For the past five minutes, Yuki had been going over everything and found new mistakes he had made throughout the day so far. It was all he could really do at a time like this and he didn't even want to try to speak with the person near him.
"They are taking too long. Are you sure you messaged the right people?"
"It's not like I want to be here with you either, so please do be quiet and wait."
"Well, unlike you, I actually have stuff to do today, so I would like to get out as quickly as possible."
"This coming from an airhead. I do feel kinda insulted by it."
"Airhead..."
Although he could not see it properly, Tsukiko Yuki could easily tell that Ninomiya's eye was twitching violently a small ways away from him. He knew exactly what to say to mess with the older male and relished in the fact that he could easily seem calm under any insults thrown at him.
"Isn't it your fault we're stuck in here, faker?" Ninomiya asked with an irritated tone.
He didn't much enjoy the other's company.
"If you didn't get in my way, we wouldn't be here. By the way, if you're complaining so much, where is your phone?"
"That is none of your business."
"You forgot it, didn't you?"
"..."
"I thought so."
"At least I make sure mine is fully charged instead of having a few percent left."
"That doesn't matter when you don't even take it with you. How Mino and Inu deal with you is something I'll never understand... Beyond them, I just feel back for Tsuji and Hiyami."
"You say that but we both know that you are lying. That's all you can ever do. I guess you really can never change after all."
The two fell back into awkward silence as they both thought of how long they had been in the small supply closet and when they would be getting out.
The two had disliked each other from the moment they met.
After a certain incident, the two came to completely hate each other with every fiber of their being.
Others had tried multiple times to get the two to make up with each other, or at least tolerate each other, but they were always met with failure.
These two were far too stubborn to even consider getting along.
Neither cared for the other's company and neither wanted to be around the other.
"I think I heard voices over here!"
"This is around where he said they are, so it's probably them!"
The two perked up when they heard muffled voices from the other side of the door. They sprung up and started yelling. Well, only Yuki was yelling. Ninomiya just knocked on the door stating that, "I am not going to yell like this faker."
Yuki really thought about using his enemy's head as a knocker, but let it slide since Ninomiya probably wanted to yell too.
After another minute or two, the door was unlocked and the two that were previously stuck in the closet saw both Nasu Squad and Suzunari-1 standing before them.
"Thanks guys. I'm glad you were able to find us," Yuki said with a sigh of relief.
"We wouldn't have been in that situation if you were more careful. Try not to cause trouble for others like that again."
"Don't get in my way next time, airhead."
The seven people watched as Ninomiya took his leave down the hall. They could see that his fists were clearly clenched as he walked away.
Yuki enjoyed knowing that he was the one who had caused the former A-Rank to act like that.
"You two really don't like each other, huh?" Kuruma asked, turning to Yuki.
"I'll give him credit for fighting, but his personality is the thing I don't like about him," Yuki answered as he crossed his arms.
He left out a sigh and looked at all of them.
"Anyways. Again, thanks. How about I pay for lunch?"
"Sure. But don't worry, we can pay for ourselves."
"So how did you two even end up in there?" asked Kumagai.
"Yeah! You were speaking pretty fast on the phone and it took a few seconds to understand what you said."
Akane had been the one he called since she was the last person he messaged. It was true that he had been speaking way too fast for someone to actually understand, but this was for a good reason.
He still felt a bit about it.
"Ah. Sorry about that. My phone was dying and the airhead forgot his. As for how it happened... I would rather not say. To put it shortly: there was running on my part, being a roadblock on his part, and misplacement on a object's part."
The two teams did not know what to say, so they said nothing. They could imagine the whole incident in their heads and were not too sure if they wanted to continue it.
Not caring about their odd expressions, Yuki looked at two teams and got a small smirk on his face.
"Not that I mind, but why did you bring Suzunari along?"
.
"They were over in this area and we asked them for help," answered Nasu, not bothering to notice his smirk.
That was something she could not really get when it came to Yuki.
They had met before in the hospital, but even to this day she could not understand why a smirk like that seemed to fit on his face so well.
This time was no different.
"Oh~? Why do I feel like there was a different reason?"
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing much." Yuki shrugged with a smug look on his face. "I'm just wondering what Suzu-chan would do if I told her you six were together the whole time."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Maybe I would~~ Maybe I wouldn't~~"
While three of the six seemed to go a bit red at this, Murakami turned to Yuki with a knowing look.
"Then I wonder what she would say if we were to tell her that you were in a supply closet with someone else."
"Touché."
The two squads could not help but feel like they were looking at a little kid that seemed to have just been told that he could get anything in the world and it appeared in front of them.
The scene wasn't too far off.
"Mmm~~ So good~~"
They watched as Yuki took another spoonful of ice-cream in his mouth with a satisfied smile. They could have sworn they saw sparkles around his head.
He and Akane had often been put together with Hanzaki and called the Ice Cream Trio. The oldest would usually offer to buy them all ice cream, but he would always be the one to last the longest and never manage to get a brain freeze.
"You really like ice cream, don't you, Yuki-san?" asked Nasu.
Murakami gave a sigh into the air and nodded.
"His whole squad says he has an addiction. I can actually attest to that. He hadn't actually had any ice cream when I first met him, so I had taken him to get some and he got addicted immediately. He would always ask 'Hey, when are you going back?' He really looked like a kid."
"It's not an addiction! I just like ice cream...a lot. And there's no need to tell that story, Kō!"
"So, an addiction."
"Say what you want, but the truth is that it's not an addiction."
"Senpai has even agreed, meaning you lose right away with the verdict being unanimous."
"The verdict hasn't been made until I prove you both wrong. An addiction is not the way to describe my love for ice cream. I simply enjoy ice cream with its many flavors to their fullest extent and will not pass up the opportunity to have any."
"You're an addict."
"I don't want to hear this from the guy who's been copying the copycat's Poor Man Lunch meal."
"I've been wondering something," said Nasu, interrupting the two from continuing on. "Since when were you two so close?"
"Actually, I was wondering that as well. I hardly see you two around each other."
"That's because he's either at home or dealing with his squad since Kotowari joined," Murakami answered back nonchalantly. "I'm sure you've hardly seen him without any of them. This is actually a rare treat. We are classmates though, so we do hang out."
Kage: "When he isn't busy dying."
White Fox: "Leave me alone, Kage!"
Pokari: "Should I leave you alone?"
White Fox: "Are you going to be an idiot?"
Pokari: "Tag team him?"
Kage: "Yeah."
Black Wolf: "Can you guys stop for today? I'm trying to relax here."
White Fox: "Yeah! You're making Kō's doggy ears droop! You two are terrible!"
"But you're probably the worst."
"Leave me alone."
The rest of Nasu Squad and Suzunari-1 looked to each other to try and find an answer as to what was going on.
Murakami shook his head at them.
It was likely a thing that they were better off not knowing about.
The two of them were part of the most cannibalistic age group in Border, so it made sense to leave it at that.
Before they could find it in themselves to accept that reality, they heard it.
"Wan! Wan!"
The sound of a dog nearby.
They all turned to look around.
The first to notice the dog was Akane, who expressed her excitement as she pointed to the distance.
Off to the side, a Samoyed dog could be seen running happily past some confused agents.
None of them really said anything about the dog until Inukai ran by, asking if they had seen said dog go by. After pointing in the correct direction, Inukai ran off yelling the dog's name.
"Well, I better go help. Taka seems a bit too hyper at the moment for Inu to do this by himself. I'll see you guys around."
After getting up, Yuki walked over to buy a bag of plain cookies. He didn't open them and instead started walking around.
He could see other agents making small remarks about "the dog that just passed by" and so followed the trail.
Let's see. Even if he's a dog, he would still have his own tastes. That being said...
Yuki had a bag in his hand as he walked in the direction the dog and man ran. He could hear fast footsteps with Inukai's yelling.
He shook the bag in his hand and smiled when he heard the small patting sounds of little feet making their way towards him.
The dog turned the corner and ran towards him at a fast pace before stopping in front of him in a sitting position.
Leaning down, Yuki picked up the dog and opened the bag before giving a piece to the dog.
"You got him... Thanks for that, Yuki. I was watching over this little guy before he ran off."
"Sure thing. The fact you let him 'escape' is something, though."
Yuki continued to pet the dog as he ate his treat.
"Let me guess, you were distracted by Shiro?"
"Hey! Shiro-chan was cheating! He was looking so cute in his glasses that I didn't know what to do besides take pictures! What's more is that he was munching on a macaroon with this adorable and innocent face that it was actually blinding me!"
"Alright, alright. I get it. It's just a good thing nothing happened to Taka. Although, he's a smart dog, so he'd be fine."
"You can say that again."
The two laughed while the dog munched on the plain cookie.
The sounds of footsteps got closer to the three as they laughed.
"What are you three doing in this area?"
Taka jumped from Yuki's arms and ran down the hall as the two humans turned to see Hatohara Minoru walking up to them. He had a questioning look, but didn't seem particularly mad.
Something that the both of them noted as the body next to their friend.
The person standing next to Minoru was a nice looking person. Their orange hair was a stark contrast to their black and yellow hair colors. The expression the person showed was one of clear irritation, but...
"You're a good person."
"...Huh?"
"Yeah. A really good person. So who is this, Mino?"
"Don't just ignore me!"
"We aren't. That's why we're asking about you. But asking you directly probably wouldn't help that much."
TetsuG: "You two are the worst at times..."
But they were not the worst overall, so it was something they could live with.
"Anyways," said Yuki.
"Who is this?"
"This is Takahashi Maki. He isn't a part of Border yet, but he...well... It's a bit complicated."
Yuki and Inukai saw the orange boy turn his head with a huff and turned to each other.
They held their hands to their mouths and began to whisper.
"Maybe a secret family member?"
"No, no, no. He doesn't seem as nice as Mino or as relaxed as Mirai."
"Then what do you think?"
"Ask the others?"
Demon Child: "Should we tell them that we've been listening in the whole time?"
Kuni: "Hitomi, you're supposed to wait for the right moment with that stuff."
Demon Child: "Yeah, but their guesses suck."
Zoe: "Is it just me, or are the girls really going at it recently?"
Life: "Maybe it's that time!"
Boys: "He said it!"
Girls: "You're a dead man."
It was unnerving that the girls sounded so calm when declaring their death threat. The eavesdropping was nothing new, so they both decided to ignore that.
The sigh from Minoru told them that he had seen the messages as well and was also ignoring them.
As for the other boy...
"What's with you three? You look like you just gave up on something."
"It's nothing. You'll know when you're older," the three of them said in unison.
The other boy only titled his head.
Even Taka looked to him with pity.
"Anyways. Are you showing him around before he joins?"
"Something like that... For the time being, it's more like an introduction day for him."
"Did you tell him about all of the people to avoid."
"Our entire age group?"
"Besides them," Yuki and Inukai said.
"Either way, I'm looking forward to having you join Border."
The other boy seemed to take the welcome with some reservation.
The way Minoru looked to the two told them that this was just how things were for the moment.
They both understood that well enough after having met a lot of people already with difficult situations.
.
Inukai looked between the two older boys before taking another glance at the other boy - Takahashi Maki.
Minoru had told him about something the directors wanted his squad to do, but he had not been told exactly what that was.
So it involves this guy then. Do they want Hatohara Squad to add someone else to their squad?
That made sense, but that meant there would be more to it than just that.
Hatohara Squad was an unranked A-Rank squad with naturally friendly people in it. At least two of the three outwardly express friendliness. So if someone was being forced to join their squad then it would not be bad for them.
Still, I'm guessing that he doesn't know much about Minoru or the other two. If he is just barely getting a full introduction to things then he probably doesn't even know how they fight. In that case...
A smile spread across his face as he clapped his hands.
"Have a match!"
That was enough to gain the attention of the other three.
"What are you saying now?"
"You two should have a match," he said while pointing to Yuki and Minoru.
"Not that I'm against it, but why?"
Ah. Right... You can't really lie to a compulsive liar.
It was always too difficult to try and move around the truth whenever Yuki was around.
But...
You've told us your tricks before! Now I can use that against you! Haha!
Inukai made sure to widen his smile when speaking up.
"Well, we have Yuki feeling fine enough to move around today, and Mino here has someone who will be joining Border soon. We might as well show off how great two of our A-Ranks agents are, right?"
A partial truth that had a lie mixed into it.
With the way Yuki was looking at him, it was clear that he had already figured that out.
It really is hard for the rest of us when he wants to tell what's a lie or not.
"Hah."
But he only sighed.
"I'm fine with it. But I can't do a full match. Only one fight. I have somewhere else to be. I just ended up getting stuck in a difficult situation earlier."
"I see no problem with it, but..."
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I can watch. Since I'm already in this situation, it wouldn't be bad to see how you fight here," Maki said with a shrug.
He seemed to have calmed down from before, so that was a good thing.
"Right! Let's go then! I want to see how much better you two have gotten!"
"Better than you, that's for sure."
It really was difficult to deal with him at times.
"A fight with Loki, huh? It's been a while since this has happened."
It was not often that Yuki fought others in solo matches, so this would be interesting.
Pulling out his phone for a moment, he started messaging.
Deer Prince: "Hey, who has fought Loki the most? And I'm not talking about Taka, so don't put him here."
Black Wolf: "That would be me then."
"That makes sense," Minoru muttered. Murakami and Yuki had been close from the start, so he would have the highest number of fights with the boy.
TetsuG: "Wait, are we talking about actual fights or solo matches?"
"Huh?"
There were only a handful of times that he could remember Yuki fighting in his real body.
Deer Prince: "Solo matches."
TetsuG: "Oh, then yeah, it's Murakami."
Demon Girl: "Hold on! Just how many times has he fought in his real body!? And who has the most in that case?"
Black Wolf: "He use to do it often. But the person who he's fought the most with in those times is probably Kage."
Pokari: "It's Kage, yeah."
Shōgi Boy: "It was always hard to place bets on the two since it usually went either way."
Artist: "Um, are we going to just ignore the fact that he got into fist fights often? Especially with his body?"
Knowing these people...
Everyone: "Yeah."
"I thought so..."
But it was still interesting to fight out something like that.
Yuki had been one of the people to join their group later on, but it seemed that some of them had already known him before he had even been introduced to Minoru.
"I guess that's neither here nor there."
Right now he needed to focus more on the fight he was about to have.
It would not be as serious as a fist fight, but it would still be good training for the both of them.
White Fox: "Are you ready?"
Deer Prince: "Yeah, I'm good to go."
Neither one of them hesitated as the signal rang out.
Minoru moved forward with a single push off the ground.
There was no obvious Trigger activation as he covered the distance in an instant.
Due to not having enough time, the two had agreed on not needing to find each other and instead had started directly in front of each other.
That was a hindrance for him, but it was something that Yuki could work with.
With their field of vision so clear to each other, it gave Yuki the advantage.
But that was why it had been best to move forward.
When facing a Teleport-user - Didn't he tell us that he moved up to Teleporter now? - it was best not to move back or to the sides. Distance meant little to them, and moving away from them would only give them more time to plan out their actions. So the only way to go against them was...
Forward!
With no other place to go, he continued forward with his eyes focused on what was in front of him, but everything else was focused on his surroundings.
There would always be an instant where he could move to the sides or behind if Yuki decided to teleport somewhere close by.
So when he saw the flicker of Yuki's body, the noise filling the space, and the air filling back up in the spot, he prepared to move.
"!"
Yuki's body appeared a moment later.
Minoru made sure not to stop as the smaller body began to move behind him.
The sound of something being fired at him from behind could be heard, so he responded with a Shield.
There was no way to blind the boy as things stood, so he instead focused on what he could do with the current situation he was in.
Minoru created a cube of trion to his side.
He started to turn his body to the side and used his foot to push off the ground.
The trion bullets that were fired collided with the Shield.
Viper!
The cube of trion split as he moved backwards, having completed his turn.
His own trion bullets were fired, each going in different directions.
Instead of a single pattern being set, he had separated them into two different patterns to use.
I'm just glad he was still within range for me to fire.
Even with his standing as an All-Rounder, Minoru had always been a close quarters specialist. Having a ranged attack move towards him like that made it difficult for him to do much besides dodge or block.
Even so...
Catching him is going to be difficult.
.
Yuki thought nothing of the trion bullets moving towards him.
People like Minoru had a set range where they felt comfortable fighting in. Within that rage they were powerful, and everything in their reach was considered their "space". This applied to Shooters and Snipers as well, but their space was more defined most of the time. A Sniper had their line of sight through their scopes while Shooters varied based on their ability. Gunners usually had a mix of the two, so it was rather easy to determine where their space was.
But for Yuki...
Teleport.
Everything within his field of vision was his space.
Other Teleport-users could also reach this space, but Yuki alone stood there. A place where everything he could see was part of his space. It was a far reaching and ever changing one that depended on how he moved his body, his head, and his eyes.
That was why he was certain that he would not have to worry about the trion bullets.
The moment they started to enclose on him, he looked to a spot in his space before transporting his body to that location.
From there he placed a hand on Kōgetsu.
The space he had relocated to had been midair, just to the right of Minoru.
Because of the way Teleport worked, he needed to respond right away after teleporting. That may have been why Minoru reflexively reacted instead of turning to him.
A blue plate had been placed on the ground in front of Minoru for him to step on.
He was launched into the air where Yuki had appeared.
Yuki pulled Kōgetsu out of its holder with a reverse grip.
It did not hold as much power as when he held it normally, but it was enough to block the Scorpion blade coming from Minoru's arm.
He came up here knowing full well how things work in midair?
Minoru could do quite a bit while in the air, but...
Fine. I'll keep going with it.
Yuki was more use to it.
.
As the two blades clashed, Yuki pushed himself forward and up.
He grabbed hold of Minoru's arm and began to flip over him while in the air.
There would only be a moment where they would both be stable while in the air, so it was important that one of them find their balance. The first one to do so could take the initiative and take control of the battle as a whole.
So Yuki went for it.
He spun his body while holding onto Minoru's arm.
Using the built up momentum, he kicked off the arm and threw himself higher into the air, releasing his grip on Kōgetsu.
The sudden loss of power behind the clash had thrown Minoru off balance as he fell.
But...
"Gotcha!"
He still managed to reach for Yuki.
Extending his other arm out, he grabbed hold of Yuki's ankle while creating a Scorpion blade from the same hand.
Yuki's foot was cut off.
The two continued their movements with Yuki kicking his severed foot into the air as a black cube of trion appeared next to Minoru.
The black trion cube was thrown into the air.
Finding his balance even while in the air, Yuki used his severed foot as a step to throw himself forward.
The black trion cube collided with the foot as it fell towards the ground.
A weight appeared on the foot before slamming into the ground.
From his place into the air, Yuki fired trion bullets down without looking as to where they were going.
The battlefield had not changed enough for him to forget what it looked like.
That's...
Inukai sighed inside when he saw how smoothly Yuki went into his next attack without thinking about his missing foot. He even used that foot to both block Mino's attack and move higher.
Something like that did not come easy to those not experienced with fighting.
As things stood, Inukai could manage it as well, but not to the extent where he could not feel something after having a body part amputated.
But...
He's going on without even looking back at what happened.
That was a bad habit of his.
It was something that both Minoru and Yuki could never see eye-to-eye on, whether they knew that or not.
"Inukai-senpai, those two..."
"I don't know how much you learned about Mino from the amount of time you have spent with him, but I'm guessing you can at least catch a glimpse of this."
"I'm not too used to fighting, so I actually don't understand much of what I'm seeing here, but I can at least tell what's going on with them as people."
"Is that so?" he asked.
Taka seemed to think the situation was not something for him to pay attention to from the way he scratched behind his ear without looking up.
Oh, that's pretty cute.
Focusing back on the fight going on, he saw Minoru create some distance by moving back.
Yuki had already begun his next action.
The Kōgetsu he had discarded had been on his way to move forward, so he had reached out to grab it as he ran by.
Minoru's body began to disappear from sight as Yuki moved forward.
Oh, so he's going for Chameleon next.
He probably held out from using it so he could gauge how Yuki would act.
But it had not been fast enough.
Yuki's body flickered for a moment before completely disappearing.
The air left behind started to fill back in the blank space as Yuki's body appeared where Minoru's body had mostly vanished.
He used Kōgetsu to cut through the air.
A stream of trion gas began to fill the air.
.
"Tsukiko-senpai is very forward with his fighting, isn't he?"
Inukai threw his head to the side as soon as those words came out.
It was true that Yuki was moving differently from how he normally did things, but that realization being said out loud like that was not what he had been expecting.
Even less from someone who knew nothing about the boy.
Haru: "Uuuuuuummmm... What do I do when Yuki's fighting like a normal person? And what do I do when a normal person notices that?"
Demon Girl: "Make sure to hide the body."
TetsuG: "Wait, which body? The other person or Yuki's?"
Demon Girl: "Which one do you think I mean?"
TetsuG: "A part of me is thinking you actually mean Inukai..."
Kage: "I'll help hide the body in that case."
Pokari: "Shouldn't we make sure he's actually dead first?"
Kage: "Too much trouble. A hole should be fine."
Demon Girl: "Oh, but make sure that he lets us know if it's the real Tsukiko or not."
Umi: "That clear view of priorities..."
Black Wolf: "Wait, shouldn't we at least make sure there is more than one body? If Yuki is fighting like a normal person, there might be a second body after I tell Senpai."
Everyone: "Good call!"
Hey! Don't just go deciding on my death like that!
It was terrifying how quickly they could all come together when it came to the worst things.
His worries seemed to pass over Maki and Taka since they both turned away from him.
Is that a good or bad thing...?
He decided to go with the former since those two were more normal than the others.
But wait... Kō-kun just said-
"I see that you have done some scheming again, Inukai."
The violent jump he gave had been enough to cause Maki to move back.
Slowly turning around, he saw the face of his own demise.
They were right to say I'm dead! Damn it!
Having those people being right may have hurt just a bit more than knowing he would now be in trouble.
.
Maki watched with wide eyes as the new girl walked towards them, giving him a small nod.
He found it hard to respond.
And as for Inukai...
"O-oh... M-M-M-Mei...san! How are you doing today!?"
"I am doing quite fine, thank you for asking," the girl answered while taking two more steps.
She had done nothing except appear, nod, and walk forward, but the simple way she held herself was something he felt that he could not overlook.
Inukai's immediate reaction was also something of note. The way he automatically cowered as if in trouble contradicted the happy wagging of Taka's tail.
It was clear who her target was.
This person doesn't even look like the type to demand anything, yet...
Yet...
She felt like a person who you could not help but give attention to and show respect towards.
This was a powerful person on a level exceeding people like the two fighting boys.
So when this person spoke...
"Inukai. Tell me why Yuki and Minoru are fighting right now."
He listened.
"W-well... I suggested they have a m-match..."
"I see."
"So...?"
"Yes. I have decided."
Decided on what?
Maki felt the heavy blow to Inukai's head without even being touched.
Inukai's head moved towards the ground before Maki could fully register what had happened. His legs seemed to try and hold him up while his chest curved in an awkward way.
The fist that had slammed down on him gave the impression of an iron hammer crushing the ground beneath it.
Is he still alive!? How is his head not destroyed by that!?
"Ow ow ow!"
"Stop with the theatrics. You weren't actually hurt since you were in your trion body."
"But just thinking of that kind of hit hitting my real body is enough to actually hurt!"
Maki found himself agreeing.
Just watching it happen was enough to make him feel a phantom pain.
The person only moved to the side, taking a seat without worrying about her actions.
Taka had seemed to find nothing wrong with the situation as he moved over to her.
"Yes, hello Taka. It is good to see you as well."
She leaned down to pet the dog without taking her eyes off of Inukai.
"As the second part of your punishment-..."
"There's more!?"
She nodded, not caring that Inukai had interrupted her.
Maki was curious about what would come next, but felt like it would be better to not know.
Even so, the person spoke.
"This will end up as a draw."
It was a strange fight.
Minoru realized that as he moved without being seen.
His opponent was normally one for more stealth tactics, but from the very start he had been using forward attacks.
Even his use of Teleport is different from how he usually does things.
It was not uncommon to see him appear with his blade already at the throat or back of his opponent, but...
He's been avoiding those spots and has been going for my front the whole time.
It was unlike Yuki to do something like that.
But it was something for normal people to do.
And if that was the case...
That's what's going on...
This was not the Yuki who rarely did solo matches.
If it was, Minoru would have needed to be more cautious about his surroundings.
No, the person in front of him was a mirror. A person who was reflecting things he had already seen and using that reflection against him.
So he's just using his Side Effect to fight me.
It would have been a bit insulting if that was all there was to it. Only letting your body do everything without trying was a way of saying that there was no point to focus on what was happening, but that was not the case here.
If Yuki was only using his Side Effect to fight then it meant his mind was elsewhere and focused on something else.
He just did not want to let Minoru down here either.
With that being the case, he made a choice.
Let's get to the end of this.
.
Minoru moved while maintaining Chameleon's invisibility.
Regardless of how Yuki was fighting, not being able to see his opponent was still something that held him back.
Except...
"—"
He moved.
Yuki held out his hand as a large cube of trion appeared under his open palm.
The cube of trion split twice. It continued to get cut up until the single cube became multiple smaller ones. And once it reached the second cut...
"Asteroid."
They flew off.
Each one of the small cubes moved through the air.
Some of them went forward, others back, and the last bits to the sides. It was a full barrage of trion bullets that left little room to move through.
And with that little room, he moved.
Yuki moved through the paths he had created, hand set on Kōgetsu.
The loss of his foot had made things difficult, but it was nothing he could not manage.
Once he saw some dirt tossed into the air, he moved his hand.
Instead of pulling out the Kōgetsu at his side, he held out his hand.
A Lightning formed.
The Sniper Trigger was pulled back immediately as Yuki lowered his hips and placed his leg to the ground. He steadied himself in his new sniper positioning and fired.
The one-handed sniper fire made a solid impact in the air as trion began to leak though something.
It hit.
Yuki released Lightning as he began to move forward with a push.
A moment later, he vanished.
.
Yuki felt the feedback from Kōgetsu piercing through something.
At the same time, there was something holding his arm in place and preventing him from pulling it back.
Minoru began to appear in front of him as his Chameleon peeled off. His hand was clenched around Yuki's arm while Kōgetsu was on his side.
Without any hesitation the both of them created a cube of trion between them and fired without giving time for aiming.
Their targets were right in front of them.
Hatohara Bail Out
Tsukiko Bail Out
"You idiot. You knew what would happen if you left and this is your punishment. It should be worse for actually fighting, so be grateful."
"Okay... Please calm down... I'm sorry..."
The three humans and dog watched as Mei continued to scold and shake Yuki.
After having left the booths, Minoru and Yuki went to meet back up with Inukai, Maki, and Taka. But what they had come to was a sheepish Inukai standing behind Mei.
She had wasted no time in moving towards them, covering the distance in a frighteningly small amount of steps before throwing some pills into Yuki's mouth. Nothing was said as she put a water bottle to his mouth, leaned his head back and forced him to swallow the pills.
There was no break for him as she started shaking him like a rag doll while scolding him with a straight expression.
"Will he be okay?"
"Yeah. Maybe. Probably."
"She at least won't kill him."
It was a wonder how he managed to survive such a thing when a hit to Inukai was enough to shake both Inukai himself and Maki.
To see Yuki being tossed around like that did make them wonder if he was too use to it at this point.
"With that done..."
Mei turned to the three humans, the dog not seeming to care about what was going on around him.
She did not sigh and she did not glare. All she did was look at them.
"I will be taking this idiot with me now."
They all nodded their heads. No reason to risk their lives denying her.
"Bye!"
"Nice meeting you...?"
"Good luck, Loki!"
The trio watched as Yuki was tossed over Mei's shoulder without issue before she started walking away.
The betrayed expression he wore was tactfully ignored.
As was the yell of, "Don't just stand there! Help meeeeeeeee!"
"I said I was sorry. Please stop dragging me, Mei."
"You're an idiot. Although, I'm glad you had fun, you should watch your image here."
"Hm? Why's that?"
"Because your sister will be back soon."
Mei could hear the click of Yuki's tongue once those words left her mouth.
She let out a sigh, knowing full well why that had been his reaction.
"Besides that..."
She started up again.
"You have somewhere else to be right now."