Never before seen trion soldiers. That was what the Border agents were now facing. They didn't look like much, but they had already proven that appearances mean nothing.
First Sniper: "Shinoda-san, Azuma here! We've encountered a new type of trion soldier! It's over three meters tall. A bipedal humanoid. Small, but powerful! It's trying to capture our agents. Everyone take caution. Over."
Shinoda: "Capture out agents!? All right... Try to hold out until reinforcements arrive!"
Replica: "Director Shinoda."
The voice of the autonomous trion soldier named Replica could be heard through the room. It was connected to Border so that it would be able to provide any information to them.
Replica: "This new type...is probably the capture-type trion soldier Aftokrator was developing. The Rabbit."
"Capture-type? Isn't that what the big one is for?"
Replica: "It has the same purpose, yes. But different targets. The Rabbit...is a trion soldier used to capture Trigger users. You should assume it acts differently from other trion soldiers. Even A-Ranks will be eaten if they face it alone."
"East of base..." Sawamura started while looking at the screen. "Kazama Squad is engaging the new model! The captain of Suwa Squad has been captured! South of the base... A member of Azuma Squad has Bailed Out! They've met up with Kakizaki Squad to fight the new model! Kuruma and Chano squads have also encountered the new model in the southwest! It's effectively blocking them from stopping the swarm of trion soldiers! The swarm is breaking out of the emergence area!"
Director Netsuki started to freak out a bit at hearing this.
"That's not good! Any damage to the city will erode the people's trust in Border..."
"Do you have a reading on Suwa's condition!?"
"We're still picking up a reading on his trion body. He can't seem to Bail Out though..."
"Good. Kazama Squad will rescue him!"
"Director Shinoda, please-"
Wisteria: "I can always make a detour. I have a restricted area around me, so I can keep things contained."
The new voice coming through was a familiar one. It belonged to a certain hime-cut Operator with a Side Effect.
Some of the people in the room turned to see a single signal making its way to the base. As it passed by, any enemy signals they saw seemed to disappear.
"..."
Wisteria: "Well?"
"Very well. It's more helpful if you are also out there to help in defeating these new models - Rabbits."
Taiyōko Hoshi tried to move her body, tried to let out a noise, tried to do anything that would make her body listen to her.
Nothing happened as the primal fear of something unknown rushed at her with tremendous speed.
The thought of a single boy with black hair and eyes to match came to mind.
If he was with them then this would not be an issue in the slightest.
But he was nowhere around.
He had left long ago.
The boy was still around physically, but he had given up on something important that it had always left her feeling hollow.
And now the image of that boy showed in her mind.
That left Hoshi to stay frozen in place, waiting for something to happen.
She would not feel any pain if that Neighbor collided with her, but the fear itself would certainly follow her into her real body.
There was nothing else she could do.
At least I helped Awdry-kun and Kotowari-kun...
"Trigger on!"
.
The moment the Rabbit got within a few inches of Hoshi, something came from above with a familiar blade in hand.
The something - rather someone - tried to attack the Neighbor from above, yet it only recognized the danger and moved back accordingly.
The person jumped back and stood in front of Hoshi.
"...Sensei..."
A man stood there with a Kōgetsu in his hand. His attire was a gray track suit with white and black lining. This older-looking man was the teacher of Takeshi, Toby, and Hoshi - Akasora Chishi.
"I know I said I would help out with the evacuation, but Hoshi here decided to come and help you two out. Not to mention you two were seeming to have a hard time. While I am proud of you three right now, fighting this sort of thing was way too reckless. I'll make sure you guys stay after school to help around as punishment, but for now... Stay back a bit."
The look in his eyes turned hard and he looked at the Rabbit.
The Rabbit took a step back.
.
Trion soldiers could not understand things like intimidation or fear, but they were programmed with knowledge of what could be dangerous. This was so that the makers would not lose their forces because of some sort of idiotic attack by the trion soldiers.
The Rabbit, like other trion soldiers, did not feel any fear from the hard glare sent its way. What it did know, however, was that this man was more dangerous than the three small prey it had been fighting.
There had been no actual reason to sense this danger when the man first arrived, but that single glare was enough to set off the alarms that were placed in it.
This sense of danger may have been the reason as to why it was no longer rushing in to attack. Instead, the programming in it started to create an attack pattern that it could follow while also taking the danger into consideration.
"It's a teacher's job to help and protect his students, so I hope you don't mind if I joined in the fight for a little bit, Masafumi."
The man spoke as if his entire existence was not a danger to the Rabbit.
.
"Then again, even if you do mind, I'll still be joining."
Shinoda: "I just hope you didn't get rusty."
"So insulting. Oh well."
Akasora started to walk forward while the Rabbit found its new target and started running towards Akasora.
"Senkū Kōgetsu."
The two got closer to each other.
Akasora continued to walk forward.
In a single instant, that none of the students could actually see, the Rabbit was cut down. Its arms were at its side, its legs were under it and its head and mid-section lay on the ground.
Akasora stopped walking and looked down at the destroyed Rabbit.
"Don't go after my students, you damn thing."
Takeshi and Toby just looked at their teacher with wide eyes.
This was something that neither one of them had seen before.
Akasora's movements had been far beyond what they had seen from their own captain. It had gotten to the point of being unable to follow those movements at all.
"Man... Maybe I am getting a little rusty," Akasora said as he moved his arms.
Shinoda: "Nicely done, Chishi. You may not be in Border anymore, but I need you to-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just leave it to me. Besides, it gives me a good reason to go check up on my nephew."
Shinoda: "Are you sure you want to do that?"
There was silence for a moment.
Tension filled the air as Akasora looked around at his students.
He was supposed to be helping with evacuation, but he had instead gone to the aid of his students. Now that he was done with that, he had other choices to make.
"This isn't the time to be holding back, Masafumi. It was fine when it was just Border fighting itself, but not when someone else decides to come here and mess everything up. Since that's the case, I will be going to my nephew. Even if it causes problems later on, I will be using that here so that we know we have a strong fighting chance. You better not try and stop me from doing this."
Shinoda: "I would never stop you from doing that. I already know how much she means to you, so if you are going to use her, then that is on you."
"Hm. Such a harsh way of putting it. ...But thanks for that."
Letting out a sigh, Akasora turned back to his students proper.
Their awestruck expression told him everything they were thinking. It was enough to make him let out a sheepish laugh while moving his eyes away from them.
"I said I was in Border... Never said I didn't keep a Trigger."
"That was amazing, Sensei. I figured you were strong, but this..."
Takeshi wasn't too sure on what to say, so he just trailed off.
"Like I said: Masafumi and I are good friends. Not to mention that I was the one to train both your captain and Oper... Ah... Oops. Guess I'm not supposed to tell you that... Sorry."
His expression turned from their usual teacher to what they could only describe as a proper Border Combatant.
They responded in kind.
"Taiyōko, you need to get back and help with the evacuation. Kotowari, Awdry, you two should go regroup. If you come across any more of the new model, just run until you meet up with someone else."
"Yes, sir!"
"Um... Sensei... What are you going to do?" asked Hoshi, looking at her teacher nervously.
"I'm gonna go help out as well. Now let's get going."
"Looks like this area is clear now..."
Mei looked over the destroyed area with Neighbors here and there.
"Maybe I did go a little overboard... Oh well."
She stood up from the destroyed Rabbit she was crouching on and jumped down before walking away.
"I should go find Yuki before he causes even more damage than me."
Hogo Squad dodged.
The three agents were now facing a Rabbit. Once they had been at a good distance, the new model came out of one of the fallen trion soldiers. It had not waited and immediately attacked the three.
"These things are so annoying!"
Hitsugi moved her hand horizontally through the air. The cubes of trion that were around her body flew through the air in multiple directions.
Each bullet hit, yet the damage seemed nonexistent as the Rabbit held out its arms.
Small cubes of trion appeared around to take the place of the ones just fired. They moved around her as if they were stars keeping close to a planet due to its gravity.
Misó ran ahead of Hitsugi with two Scorpion blades in hand.
Just as the Rabbit unfolded its arms, Misó was in front of it and ready to strike.
The Rabbit swung its right arm.
Misó reacted in time to duck and jump back to let his captain have a turn.
Oshiro came from above.
In his hand was a Raygust in blade form. The color had been a light blue instead of the usual green. Due to the report about what happened to Suwa Squad, he made sure to apply only the right amount of weight to his attack.
Thruster activated for a moment, piling on even more weight to his attack.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he made a starting jump backwards as trion bullets came from behind.
"I've set up the wires! Hitsugi-chan, Kirai-kun, you're good to go!"
"Right!"
The two teammates made their move.
The Rabbit tried to get closer to them, but had no luck.
It was stopped by the wires it could not see.
Those same wires were used by Hitsugi and Misó.
The cubes around Hitsugi like stars weaved through the wires while Misó did the same. From all directions, the Rabbit was bombarded by Viper.
Misó grinned as he used one of the wires as a spring and went to deliver the finishing blow.
He missed.
It appeared that his calculations had been off, making it so that he landed right in front of the Rabbit instead of on it.
The Rabbit lifted its arm to attack him.
Oshiro was going to rush in and help his teammate, but...
"It is fortunate that I was in the area at the time."
The punch from the Rabbit was stopped. What had stopped it was the end of a trident. The trident was a Trigger. Who the Trigger belonged to was a 20-year-old man with red hair, eyes to match and lightly tanned skin with good muscle tone. His outfit consisted of a simple black shirt and pants tucked into boots.
"Ketsu-san!"
Kagerei Ketsueki stood there with his Trigger blocking the attack from the Rabbit.
He gave a quick look around before he made his move.
With one hand, he easily spun the trident around, pushing the attacking arm back.
Using his entire body, he rotated around while swinging the trident using a fluid wrist motion.
As the Rabbit righted itself, he made his complete turn while creating a long arc with his trident.
The Rabbit's body was cut through diagonally from it's right hip to its left shoulder.
With that having been finished, he turned back around to face the B-Rank squad in full.
"You three did well. We should go and regroup as instructed."
"Hey, shouldn't you be with the rest of Tamakoma?"
Misó tried to sound indifferent, but all of them could hear a bit of frustration in his tone.
Ketsueki took note of that fact.
"Rei-san and the others will be fine. He and Kyōsuke-kun are picking up Kirie-kun right now, so I will be helping out here."
Oshiro and Hitsugi seemed relieved to hear that.
Misó on the other hand...
Shit... I didn't think this guy would show up…
"Whoa now... They can deal with the Rabbits already."
"Well, well, well... It appears progress in Miden has been impressive."
"Ha. These Rabbits are basic models."
"I'm not so sure. They didn't fall for our plan to divide them. They're quite formidable."
This conversation was being held in a Neighbor ship. Seven Neighbors were in the ship and all were watching the invasion occur. Five males and two females in total.
"Should we go?" the youngest looking one asked, looking at their leader.
"Not yet. You will go after we ascertain Miden's limits." The leader's expression never changed and kept a calm tone as he continued to watch the footage. "No need to get ahead of ourselves. We still have plenty of eggs. Miden hasn't shown us everything they can do yet. When we sent the Rads, they mobilized several hundred combatants. Considering that scale, we can surmise that many other skilled individuals, besides those in these teams exist."
"Aren't you being a little too paranoid about these Miden Monkeys? Eh, Captain?" another one asked. This one had black horns on his head and one of his eyes was black as well.
"Watch your words, Enedora." The youngest looking one glared. "You're talking to our leader."
"Huh? And who do you think you're talking to?"
"Will you two shut up? I'm trying to watch these adorable animals dance around." One of the two women there continued to look at the footage they were receiving. "It really is quite cute."
"You and your fetishes are disturbing, Pyr."
"Says the heterochromatic freak."
"Watch your tongue, bitch! I'll get rid of you along with that small fry over there!"
"Just because you have a Black Trigger doesn't mean you'll win! I can easily destroy you! That being said, you wouldn't stand a chance against both me and Hyu! And if we add M-"
"This ship won't last long if you three get into a fight," the oldest one in the room said, not actually seeming to mind the three.
Pyr and Hyuse could only hum at what their elder was saying.
Fighting would get them in trouble, but fighting with one of the most violent people they knew would only end up destroying them.
"This is so annoying! I'm sick of this cramped space! Come on, Captain! Let me outside! I could kill all of the Miden soldiers by myself!"
"Stop being so whiny. I'm pissed about this small space too, but the best way we could have changed it without using more resources would have been to make a deal with those assholes wandering around. None of us wanted that kind of crap, even if it would have helped."
"Yeah, then they got away because of you, you dumb bitch!"
"Tch! Like hell that was my fault!"
"Then who was at fault there!? Because of you, even 'Little Hyu' here lost someone!"
"Like you give a shit! Don't go saying things you don't know about, you rotten piece of mud!"
"You bitch!"
As this went on, the others in the room only ignored the loud voices.
The youngest there had looked away from the conversation, but said nothing to stop them either.
To fill up the extra space, the last male turned from his arguing teammates to their leader.
"Annihilation and blame aside... It would be nice to stretch out legs for a bit. Right, brother? No, captain."
Said captain only looked at the screen in front of him.
"A little more patience. Everyone's turn will come soon.
"Proceeding to the next stage."
"Do they have to be so loooud during this? I was trying tooooo sleep~"
A boy, no older than 16, looked around the area he was in. His general appearance and feeling was something akin to a walking corpse.
His "sleeping place" seemed to be an empty building within the Forbidden Zone.
He got up and leisurely made his way out of the building.
Once outside, he looked up when he heard a loud sound.
What he saw was...
"Bombers are approaching! Fire all cannons!"
Doing as Director Kinuta commanded, cannons came from the sides of the Border base before firing at the large trion soldier that was headed for them.
An Illgar.
A large, flying trion soldier that could throw out bombs while also being a large bomb itself. One had been taken out by Kitora before, but that was because she had help. Not that she had known at the time.
Now, during this large-scale invasion, multiple Illgars were flying in the sky, ready to bomb the Border base.
"One down! Another one closing in!"
"Brace for impact!"
"—!"
A large explosion was easily heard around the building.
The agents fighting against the trion soldiers on the ground could only watch as the large bomber crashed into the base.
But the building still stood.
"Good thing I fortified the wall armor with extra trion after the training incident the other day," Kinuta said while getting up from under his desk.
"Second wave on its way! Three units!"
"How's the armor holding up!?"
"It'll last for one more impact!"
"Evacuate civilian staff to shelters! Divert trion interceptor cannons! Focus cannon fire! Aim for a single unit! Make sure it goes down!"
"But...one won't be enough..."
The cannons were changed. They were now all facing a single Illgar. They fired without mercy.
The loud sounds of the attack could be heard, as well as the Illgar being destroyed and causing an explosion that didn't reach the base.
"Confirmed, one has been shot down! Two left!"
"Director Shinoda! I can't guarantee the wall will last two hits!"
Tachikawa had already told them that he would handle one of them, but the distance from the second one was too little for them to simply turn the cannons for an attack.
So then...
"Brace for-"
Corpse: "Haaaaah. It's fiiiine. There won't be anymore, right, Shinoda-saaan?"
A boy, no older than 16, looked around the area he was in. His general appearance and feeling was something akin to a walking corpse.
He looked up in a trion body. Once he had seen the Illgars attacking the base he had pulled out his Trigger and entered his trion body while complaining the whole time.
"Let's see...accooording to what I have ooon them..."
As he muttered to himself, the corpse-like boy looked up to see the cannons from the Border base take out one of the Illgars.
"Haaaaah. It's fiiiiiiine. There won't be anymore, right, Shinoda-saaan?"
He then witnessed another one quickly get taken out by the #1 of Border.
He let out a small sigh before raising his hand.
"Perform final check. Once it is done, begin output."
As soon as the corpse-like boy muttered those words, his eyes turned from a bored and tired look to a focused look that could put anyone on guard.
His fingertips began emitting a green light. This was his trion coming out as a type of blade.
"This really is tiiiiiring."
As he spoke, the corpse-like boy lightly waved his right hand. Beams of light similar to a blowtorch were emitted from his fingertips. And they grew until they were above the Illgars that were multiple meters in the air above him.
The boy let out an uncovered yawn as he raised his hand before bringing it down as if swatting away an insect.
The blades went down along with his hand and sliced through the remaining Illgar.
The Illgar was now split into five separate parts.
Before he could do anything else, he heard Shinoda's voice coming through.
Shinoda: "Both of you! Your target is the new model trion soldier. Eliminate as many as you can."
"Sorry, Shinoda-saaaaan, but I'm waaay too tired for this. Trigger ooooff."
The corpse-like boy let out another yawn before making his way back inside the empty building in the Forbidden Zone.
The thought of helping them crossed his mind, but he knew that there would be trouble later on if he did not wait patiently for someone else.
Honest Sister: "I need to honestly watch how much trion I use. I can't be in one fight after another using both Scorpion and Lightning now. I guess it's fine though."
Werewolf: "You still going, Suzume?"
Honest Sister: "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Just hurry up! Switching back to Lightning means I need you guys over here now!"
Colors: "Calm down, Senpai."
Suzume let out a small sigh as she started walking away.
Instead of waiting for her teammates, she had decided on meeting with them halfway.
All information about the current situation had been sent to her via an Operator from a different squad. Everything from the Rabbits to which locations were less guarded had all reached her and made her think about what would be needed of her for the time being.
Everything else had been left up to her.
Our squad is honestly an offensive type one who can work with stealth as well. With Teleport being an easy getaway, other supplementary Triggers only makes us better at that sort of thing. But since this situation doesn't call for that sort of thing, we are honestly best used as battering rams against these Neighbors. But in situations like these, Toby and I have a bit of an advantage because of our Side Effects.
She nodded to herself as she thought of their differences and similarities.
After finding something's Rhythm all I need to do is keep up with whatever it is. That is easy enough since I can become the summit flower that no one can touch. It honestly feels nice when it's like that, but I doubt I would be allowed to do something like that when there is an invasion going on. And as opposed to that...
There was Toby.
That guy's reflexes make him untouchable when fighting opponents at a certain level. Anyone above that and he would need to properly think about his actions. But that mutt has a good battle sense, so I don't have to worry about him being captured. Still, that autopilot body of his can mess him up if he isn't careful.
He was the most offensive one on their squad, so losing him would mean losing a lot of damage.
Takeshi's Laser Shooter would always have weight with it's damage, but the gradual build up for it made it difficult to use without anyone else to attack as well. Compared to the two of them, he would be deadweight without someone else.
Even so, having all of them together would only increase their chances of survival.
That was why she rushed through the city with Bagworm on.
She would only have to meet up with her teammates so that they would fight without worry.
White Fox: "So, when are you planning on being our Operator exactly? I'm pretty sure the other three need you in your seat."
Wisteria: "You want to get your ass kicked."
White Fox: "Not really. No. I'm just wondering."
Wisteria: "Well that won't be for a while. Shinoda-san has directed me towards a battlefield, so I have to go right now."
White Fox: "Really? Well lucky you. Oh. And I've been doing as you asked. I've got a set of the cores with me right now."
Wisteria: "Good. Thank you for that."
Mei let out a sigh as she continued the small conversation with Yuki as she took out more trion soldiers.
She saw more rushing at her, but she just used Teleport to appear above them all.
She let out a rain of Meteora, causing some to blow up and smoke to fly in the air.
She brought her Kōgetsu up and fell into the smoke.
She used the chance to slash at each core she saw.
One came up behind her and let out a noise, but was skewered by the Kōgetsu that had made a full turn.
White Fox: "So why do you want me to keep them? You already know how hard it is to get them without destroying them."
Wisteria: "I have an idea. It's a bit loose but... I believe that the ones attacking us are watching this all happen through the cores. What I want to try is to fix it so that we can switch it around and take a look from our end. Even if that doesn't work, I would like to show them exactly what they are messing with here."
White Fox: "Oh. Scary~ Anyways. That's an interesting idea. But it feels off. Well, the way you want to do it at least. Think about it like this: if they are watching everything that is going on, they would be seeing it like a video camera. You can't just simply flip the screen around and expect yourself to be able to contact the other side if the recording is already over."
Wisteria: "I know that. But live feed is different from a regular recording. What's more is that it can also be like chatting over a computer with one side being muted. If that's the case, I should be able to bypass any issues and redirect things so that we can switch the camera around and see for ourselves."
White Fox: "Hm~ I'll leave it to you then. If you've put this much thought into, I'm not going to be the one who is going against you. Just ask it of me and I shall get it done."
Mei let out another sigh as she lifted her arm and easily stabbed a still moving soldier in the core.
Wisteria: "By the way, tell me how things are on your end. Shinoda-san hasn't told me to stop you yet."
White Fox: "I'm doing fine. None of them are worth my memory yet, and I've only had to deal with one Rabbit so far. Really, I think these new models are trying to stay out of my area. Wonder why."
Wisteria: "Now you're just being overly arrogant. Don't forget to watch how much trion you use. I'm sure you at least have somedamage from fighting the new model."
White Fox: "Not much. If anything, I'm more worried about whether or not the destroyed buildings will come out of my pay."
Wisteria: "Speaking of which, I just saw a building fall."
White Fox: "That was probably me."
She made a mental note to hit him later.
White Fox: "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. With my current Trigger that would be pretty difficult to do. I could probably manage that with Meteora or something, but this thing is still pretty new to me."
Wisteria: "You are talking about the one you started here as an experiment and finished in Germany."
.
She had been given all information concerning that situation once the group who had gone to Germany came back. The entire situation was kept from her, but the general information about her captain had been handed over readily and without complaint.
Part of that information had been about his Trigger.
From what they sent over, it's a special made Trigger that had its start here in Mikado City and was finished by someone close to Minoru. Yes, that girl had managed to finish making the Trigger he wanted. But...
There had been an important part that she could not overlook.
He had asked that the information about how it was finished remained a secret.
All information about the start of the Trigger's creation had remained in Mikado City, but the end result and how it had come about remained a secret between Yuki and the one who had finished it. She had asked Minoru about it, but it seemed that there were intricate parts that he had not managed to catch.
Asking her captain himself had also been useless as he dodged the topic each time it was brought up.
It was one of his specialties.
But now that it was in use, she had no reasons to hold back with her words.
"You have held it in this long and haven't even shown me what it looks like. All information about it. Now."
White Fox: "But I want it to be a secret from the others. Besides, Mino, Tetsuji, and Pokari already know what it looks like. Isn't that enough?"
Wisteria: "And Inukai doesn't know. That means it is something you also want to keep from Ninomiya. The fact he doesn't know already means something since his entire squad went with you guys."
White Fox: "If that airhead saw it then I honestly wouldn't use it at all. Or I would at least have it get a redesign before I use it. By now it would be fine since I can use it against him, but at the time I would have probably kicked him off of a roof."
He has certainly retained his idiocy, she thought as she casually brought her blade up.
The remaining Neighbors around her had started to back away the closer she got, but her steps had always been decisive ones that covered the distance in an instant.
None of them were able to escape her blade or bullets.
And here I was, already thinking I had enough to deal with after seeing those blades take down the Illgar.
"You people..."
White Fox: "I would rather you not throw me into the same category as them. After everything we have been through, keeping my distance is all I want."
"I already know that," she said.
Wisteria: "I meant that as two separate things. "
Otherwise it would ruin too much of their lives.
Choosing words carefully here was as important as any other time. That was why Mei made a quick decision.
Wisteria: "I will be moving over to you. I would rather help you once it all begins. So-"
White Fox: "I look forward to seeing you again."
Mei stopped.
A small amount of laughter could be heard in her ear as the words registered in her mind.
And then...
"—!"
The area exploded.
Gambler: "Hey, Kō."
Black Wolf: "What is it? We're busy over here, so I don't have time to deal with you."
Gambler: "That's what I would expect from #3's buddy! Great!"
Murakami said nothing in response to Denji's words.
Having near a year of experience with people using words to their advantage, he knew that it was best not to directly answer those kinds of people. It was even more important when it came to someone like Denji.
As someone who stood in the same position as Yuki, Denji had a sort of authority over Murakami and would not hesitate to use it.
But now was not the time to think of that.
Moving around in front of him was a Rabbit that had been keeping the entirety of Suzunari-1 in place and unable to regroup with Azuma like was instructed.
Gambler: "Due to Sekai and #3 doing their best out there, I've decided to sit this invasion out until it gets to a point."
And even then you will be reluctant to come out, he thought bitterly.
Denji continued, likely knowing of his thoughts.
Gambler: "But I'm keeping tabs on things around the city. And from what I can tell, your 'Senpai' is hard at work. She's taking out Neighbors left and right. Honestly, she is really showing off like it's nothing. Damn. If not for my situation, I would be pretty damn jealous of her. But since I can't be, can you do me a favor and be as pissed as possible and then direct it all towards me? That would be a big help. Thanks."
Murakami halted for a moment.
The Rabbit had seemed to take that chance and tried to get closer for an attack.
Bullets from Kuruma and Taichi came soon after to cover for his instance of halted movement.
Crap! I let him get to me!
Putting himself back into his position, he readied his defenses.
But the fact Senpai is fighting now... Will she be okay? I mean, I know she will be fine physically, but that's not what I'm worried about now. If she goes too far, we might have something as bad as this invasion. And without Kushikage-san around, it will be difficult to stop it. But if we used that against the Neighbors...
He bit his lip as hard as he could.
The pain was nonexistent due to his tiron body, but he made sure that he would remember to do so once he was in his real body.
Don't think like that, you idiot! That kind of thing... I don't want to see her hurt like that again. Even if it would help out, it would still be dangerous and would only cause her pain. Same with Yuki. Both of them would feel hurt if something like that were to happen again.
And he himself would be looked down upon by his friend if his mistaken thought were to ever get out.
No... After all that's happened, Yuki would never look down on me and I would never do that to him. Wait...
White Fox: "Kō!"
Speak of the devil.
White Fox: "That idiot Denji just told me what he said to you. Don't worry about Mei. Yeah, she's fighting. But she is moving towards my location, so I will be right there to make sure nothing bad happens to her."
Black Wolf: "Yeah... I was being an idiot just now. I know that you would make sure nothing happens to her, if you can help it."
White Fox: "Right. Just leave her to me."
It's not like I have a choice in the matter.
He allowed himself another bitter thought.
White Fox: "You do what you need to do over there. Once this is over, I'll make sure to take us out for some ice cream."
Black Wolf: "That's an addiction, you know?"
White Fox: "It's your fault for introducing ice cream to me in the first place."
Murakami could hear the smile in his friend's voice as the line was cut.
With his worries settled for now he moved his arms so that Kōgetsu was drawn and Raygust was held outwards.
Right, there are still things I need to do over here. People I need to make sure to protect. I just have to leave Senpai with Yuki.
"I will keep it here."
Electricity crackled as Raygust changed shape.
"You and Taichi go with the B-Rank squad, Kuruma-senpai."
"What!? All by yourself here!?"
"I'll deal with this until the A-Rank agents get here. Don't worry."
I'll get flak for that later on, but that's fine.
After all...
"I know my limits."
Still Young Girl: "Are you not going to help in defending the city?"
Gambler: "Not really. Both Sekai and #3 are out there already, so it would only stifle the battlefield if I also went out."
Still Young Girl: "And what if I were to ask you to go and do that?"
Gambler: "You wouldn't do that, so I don't have to think about it."
Still Young Girl: "Ko ko ko. You always make life so easy, Denji."
That was a rather harsh comment.
Denji laid back on the floor of his squad's operating room. There was nothing to cushion his back and no one to witness this simple act.
The only person who knew of what was happening would be the person he was speaking with.
Still Young Girl: "Still, I am worried about the buildings. Both Kobayashi mother and father are good people, so seeing their hard work go down is actually a bit saddening."
"Is that so?" he said.
He wanted to get up, but that would start something he did not want right now.
Gambler: "Even if that's the case, I have nothing to do with them. The only person that matters in that situation would be you. Your words will be what moves me to go out there. ...But you won't do that."
Still Young Girl: "Why do you have such faith in Kurosaki's helper and Akasora's student?"
Who says I have faith in them?
It was taking more than just those two for Border to fight back here. An invasion was not something that could be solved with only two people.
But still, he answered her honestly.
Gambler: "It's not just them that I have faith in, but the rest of them have their own current situations, so those two are the only ones I can really think of at times like these. Basically, when two of us end up being in the same situation, the third one is supposed to either be against it or not be involved with it."
Still Young Girl: "Oh? And why is that?"
Denji tensed his muscles to make sure he did not move.
"That's because..."
Gambler: "Shujō muhen seigando."
Still Young Girl: "What's this? I didn't know that you took the buddhist vows. But what does this have to do with those two?"
Gambler: "That is not for me, and I didn't take those vows. I just figured that it would be the best way to explain the situation without hurting the three of us in only ways certain people can."
Still Young Girl: "You mean like that 'bear' girl and the 'steel' boy?"
"Exactly."
There should have been a third person added to that list, but they were currently an unknown to Denji and so could not be mentioned at all.
But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is getting through this before I actually go out there myself.
Gambler: "Getting back to what I was saying."
Right, he needed to finish explaining himself.
Gambler: "Sekai must save all living things. Hence that vow. #3 would be fitting of bon'nō muryō seigandan. ...Yeah, in a way it's true for him. Giving up on earthly things. Even if it isn't by choice, it's his current situation. That means he also has no choice in moving forward with everyone else here while remaining a #3."
Still Young Girl: "And the other two? What about you?"
Gambler: "I guess we can say I fit best with butsudō mujin seiganjō. The situation always seems to be understood easily by me. But then again, that might be why I'm stuck this way."
Even with his body remaining on the floor, he gave a shrug.
There was no complaining about himself to someone who accepted him without any questions.
But then there is the last one.
Hōmon mujin seigangaku. To learn all that you can.
There is already someone who has accidentally done that. She falls into these things so easily while the rest of us are trying to bury it deep inside while making sure it is still there for us not to forget.
Still Young Girl: "So what would it take for you to do something then?"
Gambler: "...Can we move to a different discussion? Only Yūko should hear and see me in this kind of state. No offense, but she is the only one I'll allow."
Still Young Girl: "Ko ko ko. Very well. Let's change topics to something different, yet very much part of what we were talking about."
And that was...
Still Young Girl: "How, and when, will all of this end?"
.
Denji twitched at the question.
Understanding the situation was easy enough. Every moving part had its place in this game of attack and defend. The only problem had been that he did not think of it any more than that.
Sekai has probably figured out what will happen later on, but that's none of my business.
He was not allowed to think about the current invasion or else he would move to do something.
And then he would be hated at a bad time.
Gambler: "I haven't thought much about that."
Still Young Girl: "Ko ko ko. You really make carefree living feel like a luxury, Denji."
That was no longer something he could understand.
Gambler: "If you want to know what will happen, you can go and ask-"
Still Young Girl: "Denji, if you mention that spineless boy to me then even you won't come out of this unscathed."
There it was.
What he was hoping for and craving was now here.
Let me take that hatred from you.
With a grin on his face, Denji said one final thing.
"Yoshiko. This invasion will be a chance for all of you."
So.
"Take it and make sure that none of you regret it by the end of it all."
A large-scale invasion has broken out in Mikado City.
Border has responded accordingly by moving their agents to protect the city and the civilians. They did their job well and managed to take out a large number of trion soldiers.
The new models called Rabbits had been something unexpected.
Once it entered the battlefield, multiple agents were stopped from protecting the city and the civilians. They had caused a few Bail Outs while also taking the captain of a B-Rank squad.
It had been decided that the agents would regroup to deal with this problem.
Now multiple things were happening at once.
An Operator with a Side Effect was making her way to the Border base while taking out any and all trion soldiers she saw.
The #1 Attacker in Border was making his way around to defeat the Rabbits.
The other agents were gathering together to strengthen their forces.
An A-Rank agent and a B-Rank agent were on their way to help a group of C-Ranks agents.
Someone was seeing the future and figuring out what to do.
I've given them enough information. Now... It's time for the main show to begin...
A person smiled as he ran with three others.
His appearance was was one that was envied and revolting. Many would say so.
He was suppose to be on the side protecting. He was on the side that was destroying.
He was someone who no one could trust.
And now...
Let me see some truly horrific pain.