Mimics

by Fallen Crest

Trion soldiers with the ability to transform into deceased loved ones have made their way to Japan. Border will have to face their worse enemy yet...the ones who created Border: Mogami Soichi and Kuga Yugo. In the face of Mogami and Yugo, can Jin and Yuma find the strength to destroy the ones they already loss once before?

55. Chapter 55: Trust

A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 55: Trust

Rindo rolled his cigarette in his hand absentmindedly as he and Shinoda walked down the hall. It was getting really late, but considering the four hour nap they both got earlier, they were feeling quite awake which gave them the energy to deal with this. "After what Jin told us about his conversation with him, I doubt we will have any luck getting anything from Kuga-san."

"Perhaps, but we won't know until we try." Shinoda replied. "Jin said Yugo-san is tasked with focusing on his surviving but he is concerned about Yuma-kun. Perhaps there is a way we can twist that to our advantage."

"If parental love was enough to break through the Mimic's programming, Kuga-san would have already done so." Rindo pointed out. It was already amazing enough that Yugo had surrendered to them with the reasoning being that he didn't want to use the Black Trigger seals anymore since Yuma was so close to death. That was already more than any of them had been expecting to come from it and it likely only became possible because Yugo knew they wouldn't kill him since it was very possible that it would kill Yuma as well. A Mimic's job was to preserve his life above others and Yugo found a way around that to keep himself and Yuma alive at the same time without having to fight. "We should be careful approaching this. It could be quite easy to set him off and cause him to want to escape."

Something that none of them wanted. They didn't want to have to continue to fight Yugo or have his whereabouts unknown. It was slightly less stressful having Yugo locked in a cell, even if they all knew he could escape any time he wanted. As long as he was here, they could interrogate him and try to get information about the Mimics as much as possible, even though it seemed like it wasn't going to work out for them.

Shinoda pressed his hand against the panel next to the door. It took a second for the system to scan and recognize it as a Border Trigger that was being used before the door slid open to allow him and Rindo to enter. Tachikawa and Kazama both looked his way and immediately straightened up when they saw who was coming in.

"Give us the room." Shinoda ordered without looking at his agents as he instead gave his full attention to Yugo as he approached the cell.

"Yes sir." Kazama replied, throwing a hand out in front of Tachikawa with a warning look before he could give his old mentor a mocking reply.

No one said anything as Tachikawa and Kazama exited the room. They waited until the door was shut before Yugo rose to his feet. "Coming to visit me so late at night? I feel honored when this could have waited until morning."

"And give you the chance to escape without giving us the chance to confront you?" Shinoda asked.

Yugo ignored Shinoda as he looked at Rindo who took the time to lean against the wall while he took a drag from his cigarette. "You know, smoking kills."

"So do inconsiderate Mimics." Rindo replied, fighting the urge to put out the cigarette in the face of his mentor's disapproving stare. He was not the rookie student of Kuga Yugo anymore and thus, he was not going to falter under the disappointed stare of Yugo. It was impressive, though, just how similar that disappointed frown and the slightly furrowed brows that spoke of his frustration was to their mentor from years ago. Yugo didn't give lectures when they did something wrong, but he had the 'I expected better from you' look down perfectly. That was more than enough to get Shinoda and him to feel guilty about all the rules they broke as kids. No lecture, no raised voice. It was the silence and a single look that got Rindo and Shinoda squirming as kids.

"Is that so?" Yugo replied easily, keeping his tone calm and light as if this was just a friendly conversation between old friends. "As far as I'm aware, I haven't killed anyone yet." Sure, he killed plenty of agents in battle, but that simply sent them back to HQ. Everyone was still alive and well, ready to fight another day.

"If this continues, the one person you will kill will end up being your son." Shinoda said. "Something that neither side wants. Before the urge to get out of there and go back to going after Yuma-kun comes back, can't you tell us anything about the Mimics?"

"I will not tell you how to kill me."

"I never asked that." Shinoda replied. "I want to know more about the Mimics."

"I doubt there is much more you need to know about them than what you already know."

"We've been working on theories and the little bit that Yuma remembers about them." Rindo said. "Unfortunately, he doesn't know much about them after Meraki got their hands on their design and switched them into being weapons."

"And you think I do?" Yugo asked. "When I took Yuma to Meraki, it was when he was five, right after they killed my wife and stole her research. They were only in the beginnings of developing the Mimics into this." He waved his arm weakly over his body. "I chose to not act on my revenge as it wouldn't fix anything and I had a child I needed to raise. I never went back to Meraki after that visit."

"So, what you're saying is, just like your son, you don't have any information about Mimics beyond the basics." Shinoda clarified.

Yugo leaned his arm on the Trion door separating them, smiling pleasantly at his former students. "That is what I'm saying. No one could have foreseen this future coming. Not even your so-call fortune teller."

For so long, Yugo had tried to leave the Mimics, Meraki, and what happened to his wife in the past. Going after revenge against the people who killed his wife and stole her research wasn't going to change what happened. He wasn't going to get his wife back by falling to the level of revenge and darkening his heart like that so he chose to leave Meraki behind and focus on raising his son.

He knew what his wife's creations were capable of and he knew that Meraki had no good intentions for her research, but there weren't a lot of good intentions in the Neighborhood. He couldn't spend his life fighting with all the people in that world who were making weapons to attack other nations. Yugo chose to raise his son and explore the many countries instead. There was no possible way he could have seen him and Yuma in this position as enemies when he chose to leave Meraki to their devices. Even the fortune-teller of Border wouldn't have seen this coming since it would have been too many years down the line. As powerful as Jin's side effect was, he couldn't see years into the future.

It made Shinoda wonder if Yugo, this Yugo in front of him, regretted not keeping track of Meraki and what they were doing to the Mimics after he left their country. It wouldn't have prevented this situation from happening, but he could have been able to offer them more help than this. At the same time though, Shinoda did understand why Yugo didn't want to keep track of what Meraki was doing. It wouldn't have helped him heal from what happened to his wife if he chose to spy on Meraki's actions forever.

"We also want Yuma's Trigger back." Rindo said.

"That girl sure works fast." Yugo commented. Konami hadn't even waited until morning to tell Rindo and Shinoda to approach him to get it back. He pulled out the sleek Trigger, admiring the new design that Border had for them. "I would be willing to part with it if Yuma comes down here to get it himself."

Shinoda eyed the Trigger in Yugo's hand. When Yuma had lost it the other day, none of them had expected it to become such a nuisance. In the old days of Border, they used their Triggers to gain access to their bases and they kept up with that when they gained new bases and got their current HQ. It was the best type of security they had because civilians would have no way of breaking into their bases and their enemies' Triggers wouldn't work with their security system. Unfortunately, this system was also designed by Yugo so it was horrible luck that he came back as an enemy with that knowledge intact and being fully prepared to test out the theory if Border still used the same security.

"I'm sure Jin and Konami told you this plenty enough, but we aren't going to let Yuma near you." Rindo said, pushing himself off the wall to come stand next to Shinoda. "I don't need Jin's side effect to see that disaster incoming."

Yuma's friends and his dear students were quite protective of his son. Sweet of them, but it was getting in the way of Yugo getting anything done. This was the reason why he and Mogami went their own ways when they infiltrated headquarters. Cause chaos in one section to draw all the attention and the other goes after the target. He hadn't managed to meet up with Mogami after this attack since he chose to sit in a cell instead so he didn't know what happened to Yuma. "Or perhaps, something happened. Soichi did go after Yuma tonight and he's not the type to fail in his mission."

No matter how well trained someone was, everyone had a tell. People trained themselves to hide the signs that they were hiding something, but not only did Yugo have a side effect that let him see through the bluffs, but he also learned to read the tells. Seeing people lie for so long, he was able to understand what the flicker of the eyes meant, the twitch of the jaw, brows being pulled down. As much as people tried to hide the signs, they couldn't be completely wiped out.

"Is he dead?" Yugo asked, not clarifying on which one he was talking about. He expected Mogami to complete the mission, but he also had high expectations of his son. He had trained Yuma well and saw in that training just how great of a fighter his son could be in the future. It had been years since he last saw Yuma and Jin had angrily told him that Yuma was a lot different from the kid he remembered years ago. If Soichi's kid was saying it, then Yugo could believe the truth in those words.

"No." Shinoda said, offering no more than that. It was always best to give very little information when talking with an enemy. With Yugo, it was even more imperative to not say more than was needed. He was very smart so the slightest hint, the little tidbit of information that seemed unimportant, would be analyzed to the core and lead him to the correct conclusion.

Yugo studied their faces, smiling slightly. There was a mix of relief and frustration that Yuma was alive. He wanted to be happy that his son was alive, but him being alive still meant that Yugo hadn't satisfied his mission yet. "He's alive, but hasn't come down here yet and the kids seem high strung." Konami seemed the type to always be angry since that was the most prevalent emotion he had seen from her the two times they met. The same couldn't be said for Jin. He seemed calm and in control the day he met him, but tonight there seemed to be anger and exhaustion pulling at him. "And with Soichi going after Yuma..." Yugo trailed off, eyeing the stressed out directors in front of him. There had been no lie in their words when they said Yuma was alive, but with each conversation he had with agents tonight, it had felt like they were hiding something. He already knew about Yuma being in a bad way, so there was no need for them to be hiding anything. It was easy to assume they were being cautious in case Yugo broke free of the cell to go looking for Yuma in the base, but the stress he was seeing seemed to be too much for that small chance of him breaking out of the cell and finding Yuma before any agents got in his way.

"I once put all my trust in Border to protect Yuma in case something ever happened to me." Yugo said, shaking his head at his students before turning his back on them. He shoved Yuma's Trigger back in his pocket as he walked back towards his bed. "Perhaps I put my faith in the wrong people."

*Mimics*

"I can work with Torimaru-senpai." Yuma decided as he held up an arm to block his face from the force of wind that came with Karasuma's arrival. "I fought him enough times to be able to understand his fighting style."

"Oh, come on." Jin protested, not truly offended by Yuma pushing off fighting alongside him. It was pretty amusing by this point and besides, Jin could agree that fighting alongside each other would be hard. Both of them were quite adept at fighting alone as they had both spent years wielding Black Triggers which made them quite experienced and used to being alone on the battlefield. "We've fought three times this week, Yuma."

Instead of waiting for a reply from Yuma, Jin turned his full attention to where Karasuma and Mogami were engaged in combat. "Kyosuke, how much time do you have?"

"90 seconds. We need to make them count." Karasuma replied without pausing in his exchange of attacks with Mogami. Even while using his Speed Geist,Mogami was still able to keep up with his attacks and even counter with his own to try to push Karasuma back.

Ninety seconds. About half of the time he would have had if he had recovered fully from the attack on headquarters earlier. It was sweet of Karasuma to come out here to help, him and Jin, but it did leave Yuma in a tight spot. He didn't just refuse to fight alongside Jin because he didn't know his fighting style well enough. There was also the problem of the power of his Black Trigger. The power and his type of attacks left his allies in danger of getting hit as well unless he closed in on his enemy and attacked directly. Hand to hand combat would be safer for allies fighting on his side, but harder on Yuma when he had to avoid his friends' blades as they fought alongside him. Being down a leg would affect his mobility to make it harder to fight like that.

"Jin-san," Yuma said softly so as to not draw attention to them, though with how distracted Mogami and Karasuma were with each other, he doubted it would have drawn their attention at all if he spoke normally. "Killing Mogami or protecting Fujin. Which is more important?"

Jin glanced over at Yuma in surprise, scanning Yuma's black armor that signified that his Black Trigger was activated. They had been warned off of using the Black Triggers since they had been taking damage because of Yugo and Mogami's presence. Yuma understood that and promised no recklessness, but it seemed despite knowing the dangers, choosing to activate his Black Trigger was more important. "I said before, I would protect Mogami-san's legacy."

"Is an object more important than the memories and values he held?" Yuma questioned. Fujin was more than just an object. It was a memoir, it was a weapon, it was power. It was strength that Border needed. Normal Triggers and numbers could only get them so far. That was why Kinuta warned them off from activating them so Border wouldn't risk the destruction of them, but the higher ups weren't here and the Mimics were doing too much damage. Property damage could be fixed, but deaths could not. Mogami already tried to kill engineers and failed. If this went on much longer, if Yugo or Mogami's resistance against their programming weakened, someone could die, and that would be the ultimate destruction against their legacies. The Black Triggers were a physical manifestations of their legacies, but that was just a power they left behind to be utilized to protect the friends they had to leave behind. The mental turmoil they were leaving in their wake as Mimics would destroy the memories and love and legacy that should be respected.

"Yuma?"

Jin was surprised to see the armor dissolve around Yuma, leaving him in the clothes he had on when Mogami took him from HQ earlier. What surprised him even more was to see Yuma holding Fujin out towards him.

"I can't make that decision for you." Yuma said, rotating the Trigger in his hand to show the other side, revealing the multitude of cracks on it. It was just as bad as Yuma's own Black Trigger, but his had survived the activation because of the help Mogami gave him. Fujin might not be so lucky, but maybe it would be. Black Triggers weren't easy to destroy. They could take a lot of damage, but Fujin was reaching the limit. Activating it and having Mogami draining its power at the same time would be a strain and could possibly lead to its destruction, but Yuma couldn't demand Jin use it or not. He made the choice to use his Black Trigger and now Jin had to make his.

Yuma wanted to kill Mogami to prevent Jin the pain of having to fight his mentor, but Yuma wasn't the one that needed to be here. The Mimics needed to die, but their skill and power made them hard to kill. This wasn't a fairy tale and there was no happily ever after to be found, there was no magic here.

There were only memories.

And Yuma had no connection with Mogami.

The sound of blades slamming into each other resonated above them, but Yuma ignored the fight that Mogami and Karasuma had taken to the roofs above them. Karasuma was the outsider in this fight. This was about Mogami, Jin, and Yuma so it was likely Mogami was giving Karasuma his attention to kill him and get him out of the way so it could just be about the three of them.

Seventy seconds to go.

"The Black Trigger gives them strength which makes them stronger to fight, but it also is restoring who they were when they were alive without the free will to make the choices the real ones would make. They don't want to fight, but they must, and yet, with each passing day where they draw power from the Black Triggers, they get a little bit more aware of the memories of the past and the feelings. They are learning to resist, even if it is only for a moment." Yuma explained. "I know you tried before and hated it," He hesitated for a moment because he understood the pain of looking at someone he loved and seeing a mix of an enemy and old ally staring back at him. "You're allowed to be mad and angry. I know I am, but don't put it on Mogami or even my dad. They are our enemies, but this wasn't their choice. We can hate Meraki for all of this, but right now, we need to help Dad and Mogami. They are suffering just as much as we are."

"You want me to reach out to him." Jin concluded, having eyes only for Yuma. Normally he would want to focus on the fight, but he trusted Karasuma to keep Mogami busy for as long as he could. If something happened, Karasuma would shout a warning at them or Jin would see it coming with his side effect as he already had it activated. The windows of the future were popped up all around Yuma, but only held part of his attention as Yuma and Fujin had the rest.

Yuma's fingers curled slightly tighter around Fujin, but not so much that Jin couldn't pull it from his hand if he wished to take it. "I saw it earlier. I never knew Mogami when he was alive, but," He looked off to the side, recalling the honest look shining in Mogami's eyes when he asked Yuma to trust him. "I can't see him as the enemy. That man I spoke to just wanted to help."

It had only been a few hours since Mogami took Yuma from headquarters and he and Karasuma came across them fighting while moving towards Tamakoma. Yuma had said earlier that he wanted to save Mogami and Yugo from being pawns of Meraki, but they were still enemies to Border. Their constant attacks on headquarters proved that, but something had happened between Yuma and Mogami to change Yuma's mind.

The two red eyes staring back at Jin was proof enough of that. Mogami had done what he had predicted and healed Yuma somehow and it was more than enough for Yuma to want to trust him and ask Jin to give him a chance.

Jin's eyes slid shut as he recalled his talk with Osamu the other day.

Jin looked at the annoyed Hyuse and the carefree looking Yuma before looking back at Osamu. "It's not easy asking a former enemy for help or to even trust him. Lucky for us, we have Yuma's side effect to judge his intentions."

"You think that's why Kuga accepted him so easily?" Osamu asked.

"I'm sure it played a factor in it, but you also have to remember that Yuma fought in a war for three years and we don't know everything that went on before that war or even after that war. I imagine he's learned to read the situations he gets into and when he should accept the outcome or fight it." Jin replied.

Yuma wasn't an inexperienced, naïve rookie. He had been through wars and countless life and death experiences. He didn't just throw trust around like candy. In fact, he was quite suspicious and was ready to protect himself at all costs.

Jin didn't trust Mimics, but he would put his trust in Yuma.

He reached out to take Fujin, but as he wrapped his hand over it, Yuma tightened his grip and pulled back on it a bit, getting Jin to look at him. "Mogami gave me a lot of his Trion to heal me so any control he had that made me trust him has weakened which is why we are fighting. He wants this back, but a part of him is still trying to resist. It's just not as strong as it was earlier. You were his student so you need to call out to him. It can't be me." Yuma's grip on Fujin slackened so Jin could take it. "The memories don't have to be big and outlandish because those weren't the moments that made you love and care for each other. The small moments all add up to paint the bigger picture."

Jin turned Fujin over in his hand, eyes roaming over every single crack in it.

Yuma stepped away from Jin. "He wants this, Jin-san." He turned away from his friend to look up, barely able to see Karasuma and Mogami on the roof from where he was standing. Twenty-five seconds to go. "No one deserves the pain of being the one to slay a Mimic of their loved one, but we're human. Pain is a gift, not a curse."

The same words that Jin gave Yuma the other night had Jin looking up from Fujin to see a melancholy expression on his friend's face.

"It reminds us we are still alive." Yuma turned his attention back to Jin. "Mogami and Dad are feeling the same pain as we are. They are alive just as we are. They can't stop themselves from coming after us to try to kill us so perhaps we should stop running away as well."

Jin never ran from Mogami, but he knew Yuma wanted to avoid his father. The curled fists at his side told Jin enough about the struggle Yuma was having. In fact, his composure with Mogami was far different from his little time spent with Yugo. "It will hurt to go after Mogami-san like this."

"Better to share the pain with him." Yuma said. "They have to die, but perhaps we should be the ones to carry the burden of that pain. When they die, they will be saved the suffering of killing us and betraying their friends, but that doesn't make the pain they are going through by doing this insignificant. We should be the ones to carry it because we already are."

That was certainly true. Mogami and Yugo's legacy was already being tarnished and the memories and love they held for them were getting warped. They were already hurting facing them like this so what was a little more pain if it meant saving them?

"Memories aren't going to destroy them."

"No, but they can distract."

It was the same idea that Mizukami had the other day. It was all about turning the concept of Mimics against them which was something that Jin tried, but it hadn't worked before. Yuma was convinced that it would work this time which had Jin wondering what exactly had happened between Yuma and Mogami earlier. He would have to ask his friend about it later when they had more time.

Jin rolled Fujin in his hand, allowing his fingers to brush over each and every crack that was there while he stared up at the fight taking place over the roofs. Karasuma was going to bail out soon and then it was going to be just him and Yuma out here. Yuma who had gotten healed by Mogami but likely didn't have infinite Trion to fight multiple times. With Yugo still around, whatever Mogami did wasn't going to last forever.

"This is my fight from here on, Yuma." Jin said as his Trigger deactivated. He sprung Fujin in his hand to get it pointing the right direction. "Fujin, activate!"

Yuma stepped back, attention drawn above them as the luminescent trail of light that indicated bail out streaked across the sky. "Good luck, Jin-san." He said as his parting words before he was twisting around and running off down the street towards headquarters, following the trail of light above him that began to fade away.

If anyone could reach Mogami, it would be his student. Perhaps it wasn't what Yuma wanted since it was cruel to force people who loved each other to fight one another, but at the same time, there was no better option. Fighting a loved one caused hesitation and inaction. It was being used against Yuma and Jin all week, but they were going to turn that against the Mimics now. It was now a matter of who could get over their hesitation faster, the Border agents or the Mimics.

Mogami stood on the ledge of the building, watching as Yuma disappeared around the corner down the road without so much of a glance back towards him and Jin. He supposed that showed the kind of trust that he had in his friend to take on this fight alone. The absolute trust in his ally to be fine on his own. "You want to fight me alone this time?"

Jin held Fujin by his side, activating the wind blades as he stared up at his mentor towering over him. He truly looked like an immovable figure up there. It reminded him of the days they would be standing across from each other in the training room. Mogami would be completely relaxed standing there with a confident smile while Jin struggled to smash through his defenses. "It's only fitting, isn't it? The student having to stop his mentor."

Jin had been joking with talking about anime with Yuma earlier, but this really did feel like a cliché anime theme to him. A friend, a mentor, turning his back on his friends and becoming the villain while his student had to be the one to step up to stop him. It was a ridiculous notion, but standing here now, he understood the reasoning behind it. This was a betrayal. This was personal. This needed a touch of familiarity to understand. No one else was going to be able to break through the barrier keeping Mogami's true self locked away.

*Mimics*

Karasuma slammed down on the mattress in his squad's temporary operation's room. Instead of taking a moment to adjust, he immediately rolled off of it, landing on his feet and making his way over to the computer. Even if Yuri and Shiori weren't here to work as an operator for them, he knew enough about the system to get the basics done. He brought up the map of the Restricted Zone, specifically the area where Mogami was in. He didn't see any signature from Yuma, which he had expected since Yuma didn't have a Border Trigger on him and his Black Trigger wasn't logged into their systems. What he did see, which surprised him, was the activation of Fujin.

When he was fighting Mogami to distract him for Jin, he hadn't seen Fujin anywhere on him, not that he had been looking that closely for it. It took all his attention and focus just to fight Mogami so he wouldn't get killed by him before the time limit was up.

Karasuma pulled back from the computer in surprise when he felt his phone vibrating. He pulled it out to see Yuma's name flashing on the call screen. That was even more surprising. Yuma very rarely called anyone. "Yuma? You're not with Jin-san?"

"He said he would handle Mogami alone." Yuma reply came through the speaker. At least, despite the failure at HQ earlier where they lost him to Mogami, he sounded completely fine.

"I see." Karasuma replied. If there was anyone they could trust here, it would be Jin, even if his own record this week had been as abysmal as everyone else's. "What are you calling me for?"

"Just because you're the one person I know for certain is in headquarters and near a computer." Yuma explained. He was sure there were other agents inside the base, but he didn't know where they were located or what they were doing. "I'm going for my Dad right now."

Karasuma pulled his phone from his ear to stare down at it in disbelief. Yuma had promised them he would avoid his father as he realized his weakness against him. He had been doing a great job of keeping to that promise and staying safely inside of headquarters. Mogami was the one to take Yuma outside of headquarters and whatever occurred between them had switched something in Yuma. "You should know, Yuma, that Kuga-san..."

Yuma slowed his run to a very slow walk as Karasuma hesitated to speak any farther. "What about Dad?" Mogami had told him earlier that he chose to take Yuma to a location that he and Yugo hadn't discussed. He had wanted to talk to Yuma without Yugo getting in the way and that was the last of that. Yuma had gotten focused on Mogami after that so he didn't even think any more about his father. Would Yugo have considered what Mogami did a betrayal?

"He's in one of our cells in the basement."

Ah, that. Karasuma wouldn't have realized that Jin had told him that earlier. Though, truly, how the hell had Border managed that? After a week of fighting dad constantly and no one being able to defeat him, he was suddenly sitting peacefully in a cell? It was a ridiculous thought. No cell could hold someone who could use a Black Trigger's abilities freely. It's not like they had any way to separate Yugo from from the seals.

"It seems he came to the realization that if he continue to use the seals, you would die a lot faster and against all the Border agents, he couldn't win without the seals so he chose to allow us to lock him up instead." Karasuma explained.

His first instinct was to exclaim how utterly ridiculous all of that sounded, but instead, Yuma bit his tongue to think more clearly about it. It actually tied in quite well with what Mogami and him had talked about earlier before Mogami's mind snapped and they fell into a battle. They didn't want to be fighting Border at all. They didn't want to hurt their friends. Yugo had managed to pull back on his instincts to attack to get the Black Trigger back so he could instead sit in a cell, but like Mogami, how long could that truly last?

"I see." Yuma murmured, glancing down at his other hand to look at the crack ring on his finger. If Yugo was sitting peacefully in a cell right now and refusing to use the seals to escape, it was because he didn't want to hurt Yuma. Mogami said Yugo would likely lose control if he saw Yuma which was why Yugo avoided Yuma this time around. There would be no hesitation from Yugo to kill Yuma if his control was fully gone.

The idea of seeing Yugo come at him with the intent to kill was a terrifying image. It wasn't at all like his father was like, but seeing as he had already seen it from Yugo multiple times this week, that wasn't going to stop Yuma. In fact, after his conversation with Mogami, Yuma felt more than ready to face Yugo. He would wipe that ugly desire and greed from Yugo's face forever. Perhaps it would be extremely painful to do, but it was a pain Yuma would live with if it meant his father didn't have to be a slave to someone else and continue to do evil acts that he didn't agree with.

"Yuma," Karasuma said warily.

Yuma gripped his phone tightly. "Torimaru-senpai, you guys have always trusted me before so please, trust me again. I have to do this. Please, give me directions to the cells."

Karasuma didn't have any idea of what 'this' was that Yuma was referring to though he was sure it somehow involved Yugo. The man that Yuma couldn't face before, that he didn't have the strength to stand up against and fight. Something had changed and whatever it was, it was making Yuma want to go to Yugo. "Is it something that is going to hurt you?"

"I can't say it won't hurt me," Yuma said truthfully as he knew Karasuma wouldn't freak out over this. As much as Yuma loved his mentor, she tended to freak out easily when her friends were in danger. Karasuma was a lot more calm and more collected so he would listen without interruption so he could get all the information before making any judgement. "But I don't think I can find peace if I don't confront him myself. I need to talk to him."

Because Mogami was right.

But so was Yuma.

Fairy tales did not exist. A solution of magical love was not going to end this, but just as it needed to be Jin facing Mogami, it needed to be Yuma confronting Yugo. Yugo was way too composed and in control. No one in Border was going to make him falter enough to give them the chance to kill him. The only person capable of doing that, who was also the person to make Yugo choose to surrender and allow himself to be a prisoner, was Yuma.

Karasuma stared at the map on the computer which showed him Fujin being activated and the fast speed it was moving at across the map which meant that Mogami and Jin were on the move. They were going in the opposite direction of Yuma who seemed to be on his way back to headquarters. Jin told Yuma to leave Mogami to him so he knew Yuma would leave. Did he know what Yuma's plan was when he separated from him and trusted Yuma to handle it?

No.

Karasuma shook his head. He couldn't be thinking about what Jin was thinking about. Right now, in this moment, he had no information from Jin. All he had was Yuma on the phone who was sounding the most composed and rational that he had been in days. This was the Yuma he had met months ago at Tamakoma who was always composed and unafraid of the path in front of him. "Alright." He agreed. "But you're going to need a Border Trigger to get back inside the base and to access the cells."

"Can you meet me?"

Movement on the map of the Restricted Zone caught Karasuma's attention, leaving him smiling. "I have a better idea."

*Mimics*

There was nothing blocking Jin's side effect this time. He could clearly see the future that was telling him how Mogami was going to fight him, where his attacks were going to come from, how he was going to move, how he was going to stall Jin. There were so many options being shown to him that they were almost distracting.

Only almost though.

Fujin soared through the air as Jin swung it two times, sending out four wind blades that met Mogami's wind blades as they shot out of the ground. With the full effect of his side effect on his side, there wasn't anything that Jin couldn't see. Any wind blades that Mogami tried to use against him were going to be completely useless.

Jin jumped backwards so he didn't have to turn his back to Mogami. As he fell down towards the ground, he brought Fujin up to block Mogami's attack as he chased after his student. Their swords slammed against each other as they continued down through the air until their feet hit the ground. Instead of standing in place, Jin immediately jumped backwards, stumbling just a bit as his feet scraped over some rubble that was still on the bridge.

While the cleanup crew had removed the Trion Soldiers from Tamakoma and the bridge leading to the building, they had yet to fix the bridge or the building from that battle the other day.

Jin knocked Mogami's Kogetsu back to give himself the chance to glance over his shoulder to see where he was going. It wouldn't do him any good to trip on the rubble or any craters when he was trying to fight Mogami. That was a vulnerable position he did not need or want to be in right now.

When Jin looked back forward, it was to see that Mogami hadn't continued to advance on Jin. Instead, he was standing still and looking pass his student to examine the building.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Jin asked. He turned slightly to the side to keep Mogami in his peripheral while also being able to look at Tamakoma Branch. "My apologies for the state of your home. It's not a very welcoming sight at the moment." A slightly sardonic smile twitched into place. "Kuga-san gave us quite a harsh greeting the other day."

Property damage was something that could be repaired. It wasn't like killing someone. When someone got killed, there was nothing to be done to bring them back. Destroying bridges and roads and buildings was easier in that sense. There was a difference between doing it to random buildings in the Restricted Zone and doing it to their base though.

How strange.

Mogami felt his heart clench at the sight of the damage done to his home. He never had a job outside of Border. He never had another home as he lived in the base. He never found a woman to fall in love with and build a family with. Border was his family and they were his home. So much of his life had been spent inside this base. He supposed that was the reason it hurt more to see the building in disarray as opposed to Border's new HQ which he had no problem tearing through.

"Feeling sentimental?" Jin asked so softly that Mogami didn't even hear him. Not that Jin wanted him to hear him in the first place. Tamakoma Branch had been Mogami's home for years before he died. The same could be said for Yugo, but he felt nothing when he chose to attack the base to get to Yuma. Jin supposed that had more to do with the fact that for Yugo, it had been over twenty years since he had been to Japan and found a new home with his wife and son that got ripped away from him. It wasn't the same for Mogami. Tamakoma Branch was always going to be his home.

He supposed this was what Yuma was talking about. If he was to kill Mogami, he needed to break through his Mimic barrier and get his real mentor to come forth.

"If only it could be as simple as it was back then." Jin turned his back on Mogami, but didn't drop his guard. In fact, he had multiple windows of the future popping up in front of him so he could see any future where Mogami attacked and injured Jin. "It feels so long ago when you and I walked down this bridge for the first time together."

"Sword, sword, sword!"

Mogami stared at the small child walking ahead of him as he sang about the sword that apparently Mogami was supposed to give him. He had made no promises of a sword to this kid, but it seemed to be all that he was excited for. "Swords are not toys."

Jin came to a halt a few feet in front of Mogami. "I see myself wielding a blade against monsters." He reached up towards the sky, closing his hand over empty air while imagining a sword there. "I don't get what it means, but I can see myself surrounded by people, all with similar weapons fighting alongside me." He turned slightly, grinning brightly at Mogami. "It seems like a world full of so much fun."

"Enjoying life to the fullest." Mogami said, grimacing at the scathing smile Jin was sporting as he looked over his shoulder at his dear mentor. It was nothing like the energic youth that accosted Mogami all those years ago. This was his pupil who had the world bearing down on his shoulders and Mogami and Yugo were only making his life that much more difficult. "Never thought I would see you forget how to do that."

"I haven't." Jin replied. "But there hasn't been anything to enjoy this week." He stopped walking when he got halfway down the bridge as he didn't want to get too close to the building. It was already damaged enough. If he and Mogami ended up fighting in there or too close to it, they could destroy the branch, and Jin wasn't too inclined to wreck his home. Just like Mogami, Tamakoma Branch had become his home. It was where he lived, where he spent time with his friends, and where he trained.

"You've really grown up, haven't you?"

Jin turned back around to face Mogami, not surprised to see that his mentor hadn't followed him down the bridge. He was still down where Jin had left him, but was now staring at his student instead of the building.

"No longer my young, naïve student." Mogami said, smiling sadly. It wasn't a problem that Jin grew up. In fact, Mogami was quite fond of seeing his student all grown up. The upsetting part was that he hadn't been around to watch Jin grow into a strong agent. He missed seeing the kids rise from rookies to elite agents.

"A lot can happen in five years." Jin replied. Though, it didn't take five years for him to reach this level. Aristera and then the first large scale invasion drove any naivety that Jin still had right out of him. He had to rise up to become the 'power elite' that Border needed. He took it upon himself to protect the future because he was the only one who could see the future to know what was coming. "But for all that I do to protect my home, I won't let myself forget my roots."

It wasn't quite Kogetsu, but Fujin had a similar design to Kogetsu. He supposed that came from Mogami internally when he created it. Kogetsu had always been Mogami's main and nothing would ever change that for him, even dying and he still focused on the main sword he loved when creating Fujin. It worked out well for Jin as he was already used to this type of blade when he became the wielder of it. When using Fujin as a regular blade, it was just like using Kogetsu so Jin didn't have to learn a new style of fighting like he did when he created Scorpion.

"The past is what build us." Mogami murmured to himself. What each of them goes through was what builds them up as the people they become as they grow through life. It wasn't quite the same for Mimics. They were simply Trion Soldiers who stole their memories and emotions from the people who remembered them before their deaths. At the same time, he could argue that even then, the past was what made him. He may not have been the original one who went through life and all the struggles and joys of living, but he could feel the emotions striking him, emotions that weren't his but were becoming his. They were feeling more and more real with each passing day he was in the city.

Jin eyed Mogami with a contemplative look. Yuma had said the Black Triggers were helping Mogami and Yugo gain more control of themselves, which was easy to believe after looking at the battles that happened with the two Mimics today. Having Fujin in his hand though meant that Mogami wasn't getting direct access to the power that was helping him resist the Mimic programming.

Jin brushed his finger over the cracks in the handle of the sword while keeping his attention on Mogami. Using the sword for a fight while Mogami was still draining its Trion was reckless, but he supposed an even more reckless idea was handing it back to Mogami so he could get the power directly and get more control of himself back. That was too much of a risk to take. Jin would have to rely on his own power and Mogami's distraction with his home behind Jin to take this win.

*Mimics*

Yuma came to a halt outside the base. Seeing as he couldn't get inside right now, he just backed up a step and looked up at the damage done to headquarters. He could see the damage from the destroyed elevator and the smashed windows. The part that got him shaking his head in amazement were the multiple Escudos on the outside of the building that made a staircase that led from the destroyed elevator to the ground. That would at least explain how Mogami got out. For a Trigger meant to be used as a shield, it was amusing to see all the different ways that all the users of it were choosing to use it.

"Yuma-kun?"

"Chika?" Yuma twisted around to see his teammate with her Trigger activated. His brows furrowed in confusion as he looked around them. "I thought you went home cause it was late and you needed to see your parents? Also, why do you have your Trigger activated?" There was plenty of danger where Jin was since he was fighting Mogami, but that was far, far away from them so there wasn't any need for her to be looking for a fight.

"Why?" Chika looked so affronted as if Yuma's question was outrageous. "When Osamu-kun calls me to tell me you've been kidnapped, do you really think I was going–" Chika cut herself off from lecturing Yuma as she got a closer look at his face. It was dark outside with only a little light from the stars, but her Trion body gave her better eyesight in the dark and thus, it wasn't too difficult to see the obvious changes to Yuma. Her eyes flickered from his two eyes to move down from there to his face to his neck and to his arm. "You got healed?"

The bafflement on Chika's face was quite adorable which got Yuma smiling a bit. Her confusion was completely justified. If Osamu called her to tell her Yuma was missing then he was suddenly showing up outside of the base with no injuries, it would stun anyone.

"Temporarily." Yuma replied. "Listen, Chika, I need to get back inside and down to the prison cells to see my dad, but Torimaru-senpai said you need a Border Trigger to get access down there."

Chika studied Yuma closely, gnawing on her bottom lip as she listened to his request. It wasn't that she didn't want to help her friend. It was the opposite in fact. She wanted to do whatever she could to be helpful to Yuma since she wanted to pay him back for all that he had done for her, but Yuma had said that he was having trouble facing his father and thought it was best to avoid him. "And what will you do when you get down there?"

"Settle things." Yuma said simply, turning away from his friend to look back at the base towering over them. "I've been scared to face him all week because I see Dad's face and hear his voice, but his actions don't always match how he was when he was alive. I didn't want to be tormented by his image since I thought it would destroy my memory of him."

Chika stepped forward to get closer to Yuma and gently brushed her fingers over his arm in a show of support for her friend. "But fear is good." She said softly as she recalled her conversation with Yuma from earlier in the work. He had assured her so much that there was nothing to be ashamed about with being scared because it was natural. "It shows you your weakness but you can overcome it by relying on your allies to be your strength. We can help you."

A small smile crossed over Yuma's lips as he glanced downwards. "I've realized. Everyone has respectfully understood why this is so difficult for me and told me to stay away from Dad so I wouldn't suffer. I appreciate everyone going out of their way to help me with this, but I realized tonight that this is something I have to do myself. I can't rely on others to fight my nightmares for me. I don't think I'll be able to move pass this week properly if I don't face him on my own."

How could Chika say no to helping Yuma after hearing that? It was the same reason she had joined Border. She wanted to find her friend and brother, but she didn't want to ask anyone else to do it. It was her burden to bear. The only ones tasked with carrying the burden of looking for them was her own team, but it was like Yuma said months ago. He and Osamu were just doing what they thought was right and it turned out their interests aligned since they all had a reason to want to go the Neighborhood, except Osamu who was just overly helpful to everyone.

Understanding the need to take care of her problems on her own, Chika couldn't refuse Yuma who had finally found the resolve to face his past. The fact that he was asking her of this while outside the base that he could easily get back into if he used the Escudo staircase on the side of the building to get up to the hole in the wall meant that Yuma didn't want spotted by anyone who might stop him. He had a higher chance of getting seen if he entered from the top of the base and had to make his way back downstairs.

"I understand. Let's go, Yuma-kun."

Chika started forward towards the main door to the base while Yuma blinked for a moment before he was grinning. It was nice to see Chika taking the initiative occasionally. When they first joined Border, she was so shy and unsure. Reiji trained her well as a sniper, but being so green, she didn't have the courage to take shots on her own. She needed Osamu and Shiori to be the ones to tell her when and where to shoot. Ever since her final shot in their last rank match, Yuma could see her growing stronger and more willing to act without needing input from others on what to do.

"It's going to be dangerous." Yuma warned as he began to follow her.

Chika glanced over her shoulder, smiling reassuringly at him. "I've been in danger for years and I'm still here, Yuma-kun. I'm a survivor."

As the two made their way into the base, Karasuma sighed as he muted the conversation so he wouldn't eavesdrop on the two anymore. He collapsed in the desk chair and looked at the ceiling as he thought. He had already bailed out twice tonight so he wasn't going to be able to help Chika and Yuma when they made it to the prison cell, but considering there should be guards in there, they should be fine.

Hopefully.

Considering everything that had gone down this week, there was no telling what would happen in a meeting between Yuma and Yugo.

Maybe he should alert Rindo or Shinoda that Yuma was going down there without telling anyone. That would send them in a panic though and have them rushing down there. There was no way to tell if that would make this situation worse or better to have all them down there confronting Yugo.

Though, from the sounds of it, it seemed like Yuma wanted privacy to deal with his father so Karasuma would respect that but be ready to alert Rindo at a moment's notice.

Though, that would only work if he could find Rindo. Where did his director disappear to?