Takato Mei took a large breath as she stood in front of a door. The door led to her squad's operating room. There had been nothing wrong with the door itself, but what was inside was something she would have to prepare for.
Remembering everything she had been told by Yuki the morning after she had gone on a rampage, she readied herself to get some judgement.
The judgement would not be coming from knowing that she had rampaged, Yuki had assured her that no one that didn't need to know knew of what happened. The judgement would come from the fact that she was of no help to her squad's issues and that she had been out since her rampage.
I have to believe in them. If I am to trust anything Yuki tells me, this would be one of the most important. They are the squad I have watched over for so long. I have to hope...
It was wrong to think that.
Mei knew that she was wrong to think anything like that.
They aren't some "squad I have been watching" anymore. If what Yuki told me is true, they are a real squad who no longer needs me or Yuki. I will trust in what I know about them and go through this door with a smiling face and a large amount of apologies.
She slapped her cheeks a few times to gain some motivation.
"Right. Here I go."
She placed her hand on the handle and turned it.
.
The moment Kotowari Squad heard the door open they turned to see their Operator walk in with a mixed expression.
There was some silence in the room.
Mei looked at the three of them with her mixed expression while the three of them looked at Mei with curious expressions.
The first to speak was Mei.
"He-"
She had no time to finish.
"We are very sorry for causing you trouble!"
Mei blinked a few times, trying to register what was happening in front of her.
Before she could finish her sentence, Kotowari Squad had gotten in front of her and lowered their upper bodies while apologizing.
Suzume was the first to move up, looking Mei in the eyes.
"We won't ask about where you honestly have been, Mei-san. We have no right to do so. Instead, we want you to know that we are ready to go! Ready to make it back to the top! And ready to make you proud!"
"Yup, yup! So please keep supporting us! All we have done so far is cause you trouble, but we still want you to help us, Mei!"
Takeshi only nodded his head, clearly not use to what was going on.
At the same time, Mei registered everything that was going on and found that her mind was extremely clear and her calculations were not getting the better of her.
"I..."
Giving a gentle smile, she closed her eyes while speaking to the three people who stood before her, fully intending to do as they had said.
"I will always help you."
She moved forward to sit at her desk, fully intending to listen to what they had to say.
"Now then... The information about what you all were talking about before I got here."
"We were going over what we would be doing in our next match." Takeshi tugged at the new scarf that was wrapped around his neck. "With our next opponents being Tsukiko Squad and Shor Squad, it's best to assume that everything is relatively even."
"Yeah. I've done so many solo matches with both squad's members that I know how they move. Suzume's seems some of them, so she has their Rhythms down. The only exceptions on my part would be Fubuki and Eri. Minubuki is also a bit of a hassle since she's like Yōko in the sense that she changes positions when she gets bored with her current one. Other than that, Noah, Shana, and Maya I'm good to go against."
"I have Buki's current Rhythm down. I can also handle Fubuki-chan since we're usually next to each other during training. Like Toby said, I honestly have the others' Rhythms taken care of as well. The issue that comes up for me is Eri-chan since she's a Shooter. One of you two is better off fighting her."
"As for me... Shor and Shashin would be the most difficult for me. The two of them are the hardest for me to catch. Tsuk... Ahem... Maya-san is also a problem, but less of one at the moment."
"How so? She's just as good at moving as Noah. I'm pretty sure she can get to you."
"In the time between when Yuki helped us and now, I have gotten to see her in action properly. I'm sure I know how well she moves, so I think I can manage it."
"Take-"
"But I may still need some backup on that."
Mei smiled at the sudden change of tone for him.
"Beyond those three, if it ends up in a shoot out against Asano-san... I think I can manage a win from that. Shirogane and Lee are also ones I can get definite hits on, given the chance."
"Right. Now that we have confirmed what he can honestly do against who... I want to point out that we honestly have very selfish fighting styles as a squad. Both Toby and Take are honestly offensive fighters while I can work as both offense and support. There is only one of me, so I think that after this match we should find another person for our squad. A support would be nice, but I will settle for an offensive-support type as well. We just honestly need it if we want to deal with the top squads again."
The three others looked at her, knowing full well that it was the truth.
When they had been at the top with Yuki as their captain he had been both their offense and support. Toby and Takeshi had gone for whatever they wanted while Yuki followed through with support. When he had been the first one to initiate a fight, he had been offensive until one of the other two got to him.
With him gone there was now a lack of support.
There was a bit of silence as they all thought about the words.
And then...
"But that's for after our match."
Suzume spoke up once more.
"We need to handle this match with what we honestly have at the moment."
"That's right. This is actually a good opportunity for us. We can see what we are lacking in this fight and use that to determine what comes next for us. I don't mean to sound rude, but we will be using Shor Squad and Tsukiko Squad as our first stepping stones to better ourselves."
"I'll have to apologize to No and Shay later, but that's about right."
The room seemed to lighten up from the small amount of tension in the air. There was no worry that something could go wrong when the three Combatants of Kotowari Squad were in an agreement on what to do.
The previous events that had happened due to the three of them were not forgotten and not yet forgiven, but they were moving forward as best as they could. They were showing just how much they wanted to move towards their better future by keeping the conversation going whole trying to not run everything by Mei at the moment.
That information was all Mei needed to know as she calmly sat and listened to their conversion.
.
"So that's what we'll do then. Senpai, you will handle Shirogane, then support whoever you can find first. Toby will handle Shor and Maya-san. I'll will try to take out Lee and Asano-san so that I can also fight with Toby. Shashin will go to whoever finds her first."
"We're the ones picking the location this time around since we've fallen kinda low in ranking. This one is our best bet since we are the most familiar with it. Besides that, I can move smoothly through this section while Suzume has more than enough spaces to snipe from. It's the best choice for us. Although..."
Suzume and Takeshi turned to Toby, who was now wearing an odd expression.
"Can I switch with Takeshi? I fought No and Shay while he fights Maya and Eri. I know it's selfish, but..."
"You honestly want it to be an 'American Fight', right?"
Toby nodded his head.
Suzume gave a sigh while checking for Takeshi's reaction.
Boy seemed to really be thinking of the outcome should they switch opponents lime that. He had confirmed that he knew how the girl would fight due to previous events, but his original target would have been the best option for him to attack.
There was a moment of silence to allow the boy to think over the words.
And when he had the answer...
"...That can work..." Takeshi nodded his head before looking up. "That's fine. But that means Suzume-senpai will support me once she is done with her own task. I am not fully confident in my ability when it comes to those two, so I'll need Senpai to back me up."
Toby perked up at this.
"That's fine with me! After No joined Suzunari, I actually haven't fought him! This give both me and Shay a chance to see if he's gotten any better!"
Suzume and Takeshi twisted their heads so fast that one would think they got whiplash.
Suzume was the one to voice their shared question.
"What did you honestly just say!?"
"ACHOO!"
Noah Shor wiggled his nose while getting looked at by the others in the room.
He brushed under his nose while thinking that there was something in the air.
"Urg... I don't have any allergies to things in here... Maybe some is talking about me behind my back."
"(O captain, my captain,) that is not a real thing that happens. It's best to think of it as just something that came up in your nose to tickles you out of your fantasies."
"Please don't use that kind of line on me again, Prince. It's really embarrassing." He looked over at the boyish female who was grinning towards him. "And what kind of fantasies would I even be having right now. We're in the middle of planning out our next match against Takeshi's and Maya's squads."
The girl gave a slight laugh.
"That would be rather obvious. You want to see our very own Sora-chan in some sort of erotic maid outfit for your own pleasure."
Off to the side, a blue-haired Operator's contradicted his hair with the red on his face.
Noah crossed his arms with his eyes closed.
"Hm... Nah. I'm not into the crossdressing thing. That's Jinsei. I'm fine with you doing it since you're a really weird girl and all."
The girl gave another laugh and the innocent response.
It was clear that Noah did not know what she had been implying with her sentence.
Deciding to have some more fun, she looked over at the boy who was standing by the door.
"It seems like my captain has become imprudent after joining the Suzunari Branch. Kuruma-san, who ever could have caused such a thing? You are far too kind and Kon-senpai always has to deal with Taichi. Could it be the one who is so happy whenever he sees his captain or former upperclassman?"
"U-uh... I don't think that. I know that Yuki is a bit...odd... But Kō has managed to keep his sanity up to this point, so I think he is still holding on by a sliver. It's best not to bring that up when he's around though. He may actually end up the same way as Shor."
"Oh? Could it be that you have also become sort of imprudent in your way?"
"I don't want to believe so."
.
Shirogane Fubuki gave a laugh that showed her sly smile through her fingers. This had not been her intention, but the end result was something that she was pleased with.
To think that by this point they would still be really easy to tease. Oh yeah. We still have Minubuki muted due to her loudness. Let's see if she has calmed down any.
Reaching over the table, passed the thinking American and within view of the blushing Operator, Shirogane pressed on her tablet to include their third temmate.
The end result...
Minubuki-sama: "YOU CAN'T SHUT MINUBUKI UP! MINUBUKI MAY BE BUSY RIGHT NOW, BUT SHE WILL GO OVER THERE AND PUNCH YOU RIGHT IN THE DAMN FACE!"
The room was filled with a loud voice from the speakers of the tablet that sat on the table. It covered the soft mumbling of Noah and the small noise from the blue-haired Operator to the side.
Shirogane had been prepared by covering her ears before tapping the screen.
She noticed that Kuruma seemed prepared as well with his hands over his ears.
The loud voice come through once more, making it hard for anyone to get their thoughts straight.
Shirogane decided to do something about the volume by lowering the speakers so that they could all focus once more.
The issue that came with that was simple.
She's still really loud even when the volume is the lowest I can put it.
Shirogane gave a sigh while trying to make get through the yelling.
"Buki-ko, we can hear you now. Please lower your voice before your neighbors start complaining again. Your parents have already tried to get me to deal with the neighbors, so I would rather they didn't come to me a second time."
There was a quick silence as the words came through.
A few seconds went by before Shirogane moved forward once more to change the volume of the tablet speakers.
This time the same voice as before came through, albeit in a lower volume.
Minubuki-sama: "Next time don't mute Minubuki then. That's messed up on a level that only idiots can do! I know that Kō-chan-san is starting to lose his mind, but he can still put up with Minubuki's voice! Don't tell her otherwise!"
"You guys really see him as a lost cause, don't you?"
"We know the real sly fox his is friend, so we have just decided that it can't be helped if he ends up thinking strange thoughts like, 'Senpai would look nice in this' or 'Kuruma-san has a nice ass when wearing that'. Things like those are common for guys his age. But then you can really come to appreciate when just oddities come up. Oh. Like when Captain had heard him muttering something along the lines of, 'Adlibing really does take some talent, doesn't it? It does. But in the most deranged way. Maybe I should go to the nearest Shinto shrine to cleanse myself.' Isn't that right, Captain?"
Noah's immediate reaction of turning his head was more than enough for Kuruma to think that he needed to talk to his squad's ace just a bit more.
Even with the great reaction, Shirogane knew that she had messed up somewhere. Enough that it forced her into the position of speaker.
That position was not one she would like to be in since it would remind her of how she was getting affected by others daily. The words that came from her gave the same impression as a strange woman from an opposing squad, but she could not help it when she herself could be considered cunning and scheming in a sense.
I am a bit hopeless, aren't I?
She gave a final laugh that gained the attention of everyone else.
Oh. I didn't think it would be so hollow this time around.
Smiling to each person that could see her, Shirogane opened a tab on the tablet while speaking words that forced things in the room to change.
"Now that we had some fun... Let us get down to the real trouble here. Our next opponents are Kotowari Squad and the lesser Tsukiko Squad. ...No. Sorry. I'll also apologize to them later for that. I should just be saying 'Tsukiko Squad'. That was a slip of the tongue."
"We'll forgive it this time. Just make sure you really do apologize to them later."
"I'll write it down."
Expanding the screen for everyone to see, Shirogane displayed images of their next opponents.
"Let's begin."
.
The room became a bit more serious as the ones present looked at the six pictures on the screen.
"Kotowari Squad is comprised of the Laser-Shooter and captain; Kotowari Takeshi, their Attacker and most likely new ace; Awdry Toby, and their Sniper who can be extremely offensive; Misaki Suzumebachi." Shirogane moved her fingers to cross out the three images before doing the same for the last three. "Tsukiko Squad is comprised of their Kōgetsu Attacker; Tsukiko Amaya, their secondary Attacker; Lee Shana, and their Shooter; Asano Eri. The first and last are considered dual-aces."
She felt some satisfaction at having the other listen to her words.
"We should go over who our best and worst match ups are in this upcoming fight. From there, we can discuss real strategy against them."
"Uh... There is something I would like to add to this."
The attention moved over to the blue-haired Operator.
Hachidori Sora raised his hand while looking at the screen on the table away from him.
"Takato-san isn't on that list. While I suppose Operators shouldn't be included in these kinds of things, I think we should add her on this. From recent events we learned that she is actually well versed in a multitude of things. Besides that, her Side Effect is a fact that we can't just put to the side. Murakami-senpai has told me about it and... Yes. It really isn't something we can ignore."
"That's right. Even if she didn't have a Side Effect, Mei should be a factor to consider. She's not called the Ultimate Operator for no reason. It's best not to leave anything out."
Minubuki-sama: "Hey, so Minubuki gets that Takato is really badass and all, but what even is her Side Effect? Is it anything like Cana-chan?"
Sora politely shook his head.
After a few seconds he went red remembering that the hardcore girl couldn't see him.
"N-no... From what Murakami-senpai told me... Takato-san's Side Effect is a super computer-like calculating ability. He wasn't sure how far she can go, but apparently her calculations border precognition when given enough data."
"That's some crazy stuff. Yūichi has actual precognition, so they probably tested it out before to see if her calculation really were that good."
"Murakami-senpai also muttered something under his breath, thinking I didn't hear it, but he said it with such a bitter expression that I felt bad for even hearing it." Sora took a sip from his nearby drink while looking down at his hands. "He had said that there have been three times where she let go of her mental restraints and went beyond any sort of precognition."
Shirogane and Noah looked at the boy with varying degrees of confusion.
They turned their heads towards the one by the door to see what he had to say.
"Um... I can't really confirm or deny that. If it's coming from one of her two favorite former underclassmen then it's best to take their word for it. I have seen her do some calculations written out and didn't understand any of it. I can't really say anything about her Side Effect. Sorry."
All four members of Shor Squad were quick to give their own apologizes towards the Suzunari-1 captain.
Why did they apologize!? Now I feel even worse!
Kuruma shrunk down a bit, deciding that he shouldn't bring it up and let them continue.
"Well this makes things easy."
Fubuki crossed her legs to place her hands on top of her knees.
"We simply have to remember that she has such a Side Effect and then toss her out of any sort of planning now."
"What!? But that should be our main thing, shouldn't it!?"
Minubuki-sama: "Yeah! Minubuki thinks that's the most important part of this!"
Fubuki shook her head for her captain.
"What's the point of adding that in when we can't do anything about it? Kotowari Squad's fighters are their Attacker-Shooter-Sniper trio. They are the ones who go out to battle. We can't take them out and prevent them from doing anything. We can't do that when it comes to their Operator. She will be able to help them out whenever she wants. That means we just have to lower any sort of odds and keep our data hidden for the better part of the fight."
"So don't show everything we have at the start, right? If we show them something new right away, she will add that to her data and came get a better understanding on how to deal with the fights. I see... It makes sense. You're smart at times, Prince. Good job."
"Kuruma-san, please tell your ace to stop influencing our captain."
"I-I don't think it was him this time."
Shirogane furrowed her brows.
"Then it must be an even worse influence..."
.
Noah let out a sigh as he thought of how he could apologize to Murakami later for his squad's Sniper's behavior.
Once he thought of the right gift, he looked back at the screen.
"Okay. So we know what to do concerning Mei. That being doing nothing." He tapped the screen so that the crosses were removed from the pictures. "Now let's get to what we have first agreed on. Who we are good against and who we are bad against. I'll start so we can get a proper understanding here."
He tapped three of the pictures, then two, then one.
"The ones I can handle with little to problem would be Eri, Shana, and Suzume. Takeshi and Maya may end up getting a point on me if I'm not paying attention. Toby is my worst opponent since he is just as flexible and quick as I am. His Side Effect is also something I can't really get over. My record is a losing once against him."
"Thank you for the honest words, Captain. Oh. And don't worry. Sora still likes you."
"Hm? I mean... I'm glad. Yes. I like you too, Sora!"
Noah looked over and gave a thumbs up towards the blushing blue boy.
Shirogane giggled at this while following her captain's lead by crossing off imagines with different colors. First she crossed out two, then three, then one.
She spoke up while ignoring the red blue boy.
"This is it for me. Maya-ko and Shana-chan would be easy enough snipes for me. My queen, Kotowari, and Asano will be rather troublesome. The former because we practice together a lot. The latter two because if I can't get them in one hit, I'll be taken out by their distance attacks. Their intuition isn't too bad, so that makes it just as hard. And obviously Awdry is just a monster for any long-range attacker. I still haven't gotten a hit on him during practice."
Nothing more needed to be said about the boy.
It was a known fact that, due to his Side Effect, Toby had become a part of sniping training at times. The goal was always to land a hit on the boy while all he had to do was keep from getting hit until the time ran out.
Only a handful of the best could even manage to get one hit on him at a time.
Minubuki-sama: "So that just leaves Minubuki!"
Everyone noted that her volume went up again.
Minubuki-sama: "Minubuki is great against everyone! And she's terrible against everyone! Gyahahahahaha! Isn't she great!? Isn't she the worst!?"
Noah and Sora released the sighs they had been building up to this point.
Shirogane looked over to see Kuruma furrowing his brows in thought. She felt bad since it was clear that he was trying to properly understand the craziness that had been said.
"Would you like me to explain?"
"Please."
She gave a laugh while crossing out the images once more.
"Buki-ko is...special-"
Minubuki-sama: "Damn right she is!"
"-in that she is just plain crazy. She has mobility on par with our captain, so troublesome opponents like my queen, Kotowari, and Asano will have a hard time shooting her down. Shana-chan is relatively slow thanks to her Trigger, so we are all good on handling her. And I would say that between Buki-ko and Maya-ko they are equal enough. Oh. And I was referring to their abilities, not their craziness. Buki-ko has her beat on that."
Another yell came from the tablet.
"Buki-ko also has a wild style that differs from most. She doesn't think when fighting and decides to just do as she pleases. Isn't that right, Buki-ko?"
Minubuki-sama: "That's right! Minubuki doesn't need to think when fighting since fights are like concerts! You just let everything out at once and - bam! - you get an audience that wants to hear you play even more! Keep going until you are tired out for your partner is completely sucked dry!"
"You should watch how you phrase that. Our poor Operator seems to be going red once more."
"No sorry!"
Shirogane could only pity the Minubuki beginner by the door.
"Well, Buki-ko is probably our best bet against that Operator and the dog. ...I need a name for him. Captain, would there happen to be any American dogs that are rather famous. I would choose one from this country, but that would be rather insulting when he is from America."
Noah turned his eyes to the ceiling while shifting his expression three times. Each one seemed like he was getting closer to an answer.
It was amusing to see, but also a bit odd.
"I guess... Oh! Yeah! Lobo! Not the Lobo from comics though. Well, I guess you wouldn't know that Lobo either."
"Lobo? Do you mean Hessian Lobo from that one mobile game Hanzaki plays?"
"Huh? Oh. Yes and no. Yes to that Lobo. No to the hessian. The hessian was just an add on to Lobo." Noah nodded his head with crossed arms and closed eyes. "Lobo - The King of Currumpaw. I won't go into detail since it'll take a bit of time, but I do think that would be best."
"I see... Very well then. Buki-ko is our best bet against Lobo and that Ultimate Operator."
"Okay, okay. But hey, can I change that? I was actually hoping to fight against Tobio and Shay for this. The three of us need to settle something in this. I would appreciate it if I could deal with that while we have the best chance."
"You want to make a show of it, don't you? Is that an American thing or what? Either way, you are the captain, so we will have no complaints about that."
Minubuki-sama: "Minubuki is fine with that too!"
"Thanks."
Shirogane laughed at the obvious nature of her captain.
"So that will leave the others to us, Buki-ko. I can go after some of the more irritating ones. If I don't take them out in one hit, I will change targets right away. That's where you will come in, Buki-ko. I will need you to handle the ones I miss so that they can't come after me."
Minubuki-sama: "Got it!"
"I'm not sure how our fight will end, but I'll try and help in that when I can. If we bring the others into the fight, I can take others out. Knowing those two, Tobio and Shay will want it to be just the three of us, so they will probably do the same. Minu, that means you need to stay away from me. Try and drag Maya into the fight so I can handle her."
.
From his position by the door, Kuruma smiled while watching the younger squad go over their plans.
It had only been recently that Shor Squad joined the Suzunari Branch in order to focus more on protecting the city. They knew that there was less of a focus on the rank wars when entering a branch, but that did not mean they didn't want to enter at least once.
The resolve they all showed was enough for him to happily welcome them once they had been told by their director that they wouldn't be the only squad in Suzunari.
Something he had not expected from them was their individual odd behaviors and collective odd nature.
Minubuki-sama: "Minubuki will definitely go all out and wreck some shit!"
It was too much at times.
Asano Eri could only shake her head as she watched her teammate suddenly burst out laughing while reading something on her phone.
Tsukiko Squad had started their meeting to determine what they would go against their next opponents in the current B-Rank Wars. It had gone well enough with them going over who they would be best against and worst against, but then the sudden burst of laughing had broken through their words.
It had quickly extended to her captain once she saw the message as well.
"Can we get back to our planning? Let's not forget that thanks to Maya, Kotowari Squad has even more information on us and now know what she can really do."
"Pah~! I've fought Toby enough to where they already knew what I can do! This is way more fun anyway! Come over here, Eri! You have to read this!"
"Just tell me what it says already. If you don't then we will never get anywhere with this."
It was the clear truth that she was sadly aware of as their friend and teammate.
"I got a message from Minu saying that Tobio's gotten a new nickname thanks to No! Apparently they have decided to call him Lobo!"
Eri remained quiet, not understanding how that was funny in the slightest.
Her teammates seemed to notice this as well since Shana spoke up once more, this time realizing what went wrong with her explanation.
"Lobo - The King of Currumpaw - was a wolf. Too much to explain, so I'll just say they're calling him a dog at this point! If he knew about this then I'm sure he would probably attack them~"
"Two things with what you said. First: what you are saying is that they are calling him a 'king', in a sense. Second: you just said wolf, not dog. There is a difference in that wolf is more dangerous than a dog."
"Point Allocation (Beat Lobo)."
Eri was genuinely surprised that her captain managed to connect her words with her wants.
"Alright, alright. Let's get back to this. It's already going to be hard enough when we have the slowest member on our squad. Besides that, I can really only keep up with Noah and Minubuki."
"It's not my fault my Trigger is heavy! It at least has enough power to land heavy hits on people. Besides, as long as I have one of you two backing me up, I'm good to go."
"But that is a problem all its own. We know how you want to have that fight with Noah and Lobo, so we can't back you up too much. Our best bet is to just keep others away from you. How do you think that will turn out when our opponents are two Snipers, Laser-Shooter, and a generally crazy person?"
"Hey, I'm taking on the more troublesome ones anyway! Tobio and Noah are hard enough to fight when I have the advantage in some for,. With Kotowari Squad picking out the stage I'm at an even worse disadvantage."
"And you want to keep that fight between you three?"
"Of course! I may have a little chance, but I know those two well enough and how they fight that I think I can manage at least a point. What's more is that they don't know what I have now, so I don't have to worry about them suspecting anything from me!"
"These double-edged words really make me feel sorry for you."
Eri, even while a bit annoyed by the length of time they were taking for this, couldn't help the smile she got when listening to the banter of her squadmates. It was still nice to just hear fine moments like these.
She may even have let out a laugh since both Maya and Shana turned towards her with grins.
She looked back at them, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.
It failed.
"Oh~? What's this~? What could our dear Shooter be thinking right now~ Could it be about the boy who has suddenly caught her attention as of late~? It would make sense since Rei has also seemed to taken some kind of liking to him!"
"That can't be the case though~ Eri is far too good for him! He is but a boy whole she is a proper woman! Yes, yes. He is special though. Completely special with his Laser-Shooter while she is still trying to perfect her technique. Maybe she simply has taken to his Trigger. She wants to be a Laser-Shooter too!"
She gave forced smile as a response to her odd squadmates.
"Is there something wrong with you two? Wait. I know that answer already. Yeah. Maybe I should take you two to get your heads checked before we go into our next match. At least then I won't have to tell Kuni that I may or may not have accidentally fired at our two Attackers."
She couldn't deny that there was some interest in the Laser-Shooter of Kotowari Squad. Due to certain events, both she and Maya got to see the boy in a new light. His fighting style and personality were better shown thanks to it, as well as how some others viewed him.
The mention of Nasu had ask brought some thoughts to the surface.
The other female Shooter had trouble going against the Laser-Shooter at times.
Nasu is definitely better than me right now, so it would be hard for me to fight him alone. I need one of these two to help me out with him before anything.
During the time she got to personally know the Laser-Shooter, along with Maya, she had been told something that she had not expected to hear from him.
Words of encouragement.
A moment of hesitation had come up during that time. She felt the pressure of something she had not expected and could not react in time. The matter had been taken over by someone else instead while she stood back.
The reaction afterwards had been disappointment in herself for stalling for even a moment.
That disappointment had quickly been overshadowed by kind words from the boy who she had been with. They had come unexpectedly, but were nice enough to get her to focus once more.
"I guess I do have my work cut out for me," she sighed out.
.
Hearing the Shooter sigh odd words out was enough for Attacker-duo to want to continue their teasing.
They held themselves back out of a small amount of pity from knowing what had happened before. It was enough for them to decide that moving on with their planning was a better option.
As their captain, Maya cleared her throat before speaking towards the other two.
"So it's settled then. Shana will be trying to take some points with our backing before she goes off to fight her American buddies. After that happens, Eri and I will be handling anyone left over. As long as it isn't a Sniper, we should be good on the front. Oh. That's not to say that we won't back you up later on, Shana."
"Got it, got it. But who knows. My fight can end way before yours with yours truly coming out victorious."
"Or cursing up a storm because of some bad luck."
"One or the other. Either way, something will probably happen that gets one of us pissed."
"Is that an American thing or..."
"You need to stop."
Maya smiled at her fellow Attacker with no worry.
"So this leaves us open to any changes that can come up. There is only one guarantee here, so we can just work around that. Anything else is something we will do and handle ourselves." She looked towards both of her teammates. "We've been doing well enough. Let's keep this up and move up in rank! So what if they know what we can do? We'll use what they don't know against them! We'll even use what they know against them! We've got this!"
In response to their captain's enthusiasm, both Shana and Eri gave their own smiles. They knew they could rely on their captain to keep spirits high when going into another battle against tough opponents.
It was her lead they followed and her attitude they gravitated towards. This combination was enough for them to truly give it their all. To better themselves when they needed it. It was more than enough for them to keep moving forward as a squad.
"So since you are to enthusiastic about this, you can be the one to let Kuni know about our plans. Make sure it actually gets to her this time or else we will have some problems."
"Geh! Again? Do you just try to find a reason to dump these kinds of odd jobs to me? Shana already has her phone out! Why can't she just do it right now?"
"Because Kuni is currently busy. Did you already forget that she said she would be visiting Arafune Squad to see Kagami? If we interrupt them right now then we might end up with an explosion of colors where we don't want them. I mean, you can go to them right now. Just make sure you are wearing a full body suit so that you don't stand out afterwards."
"I swear that you have these responses ready and waiting for these moments! It would make sense though. I guess you would need to be ready in case someone needs a tsukkomi to a nice joke. Hey, if this doesn't work out-"
"I will not be your tsukkomi."
"There it is!"
Songstress: "Hello and welcome to the third round of the B-Rank Wars! Canaria here and I'll be your announcer tonight! With us this time is Kitora from Arashiyama Squad and Narasaka from Miwa Squad for extra commentary! Thank you for being here with us!"
Bamboo Sniper: "Right."
Kitora: "It's no problem."
Songstress: "So today we have the battle of Shor Squad vs Tsukiko Squad vs Kotowari Squad! What do you two think about this!?"
Kitora: "It may turn out to be interesting with Kotowari Squad seeming to be better than before. Something seems to have happened since the three fighters of the squad have been going around in high spirits. One of which enough to ask Narasaka-san to be her mentor."
Songstress: "You probably heard that from Awdry-kun, right?"
Kitora: "..."
Songstress: "And what about you, Narasaka-san?"
Bamboo Sniper: "That comment about that woman was unnecessary. Anyway. This really will be interesting. Besides Kotowari Squad, Tsukiko Squad and Shor Squad have been gaining some ground on their recent opponents. They didn't win against them, but they scored more points than most would have thought. That can be the case here as well if their respective opponents aren't prepared."
Songstress: "So is there any squad or person you two are rooting for in this match? Seeing as how the two of you know someone from Kotowari Squad, I would think it would be them."
Kitora: "I am impartial towards the three squads and will comments as such."
Bamboo Sniper: "I will root for anyone who isn't Misaki."
Songstress: "At least you're honest..."
Canaria looked at the two serious people with a wavering smile.
Songstress: "W-well we can talk about the choices that have been made so far. Due to Kotowari Squad lowering in rank, they are the ones who get to choose the location and any conditions. The one they have chosen is... Huh?"
Kitora: "That is odd. But I guess that's to be expected when it comes to them."
The three commentators looked at the large screen to see images of an area that seemed to be half of a city and half of a forest.
Bamboo Sniper: "They picked a rare one to use. The forest section doesn't come up too much since Mikado City's inner portion is where the fighting is usually done. Although it does make sense when taking into consideration the squad that chose this one."
Songstress: "How so?"
Kitora: "Misaki-senpai, Kotowari, Awdry. Think of their fighting styles and tell us that this is not perfect for them. They are an agile squad who is best when it comes to moving and forcing their opponents to move. Whether it be in the city or in the forest, I'm sure they can lay their traps however they please."
Bamboo Sniper: "Something else to note is that, as Tsukiko Squad, we have seen how Tsukiko-san liked this particular stage. They should be more than use to this stage at this point. It's like playing on their home turf."
Songstress: "I see! Since it's a rare one, Tsukiko Squad and Shor Squad will have a tough time understanding where they should go."
A small timer on the side of the screen slowly ticked down.
Songstress: "Oh! It looks like they are about to go in! This will start the third round of the B-Rank Wars!"
Amaya Tsukiko
Attacker
- 17 Years Old
- Born Jan. 11
- Clavis, Bloody Type B+
- Height: 5'7"
- Likes: Kaede, Her squad, Challenging/being challenged
Eri Asano
Shooter
- 16 Years Old
- Born Nov. 16
- Chronos, Bloody Type A-
- Height: 5'3"
- Likes: Manga, Light Novels, Cleanliness, Organization, Her friends
Shana Lee
Attacker
- 16 Years Old
- Born Apr. 1
- Falco, Bloody Type A+
- Height: 5'5"
- Likes: Pranks, Music, Home, Proving doubts wrong
Kuni Ayugai
Operator
- 16 Years Old
- Born July 14
- Gladius, Bloody Type O+
- Height: 5'4"
- Likes: Computer games, Social activities, Talking