The fighting was finally over, the combatants had regrouped and the directors went over the end result of it all.

Under uncertain circumstances, it would have been surprising that they made it through the attack.

But this time had been different.

They had been prepared.

"No sign of trion signatures. It appears the hostile Neighbors and trion soldiers have all retreated."

"There's a chance they're in stealth mod. I'll need the ground forces to stay inside the area for a while."

Umi: "Shinoda-san, you can just let those guys go back home or wherever the wanna go. There are still a good amount of us who have nothing to do since we were held back from helping."

One: "We're ready to go whenever!"

Daybreak: "Sorry about him. He's just rowdy since we could not do much."

The ones in the command room looked at the messages, considering the suggestion for a moment.

It was Shinoda who spoke for them.

"It's fine, Suzaku. With some things we learned from this attack, we need you monitoring the transmissions until we are completely clear."

Umi: "Makes sense. Got it, I'll keep an eye out for anything. But…"

"Hm? What is it?"

Umi: "Oh, it's nothing important. Just some of our guys going a bit cannibalistic again. Asagi isn't the only one up in arms about not getting a chance to do much."

"Isn't it better that they didn't have to do anything…"

Kinuta's muttering voice only got nods for responses.

Turning back to the task at hand, Shinoda gave some extra orders to Sawamura.

While in his seat, Netsuki could only wipe his forehead as he spoke.

"I guess we managed to make it through. Thanks to Jin's foresight, we were able to protect the away ship. I suppose he should be rewarded for his special contribution."

"The enemy is still going to stay on the tangential orbit for another month. We don't know if we'll be able to maintain our defense like this again…"

Fuyushima turned back to reassure their worries.

"But the fact that we destroyed a huge number of their trion soldiers means a lot. Even if they come back again and attack the city, our forces will take care of it."

"Targeting the city… I wouldn't even want to think about that."

Umi: "Some of our more crazy agents would just think of it as another 'festival'."

"We honestly hold too many of those as it is."

That had gotten some chuckles from Sawamura and Fuyushima.

A small comment to lighten the mood, even if it had not been intended.

"At any rate, it was our victory today."

"Hey Denji, care to tell me why you decided to leave and go to the command room when you were the one who said we should stay put?"

Denji waved his hand lazily throughout the air.

It had only been him and Yorushi in their operating room the entire time.

They had rejected assisting around the base during the attack, but both of them had been there as some insurance.

Now that everything was cleared, the two of them had things to discuss.

"What's it matter what my reasons are?"

"The fact you're using full words means that it was something important."

"I guess you could call it that. But it was just one a whim that I ended up there."

"And what did you do there?"

"Made fun of some people and watched some boring ass fights. Really, you would think some of these guys would try harder."

"Wasn't Noah-kun someone who was fighting outside?"

Denji was quick to point a finger directly at Yorushi's face, flicking up his glasses with a glare.

"Don't mention that little ass to me. He had to get help from so many people to deal with one idiot. He was actually worse than Yūko."

"So that's what it was…"

The way Yorushi turned to the wall was enough for Denji to click his tongue.

With his mood now ruined, he turned around so that his back was facing Yorushi.

"I don't know how you two got so close - one of the few things I don't know about you - but you really do like looking out for her."

"I'm not looking out for that stupid girl. She just forced something onto me that makes me have to watch her back for her. Well, at least when she needs it. The rest of the time I just leave it to Rena to be with her."

"Oh? Are you jealous? Even without glasses, I would be fine inviting her onto the team."

"Go die. If she and I were on the same team, I wouldn't be able to hold back the way I do."

"The fact you count that as 'holding back'…"

"Besides…"

Yorushi looked down with a hum.

The reserved voice coming from Denji sounded strange, but also not out of place.

It had happened on a few occasions when speaking about the Nasu Squad Attacker.

"Even if this attack is over, there's still some things going on in the city. Being around her would only make me lose sight of what that is and what I need to do during it."

"And what exactly is going on?"

No response.

Trying once again, Yorushi put his foot to Denji's back.

"Denji, what is going on?"

This time there was a response.

It was a sigh.

"I won't be getting involved with it since it's #3's fault it even started, but… A hunt will be starting soon."

That was all that was said before the soft sounds of Denji sleeping could be heard.

It was done.

They could relax a little now, but their guards would remain up for the time being.

Destruction lay around them in the form of cracked walls and limp trion soldiers.

And while surrounded by this destruction, the members of Border…

"Hahaha! What is this!? It's so slippery! Oshiro, Oshiro, come here! Let's see how far he goes!"

"Sumiharu, you should probably leave that alone for now. The R&D Department will likely want it all in good enough condition. And Yōsuke, please don't indulge in his antics for now."

Miwa stared at the sight of Yoneya being spun around in a circle by Inukai while Oshiro tried to put a stop to it. Svantje was nearby, seeming to prepare for the chance to jump in.

"You aren't going to go help him?"

Miwa didn't look away from the scene as Suwa moved to stand next to him.

"He can handle this much. Besides, those guys know how far they can go before anyone else gets involved."

"Right…" Taking the cigarette from his mouth, Suwa continued. "So that's the enemy's Trigger."

"Right. Like Hogo said: we're going to take it back to get checked on."

New messages began appearing with names coming up.

From where the group was messing around, he could hear Inukai say, "Hey, it's Tsuji-chan's group!"

True enough, the first message had come from Tsuji.

Dino Boy: "We have a problem over here."

Blue Widow: "…"

"Really!? Shinnosuke-kun did that!"

Blue Widow: "…"

"Uwah~ I'll treat you two to something tomorrow for the occasion! When he wakes up, also invite Mukuro-kun too! I am very proud of you, Shinnosuke-kun!"

How could he understand Hisoka's silence even when they were just words in front of him?

Something that they had heard about was the fight Tsuji had in the hallway with the Taiyōko brother and Hatohara Squad member. All doubt of Yoneya and Izumi not bothering him about that fight had been thrown out the window the moment it came up.

They had won, though, so the worst of the teasing would likely come from his own teammate.

In a way, Miwa was glad that that attention would not be directed towards him.

Especially when he was getting attention from elsewhere.

Honest Sister: "Hey Miwa! I just had to watch something terrible! Can you honestly do me a favor and sing a song for me later on?"

Black Bullet: "I refuse. I already made it clear what my conditions were for singing anything for you."

Honest Sister: "I don't have the authority to let you move things around in the shop! My mom honestly won't give me a straight answer either!"

Black Bullet: "Then the answer remains the same."

Honest Sister: "So mean! I'm going to turn you into a doujinshi! Just watch me! That good on you right now will make great material! Yes, you will regret ever being covered in goo and losing your stiff sword on a rooftop! I'm even going to 'forget' to put a censor bar!"

Miwa decided to ignore that for now as he looked back to what Tsuji had said.

He knew it was dangerous to leave Suzume to her own devices, but Narasaka was bound to step in at some point. So he focused on responding to Tsuji's words.

"What's the problem?"

It couldn't have been anything too bad if he was telling them instead of the directors.

Dino Boy: "Taiyōko fell asleep right after the fight finished. We don't really know what to do with him. Is Tsukiko-senpai there?"

He was, but…

.

"So what's going on with you and Masataka?"

Sekai refused to mince his words as he sat on a low wall while Yuki stood next to him.

The younger boy was looking around at the battlefield before his eyes landed on Ninomiya.

He noticed that Miwa had looked in their direction for a moment before being drawn into another conversation started by Ninomiya himself.

"…Sekai-san, is this how you felt when you decided to give up on your happiness?"

So that's what this is about.

It would be wrong to call it a "right of passage", but Sekai understood all too well what was going on now. At least a portion of it.

It had happened to him before. Then he had seen it happen to Denji too.

The difference between them and Yuki was a simple matter of reasoning behind it all.

"Are you sure you want to be talking about this here? Kō is still in the hanger and Yūko is moving around in there too. I'll help however I can, but if someone overhears us, I can't guarantee that it will end well."

"…That's true. Sorry for bringing it up."

"Don't apologize when you haven't done anything wrong."

"Then I will apologize for my failure tonight."

Sekai raised an eyebrow and turned to Yuki.

What failure had he been talking about?

They were all aware that Yuki had a different battlefield than theirs. Hogo Squad's captain as well as Senzai Squad's Shooter had been a part of his team, but the finer details were something that none of them knew yet.

"So what are you talking about? If anything, I would say you had a big success."

A faint sound like nails tearing skin could be heard.

"You see her, don't you? Over there, being crowded around?"

Sekai looked one to where Yuki refused to look.

To the side was Mei, surrounded by some of the other agents who wanted to talk to her.

Something that he noticed was that she was not in a trion body and instead in her real one. Around her wrist could be seen a black bracelet with pink and blue lacing it in certain places.

"I failed so bad that she had to get up to go help us. And even then, there were other factors that had come into play for our fight to end. Pyrínas is still at the branch office, so he had to have also thought it was best that she come help. Shiro and Sthénos also had a hard time. Because of me."

"You sound terrible, you know that?"

"…"

"You aren't the type to blame yourself like that, so stop it. Neither version of 'you' would do that, no matter what you felt. No matter how unneeded you felt. So this is clearly something else."

"…"

"Do you want to tell Kō everything or do you want me to bring up this conversation?"

"All things considered, I want to hold off on telling him. He just won in the hanger with the other Attackers and his next match is one he will need to focus on. Me telling him about this stuff will just wear on his mind."

"So you're refusing to tell him?"

Sekai knew his tone had reached a cold place.

This was something they had agreed never to do, after all.

If Yuki was refusing to say something then he would have to get involved.

But Yuki shook his head at those words.

"I'll tell him. There's a break after his next match, so I'll do it then. I just don't want to bring him down with this."

"And the stuff with Masataka you seem to be steering away from for now?"

"…"

Letting out a sigh and a mutter of "irritating", Sekai stood up and turned to face Yuki directly.

You really like to lie, don't you? You especially like to give the most hurtful lies to yourself.

Lifting his hand, he placed it atop Yuki's head.

The younger boy looked at him, puzzled by the action.

He could hear others around him also question what was going on. His own squad giving the most annoying commentary.

"Oh, Captain-san is showing affection. This is when you're supposed to take a picture, right?"

"Eeeeeeehh!? I want a head pat from our captain too! Hey, hey, Yuki! If you switch with me now, I'll give you the latest porn game I bought!"

I'm going to beat those two irritations.

Forcing himself to cool his anger, Sekai gave a small pat to Yuki's head.

"Even if you think it was a failure, you did well. Good job."

He turned to walk away a moment later.

Unneeded people did not need words to express themselves in the first place.

.

Mei looked over with interest as Sekai walked away from Yuki.

She had managed to push aside most of everyone's worries for her and now she sat alone on one of the low walls.

Without the use of Shikifuku, her body had started hurting again. The painkillers had also still been in effect, something that Sthénos apologized for profusely.

But now that she was alone, she could see just how everyone was acting with the fight over.

Hearing a small sigh, she looked over to see Kako walking up to her. Behind her was Hokari, something she was not expected to see at all.

I guess that just shows that I'm not back to full strength just yet.

If she had not been in her current state, her calculations would have already filled her head with the different possibilities that could happen with that duo.

"Hello, Mei."

"Did you get tired of Miwa's rejections?"

Both Kako and Hokari stopped upon hearing her.

She did not need her Side Effect to understand why this was.

"My calculations are at an all time low because of my current state. Even if it sounds odd, I might end up asking questions. Rhetorical or not."

"I see…"

Without a word, Hokari lifted his hand to undo his Bagworm. He had not turned it off, only taken it off of his person.

Now holding it in his hand, he moved over and lightly draped it over her shoulders.

"You might be closer with the other two, but you're still my senpai too."

"Thank you very much, Hokari."

It was rather cold out, even with her body heating up. This was different from that heat though. It was more warm than it was hot.

Taking a seat next to her, Kako leaned a bit into her. To her other side was Hokari, seeming to be a guard for them.

"So even you couldn't sleep with all this noise, huh? Should I apologize for that?"

"Were you having fun out here?"

"Maybe a bit too much."

"Then there's nothing to apologize for."

Both women looked up from their spot to stare at Hokari.

Noticing their looks, he gave a nod.

"I had fun…watching Arafune have to fight dogs, that is."

The two women giggled into each other.

"Honestly, your age group is nothing but trouble. No wonder Mei finally decided to graduate."

"I figured that was because she was getting harassed by Jin."

"I beat him up if he tries. Although I did start missing my better underclassmen once I left. I'm just glad I can see them whenever I come to the base."

"If you tell that to our class rep then I'm sure she'll be trying even harder to join us at Border."

This time all three of them chuckled at the thought.

They were all aware of his hard that particular classmate of Hokari was trying to join Border. It would soon be her first attempt at joining and all three of them were rooting for her.

Letting out a hot breath, Mei leaned further into the Bagworm.

"So Jin saw most of what happened tonight with his foresight, huh? With my calculations it would have likely turned out better, but I'm glad it all worked out in the end."

"You aren't about to apologize for not being able to use your calculations, are you?"

Mei lightly shook her head.

"I know that I can't always be there. My calculations make things easier, but they aren't all I have. Apologizing for something like that would be pretty insulting to a lot of people."

"No one would take it too harshly if it is coming from you."

"…That may be a problem itself."

"How so?"

Because…

"They will probably view it as 'a perfect girl correcting them'. There are still a lot of people who are under the impression that I am a perfect person… That is incredibly wrong."

She let out another breath.

"Without my Side Effect at full strength, I have realized just how imperfect I am. It's only natural that I am like this, but I never noticed that it was to this extent."

"Is this because of Kushikage?"

Mei remained quiet.

Kako knew her well enough to know the answer. And even while being friends with Yuki for so long, Hokari only knew the bare minimum about the other Taiyōko siblings who weren't Hoshi.

"…Yes. And also no."

This was how she thought when she could not calculate everything out.

"I'm coming to a lot of realizations lately. One of those does concern Kushikage. But even more than that…are the realizations I'm finding out about myself and those who concern themselves with me. I guess this just means that my emotions take more precedence when I don't have too many calculations going through my head."

"Then welcome to being a 'normal' human."

"Well, no matter what, I still retain my ability to make curry."

"Oh, we still need to compare our dishes at some point! I have been wanting to try a new recipe."

As the two girls continued speaking, neither one noticed the extremely pale expression on Hokari's face.

There was now a terrifying conversation going on next to him and he did not know what to do.

"Hokari, would you like to try some later on?"

There was no escape.

Hollow.

That description would never have come to Hoshi's mind until this very moment.

She had prepared everything she needed to test out the prototype Trigger for Minoru. The whole time she was doing this she had been getting to know her new friend Obishima more.

The two had gotten along very easily and Hoshi had felt like she could speak freely with the younger girl.

That had been another thing.

Even when Obishima was the younger one of the two, the two fathom had spoken as equals. All formality had been lost so quickly that it may as well never have been there.

She had felt extremely happy to have made a friend in this girl.

That had been when the door had opened to show Kanzaki.

As opposed to Obishima, the older girl had spoken to them Kindly, yet formally. Her old fashioned speech was waved off, but the two younger ones were still rather reserved when it came to speaking with her.

Even so, this had all brought a nice atmosphere to the room that she did not think would be possible with people she had only recently met.

It reminded her of times with her family.

But it had been when Minoru showed up that things took a turn.

The blank expression on the boy had been unnerving and the way he held himself felt like he had shut himself out from the rest of them.

Hoshi felt cold when moving closer to him.

"U-um…Thank you f-for helping with this test, Minoru-senpai."

She only got a nod in response.

Directing him towards the Trigger on the table, she spoke with a bit more energy in her voice.

No matter what was going on, she would try her best to return that nice atmosphere.

"Kō-onii-san had something to do, so Kanzaki-san is here in his place. I had told you about it before, but I thought it would be good to just go over again."

"Right. Thanks."

His voice held nothing in it.

This seemed to put Kanzaki on edge as she slowly moved from her spot.

Wanting to stop anything bad from happening before it start, she moved over to Obishima.

"Yukari, can you help me get the rest of this set up, please?"

"O-of course."

"Then Minoru-senpai, Kanzaki-san. You two can make your way into the training room now."

Organizing the rest of things around her, Hoshi began preparing the training for them.

"Well will now conduct the test run for the prototype Trigger based off the the Black Trigger Shikifuku - Yushi."