Yuki sighed at hearing Suzume declare her want to fight here.
It had finally built up to the point of her not minding that she ruined the atmosphere.
"A single fight. I'm assuming you only have one Trigger on you right now, so I'll go along with that too."
"I was going to train more with Konami-senpai."
"Do it, Yūma," Konami said with crossed arms.
Oh? Does she want to see how this will turn out? Or does she want to see where they both stand compared to each other?
The way Konami relaxed with her stance gave him the impression that it had been the former.
"But wait, Misaki-senpai is a Sniper, right? So will there be different rules put in place here?"
"Heh heh. Glasses boy, don't honestly think that I'm just some Sniper. Any ordinary Sniper would find this sort of thing too troublesome. Actually, I know a few who would downright think it was stupid to do something like this for no good reason."
Don't talk about Yoshito like that when he isn't around.
She would have waved him off even if he said it out loud, so he only shook his head.
"Yūma, it will be good practice for you. There are weird people in Border who do a lot of weird things, and Suzume is one of the weirdest. If you can deal with her, there's a good chance you can deal with most of those guys."
"But Konami-senpai, she already-"
Yuki felt bad for the way Konami stopped Karasuma by raising a hand.
As her captain, he understood what he wanted to warn Kuga about. But…
This is a good way to see how well he can adapt to situations.
.
Something was wrong right from the start.
Karasuma's words had not fallen on deaf ears either, no matter if Konami had stopped him from continuing.
So there's even more going on here than just her being arrogant. They're making a big deal of me beating Konami-senpai one time and want me to fight Misaki.
It was called a "test" but it felt more like setting things in place.
The girl did not back down from this and Konami was advocating for it.
So…
"Okay. Let's have a match then."
"Good to hear. Let's honestly get going then."
Replica had made his way back to his ear as the two of them went over to the training room.
It appeared that Osamu and Karasuma would be staying to watch as well, so he focused more on Replica than them.
"Be careful of her fighting style. If what they said is something to go off of, she is 'weird' and will likely have a 'weird' fighting style."
"Yeah, I figured. But just how 'weird' do you think it will be? She's confident in this to the point of only using one Trigger."
"She sounded more confident in her 'summit dance', so I would assume this would be a step down from that."
That was a fair assumption considering how much they had built up the girl's "dance."
"We'll see how this turns out."
.
"I am very sorry for the trouble, you guys."
"It's fine. Konami-senpai is also to blame here."
"How is that!? I'm not the one who instigated this first!"
"But you went along with it, even when you knew that Misaki already got his Rhythm down."
"I mean that's true, but…"
...Huh?
What were they talking about?
Mikumo tried to follow the line of conversation, but none of it made any sense to him.
It was clear that Miskai had confidence in herself, and that Konami was partially to blame here, but that was all he understood.
Everything else had gone over this head in an instant.
"Oh, sorry about that, Mikumo-kun. I guess you wouldn't know how things work with Suzu-chan."
"Um… I understand that Miskai-senpai can play the role of a close range attacker, but that's all I really got."
"Hm. That's fair. There's a bit more to it than that, but I guess we can explain as things go on. How does that sound? Is it fair?"
He could only nod.
The sigh from Konami and the hum from Karasuma were a bit worrying.
But it seemed that they knew everything to the point where they would allow this.
Kuga looked at the girl standing before him.
Her wavy hair was dyed light brown and she had a confident smile on her face. Her name was Suzumebachi - or Suzume, as his seniors called her - and she was supposedly the Sniper of Tsukiko Squad.
The sleeves wrapped around her arms and the exposed top of her breasts led Kuga to a certain conclusion.
"Are you a dancer?"
"Heh heh heh. Such a boring boy with no knowledge of art. I think you mean a shirabyoushi. But even then, this is much older than that. Are you truly that ignorant?"
"Unfortunately, I have no idea what things are like over here."
"Heh heh. You will waste your life. How very boring. …Let's try some things out then."
Once she said that, a green mass of trion wrapped cleanly around her middle finger. The mass of trion ended with a point and stuck out like a blade.
"This is one way of using Scorpion. The same blade you honestly used to beat Kirin. My main role in Tsukiko Squad is Sniper, but I can do more than that. …Do you understand what that means?"
"I think I get it. You can also be an Attacker if you bring out that blade."
"You honestly get that much. So good job."
"Thank you."
Suzume began slowly shaking her body along with Scorpion on her finger.
This was the beginning of a dance. Kuga took a defensive stance while thinking Suzume was going to try something.
"Let me make myself clear: I won't hold back and things will get rough."
"Heh heh. What a fool. A girl who honestly says she does not want to be treated roughly is a girl who has never even been treated mildly. Or do you think lenient treatment will delight your partner?" Suzume shook her body in the opposite direction, returned in the first direction, and smiled. "Even if you are able to honestly delight your partner, you could never win them over. You have never seriously faced someone, have you?"
Hearing that, Kuga narrowed his eyes.
"—"
"Oh, my bad. I meant that only from a Mikado City standpoint. There are many people who honestly are tough enough to be their own squads, so something like that is considered strong. But you have not seen those around here yet, have you?"
He wanted to argue back with her, but her words were honest and she did seem to apologize for misspeaking. If only a bit. There were times he thought he had done his best in those situations, but...
"…"
He slowly shook his head and drove the memories from his mind.
…There is no reason to let her shake me.
He had to calm down. His opponent did not appear to have trained her body for combat, regardless of having joined Border. Nor did she wield a weapon he had not yet seen. She had produced a single point - a nail really - so she would likely use a special form of fighting. It was possible she had already used them.
"I thought you agreed not to use that 'suit dance' they were all talking about?"
"Heh heh. You foolish boy. This is nowhere close to the summit. If I were to say where we were right now then I would have to say we are honestly at the base of the summit."
This girl really was weird. She had seemed to have already begun something.
However, the girl's hands were covered by her sleeves. She could not operate anything like that. She could still use attacks by moving just in time, but that added more time for him to counter.
In that case, it had to be something special to her. She would have something that only she could do in order to fight him.
A Side Effect
…It will not be combat oriented.
There were different categories of Side Effects because their abilities were also divided. If two Side Effects were close in type, their abilities would be similar to each other, but what he was seeing here was simply too far removed from the practical category.
"Oh, just so you know, my Side Effect is more related to eroticism and dancing."
…She really has no combat abilities for that!
In that case, she would use it only to escape or fool him.
He could see through any lies she would give, so she would try to trick him without knowing that fact.
In that case, thought Kuga. I need to be on my guard.
And once he put up his guard, he thought. If his attack hit, he would defeat his opponent. That opponent's movements were slow, so he could grab her if he tried.
…That leaves countless ways of winning.
He would not even need to use any previous fights as a base for his actions. He could easily cut this girl with the trion blade he had been training with. Or he could jab her with that same blade. He could also sweep her legs out from under her, grab onto her and throw her, or pull her to the ground with her hair which was carelessly waving around.
Almost anything would work.
But that was why he decided to use speed.
It was not the same as using a Trigger to boost his speed, but he knew he could mange a great speed without any support. He felt it was immature to use it on an opponent who seemed to be at a low level, but the opponent was irrelevant when it came to these sorts of things.
And so Kuga lowered his stance, held out a trion blade, and faced Suzume as the girl swayed.
"—!"
And he wordlessly took a step forward.
.
Kuga closed the distance.
The trion blade was short and did not have much reach to begin with, but it was very light and easy to move while trying to build up speed.
It was currently the length of a large knife and he found that length easiest to use.
Simply holding the handle was enough to extend his reach a bit more and extending his arm out would give even more reach. If he passed by his opponent fast enough, it would leave a deep cut that used his momentum for it.
Kuga moved. He traveled forward to pass by Suzume on the left as the girl continued to sway.
He swung the blade at waist height. He had thought about going for the neck, but the cost would be too great if the off chance that his opponent had been able to respond to his action. A high speed slash to the gut would be more than enough to count as a win.
This would be all he would need to do for this girl to lose.
And so Kuga carried out his plan.
He ran forward with amazing speed. He lowered his body and swung the blade forward and out.
"…!"
And he swept it across to cut through his opponent's stomach.
Mikumo saw Kuga suddenly appear on the other side of Misaki.
He had of course travelled there, but it had looked like he had been a blur. The motion of the wind and the waving of Kuga's clothes and hair allowed him to just barely guess the direction of his motion.
…He really is fast.
But that thought made him recall a certain fact.
…But there is someone in this room he could only manage a single win against with that speed.
In that case, Tsukiko Squad's Sniper had to be as strong as that much to even compare.
But even if they could demonstrate that strength…
…It doesn't mean they can beat him.
As he thought, Kuga adjusted his lowered stance, spun the trion blade around, and held it normally once more.
?: "Guess it's over."
Mikumo looked back toward where Misaki had stood.
There, he saw Misaki standing casually and swaying with her arms crossed.
…What?
Misaki stood there.
She was unharmed. She did not have a scratch on her.
…What just happened?
As he gasped, the nearby Operator gave a small laugh.
Kuga noticed something had been wrong.
? "What's going on?"
As he asked that in the training room, he looked behind him.
On the screen and in front of Kuga's gaze, Misaki stood with a smile on her face.
She was simply swaying lightly as if nothing had happened. She swayed with the tempo of a dance step.
After a moment, Kuga nodded. After another pause, he nodded again and then a third time.
?: "I guess there's some cheating going on here."
Honest Sister: "Heh heh heh. Try not to take so long to reach such a simple conclusion."
Misaki raised her eyebrows and smiled.
Honest Sister: "You are just as hopeless as I thought. …You are making the idea of speed cry."
In that instant, Kuga vanished from his spot once more.
Kuga made his second attack.
He charged to the left and swung the blade as he passed by. He pulled in his shoulder and raised his bent elbow like a crank to make an upwards cut.
And he hit.
He felt the blow connect. He used his entire body to brake and stopped after hitting the ground. While almost sliding forward, he lowered his upper body and turned around so as not to turn his back to the enemy.
With the other end of the trion blade turned toward his opponent, he raised his upper body to look.
"Heh heh. What are you doing? Is that honestly supposed to be fast? Or painful? Or simply…meaningless?"
Despite supposedly having been hit, Suzume faced him with a smile.
…What?
"I guess I should explain now. Suzu-chan, is it fine if Kuga-kun hears? Or do you want to keep going like this?"
?: "I actually don't want to know just yet. This looks like fun."
Yuki shrugged his shoulders. The younger boy could not see him, but it was enough of a response for him.
He turned to Mikumo instead and smiled.
"So, I'm sure you want to know about this, Mikumo-kun."
Mikumo gave a stiff nod before relaxing a bit from a tap by Karasuma.
Well, isn't he an honest person.
That would make this easier.
"Right, so I should probably start off by saying that what she did was technically the start of her summit dance. I will make sure to punish her for that later. But for now, let's go over her Side Effect. …You know what a Side Effect is, right?"
Another nod.
"Good. Well, about Suzu-chan's. You see, in basic terms, she can find the 'Rhythm' of things." He held up a finger to make sure his point came across. "Whether it be for fighting, knowing someone's personality, or just to figure out the battlefield, she can figure out exactly how they move. But more than that, she can figure out their behavioral and physical patterns that even they might not know about. Habits and other things that most people only see as another part of themselves. Each thing that she can register with her senses is figured out the more she observes them. It's like listening to a song so many times that you can even tell which instrument is being used at any point in time. Does that make sense?"
"So would it be enough to say her Side Effect is basically a great sense of observation."
"Put simply, yes. But she likes to be troublesome at times, so we use nice words to make her feel better about it."
Did that mean they were enabling her?
It's not like it's anything major. She is just that type of person.
Compared to some others, this was nothing.
Yuki turned toward the screen with a smile.
The Tamakoma members were the ones looking at the fight, but he could tell what was happening from their expressions.
.
The performance going on had been a bit lacking compared to others ones, but it was clear that Misaki was trying not to go crazy with this.
The way the two were moving seemed more choreographed than anything moving at unexpected motions.
Looks like she took control of the fight.
Karasuma watched with crossed arms as Misaki moved around with light steps.
Yūma had been trying to keep up and had even managed a few strikes already. But…
He still can't fully reach her at this point.
It was not a matter of who was better, and they all knew that.
The fact of the matter was that Misaki only needed these light steps and her Side Effect to move out of the way of the attacks.
It was a difficult evasion maneuver to get around.
"Oh, she got another hit in on him."
"She looks like she's taking him a bit more seriously though. …Well, as serious as Suzume can."
"Isn't that how you started off, Konami-senpai?"
"But I still only lost once!"
Did that mean the one time she lost was because she didn't take it seriously enough?
Regardless, this was a different matter from that.
Unlike with her, Misaki is only doing one fight here. That means she needs to decide on what to do right away instead of let it build up for the next time.
The piercing and jabbing she was doing with the Scorpion-wrapped middle finger had hit some vital spots for fast movement.
Yūma's speed had noticeably dropped as the fight went on.
Each hit he took had started to build up on his body to gradually slow him down instead of outright beat him.
"Does this mean she knows she can't take the win right away?"
"Looks that way. Dodging like that and actually dealing a decisive hit are two different things. In this case, she probably just wants to drop his speed down so it's easier to hit him."
"At least she didn't try her Big Breast Defense!"
Osamu's immediate jump at the mention of the technique was kind of amazing.
Yeah, just don't think about it too much. That way, when it happens, you can really see how weird it is, he thought with a mental nod.
"Oh, she got it!"
He looked back to the screen in time to see Suzume move her hand forward.
With that single motion, she stabbed her Scorpion blade into Yūma's head without any mercy.
.
"It sounds like Suzu-chan had a fun time."
"Heh heh. I will admit that he is pretty good. I can honestly see how he managed to get a win."
"Please stop being so antagonistic, Suzume-senpai."
"Go jump in some sewage later, Take."
The Tamakoma group watched as the Tsukiko Squad Sniper and Shooter argued with each other.
The way they did not miss a beat made them think this was rehearsed.
"Now, now, behave yourselves here. Mei-chan, some help here?"
"Shiori, about the new program."
"Oh! Yeah, it's been working perfectly! Thanks for that, Mei-san!"
"Please don't just ignore me like that…"
The entire squad seemed to be some sort of mess.
But that mess had worked out to form this squad they were currently with.
That was why Mikumo felt the need to speak up.
"Misaki-senpai, were you happy during your fight?"
"You could tell? So you must be an honest boy along with being a glasses boy."
"Yeah. Osamu is pretty honest."
"Heh heh heh. So he is an honest glasses boy. I like the sound of that. Do you mind if I use that for my next work? Of course I can put you as the seme. Although you seem like a universal uke, so I'm not sure how that will turn out."
"Uh…"
These squad members were really loose in what they thought was appropriate.
This seemed to be even more true for the ones who had a lot of energy.
"I was just wondering since you seemed mad before when you wanted to fight."
"Honest glasses boy, there is a lot to that that you don't understand. But I'll brag! My captain finally decided to become an A-Rank!"
The way she held her arms out for show was a bit disturbing, but he ignored that to turn to the Tsukiko Squad Captain instead.
He was not the only one to do so as the rest of the Tamakoma members followed his lead by looking to the captain.
It may have been too much for him as the Tsukiko Squad Captain turned away and made sure they could only see the hair covering one of his eyes.
Ah… Is he the type to not like the attention?
The Tsukiko Squad Captain's shoulders shook and his wavering voice could be heard from beyond the wall of hair.
"S-Suzu-chan… Please d-don't just bring something like that up."
With a sigh, the Tsukiko Squad Operator moved forward to deliver a smack to the boy's head.
…Was his skull cracked with that hit?
The noise the hit made had been painful to hear, but it seem that the Tsukiko Squad Captain was fine after taking the hit.
"But yes, I accepted the promotion."
"It's about time," Konami said with a huff.
"Konami-senpai. Tact. Just a bit more tact."
"But we've been waiting for too long now. This guy has just been holding it off because he wants to be difficult."
"Even if that's true, you don't have to point it out. Doing things like that make your skin dry up faster."
"Huh!? It does!? A-ah! Sorry, Yuki-san! I take it back! I take it back!"
If Karasuma were to tell her that it was a lie then she would likely move in to attack him.
Knowing that, Mikumo took a step away to make some distance between himself and Konami.
"Anyways… Nothing is actually set in stone yet. I still need to do a test to see if I make it or not."
.
"But that isn't-"
Konami's mouth was quickly covered by Karasuma.
Yuki gave the boy a thankful smile.
They knew that there was no need for any sort of test after what he had already shown as a member of Border. It had simply been something he insisted on since he had been stubborn about the situation from the start.
"So what is the test going to be?" Usami asked from her desk. To the side she gave Konami a small pinch, but she said nothing about it.
"I am going to fight some A-Rank agents in a match. Think of it more like a B-Rank War match. But different. Since they deserve it as much as I do, I even managed to get Kanzaki and Kimura a spot too, so we'll be working as a squad for this."
"Do you know who you will be up against?"
He shook his head.
Something may have been decided on, but he had not been informed about anything just yet.
"It should happen in a few days, so it won't be too long."
"At least you have someone capable on your squad for this."
"The both of them are just weird in their own way."
"They have their charm," Yuki defended.
He knew the both of them well enough, so he left it at that.
"Um, I have a question"
"Hm? What is it, Mikumo-kun?"
The glasses boy nodded.
"Why do you need a different squad for this instead of the one here? From what it looks like, Misaki-senpai is strong. I would figure Kotowari and Awdry are too."
"Don't go too hard with the compliments, Mikumo. Suzume-senpai might get an even bigger head."
"Heh heh. It's almost like you honestly want me to drop you down a flight of stairs."
Before their argument could continue, Mei had moved between the two.
It was good that she was around so that he did not have to do it himself.
Right, about that answer though…
He gave the glasses boy a bitter smile.
"That's because the promotion was only for me. While I would like to have my current squad there with me, I am only allowed to have the substitute one for the match."
"I see. Thank you for answering me."
He really is an honest boy.
No. That wasn't the impression Yuki got from the glasses boy.
That had been what Suzume called him, and it was true, but it was not the best way to describe him.
It's more like…he is being true to himself and not trying to appease to anything.
That was something he could respect.
Oh, actually there's something I've noticed since we got here.
"Where are Jin and Ketsu-san?"
.
"Ketsu-san is off traveling at the moment. He sent us a message, though. Apparently, he ended up near Greece, so it may be a while before he can come back."
The wonders never stopped with that man.
He loved mythology, but would end up traveling without fully knowing he was doing so.
"As for Jin-san…"
"He's doing some backstage stuff."
"You sound so certain."
"Because I know that guy. It's his favorite pastime after all."
"Does Takato-san really know Jin-san that well?" Mikumo asked.
He looked over at Karasuma for an answer, but the older boy only shrugged his shoulders.
"They apparently do. But I don't know to what extent. The only one who can really say for sure are those two and Boss. Ah. And Yuki-san of course. Those two have probably more history with each other than Takato-san and Jin-san do."
"Really?"
"Talking like that while we are right here is not good manners, you two."
The duo looked over at the smiling Yuki and the sighing Mei.
They had not been keeping their voices down, but the talk from the others had seemed like enough to drown them out.
Apparently that was not the case.
"But Karasuma-kun is right. Mei-chan and I go back. She was the first person to join my squad. After that it was Take-kun, then Suzu-chan, and finally Toby-kun. So the two of us know a lot about each other."
"All you really need to know is that this guy is troublesome in all kinds of ways."
"Mei-chan…"
It was different when they appeared to argue.
When the younger Tsukiko Squad members argued, it felt genuine. As if they wanted to hurt each other with their words.
When it came to their Captain and Operator, it felt more like good friends messing with each other.
The group of Tamakoma members could not help but see that comparison right before their eyes.
It was strange.
"Right, then!"
Yuki clapped to gather all of their attention.
"I am sorry for interrupting your training like this. We will be staying for a while, so please get back to what you were doing."
The first to answer was Karasuma.
"Right, let's go Osamu."
"Y-yes! It was nice meeting you all, and seeing you again, Tsukiko-senpai."
"Likewise. Enjoy your training, Mikumo-kun."
As the duo left for their own training, Yuki turned to face Usami.
Konami and Kuga had started to make their way to their training room as well, so he thought nothing when Suzume started following along.
With the room having gotten more spacious, he spoke back up.
"Shiori-chan, can we borrow a training room too? I would like to get one training in for the promotion test."
"Of course! I'll get everything set!"
He smiled to her in gratitude.
"Thank you."