The first thing Mukuro noticed after he had stabbed through the cocoon of vines was the way the vines were moving.
Each vine he had priced began to move as if climbing his arc trion blade. They wrapped around the extended blade like they were trying to reach for his connected arm.
If he were his older sister then he would have scoffed at this and allowed the vines to reach him.
If he were his older brother then this situation would not have happened in the first place.
If he were his younger sister then he would be slightly panicking right now.
If he were either of his parents then he would not have been fighting on this battlefield at all.
But he was none of them.
He was who he was and that would not change.
That is pretty bad for me.
Since he was not any of his family members he would have to take care of this situation his own way.
And that was by destroying the vines.
With a wave of his hand, the arc trion blades continued to tear through the cocoon of vine as easily as cutting through the air. The vines tore and ripped apart like a gardener using sheers to take care of a garden. Nothing remaining in the wake of the high-performance Trigger.
"Eep!?"
The sound of the Neighbor could be heard from behind the cocoon of vines, but Mukuro felt no tactical feedback of his blades reaching her body.
The only thing he could feel was the feeling of the vies tearing apart at his movement.
Since he had used only one blade, a single line could be seen arcing over the cocoon of vines. It would have been a straight line, but he did not want to get in trouble for cutting through Hisoka as well.
Once his blade reached the other wall of the hallway he began to release the Trigger. Small lights fluttered into the air as the blade disappeared into thin air, nothing but the arcing line in the cocoon giving any indication that he had existed in the first place.
"…"
Once his Trigger was fully deactivated he staggered to the side.
With Tsuji underfoot, he had to force his body to move to the other side so that he would not trip over the fallen boy.
.
"Why is this uuuuuuuuseless guy even heeeeeeere?"
"Most of the time he isn't so useless."
"Then whyyyyyy is he so useleeeeeess now?"
"Because our opponent is a woman."
"…"
"He can't-"
Hisoka was cut off by the sound of a harsh kick.
She moved towards the end of the hall as Tsuji was kicked to the opposite wall he had been hiding behind.
Mukuro glared at the lump that had scurried behind the corner.
With a sigh he brought up his hand. He turned his palm so that it faced the ground and angled his index finger so that it pointed to the ground.
A small flash of light appeared at the end of his finger. An arc trion blade shot out form his finger and stabbed into the ground.
Mukuro moved his finger along the ground, the trion blade moving along with his finger. It gouged into the building's material and left a deep groove at the end of the hallway.
"Kobayashi, you are fiiiiiiine to fight here, riiiiight?"
"Yes."
Mukuro nodded as he looked at Tsuji.
The image of the older boy hiding behind the corner just because of the gender of their opponent was one that stirred him up inside.
It was pathetic.
It was something his family would not tolerate.
It was something he would not tolerate.
It was a sight that made him want to fight the older boy more than the Neighbor at the other end of the hallway.
"You're the idiot that I fell asleep around. I hate that. Pathetic people aren't people I should be able to sleep around."
There was no sign of tiredness in his voice.
He was not speaking for himself, so he couldn't afford to be tired or lazy.
When speaking about something his family had engraved into him, he needed to be stern and harsh.
"So if you can't fight here, don't go past this line. I would actually prefer you just leave altogether. You being here just makes me tired and less likely to focus."
"Taiyōko, it's not good to destroy Border's property."
"They can fix it later."
He let out a tired sigh.
He was speaking for himself now.
"Why did they even put me on this battlefield…?"
"I hear that it was your brother who recommended you be here."
"…"
He straightened his back and turned to where the destroyed cocoon of vines was.
"This really was a smart choice then. Mm. Only a smart and strong person could come up with this. Now…"
He attacked.
.
Shi Muon felt herself panicking.
Someone had managed to cut through her cocoon.
The boy who had been able to do so seemed to have trouble with women, so it was likely that it was not him.
The girl had been moving like she was more of a speed type than an offensive type. There should be no way that she would be able to break through her defense. And even if she did have a way, it was impossible for it to be so clean-cut.
She had seen just who had cut through once the trion blade had made an opening through the cocoon.
It had been a boy.
A different boy from the one before. This one had longer hair, a different style of clothing, was smaller, and overall looked much more like he was about to pass out at any moment.
That tired boy had been able to pierce through he defense that Shi Muon had been known for the entire time.
Wen Sō and Koskero had praised her defense and her captain had always said she was the perfect person to watch their back. It was something that she took pride in, especially as a non-combatant who could not find her way around a battlefield proper.
That defense had been broken through.
That one boy had been enough to break through her defense.
It made her feel useless. Then it made her panic.
The thing she felt the most form that though was,
Sadness…
She felt sad that all of that praise had amounted to nothing.
But that had not been the only thing she found once her cocoon had been broken through.
I use a lot of trion to create that cocoon, so it would take even more trion to break through it. I just need to stall this out so the captain can finish. I don't need to win. I have never needed to win a fight. I have only ever needed to wait things out.
They all know this…
I haven't been in many fights, so the captain never sends me in to win. The only reason I am here is because…
She shook her head at the thought.
The reason for her being here did not matter.
She was already here and she was already fighting.
She did not need to win and she did not need to move forward.
All she needed to do was keep these three here.
So I will!
She began her next defense.
.
Mukuro and Hisoka watched as the vines coming from the woman's Trigger began to extend out even more.
Those vines had seemed weak when Hisoka held them back, but the way they would thread together brought out something unique to that Trigger. It needed to support and there were not vocal commands needed for it to move itself around in order to defend.
Each vine built upon the next to combine it's weak density with the other vines. Alone, those vines would pose no problem, but once they began to thread together they would become too dense for anything by Mukuro's trion blades to get through.
So they ran forward to stop that.
No words were needed for the two silent types. They understood what they needed to do here simply based on their actions.
From a device on her wrist, Hisoka launched out a wire that flew towards the threading vines.
The wire was taken in and Hisoka felt the pull of the vines as they tried to thread the wire into together with them.
Mukuro stopped halfway to the vines and moved his hand to the side.
"Perform final check. Once it is done, begin output."
As soon as Mukuro muttered those words, his eyes turned from a bored and tired look to a focused look that could put anyone on guard.
His fingertips began emitting a green light. This was his trion coming out as a type of blade that didn't really cut like one.
While he had knowledge of different fighting styles, there was no need to use any of them. Hisoka would cover close range combat, so he was fine using mid-to-long range combat.
"We'll end this quickly before I end up falling asleep."
As he spoke, Mukuro lightly waved his right hand. Beams of light similar to a blowtorch were emitted from his fingertips. And they grew right away.
He had a look of disinterest on his face despite bringing out enough firepower to level a building just by waving his hand like he was shooing away an insect.
That was just how he viewed things.
So continuing his wave, he moved his fingers so that each blade would hit at different angles.
Hisoka used the opposite wall as a springboard while using her wire to draw her in even closer to the vines.
Once she was a footway from them they split open.
The trion blades from Mukuro's hand stabbed into the wall opposite of her before moving in the arcs that tore open the threading vines.
Each trion blade moved around as if dancing around Hisoka's flying body.
It was not one sided as Hisoka turned her body in the air, moving through the trion blades without touching them.
She made it through.
With the threaded vines cut and torn, she had been able to force her body through the new gaps.
Once she was halfway through and could see their opponent, she heard a sound.
She was sure that Mukuro could also hear the sound as it was rather loud.
It was the sound of threading vines.
The vines that had been torn through by Mukuro's blades had not stopped in their threading. They continued to extend out of the Neighbor's Trigger on her back and thread together while Hisoka was moving through them.
"Keep moving forward."
The voice behind Hisoka could be heard over to the threading vines.
There must have been a plan if she was being told to not stop.
So she moved forward.
She moved her foot forward and used the torn vines as a step to push herself forward.
As she was almost through, the sound of tearing vines overpowered the sound of threading.
Green filled her vision as blades moved through vines and vines threaded to keep up with the tearing.
These green blades seemed to be winning as they moved like multiple conductor wands controlling an orchestra.
That was when something strange happened.
Those blades moved up in a quick motion.
They had been forced up abruptly while she was still trying to get through the threading vines.
Using the last of her wire that was attached to the other side of the vines, she pulled herself through and landed on the ground.
Behind the wall of threading vines had been something she had not been expecting.
.
Mukuro staggered forward.
In front of him was a sheathed blade that had pushed his hand up in an instant.
His trion body could not feel tiredness, but his mind still registered.
The person at his side was someone who had a presence that made him fall asleep almost instantly. Someone who forced him to drop his entire guard just because he existed.
He hated this person for that.
There had never been a time where he could do that with his siblings, but this pathetic boy who could not even fight a woman was someone he could instantly fall asleep next to.
He would not allow himself to fall near this person and he would not allow himself to even touch that sheathed sword.
Mukuro caught himself and turned to glare at the pathetic boy.
"What aaaaaaare you doing? She was aboooooout to make it through with less trouble."
The pathetic boy glared back.
"You were going to readily cut off her leg for that!"
"It would have gooooooootten her to reach the Neighbor."
"She wouldn't be able to move around as well if she lost a leg!"
"But we would haaaaave reached the Neighbor. She ooooooonly had to get in cloooooose and distraaaaact her. It's simple taaaactics."
Mukuro ignored the glare he was getting to turn back to the threaded vines.
He held out his hand again, ready to activate his Trigger.
Something had grabbed his hand before he could activate it.
"If you are just going to use her for a sacrificial pawn then just leave."
"And whaaaaat? Are you going to fiiiiight? No, you wooooon't. You can't fight heeeeere because of idioooootic problems in your head! Idiots like yooooou are the reason Kiyo-!"
Mukuro stopped.
Tsuji also stopped.
Mukuro was shocked by his own words and tone.
Tsuji was shocked by the pained expression he saw.
.
Idiots.
They had all been idiots.
Mukuro was not an idiot.
Those people had been idiots. The people they were with had been idiots. Even his own parents had been idiots.
The only ones who had not been idiots were his older sister, older brother and younger sister.
They were smart. They were strong. They knew what was good. They knew what was just. They knew everything that Mukuro did and then some.
They were the reason he continued to live in this world of idiots.
But those idiots had done something that hurt him and his younger sister.
Those idiots he had to call parents had thrown out his older brother and had only done so because of the words of other idiots.
He had tried to explain why it would be a bad thing to do so, but they ignored him. All of the calculations and theories he had spent days and nights coming up with had been tossed aside by those idiots.
Then he had been told the fate of his older brother.
That older brother had died.
Rather, the one known as "older brother" had died. But his older brother had not died.
Multiple things had happened within the time his older brother was not his "older brother". All of that had led him to the result that everything had happened because of idiots.
The only people he could never see as idiots were this siblings.
That would be why he would reject the entire world just so that he could make everything better for those three people he could not call idiots.
Even if his "older brother" had died, he still had his older brother. His name had changed, but that older brother would remain the same person no matter how much he denied it.
And now there was an idiot in front of him, telling him that what he was doing was wrong.
He was not wrong.
He was not an idiot.
He had calculated out the results of this fight and so put those calculations to the test.
They had been right.
A leg that wasn't even real was a minor price that someone else had to pay so that he could win.
A win here meant that things would be better for his siblings.
If it made things better for his siblings then he had no reason to worry about anything else.
Idiots be damned. So long as he could reform reality into something that benefited his siblings then he would twist everything he could.
That included this boring, idiotic and pathetic fight.
I'll do it.
I'll do this while Hoshi has fun.
I'll do this while Kushi-nee does as she likes.
I'll do this so Kiyo-nii doesn't have to worry in his own fight.
Kiyo-nii has enough to worry about already.
Kiyo-nii doesn't need more to worry about.
Kiyo-nii is still here, so I need to make sure he doesn't leave again.
Kiyo-
"Listen!"
An idiot's voice rang out in the enclosed hallway.
.
Tsuji did not know how to describe what he was seeing. It was unlike anything else he had seen in a person.
This boy who looked ready to pass out seemed to be going through so much in his mind that everything else did not register to him. Everything around him did not exist and only his own reality was what he was focused on.
Then he heard a name.
"Kiyo-nii."
That name had no real meaning to him, but he recognized it. It had been a name that came out of both his upperclassman's mouth as well as one of his best friend's mouth. The full name they had used was "Kiyoshi" and they spoke of him fondly.
There had also been an upperclassman with the same name. He had argued constantly with Ninomiya, but had suddenly "died" at some point.
Now that "Kiyoshi" went by a different name, a different style, and a completely different personality.
He was now "Yuki".
The "Yuki" he knew was vastly different from the "Kiyoshi" he had heard about.
But there was something they had in common.
They were both blood related to Mukuro.
They were also blood related to Kushikage and Hoshi. Two girls with extremely different personalities and lifestyles.
That was where it all came together.
This tired boy in front of him was living a world only for his siblings. It was his reality that was completely different from anyone else's.
That was why he would Hisoka the way he did.
But Tsuji felt like he should not accept that.
This was not the reality everyone else was living in. It was just one that could only harm the tired boy even more.
He knew that it could end up harmful since some of them could have just as easily ended up like that.
When the Hatohara sister left. They could have created their own realities to cope with it, but they did no such thing. They had all accepted that reality.
So he had to find a way to pull this tired boy from the reality.
Even if he did not like this tired boy, he felt that he had to destroy that reality as someone who now knew it existed.
So he spoke up.
"Listen!"
.
Mukuro blinked and Tsuji grabbed his shoulders.
The sudden moment and the sudden voice had broken through to Mukuro.
Mukuro felt his body begin to sag as Tsuji held him in place.
Tsuji held up Mukuro by the shoulders, knowing the younger boy would fall the instant he let go.
"I don't want you using my friend like that. Besides just being her friend, it will also be bad if you just go around using people like that without letting them know."
He had already seen what that was like with the Kotowari Squad captain.
The reality he wanted to bring Mukuro into would not be good if he ended up the same way.
"So I'll give you permission to use me. You can cut through me, pierce me, or throw me at the opponent beyond that wall."
"But you caaaan't even face her becauuuuuuse of her gender."
"Then you need to come up with a way around that."
"Me? Stoooop being so-"
"You're smart, aren't you? You should already know how to use me here."
"…"
"So you do. Good. Then don't use Hisoka like that again. Use me however you want in this fight. And make sure we win."
"Winning here…"
"And don't think about your siblings."
Mukuro's reaction was instant.
He glared at Tsuji while moving back.
He seemed to have gained some energy back with that comment.
"Use all of your brain to focus not his fight and not on your siblings. If you don't do that much then they will be disappointed in you."
"What do you-"
"Taiyōko…your younger sister. She won't like that you were focusing on her instead of helping others, will she?"
"That's-"
"Tsukiko-senpai won't like how much trouble you're causing by letting this Neighbor stall us out, will he?"
"Will he…?"
He could not say anything about the older sister. It was likely she would appear if he were to say anything, so he held his tongue.
So.
"So can you do it? Can you just focus on something other than your siblings here?"
"What am I supposed to focus on then…?"
There was no need to hesitate.
Tsuji already had the answer.
"Me."
.
Hisoka moved through the hallway of vines with precision and speed.
The entire hallways beyond the wall of vines had become a world of green. Vines, vines and more vines littered the hallway to the point of her not being able to stand on anything without knowing it was just another vine.
The vines had not tried to attack her once she had reached this world of green.
No, those vines had done nothing more than thread together at multiple points.
Swirls of threaded vines could be seen moving in the air around the Neighbor as if to be her shields.
She had not cocooned herself like last time, but this was just as bad.
Now that Neighbor would be able to see every attack moving towards her and have hardened shields of threaded vines to protect her.
I have Viper, but…
It lacked power.
So did Asteroid.
They could not breath through the threaded vines acting as shields.
Even if they could, she would need to get in close for a decisive blow. Anything beyond that would only make minimal damage hits.
So she charged forward.
She rushed through the world of green and threaded vines while keeping one of her dominant hands free of any Triggers.
Her usage of Spider had been unique in that she did not use them to create a territory or hold others back. They were weapons to use for her own movements and were personal instead of anti-personal or anti-army. It was something that she found much easier to do when fighting alongside the likes of Minoru.
She used her customized Spider to keep moving.
The wire coming from the device on her wrist would attack one of the vines around her, allowing her to pull herself around the green hallway with easy movements.
The threaded vines would buckle or collapse altogether when she tried to get one that was in the air and the ones on the ground shook violently as if disliking her feet being on top of them.
But she did not care about those things.
The small moments of sharing did not disturb her balance.
They were just strange platforms for her to use as footholds.
This is still trouble though. I can move in this area, but that's all. I can get close, but she will notice. What to do…?
The amount of options open to her were limited.
Stalling her out and keeping her from going to help anyone else seemed to be what this Neighbor was trying to do. That was obvious to anyone.
She was doing a good job at that.
Hisoka could not help but notice that this world of green she was in was perfect for stalling people out.
This really is the perfect opponent to fight against me.
Hisoka was a close-range fighter while this girl liked to keep her distance.
Hisoka had weaker Triggers and were meant to build up damage while this girl had a dense defense.
Hisoka could not understand emotions well while this girl seemed to run on them.
I guess that last one isn't too important right now though.
Something she did have going for her was something that Oshiro had said before.
During that time he had compared to her a spider with the way she moved, ensnared and took down her opponents.
"You know, Hisoka-san, I really wouldn't doubt that you could pull off some amazing things just with wires. My own use of Spider is kind of lacking when compared to you and Kanzaki-san."
He had said that with a self deprecating smile.
She and Tsuji had lightly flicked him once they realized that he was putting himself down again.
But what stuck with her was his next comment.
He had been rubbing his forehead when he brought up an idea that she saved for later.
"You know what would be really amazing! If you moved more than one wires at once! Oh, uh, I meant all at once. You are really good at moving wires when you have full control of your hands. But, but! What if you, uh… Oh! Your fingers! What if you use your fingers instead of just your hand! Kanzaki-san does something similar, but she usually just grabs a handful of wires or uses the movement of her blade to control them… You know what, never mind what I said. It's nothing important."
He had ended that conversation with a nervous laugh and Tsuji had given him another flick. But Hisoka had thought about it as an honest suggestion.
It was something interesting to try out and her squad had even said as much when she brought it up with them. Svantje had suggested that she go see Kanzaki about the idea, but there had never been any time to do so.
Besides, that girl was an oddball herself and could be hard to handle if someone was not ready.
But now that she was in this situation, that idea had come back to mind.
I guess now is as good of a time as any to try.
.
The world of green and threaded vines was something she had not seen in so long.
It felt like a lost world that she would never see again.
But here it was.
She had created this world.
Shi Muon marveled at her own work.
Every threaded vine reminded her of Galopoula. In particular the garden she had tended to constantly.
It had been a beautiful place that held much meaning to her. Back when she did not have to worry about fighting.
No. Stop thinking about it. You are here now and need to focus. Just a bit longer and then you can go see everyone again.
She only had to stall out Miden's warriors for a bit longer.
The girl before her, the one running in her world of green, could not reach her no matter how hard she tried. The threaded vines would keep her at bay for the remainder of the time.
The boy who had been cowered behind the corner could cut through her vines, but he did not have the heart to attack her. There were no issues fighting him.
The tired boy had been a different story. He had managed to cut through her vines while holding a resolve to fight her. But it seemed there had been a falling out as his trion blades had been moved out of the way and had yet to reach her again.
It was a perfect situation for her.
They had begun to stall themselves out.
She would not have to attack any of them.
Defense was all she needed.
Even as the girl in front of her moved forward, there was nothing to worry about.
Even as the girl in front of her fired shots from her gun, there was nothing to worry about.
Even as the girl in front of her forced her arm forward, there was nothing to worry about.
Even as the girl in front of her activated a Trigger, there was nothing to worry about.
When the girl threw out a large amount of wires, there was something to worry about.
What is this!?
Hisoka had released a large amount of wires from the wristband she wore. They had all shot out like a spiderweb, shooting out in multiple directions.
From where she stood, Shi Muon could see her begin to move her arm around as her fingers twitched back and forth.
The base of the wires began to tangle around her fingers without running into each other. They did not thread together like her vines had, but they moved much more freely than those vines.
With quick and snapping motions, each wire flew through the air. They started running into some of the vines that were hanging in the air, gripping them hard and not letting go.
Stop! Stop! I hate webs!
She commanded the vines taken by the wires to get loose.
But that did not seem possible anymore.
The wires that had latched onto the vines were much too hard for her weak offense to break apart.
Hisoka continued moving through the world of green. She used both the wires as well as the vines themselves as steps to maneuver through it all.
Shi muon could see her getting closer and closer by the second.
The vines were trying to shake her off, but she managed to keep her balance the entire time.
In that case!
She commanded the vines to thread together again.
The threaded vines moved in front of her as the ones along the wall retracted and threaded together to form more shields.
But…
"!?"
They did not move.
No, it was not that they did not move.
They could not move.
With a few flicks of her fingers, Hisoka had used the wires attached to the vines to move the vines around in different ways. Once they started threaded together in the way she wanted, she forcefully clenched her fist.
The wires went hard and pulled the vines they were attached to along with them.
The vines were now stuck between following Shi Muon's command and being held in place by Hisoka's wires.
"Oh no…!"
And now the girl was in front of her.
There was something to worry about.
"I need to…!"
She reacted to the close proximity girl by moving the threaded vine shield down with a forceful action.
The threaded vine shield slammed into the ground just as Hisoka touched the ground.
Upon tossing the shields to the floor, Hisoka jumped up once more.
Now she was above Shi Muon.
She brought out her gun.
She pulled the Trigger.
She fired her shots.
"I am strong in defense!"
The threaded shields made another forceful action.
.
Hisoka saw the forceful action from the threaded vine shields.
They had been slammed to the ground so she could not move forward, but she had gotten around that by making a quick jump into the air.
She had fired Asteroid from her handgun in hope that she would land at least one hit.
Then Shi Muon had made a decisive action.
She hit herself.
Using the threaded vine shields that had been slammed into the ground, she had forced them to retract with more speed than someone would be able to control. They tore through the floor and came back to her in the same way a rubber band would swing back into place after having been stretched.
The voice from the retraction had hit her head-on. She had been tossed back.
Smart.
Hisoka had to give some praise to the action.
While it was self destructive and not optimal, it had been a better result than having to take hits from Asteroid.
She understood how those kinds of actions had worked since there was someone close to her who had used to use the same tactics.
These kinds of people saw themselves as the main defense against attacks. They viewed themselves as nothing more than shields who would soak up damage so that everyone else would be fine. They would even use self-destructive moves just to keep fighting and keep defending.
A certain boy had been exactly like that.
But that had changed for the better.
She did not understand the feelings behind that change, but she knew that it was good that the boy no longer fought like that.
Now.
What could she do?
"G-get those webs a-away from me!"
She was now in a dangerous position.
Because of her jump, she was in midair with her hand in a firing position.
The opponent had moved back and now had a better understanding of what to do.
That defensive woman had launched an attack.
The threaded vine shields came undone in an instant. They began moving towards her while threading together again. This time they did so in a different fashion.
They threaded together into a single threaded vine lance.
The lance was going right for her stomach.
.
She had done it.
Shi Muon had gotten out of a dangerous situation and had launched an actual offense.
She had gotten rid of her defense in order to make an offensive move.
Now she only needed to hit this web girl with the threaded vine lance and it would be over for her.
She would get praise not for her defense but for her offense that had taken out a Miden warrior.
"Aha!"
Or that was how it should have been.
.
The wall of threaded vines did not burst nor did it collapse.
It fell apart.
A trion blade had pierced through the wall of threaded vines, continued on to the threaded vine lance and held it in place.
It then began to move across the hallway, cutting through it and running into the wall opposite of Hisoka.
Then a voice rang out.
"We have manifested.
"What, if it isn't a human. Pathetic. Die.
"You don't need to die if you don't want to."
A body came through the opening in the wall of threaded vines.
The body was wearing a suit and held a blade in their hand.
They cut down the vines covering the walls.
A second body came after.
This body had been the source of the voice.
It moved through the space on light feet. Trion blades extended out of its fingertips and it had its head raised towards the heavens.
"Growth, huh.
"I am happy because of this body."
The voice continued to fill the space as the two bodies moved through the world of green, cutting down everything in their way.
"I've become stronger.
"As expected."
Quick flashes of a blade being pulled out filled the area as the one in a suit continued to slash through the vines in rapid succession.
"Thank you very much.
"There is no need to say thanks."
The trion blades moved in smooth motions.
Up, down, up, down.
They swayed in the air as if in a trance.
It was like they were not trying to cut the vines but instead "just so happen" to cut the vines.
"Wonderful! You will become beautiful on every point!"
"My! You're being honest."
The body in a suit and holding a blade rushed forward.
Drawing his blade once more, he cut through the remaining parts of the threaded vine lance.
.
Hisoka did not understand what she was seeing.
Not only had Mukuro and Tsuji begun tearing apart this world of green, but they were moving so smoothly.
The way they were moving and the way Mukuro was letting out his voice remind him of someone, but she could not place her finger on it.
It had likely been someone she did not like.
She would use the chat instead of interrupting them vocally, for the time being.
It seemed that Mukuro's voice was a necessity for the two of them.
Grumpy Cat: "They can't hear you. Or at least not Shinnosuke-senpai. Aki-chan just sent the details of what is going on."
Blue Widow: "What is going on?"
Grumpy Cat: "They are making sure Shinnosuke-senpai focuses only on Mukuro, so she had muted everything for him except Mukuro's voice. It's to make sure he can't focus on the fact that you there have a woman for an opponent."
Blue Widow: "That explains why Shin-kun is wearing his tie like that."
From where she stood, Hisoka could see that the tie with the Ninomiya Squad emblem no longer hung around Tsuji's neck and was instead tied around his head like a blindfold.
It was to make sure he could not see his opponent.
But something still did not make sense.
Blue Widow: "If he can't hear what is around him and can't see, how does he know where to go?"
Grumpy Cat: "That would be hard to explain to you. And I mean you specifically."
Why was that?
Grumpy Cat: "It is almost exactly like what Suzu does."
That was why it was so similar.
The crazy girl of Kotowari Squad would usually do something similar in the way she let her voice out and would begin to dance at any time.
Hisoka did not understand that girl at all and felt that it was for the better.
But that was neither here nor there.
What mattered at the moment was what she could do.
Blue Widow: "Could I help them without doing that too?"
Grumpy Cat: "They will probably need it."
With that confirmed for her, Hisoka began to move again.
She released more wires while staying out of the way of either blade.
.
"We are the loved ones. We are lights combined as one."
He felt so good.
"We are all ones together. Our hearts beat as one."
It felt amazing to let it out.
"Our connection is eternal, immutable. At least, to the level of stars twinkling in the night sky."
It also felt saddening.
"We guarantee it. You are connected to us."
It had been a song meant to be sung with those he loved and cared for.
The song coming from his mouth were his feelings. They were words meant to be sung alongside those other three.
But he had to use them here.
"Right. You have done well raising me to high.
"I shall praise you.
"Even if you didn't give it all."
These important words had to be sung out in order to fight.
They had to come out so that he could properly use that pathetic boy who refused to have him use his friend.
Movements that were meant to entertain others were wasted here.
And yet…
"We are the stars!
"The ones shining on the sky!"
He found himself enjoying it all.
"This is a special case. I shall offer you my guidance.
"We are the light. The light that comes after a storm."
He was moving his body in fluid movements for this dance.
The pathetic boy was listening to these words and these words alone, all while adding his own movements to the dance.
While she was not dancing along with them, that wire girl was also moving within the song.
This was why he liked music.
It was something anyone could like. Geniuses or idiots, music encompassed so much that even he could not deny those two this.
"Then praise! Our stars!"
He knew there was someone else like this.
A girl who loved song and dance more than anything existed in Border, so she likely knew what this felt like.
But he knew that this was still different.
He knew that this was not like her way of song and dance.
Her way was likely a way of expressing everything.
His way was a way of showing his devotion to only those three people.
The fact this pathetic boy got this treatment made a strange feeling in him well up.
"Fear us.
"Revere us.
"The ones shining in the heavens!
"The guidance of the stars!
"We descend and stand here!"
The feeling was not a bad one.
It made him feel light.
It made him move on light feet.
The feeling made him feel like he could let everything go and do nothing but sleep once he had let everything out.
"Divine essence connected.
"Divine essence excited.
"Power! Light! We ourselves!
"The love shining on the heavens!"
It all just meant he would need to end it all here.
This fight, this song, this dance, this feeling, and everything around him. It all needed to end so that he could sleep.
Even if it was near this pathetic boy, he felt like he should sleep.
A slumber that would right everything around him once more.
That was why…
.
Wh-what is this…?
Shi Muon could not even bring herself to see this as a form of attack.
The web girl was moving throughout the hall, trapping and ensnaring her vines with her wires.
The boy who could not fight her before was now moving with snapping motions and quick actions, cutting through all of the vines.
The most amazing one had to have been the tired boy.
Unlike the other two, he seemed to just be enjoying himself.
He spun and twisted with the trion blades at his fingertips while letting out his voice the entire time.
The sound of her vines being cut had long been overpowered by the sound of that boy's voice. It was an amazing voice that carried something she easily recognized.
Love and sadness.
She had constantly used that kind of voice many times, so she understood all too well what it meant.
Even so, she did not stop her own movements just because she understood.
Her own love and sadness had come from this very mission, so she had to put her all into it. Failing to do so would only upset everyone else and cause them to feel bad for her.
I don't want that!
With her own resolve not he matter, she began creating more vines.
Her world of green had been torn apart and the threaded vines meant nothing when faced with those trion blades.
Yet she continued to create more.
She continued to extend them out.
She continued to thread them together.
Even as those three got closer to her, she continued defending. After all, defending was what she was best at. If she could not do even that much then she would be useless and the others would not use her anymore.
So once more…!
Her mind stopped.
She saw green gas rise up directly in front of her.
Looking down, she saw that the gas was trion. Trion that was coming form her body.
Why had she started leaking trion?
She knew the answer. It was staring back at her.
An arc trion blade was stabbed into her stomach.
"Oh yeah. I never gave the name of my Trigger."
She could hear the tired boy again.
The singing had stopped and so had the dance.
It was all over.
"The name of my Trigger is Daínsleif."
The arc trion blade was not the one to end the fight.
It held her in place, along with multiple wires, but it was not the thing she saw as "the last attack".
That had been the pathetic boy who could not fight her. He quickly drew his sword from its scabbard and cut her down.
Wen… Captain… I'm sorry for not being a good defender.
"Both Wen and Shi are down, huh. Guess I was right…"
Koskero cursed in his heart.
He was standing before two Miden warriors, one with a spear and one with a blade.
The knowledge that two of his teammates had lost came through clearly to him.
He only thought one thing as he faced the two Miden warriors.
Miden really is…strong.