A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 68: Nightmare's End
"Yugo," Eleni called. "Come meet our son."
Yugo smiled softly as he walked over to his wife. He put an arm on the bed headrest behind her so he could lean over to see the little bundle sleeping in her arms. Half of his face was nuzzled in his mother's chest though he could still see little tufts of black hair peeking out.
He was so cute.
He was barely a day old, but Yugo could already tell that he would do anything for this child.
Yugo reached out and gingerly brushed a thumb across those chubby cheeks.
"What should we call him?" Eleni asked, smiling so lovingly down at her baby.
Yugo stared at their baby, at the small smile on his face as he slept happily. In the Neighborhood that had constant wars, a child brought into the world was just so innocent and unaware of the hardships of life. A child deserved the chance to be just that, a child who was seeking fun.
"Yuma."
"Yuma?" Eleni repeated.
"It's Japanese. Yu means 'to play' and 'ma' means real. Together, it means to play for real." Yugo explained. He finally shifted his eyes away from their child to smile at his wife. "I want our son to have the chance to live a life of fun and get to play as much as he likes."
Eleni glanced down at her baby. A life of play. It wasn't something many children got in her world. Children, especially those with high Trion, were trained from early childhood to be soldiers. Those who weren't suited for soldiers got intense schooling to contribute to their world as scientists. Playing and having fun didn't really exist here, but it was something so common in Yugo's world. With her and Yugo as his parents, their son would get to live a life so different from normal children in the Neighborhood. "Yuma." She tried the name out on her tongue and found her smile growing. "Yuma. I like it. Our little bundle of joy who will get to play as much as he likes."
Yugo collapsed to his knees, uncaring of the blood coating his hands and clothes. When was the last time he actually held his son? As Yuma grew and wanted more independence, he stopped letting his dad carry him so it had been a few years. He was still in the body of a child as his body didn't grow while trapped in the Black Trigger as all the energy and nutrition Yuma acquired went to keep his real body functioning to keep him alive as long as possible. Even so, Yuma should weigh heavier, but the lack of limbs and organs from his side made him so much lighter than he should be.
Yugo grabbed his son's limp hand, staring down at the cracking ring on his index finger. It was honestly just hanging on by a thread. Despite how broken it was, there was a faint glow encircling the ring as if the last of the power in it was desperately trying to hold onto Yuma's life. It was like Yuma was barely alive and the ring was barely together. To Yugo, it felt like the moment one of them died, the other would and Yugo would be left here, having won completely.
He would win, but he wouldn't leave here with his life.
Even though they weren't doing anything, Yugo knew the agents were ready to kill him. They held back at Yuma's request and because it was hard to kill Yugo when it would injure Yuma. If Yuma died, they had nothing to hold them back from attacking him.
Not that Yugo would blame them.
The agents had been completely justified in their actions all week.
But, right now, Yugo honestly did not give a damn about the agents or Border.
All that mattered was his child bleeding out in his arms.
Yugo's hand closed tighter around Yuma's cold hand, his only hand that he had. He bowed his head over his son's head to rest their foreheads together. It hurt. The blood in his body was pulsating, burning him from the inside out as it protested what Yugo was doing. It was going against all of the orders ingrained in his very being as a Trion Soldier.
As painful as it was, the pain was nothing compared to watching his son struggle to breathe and bleed out. Yugo pushed all the pain coursing through his body to the back of his mind as he refused to let it compel him to not do this.
"You fool," Yugo muttered though he doubted his son was hearing him. "Why do you insist on scaring me so often?" A bright glow surrounded their linked hands as Yugo forced his Trion and lifeforce to return to the Black Trigger. "Hang on just a little longer, Yuma. I'll end this nightmare for you. Something I should have done days ago."
*Mimics*
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Jin turned his back on the scene playing out in the distance. In the end, it was just like with Mogami. Yugo really didn't want to fight anymore.
"Yuma is going to be fine." Jin promised. He tilted his head back to stare up at the sky, watching the clouds drift on lazily by though he was barely seeing them as he activated his side effect and the windows of the future began to pop up around him. Futures that no longer held Yuma's impending death.
"What part about this is fine?" Konami asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene in the distance. She knew that Yugo had his son who was bleeding out very fast, but beyond that, it was hard to see anything else from the blinding light that was surrounding father and son. If she had to make a guess, that was Yugo giving up everything to repair the Black Trigger and save Yuma's life. It would be a touching moment of love from father to son if not for the tragedy surrounding it.
"Everything is being reset to what it was before the Mimics attacked us. Kuga-san will die and Yuma will be saved." Jin replied softly. He couldn't bear to watch Yugo save Yuma though. It felt like such a private moment before them, but he knew others wouldn't be able to pull their eyes away. It was hard to look away from a train wreck.
Reiji deactivated his Trigger and pushed himself to his feet. "Except for the extreme mental trauma this will cause Yuma having to go through this again."
Jin glanced over his shoulder at the sniper. "I wouldn't deactivate your rifle just yet."
"You said this was over." Karasuma said.
"I said Yuma would be fine." Jin corrected. He looked away from the team to look at the sky once more. "But I don't think Meraki is happy about this failure. We're getting Trion Soldiers in a minute." He put a hand up to his ear. "Usami, I need you to pass on a warning to everyone that we're going to have Gates opening in a minute. Get them on the move to Yuma's side now."
Hearing that, Konami didn't waste any more time by asking questions. She just went and threw herself off the roof with Karasuma following her a second later.
"Is it alright to have them moving while Kuga-san is still alive?" Reiji asked as he returned his Egret to his hands. "I thought we were avoiding getting close to him and Yuma so we didn't affect the future you saw."
Jin looked off to the side towards the building where he knew Tamakoma-2 had stationed themselves as the Tamakoma agents had decided to remain in the same vicinity as each other. He smiled as he saw Osamu waste no time in throwing himself off his roof to get to his partner with Hyuse following his captain's lead. Shiori no doubt told them Jin's message before sending the message to the other operators to tell their squads. "Nothing is going to stop Kuga-san at this point. If he stops this process now, he will fail. Creating a Black Trigger requires strong Trion levels and all your lifeforce, but I think it also requires no hesitation on the creator's part. The slightest bit of hesitation can cause it to fail because they make a mistake. Kuga-san has already done this once before. He knows what to do and has all his focus on it and Yuma so he's probably not even aware of us moving now."
Reiji only stared at Jin for a second longer before he was back to crouching at the ledge and looking through his scope once more at the shining beacon of light in the distance. He had wanted to ask Jin how long he had been aware of this being the strategy that Yuma was going to take, but he chose to keep his questions to himself. It wasn't really a question he needed to know the answer to after all. If this was what won them the week and prevented Yuma from dying today, then that was what truly mattered.
*Mimics*
Bright red eyes stared up, smiling brightly at his father.
Seeing his son looking at him from the corner of his eye, Yugo turned to face him, curious as to what made Yuma so happy.
Yuma rose to his feet to get some more height so he could reach his sitting father's face. His little hands came up to cup Yugo's face.
"Yuma." Yugo said through his smooshed cheeks.
Grin widening at the funny way his dad's voice sounded there, Yuma leaned forward and planted a kiss on his dad's cheek.
Yugo blinked, but smiled at the unusual show of affection from his son. "What was that for?"
"I've seen you and Okāsan do it when you're being so sweet to each other, and it always got you to smile." Yuma explained. "I just wanted to see you smile again, Oyaji."
Yugo grabbed Yuma by the wrists to pull his hands off his face very gently. It had only been a few weeks since his wife, Yuma's mother, was killed and he took his son away from Tropoi. Grief was a very painful thing to go through. It was hard to keep moving after what happened in Tropoi, but Yugo couldn't stop. He had his son to look after, and though he was taking care of Yuma, it seemed he wasn't taking care of himself. At least, he wasn't smiling, but Yuma hadn't been either. It had only been a few weeks. That wasn't enough time for either of them to accept what had happened in Tropoi.
It wasn't enough time, but they couldn't live in grief forever either.
And right now, Yuma was smiling.
For the first time in weeks, for seemingly no reason.
He was smiling up at his father.
Yugo tugged gently on Yuma's wrists to pull him closer so he could shift his arms to around his small child's body and hug him tightly to his chest. Things had been hard since Eleni died, but seeing his child smile woke something up inside him. A reminder of why he was still here.
His life wasn't just his own.
He would protect his child forever.
"Remember to have lots of fun and enjoy every day to the fullest."
Yuma gasped as he slammed into the ground, dust raining down on him. He looked up through the dust at the dust figure of Yugo, arms missing as they collapsed into dust from Yuma's weight.
Yuma twisted on the ground to turn his head to the side just as Yugo's body lost its form and crumbled to dust on top of him. A clatter next to him had Yuma looking over his shoulder through the dust cloud to see his Border Trigger sitting in middle of the dust pile that was once his father.
It was over.
It was finally over.
But Yuma didn't feel a shred of relief.
All he felt was pain.
What he felt was pain as he laid in what was essentially his father's ashes.
He may not have had the real body of Kuga Yugo as that turned to dust so long ago, but at the end...no, throughout it all, he held the heart of Kuga Yugo and he was finally able to show that in the end.
Yuma shifted on the ground. He was in pain, but it wasn't just pain from having his heart torn into pieces from forcing his father into making that choice again and Yuma having to lose him all over again. At this point, it was just phantom pain, but it was there. The pain from Yuma's body briefly returning to this world and reminding Yuma what physical pain was. It hurt to move, but it seemed to be easing away as Yuma was back in a Trion body.
Even so, all of that pain piled on top of each other meant that Yuma did not care when the sirens began to go off and the Gates began to open all around him to release Trion Soldiers into the Restricted Zone. Yuma didn't have any Trion left to fight anyway.
Besides, at this point, there was no reason for the agents to keep their distance.
His allies–his friends–would arrive to deal with this.
His trust was rewarded with a powerful shot of Trion tearing through the Marmod behind Yuma, leaving the white-haired agent smiling. Only Chika could produce a shot that powerful. Knowing the snipers would keep the Trion Soldiers off of him until the attackers arrived, Yuma felt no fear in closing his eyes and just focusing on his breathing.
It was much easier than dealing with what just happened.
*Mimics*
Osamu wasn't even surprised that Yuma chose the most insane strategy he could muster up to win this fight. Honestly, it was what he came to expect from his partner after these past few months. That didn't mean he wasn't frustrated about it. It really was a do-or-die kind of strategy. Considering Yuma was lying on the ground with white hair and all his limbs Osamu could say that Yugo succeeded a second time in saving Yuma's life, but that still didn't help Osamu's concern lessen at all.
Disregarding the likely mental trauma going through this again has caused Yuma for the moment, there was the matter of his real body being unsealed from the Black Trigger, even as briefly as it had been. From what Osamu understood, while Yuma's body was sealed in the Black Trigger, he was still dying but the body's real time had been slowed down incredibly. What did it mean for Yuma if his body return, even as briefly as it was, to this world?
Hyuse flung himself off the roof next to Osamu, drawing his Kogetsu as he went. As he landed on top of the Bamster below them, he plunged his sword through its head. Hyuse kept his sword planted in the Trion Soldier to keep himself braced as he activated his Viper. Despite the Bamster collapsing to the ground below him, Hyuse kept himself steady while he unleashed his bullets on the approaching Marmods. It was reassuring to know that the Trion Soldiers weren't targeting Yuma who was still laying on the ground. They were actually turning to face the approaching agents. It probably helped that Chika was behind them as Trion Soldiers naturally targeted those with a lot of Trion. She was much more appealing than Yuma lying on the ground with no Trion left to entice the Trion Soldiers.
Hyuse glanced over his shoulder as Osamu landed on the downed Bamster behind him. "Based on this timing of this attack, Meraki had to been able to watch what was happening through the Mimics' eyes."
Osamu's eyes narrowed. He learned from Yuma months ago that Neighbors could observe their attacks through the eyes on Trion Soldiers, but he didn't think that would hold true for transformed Mimics as well. It sent a shiver down his spine. A transformed Mimic and their loved one going through a tough moment as they were forced to fight each other and the enemy Neighbors just watching it happen through Yugo's eyes. It felt like a huge breach of privacy. It was bad enough that he and the others saw Yuma's vulnerability, but they are at least Yuma's friends. Meraki was the enemy and had no right to see that.
Osamu eyed the Trion Soldiers all around. "Based on the amount of Trion Soldiers they sent here, I'm guessing they aren't happy about the failure."
"It's been a week already. Meraki should be moving out of range soon." Hyuse glanced towards their teammate lying on the ground in the distance with all the Trion Soldiers standing in their path to him. "Let's make sure he doesn't go outside again until Meraki is for sure out of attacking range."
Osamu couldn't disagree with that idea. He hated confining Yuma to being stuck inside, but after this hellish week, it would be best that Yugo never came back.
Instead of replying verbally, Osamu opened his hand by his side to form his bullets. "Hound." He unleashed his bullets onto the Marmod in his path. With having low Trion, the most his bullets did was rip through the outer layer of the Marmod's armor and tear through its blades, leaving them to drop harmlessly to the ground. With the blades out of the way, Osamu kicked off the Bamster to move towards the Marmod. As he neared, he ripped his Raygust out of his holster. "Thruster on." Using the speed boost to pull himself towards the enemy faster, Osamu sliced through the Marmod's eye.
Before Osamu could move past the Marmod, he was quickly retreating a step as Konami came down from the roof beyond them with her Sogetsu already connected to form her axe. She tore through the two Marmods she landed on very quickly and without stopping, began to clear a path to her pupil.
"She's very eager." Hyuse said.
"She's very protective of her friends." Osamu corrected. It was probably as painful for her as it was for Osamu to stand back and watch Yuma forced to relive his father's death all over again. Osamu was protective of his friends, but Konami was at another level since she had the power to back up her protective streak.
A burst of Trion tore pass Hyuse and Osamu to slam into a Marmod that was crawling on the wall to come out of the alley next to them.
Osamu smiled as the Marmod fell to the ground dead. "They all are."
Shun bounced past the two with Grasshopper. As he passed, he caught Hyuse's eye and lifted his hand to show his Grasshopper activated. When he got a nod from Hyuse, Shun threw a Grasshopper pad for Hyuse.
Using the launch pads, Hyuse and Shun moved at the same time and their blades slashed through the Trion Soldiers in their path. Hyuse didn't stop after killing his enemy and followed after Konami and Karasuma, who had jumped down from a nearby roof, to get to Yuma with Osamu following him at a slower pace since he didn't propel himself forward with Grasshopper like Hyuse had done.
Shun glanced towards his friend on the ground, but seeing Tamakoma making their way to him, he would leave him in the capable hands of his branch for now. They could focus on Yuma while the agents got the Trion Soldiers out of their way.
Konami disconnected her connector to separate her axe back into her sogetsu blades and put them away as she dropped to her knees by Yuma's side. She knew that Karasuma was following her so she trusted him to watch her back while she checked on Yuma. "Stupid Yuma." She grumbled.
Hyuse steps up to Konami and Yuma's side, looking down at his partner with a frown. "Why are you like this?"
Yuma cracked an eye open, giving his partner a faint smirk. "Got to keep you on your toes."
Hyuse's brow twitched in annoyance at the blasé reply.
Konami snagged Yuma's wrist and tugged at him to pull him up into a sitting position so she could pull him into a tight hug.
Yuma's head rested at her shoulder while she held him tight, so he was able to peek over her shoulder to see Osamu standing there, looking at him with that too caring demon expression. He wrapped an arm around Konami so he could wave at him.
Osamu raised a brow, not believing Yuma's nonchalant attitude for a moment but, for now, he would just smile at Yuma. It wouldn't help to push him right now. "Doing okay, Kuga?"
Yuma pushed away from Konami as best he could since Konami didn't seem keen on letting go of him yet, but she did allow him to put some distance between them. He raised his hand with his Black Trigger on it to show it being in pristine condition. "Perfectly fine."
Hyuse scoffed. "Physically."
Konami shot a glare over her shoulder at the Neighbor. Obviously, Yuma's mental state was not okay but they didn't need to make a comment on that here while the dust that was once Kuga Yugo was under their knees. "You always make the harshest comments at the worst time."
"Or maybe you guys put off discussing the hard topics too long." Hyuse retorted. In some regards, he saw these people to be a bit soft when compared to his life back in Aftokrator. They probably would never have addressed Chika's inability to shoot if Hyuse hadn't started pushing her about the fact that she could shoot people but was convincing herself she couldn't.
Yuma averted his eyes from his fellow Tamakoma agents to look at the agents tearing through the Trion Soldiers behind them. He hadn't needed their help with Yugo, but Osamu did make a good call in having them here for backup. It was originally backup should Yuma fail against his father, but considering they were fighting in the Restricted Zone when Gates can open at any time, he supposed there was more than one reason why Osamu's suggestion was a good idea.
Watching Murakami and Kageura tag team their section of Trion Soldiers had Yuma's expression softening. Even though there was no guarantee they would have anything to do, none of Yuma's friends had said no when Tamakoma asked them to work as a sentry today. He might have a hard time fully trusting HQ's agents with everything about him, but the loyalty and desire to help each other when Yuma was at a truly low point would surely help him gain a little bit more trust in his friends.
Seeing Shun bounce down from the sky with a Grasshopper to steal Kageura's kill got a small smile out of Yuma when Kageura turned to snap at Shun for stealing his kill. They were all as rambunctious as always.
It was something that Yuma wanted to be back involved in. Since he had been stressed and mentally exhausted from dealing with Yugo all week, the most fun he had this week was last night when all the agents were hanging out at HQ.
Well, it was fun until Yugo and Mogami attacked.
And would have been more fun if Yuma wasn't suffering from lack of Trion and being down from the stress. He wanted more time to have fun with everyone.
Yuma's hand dropped down from Konami to the ground. He felt dust between his fingers and looked down at where his hand had dropped into the pile of ash that was his father a few minutes ago. His hand curled into a fist, unintentionally clutching the dust in his hand. As much as he wanted to have fun with everyone again, for things to go back to how they were before this week began, Yuma realized his heart truly wasn't in it.
Yuma fell forward and dropped his head onto Konami's shoulder.
Konami shifted in surprise at the weight falling on her, but replied back by patting Yuma's soft hair. Hyuse wasn't wrong to say Yuma was only fine physically, but that was something all of them realized was an issue days ago. Yuma, who was usually always confident and full of strength, had been showing so much unsureness and weakness. Now, on top of all of that, he had to relive his father's death happening the same way it did years ago. It was a nasty reminder of past trauma that would take so much time to heal from, and even then, he would probably never fully heal from this.
Osamu turned to look at the agents tearing through the Trion Soldiers and found himself raising a brow at the way Tachikawa and Ikoma seemed to be having a contest on who could kill the most. He didn't want to know. Not at all. Sometimes he truly didn't understand his comrades. Seeing as how they seemed to have a handle on it though, Osamu turned back to his partner while deactivating his Raygust and sliding it back in his pouch. Instead of fighting the last of the hoard, Osamu sat down by Yuma and Konami.
"I'm sorry, Kuga." Osamu said.
Yuma snorted. "Why are you apologizing? It's not like anything that happened was your fault."
"Just condolences." Osamu replied. "It's hard enough to lose a parent, but to lose both of them a second time? It really sounds like ripping your heart out."
Yuma's brow furrowed in confusion. He pushed off Konami to look at his captain in confusion. "I never lost my heart. I would die very fast if I did that."
"Eh," Osamu gaped at Yuma for a moment. Right. Half of his team was horrible with Idioms. "It's a saying to express how sad you are. It's another way of saying completely heartbroken." He paused to look down at the pile of dust next to them. "We carry our loved ones in our heart so when we lose them, it's like we lose a piece of ourselves. I know your parents didn't really come back, but a part of you felt like they were real. I'm guessing that is the reason you chose such a crazy strategy at the end because you saw Kuga-san to hold some of that love for his son that he had when he was alive so he would save you again if you truly needed it. To me, that means you let him back into your heart and now that he's gone again, the fracture in your heart that had been melding at the idea of talking to him again is returning."
Yuma stared at his captain for a moment, feeling something strange burning in his eyes but he forced it back and turned away to snatch his Trigger off the ground while pushing himself to his feet. "Guess I don't need Kinuta-san to get me a new Trigger now."
"Kuga." Osamu said, but Yuma seemingly ignored him as he turned to watch the agents finish off the Trion Soldiers. They really weren't wasting any time in finishing this up. They likely were just as eager to be done with this week as Yuma was.
"Yuma." Karasuma said as Yuma was facing him to stare at the agents behind him. It unnerved him how Yuma went from depressed on the ground to standing up with a smile. It wasn't real. Karasuma knew that. There was no way Yuma could be smiling after everything that went on which was why he was unnerved by how easily Yuma was able to throw up a fake smile.
"I'm fine." Yuma promised.
Karasuma frowned when he saw Yuma's pupils turn black from the lie, but as much as he wanted to, he held his tongue. Yuma wasn't alright, but he clearly wasn't ready to talk about what happened between him and Yugo or between him and Eleni. He likely needed time to process it on his own, so Karasuma wouldn't call him out on his lie.
*Mimics*
"Not going to go down there?"
"I could say the same for you, Kazama-san." Jin replied, glancing at Kazama who had chosen to come to the roof he and Reiji were on while his teammates went down to help the others with the Trion Soldiers.
"There are plenty of agents here to deal with this. It's already overkill." Kazama replied as he stepped up to Jin's side and looked over the ledge to observe the agents going all out against the Trion Soldiers. It was beyond overkill when so many of these agents didn't need to use their full power to win this fight, and yet, none of them were holding back. He had a feeling this was a lot of pent-up frustration and concern on their part for this hellish week and having to see Yuma's real, ripped to pieces, bloody body.
"Maybe." Jin replied. "Meraki will be moving out of range tonight."
Kazama raised a brow. "That's convenient."
Jin nodded. "I doubt they will send any more Mimics here. A single night isn't enough time to try to gain any Black Trigger soldiers since Mogami-san and Kuga-san couldn't do it in the days they had available to them, so we should be in the clear now." He looked towards where the Tamakoma agents were gathered and smiled. "Despite the odds against us, we managed to win this week."
Kazama followed Jin's stare to see look at the agents, more specifically, his gaze fell on Yuma. "Is it really a win? He's alive for now, but this doesn't change the fact that he is still dying."
"Heh," Jin let out a humorless laugh. "Do you have to be such a buzzkill, Kazama-san? This hellish week is finally over. Can we just enjoy this moment? We all made it through the week."
"I'm being realistic. This attack is over, but Kuga's life isn't saved." Kazama eyed Jin out of the corner of his eye. "You've known that he has been dying since December and knowing you, I doubt you've been letting that fact go. You can be quite protective of your friends."
Jin turned his head slightly to meet Kazama's stare dead on. He had a feeling both of them were thinking back to that battle in the Restricted Zone back in December. It was the first time the fractions had truly gotten into it in the four years since Border went public and Shinoda, Rindo, and Kido split the organization into fractions to follow what they believed. First time, but Jin doubted it would be the last time the directors disagreed and the agents, who for the most part had nothing against each other, would be the ones to fight it out. "What are you implying?"
"You've been trying to find a way to save his life since you learned he was dying." Kazama deduced.
Reiji deactivated his Egret. He turned and sat on the ledge, fully invested in the conversation currently happening. He didn't quite disagree with what Kazama was saying. It truly did sound like something that Jin would be doing. It was just trying to find a way to save Yuma's life wouldn't be easy to do even with a Foresight side effect. It would require Jin to meet the right people and try to see in their future if there was a path to help Yuma. That would be an incredibly difficult future path to find when before this week no one knew Yuma was dying so they wouldn't be able to look into it. Not to mention, while the Research and Development department was looking into medical applications for Trion and Triggers, Yuma's situation was still too advanced for Border to be able to help.
"If Border was able to handle this problem, you would have gone to Kinuta-san with this already." Reiji said.
"Hmm, not quite." Jin replied. "In the beginning, I doubt Kinuta-san would have been willing to help with this as he was quite distrustful of Yuma because he is a Neighbor. Now, though? Yuma has been helping Kinuta-san a lot lately so I believe they are forming some form of trust, even slowly, so he would probably agree to help him with this. However, that isn't the only reason I never went to Border's higher ups with this." He looked back down at the street where the agents had now finished the job and were making their way over to the Tamakoma agents. Despite the heartache that was likely weighing him down, Yuma still greeted his friends cheerfully with a wave. Shun, who had seemed wary at first, seemed to take it as an opening and bounded towards his friend with more eagerness in his step. "When he first came to Japan, Yuma didn't want help. He told me his past with every intention of leaving the next day. He chose to stay, but still kept his condition a secret because it wasn't a concern to him to try to find a way to save his life. That's why I wanted him to join Border so badly." He pulled his eye away from the agents, briefly catching sight of Chika throwing herself off her roof so she could race to her team, and looked back at Kazama. "You asked me before why I gave up Fujin for him."
"So, he would have fun is what you said."
"Yuma had forgotten how to enjoy life and have fun. He even admitted to me that his first few days in Japan were the first time he had fun in years." Jin smiled sadly as he recalled that night. A fifteen year should not be saying something like that. "I wanted him to remember how to enjoy living and how much fun it could be, and I knew he could get that by joining Border. He needed to relearn that before I could broach the topic of finding a way to save him." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Of course, I also need a solid plan of how we can do it before I ask him about it. I don't want to get his hopes up for nothing."
"And do you have a plan?" Reiji asked.
Jin hummed and looked up at the sky towards the drifting clouds. "Well..." He scratched his cheek. "There is sort of one in the works, but I'm not sure of how successful it will be yet and that path isn't available to us yet."
"Not available yet?" Kazama echoed.
"Yeah, the away mission to Aftokrator needs to be a success for it to even become an option." Jin explained.
"You're seeing that far ahead?" Reiji asked surprised.
"When I focus on one person, I can see a year into his future and I've spent a lot of time reading Yuma's future to do this." Jin explained.
"That's creepy." Kazama said.
"What's creepy about it?" Jin asked offended. "I'm trying to save him here."
"For you to solely read one person's future, you have to look at them which means you've spent a lot of time staring at him." Kazama replied.
"With good intention!" Jin argued.
"That doesn't make it any less unnerving." Kazama retorted dryly.
"I thought you could only see futures that far ahead if there were more probable of coming true." Reiji interjected quickly before the two could argue about this any farther. "Isn't Yuma's future too unpredictable?"
Jin turned away from the current argument to speak to Reiji. "Yuma's most probable future is him dying early so I can see that. I've been able to see that since the day I met him." That had been a huge shock for him when he met a tiny kid in the Restricted Zone and he decided to look at his future. He had not been expecting death to be one of Yuma's futures that shined so brightly to him, but he quickly smiled to hide it. "It's the most probable future for him, but that doesn't mean it has to be set in stone. I've been trying to find ways to prevent it, but was getting a lot of futures that ended in his death. This isn't something easy to scheme our way out of."
"It's made even harder when no one knew this was an issue so no one could help you brainstorm ideas." Kazama scolded. "You're not going to find all the answers by yourself."
"Yeah, yeah," Jin waved Kazama's lecture off and stepped up next to Reiji to look down at his cute kouhai as Chika threw herself at Yuma and hugged him tightly. "Yuma gave up on secrecy about his condition this week which means I think he is ready to open up about this. Like I said, I have some ideas but with Kinuta-san now in the know, I can ask him about some things."
Kazama stared at Jin with narrowed eyes. To him, it sounded like Jin had more than just ideas ready to try to help Yuma, but like usual, he wasn't going to show his full hand until it was time. He was never going to fully tell them what he was seeing, just what they needed to do. That was just how Jin was, and it was something the agents came to accept a long time ago. "Since you've apparently invested so much time in this, I hope it works out for you."
"Yeah," Jin said softly. "Me too."
*Mimics*
"Never do something like that again!"
Shun laughed at the baffled look Yuma was wearing as Chika hugged him tightly but also shouted at him. The soft-spoken, sweet girl was the one yelling at him. It was hilarious just because it was clear how much Yuma did not expect it from her. To be fair, Shun had been expecting it from Konami before Chika.
"Chika, Chika." Yuma grabbed Chika's shoulders and pushed her back a few steps to escape the hug. "I'm fine. Everything is fine."
Chika huffed at Yuma. It was the same thing she got the day she met Yuma and they talked about his father at the shrine. He was saying it was fine while having a pained look in his eyes. She hadn't pushed that day because they had just met, but now she had to hold her tongue because there were too many people around. This had already turned into a too public affair when Yugo and Yuma should have been allowed to handle their problems in private, but that would have been too dangerous for Yuma.
"You forced your real body back into this world when you cannot handle that. Nothing about that is fine, Kuga." Osamu scolded.
"Ah," Yuma winced a bit. That had been so difficult on Yuma to do, but he at least knew what the insane plan was. For his friends watching, they weren't at all ready for Yuma's torn to pieces, blood freely flowing body to show up. "I needed Dad to return his Trion and lifeforce to my ring to repair it without killing me and that was the only option I had. I wouldn't actually do that unless I didn't have any other options left."
"How was that possibly the only option you had?" Kageura demanded. He looked ready to start throwing hands, though Murakami wasn't sure if Kageura wanted to strangle Yuma for the heart attack he gave him or if he wanted to viciously stab some more Trion Soldiers to work out his emotions.
Yuma made a show of glancing around at the destroyed road and buildings around them. "Well, clearly, the fight wasn't going well and my life and Dad's were still tied together. There was no full guarantee that killing Dad wouldn't also kill me. So, it was either possibly die after killing him or possibly die when forcing his hand to save me. It's not like I wanted to go through with that plan, but my mom was right. The Black Trigger was the thing we needed to save me and my dad would only repair it if I forced his hand."
"It's insanity. You're insane." Yoneya said as he roughly ruffled Yuma's hair. "Your whole family is insane!"
"You're only just realizing this?" Shun asked.
"Naw, I realized he was a bit crazy when I met him." Yoneya replied. "But his level of insanity has just gone up since then."
Yuma raised a brow. Gone up? How? He hardly thought he has done anything too reckless or crazy while in Border. Yes, this week was a bit bad, but other than this week, his most reckless act had been his strategy to beat Viza and very few people knew about that since no one was around to witness it.
"Don't look so offended, Kuga." Yoneya said. "Your brand of crazy isn't bad. Eh," He paused and looked behind Yuma at the pile of dust that was once the kid's dad. "Usually. This week's brand of crazy was pretty intense, but your usual brand of chaotic energy is a lot more fun."
"Thanks, I suppose."
"And since you survived this week, that means we get to continue to be subjected to it!" Shun added enthusiastically.
Yuma opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and then glanced over his shoulder at his captain. "Is it just me? The way Shun said that made it sound like it was a bad thing."
Osamu shook his head. "I'm not involved, Kuga. I've learned it best to not try to understand your chaotic self and just to go along with it."
"Says the tricky captain." Izumi said.
"Yuma-senpai, it's not bad!" Shun protested at the same time so Yuma turned back to Shun while Osamu turned to Izumi.
"I got influenced by Kuga." Osamu protested.
Izumi snorted. "Yeah, sure. Blame him."
"He's right there. He can defend himself against the accusation whenever he likes." Osamu argued.
"Sorry to break up the party." Jin arrived on the scene, smiling. "I'm sure you're all happy this is over, but though it is unlikely Meraki will make another move, we still need to be cautious. So, Yuma."
"Hmm?" Yuma tilted his head to show he was listening.
"I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we don't want a repeat of this week, so though it is unlikely more Mimics will show up, we need to go to headquarters now. Meraki will be out of range tomorrow so just spend one more day inside HQ, okay?" Jin requested.
"Don't make it a request!" Tachikawa snapped. He pointed a finger at Yuma's face. "Inside, Chibi."
"Still Chibi, eh?" Yuma asked.
Kazama smacked Tachikawa's hand down. "Don't point. It's rude."
"Still grounded, eh?" Yoneya asked amused.
Yuma snorted. "You guys are so much more strict than my parents ever were." He shrugged. "Whatever, back to HQ we go if it will make you happy, Jin-san."
*Mimics*
"Of all the damn reckless, utterly insane, stupid, moronic–"
"Eh," Yuma leaned to the side to look pass the ranting Kinuta at Shinoda and Rindo, but neither of them seemed willing to help him out. "This is really unnecessary. I'm back in my Trion body with a fully functioning Black Trigger so there is nothing wrong."
Shinoda leveled Yuma with an unimpressed look. "Your body is sealed inside a Black Trigger, gravely wounded and slowly dying. What part of that sounds alright, Yuma-kun?"
Yuma shrugged. "I've been living like this for five years now."
"And now you've taken a huge toll on your body." Kinuta scolded. "Your lifespan had already been shortened but just slowed down by being sealed in a Black Trigger. By forcing your real body to return to make your father seal it away again, you drastically decreased how much time you have left."
Yuma rubbed his head. The moment he had stepped foot into HQ, Shinoda and Rindo had been waiting for him and snatched him up real fast to drag him to Kinuta's lab. Someone had to have told them about what Yuma did to end the fight. Yuma didn't know who it was, but he would bet all the money his dad left him that it was Jin.
"But I'm still alive and I feel fine now." Yuma insisted.
"Of course you feel fine." Rindo replied. "It's a Trion body, Yuma. You can't feel the damage you've done to your real body by doing that."
Yuma raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not disagreeing with how dangerous it was. If Dad didn't react the way I needed him to, I would be dead right now. I do acknowledge that. It wasn't even a plan I wanted to use." He rubbed his head, looking off to the side with a sigh. "Mom suggested the plan because the way to end the fight wasn't by killing Dad or saving me. We needed to repair the Black Trigger which could only be done by Dad since he was the original creator of it."
Rindo stepped up next to Kinuta's side and held a hand out. Getting the idea, Yuma held his hand out for Rindo to take so he could examine the ring on top and bottom. He was immensely pleased at the lack of damage on the Black Trigger. With Yugo gone and Yuma's ring repaired, Jin's reassurance that this was well and truly over were surely true. "You're lucky that Kuga-san acted within your predictions."
"But that's all it was, Yuma-kun. Just luck, and if you keep pushing, it's going to run out one day." Shinoda warned.
Yuma pulled his hand away from Rindo so he could open and close it a few times while staring at his ring. For the first time in days, he truly felt great. He hadn't been in any pain when his body was being drained of Trion and breaking, but there had been a noticeable pressure building up inside his body for days. It was all truly gone. It had taken a few minutes after Yugo died for it to all dissipate, but it had all left.
Strangely, it made him feel empty inside. That pressure that had been breaking his body to take him to his death had also been a sign that his father was here. Yes, Yugo was an enemy, but at the end, he saw his father in the Mimic. Granted, it was a loving father filled with guilt and regret, but he had been there.
"I don't rely on luck." Yuma dropped his hand to the examination table he was sitting on.
"Current actions say otherwise, Yuma." Rindo pointed out.
Yuma shook his head. "Don't know what you mean. That was strategic recklessness." He said with a teasing grin.
Rindo snorted as he was reminded of the conversation with Yuma on Tamakoma's roof the other night. After everything that happened this week, that night felt so long ago. "I don't see anything strategic about that."
"I hated the plan, but decided to do it because mom and I both realized that Dad was at a point where it would work." Yuma explained. "Had it been Dad at the beginning of the week when he first transformed, this would not have succeeded."
"If it had been Kuga at the beginning of the week, killing him then wouldn't have put you in a bad position." Kinuta argued.
Yuma sighed as he glanced at Kinuta again. It seemed he was not getting out of here without an examination. He wasn't sure what Kinuta was expecting to find though since his real body was sealed away and couldn't really be examined, but he would let him do his job if it would get him out of here that much faster.
*Mimics*
"What do you think?"
Rindo pulled out a cigarette and rolled it between his fingers. He stared out the window of the hallway they were standing in as they chose to let Kintua exam Yuma in private. "I think Yuma has mastered the art of hiding what he is really feeling."
Shinoda pressed his back against the window so he could stare at the lab door that Yuma and Kinuta were behind. "We need to start training for the away mission, but I am willing to give the agents a few days to recover. They have been working very hard all week. I'm not sure a few days will be enough for Yuma-kun to recover mentally from this though."
Rindo hummed thoughtfully as he lit his cigarette and took a drag from it. "Kuga-san actually died years ago and he has been handling that fact for years on his own. I think right now, he needs to come to terms with what happened this week. I know you need to start training the agents for the away mission soon so I simply request if Yuma isn't ready in a few days when you start that up, that you allow him a couple extra days before he joins in."
A few days could be a lot of training missed out on, but it was Yuma. He already had the strength of an A-Rank and the training from Yugo and war experience did have him at a high enough level that he was quite adept at picking up on things quickly. If it was just a few days behind, he was sure Yuma could get caught up quickly, especially since Shinoda was sure his teammates and fellow agents would make sure he didn't fall behind. "Should be easy enough to do. And perhaps therapy."
"Good luck getting him to agree to that." Rindo shook his head. "When Jin told me Yuma's past when he first came here, I spoke to Yuma about talking to Border's therapist, but he flat out refused. I don't think therapy is anything he encountered in the Neighborhood and so it's not something he wants to do. Though, he might also be wary about it because there is so much sensitive information with his background."
"Therapists have patient confidentiality." Shinoda pointed out, though he did find himself sighing. They had that, but Yuma would still be wary of having his trust betrayed by someone he didn't know and had no reason to trust them. "And the one hired by Border is one of the best in the field."
"I told Yuma this. He really doesn't want to." Rindo explained.
Shinoda sighed again. It would be so easy to make it mandatory for Yuma to have to talk to a therapist, but he wanted Yuma to seek out the help without it being forced on him. He doubted Yuma would say anything if he was forced to talk to a stranger about what happened.
Shinoda dropped his head back against the window. "Do you think Yugo-san's heart was always truly there? His actions all week said otherwise, but his final actions to save Yuma-kun speaks of something else."
"I think Yuma believes Kuga-san was always in there. He just couldn't break free of the programming that told him to hurt his son." Rindo replied.
"Jin said Inchoate, the original form of Mimics, showed up from Yugo-san earlier which caused Yuma-kun's mother to appear." Shinoda said.
Rindo turned his head slightly to look at his friend out of the corner of his eyes. He had a pretty good idea about where Shinoda was taking this. "Yuma hates Inchoate and Mimics."
"I'm not saying we use them." Shinoda replied. "After this week, we really don't need to deal with that, even if Inchoate wouldn't be our enemy. It's just a thought. I would love for Yugo-san and Mogami-san to properly see what became of their dream. And maybe..."
"Maybe?"
Shinoda stared at the door that Yuma was behind. "Maybe if he won't see a therapist, seeing his father without the threat of him being an enemy would help Yuma-kun recover from this week."
"It's possible." Rindo said before he took another drag of his cigarette. "Or it could make things worse by having to reopen those old wounds when he just closed them. In any case, Yuma holds the Black Trigger and has the ability to open the Gates. We can leave the decision of what he needs to him. He knows himself best after all."
"True."
*Mimics*
"Hey, Midorikawa!"
Shun made a pained expression at the shout coming from behind him. For a moment, he debated if he could get away with acting like he didn't hear the shout and just keep walking. The thought didn't last long though since Yoneya had stopped at the shout even though he wasn't being called which meant Shun had to stop as well and turn to face his maker.
"Kageura-san!" Shun greeted with forced excitement. Maybe he shouldn't have stolen Kageura's kill earlier. "What can I do for you?"
Kageura snagged Shun by his shirt as he walked past. "You and me in the solo rank booth."
Shun chuckled nervously. "It's been a long week. Don't you want to go home and relax instead now that we're done with the Mimic threat?"
"I would love to, but I seem to recall we were supposed to have a match yesterday but we never got to because we did team battles instead." Kageura replied, shaking Shun a bit harshly. "So, we're going to the booths."
Yoneya raised a brow, confused as to what got Kageura so frustrated right now. His confusion seemed to ping inside Kageura because the attacker's sharp eyes suddenly rounded on him. He held his hands up in a plea for peace.
"I don't even need to tell you to come." Kageura scoffed. "You're always eager for a fight."
Yoneya grinned a bit. "Shall I lead the way?"
"Do I not get a choice?" Shun asked.
Shun received his answer by Kageura shoving pass Yoneya while keeping a hold on Shun's shirt to drag him along behind him. He relented to the fact that he wasn't getting out of this and instead wondered why he kept getting dragged around by his shirt this week.
Yoneya stepped alongside Murakami and matched his pace. "You couldn't keep him distracted, Ko-san?"
"This is keeping him distracted." Murakami replied. "Otherwise, he would be pacing around waiting for the chance to talk to Kuga once the directors are finished with him."
"Kageura-san is getting protective of Yuma-senpai." Shun teased.
"Shut it, Midorikawa, before I beat your head in." Kageura snapped.
"Got nothing to fear when you're already planning to do that."
"Where do you get the audacity?"
"Where do you? Did you stop to consider that I might be leaving to go home since the threat is over and I haven't been home in a long time?"
Kageura snorted. "You aren't leaving. You're like the rest of us."
Shun glanced at Yoneya and Murakami behind them, but didn't reply. He knew what Kageura was implying.
Murakami glanced out the windows they were walking past, staring at his frowning reflection. "When he said his real body was in terrible shape from getting attacked, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn't it."
"Feels like he and Jin-san downplayed it, doesn't it?" Kageura scoffed.
"After seeing Yuma-senpai's real body, I'm not surprised he did or that he kept it a secret." Shun said. He had already felt bad for his friend after learning about his past and how he was dying, but now he felt terrified after seeing the state of Yuma's real body. It truly solidified to him just how real this was. He understood that it was real since Yuma was clearly going through something this week, but there was always a sense in the back of Shun's mind that saw Yuma's Trion body that he lived in and thought things would be fine. To actually see Yuma's real body and all that blood had caused Shun's heart to jump to his throat. Yuma may be fine now, but nothing about his real body was fine. It was still injured and dying.
And Shun knew he hadn't been the only one freaked out about what he saw. It's why they were all still lingering at headquarters despite having no work to do right now. There wasn't anything they could do to change Yuma's condition, but Shun couldn't find it in him to leave yet. He supposed fighting his friends in rank wars would be a good distraction at least.
"Makes you feel pity for him." Yoneya said.
"And Kuga will hate you for that." Murakami said.
Yoneya grinned a bit, though there wasn't really any amusement in it. "I know. He showed that frustration when he kicked Ikoma-san across the room last night."
Shun snickered at the reminder. Once they got over the shock of seeing Yuma do that, it was honestly one of the funniest things ever to him. He doubted it would ever happen again so Shun would have to see if Kusakabe would download the footage that was captured from their Trion bodies observing that so he could forever remember that moment. And maybe show Yuma it. It might help cheer him up.
*Mimics*
"With the attack over, when can we head back to Tamakoma?" Konami asked.
"Eager to go home?" Jin teased.
Konami huffed and made a vague motion to tell him to take a look around the barracks. It was crowded and full of all of their stuff. Konami could have avoided the claustrophobia nature of the barracks by going back home, but considering the nature of attack they were dealing with from Yugo and Mogami this week, she wasn't leaving Jin and Yuma. It had been a miserable week living in the barracks so she just wanted to leave and get situated back at Tamakoma before heading home to see her parents.
"We should be good to go back tomorrow. They should be finished repairing the bridge and building by now." Jin replied. "But since Meraki is still in range tonight, I would prefer to wait until tomorrow to go back. You don't need to stay here tonight, Konami. We should be fine tonight."
Konami did want to go home to see her parents. After the stress of this week and seeing and learning so much about Kuga Yugo and how much it affected Yuma, she really wanted to speak to her parents and hug them. It truly helped her to learn to appreciate what she had more. At the same time, she wasn't quite ready to leave Yuma alone yet. Though, it probably wasn't the best idea to crowd Yuma either. He might see it as them pitying him and hanging over his shoulder just waiting for him to break. She wanted Yuma to know she was there for him without invading his space.
"When we get back to Tamakoma, I'm making Yuma my curry." Konami decided.
Osamu looked up from his phone and smiled. "That will get him excited. Your curry is one of his favorite things to eat."
Konami smiled proudly at the compliment. "Of course it is. I make the best curry."
"You'll probably need to go shopping for ingredients." Yuri suggested. "I believe you guys destroyed the fridge when you were fighting in there."
"It wasn't an ideal battleground." Konami protested. She would be amazed if anything was left intact in the kitchen and living room after that battle. Hopefully everything got replaced so she could make Yuma his favorite meal tomorrow. She glanced over at Jin. "But we can go in Tamakoma tonight?"
"Should be fine, but you should check with Rindo-san first to be sure." Jin replied.
Konami nodded. "Then I'll probably go shopping today and get the kitchen stocked up before heading home." She quickly rounded on Osamu. "And you better keep an eye on Yuma tonight."
Osamu held his hands up, begging for peace. "I'm not leaving HQ tonight."
"We have to make sure he doesn't do anything else reckless." Hyuse added.
"Nothing reckless left to do. I think he managed to do everything he could think of." Karasuma pointed out.
That got the Tamakoma members to fall silent for a moment as they thought that over. It was pretty true and at this point, nothing Yuma did could probably match his last strategy to get Yugo to finally die.
"What about you, Karasuma-senpai?" Osamu said, trying to get away from the dark thoughts of how Yuma almost died to get rid of his father. "Are you staying here tonight?"
"Hmm," Karasuma glanced at Jin. "Any more attacks tonight?"
"Looks pretty peaceful." Jin smiled. "It would seem like Meraki doesn't want to attempt again when they are going to be out of range soon."
Karasuma nodded. "Then I'll call my boss and say I'll be able to make it in for my part time tonight." As much as he would like to stay with his friends, if there were no more threats, then he needed to go focus on his other priorities. He needed all the money he could get to help his family.
Jin nodded. "Sounds good."
Shiori raised a hand. "I'll help Konami with the shopping."
"Oh?" Konami said. "Not going to slack on getting the shopping done in a timely manner this time?"
Shiori stuck her tongue out at her friend. "I'm going to make sure you don't buy only junk food."
"I don't only eat junk food!" Konami argued. She snagged Shiori's wrist and yanked her off the bed she was sitting on. "Besides, I'm going to buy actual food since I need to make curry tomorrow. Let's get moving."
"What's the rush?" Shiori asked. She pulled her wrist free so she could gather up her stuff so she could return it to Tamakoma since they were heading that way.
Konami didn't reply as she grabbed her bag with one hand and was sending a text with her other hand. Without looking up from her phone, she left the barracks.
"See you tomorrow!" Shiori said, waving to the others as she followed after Konami.
"What's their rush?" Hyuse asked. "You would think they would want to stick around to see Yuma before they left."
*Mimics*
"Konami!" Shiori snatched Konami's arm and pulled her to a stop while pulling her phone out from her pocket with her other. Before Konami could process what she wanted, Shiori pressed in close to her friend and snapped a picture of the two of them.
"What are you doing?" Konami said. She caught sight of the picture and how she looked shocked and confused in the picture. "Delete that!"
"Nope." Shiori quickly moved past Konami and worked out typing her message out as she headed to the elevators while dodging Konami's grabby hands. "And...sent!"
"Sent? What do you mean sent? Who did you send that too?" Konami demanded.
"Yuma-kun of course." Shiori replied which got Konami's annoyance to lessen some. "I wanted to let him know we would be heading out. I'm actually surprised you don't want to hang back to say bye to him when he finishes."
"Yuma is similar to Jin in a lot of ways. When Mogami-san originally died, Jin just wanted time alone to process everything that happened and deal with his grief. I can see it being the same for Yuma. He doesn't show weakness in front of others easily so I don't want to crowd by having all of us hanging over his shoulder. At least not right now so soon after everything that happened. I think he will need time to breath and think." Konami explained as she hit the button to call the elevator to them. "I think he will process what happened better if he has time to think and deal with his feelings without all of constantly asking if he is okay. Once he gets to that point, I'm going to smother him with all my care and love as his adoring mentor which will begin with me making his favorite dish."
Shiori stared at her friend, surprised by how insightful she was being towards Yuma's feelings. She was the kind of person to care a lot for her friends and be protective of them, so she thought she would want to remain by Yuma's side. It was very sweet how considerate she was trying to be.
Shiori's phone buzzing in her hand had her looking down. She smiled when she saw a reply from Yuma and poked Konami's arm. "Here, look."
"Hmm?" Konami glanced at Shiori's phone and smiled at the picture Yuma sent back with him giving them a peace sign along with a message.
"Clean bill of health. See you tomorrow!"
Konami snorted. "How good can his health be when he is still stuck in a Trion body?"
The elevator dinged and opened the doors for them so they stepped inside.
"He must mean that Kinuta-san has deemed his Trion body fully functioning without any issues and his Black Trigger is repaired and no longer in risk of breaking." Shiori replied, frowning thoughtfully. Considering Yugo saved Yuma like this before, they didn't have any worries about Yuma's Trion body condition. What they all wanted was information on his real body but that likely wasn't going to be something easy for them to get any information on.
*Mimics*
As soon as the text was sent, Yuma's smile slid right off his face. He rubbed at his left eye, wincing at the reminder of how he lost it earlier when his real body came out. In fact, it wasn't just his left eye. He had lost limbs plenty of times in his Trion bodies when in combat, but this felt different. There was tremendous pain when he forced his real body back to this world. The pain had long vanished since his father recreated his Trion body, but the reminder of the pain was still fresh in his mind. It had been so long since he had to actually feel pain that he had forgotten how horrible it was.
"You truly have mastered the art of fake smiles."
Yuma looked up from his phone at Shinoda and Rindo as they had stayed the whole time waiting for Kinuta and Yuma to finish. "It was a skill I learned in Calvaria after Dad died."
"You were in a war after his death. Why spend the time learning to give fake smiles?" Rindo asked.
Yuma shrugged and slipped his phone back in his pocket. "I found it hard to smile after Dad died as there wasn't anything to be happy about. I just wanted to fight all the time to keep myself from thinking about it. Sadly, there wasn't fighting every hour of every single day. I had a friend, Izukacha, who was always quite in tune with others' emotions, and she was constantly worried about me after Dad's death. After about a year, she started to express concern about how I never smiled anymore." Yuma paused for a moment as he grimaced. "I admit I wasn't in the right headspace and lashed out at her about how there wasn't anything to smile about."
"Anger is a natural part of the grieving process." Shinoda replied. "I'm sure she didn't hold it against you."
"No, she never did." Yuma said softly, smiling a bit for real as he thought back to his friend. "But she never let it go and wanted to help me through my grief and I wanted her to let me just be miserable so I just...started smiling. I wasn't happy, but I thought if I smiled, she would back off. I'm not sure if she ever fully believed my smiles were genuine though."
"She sounds like she was a good friend."
Yuma's eyes grew sad. Instead of looking at the directors, he stared out the window to avoid eye contact. "She was. She really put in a lot of effort and I just kept trying to push her away. Before coming to Japan, I hadn't been happy in years. I think a part of me was forcing myself to be miserable because I didn't feel I could enjoy life after getting Dad killed. Had I just let her in properly, maybe we could have been much closer friends."
"Sometimes when we're grieving, we push away the ones closest to us because they are the ones who understand us the best and they can see through us and know how to help us." Rindo replied. "And maybe you just weren't ready to want that help, so you tried to distant yourself."
"Being in Calvaria where Yugo-san died also probably didn't help. Being there was likely a huge reminder of what happened so when you came to Japan, you were able to get a fresh start since you didn't have the reminders here of how Yugo-san died." Shinoda added.
"Maybe." Yuma frowned. Sadly, if that was the case, he had just gone through a reenactment of Yugo's death in the Restricted Zone. Both Calvaria and Japan were now poisoned with that memory.
Yuma massaged his thumb into the palm of his left hand to try to rid himself of the phantom feeling of having a bigger, stronger hand gripping his with the familiar feeling of Trion and lifeforce pouring into his body and his ring. He didn't want to remember the pain he was forced to endure and he didn't want to remember the feeling of Yugo saving Yuma again.
Yugo now not only died five years ago today, but now he died a second time on the same date today.
It felt like Yuma was never going to escape the reminder that it was his fault Yugo died.