The cars driving around Mikado City began moving in different directions.
The three groups involved in Border at the moment, which consisted of Shirashi, Kobayashi, and Kurosaki, began slowly moving back to their workplace.
They were spreading themselves out to act as anchors for the representatives.
But Awdry's own personal car did something else. They ignored everything gone on around them. They were distancing themselves from the Forbidden Zone and everything that had happened there with everyone.
"Emily, send a transmission out to Border and Arashiyama Squad personally. Tell them our group us not equipped with any sort of defense against Neighbors, so we cannot get close at all to the others. Something else, inform them that we will still observe the goings on with their members. You may use my name if you wish. That would probably convince them more quickly."
The Awdry personal car was a top model. It was a spacious angular car and a woman with narrow eyes and a stern expression spoke in the back seat. She's owls looked up into the sky outside.
A tremor ran through the clouds there.
Then a girl's voice reached her from the side.
"That would be the last sighted Gate, madam."
"I know that perfectly well. Besides having basic information, my useless older child tells my youngest child the minimum of what he can. I can't image why they would allow such a deviant into their ranks. Not to mention how much they must spend to make up for him."
Molly did not sound discouraged and she turned to look at the suit girl assistant sitting to her side.
"We must eventually make up our minds on the matter...or rather, make a simple choice."
"Can we really do that?"
"We will do just fine if you work at it hard enough, Emily."
"I can't do anything... I was only taken in by you."
"Not true." Molly rejected Emily's words. "You picked up that footage from Border to inform us on the subject called Taiyōko."
"If you get down to it, that was someone else's accomplishment..."
"You are the one that did it and I was the one that asked for it. You always respond to my trust in you and I have received exactly the results I wanted from you. Where is the problem in that?"
"Madam, sometimes you can be more logic-obsessed than an assistant like me."
"An honor student like you is made up of far more logic than me."
"I suppose so." Emily sighed with a bitter smile in her voice. "But..."
She displayed a few windows and displayed the leaders' various opinions on the map of their course.
"Why isn't Border moving to take those Neighbors? Those were significant explosions, but they aren't moving and their alarms aren't ringing. Even their fighters are only saying to keep things as-is."
"Of course. Keeping things as-is is a safe decision, so there is no problem there. That must mean they predicted something like this."
"They predicted that every business there would have some kind of defense against Neighbors?"
"And that is why they are not reacting. But..." Molly held her closed eyes. "I can imagine they have their own thoughts on some of these happenings."
"Like with Shiraishi? Or from their members that were hired?"
"Yes." Molly nodded but gently tilted her head. "They have full rights to question Shiraishi on how they managed what they did and why that Neighbor appeared near them. That disturbing man and that shady man will also be receiving consequences for siding with the enemy here."
At that point, she suddenly looked over to the Border base.
"And then there is the one who opposes all of them."
Three silhouettes parted ways outside if the Forbidden Zone.
The main groups of Kurosaki, Kobayashi, and Shiraishi were retuning to their homes or the buildings where their work was.
Shiraishi moved to one side, Kobayashi another, Kurosaki straight ahead, and...
"We saw Awdry's car going their own way."
Kimura looked in all four directions and then into the sky directly overhead.
She saw the messages sent to her by the directors telling her what she needed to do and return to the inside of the base.
"We need to get ourselves ready over here. This situation is urgent."
"Heh heh. We've already been honestly rushing things plenty. What good will rushing things even further do?"
Unfortunately, Kimura could not deny they had been rushing things. But Awdry had arrived to monitor things for themselves and Kobayashi had shown a refusal to obey an agreement.
"There is something really wrong here. Even with Awdry moving around, something might just collapse here."
"Hm? What makes you say that, Kimura?"
"I'll explain later. If possible, I want to gain a consensus on that and some other things with the representatives we sent out to the three businesses."
She had a lot to think about. Or rather, the number of things to think about had just grown significantly.
And that included a lot to worry about.
The coming negotiations with the three representatives would be a major enough event to erase the smallest incidents from people's minds. So...
"The question is how to handle the negotiations with the three businesses."
"In your opinion, Kimura, when will that be?"
Kimura responded to Suzaku's question by looking up into the sky where the strange Neighbors had been flying moments ago.
Even if they returned to their headquarters, they would still need to regroup themselves after the day's events.
"A lot happened, so I doubt they will finish that today. I have to preface this with 'most likely', but I doubt the three businesses will want any other business getting ahead of them. It will almost certainly be tomorrow night."
"I see. Then should I secure a line to use in case we need to do a real-time broadcast tomorrow night? ...Huh?"
Suzaku looked at the tablet by his hand and tilted his head.
"I just got a message from my mom. It says 'spend the night over there'."
"Heh heh heh. Way to go, Suzaku mom! Is she honestly handing over her son's hand before he's even married!? Or is it a test to see if he'll fit in one of my mob character slots!? If so, we'll get the following stat increases: Spiritual+5 Shooting+99 Impurity+66. So we'll honestly need to shove Shobu-kun in there too to bring down the impurity levels! Let's get testing!"
"Stop deciding things for me! Is this how Satori feels when around you!?"
Suzaku blushed with his eyebrows raised and pointed toward the Kotowari Sniper and the base.
"My mom only said to stay there! Besides, a simple techie has nothing to do with impurity! ...Hm? What is it? What's that new meter?"
A program that had been running quickly closed a few windows displaying meters.
When Suzaku noticed, he eventually tapped the screen, but the program continued working and did not stop. There were simply too many of them to close.
"What a hardworking program."
"I feel like it's gotten especially hardworking lately..."
Meanwhile, a wind blew in. It was the group of Snipers moving out. Kimura breathed a sigh of relief that they were leaving as a sign of everything really being done. At the very least, she felt they had what they needed to get things moving.
"Hey!"
Someone walked over to the three standing there. It was Tōma.
He is mad "Yuki's" group is having fun? wondered Kimura, but Ōji in his squad uniform jumped up from the side of the building. Kimura tilted her head as the B-Rank captain managed to get to the top if the building.
"What is it? You guys don't look like you're here for a friendly chat right now."
"We've got some trouble. The older sister has taken action."
Ōji shrugged as he explained and he held his palms upwards as if it were raining.
"You can guess the reason for that."
Two people stood on a clear hill.
Lined up in the evening sky were a tall man with scuffle on his chin wearing a long coat and a boy in matching black outfit with light hair.
They were Tachikawa Kei and Izumi Kōhei.
The few cars of citizens and people quickly setting up blankets and baskets were below the hill behind them and both of them had a display open.
The display from their Triggers were for work and other matters, but they were both hitting the "approved" without even really looking at them. Occasionally, Tachikawa would speak up.
"Hey, Izumi, take this work more seriously. I feel sorry for the people who made this data."
"Tachikawa-san, the idiot next to me isn't even hitting 'approved'; he's just closing the display. I think the odds are pretty good he has no idea how mail conversations work. Yes, as the upperclassman, could you say something to that idiot?"
Tachikawa looked to Izumi's other side, the side he was not standing on.
"Hmm, Izumi? There's no one there. Are you hallucinating? Hmm, you okay there? If you've gone crazy, should I knock some sense back into you? Hmm?"
"D-damn you..."
GM Aide: "You two love that act, don't you?"
"Oh, hi, Sawamura-san. What do you need?"
GM Aide: "Did you read the mail I sent you?"
"Yeah," replied Tachikawa as he showed his teeth to the others. "Sawamura, things are getting interesting all over the city, aren't they? First it looks like we're going for a meeting with the three sponsors, but now we have some extra baggage going on because of our favorite ninja boy? It's just one event after another from the brats going all around here! I bet they'll have festival stands out, so I kinda want to stop by with some others!"
"Oh, then why not just go?"
A dirt ball hit the side of Izumi's face.
"Damn you!"
They both crushed dirt with enough force to form dirt balls and threw them back and forth at full strength, but they eventually took a break. As they did, Tachikawa breathed a deep sigh.
"Well, I guess we can think of this as Border peeling back the mask a little."
"Really?"
"Izumi."
When Tachikawa called his name, Izumi pushed up his hair and looked his way.
"Whaddya want?"
"Wowww! What was that 'whaddya want'!? You push up your hair like this and then...'whaddya want'!? Really!? 'Whaddya want'!? This kid must think he's so cool!"
"Shut up, you son of a bitch! You're the one that got all lovey-dovey while chowing down on the fruit tempura that new girl made as an apology! What was that 'these strawberries are so good' nonsense!? They had grated radish on them!"
"What!? I felt sorry for Arisa-chan after everything, so if she grates it, a radish is a fruit! You didn't know that, kid!?"
"Sawamura-san, can you do something about this guy? He's a giant pain in the ass."
GM Aide: "Yeah, Ari-chan's over here too. So Izumi, you should probably just give up and play with Yoneya and Midorikawa."
"No, those two are all obsessed with what Shor sent over on accident. They can get pretty excited, so I can't keep up with them at times. Difference in positions and all that."
GM Aide: "Why not find a hobby?"
"I used to have one."
Tachikawa's eyes widened and he pointed over saying "Eh? What was it?", but Izumi ignored him.
"I'm not telling you. Anyway, Tachikawa-san, you seem pretty cautious about what's going on. Is there a reason for that?"
"Yeah. It's simple, you fool. What haven't you done since coming to Border?"
"Lived a trouble-free life under a superior who isn't an idiot."
GM Aide: "To be blunt, you have been pretty blessed by your surroundings, Izumi. You haven't dealt with any long term infighting since coming to Border, right?"
"I do throw rocks at my stupid upperclassman at times."
A dirt ball with a rock inside hit him in the face, so their "dirt ball" fight heated up for a while.
"And isn't it better to not have infighting? It's a pain in the ass. Just look what happened with Jin before."
GM Aide: "But there have been some small stuff due to different views on matters, but that is usually inevitable."
Inside the display Sawamura crossed her legs in her seat in the Border base.
GM Aide: "Some people worked to combine two opposing forces together, but pushed a little too hard in that and had to retire to make up for it.
"Yeah." Tachikawa nodded. "Just look at the factions right now over the views of Neighbors. Interestingly, there are a few amount of people who remain so neutral that either side can ask them for help."
"Are you lecturing me like an old man? Please spare me."
Izumi sighed, shrugged, and turned his back on Tachikawa.
"Could you upperclassmen stop expecting those of who came in later to do the things you all ended up doing? Isn't it your duty to make sure we don't have to do that kind of thing?"
GM Aide: "You sure take this seriously, Izumi."
"Stop teasing-..."
He raised his voice, but stopped himself, sighed, looked back, and lowered his head.
"Sorry."
Tachikawa brought his hand down in a karate chop onto Izumi's lowered head and it clearly produced a dull sound.
"What was that for, you idiot!? You have no idea how to control your strength, do you!?"
"Then use that weak head of yours to think. If you're going to follow things here...then keep firing those shots of yours."
"But before I do that and after dealing with you, I could end up with a different team since something may happen. You could even add someone new to the team by then."
"That's the whole point," said Tachikawa. "Your super excellent upperclassmen were telling you that it's okay if you end up like us, no matter how it turns out that way. Oh, but I do want to note that I do have my eyes on a certain someone who can work with us."
"What? Who are you calling excellent?"
"Don't forget the 'super'. Do you want me to create a human-shaped stamp in the ground with you? Do you?"
Tachikawa laughed quietly.
"But something like that isn't for a while. For now, we need to enjoy the situation we've got."
"Right. You don't have to tell me that. I was always planning to go all out here."
The two of them looked to the side from the hill.
They were looking at an area several dozen kilometers away, past a large city area in the distance.
"That's the interesting edge of Mikado City's Forbidden Zone. There's not even four kilometers from that area to the city beyond it. So someone can use that."
He nodded.
"Yuki-san's sister, hm? She still looks down on everyone, but she can lead someone to the right direction."
.
Tachikawa gave a nasal laugh.
"Well, she is a topic that brings issues. Isn't it more interesting that Akasora-san pulled some strings to get those kids a private area? Even as his family is going out of their way to annoy the businesses over here, Toby's too busy being himself to even notice. Noah looks like he's also helping out. Sounds good to me. Especially since that pup is showing promise."
He pointed his chin toward some shapes in the area. They were small and distant, but they were clearly there.
GM Aide: "Given the time, I assume that's our representatives and Hikigane Sekai's moving festival. I've recorded their current route, so should I send that over?"
"No," replied Tachikawa. "It wouldn't get to him soon enough, and it wouldn't matter for what he's trying to do."
GM Aide: "He? Oh, you mean Awdry."
"Yeah," responded Izumi as he too looked to the Kurosaki's moving festival. "Given the time, he would need to jump down to catch up."
As he spoke, a wind blew through the sky.
Multiple shapes suddenly appeared in front of Hikigane Sekai's moving festival.
It was a large group of what could only be described as party crashes. They each looked ready for the festival getting closer.
GM Aide: "Oh!? I'm seeing where they all are. So the festival will be extended forward and backward from where Awdry is."
"Even if he wants to join in on the festival, I'm sure Yuki would give some complaint because of what the festival is for. Still, let's see what happens here. From the looks of things, people outside of this issue are setting up booths after hearing about the festival. But..." Tachikawa tilted his head and groaned. "I think that there may be a bit too much focus on emotions, strength, and connections between people. Well, that might be just right for such a cold business."
Meanwhile, the group of people moved toward the Kurosaki group with preparations for an extended festival.
They were going to celebrate.
"Now, this won't be the usual method, but how about we begin sparring?"
Some of the twilight color remained in the sky as Noah's voice joined the festival drums and flutes echoing through the air.
He and Toby had come to the same place.
"It feels weird to be up here because of Mr. Akasora's help. Using an actual outdoor pool... But this is the closest thing to the footing during that game of tag Minoru told me about, isn't it?"
They stood on the pool surface.
A floating duckboard had been set up across the pool so they had a surface to stand out.
They both worse swimsuits with their respective uniforms on top, but...
"Noah... Is there any real reason for this battlefield and footing?"
"Yeah. You will understand soon enough."
Noah rotated his weapon in his right hand.
That weapon was Kōgetsu.
The single green trion blade was used in combination with its holder when it came to Noah, but...
"I have partially reduced the initial power for ease-of-use this time. And since we are only sparring, all of the attacks will be blunt impacts so we don't Bail Out, your Scorpions will do the same, right?"
"Right. How will we determine the winner?"
"How about we keep going until we are both satisfied?"
"Until you are, No...?"
Noah smiled a little at that question.
He fixed the rimmed goggles remaining on his neck.
"I want to fix things before I have to return this. But..."
He lightly shook his body using some rotating momentum.
"Facing the strong will likely be your job, Tobio."
With that, Noah moved forward.
And a moment later...
...Eh?
He suddenly saw the color brown before him.
That brown jumped up like a spring as it rose in front of him. It was the color of hair and its movement was Toby's strands moving with him.
The distance between them was reduced to zero in an instant. And just as he realized that...
"—"
Toby silently launched his attack.