The fourth B-War match had reached its climax in an instant.
With the overpass destroyed and the Sniper taken out, there was no chance for hiding once the final three fighters noticed each other.
The debris from the overpass lay stacked onto of each other. There was no way of knowing what had came from the second level or what came from the fourth level.
Atop the debris, Katori jumped to reach the remaining two opponents.
The distance between her and them required some extra movement, but she would still make it there before one if them would be taken out.
Kumagai and that idiot girl. Without a Sniper around, Kumagai is just another Attacker. Maybe even easier since she used two hands to hold Kōgetsu.
But she had been held back by that Attacker girl.
She clicked her tongue at the memory of only minutes before.
Then there is that dumb girl.
From what she had been told by Wakamura and Miura, that girl had mostly been defensive. The only time she attacked was when she was in the presence of Toby and was assisting him.
It meant she had the best chance of winning since she could attack, defend, and move around however she liked. She did not need to hold a blade with two hands like Kumagai and she did not need someone else to help her fight like Hoshi.
It was the difference between the elite and everyone else.
She was good at she did already. No need for anything extra like the other two girls.
They needed support to fight and she did not.
An elite could manage on their own. If they had hit their limit and could not get over people who were not talented like them then they were not truly talented to begin with.
Kumagai could only try hard to get better and that girl only had a talent for looking nice. There was nothing to fear from such things.
That was why Katori moved forward, through the debris. It was proof of her abilities. Proof that she could get these two remaining points by herself.
"-"
As she got closer she could make out two moving figures.
They did to seem to have clashed yet, meaning she could still make it before they tried to take each other out.
This should be enough. These two points plus the survival points will make up for the points we lost.
.
Kumagai changed directions from moving directly in front of her to a space just beyond that.
She had seen Hoshi coming from one side, but then a second enemy had appeared in her Radar.
That can only be Katori.
If she were to run in the space between Hoshi and Katori then she would end up meeting them in the middle.
She was the only one who lacked any true distance attacks, but she could fall back on the shots she did have.
They had failed during her fight against Murakami. There was a chance of that happening again against these two girls.
Even with the amount of time spent with Nasu practicing, there had just been no way she could have won with a half-baked attack that she showed in her last match. The result could end up the same, she knew, but it was something she would have to try.
After all...
I know how strong Katori is and I don't have a good grasp on Taiyōko. That puts me at a bit of a disadvantage. But...
But.
They are not as strong as Murakami-senpai!
"-!?"
There was little time to react as the blank space between her and Hoshi was filled up. The girl had managed to cover the distance in the blink of an eye.
No, that was not what had happened. There had been a sound that came before she had appeared.
She didn't cover the distance! She made the distance nonexistent using Teleport!
It was the signature Trigger of the brother and had extended to the squad. For this girl to use the Trigger was no real surprise when given a bit of thought.
Teleport had the ability to cover distances by using trion and would take up varying amounts depending on the amount of diagnose between the user and where they wanted to go. While still being in the prototype phase, it came with some drawbacks.
First was the distinct sound it made before being used. Something that someone could notice without seeing it in action.
The second was determining where the teleportation area would be. The user would need to look at where they wanted to go, giving the opponent a chance to react to where the user would end up.
The third was the amount of trion used depending on the distance and the wait time before being able to use it again.
The first weakness had been noticed and the second weakness had been bypassed since Hoshi had been looking at her the whole time.
That means I need to figure out when she will be able to teleport next. Think for a moment... Yeah, just a moment.
The distance between us means that she won't have to wait long before she is able to use Teleport again. But right now she decided to fight against me, which means she doesn't plan on moving back for a bit.
Still... There is still something she needed to take into consideration when deciding to attack me first!
Something came from the side.
Kumagai reacted to what she had seen from the corner of her eye back releasing some of the force pushing against Hoshi. It had made the girl start to lean forward due to the loss of support.
Noticing that, she started moving back to dodge the shots fired from the side.
"-!?"
As she started to take a step back she saw Hoshi moving forward without stopping.
With nothing supporting her anymore she would continue to move forward while still having all of her force pulling her. Her balance should have been lost and she should have fallen to the ground at the same time the shots connected with her.
Wait!
The girl did not wait.
Kumagai started her step back by moving her knee forward.
She had wanted to make as much space as possible while still moving away from the shots. That meant she took the risk of extending her leg and knee forward to move her foot further back.
With her knee hanging in the air for a moment, it gave an opportunity she had not expected.
A weight was placed on her raised knee, forcing her to keep it up so that she would not lose her own balance.
Hoshi had continued moving forward from her falling position by lifting her own leg, starting with her knee.
Instead of moving backwards, Hoshi had decided to move forward. Her knee was raised first, outing it above Kumagai's. Her leg and foot followed, rising above Kumagai's knee and placing her in the right position.
She took a step.
.
Katori was surprised by what she had seen.
The small girl who looked like a fairy tale princess had noticed her attack, began to lose balance due to Kumagai's quick decision, and then fixed herself accordingly.
She had took a step forward from her falling position, continued it using Kumagai's raised knee, and finished it by continuing to push forward over the older girl.
Hoshi had managed to right herself while dodging the shots fired in end direction. At the same time she had managed to pushed Kumagai back enough to also miss getting shot at.
Katori was sure that she could perform the same action if given the chance, but that was only after the training she had done as an Attacker. Anything before that and she would have failed, most likely taking Kumagai down with her on accident.
Yet this girl had managed it without even looking toward her.
Even after taking her step forward, Hoshi did not take a moment as a cube of trion appeared above her head before splitting two times.
With the obvious attack coming, Kumagai got to her feet again before running while Katori moved to the side so that she would not be hit by the return fire. The attack itself seemed much more like Hoshi wanting space than an actual attack as she did not move from her spot.
Righting her posture, she calmly placed her hand back on Kōgetsu's hilt.
This was the last fight in the current B-Rank War match. There was one member of each squad still standing and they all faced each other.
The captain of Katori Squad - Katori Yōko.
The Attacker of Nasu Squad - Kumagi Yūko.
The newest member of Kotowari Squad - Taiyōko Hoshi.
Each one of them was relatively uninjured with Katori and Kumagai only sustaining some marks before of previous attacks while Hoshi was lower in trion due to her previous assistance.
In a way it was even.
"..."
Yet something chose to change that. Rather, someone chose to change that.
A small clicking sound was heard before a whisper came.
Kumagai and Katori both turned their heads to see what the clicking noise had been and noticed Hoshi taking out her Kōgetsu once more.
Both feeling that something unpleasant was coming, ran toward her, each with their own way of attacking.
"Fujin Kōgetsu..."
Kumagai began a swinging motion starting from the upper right to the lower left. It was an action meant to cut the girl down while also being able to change directions slightly if need be.
Katori moved at the same time by firing shots forward while pulling out a Scorpion blade. An attack that came in two forms.
The attacks were clear and obvious. If Hoshi moved to either side, she would be cut down. If she moved back, she would get shot. Moving forward would just put her in range of all the attacks.
There should have been no way around this.
"...!"
And yet there was.
Hoshi began her own swinging motion before her Kōgetsu was fully out. The movement was a simple sideways slash that could only reach things along its own line.
From their positions, the slash would have reached Kumagi first and then Katori if the first target dodged. With the attack starting before theirs, but finishing after theirs, it would be easy enough to dodge.
That had been what both older girl had thought as they prepared to defend and dodge the slash that had already been in motion.
"-?"
"...!?"
But they were caught off guard when no slash came.
What was also strange was the fact that the shots fired by Katori seemed to vanish without hitting anything.
It was only after a few seconds did everything register in their minds.
"...What?"
Multiple shallow cuts appeared on their bodies with the areas ranging from their cheeks, to their stomachs, to their feet. It was strange experience, but one that would have be thought about later as they noticed the close distance to the young girl.
Both older girls moved back to fully take in what had happened to them.
They faced forward and saw something that should not have existed on their fight.
Fujin.
The Black Trigger that consisted of a blade covered by ribbons of trion.
Each ribbon, in actuality, was a stored slash that could be thrown out by having it run along a surface. The number of ribbons was equivalent to the amount of trion a person had, but the damage would be amazing either way.
That powerful weapon meant for S-Rank Border agents was currently there, in front of them.
Yet it seemed different.
Instead of a blade being wrapped in ribbons of rion, it was a simple hilt that had ribbons of trion coming out of it. Each ribbon seemed rather thin and did not seem to extend out too far, but if stretched out, they could be the length of a blade.
The girl who held such a Trigger shifted her feet while flicking her eyes between both older girls.
Her lips parted as words came out once more.
"Shall we continue?"
"And yet another surprise from Kotowari Squad! It seems that Agent Taiyōko is using a new Trigger that greatly resembles the Black Trigger Fujin!"
"Most likely another prototype Trigger. Am I correct, Tsukiko?"
"Looks that way. Yeah, it looks like Fujin, but the differences are there. For starters, there is no blade. The original Fujin-... Uh, I'm not actually sure if I am allowed to tell."
"We should assume that you aren't allowed."
"Right. Well then, I'll cut it short. The original Fujin has a blade while this one does not. The ribbons on the original are thicker while these are thin. Even so, this is not something someone would expect to see in a BRW match, so it'll be interesting to see how Kuma and Katori fight this. As well as how Hoshi fights with it."
.
Suzume smiled at the screen in front of her.
She had been informed about the three prototype Triggers Hoshi had made and found this one to be the most beautiful to watch.
I suppose the one Toby used was honesty nice, but it lost some points by forcing his Bail Out.
She had watched carefully as Hoshi activated the Trigger.
It had been hard to see given the small time it took for everything to happen, but her careful eyes had managed to pick up on it.
As the attacks had been going for her, Hoshi continued her slashing motion as the Trigger activated. The once solid Kōgetsu blade started splitting apart as it was pulled out. Much like a flower, it spread out from the solid blade into the thin ribbons of trion.
It really was like a true blooming flower.
"Heh heh heh. She honestly gets points for how it looks. Even now, it seems kind more like a show than a fight. Oh, I can use this image for something. Both a dance as well as a picture should be good. Ribbons are always good for girls like her."
"What are you going on about now? Stop saying unimportant things and focus on the match. You need to find a way to catch up since you missed out on this match."
"No offense to my lovely teammates, but I am still above them when comparing fighting abilities. Toby may be able to catch me, but that is only if I allow him to do so. Takeshi and Hoshi-chan still have a good way to go before I consider giving in to them."
"This is why I hate hearing your commentary."
"Because I am right."
"Or because he wants to see those lips used for something else."
Suzume jumped as a hot breath appeared next to her head and a voice filled her earring.
She was quick to side step while missing the hand that started to go for her hip. The same hand had also been swapped cautiously by Kodera. A daring move that she would have to repay later on.
Both Narasaka and Kodera were quick to turn around as the offender put a finger to his lips while pointing to the screen in front of them.
"Don't want to be too loud. What if we can't hear the shitty commentary from those three? I don't want to miss out on Yoru's explanations."
"Bakuto Denji... What an annoying man."
Suzume felt a shudder run down her entire body as she took a step away from Denji. She could not help but agree with Narasaka's words toward the grinning man.
Even as he lowered his body to get a better look at the screen, she moved to a better position to move away.
It seemed that no one else had noticed the man's presence since her former captain had made no move to attack the man from a distance.
"Now, now, that's no way to talk to me, Tōrun. Don't forget that I can make life difficult for you, if I want."
"Compared to dealing with this girl? Even you can't do anything about that."
It may have sounded like a put down toward her, but Suzume was sure that it was Narasaka's own way of trying to calm them all down. The words were meant as a way to show that they should continue their normal actions with this man around.
She tried to follow along to the best of her ability.
"-"
But nothing came out.
She could not find it in herself to say anything that could give Denji ammunition to use against them.
After all...
Yuki-san always told us to never let him get any ground when he is speaking normally. He will honestly use anything he can get to gain some sort of advantage on others.
It showed in his Rhythm.
Because there was no possible way she could categorize his Rhythm.
"If you keep staring at me like that, I'll assume you are free for the taking, Suzu-bachi."
She took note of how both Narasaka and Kodera moved at those words.
The man let out a shallow laugh when he saw the action as well.
"I'll leave this be since #3 is here. Even if he is doing commentary, he'll probably still attack me for being around one of you guys." He shrugged toward Yuki. "Besides, I'm actually here to watch this fight. I want to see how Yūko does here. So just put up with me for the rest of the fight and then you'll be free. Got it?"
No one said anything in response.
Saying anything would acknowledge his words.
Hoshi looked toward the ribbons of trion that had bloomed from her Kōgetsu. She had seen them before in testing, but now that she was using them in actual combat, they seemed much more beautiful and deadly to her.
As the one who invented the copy of a Black Trigger, she understood how to use it and to go against it better than the two older girls.
That was why she had taken the first action.
In a fight with someone stronger or more skilled, the first action would be one of the most important ones. It would determine how each person would move.
Whoever took the first action would be at more of a disadvantage since it would give the opponent an opportunity to retaliate in some way. They would be more prepared for the action than the one who had started the action.
"!"
Even so, she was the one to make the first action.
Hoshi ran forward with the hilt of Kōgetsu in her hand as ribbons of trion came from it. Each ribbon seemed thin and could not extend far out.
But there was something she had over using the regular Kōgetsu blade.
So light...
With the blade seemingly split apart into ribbons, the weight was lighter.
It should not have been that way since the ribbons had bloomed from Kōgetsu, meaning they should also contain the same amount of mass and weight the blade had. It made no sense.
Not until she thought about it more.
I used some of the slashes to attack. Those ribbons did not reform, so that means they are one use each.
With less ribbons now coming out, the weight they had was gone. It had made the split apart blade lighter than when it had all been a single blade.
The weight difference at the moment should not have been too noticeable. But it was to someone who had been using Kōgetsu for quite some time.
Hoshi took note of how the ribbons moved and how they really did move in a way that real ribbons would.
What if I try to force them to move?
She thought about the action as her feet took her closer to Kumagai and Katori.
She focused on only a single ribbon and tried to give commands to it.
The ribbon seemed to follow her command as it lazily moved in a direction different from the other ribbons. It had gone forward instead of backward, even colliding with other ribbons. Yet each time it touched another ribbon, it never disappeared.
Oh, so they cannot cancel each other out. That is good to know.
With that knowledge now in her mind, she made a slashing motion while facing forward.
The hilt moved with her arm and hand while the ribbons followed along, leaving a small trail behind them.
.
Kumagai and Katori responded to the slashing movement.
They had seen the first action created by Hoshi and answered her properly. The first action was not something they decided to take as it could lead to in unexpected phenomenon.
The previous attack had been a surprise with Hoshi showing off yet another new Trigger and gaining a bit of ground in their current fight. Something akin to the Black Trigger Fujin was not something they expected to see in a B-Rank War match.
But that was not something that keep them away.
They were mindful of the ribbons that had managed to attack them before as they moved forward.
The initial swing was an obvious one that they chose to dodge by moving up or down.
Hoshi may have anticipated that as she continued her swinging motion by starting to rotate her body.
It left her side open to attacks, but if she could get through the full rotation then she would have more power behind her swing.
Being the open closest to her open side, Kumagai took the next action for herself by pushing her Kōgetsu forward. She also did a slashing action.
If she could not hit Hoshi with this attack then it would go on to attack Katori. It was an attack that kept both opponents in mind.
The same was also thought of by Katori as she lifted one arm to point her gun toward Kumagai as a Scorpion blade came to her hand for Hoshi.
The two older girls replied quickly how they had been attacked before. Each ribbons had been what cut them up, meaning those were what they had to move away from.
Kumagai took an extra step forward as the last of the ribbons moved in front of her.
Her reach was greater than either one of the girls close to her, meaning she would reach Hoshi before she had a chance to fully rotate or Katori could cut into her.
"Two to the left."
Kumagai reacted quickly to the words by continuing her swing while moving back. It had put her a bit away from reaching Hoshi, but also stopped her from getting cut.
Two of the ribbons that had already passed by her had somehow moved in a direction unlike the others.
They had moved toward her.
"Three in front."
Three more moved along with the two.
Unlike the first two, these three had gone for Katori instead of Kumagai.
All five of the ribbons had managed to skim the two older girls before vanishing from sight.
The rotation Hoshi had started picked up a bit more speed as the five ribbons disappeared and cuts appeared on Kumagai and Katori's face.
The initial attacks continued on as the ribbons disappeared.
Kumagai continued her own swing into Katori.
Katori continued firing while moving from Kumagai.
Both girls clashed for a single moment before gaining distance once more.
.
Katori could feel her anger start to come back up.
Her attack had missed and she had received news cuts to her face. They were minor compared to a full slash, yet they left a major impact on her.
Hana: "It's a bit of a given that she can control those ribbons. The fact you heard her means that speaking out makes them react faster than just mentally commanding them. It gives you a bit of time to react."
But not enough time to fully dodge.
She pushed the bitter thought aside to focus back in her two opponents.
Neither one was really a threat under normal circumstances. Kumagai was not at her level hole Hoshi also seemed to barely be keeping up with them. Their fighting capabilities was not the issue for her.
What was it that was keeping her from winning then?
She knew the answer right away.
I don't know what's going on!
Her understanding if the current situation was what was holding her back from defeating these two girls.
Hoshi brought in unknown prototype Triggers to this fight while Kumagai seemed to have gained something from her fight with Murakami in the previous round. These things combined placed her in an odd position on not knowing what to do.
She gritted her teeth as she tried to think of a way around these two uncertain factors.
"I just have to do my best. Yes, just my best."
Katori turned to the star girl who had started saying something under her breath.
She seemed to be trying to psych herself up with those words instead of telling someone else about them.
Doing something like that right now was just giving false hope to ones self.
Saying something like "I have to do my best!" "Just give it my all!" and "I at least have to try!" all meant that the person in question was lacking in actual ability. They did not trust in their own skills to win and were only looking at what they could do.
During her times of becoming an Attacker and Gunner had she never said such things. They would have only made her believe that she could go beyond her set limit and give her false hope. Once her peak had been reached, there was nothing else for her to do.
This only showed just how star girl was without her new Triggers.
She believed in the false hope she gave herself instead of the reality she was placed in. Someone like that should not have been on the battlefield to begin with.
And that was why Katori found herself more irritated.
This girl's presence and personality chose to live in her own world instead facing reality.
So she would be the first target.
.
Kumagai moved at the same time as Katori.
She had been able to see how she reacted to Hoshi's words and knew what the end result would be.
A frontal attack.
In the case of Katori, a frontal attack while firing to the sides or above was the best action she could take.
The ribbons of trion were dangerous, but their reach did not seem to extend too far out.
They seemed to cut just like any other blade and could be controlled by Hoshi either by her thoughts or verbally. The latter seemed to be the quickest way of doing so.
With that new knowledge it was clear how to fight against it.
Even I can tell what to do. I just have to make sure to predict where she will direct those blades and block. If they work the same as any other blade, Shield will be able to block them or I can just use my own Kōgetsu to defend.
Compared to Murakami and Katori, Hoshi's movements were easier to read and slower to put into action. She was still low compared to others who had experience.
But she is doing well, that's for sure. That Trigger is also pretty interesting.
She decided in what to do once the match was over with a nod.
With her mind now clear on what to do and what was going on, she moved on the opposite side of Katori.
She would make the same kind of action that would be aiming for Hoshi while having Katori as a secondary target in case her initial target managed to get away.
The ribbons began to move as Hoshi started closing the distance between them all as well.
It had been difficult to judge how many ribbons there had been originally, but now it was clear how many she had.
There are noise of them now and she had used at least eleven before. That means there were around twenty when she first activated it.
That meant there were only nine left for them to deal with.
If Hoshi was not careful, she would run out and have to way of defending against close ranged attacks.
Moving in toward those ribbons would be a risky action, but would have a high reward in it went well.
Katori seems much more focused on taking out Hoshi and seemed to only barely notice Kumagai at all. That meant the focus of Hoshi would be mostly on the girl trying to take her out than the one just trying to attack.
Kumagai raised her Kōgetsu with both hands as she got closer.
Hoshi began a new rotation with the ribbons coming after her arm's movement.
She looked for a ribbon that could be attacked without running a high risk of getting cut and went for it.
Her Kōgetsu blade connected with on of the ribbons for a moment.
She felt a bit of push back from the ribbon before it vanished right in front of her.
The same thing happened on the other side with Katori's scorpion blade breaking due to the contact with the ribbon.
Like before, two ribbons started going in a different direction than the rest. The first went for Kumagai and the second went for Katori.
Kumagai moved back a bit while bringing up Shield. The ribbon hit the shield before vanishing like the previous ones.
Good! It does work!
"-!?"
She was surprised when something else smashed into the Shield.
The shots that had been fired by Katori a moment ago had come form the side and were stopped by the Shield that had made for the ribbon.
Glanced to the side to see that Katori had also used up one of the ribbons by creating a new Scorpion blade to take the attack.
That meant there were only five left.
"What!?"
Once it registered just how many ribbons were left, Kumagai saw that Katori had taken a different action than she had.
While she had taken a step back to get some distance and balance herself out again, Katori had continued to move forward.
Her movement swerve more rough than she remembered, but it seemed that she just wanted to push forward and breakdown anything Hosni had.
Each attack had been meant to be the finishing one, but lacked something. It was unclear what that something was, but even she could notice that Katori would be able able to win at this rate.
That was when she heard it.
Hoshi's voice came out as she was being attacked.
"I understand now. What makes you special is numbers. It is like the blades Toby-kun uses." Hoshi once again accurately defend against an attack. "You always use the same attack with the same motions. That is the answer. You have repeatedly done the same thing for a long time and it has built up. By making the exact same motions in the exact same way, you turn those very motions themselves into a way to support you! Yourself a year ago, yourself a month ago, yourself a week ago, yourself a day ago, and yourself an hour ago. Those are the strengths you use!"
But that was not something all fighters would be able to do.
Her motions were "the same" on a different level altogether.
If someone tried to copy their own handwriting from the past, could they reproduce it perfectly? This was the technique to forcibly draw out overwhelming results by remaining on the existing course and never being able to leave the category of "oneself" no matter how restrictive and disadvantageous that could be.
What she had built up was what made her powerful.
She had taken what everyone understood as an idea or as a concept and raised it up into its best form as a real phenomenon.
She stood near the top of those who attempted to gain the power to take on others by polishing and improving their skills.
"You really are amazing. Especially in the way you do not show it off. You put on a cool expression and pretend to look down on the world with a cold heart, but you are actually the most passionate and the hardest working one. You embody the hope that people will eventually be rewarded if they put in enough effort."
Kumagai found herself agreeing with those words.
They seemed to be what Katori's actions looked like.
But...
"You also gave up on that, correct? No, I should say 'right?'"
Kumagai could now see why Katori was so focused on defeating this girl.
She was what Katori had given up on.
Hoshi did not understand Katori's view on effort and talent not because it was hard to comprehend. It was because she did not believe that putting effort into something was pointless and that talented people were the only ones who could make it.
The proof was right in front of them.
The girl who put effort into what she did was holding back the talented girl who had decided that she had reached her pinnacle.
There was a clear difference between the two girls, yet they were fighting on equal ground.
Being unable to witness such a thing anymore, Kumagai moved forward once more.
Her feet pushed off the ground as she found herself agreeing with Hoshi once more.
She had been trying to get better as well. The effort she put in to make up for the lack of solo matches showed.
But how had she felt when that effort was not good enough?
Her fight against Murakami showed just how far below she was compared to other Attackers. Everything she had done during that fight was nothing more than a spare for the #4 Attacker while she had given her all.
The loss could have created a hole in her that would have been hard to come out from, but she had managed to keep herself up. It was a loss she was sadden by, but not one that would drag her down.
Even so, to think of catching up to that level was not something she had wanted to think about. It just seemed overwhelming.
Until now.
The sight of Hoshi pushing back Katori's talent with her effort was something she found a bit inspiring.
The girl may have dealt with some of her own losses before, but here she was, with Kotowari Squad and fighting against someone who had been at the top tier of B-Rank squads. She had no support and had two opponents to fight, yet she was not backing down.
As her senior for Border and regularly, it would look bad if I did not respond to that conviction!
"Looks like Yūko found something."
Denji grinned toward the screen.
From the corner of his eye he could see the Snipers edges get away from him, yet still paying attention to what he was saying.
"After he loss against Kō, she was being annoying with how she was acting. I was about to do something but thought that she could deal with it herself. After all, she's suppose to be strong, not weak. A loss like that isn't something to think about since it was against Kō."
He turned his attention to the Snipers this time. He enjoyed how they jumped at his sudden attention.
"I guess you three wouldn't understand that. One of you is an entertainer, another is just a kid who enjoys puzzles, and of course we have the failure who is only ever stuck as #2. But I guess I can relate to that one since Sekai has me beat in so many ways that even I can't catch up to him."
None of them said anything.
Suzume and Kodera seemed to just be wanting to stay away from him, not so much hating him as just feeling uncomfortable around him.
Narasaka was different.
There it is.
Narasaka glared at him without backing down.
He was unsure which of his words had struck the Sniper, but something indeed had gotten to him. His hateful glare was proof that it was something Denji had said.
It's not directed at Suzu-bachi anymore, so I guess that makes my work here done. But...
There was no fun in just leaving like that. After all...
"It's still up to me to watch out for Yūko since I decided that she would be fine enough to tell. Since she knows things, she has to be able to keep up with others. Kō and whoever Sekai has are out of the question, but she has to at least beat Kazuki down there."
None of them said anything.
The three Snipers seemed to understand that they should keep their mouths shut when he was around.
He was sure that Yuki had told Suzume to do that, but he was unsure where Narasaka and Kodera found that out.
He shrugged at the silence while turning to face forward again.
"-"
Just as he did, something hit him in the face.
The noise that something made brought the attention of some of the people around them.
Denji looked down to see a shoe was what had been thrown at him. From the way it had been thrown, there was only one place it could have come from.
He looked a bit over from the screen to see Yuki glaring back at him.
Alright, alright, I get it. I'll take my leave. But...
Denji gave a gesture to show his defeat before bending down to grab the shoe that had been thrown at him.
"I'll be taking this as my prize."
Giving a bitter smile to himself, he waved toward the three Sniper before making his way toward the door.
I need to get ready anyway. We were both hired recently, so I can't fall behind Sekai again.
.
Kuni: "What was that!? Don't just throw your shoe behind us!"
White Fox: "Denji was there. I didn't want him near Suzu, so I threw my shoe at him."
Kura-uchi: "Apparently at the price of losing said shoe."
White Fox: "Worth it."
Yuki could hear Kunichika sighing next to him at the same time as getting a questioning look from Yamamoto.
Using his finger, he wrote Denji's name in the air so that he would not have to explain himself to others.
That answer seemed to be enough as Yamamoto gave a silent promise to throw some book at Denji later on.
"With this match coming to an end, it seems that Agent Kumagai has decided to really go in on the offense. A bit late for that, don't you think?"
Nice save, Kuni!
Remembering that they needed to provide commentary for the match, Yuki added his own words.
"It may have been hard to tell, but Hoshi had been saying something. Most likely to Katori. Maybe her words also had an effect on Kuma too."
"You are better at moving your body and reading others, Tsukiko. Could you tell what she had been saying?"
"Of course. But I can't really say anything since it seems that Hoshi was just wanting to tell Katori something. It's not my place to say anything beyond that since it technically doesn't have to do with the match."
"That hasn't stopped you before."
Black Wolf: "Good job, Kunichika!"
Hoshi noticed the change in atmosphere.
Katori seemed to be the same, each attack looking to be fatal but untimely missing its mark. They had not even reached the ribbons of trion that she had been using to attack.
It was Kumagai would seemed different than a moment before.
She had been staying back and keeping a distance from both her and Katori for some time now.
Hoshi had been informed of the previous match Nasu Squad had before their match began. She had praised Murakami for how well he had done, but she had also felt bad for Kumagai.
It had seems that the loss had effected her a bit since she seemed more cautious when it came to fighting here. A battle against Border's #4 Attacker would indeed leave that sort of impact, she knew.
But that seems to have changed after she had expressed her admiration for Katori.
Once Hoshi and finished saying what she wanted, Kumagai took action by moving forward.
She knew that this fight would be impossible to win so long as there were two people who she had to fight. They were both above her in fighting abilities, so it left her with little choice.
This needs to be the final confrontation.
Stealing her nerves, Hoshi responded to Kumagai by pushing Katori back once more to face both girls.
Katori was only facing her, intending to only attack her with Kumagai being an afterthought.
Kumagai seemed more prepared, having also turned to both of them instead of just one of them.
She only had five more blades left to use before she would have to recreate Kōgetsu. By that point she would be relatively defenseless with her only viable attack being Shooter Triggers.
Since that is the case...
She pushed herself.
Here I go!
Attacking with these blades was no like attacking with Kōgetsu or multiple Scorpion blades. They moved differently, got lighter each time one was used and their movements were based on how she wanted.
With that in mind, she moved using her arms and legs as main points for blocking.
Getting cuts on her body parts would be bad, so she decided that she would use her arms and legs to divert each attack from the base instead of the tips.
The first one would be Kumagai who had a longer reach.
She moved her free arm forward while making sure to keep away from the Kōgetsu's blade.
Reach!
By shifting her feet to follow the movement of the Kōgetsu, she had managed to reach the two hands holding the Kōgetsu.
She pushed against the two hands so that the blade would be forced to move in a different direction.
Kumagai had noticed what she had been doing and started applying more force to keep her swing going.
Instead of fighting against the new force, Hoshi let it go and put the blade off course due to the extra force.
There was no way to escape without getting some form of hit, so she let the blade cut her diagonally across her arm to mitigate the damage.
That left Katori to come from the other side.
"-!"
She responded to that by using the force made by Kumagai to pull herself away from the Scorpion blade going toward her.
Katori's reach was shorter than Kumagai's, meaning she had more room to move.
Hoshi saw how much room she had to move and took her chance.
Shifting her weight to the side, she began a new rotation.
This rotation placed her behind Kumagai while moving closer to Katori.
She started to command the blades starting with the one closet to Kumagai.
Oh?
The blade that was meant for Katori vanished before to could reach her.
The reason for that had been Kumagai.
Before the blade could reach Katori, Kumagai had slightly lifted her Kōgetsu. The two blades hit each other for a moment before the ribbon-like one vanished.
Does she wish to take us both out?
Regardless of that, she only had four blades left.
There were only four more attacks and Katori was moving closer while Kumagai was preparing for both a frontal and behind attack.
.
Katori ignored what Kumagai had done to keep moving toward Hoshi.
Firing any shots would run a risk of getting cut by Kumagai, so using a blade was the only way she could attack at the moment.
So that was what she did.
Hoshi's rotation would come to an end behind Kuamgai. That meant she had to reach beyond the girl together to Hoshi before her rotation ended.
She started moving her feet to move around Katori with only one target in mind.
That was why she missed the blade that was brought up to her face.
"!?"
A Kōgetsu blade had been raised to block one of the ribbon-like blades. The side and height of it had more meaning to it than simply blocking a blade.
It had been to also attack Katori.
With her whole body already in motion there was no chance of stopping.
The attack also made her defenseless.
"..."
Four ribbons came into Kumagai's view as she continued her own motion to cut off Katori's head.
The one who commanded those ribbons began to slow down her rotation.
As he feet started to balance her out, green lights were fired.
.
Three actions happened in a single moment.
A girl who could not stop her movement decided to fire shots.
A girl who continued her full sword swing saw ribbons of trion get closer to her head and chest.
A girl who finished her rotation saw green lights aimed directly at her.
.
Bail Out.
Bail Out.
Bail Out.
"And there is the end of the match!"