume-dono!"

...Were you preventing me from giving up so you could teach me this!?

In front of her, the dancer was smiling, singing, and dancing.

She seemed to be saying that was all a dancer was meant to do. And...

"Heh heh. Stop making me dance all alone."

Suzume closed her eyes a little in a troubled expression. Kanzaki realized what those words and that expression meant.

She was telling Kanzaki to come to her. So Kanzaki said "right" with a nod and then used it.

"Kiyome!"

---

From Satori's viewpoint, only Suzume remained. But...

"...Eh?'

After appearing in front of, next to, or behind Suzume, Kanzaki would spin and vanish.

Those were already nothing more than afterimages.

...She's all round her!?

As Suzume danced and made long steps along the scaffolding, Kanzaki pursued her. She used the scaffolding one or two removed from Suzume and then moved in as if being reflected. And of course...

"You need to get closer in than that, Shizuka. If you don't, you can't get a step above her. So..."

So...

"Run wild and fast."

---

Kanzaki was on the move.

She could hear Suzume's voice. The song's lyrics reached her.

"I take your hand."

Here it is, thought Kanzaki.

The next line was "and dance". The bass drum sounded near the "d" of the "and" and it matched her own tempo. If she twisted her right leg to leap in at that moment, she had a feeling she could achieve the fastest and optimal angle. Of course...

...It might be nothing more than a feeling.

She might not actually pull it off. She might simply be mistaken.

But she still thought she could pull it off at that "d".

She could trust in this timing more than any other circumstances.

Even if she failed, she could still believe in it and charge in.

So she listened to Suzume's voice and focused on her body's line of motion.

"An-..."

d.

To predict the moment and get ahead of Suzume's movements, Kanzaki charged in.

.

Suzume sensed Kanzaki darting forward atop the scaffolding.

It was a straight-on shot.

It was sharp.

She also used her feet to send her body hopping upwards from the hips.

She predicted when Suzume was going to send her flying and entered a midair front flip on her own.

But Suzume could see Kiyome's trion circles on Kanzaki's feet and knees.

If she made this front flip when Kiyome was trying to move her forward, the discrepancy in direction would cause it to fail.

...What is she planning to do!?

Suzume kept her legs dancing as she asked that silent question.

Just like before, she moved in to sweep Kanzaki's legs out from under her. She would rule the stage and declare this the spot she would stand on next.

At this point, spinning was Kanzaki's only option.

Would she spin herself and receive Kiyome's failure?

Or would she take Suzume's jab at her axis and receive Kiyome's failure?

The result was the same. So...

"What are you planning to do!?"

As soon as she asked that, Suzume briefly lost sight of Kanzaki.

It was not that she had vanished. She had seemingly been starting a front flip, but...

"...!"

Just as her body tilted forward, she swung it backwards and forced herself into a backflip.

.

Kanzaki made a backflip while moving forward with great speed.

This was her first time attempting this kind of trick.

It was a simple idea.

If Kiyome self-destructed when something stopped it from moving forward, there was only one way to make a jumping dodge.

...I have to keep my legs moving forward as I spin around.

That meant a backflip.

While running forward, she would spin backwards in the air. To do that, she had to pour even more acceleration into her forward-moving legs. Otherwise, her jump would not have the strength needed for a full flip.

The greater her speed, the more inadequate the strength when she made the jump and the more her body would try to move forward. It was even possible she would not gain enough height and her back or head would hit the ground.

But Kiyome gave her what she needed.

When she leaned backwards, her thighs and knees pointed upwards, so the sky was "forward".

...Spin!

She spun.

But her angle was a little off. She was leaning forward as if she had a shallow bend in her knees. But...

"...Kiyome!?"

It had not been destroyed. Her acceleration Trigger was still active. It shined and responded to her call.

Status: Active...Continuing

Continued Accumulation: Possible: Confirmed

Kanzaki felt a tremor. It came from her own body and she did not know why. This was nothing more than learning she could still use this familiar Trigger at such a low speed.

But this was a first. She had equipped herself with an unknown technique.

"Heh heh. If you have a new move now...then let's keep going."

Suzume's leg flew toward her knee-first. It was trying to sweep her legs out from under her.

.

Then Suzume saw something.

As she made her roundhouse kick, Kanzaki tilted her upper body and entered a head-first side flip.

Her body fell sideways in midair and she took a position similar to a backflip as her legs followed her body.

Kiyome's direction was generally based on her torso's front axis line.

So Suzume watched Kanzaki move. Kanzaki leaned her body back first and then adjusted her legs "forward". By maintaining a twist from the torso to the thighs and then to the knees, she kept Kiyome from breaking.

"...!"

The strange side flip was made from a rotation and intersecting twists and she added in a spin to orient her torso forward just before landing.

In that instant, static ran through Kiyome and the trion light scattered from it.

But...

"—"

She pulled it off. Kanzaki stuck the landing.

Suzume saw Kanzaki pull out ahead of her movements and begin the next action.

But just as Kanzaki tried to move from her landing, she suddenly lost her balance.

...Oh, dear.

She had just finished a series of unfamiliar actions, but it likely had more to do with letting her guard down. After all, she had just finished using nothing but her combat sense to get through an extremely difficult action.

Suzume knew what would happen to Kanzaki's body.

Unable to control her movements, she would hesitate and end up airborne.

.

Kanzaki was prepared to fail.

She had let her guard down after clearing two tricky parts in a row.

She had gotten ahead of Suzume's actions and she understood her own axis lines, so this should have been when she began her own actions.

But she had lost that first opportunity.

She felt regret.

Of course, her body remembered overcoming those tricky parts. She could use those memories to use Kiyome at extreme close range in the future. But...

...This is how I start it off!?

Kiyome would shatter and she would be thrown into the air.

I couldn't finish it, she thought while prepared for her failure.

But then...

"Heh heh. Silly girl. Have you honestly forgotten? I've taken away your right to give up."

A moment later, Kanzaki was thrown into the air, but not by Kiyome misfiring.

It was Suzume.

She had swung her hand back and grabbed Kanzaki's arm.

"...!"

Suzume twisted Kanzaki's body into the proper form and had Kanzaki properly land on her feet's axis lines. She was now positioned to take the next step. Namely, moving out ahead of Suzume.

"—"

She felt dazed, she felt confused, and she felt doubt, but at the moment...

...Oh.

So I don't have to give up on myself, she thought.

An unexpected tear fell from the corner of her eye at that thought, but...

"Ohhh!"

She used the speed that Suzume had preserved for her.

On the limited scaffolding, she used her full strength to live up to the dancer's expectations.

---

Loud noises joined the music.

The rapid movement and rotation had whipped up thin clouds around the scaffolding off of the artificial city's western side.

The clouds had no center. That was because the two creating the movement in the middle were racing around the scaffolding, swinging their bodies around to jump from foothold to foothold, pursuing each other, and exchanging steps, hands, and legs.

But there was a difference between the movements of the dancer and the warrior girl.

The dancer moved about and rotated horizontally with bending movements at the center of it all. The warrior girl made a rapid series of vertical and horizontal rotations and made use of piercing lines of motion.

But they were both dancing.

"I take your hand, and dance."

A loud noise rang out, but...

"And smile."

The dancer occasionally grabbed the forceful warrior girl's movements and spun her around.

"And make so many selfish requests."

Once the warrior girl regained control, the standard flow was reestablished.

"Let's meet somewhere again."

She continued.

"Tomorrow too."

She moved in time with the dancer, reached out her hand, had it swept away, and yet used her motion to spin around.

"Give my present self."

She accelerated.

"A push forward."

As if to say she could go even further...

"Tomorrow too."

She continued on.

---

"Wait, wait. What is this?"

Satori heard his teammates speaking as they watched from outside of the artificial city.

He could clearly see what it was they were talking about.

It was a dance.

As Suzume moved around the scaffolding and performed a leaping dance, Kanzaki seemed to decorate Suzume's surroundings. And including the afterimages, Kanzaki's numbers were in the double digits.

To take Suzume's hand, they all pursued her and tried to grab at her.

"She can still get away, can't she?"

A warrior tried to capture a dancer.

Suzume may have been using her dance to symbolize that structure.

Oh, thought Satori.

If this dance represented the narrator of the lyrics Suzume was singing...

...She wants to take someone's hand and lead the way, but she's afraid to.

That was Kanzaki's role.

She was the child who had no skill, the child who had no self-confidence, and the child who could not take that first step forward.

The person watching over her was trying to reach out a kind hand and to listen to her, but...

"Tomorrow too."

With that, the child rejected it. She felt comfortable and safe with the usual but stagnant desire.

However, that made her unable to catch up to the person whose hand she was trying to take.

"But..."

A loud sound rang out.

The intensity and duration of the sound said it all. Kanzaki had begun to catch up.

"I take your hand, and dance."

That phrase was repeated ad infinitum. That desire was restated ad infinitum. To make that the "specialty" inside her, the awkward girl awoke to her own movements. And...

"Wait, wait... Hey, you guys!"

The outside teammates called over the others

"Look! This is getting even crazier than at the park!"

---

A diagram formed in the sky.

Kanzaki used her weapon's extension device and repeated uses of Kiyome to begin drawing a high-speed back-and-forth.

With Suzume at the center, she used the scaffolding at one position removed to repeatedly leap in from different angles.

Kanzaki charged in and tried to take Suzume's hand, spun around and tried to move back, and dodged before leaping to another piece of scaffolding.

By repeating this, she created two circles of afterimages. One circle danced right around Suzume and the other accelerated on the outer edges of the scaffolding. They whipped up the wind and the ether light as they matched Suzume's movements and spun around.

"Ohh..."

The people watching were awestruck. They all focused their eyes beyond the bursting clouds and wind to view everything created by Suzume's rotation and the two rings of Kanzaki.

"It's a compass..."

The compass was spinning. The dancing shrine maiden controlled the spinning of destiny at the center.

"—"

And she distinctly held her hand forward.

Come, that hand said.

This fingertip is the point of the compass.

And so Kanzaki raced forward.

She poured in all of the speed she had accumulated in Kiyome.

"Ohhhh!"

The tip of her spear raced forward to pierce through the dancer.

---

This will work, thought Kanzaki.

I can use this direct path to send my spear straight through Suzume.

She did not hesitate to pierce her former teammate's former teammate and teacher with her spear.

If she held back here, she would be looking down on Suzume despite her own inexperience. So...

"Suzume-dono!"

With a shout, she thrust her spear forward.

At that very moment, she sensed a certain presence.

"...!?"

.

I recognize this, thought Kanzaki.

She did not quite know what this was, but she still recognized it.

She recognized the sense of distance, the aura, and the atmosphere.

She had definitely experienced this before and "fallen victim" to it.

She sensed danger, so...

"Ohh!"

She twisted her body in midair. Without stopping Kiyome, she forcibly lowered Kōgetsu-Spear.

"Over there!"

She swung Kōgetsu-Spear to the left, toward the other area.

A moment later, light burst from Kōgetsu-Spear's tip.

A line of light had flown through the air, collided with it, and been intercepted. It came from...

"Satori-dono!?"

.

Kanzaki saw it.

Satori was aiming his Egret toward her from the other edge.

He had already fired the bullet and Kanzaki had intercepted it.

It had been a training shot with no real force behind it.

But Kanzaki understood exactly what Satori's shot meant.

"Do you understand?" asked Suzume. "That was a recreation of that idiot Yuiga's own Izumi-powered shot that hit you in the city."

Kanzaki quickly arrived at Suzume's scaffolding and Suzume held a hand out to her.

"Isn't this great? That will never happen again. ...You just honestly proved it yourself. You weren't even focused on defense. You were on the attack and moving quite quickly, but not even a surprise attack from an Ken-class shot can get through to you."

Suzume took her hand, pulled her forward, and gently embraced her.

"Now for your final test."

"What is that?"

"Right." Suzume pushed on her back. "I'm giving you back your right to give up."

As soon as Suzume said that, Kanzaki realized she had lost all of her speed from that push on the back.

Kiyome vanished, but it did not misfire. By dropping her speed, it lost the support for its power and was neutralized.

And after giving her that gentle inertia, Suzume spoke.

"Don't give up."

With that, she pushed Kanzaki out into the air.

Kanzaki was shoved from the edge of Suzume's scaffolding and into the empty space between scaffoldings. She entered freefall.

"—"

Kanzaki was thrown out into the bottomless sky.

---

As Satori put away his own Egret, he saw Kanzaki slowly falling.

Suzume bent her hips, held a hand to her forehead, and watched Kanzaki fall.

Satori felt this sight was a perfectly natural one.

...Oh, she was shoved off.

And after a second...

"Eh!? W-wait! She's falling!"

Gummy: "Eh? Really!? Sorry, I kind of forgot about that. Ah ha ha."

"We have to do something! Um, c'mon, Suzu-chan!"

Suzume did not look back her way. She simply looked down where Kanzaki had fallen.

"—"

She tightly clenched her right fist. And then...

"...!"

A loud noise rang out.

The noise coming from Kanzaki's location rang loud in the sky.

---

Kanzaki felt herself wake up.

But she felt it was different from just waking up from sleep. It was more like being refreshed from her weariness. It was like passing out after intense training but having her body wake up in order to live.

She had experienced this sort of "awakening" a few times in the past. It had happened when her father had woken her by splashing well water on her with a bucket and it had happened when she had come to with her head resting in her mother's lap. But a certain sensation was always the strongest.

...Kh.

Pain.

This awakening felt like her pulse resetting itself after she accumulated so much weariness that she could no longer move a single finger. It was like being pasted to the ground. Her bones would seem to move before her muscles and her muscles would creaked like dry branches.

She was dehydrated and her eyes ached when she so much as moved them.

But this painful awakening had always been filled with an image of her father or mother smiling her way.

"Well done."

She knew exactly why they had said that. When she trained until she collapsed and passed out from exhaustion, it was always when she had grasped some definite results. When learning her spear techniques, acquiring Kiyome, or making use of her martial arts, she had worked through the night and over several days until it permeated her body. Collapsing from exhaustion was the sign it was complete. So...

"—"

What would she see when she opened her eyes this time?

Who would she see?

---

Mei felt Kanzaki's head moving on her lap.

Her unbound hair waved gently while her opened eyes tried to focus and stared right past Mei.

"—"

They looked up into the sky.

Mei joined her in looking up at the blue sky with few clouds. And...

"Did you wake up? Heh heh. Or should I say an honestly lovely flower has blossomed? But more importantly and most importantly, I am impressed, Kanzaki Shizuka."

Suzume bent over to peer down at Kanzaki's face and she spoke with a smile.

"You did well, samurai girl. You were the type who could make it up here."

Kanzaki took a deep breath when she heard that. Her back moved and the space between her tensed shoulder blades grew stiff as she revealed something to Mei.

As she lay on her back, tears dripped from her eyes and toward her ears.

Mei too had experienced unexpected tears like that recently. She did not know if these were from sorrow or joy, but...

...She was moved to emotion.

Kanzaki then hid her face below her right hand. And"

"..."

Her dry and barely audible voice uttered what may have been an expression of gratitude.

Mei was not sure, but the girl inhaled again and got up. Mei thought she could stand to rest longer, so she looked back and to her right to ask what to do.

"Hey."

Satori had been there before, but he was gone now.

There was no point in wondering when that had happened. It simply meant the boy felt this was a moment for the three of them.

As Kanzaki moved away, Mei realized the girl's back and shoulders were surprisingly small.

At the same time, a sign frame appeared next to Mei's face and displayed some text.

Mi-Kon: "Mei-san, I heard Kanzaki fell into the abyss."

Rampage Dress: "Ohh, she's fine, she's fine. She came back up. ...And it isn't often that you contact me like this, Kon."

Mi-Kon: "That's right. I figured we had some time before we make it to the udon place, so I would see what was going on. ...And to be honest, I do have my own bit of anxiety from everything that is currently going on over here and ver there."

"So," she said.

Mi-Kon: "Mei-san, Misaki, Kanzaki, and everyone else...please help us avoid any more problems."

Mei was not the only one to reply with a "right".

Kanzaki stood up, faced forward, and spoke that word of acknowledgment. And...

"I can answer for myself. ...I definitely made it back up here."

She faced forward.

She continued facing forward with Suzume by her side and supporting her back.

They were about one hundred meters from the western edge of the artificial city. That was less than two hundred meters from the scaffolding that Kanzaki had fallen from.

As Kanzaki stared at that distance as if to judge it, Suzume spoke to her.

"Aren't you scared?"

"O-of what?"

"Heh heh. Perhaps I should give you another shove."

With a comment of "You really don't get it?", Suzume leaned against Kanzaki's shoulder and moved her finger as if tracing the fingernail from the scaffolding to here.

"You came all the way here...and all so you could 'make it back up'."