The entire battlefield ground to a halt.
Other than the dust and debris floating in the air, even the sounds of firing stopped. All focus from those hidden from sight were on Yuba who was frozen in place and looking from side to side and Toby who stood in front of him.
"I'm still inexperienced, but doing it with someone skilled will allow us to work together, give it our all, and have a more fulfilling experience."
"…That would need to be censored."
"Yeah, there would be some hardcore penetrating. But…" Toby looked satisfied. "Feeling yourself reach greater heights like that is a pretty damn good thing. Personally, I see it as a kind of sport that lets you work up a sweat. Oh, but I guess we can't sweat in a trion body. But that just means we can go harder and faster than we normally could."
"Fulfilling, you say?"
"Yup. Lately, I've been kept very busy going at it hard with Suzume to keep up speed. Isn't that right, Suzume?"
"Senpai, we are getting some direct messages from some people. Do you mind if we send them directly to you?"
Suzume waved off Takeshi, allowing the messages to come through.
Might as well. I'm just honestly enjoying the show at the moment.
Decoy: "Misaki! Misaki! This is where both Hanzaki and Satori failed spectacularly, but let's try to use this to negate your usual behavior! Okay!? Okay!?"
"Heh heh. Hisa-kun, you've been going at it hard with me too, haven't you!? Along with Ken-kun, Yoshito-kun, and Dai-chan! You often come to my place to go at it hard, don't you!? And when Dai-chan gives you what you came for, you say, 'N-no, it's so hot. It's so hot, Daigo.' or 'Um, I want some bigger meat than this.' "
"Waaaaiiiiit! How could you say that on the entire Border chat!? How could you!?"
She could imagine Hisato grabbing the collar of the closest person to him and shaking them rapidly, but the idiot sniper did not care. It was likely that her classmates were trapped in a state of equal parts blushing and dumbstruck, but Suzume spoke to Toby.
"Toby, we were going at it pretty hard in front of everyone when you came over to my school, didn't we?"
"Yeah!" The wild boy lightly raised a Scorpion blade. "I was reborn by going at it hard. I may have that to thank for what happened when training with Noah. No and I repeatedly swapped positions and traded swords as we had some fun as hell time going at it."
American Idiot: "...No, what were you doing back there?"
Shore: "I…honestly don't remember that happening… Maybe I hit my head and forgot all about it when I was running on the stalls…"
Yuba heard Fujimaru and Tonooka's voices through their coms.
They were trying to be silent, but failed miserably.
Gudako: "Yuba may not look it, but he's quite lewd."
Tono: "Is he a beast?"
"I didn't say this!" he shouted back at them. "And I don't understand it any more than you do!"
But as he frowned below his glasses, he asked a question.
"Just out of curiosity…how do you intend to fight me?"
Kotowari Squad's beast answered him with a deep nod. And…
"Let's go…Scorpion."
.
Toby sensed that he had cut the smoke and air before his eyes as well as the figure beyond them.
He did not see it with his eyes. The hit was confirmed by something more like tactile feedback or a sensation that should not have been there.
But he kept moving. He turned to face behind him.
…He circled around…!
There was a skinny person there.
It was the enemy.
The Gunner had already made his way behind him.
There was no point in asking when. The enemy was quick on their feet and on the draw. Attacking from beyond their enemy's senses was their specialty.
…Of course, that is only against someone who is too dangerous to face head-on.
Did that mean he was somewhat dangerous to them? In that case…
…I need to be even more dangerous!
.
Yuba arrived behind Kotowari Squad's beast.
…He has speed, but…
His bodily control at high speeds was still poor. Or so he thought.
"…Huh!?"
Kotowari Squad's beast had spun around in front of him.
The movement looked slow, but it was anything but. Not even he was sure how to perceive it, but this movement was nothing like how he had moved back in the previous matches.
…C'mon, now.
All he knew was that he had acceleration Triggers shining from all across his body.
None of them shattered and he was definitely guiding them.
The movements looked so slow he could reach out and grab him.
But they were precise.
Yuba watched his opponent. His attacks were fired using guns. That meant to draw a line between him and his enemy. And so…
…I can understand his movements!
He watched and he reached his conclusion.
"—!"
"Yuba-san…!"
Kōcho saw Yuba quickly slide-step to the right to shift his position from Kotowari Squad's beast.
While she preferred to watch that beast go at it, she found that she could not look away from the Gunner.
He did not move away. That was his pride as a Gunner and Combatant. But…
…What is that?
Kōcho saw something at the end of Yuba's evasion.
It was a dance.
Kotowari Squad's beast was dancing.
As someone who did her best as an entertainer, Kōchō found his footwork and movements sloppy and amateurish. Nothing like his dancer teammate.
But the boy was definitely pursuing Yuba.
He was precise.
When she saw the boy's line of movement, Kōcho realized these were the movements of a beginner dancer on the cusp of reaching the intermediate level.
This was the joy of realizing what it meant to express something through dance. Kotowari Squad's beast demonstrated that joy of understanding in the way he bent his body and the way he moved his hands, legs, elbows, knees, and hips.
It was sloppy.
But that was why its essence showed through.
This was the essence of combat.
It was a dance of nothing more than defeating the enemy and keeping yourself alive.
"Yuba-san better not underestimate him!"
Of course, he would not do that.
That was exactly why he had shifted his position.
Yuba had an innate sense for shooting. That was why he was in charge of guiding Meishō who also used a firing technique. From his perspective, Kotowari Squad's beast's movements must have looked like he was going to "shoot him".
And so he had shifted his position.
And because he had dodged his opponent's first shot…
…Now he attacks!
Yuba took a combat stance.
He stuck his hands back in his gun holsters.
"…Sorry."
With that word, a gunshot rang out.
Murakami saw Toby sent flying.
It looked like he had been shot. And behind him…
"…!"
Yuki raised his eyebrows and started forward from the group.
Murakami was briefly surprised by that reaction.
…Oh?
Yuki had the emotion of anger.
That had been a reflexive emotion upon realizing Toby had been taken out. It was an impulse that moved his body before he could translate his thoughts into words. Yuki had that now more than ever.
That's wonderful, thought Murakami.
After all…
…Yuki doesn't lament, cry, and feel sad when one of us is taken out.
He would also have the emotion of sorrow.
Beyond that was his greed for being with others. When viewed as a desire, it was triflingly small and thus difficult to obtain luxury. And when that desire was broken, Yuki grew angry.
After his anger, Yuki would probably feel sorrow.
This had all built up until it all reached the final point from earlier in the day. It had been the reason for Yuki being at the Suzunari Branch at all.
So Murakami spoke.
"Yuki, it will be okay."
He gestured with his chin for Yuki to look forward.
Toby was spinning his body even as he flew backwards.
"The Kiyome on his body have not shattered. Toby is still fighting."
Toby had taken immediate action against Yuba's attack.
He had first defended by raising Scorpion's blade right next to his right ear.
But nothing came there.
Something did arrive in the 2 or 3 centimeter gap between the blade and his ear.
"…!"
It was not a noise. It was a stillness faster than sound, like an aftershock in the air.
He sensed danger, so he twisted his head and then his entire body.
He leaped using his upper-body weight, starting with his head.
He ended up leaning backwards, but it was not enough. The still aftershock spread to cover his cheek as well, so…
"The changing forms…!"
He used his extra thoughts to create a longer Scorpion and launched the bottom end toward the ground to accelerate.
He more powerfully spun backwards and made a compact midair backflip.
As soon as he flipped onto his back in midair, something passed by in front of his chin.
It was a bullet. His current vision was not perfectly clear, but he saw the bullet as it briefly shone the recognizable green.
In that case, thought Toby. His Gunner technique had to be…
…I have no idea!
How had he sent a bullet into the space between Scorpion's raised blade and his face?
Even his reflexes had trouble keeping up with it.
Isn't that a little too convenient?
If he had something that convenient, he would really like to know how to do it. That kind of Gunner technique would really make fighting easier.
So he thought: Could he teach me that technique?
…Do I need to prostrate?
He was performing a midair backflip, so it would be possible to land in a prostration.
If he did so, would it surprise him?
But was there any point in surprising him?
"Mh."
Just as Toby tried to figure out what to do, he sensed the enemy moving. The second shot was coming.
Wait, he thought. You still haven't taught me that Gunner technique.
So he raised his voice.
"No fair…!"
.
Yuba was initially confused by Toby's words.
…Eh? No fair?
No, wait, he thought. Isn't that how fights are supposed to work? After all, you were supposed to do what you could win ole also getting information and making it out alive.
When you were an individual fighting multiple people, how could you hope to play fair?
But once he thought about it, he realized he only had one opponent here.
Logically, this might indeed be unfair. After all, certain techniques were meant for when one was outnumbered, but he was using them against an individual.
But, reconsidered Yuba while making an excuse to himself.
You're a pretty strong fighter, aren't you? What with that Side Effect and all.
And I'm a Gunner and at the same level as any of those tough guys… No, a little higher than that. Just a little, little bit higher! That's what I am. So if I'm up against an unfair Attacker…
"It isn't unfair at all."
He aimed his second shot.
He aimed for his lower stomach as he made his backflip and prepared to land. He was reluctant to target a person's stomach, but a bullet shot through the stomach could pierce through quite a lot of the body and the trion leakage was hard to stop. He concluded that losing from trion loss would be cleaner and feel better than having his head smashed apart.
"…!"
And he fired.
"Toby!"
Murakami saw Toby move.
For some reason, he had been trying to decide whether or not to fold his legs underneath him in midair. And then Yuba prepared to fire at his lower stomach.
Murakami had an idea how, but his attacks occurred at point-blank range.
With Toby's enhanced reaction speed and with Kiyome still active, he could dodge it, but…
…His landing pose is a mess!
Like this, trying to dodge after landing would cause too great a time lag. And any lag here would be deadly.
Murakami thought about saying something, but Yuba was poorly positioned for that. He was somewhat hidden from the visuals by Toby.
Perhaps that was his Gunner sense at work.
In that case, he thought. Suzume could knock Toby out of the way with her shields the instant he lands.
But…
"Eh?"
Murakami saw something happen.
Toby looked down with an "Oh?" on his face.
Of course, the only thing below him was the battlefield's ground. That was obvious.
But Toby's expression made it look like he could not figure out why that surface was there.
…Don't tell me he got distracted!
Yuba's gunshot rang out, even if the television had no sound.
Toby landed at the same moment, but it was not a landing.
As he fell with his knees and hands first, light exploded between him and the battlefield's surface.
…That was…!
Kiyome.
The acceleration Trigger lost control as he failed to connect his landing into his next action. And as a result…
"…"
Toby was blasted high into the sky, effectively jumping over the bullet fired downward.
Inside of an office and in the Border base, Netsuki was inside his personal office within Border's large base.
This was a rather plain room meant for his work and figuring out what to do for Border's image. It was used to think things through, and for Netsuki...
…It's a safe place for work even during battle~
Of course, everyone knew about it since it was also in an open area. Most people did not go near though since there was hardly a reason to do so, but the one who did frequent it had to be Suzaku in order to manage certain things.
Yes, it is fine to ignore the commotion at times and just work on things here. Probably. Surely. I hope they don't interrupt me...
At any rate, it was nice having somewhere for work during battles. Suzaku was off to the side watching the match going on for the B-Rank Wars. Netsuki found his pretense there rather negligible, but...
"Netsuki-san! Did you see the footage from the match!?"
"Eh!? Suzaku-kun! Did someone die or something!? There won't be some major issues because of that, will there!?"
"No, it isn't that! Look at this!"
He saw recorded footage sent with a 5 second delay.
It showed Awdry being launched into the air. He seemed to have messed up his landing, but some kind of force had launched him back up and he managed to correct his position. And…
"That's one of the Top 16 Prostrations! The Launch Prostration!"
Yuba looked up in the air.
A prostration flew through the night sky.
…What the hell is this!?
I have no idea what's going on, he honestly admitted. I came here to fight, but I feel like it's just been one weird thing after another.
Oh, right. Before leaving, Arashiyama said Kotowari Squad is a dangerous squad, but it looks like he was right.
This is so strange.
But then a dancer with gaudy hair spoke from atop a nearby rooftop.
"He's tightened up his body's axis, so he can correct his position even when he's sent flying. He used to get stuck in a wild spin. …Heh heh. Netsuki-san and Suzaku must be freaking out right now."
Then the dancer looked to Yuba.
He became extra cautious when she found that she was not even trying to hide or bring out her Lightning.
She winked and mimicked a handgun with her hand.
"Watch out, or I'll say 'bang' or something!"
Yuba did not think, What are you talking about?
Nor did he think, Ridiculous.
He did not even think, That doesn't even mean anything.
…I've more or less figured it out.
He had fought against Yuki once before when he started learning about being weird. He had mostly been relaxed then, so even when close up, he had only thought of it as a "lively fight" as if viewing it from the outside. But...
"So that's it."
He made a turning slide to the right.
It was a quick rotation. The force of it swung around the bottom of his squad uniform's jacket.
"That's right."
A blade tip flew into the position his head had just left.
It was Scorpion.
Kotowari Squad's beast had landed behind him in his Launch Prostration and then he had attacked.
.
Yuba dodged the blade tip to the right.
He spun his body, looked back over his shoulder to view the enemy, and indeed saw Kotowari Squad's beast.
In that case, the plan must have been for the dancer to distract him long enough for the beast to attack from behind. But…
…That's not it.
It was an adlib.
The dancer's distraction and the beast's attack had seemed coordinated, but they had not been. Most likely, the dancer had either noticed or predicted the beast's attack and decided on her own to distract him.
The end result was the same as coordination, but it was an adlibbed assist.
In other squads, that was done by firing at the enemy, not distracting them with an idiot.
"But you all don't have proper weapons."
Kotowari Squad had been disarmed.
As a constant fighter, he knew very well how people would fight under those conditions.
First, they would lure the enemy onto a battlefield that gave them an advantage, such as a forest with lots of obstacles or their home turf.
There they would use decoys and traps to disturb the enemy, prevent them from taking another step forward, and place them in a convenient point to attack them.
Only then would those with means of attacking be sent in, but even that would be done with the others' assistance.
These people were the same.
For the constant fighter, fighting in the forest or his home turf gave him an advantage.
But these people used something else instead:
…Each one of them is like a tree in the forest.
None of them were incompetent.
They placed the incompetent one at the top.
And to keep that incompetent one alive, they created a forest from themselves, disturbed the enemy, and occasionally attacked.
It could look like they were being silly due to the person at the top, but…
…That's just the kind of forest it is.
Kotowari Squad had no real weapon since their captain had left and their Operator was out of commission. So when they had joined together and started for the battlefield, they had to have had a single thought in mind: We've got no choice.
Some of them were not used to fighting and some of them were utter amateurs, but they still did everything they could to intervene.
It was all supported by each other. They had the power of substitutions and their individual skills.
If one of them could not finish a fight then it was certain that someone else would be able to do it. It had been the reason for that dancer to not show any signs of attacking him.
So there was a lot of waste, but they were fearsome indeed when it fit together properly. When viewed as a fighting style, their unusual actions could take them to great heights.
What is this? thought Yuba.
It was not a simple "forest". Nor was it everyone else's "battlefield".
I have no idea.
So he moved. He reminded himself this was enemy territory and that the enemy had made sure they would have the advantage here.
"—"
As he turned around, light arrived from the corner of his left eye.
It was Scorpion. The racing tip gave a twist and reflected the left side of his face. And a moment later…
"Change! Scorpion…!"
.
Toby realized his attack had failed.
He saw Yuba moving. And he was continuing his previous path around him.
He was trying to move behind him.
…Did I miss!?
No, Scorpion's sudden cutting had worked. But…
"Bullets!?"
Bullets had struck the left side of Scorpion's blade.
The tactile feedback reaching the shaft-hilt told him it was 5 shots. They had not been fired simultaneously, he felt a slight time lag between them, and each of them had struck at a different angle.
They had hit and shook the blade just before the judgment was made for the cutting attack.
As a result, the cutting lock had been disturbed.
"Requires effort," said Scorpion.
The cutting was produced in a broken form. So…
"Well, I'm not exactly unscathed."
As Yuba slid his feet around in the right corner of his vision, he saw a cut in his glasses, face, and cheek.
But that was all.
And he said more as he moved behind him.
"I said we're a good match, didn't I?"
…Indeed you did!
Toby tried to turn around, but…
"Sorry."
Another point-blank series of bullets slammed into Scorpion's tip.
He was delayed getting the tip back in place.
"…Kh!"
Toby sensed danger from the left side of his back. That was the opposite side from Yuba, but he sensed a bullet there.
…This is…
Toby immediately dodged and raised her voice.
"I still have no idea!"
.
Yuba could tell Kotowari Squad's beast had dodged his bullet when he heard it graze him.
…That's pretty amazing.
But now he was in danger.
After all, this was an away game in enemy territory. The enemy would coordinate through adlibs.
And this was not an official duel. Yuba Squad was making an attack and Kotowari Squad was fighting back.
Kotowari Squad's beast had just dodged his attack.
There would be a short delay before he attacked him next.
Normally, he would be left alone at that time. But…
"You all are different, aren't you?"
He heard a very familiar noise behind him. It was the sound of several shots aiming his way. An anti-personnel attack had been put together in response to Yuba's arrival onto the battlefield.
Based on the sound, it was at least a cluster shot made nearby with little in the way of targeting. It felt like an amateur was readying to fire. And the number of cluster shots had increased a moment later, but...
…Well, I'll manage.
As soon as he thought that, he heard the firing Triggers start behind him.
And…
"This is more like it. A real man's gotta be outnumbered."
Several shots were fired toward his back.
Kōchō saw the result brought about by the squad captain.
She too had a good firing sense. Well, maybe a little. Not all that much.
In her opinion, everyone else had demonstrated fairly accurate marksmanship. The shots fired by everyone on that battlefield seemed to be extremely practiced, but that would increase the accuracy and reduce the amount of trion wasted.
To supply support, a squad Operator helped control the location of where to fire and how they should be fired, so of the 27 cluster shots, at least 19 flew toward Yuba's back 30 meters away.
That was certain.
But what happened next was different.
Sparks flew from Yuba's back.
And not just from one spot. The number was exact:
"…19!?"
Yuba was unharmed.
She knew what had happened. He had deflected them with gunshots of his own.
…Is this…?
Kōcho realized that this Gunner could fire more than one bullet at a time. Or at least fired in rapid succession that made it seem that way.
His back stood in the battlefield as if to say that single handedly taking on a multitude was what made him a Gunner.
"Interesting. That, um, small girl from Senzai Squad - Sthénos, right? - must have been the one who fired. …For someone who can only make cluster shots, she did quite well."
"…And those people are going to be our enemy."
"I think they already are," pointed out Asano.
Just as Kōcho nodded in agreement…
…Ah.
Yuba's back vanished.
He had moved. Toby was already changing his stance.
"…Let's go!"
He resumed fighting too quickly to follow.
Kōchō's eyes had trouble seeing the movements of this ground battle. Her advanced understanding of movements gave her additional information, but she could see nothing beyond that. Their movements were fast and tricky, so they were never in the position she expected.
But that meant one thing:
…Toby is moving at the same level as him!
Toby had chosen to disturb his own movements.
What he did was simple: swing his body at high speed to make sure his opponent could not target him.
He was adding an unpredictable element to his dodging and feints.
…Meaning…
"Moving at random!"
Yuba answered his shout.
"What idiot explains their technique?"
"I prefer to play fair!"
"…Hah. Then bring it on, honest boy."
"Of course…!"
He brought it.
His former captain had been good at this. He would readily distract him in battle by suddenly looking to the side and shouting "Ah!" or taking two right steps in a row and saying "Oops".
Mei had been good at seeing through those tricks. Whenever he had tried one during practice, Toby recalled her glaring at him and hitting him as hard as she could with the knuckles of her fist.
That was so nostalgic.
And now he had to do that nostalgic thing himself. After all…
…My goal is to reach him again! This time on the same level as him instead of right under him!
So he moved forward using Headfirst Fall.
"Takuma…!"
He pursued him.
He tried to circle behind him. No, more accurately…
…He is moving to my combat blind spots!
Beyond his arm's range of rotation. At an angle his blades could not reach. Even if he was not outside his field of vision, he would circle around to a spot where his attacks could not reach him or pursue him.
In that case, he thought. A beast must catch his prey.
In that case, he thought again. What do I do to catch some prey who is staying out of reach?
In that case, he thought a third time.
…I just have to create a location where I can catch everything!
He accelerated to keep him out of his blind spot.
"Ohhh…!"
He sensed his presence trying to circle behind him.
"Outside…!"
Not behind him.
He was running in a wide arc to remain outside of his range.
Wind, gunfire, and blade-strikes raced across the battlefield.
It took the form of two movements. Toby and Yuba repeatedly crossed paths and circled after each other in what amounted to a long S-shape.
When Toby used his speed to circle around, Yuba would make a short turn-slide back around.
When Yuba tried to circle behind his back, Toby would make a wide outward circle on the inner corner.
Yuba tended to move inward and Toby pursued him from the outside.
Yuba used all his strength to keep up with Toby and Toby used all his strength to keep Yuba from taking up a position on the outside.
Their gunfire and blade-strikes clashed, making sparks and evasion constant companions.
They moved across the battlefield and passed between the falling shellfire, but…
"…!"
If either one made a single mistake, they would lose everything, but they continued making only the right decisions.
They continued on.
Spear Idiot: "Well this has turned into an intense battle."
Torimaru: "Yoneya-senpai, can you keep up with all of this?"
Spear Idiot: "Pretty much. How about you? How are you doing with the speed?"
Torimaru: "I'm fine. Using Geist has gotten me accustomed to this kind of speed. Spotting what's going on is not an issue."
Spear Idiot: "Great, great. Good to hear that you can keep up. What about you, Wagner? Can you find this mutt and his playmate? Should be easy since he is just a mutt who works with that other guy."
Yoneya waved off the glare he was getting from the Operator.
This was some payback for the going ons during the match and he felt that it was only right to do some more teasing.
There were always people calling Toby a mutt, sometimes it was a nickname while other times it held some malice in them. The former were always soaked up by the boy while the latter were always frown upon and ignored. But nothing was ever done about them, Toby always deciding to leave things as they were.
He's pretty mature in that way. The only times he goes at someone for that stuff is when he's just messing around and wants a solo match or something.
It had happened with Yoneya a few times. Toby had taken to his teasing by jumping at Yoneya and lightly hitting him while asking for a match.
It was always funny to see since it was different from someone like Midorikawa.
But those times were the reason he felt like some teasing was in order now.
Spear Idiot: "So, can you keep up?"
Grumpy Cat: "Of course I can. …Enough at least. Mino-nii is also a close quarters specialist and moves quickly too. And that is without a proper Trigger for it."
Yoneya could hear something behind them that seemed to sounded like Border's top Attacker saying, "Oh, oh! He's really praising you here, isn't here? Leave it to Yoneya to get him to do that!"
He decided to ignore that in favor of humming towards the glasses boy next to him.
From his other side, he could see Karasuma giving Lukas a seeming look of pity.
Yup, that's probably the best look you can give him right now.
He snickered to himself before clearing his throat and straightening his back. Folding his hands in front of him, he raised his head and continued.
Spear Idiot: "Very good. So long as you can keep up then we can properly talk about this fight to its fullest."
Grumpy Cat: "'It's fullest'?"
Spear Idiot: "Isn't that right, Tori- Ahem. Karasuma-dono?"
Torimaru: "Indeed. We should be able to give accurate and astute responses to what we are seeing here."
Nice job going along with me there!
Neither one of them needed to turn to know that they were getting an unimpressed look from Lukas. It had been what they were going for after all.
Spear Idiot: "Now let us see how this fight will be turning out."
Yuba was on the move.
Until now, he had been focusing on evasion. He was up against someone with the monstrous speed needed to dodge shots at nearly point-blank range.
…It was worth waiting…
From the bottom of his heart, he wished he was not up against someone like this beast.
He kept a calm look on his face, but he was going all out.
His Gunner technique was a close-range firing type, but as a firing type, it had a limit to the firing speed and bullet speed.
And the speedy idiot he was up against was as fast as both.
He was very nearly helpless.
And that was what made his footwork so vital. He used his gunfire to deter him while he stuck to evasion. This kind of movement was the foundation of a skilled Gunner's abilities, so he had many ways of walking or moving his body to take the advantageous position.
He had never expected he would end up using these.
And he had used them so much that he barely felt like he was fighting anymore.
"…Honestly."
But this enemy was a beast who lived in this world.
He could guess that he saw the speed as himself and he might even feel like his everyday self was the fake one.
He lived in the speed.
…I can't keep up.
No, I can keep up. I'm skilled. Others have been fast before and I've fought them all before.
And he too had a world he lived in: gunfire.
"Yeah."
Yuba took a breath, performed a single turn-slide, and fully escaped the hidden enemy's line of fire.
"Power bullets will do, won't they?"
.
…It can be a problem how many of these guys love flashy attacks.
As Yuba heard movement from nearby that seemed familiar, he saw something unbelievable straight ahead.
"C'mon now…"
He had just fired 10 bullets toward Kotowari Squad's beast at point-blank range. And he had been knocked away.
But even so…
"Did he forcibly defend against them in midair!?"
Kotowari Squad's beast flew through the air.
But he had not been hit. No, he technically had been hit, but…
…He blocked them with his blade!?
.
Toby had chosen to use his blade first.
As the bullets arrived from so close to his body, he raised his blade and struck as if pushing back against them.
And that push allowed the bullets to hit the blade before his body.
And just as the blade was hit and pushed back toward him…
"…Headfirst Fall!"
He opened Headfirst Fall on his feet and knees. Then he kicked off the repelled blade before the bullets could reach him.
"…!"
He leaped.
Kōchō whistled, but Wakamura had lost sight of Toby.
…Eh?
Just as Wakamura thought Toby had been hit, Kōcho hand moved in from the side.
"Over there."
Kōchō grabbed Wakamura's chin and pointed his head left of the screen. Toby was there.
He had made a leap while bending backwards in the air. But…
"…!"
Even without sound they could tell that solid sounds rang out.
There was 1, 2, and then 3 such sounds. Each time, Toby jumped left through the air while continuing to bend backwards. Wakamura realized what was causing that odd position.
…He's kicking the bullets!?
He used the struck blade as footing and leaped in the direction of the bullet's flight. And since he was using Headfirst Fall…
"The Hassou Tobi…!?"
"What is that?"
"Girikage and Sasamori have talked about it before. It's something that Tsukiko - the A-Rank one - had shown them before with Hikigane," Wakamura responded to Asano by pushing up his glasses.
"He hasn't built up Kiyome enough and he isn't jumping right. …This will eventually become something else entirely. But, well, even when that happens," said Kōcho, "I doubt Toby can correct that unsteady trajectory. Not with his sense of balance."
But the sound likely rang out again. Toby matched the axis from his feet to the pursuing bullets and he ascended horizontally through the air.
He continued bending backwards as the noises should have counted up to 7.
"The last one won't hit him when he's bent that far back."
Toby's hair flew in an arc.
He dodged that final bullet and landed on the battlefield's surface. And…
"—"
Something flew into Toby's raised hand.
It was the last Scorpion blade he had used for footing.
He grabbed it and stood up.
The previous Headfirst Fall remained on his legs.
They had not shattered. And Wakamura saw Toby instantly jump toward Yuba on the right.
"Oh, wow… Hey, Asano, I can see him! I really can! You don't have to grab my face and turn my head for me!"
Yuba did not look back.
He did not need to know the enemy was approaching.
"Bring it on, impatient boy!"
He fired.
…That side!
He fired from the right of his enemy while he ran. And at point-blank range.
He immediately heard a noise.
It was the solid one of a ricochet. And it came from directly behind him.
"Goddammit…"
He did not look back.
There was no reason to. After all, the sound was more than enough to know what had happened.
"Did you block them with your blade!?"
The wind blew in on the left.
It was Kotowari Squad's beast.
He had leaped to the left and caught them on his blade while airborne.
The wind he created was not targeting him. So…
"I don't mind."
He let the small fragments fall down from his broken glasses and he reloaded his two guns.
"You know how my attack works, don't you? But let's see this through to the end."
With that, he came to a stop. And…
"Time for a shootout."
.
"Ohhhh…!"
Toby turned back toward Yuba. He primarily attacked with the tips of his blade while he made sure to…
…Dodge!
The gunfire arrived immediately afterwards. He had attacked from the right, but it came from the left. And the 10 shots appeared less than a centimeter away from the side of his face or his stomach.
The attack came from his blind spot.
But he had speed. He was swinging from right to left, but the axis of his feet had pulled off the previous footwork and bullet kicks.
So he leaped to the side and used his blade to…
"Block it!"
"Understood," said the weapon.
An impact shattered the Scorpion blade before it was reformed. He used that to adjust the speed and direction of his leap so he could dodge the remaining bullets.
This was much like a kata.
When he knew where the attack was coming, this kata allowed him to accurately block it and use it for his next action.
And there was only one thing he could say about Yuba's attack for making him think that way.
"Well done…!"
He had never thought he would experience gunfire like swordsmanship.
And since he fired 10 shots at once…
"You really do rival a master Attacker!"
"A Gunner doesn't want an Attacker's praise."
Oh, right. My mistake. I shouldn't look at everything from my own perspective.
But, thought Toby.
There was something he understood now.
"Takuma."
He approached and was knocked back each time, but he was still gradually getting closer as he spoke. Even now, he was dodging the gunfire that appeared outside his field of vision.
"Your gunfire follows a certain rule, doesn't it?"
"And what might that be?"
Since he asked, Toby answered.
"All of your shots go for places I unconsciously don't keep track of!"
.
Yuba smiled bitterly in his heart as he continued firing at Kotowari Squad's beast
He's gotta have figured out how this certain shooting technique works by now.
His evasions had grown quite sharp. He had focused on the attacks in his own blind spots and fully avoided them.
"Not bad, you raging beast!"
"And you are doing a damn good job with your blind spot attacks!"
That was true enough. After all…
…This is how I choose to use Viper against monsters like you.
It was not simply power shots.
He wished it was as simple as "attack what is before me", but it was not always that easy when against people like this.
This had caused him a lot of trouble in the past.
He had initially trained in the Gunner techniques of power and speed for bullets.
Back when he was only firing bullets via pure gun power, his results had been lacking a bit.
…Certain things just don't go the way you want.
And in a real battle against someone who could use Triggers, simple gun power alone was not enough.
So his training had begun to include different bullets for use in combat.
And he found he was disappointed in the power those Triggers had.
Everyone else had been able to use those Triggers freely or at least decide that it fit them well enough to use. When he looked into it, he found that his style of gun was activating fine but not providing the results he had wanted.
It was a matter of affinity.
Affinity did not always work in the positive direction.
Like Kotowari Squad's beast, there were those who were loved by acceleration Triggers. Like him, there were those who had been abandoned by different Triggers.
Triggers were meant to shorten the gap fighters had against each other as well as Neighbors. They were meant to provide different results depending on which one was used.
The Triggers had been too different for him.
People had said all sorts of things about him. Some claimed he was too headstrong to properly use them. Others claimed he was not trying hard enough. And his excellent track record at the start had only made the criticism stronger.
Some of his friends had helped him try to overcome the poor affinity, but even they had eventually realized it was no use and let him be.
He had been quick to realize they had given up on it and he had been quick to change the subject to something harmless when they did speak with him.
At the time, he had thought it was all over for his advancements, he had stopped trying to move forward, and he had eventually started planning to only be known for his power shots.
But, thought Yuba.
At one point, I figured it out.
He had decided to throw it all away.
One day after a particularly hard day, he had decided to let off some steam by firing at whatever he could in a training room.
He had used his poor usage of weaker Triggers to fire at the targets from his beloved guns.
And when he exited the training room, he had noticed something.
The targets had holes in them from different locations.
…I don't get it.
It had made no sense to him. At first he had thought someone else had been around and had fired their own attacks at the targets, so he had taken a good look around the entire room to make sure.
But he found nothing out of the ordinary.
He had felt his only option was to recreate the situation, but whenever he fired the shots while focusing on them, nothing special happened.
He had only figured out what was happening after taking a step back and relaxing. Before summer break when everyone else was focused on their own things, he had lazily been practicing with his power shots while modifying the speed of them for his guns.
To make sure he had all that he needed, he continued to switch between shots until he found out he still had Viper set in his slots. When he had gone to switch them out, he had accidentally pulled the trigger and fired Viper. The shot moved before he could register what happened. The rest had been a clean hit on the target.
He had not known why, but he had known it was the same as with the other time.
He had wondered if Ōji or Kurauchi had done something to his guns, so he had tried it again. Then he checked his guns. They were not changed at all.
"This isn't what I would call a talent."
Sometimes people were simply geniuses at something. Sometimes the opposite was true.
He did not know which one he was, but he remembered what Mei had said:
"I think you have done so much fighting that even you don't realize what you really want to hit. You fix yourself up for power and speed, but you take too much control of your shots that way."
"How does that even work?"
"I don't use guns too often. …:Looking t it a different way, you can say that you have reached a point where you can set your own patterns so long as you don't realize it's what you are doing. It sounds interesting to me."
And…
"If you fire using that Trigger then I'm sure you will find your mark."
He did not remember how he had responded.
But he had never returned to Viper, always sticking with what he knew.
Because he had a goal.
…I need to keep going and keep powering through. I'm not like those geniuses who can create things on the fly.
And the results could be seen now.
Hey, me.
Yuba looked to the enemy as he thought to himself and tossed aside his destroyed glasses.
Are you still finding the target?
With that, the enemy arrived. He spun his body with all his might, and…
"—"
Kotowari Squad's beast arrived right in front of him with smoke trailing behind him.
He had caught him.
.
Toby saw Yuba move.
He took a back step.
But the movement began slowly. So…
…I can hit him first!
He charged in. He threw his body forward with all his strength to give himself too much momentum for any shots from behind to catch up.
"You're mi-…"
But his shout was cut off.
Yuba seemed to relax in place. And faced the sky away instead of at him.
He looked right up, but...
…He isn't looking at me!?
Then Toby realized what this meant.
By looking up into the sky, Yuba again something.
"The greatest blind spot and evasion!?"
If he looked into the sky, the ground and everything to the horizon entered his blind spot.
So that was what he had done.
He knew he would fire soon thereafter. Would it be to his left, right, or back?
…Which will it be!?
It was the front.
It was a pure counterattack. He had not used this line of fire before now.
"Kh…!"
Headfirst Fall contained great speed. Even if he leaped forward now, he would not gain much height while using Headfirst Fall. And…
…A sound!?
From the left, right, and back, groups of bullets were fired at different heights. They joined the barrage in front of him to surround him.
They were going to hit him.
Bullets were approaching from all directions. So…
"…!"
Toby took a certain action in response to the approaching bullets.
He made an intentional misstep.
.
"Heh heh. Now that was reckless."
Suzume crossed her arms and spoke as the light at Toby's knees broke.
Headfirst Fall had shattered. No…
…He shattered it himself, didn't he?
Where had he learned that? No, he had probably just now thought it up. And in so doing…
"He will fly. …It's terribly simple, but it's an idea that would never occur to me since I try to preserve the dance. I could learn something from this."
The solid sound only now reached Suzume, but Toby was already airborne. He had flown far above Yuba's head.
.
Yuba saw the enemy.
He was in the sky.
He saw an arc flying high in the false sky.
It was Kotowari Squad's beast hair.
…He really did it.
The enemy had sent his acceleration Trigger out of control. Normally, he used that uncontrollable blast of acceleration to dodge when he could not otherwise avoid his attack.
…Did he get that explosion of acceleration to follow his own axis!?
It had to have been a split-second decision. Just how good was his combat sense?
But in the sky overhead, the Kotowari Squad Beast completed a flip and began to fall.
The arc of his hair was tugged straight as he dropped down.
He would be in trouble if he stayed motionless on the floor here. But…
"That's fine by me."
Yuba looked at the enemy and fired.
Not all blind spots were created by his field of vision.
"Your body creates a decent 'home' for my bullets."
He could not see behind him.
So he took aim and fired his powerless bullets.
He fired 10 times.
But he soon realized something.
"…?"
His bullets had not appeared behind the Kotowari Squad Beast as he fell.
.
…What?
Yuba had never imagined this could happen, but he did not panic and simply pulled the trigger to his two guns held above him.
But there was no sound or motion in the supposedly unseen area behind the Kotowari Squad Beast's back.
What is going on? he wondered. Did my "affinity" betray me now of all times?
But when he looked to the Kotowari Squad Beast's back as he fell, he saw something there: glass.
"Oh."
So that was it.
"Did you reflect your back with the broken glass so I could see it!?"
He had erased his blind spot.
…Dammit!
He shouted in his heart.
…Me…!
"This would be so much easier if I just continued with my power and speed bullets…!"
Yuba kept his eyes on the opponent falling from the sky and he aimed a shot from his blind spot. He aimed a bullet from his right gun as he began to move away.
"…!"
But just before he fired, Toby raised his voice.
"Pierce down! …Scorpion!"
.
Toby realized Yuba could not avoid a direct hit..
…Nice!
This would be the end of the battle.
Scorpion had pierced him directly into his chest. Right where his heart was.
The impact rang out as something scattered around him. Toby grinned to himself as he saw the second Scorpion blade he threw shatter below him from the shots fired.
Yuba pulled out the Scorpion blade in his chest as green lines ran along his entire body. Even the nearby noise came to a stop, meaning whoever had been there had moved away from the fight.
But by the time Toby landed…
"Thanks. …For using a projectile in the end."
Someone stood there.
Yuba only responded with a sigh as green light overcame his entire body.
A moment later he was gone.
Bail Out.
"Heh. Nice job there. Guess I really am still bad at all of this."
Toby laughed to himself as trion began leaking from the small scraps on his back.
"Not all of those shots were blocked. I'm not good enough to do something like that. I think some of these things are even from my own blades. How lame is that?"
He was only talking to himself at this point.
He was aware that Suzume was nearby, but he didn't want to hear what she had to say, instead imprinting into his mind the fight he just had.
Yuba was a great opponent.
So was Kurauchi.
"This really was a perfect match to test myself."
Letting out a final laugh, he turned around.
Standing atop a nearby building was Suzume. He grinned up at her and he could see her shoulders shaking. She was likely laughing at him.
"Well, guess I should leave now. I'm too low on trion and I don't want to lose a point because of it. Guess Suzume can stick around for a bit longer through." Stretching his arms above his head, he ignored the leaking trion from his back. "Alllllright then! Bail Out!"
A flash of light moved through the sky.
An intentional Bail Out.