A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 59: A Meeting
His eyes flickered from one to the other as he sipped at the coffee he got from the vending machine. Osamu was thrilled to have woken up to find Yuma back at headquarters and fully healed. It was a relief to see two red eyes staring at him when he woke up. Instead of addressing that relief though, he found himself staring at Hyuse glaring at Yuma who was staring calmly back. Chika sat down on the bed next to him to join in staring at the two as they waited for one of them to break. Osamu was betting on Hyuse to snap first. Hyuse got irritated faster and was quicker to retort than Yuma who tended to be very calm and logical in most situations.
"I can't believe I missed so much last night." Konami complained to Jin, glaring at Karasuma. "And you, why did you leave me out of the loop? We're a team and you went out without me."
"I was with Jin-san." Karasuma replied. "We were just following a hunch. Instead of being upset that you missed out," He nodded his head towards where Tamakoma-2 was sitting in the barracks. "Go see your student. You were freaking out last night and he's back safe now."
Konami whacked Karasuma's arm. "You should have woken me up last night when he returned." She scolded as she walked passed him.
Karasuma rubbed his arm as she walked away even though his arm didn't hurt since Konami had been rather gentle with that slap. It must have been because she wasn't angry this time. Her relief over Yuma being back was much stronger than any true anger. He and Yuma did think about waking up the Tamakoma agents last night when they got back...Well, Karasuma did as he knew everyone would want to know Yuma was back safe and sound right away, but Yuma argued with him about it saying that everyone needed to sleep when they could and they likely wouldn't fall back to sleep easily if they woke them up and told them Yuma was back and Jin was out fighting Mogami alone. Karasuma could see the logic in that as he was wired last night but eventually did fall asleep after his talk with Yuma.
Konami kneeled on the bed behind Yuma so she could hug her student from behind. "Never do something so stupid again."
Yuma relaxed in her hold but still kept his staring contest with Hyuse going. "I didn't do anything." He protested which got Hyuse's glare darkening at him. "How is it my fault that Mogami got a hold of me last night?"
"Disappears with the enemy and returns a few hours with his body healed. It's weird." Hyuse growled.
"There was also a fight between Mogami-san and Yuma in the middle of that." Karasuma rubbed the back of his head as he walked over. "At least your body didn't take any damage after getting into a fight."
"It didn't, right?" Osamu asked sharply, lowering his drink to send a pointed look at his teammate. His question seemed to get everyone else suspicious as they remembered Yuma hiding the fact that his body was cracking the other day.
Yuma held his hands up, with some difficulty since Konami was still hugging him from behind. "I'm completely fine." He paused to look at his ring. "Well, not completely. My ring is taking damage and I'm sure the cracks will return to my body. Mogami wasn't able to permanently heal the damage done to me. He just sealed the wounds shut. With Dad still around, that damage can come back."
"And it's not as easy as killing Kuga-san like it was with Mogami-san." Osamu glanced over at Jin on the other side of the room, nursing his own second coffee. From what Osamu understood, he had been up all night finding Yuma and dealing with Mogami. It was a bit frustrating to learn that Jin had snuck out to handle that while the rest of them were told to stand down and try to get some rest.
"And why can't it be?" Konami retorted. "We held back on hurting Kuga-san cause Yuma's body was too damaged and couldn't handle taking anymore, but he's healed now." She reached forward to grab Yuma's hand with his ring and brought it closer to her to examine it. There wasn't a single crack marring his skin, but the ring was another story. "If we kill Kuga-san now, it shouldn't affect Yuma at all."
Jin looked up from his coffee to look over at Yuma and Konami. Even as Konami said that, he was still seeing multiple futures of Yuma's death. While he was beginning to see the futures shift where Yuma would live through this situation, there were still plenty where he died. Considering that, he wasn't sure if they should take the risk of killing Yugo and hoping Yuma would be fine or not. It was possible the futures of Yuma's death came about because they hesitated to deal with Yugo while Yuma was healed.
Osamu looked over at Jin. "What do you think?"
Jin downed the last of his coffee and stood up. "I think I need to talk to Rindo-san and Shinoda-san."
"So do I." Yuma agreed, fighting to escape Konami's hug. "They said we would talk in the morning. It's now morning."
"What do you want to talk to them about?" Osamu asked.
"About letting me in to talk to my dad."
"Is that a good idea?" Hyuse asked. Jin got to Mogami last night and took care of one of their problems. However, Jin wasn't hesitating to fight Mogami like Yuma was doing with his father so he doubted Yuma facing Yugo would work out the same way.
Yuma glared at his teammate. "I had enough people blocking my path last night. You do not get to step in my way too. Dad is my problem and I'm going to handle it now. I thank you all for helping me all week, and I'm not turning you guys away now, but I really do need to do this. I need to talk to him."
"I agree with him." Chika spoke up, surprising Osamu and Hyuse. "Yuma-kun has never been one to run away from his problems. We should at least let him speak with his father." She turned to look at Osamu, eyes pleading with him to understand. "It's about closure." Her hands curled into fists on her lap. Closure. Something she had yet to get. She had joined Border in the hopes of finding her brother and friend because she didn't want to rely on anyone else to do it for her. It was very possible she would never find them or they were already dead. She was terrified of that truth, but at least she would have tried to do something and not just sat back just wondering if something could have changed if she just stood and fought for what she wanted. Acting on what she wanted to do, whether she succeeded or failed, would bring her the closure she needed. It was exactly what Yuma needed right now. If he didn't face his father, he wouldn't be able to move past this week.
Osamu was staring at Chika in amazement. He wasn't sure what was going on in her head, but he really was shocked to see her speaking up and taking action more and more often this week. She was really starting to grow into a fine agent. As amazing as seeing her grow was, it wasn't the focus of the conversation so Osamu turned his attention towards Yuma. "I'm not going to stop you from doing what you think you have to, Kuga, but instead of just barreling right into whatever you think you have to do, you should fill us in on the plan this time."
"I don't necessarily have a plan." Yuma replied.
"Shocker." Hyuse muttered. Yuma didn't seem to be acting on a plan all week. Why would it change now?
"Mogami and I talked last night, and now I need to go talk with my dad." Yuma explained. "I need to be the one to finish this."
"I agree with Yuma." Jin said quickly so they didn't need to have another argument about this like the past few days because it looked like some of their friends were getting ready to say something. "It might set Kuga-san off, but we're on edge waiting for him to make a move anyway."
"I'm amazed he didn't try anything at all last night." Reiji added.
"That's because he was too busy taunting us." Konami complained.
Yuma glanced over at his mentor, raising a brow at her in question. His father had been taunting them? He knew that Shinoda and Rindo had gone to talk to him last night since he saw them there when he tried to visit his dad, but he didn't even consider that anyone else would have gone to talk to him.
"Oh, yeah, did you get your Trigger back?" Konami asked suddenly.
"No?"
Konami scowled. "I told Boss to get it back from Kuga-san but it seems they weren't able to either."
Very likely that was true. If they had gotten it back, they surely would have given it to Yuma last night before they parted ways after leaving the basement. "Another thing to talk to my dad about then. Jin-san, do you know where Boss and Shinoda-san are? I want to get on this right away."
"Shinoda-san's or Kido's san office is a likely place but they could also be in a conference room." Jin replied.
"Or out getting breakfast." Yuri pointed out as she showed her phone to Jin. "It's still pretty early and it is looking to be a long day. They'll want to eat before the day gets started." Her eyes scanned each Tamakoma member in the room and the scattered cups of coffee and tea that were sitting around the room. "Something you all should be doing. And Yuma-kun should go see his other friends who were worried sick last night when he disappeared."
Yuma pouted a bit. He understood that it wasn't just the Tamakoma branch that was likely scared when he vanished last night and he should show his face to his friends, but he really wanted to go see his father. This was something that he didn't want to wait on anymore. There was an anxiousness coursing through his veins to get this problem with the Mimics done. Jin handled his part so now it was his turn. "Is that really the important thing to focus on right now?"
In response to his question, Yuma was met with multiple pillows flying at him from multiple directions. He caught the one coming for his face but let the others hit him and bounce harmlessly to the floor.
"Are you really that upset that I didn't wake any of you up last night?" Yuma asked and this time used the pillow he caught as a shield against the next set of pillows thrown at him. "We've been busy all week. I didn't want to disturb your sleep."
"It's not like it was easy sleep." Konami complained.
"We would have had better sleep if we knew you were safe." Osamu agreed.
Yuma tossed his pillow shield on the closest bed, grinning apologetic towards his captain. "Meant no offense, Osamu. It's just been a very stressful week all around. I'm just ready for it to be over." He glanced towards Hyuse then towards Chika. "And then we can finally get back to working towards our actual goal."
"I know you guys are eager to start training for the away mission, but that is no reason to rush this." Reiji warned. "Rushing things leads to mistakes."
"Feels like we've been doing nothing but taking it slow. It's been days since Kuga-san appeared and he's still here." Konami muttered.
Jin tossed his empty cup in the trashcan. "Not for much longer. We are going to finish this." At Yuri's pointed cough, Jin held up a finger. "But, after breakfast." At Yuma's sharp look, Jin shook his head. "We will talk to them after lunch, Yuma, and then you can go see your father, I promise."
*Mimics*
"Are you really okay?"
Sighing, Yuma folded his arms behind his head as he walked down the hall. He eyed his captain out of the corner of his eyes. "Don't I look it?"
Osamu scowled. "Kuga, you got kidnapped last night."
Yuma's nose wrinkled in distaste at that word. "I was perfectly fine. Better than fine actually."
"Didn't you get into a fight with Mogami?" Hyuse asked from behind them.
Osamu and Yuma glanced over their shoulders at Chika and Hyuse. "A good point."
Yuma rolled his eyes and looked forward again. "It didn't turn out perfectly, but I was with the enemy. It was kind of expected that a fight of some sort would break out."
"Considering you shouldn't even be able to activate your Triggers, a fight shouldn't have broken out at all." Hyuse retorted.
"Mogami gave me some Trion and it turned out to be a lot more helpful than he probably anticipated." Yuma replied.
"And then you proceeded to squander it all by getting into that fight." Hyuse said.
"It'll recover."
Hyuse snorted. "Your Trion hasn't been recovering all week. Why would it start now?"
Yuma raised a finger, but didn't say anything back to Hyuse since he was technically correct. Even now, he could feel that the Trion he used last night hadn't fully returned. He wasn't fully drained as he knew his Trion was returning but it was coming back very slowly. It meant that he couldn't just throw himself into fights willy-nilly. Since it was taking much longer for his Trion to return than normal, he had to only fight when it was absolutely necessary, and right now there was only one fight that Yuma wanted to have.
Against his father.
To see the end of this stressful week.
*Mimics*
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"That seems counterproductive."
Chika hummed happily as she ate her breakfast, completely ignoring the way Kageura was holding Yuma by his hoodie and was shaking him violently while Murakami stood off to the side waiting for a moment to step in. Murakami was going to stop Kageura from going too far but he wanted to give Kageura a chance to get some of his anger and concern out. To most it looked like he was just furious, but Murakami knew he had been worried about Yuma last night. He wouldn't ever show it publicly so he was showing his relief about Yuma being back by being his usual violent self.
"Are we not going to defend our teammate?" Hyuse asked even though he made no effort to leave his breakfast to drag Yuma over to their table. They had just sat down with their food when Kageura, Zoe, and Murakami had come in and seen them. Yuma had taken one bite of his food before he was yanked out of the booth by Kageura.
"They won't hurt him." Shiori assured him, grinning softly at the sight of Yuma with his friends. Though Kageura was being a bit rough, Yuma was grinning the whole time. Even through roughhousing, Yuma really loved teasing his friends and riling them up even more. "And this way, he did as Yuri-san suggested and let his friends see he was back and fine. Now Yuma-kun will be able to focus on his meeting with Rindo-san and Shinoda-san later."
"Not that Yuma ever cared about alerting anyone he was okay." Hyuse pointed out.
Osamu was certain that had to do with the last few years of his life. He had been in Border for a few months now, but having spent years where he was relied on as a powerful Black Trigger user, Yuma had a difficult time needing to be open with comrades. It would take more than a few months with his new comrades to change that. Still, Yuma had been doing really good in getting used to Japan and the way Border operated.
"I'll show you counterproductive!"
Before Kageura could attempt to strangle Yuma, Murakami stepped in and pressed a hand into his friend's chest to push him back a couple steps. "Let's not try actually killing him."
"Please," Yuma added, leaning past the protective barrier of Murakami's body to look at Kageura. "My body is healed, but it's still weak. I don't have enough Trion back to bring the durability of this body back to full."
"How does someone get kidnapped and return the next day healed?" Kageura grumbled, eyeing his friend suspiciously. He could say with complete certainty that it had to be a Kuga Yuma thing. Now that he knew about his body, he could say quite easily that Yuma just got himself into trouble and strange situations easily.
"Because Mogami fell for my sweet, innocent nature just like you guys." Yuma teased.
Murakami wasn't able to stop Kageura from leaning past him and smacking Yuma on the top of his head this time. "Sweet, innocent nature, my ass. There is nothing sweet about you." Kageura snarled. "You are a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Yuma's brows furrowed in confusion as he turned to where his team was sitting with a question in his eyes.
"It means you appear pleasant and friendly but are hiding a devious side underneath the smile." Osamu explained without looking up from his breakfast. Anytime he heard an idiom in range of Yuma and Hyuse's hearing, he was always ready for the questions that it would cause.
Murakami glanced at Osamu than over his shoulder at Yuma. "You really never heard that idiom before?"
Yuma shrugged. "I traveled a lot growing up, but it was always in war torn countries. Idioms weren't used. People were very straight forward with their words, though whether or not they were speaking any truth in those words was another matter entirely." He explained before turning a sharp glare to Kageura. "And I am a very friendly person, Kage-san. Why would you think I wasn't?"
"He's right. He's a very honest person." Murakami added. It was the whole reason he knew Yuma and Kageura would become great friends. Kageura would respect the honesty in Yuma.
"Until we're on the battlefield." Kageura snarled.
"Ah," Murakami nodded to himself. Yuma's friendly persona melted away to show a wolf when he was in battle. He sometimes wore a smile when fighting, but usually the smile was hidden away by a serious expression and it was one that Kageura couldn't read with his side effect.
"I thought he was a cougar?" Shiori asked amused.
"The expression is 'wolf in sheep's clothing,' not 'cougar in sheep's clothing.'" Kageura snapped. "And since he doesn't understand idioms to begin with, changing a common idiom will just hurt his brain."
"Eh," Yuma was tempted to complain about the insult, but since it was true, he let it go. He was getting used to some of the idioms that they used in this world, but every time he thought he had a handle on them, a new one would be thrown his way.
"Yuma-senpai!"
Kageura couldn't resist a groan that escaped him at the loud voice. He quickly sidestepped to avoid the energetic boy that was racing towards their friend.
Yuma swerved around Murakami to get on his other side to avoid being tackled by Shun. With nothing to crash into, Shun almost fell over as he was forcing himself to come to a stop and would have fallen to the ground if not for Murakami grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back to plant him back on his feet.
"Nice save, Murakami-senpai." Shun complimented, grinning at the older boy. "Though, not one I would have needed if Yuma-senpai didn't dodge."
Yuma looked pass Murakami to glare at Shun. "Dodging is the natural reaction when someone is trying to tackle you. Stop trying to tackle me or throw stuff at me and I'll stop dodging you when you come to say hi."
"I'm just relieved you're alright and this is how I'm greeted?" Shun complained. "Do you have any idea of how worried we were last night when you disappeared? And you come back acting like it was nothing!"
"I'm getting an idea." Yuma said, glancing at his senpais than Shun and finally at his team still sitting at the table. He didn't really put any thought into how his friends had reacted last night when he was gone. He was just so focused on Mogami at the time that he gave his friends no attention. That seemed to be the natural course of action for him all week. When the Mimics were in front of him, they were all he thought about. His friends got no consideration from him at all. "But I really am fine. Right now, I need to–" He paused as he glanced at Shun and Kageura. The last time he talked about wanting to find his dad in front of them, they kept arguing with him about how bad of an idea it was. He really didn't want to start another argument about this. "–talk to Rindo-san and Shinoda-san."
"After breakfast, Kuga." Osamu said, eyeing his friend when he heard the pause in his voice that wasn't normal for him. Yuma never hesitated with his words. He was always straightforward and blunt to the point of being rude and unaware of the situation. He was getting better at it lately so maybe the pause was him just actually taking a moment to think of what he was going to say first. "I know you guys are happy he is back, but can you wait to play until later?"
"We aren't playing!" Kageura snapped but was pushed back by Murakami.
"We understand. Try not to get into any trouble this time, Kuga." Murakami said as he dragged Kageura away from the group. "You can spar with him another day, Kage."
"He won't be any fun to fight until this whole mess is over." Kageura complained.
"They know I can still hear them, right?" Yuma asked dryly.
Shun stared as Murakami continued to drag Kageura away. As they got farther away, he could no longer hear what the two were arguing about but it was probably about a fight or Kageura complaining about Yuma being a reckless idiot. It could honestly be either since Yuma being a reckless idiot was a strong topic this week. "I think they already forgot you are standing here."
"Really feeling the love." Yuma said amused as he slid into the booth next to Shiori and dragged his most likely already cold breakfast towards him.
"It's called tough love and it's the best kind of love for you." Shiori teased.
Shun sat on the edge of the seats across from Yuma. "So, what happened last night?"
Yuma shrugged as he dug into his food. Yep, cold just like he thought it would be. It would have been nice if Kageura waited until he ate before accosting him. "Went on an adventure with Mogami, got into a fight with him, left Jin-san to deal with him when he showed up, and then came back here and got stonewalled by Rindo-san and Shinoda-san which is why I want to go talk to them as soon as possible. I feel like I'm wasting time just sitting here."
And time was not something he had an abundance of right now.
"I see you're back to being high strung." Shun replied. "And here I was thinking you were finally starting to relax last night." Not that Shun could blame Yuma. A night of fun turned stressful for them all. As energetic as he was acting, Shun really was just acting. He didn't get much sleep last night and the few hours he did get didn't feel all that restful. Though, by the looks of the bags under the Tamakoma members' eyes, he would say that was true for all of them. The only one who looked lively was Yuma but that wasn't a fair comparison since Yuma couldn't sleep.
"I'm not high strung. I'm being impatient." Yuma replied. If he could just go see his father, he could finish up the issue with the Mimics. Well, the transformed Mimics. The issue with the Mimics in general wouldn't be done until Meraki was out of range of this world, but that should be soon.
"Which isn't like you." Osamu pointed out. "You don't rush things, Kuga, so stop trying to right now."
Yuma leveled a stare at his captain. "Just because you haven't seen my patience snap doesn't mean it's never happened. I am just as capable as the rest of you at losing my cool." It didn't happen often and when it did, it was either because he was concerned for his friends' safety or the enemy was mocking him. With Viza, he made a last-ditch effort to defeat him to get to Osamu and Chika because it was his only move left. Against Giev, he had gotten furious at the fake Replica in front of him. His patience had a limit like everyone else's did. The only difference was that he had the power of his Black Trigger behind him along with his years of battle experience to back him up when his calm nature was gone.
"Doesn't this week of reckless actions from him count?" Hyuse asked.
"I guess that is a fair point." Osamu murmured.
"We need the normal, less terrifying Yuma-senpai back." Shun added.
Shiori raised a brow. "Less terrifying?" She questioned. "Shouldn't it be non-terrifying Yuma-kun?"
"I know what I said." Shun said, staring across the table at Yuma who shifted his stare to him.
"I'm flattered to know I can scare you, but doesn't Kage-senpai scare you more?" Yuma asked.
"Kageura-san scares me in a different way than you." Shun retorted.
Chika leaned forward to look pass Shiori to look down the table at Yuma, studying her friend closely. "Why does Yuma-kun scare you?" She asked confused. There had never been a single moment in the past couple of months that she had been scared of Yuma. Scared for him, yes, but never of him. Even when she learned he was a Neighbor, she couldn't find it in her to feel the least bit scared of him. He had been nothing but kind and honest from the moment she met him. Even seeing him fight Miwa squad did nothing to make her scared.
"I don't expect his Branch to understand." Shun grumbled, leaving Chika confused and Yuma amused. Shun didn't need to explain it at all. He knew that Yuma knew the fear he could invoke in people on the battlefield. There was a reason he was called the 'White Nightmare.'
Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, Yuma shoved his next bite in his mouth and pulled his phone out to see a text from Jin. "Got a meeting with Kido-san and the others in thirty minutes." That was still too long for him, but at least he didn't have to wait hours to talk to them.
"I'm coming with you." Osamu said, voice filled with the order as he wasn't giving Yuma a chance to push him out of this.
Yuma shrugged. "Do as you wish."
"I plan to." Osamu replied. If Yuma was determined to go see his father, Osamu was determined to hear what exactly was going with all of this. After Yugo had attacked him multiple times and Yuma couldn't find the strength to fight back, why was he suddenly wanting to face him again? Osamu didn't know if Yuma would be able to face his father or get the closure he needed or whatever it was that he wanted from this, but he was willing to hear his friend out.
"Thirty minutes, huh?" Shun mused. "More than enough time for a match!"
"You know I still don't have my Trigger back." Yuma pointed out.
"Seriously? It's been days, Yuma-senpai." Shun whined. "He's even in the basement. Just sitting there with your Trigger nestled in his pocket."
Yuma rolled his eyes. "At least he never activated it. We don't need him running around with Scorpion blades."
"Why steal it if he's not going to use it?" Shun asked.
Shiori hummed to herself as she stirred her drink with her straw. "Maybe he knows we can track him if he activates the Trigger. Even if he doesn't, he is overly cautious so he probably doesn't want to use a Trigger he knows nothing about. From what I've seen of the records of his fight, he has a different fighting style than Yuma-kun. He has no idea of what kind of weapon Yuma-kun's Trigger holds."
"He also has no need for Yuma's Trigger. He has his swords and the Black Trigger seals. Using Border's Trigger would just hold him back." Hyuse added.
"I guess that makes sense." Shun said.
Yugo had no reason to use Yuma's Trigger. That was basically the summary of what Hyuse and Shiori said. So, why did he steal Yuma's Trigger in the first place? Yuma knew that it was his fault he lost it to begin with. He was shocked when he initially got thrown out of the window, but falling through the air was something Yuma was used to. He never should have lost his grip on his Trigger back then and let the Mimic get a hold of it. That was on him, but why did Yugo take it in that moment? It had turned out to benefit him as he used to get access to Border's HQ multiple times, but there was no way that Yugo could have known what use the Trigger would have had for him in that moment when he decided to take it. If Yuma had to guess based on what he knew of Yugo, he would say his father didn't consider how it could be useful for him. He likely just grabbed it on instinct and thought about it later. Yugo wouldn't just leave a weapon sitting on the ground.
It would be just like Yugo to see something that might be of importance and grab it and figure out what ways to use it later on. That was the kind of person he was. Always prepared and thinking ten steps ahead.
Kuga Yugo was smart and cunning. He had power on his side as well which was why Yuma, and likely all of the agents, didn't trust him sitting in the prison cell doing nothing. He surrendered and then sat in a cell all night which meant he had hours to be thinking ahead who knew how many steps at this point. While he was planning ahead, Yuma had gotten locked out of visiting him and was going to play catch up to his father at this point. He needed to get Rindo to get him access to his father as soon as possible.
Though, considering how many hours it had been at this point, they were likely already going to be walking into Yugo's trap.
And personally, Yuma wasn't inclined to getting kidnapped again.
He wanted to be the one in control this time.
He wanted to be the one to initiate the attack.
Though, if Yuma was being honest with himself, that would be pretty hard to do. He had never been able to get one up on his father.
*Mimics*
Even though the only higher ups in the room were Kido, Shinoda, and Rindo, the room still had a feeling of tension in it that reminded Osamu a lot of those meetings he had with all the higher ups in the past couple of months. The first couple of times he had a meeting with the higher ups, he felt suffocated by the tension and stress of those meetings. Since December, he had ended up having so many meetings with them that he was getting more confident in facing the directors in these type of meetings. However, this was not one of his meetings. It was Yuma's meeting. He was simply here to hear Yuma's argument to the directors about what to do with Yugo. Since he had no part in this, he had to stew in the tension in the room with Hyuse and Chika who had insisted on coming with him and Yuma. They were sitting on the couch in Kido's office while Yuma stood in front of Kido's desk, a determined frown set on his face.
Jin stepped up behind the couch Osamu was sitting on, planting his hands on the back of it by Osamu's head.
"You're not going to help?" Osamu asked softly without turning to look at his senior.
"Nope," Jin said just as softly but with more of a jovial tone. "Yuma wants to do this so he has to be the one to convince them it is a good idea."
Osamu turned his head very slightly to look at Jin out of the corner of his eyes. "But you're still here which means you expect them to ask you about it. Whatever you say will have a huge weight in the decision."
"Perhaps," Jin said as he leaned down to be closer to his cute juniors. "But, it's still Yuma's argument to make." Jin went after Mogami last night and finally settled things with his mentor. It had been a painful experience thrusting his sword through Mogami's chest and knowing that there was no coming back for him. There was no bail out. There was no Trion body breaking apart to return Mogami to his real body. A sword through his chest this time meant the end forever. Jin took no joy from that fight and ended up walking back to headquarters in a complete daze when he found Yuma. Talking with Yuma had helped to clear his head. As painful as it was to kill Mogami, it set things right for him and he got those final words from his mentor that showed him to be the person that Jin looked up to so much when he was a kid.
It gave him a sense of closure from the hell of this week.
Yuma needed the same thing.
However, he had to be the one to argue his case with the directors. The only reason it would be difficult for them to let Yuma see his father was because Yugo had been close to killing him all week and Yuma had been too unsure to fight back, not that he could even fight back the past couple of times they met since he couldn't activate his Trigger. With Yuma in a bad place mentally and physically, it made sense to keep Yuma out of the fight.
If Yuma could activate his Trigger and was willing to face his father with the ability to fight him if he had to, there was no reason to hold him back. He simply had to get past the protectiveness that Rindo and Shinoda had developed for him this week when this all got bad.
Rindo leaned against the window behind Kido's desk, staring at his agents with Shinoda by his side. He was surprised that Konami didn't come with Yuma since he was sure she would have wanted to stay by his side after last night. It was surprising, but it was probably better for Yuma. He would prefer that no one acted weird around him after his kidnapping. "So, Yuma?" He prompted.
"Like I said last night, I want to see my dad. I started this mess when that Mimic got a hold of me and I want to be the one to finish it." Yuma resisted the urge to shove his hands in his pockets or to cross his arms. He kept them stubbornly by his side as he stared at Kido, even though he was speaking to Rindo and Shinoda about their brief conversation last night.
"If you recall, Agent Kuga, you're currently benched." Kido pointed out. "Something you made the decision to do yourself."
Yuma tilted his head slightly towards Kido in acknowledgement of the truth in his words. "I understand, but that was when I couldn't activate my Trigger because of lack of Trion and I didn't have the resolve to face my father. Both of those handicaps are no longer there." He ran his thumb over his ring without taking his eyes off Kido as he didn't want to draw attention to the action. He was able to activate the Triggers last night and he was sure he could accomplish it again. It had to be soon though. Mogami helped him greatly, but Yuma knew his Black Trigger was still favoring Yugo. He didn't know how long he had until his body started to break apart again or how many times he could activate his Trigger. They couldn't waste any more time with this.
"You insisted for days you could handle Yugo-san when he first appeared, but that proved to be false." Shinoda replied, leveling a stare down towards Yuma. "You agreed to back off when you realized you were lying to yourself. What makes you sure you can face him now?"
"Because I found my resolve." Yuma replied, though he knew that wouldn't be good enough for anyone in the room. If he wanted to get what he wanted, he needed to be more forthright and open about his feelings. "I spent years with my father and a good portion of that time was spent being trained by him. I fought him plenty of times over the years, never won of course, but I fought him enough times to the point that I thought I could handle facing him even as a Mimic. It would just be another fight against Dad." He stopped talking for a moment, staring past Kido's head to look out the window as a vision of his smiling father appeared before him again, resulting in a soft sigh. "I was so sure that I would be fine, but then he appeared in front of me, and all I could think of was my own guilt at getting him killed and how he must hate me for putting him in that position. I thought I deserved this and it was finally my time to repent for that sin so if I died and he got to live, it would set things right. I should have died five years ago and Dad was the one supposed to live. We were just righting things with the Mimics."
Yuma's hands clasped the edge of the desk in front him as he slouched forward. He was an honest person. If asked a question directly, Yuma would answer it. Growing up with a father who had a lie detector meant Yuma learned to be honest. However, as honest as he was, he didn't overexplain anything or give his feelings away. That wasn't want he did, and yet, this whole week, that was all he was doing. He was opening himself up to everyone and letting them all see his weakness, and he absolutely hated it.
"I've always felt guilt over Dad's death and all I wanted for years was to find a way to give him his life back, even if it meant I had to die." Yuma admitted. "It's why I hesitated all week. I wasn't sure of what to do." He turned his head slightly to acknowledge his team behind him, unsurprised to see Chika and Hyuse looking at him in shock. Osamu and Jin already had a very good insight to the guilt and depression that Yuma carried so they could listen to Yuma calmly as they already expected this. "Giving Dad his life back was my goal for years, but when I came here, I decided that it just wasn't possible and joined Border. I found myself loving life again and just learning how to actually live again. I couldn't decide whether to be selfish and keep this life that I found or give up and let Dad take my life."
Yuma pushed away from the desk to stand up straight again, meeting Kido's cold, calculating stare once more, ignoring the looks of horror from Shinoda and Rindo behind him. "And none of that is a good argument of why you should let me go see Dad. In fact, it should give you even more reason to keep me away." He shook his head and sighed again. "But, that was my thought process of days ago. When Dad first attacked headquarters a couple days ago and stole my ring, the look on his face was so ugly and full of greed, something that I would never see from him. It opened my eyes to the disgusting Trion Soldier side of these Mimics. That is the side that has been tormenting me for days and that is the side that is causing my dad so much pain. I realized my desire to live and I learned from Mogami last night the desire Dad's has to die. He doesn't want this anymore than we do. If he succeeds, I die and he goes to Meraki as a weapon. I don't want to see him as a pawn to anyone so I want to stop him."
Kido leaned back in his seat, staring at Yuma in consideration. "Stopping him means killing him. You already live with the guilt of that happening once. Do you really think you can survive watching him die a second time?"
"Whether by my hand or someone else's, he is going to die either way." Yuma replied softly. "I know it's not something easy to do, but living isn't easy either. Pain is a part of life. Everyone suffers from it in some form or another. I've never run from the pain of life before so I'm not going to start now."
"Didn't he just say he wanted to bring his father back for years, no matter the cost?" Hyuse muttered softly to Osamu. "Sounds like he was trying to run to me by trying to give his life up for his father."
Osamu wanted to shush Hyuse even though he was whispering so it's not like Kido or the others could hear him. Though, even if they could, it probably didn't matter. The directors were smart enough to think of the same argument on their own.
Even though Chika was sitting between Hyuse and Osamu, she didn't acknowledge them talking over her head. She was completely focused on Yuma's words. Yuma was a close friend of hers since they met, but despite that, this week was showing her just how much Yuma kept to himself. It felt like she truly didn't know anything about her friend until this week. He always smiled so easily at them that it felt like a ridiculous thought that anything could be bothering him. She knew that wasn't true since Yuma had told her the day they met about his father, but ever since then, he has been full of strength and confidence. He had been a solid rock for her and Osamu as they both struggled to learn to fight and be of value to the team. All this time, Yuma had been helping them with a smile and listening to their fears and worries while keeping his problems silent. Even when he did let something from his past slip, it was always with a smile on his face, making it seem like it wasn't a big deal. How could she be so blind to the suffering behind that smile?
"I think we should let him do it." Jin said, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to him. He stepped away from the couch where Yuma's team was sitting to approach the desk where he placed Fujin down on it. A fully repaired Fujin. "When I defeated Mogami-san last night," His voice almost stuttered as he said that because Jin recognized the fact that he did not win last night. Mogami found the strength to pull back in the fight and allowed Jin's sword to break through his defenses. "Fujin was able to restore itself. It's like all the Trion and life force that Mogami-san had been draining from Fujin returned to it."
Rindo glanced down at the repaired Black Trigger now sitting on Kido's desk. It was a relief to see that it hadn't gotten destroyed in Jin's final fight with Mogami. "Wasn't the reason that Kuga-san surrendered and the reason the agents didn't want to injure him in the fight was because that would hurt Yuma?"
"Our lives are twisted together," Yuma admitted. "But it was worse the past couple of days because I was lacking Trion to keep my body together. Mogami-san got rid of that handicap." Even if he only got rid of it temporarily. "I should be fine if Dad takes damage now."
"'Should' is not very reassuring." Shinoda pointed out.
Yuma shrugged. "Nothing is ever guaranteed, but the longer we stand here arguing about it, the less of a window of opportunity we're going to have to deal with this. Mogami-san healing me isn't going to prevent my body from breaking again. We need to handle Dad now."
"And by 'we,' you mean you." Kido replied.
"Yes," Yuma stood up straight, staring into Kido's soul. As intimidating as he was to others, as much as he could scare people into doing what he wanted by his eyes, Kido was not one of those people. He never flinched at anything. "This isn't about whether I can handle facing my father or if I can fight now. It's about if he can face me."
"It seems obvious he can." Osamu spoke up. "He's been coming after you all week."
Yuma shook his head. "But he didn't last night." He stressed. "He sent Mogami after me and Mogami told me it was to spare him the pain, and then he just surrendered to Border last night. He can't face me so we can throw him off with this."
"Interesting theory, except that Kuga-san has been asking for you since we captured him." Jin pointed.
Yuma knew that. He had talked to Jin about what happened while he was gone from Border. Since he figured Jin wouldn't be able to sleep after his fight with Mogami last night, Jin stayed up all night with Yuma and got him caught up on what he missed. "You guys have been fighting very hard the past couple of days to keep him away from me. He realized that and was just taunting you guys by asking for me." It was just what he expected from the Mimic side of Kuga Yugo. A taunting villain.
"An interesting theory." Rindo replied. "Another one is that he really does want us to send you down there. We didn't expect Kuga-san to stay in the cell all night, and yet, he did. He's waiting for something."
"Or he is resisting the orders that well." Jin suggested, though he wasn't really believing the words he was saying. The conversation he had with Yugo last night didn't feel like the man that Yuma told him about. He didn't know what kind of person Yugo was when he was alive, but he didn't think it was the person he talked to last night.
"And what about when he learns his partner has been killed?" Hyuse asked.
"I'm sure Kuga-san won't take it well to know his partner has been killed, but we have no intention of telling him about that." Jin replied. "We're not going to share any information with him."
"I'm sure he'll figure it out." Yuma muttered. His dad's side effect made it hard to talk to him and keep things from him at the same time. Yuma understood that very well having stood in the face of his father for eleven years with never getting anything past him and then when he inherited the side effect, he realized just how much he could see through. No lies or omissions got past Yuma.
"With his partner dead, do you think that would push him even harder to get Yuma-kun's Black Trigger?" Shinoda asked.
Jin turned to look at Yuma, but his attention was actually on the windows of the future popping up around Yuma. There was still so much death in his future with a couple futures of Yuma surviving. "Anything is possible."
"We can't think of every possibility." Yuma replied. Yuma was more of the type to go into a situation and adapt to every change as it happened. If he overthought the situation before it happened, he wouldn't be able to react fast enough in the moment. Osamu was the type of person to overthink battle plans and try to plan for every scenario. Planning wasn't bad, but not every single possibility could be planned for. At some point, it was about being able to adapt on the fly.
"So, you want to walk down to the cells with no plan?" Kido asked dryly.
"That's not really my idea." Yuma replied. "But we can't get any more information about the Mimics and we have no idea what will happen when we face Dad so at this point, we–" He was cut off by the phone ringing.
Kido held up a finger to Yuma to tell him to give him a minute as he picked up the phone. "Kido here." As he listened to the person who called, he stared at Yuma. With Kido looking right at him, he was able to see his brow raise as he listened to the caller, but other than that, his expression remained quite stoic.
Jin turned his back on Kido and the directors while taking a step closer to Yuma. "He's gone." He whispered.
Yuma's eyes flickered to the side to look at Jin. The pronoun game made it hard to know who Jin was talking about, but Yuma could deduct who it was based on who Yuma had been focused on all morning. It was the person they were all most concerned with. "But why now?" He asked softly back as he turned his head to the side so Rindo and Shinoda couldn't read his lips. "Why did he sit in a cell all night just to leave now?"
"It's been about twelve hours since we took him down there. Maybe he got tired of waiting for you to come down or he finally couldn't hold back his urge to get your ring anymore." Jin suggested.
If that was the case, then why didn't his dad come find him in the base? If he wanted the Black Trigger that badly, he should have stayed in the base to find Yuma to get it. Or, perhaps it was about Mogami. Mogami was supposed to get the Black Trigger from Yuma last night for Yugo. Yugo had no way of knowing that Mogami failed and was dead.
Kido dropped his phone back on the receiver, but in the silence of the room, it sounded like it was slammed on it. "Kuga has destroyed the cell and forced Arashiyama and Kitora into bail out."
Shinoda glanced out the window he was leaning on, but couldn't see anything that resembled his mentor down there. He couldn't even see the mess that Yugo likely caused by escaping the basement. He knew two guards wasn't going to be enough to keep Yugo in, but there was nothing they could do to keep Yugo in the cell. They truly had just been playing a waiting game as they waited for Yugo to move. Perhaps they should have allowed Yuma to make a move like he wanted a lot sooner.
"Whether he's here or not, I still want to go after him." Yuma said, refocusing on Kido. "Dad not being here complicates it as it will take time to find him."
"He'll most likely come after you again." Kido replied.
"And I want to take the fight to him before that happens." Yuma argued. "We throw him off by forcing him into our terms."
"We tried that before and he outwitted us." Osamu pointed out.
The battle that Yuma missed the most of because he had been unconscious. He didn't want to compliment the enemy, but it was impressive that Yugo and Mogami managed to outmaneuver Border with so little time to prepare to counter their move. "True, but Dad's now alone. As long as no more Mimics transform and join him, he's outnumbered. No matter how strong he is with the Black Trigger on his side, he's not going to make any foolish moves against Border's numbers."
"He's not going to sit passively by either." Kido replied. While Yugo was being passive by sitting in a cell all night, he seemed to have gotten impatient and decided to make his move.
"Yes," Yuma stressed. "So, I need to move now and get to him before he can set whatever plan he has in motion."
"And what are you going to do if you find him, Yuma?" Rindo asked.
"Just like what Jin-san did last night. I'm going to make him see me." Yuma looked from Shinoda to Rindo. "My dad gave everything to protect me once and now he's suffering from guilt from hurting me but his Mimic side is still demanding he do it. I'm going to make those two sides go to war with each other. It should give me the edge."
"Yugo-san isn't the type to get distracted that easily." Shinoda pointed out.
"But this is what he wants." Yuma replied. "He wants to die to stop this from happening. If I can make Dad see me, maybe he'll be able to put in the resistance against the Trion Solider programming and help me along in the fight."
Just like what Mogami did with Jin last night. Jin didn't do much to get Mogami to remember memories last night, but he did say a few things and taking him to Tamakoma helped a lot with that. A familiar location, his student, and shared memories on top of the fact that Mogami was fighting back as much as he could. For all the taunting that Yugo had given them, there were signs that he was trying to pull back from making any moves that would hurt Yuma more. "I think we should give Yuma this chance. If it doesn't work, we can move in and help him."
"Move in?" Osamu echoed. "Are you saying to let Kuga go after his father alone?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Jin replied, and he knew it was exactly what Yuma wanted. He was speaking as if they were all going to go after Yugo together, but he knew Yuma wanted that moment alone with his dad. "If someone else is there when Yuma is doing this, Kuga-san isn't going to focus enough on him as he will be wary of everyone else there. Yuma going alone will force Kuga-san to see him and realize what he is doing."
Kido leaned back in his chair as he examined Yuma and Jin in front of him. It was just like the Tamakoma branch to come up with a plan that was about manipulation, only this time they weren't trying to manipulate the battlefield. They were trying to manipulate the enemies. It was a tactic that Tamakoma-2 used a lot and was something they succeeded at quite well. "Alright, one chance, Agent Kuga. I will let you try this once. If it doesn't work, we will need another plan."
"It will work." Yuma said, because if it didn't work, then what did that mean for the love that Yugo was supposed to have for Yuma? Yugo was such a strong fighter and a great father to Yuma. If the love he truly had for Yuma did exist and was so strong that he would die for Yuma once, than surely it would be strong enough to get Yugo to fight back against his Mimic programming for Yuma.