Suzume had a bounce in her step for the first time today.
She was walking to the side of a group of Border agents, but she was making sure to keep away from them. She watched the C-Ranks begin to mil about in preparation for later in the day.
"Nn…"
She stretched and then spoke to no one in particular.
It's honestly been a bit since I took a nice stroll through the base. Even if I have somewhere to be, it is still nice to just walk."
Someone spoke to her as she removed her jacket.
It was Toby.
The boy had a gray trapper hat on his head and he raised a hand from the direction near the group of Border agents.
"Can you hurry it up already? The match has already started over there."
"Hurring will honestly mean nothing if we aren't on the same page. Besides, there are still the logs we can look over."
"Do you think it will be a long match?"
Toby stopped at a point 5 meters away and Suzume nodded.
"It has been a while since we fought those squads, so it's best to say that each one of them has gotten stronger. So if each one has gotten stronger, it honestly means they learned how to keep going. And…"
And…
"Later on, anyone who finds themselves in a terrible position will only find a way out of that situation."
"…So they need to make the first attack and challenge them there?"
"No." Suzume smiled. "We all decided to split up to watch these two ongoing matches. You and I chose to go watch Shor Squad's match against Arafune Squad and Kakizaki Squad while Take and Hoshi-chan went to watch Tsukiko Squad's match. Knowing that, it's clear how each team will move. At one point I even imagine that there will be a standstill for them."
"…So you don't think they're going to lose at the beginning?"
"If I thought they would lose, I wouldn't even go to watch the rest of the match. Good grief, foolish dog," said Suzume. "They'll likely go all from the very beginning. But unless they are knocked out early on or the entire match ends quickly, they need a safe way of reaching that standstill."
Suzume began walking in the middle of her statement.
And once she passed Toby by…
"Hey! Don't just leave me behind!"
"Toby, who do you think will win?"
"I want Shor Squad to win since No is my best friend, but Arafune Squad kinda has them dead to rights since they can take out Minubuki and No from a distance. Even Kakizaki Squad has an advantage since they have good teamwork."
"Being a good person doesn't honestly seem to be worth the cost. …Now, you said they already started the match, didn't you? Let's go."
"Wait!" Toby ran after her. "Do you really plan to just sit and watch the match?"
"I plan on taking some notes too. But I honestly just want to see how everyone does."
"You're planning on making fun of them later, aren't you?"
"You don't even notice what's going on, do you? These matches might actually show you and Take what exactly you are missing by only being good boys who try to do only good things."
"You sure are crafty."
"I am honest after all. Besides…"
Suzume gave a "heh heh" of laughter.
"On occasion, it is nice to show off for your underclassmen. Don't you think?"
That question brought Toby to a stop and Suzume reached a hand out to her.
Suzume rubbed the brown hair on that short head and laughed in her throat again.
"Heh heh heh… I'm glad you're worried about Shor Squad."
"Of course I am."
Toby sounded exasperated as he walked out ahead of Suzume.
Suzume followed behind him with a light step.
This is bad…
Noah could think of nothing else as he hid inside of a building with Bagworm on.
Multiple cuts and a few holes could be seen running along his body. The leaking trion had long since been taken care of, but the amount he had left would not be enough.
Shore: "Sora, run by me who should be left."
The sound of his squad's Operator could be heard coming through to his head.
8-Skies: "Arafune Squad has Arafune-san still on the map. Hanzaki-kun was taken out by Kakizaki Squad's Teruya-san and both Tomoe-kun and Kakizaki-san were able to take out Hokari-senpai. Arafune-san managed to take out Kakizaki-san. And as for us…"
He stopped Sora from continuing.
He already knew.
Fubuki had been spotted by Hokari and was taken out. Through a pincer attack, Minubuki had been taken out with the point going to Kakizaki Squad.
This meant that they were in last place with no points to their name.
What to do now…
A sudden feeling came up.
.
A strange feeling of defeat would always come to Noah, it was just what happened to normal people like him who could not stand out most of the time.
Being noticed or standing out was not something he ever tried for, but this feeling would always come when he was put in this kind of situation. One where he knew that he would lose and there was nothing he could do about it.
It had been why he had gotten a certain from Denji at some point.
Defeated Boy.
That name would always appear before his eyes when he had started to give up.
This time was no different.
Calling himself a defeatist was going a bit too far, that much he knew. Even when he became like this, he always held out hope that there would be a chance for victory.
Only a handful of time did his side of him not show itself during a fight.
When he was having matches with Toby and Shana.
The two of them had always made him feel like everything was fair and he could reach the same places as them.
It was amazing.
But that had also changed.
Shana had seemed to steadily be getting better. Her movements were just a bit more fluid and her swings held more power behind them.
But it had been Toby who had torn apart that feeling of being even with the two of them.
"It was that time, for sure… When I helped him…"
When Toby had been having his own troubles, Noah had helped him through that with some training. That training had seemed to give Toby the comeback that he needed. From there it seemed like things were only going upper him.
Noah had been happy, truly. But then Toby only continued to move forward at a rapid pace.
The amount of space between the three of them seemed to only increase by the day with Noah himself being far behind the two of them.
It was only proven during the attack against Border.
He had been helping Tsukiko Squad against a single Neighbor and some trion soldiers, yet he had managed to do so little. Nothing had been done until Kotowari Squad had arrived. Takeshi had been amazing, but the way Toby reached them so easily without worrying about the Neighbor had been what stuck with him the most.
Both of them had already gone far ahead of him.
I had thought that moving to one of the branches would help us improve, but we are too far behind Suzunari-1 to even consider being their equals.
Having the help of their branch mates had only made him realize just what kind of difference in abilities there were between them.
Things were changing too quickly for him to catch up.
Platinum: "Hey Captain, we have complaints over here."
"Just let Minu go off to the other room for a bit."
Platinum: "It's not from her."
That had to be a lie. No one else would complain at a time like this. Most certainly not to or about them.
But still…
Platinum: "The first one says, 'Heh heh heh. That captain of yours is being honestly worse than our foolish dog.' The second one says, 'Tell him to stop being an idiot!' Really now, these people are such harsh critics, aren't they?"
The smile in Fubuki's voice was as clear as day.
It felt like it was wrong to have the chat up when they were in a fight. Even if Fubuki had been defeated, it still felt wrong to have it up.
But the words were not lost on him.
The two of them were both saying the same thing.
.
"I know you can do better"…right?
Yes.
I'm not like Daigo or Hisato, so I won't say "I'll do my best".
But.
I can do better.
If this was all it took then they would not have made it even to the mid tier after making Shor Squad so soon.
Since they had made it.
I need to do better. That way I won't be criticized so heavily.
His opponents were not going easy and they were determined to run him down. Each one of them was doing what they could to win.
When situations like these came up, it would be better to wait things out and run out the clock.
But only if the losing ones could do nothing else.
I can't be like that!
His squad was relying on him and he was being criticized for not doing more when he was capable of it.
It was also somewhat insulting to these opponents who were testing their strengths here. If their opponent ran away or hid then their strengths and strategies would be pointless. They would be wasted in the worst way.
Noah understood this since he had done this sort of thing before without noticing.
Yeah… Back then with Samu.
Defeated Boy.
I'm always like that. Because of my defeatist personality, someone else had to come in while Samu put himself out there just so I could stop being an idiot.
It was the most shameful time of his life.
That time had been the reason for him getting more serious when it came to Border.
Denji would make sure he never lived it down while Mikumo would always reassure him that it was fine.
They were both so different. As were his current opponents.
They were all different, but had something in common.
They were also defeated.
So many times they were defeated.
The numbers for them were far larger than his own losses, he was sure. But what had they done afterwards?
That was…
Get up.
They continued.
Do better.
They did not stop when losing.
Even if I'm just some defeated boy, that's fine. I just need to continue being defeated until I can't be defeated.
It was a selfish and arrogant thought that he never had before.
But that was why he liked the sound of it.
After all, even a defeated boy could be selfish and arrogant at times.
"That was rather mean, Fubuki-san."
Fubuki looked down at Sora with a hum.
The sound of Minubuki going crazy behind them could be heard. Either one of them paid her any mind and only focused on the screen before them.
"You know Shor-kun doesn't like us having the chat open during matches. Why did you tell him you got sent messages?"
"Oh, about that. I lied."
Sora turned his head so fast that it worried Fubuki about neck damage.
Even so, she knew why he turned to her so suddenly.
To answer his unasked question, she pulled out her phone and showed him that it had not been unlocked since before their match started.
"I only said what I thought my queen and Lobo would say. The former may not have much of a connection with our captain, but something like that coming from Lobo? That would leave an impact on him. Those two have the most gayly-straight bromance I have ever seen."
"…Where did you even hear that word from? Also, you are letting your speech mix up again, Fubuki-san."
"Am I?" she asked with a shrug. "Oh well. And as for where I heard that… Actually, it was Tsukiko Squad's American who told me that. We see it from time-to-time, but she had a front row seat to those two when they hung out."
"I am afraid of what sort of things she has told you."
"Enough that I always have something to give my queen when she needs ideas."
She saw Sora lower his head, likely in a short prayer for they captain.
Minubuki's noise traveled further away, she shrugged at that. The rocker girl could make noise in the other room if she wanted.
But as for where they were…
"We need to see how our captain does now that 'words of encouragement' have come in."
Toby and Suzume shuddered as they took their seats.
They both looked to each other as the commentators spoke.
Feeling Alive: "Looks like things are finally moving again."
Mystery Smoker: "Well both Shor and Arafune had to gather themselves since they're down to their last members. Meanwhile, Kakizaki Squad still has Teruya and Tomoe."
Suzume gave a slight chuckle at hearing the irritation in Miwa's voice.
Wanting some revenge for the rejections he gave her, she had got Tsukimi to make him commentate for a match. It had only been made better when she realized who else would be commentating alongside him.
"Uwah… Kanji and Mr. Suwa are really trying to mess with him, aren't they?"
"Heh heh heh. Let this be a lesson to you, foolish dog. Reject my invitation so many times and something honestly fun will happen. Yes, just look at how much fun Miwa is having up there."
"I'm the one who reads your rough drafts. No need to tell me something like that ."
"I guess you would know this by now. In that case… The two fo you should remember this as well."
Neither one of them turned to look at the two boys sitting next to Toby.
"Um…right… But Misaki, I already know what happens. We're classmates after all."
Shobu shifted in his seat next to the nervous Sasamori.
The two boys had been watching the match before either the two of them had arrived, so they had gotten comfortable in their seats.
Wanting to give some pity to his upperclassman, Toby had decided to sit between Sasamori and Suzume. Shobu had been on the other side of Sasamori.
"As long as you know then."
"Of course…"
"By the way," Toby said as he leaned forward. "I expected Hisato to be here, but I didn't think Shobu would be here too. Do you know someone in this match?"
There was a moment of silence. The three older ones understood that Shobu had decided to not try and speak over the other noises around them.
In his place, Sasamori looked over with a slight smile.
"That's actually on me. I had invited him to tag along to watch this match. Daigo had something else to do and Hanzaki is participating, so I went to Tenryū. He agreed to come with me, after a small push from his uncle."
"Oh, so you went to Yagura."
"Yeah, that's right. While I was there his uncle had told me that his class is next to Tomoe's, so it would be nice to watch one of his matches."
"That sounds like Mr. Akasora alright… He's trying to do something nice at least."
Suzume and Sasmaori titled their heads at the bitter smile on Toby's face and the small nod from Shobu.
"Well either way, we are honestly here now. Let's see just how this all plays out for everyone."
The match had come to a standstill.
That had been the confusion that Arafune came to.
The two opposing squads had gone down in numbers, but one of them still had the advantage in numbers. But…
When it comes to skill, I can still take them on.
He preferred to snipe them from a distance so that they could not reach him, but things don't always work out like that.
If it came down to it, he would have to fight them at close range with Kōgetsu.
Among the remaining three opposing combats, Teruya was generally the one to look out for. Noah was dangerous in his own right, but Arafune had been someone to help him improv, so he found himself safe to assume he knew what he could do. Tomoe would likely be supporting Teruya now, so taking him out was less of a concern and instead just a matter of time.
I still shouldn't let my guard down around him though. If I end up giving too much attention to Tomoe, Teruya or Shor will come in to attack me.
From there it could only go bad.
For the time being, I'll just-
.
Arafune did not see the attack coming. What had happened was that he had a feeling that something was coming and reacted to it on instinct.
Because of all of his training as an Attacker, he had a better grasp on physical attacks than some others.
That was why when he moved to the side he immediately began to turn to the direction the attack had come from instead of what had attacked him.
If the attack was using an object then it meant the attacker would be at a distance. In a situation like that, it was best to look directly at the attacker instead of the attack itself.
And should the attack go along with their attack, he would naturally see them as he turned to face them.
But…
"What!?"
Something unexpected happened.
Like he suspected, the attack was only that - an attack. There had been no body attached to the attack.
What he had found strange was the attack itself.
As he turned to face the attacker, he caught a glimpse of the attack itself.
What he saw was…
The scabbard…!?
It had not been a Shooter-type Trigger or even a thrown blade.
The attack was the scabbard that normally held Kōgetsu.
The scabbard had flown in from somewhere else and moved to hit him.
Because of his instincts, the attack had missed and the scabbard was now moving towards the ground.
But that was where the second strange thing happened.
A blue plate appeared above the ground.
Now Grasshopper? What is going on here?
His answer came a moment later.
It came from the scabbard.
With nothing to stop it's descent, the scabbard had moved towards the ground. The Grasshopper plate had appeared just above the ground, where the scabbard would have landed.
"Shit!"
The scabbard was launched back up in the same direction it had been going before.
"…!"
No.
"Tch!"
It had turned just a bit after being bounced back by the Grasshopper plate.
Arafune had already begun his turn so he could not simply move away from the attack.
The second attack was not a physically dangerous one, but it was one that could lead to danger.
If the scabbard were to hit him while he was in this turn, he would be forced back at an awkward angle. The person who had thrown the scabbard at him would have a perfect chance to attack without worrying about any of his defenses.
This kind of crap is something I would expect from those cannibals. The fact I'm seeing it here means…
He stopped his own thoughts into order to focus on the attack.
With a second click of his tongue, he pushed his arm forward.
He had been holding onto Egret the entire time the attack was happening. Now he would push the Sniper Trigger towards the ground.
He pulled the trigger as soon as Egret pointed towards the ground.
The small amount of recoil it provided forcefully pushed him back.
With no target to hit anymore, the scabbard flew back into the air.
Arafune took his chance to look into the air to see who it would be going back to.
The answer became obvious once he saw…
Goggles!?
.
Noah moved through the air as the scabbard for his Kōgetsu was launched upwards.
His jump had put him into an arcing line over where Arafune was.
The distance was a few meters in the air. He could see Arafune's eyes directed towards him after having forced himself back using the recoil from Egret.
The scabbard only took a moment before reaching him. The speed it had from the grasshopper meant that there was force behind it even as it climbed up to him.
Opening his closed fist, he reached for the scabbard while shifting Kōgetsu into a reverse grip.
The moment his hand grabbed hold of the scabbard he felt the pull from the force. It dragged him upwards.
His feet did not touch open air when moving up. Instead, he placed a blue plate in the air to use as a foothold.
He fell.
Unlike what he had seen with Toby when using Headfirst Fall, he felt himself being thrown towards the ground with Kōgetsu in one hand and the scabbard in the other.
It was a forced speed that pushed him down.
This forced speed was instantaneous though, meaning he did not have to wait to build it up.
The target was Arafune and the weapon was Kōgetsu.
.
Arafune released Egret in the moment. The force it had provided was using him back, but it also added weight to him.
With that weight now gone he could move fast enough to not be cut down by the thrown Noah.
Continuing his turn with less weight threw him off balance. So instead of trying to regain his balance, he made a certain action.
"Keh…!"
He pushed himself.
He forced his turn even more to the point of being on a single foot and moving towards the ground.
"!"
It worked.
Noah hit the ground with a noise while Arafune fell to the ground and into a roll.
He did not stop himself from rolling since he knew one thing about this goggles boy.
His balance is crazy!
Noah had a simple, yet effective, Side Effect of being unable to lose his balance.
No matter the terrain and no matter what forced him to move, his sense of balance would never falter.
It was because of the Side Effect that he could immediately attack after having failed.
So he did.
Noah turned his body on a single foot so that he was facing the rolling Arafune.
Arafune kicked off the ground to get out of his roll.
Noah's attack hit the ground instead of Arafune.
Arafune moved back while forming Kōgetsu.
A battle between blades had begun.
Suwa heard a familiar "Heh heh heh" below him.
He did not look down. There was only one person who would give such a laugh.
She seemed to hold back from saying anything though, allowing him and the other two commentators to speak about the battle.
Feeling Alive: "That was a mistake on Arafune's part."
Black Bullet: "In this instance, that's true."
Suwa found it hard to disagree with them.
He was reminded of his own match against Arafune Squad and saw something similar. But there was also a glaring difference in this case that could end with him losing here.
Black Bullet: "He should not be fighting this kind of battle right now. If he had his teammates then it would make sense. In this situation, it would be best to move away from the fight and get back to a sniping position."
Feeling Alive: "Shor isn't a particularly hard person to beat for someone like Arafune, but he isn't the one to worry about. Both Teruya and Tomoe are still there and have regrouped. If those two attack at once, or worse, coordinate with Shor, then he'll have no way of getting out of that. It would be better to rely on sniping when it's this late in the match."
Black Bullet: "Looking at the distance Kakizaki Squad is from those two, he should at least be able to take out Shor first. That way he would only have to fight Teruya and Tomoe."
If he had a lit cigarette in his mouth then this would have been a perfect time to puff out smoke.
Since that was not the case, he only grinned and leaned forward.
Both Kenzaide and Miwa gave their words on the matter already. Their view was accurate to a fault. Nothing they said was wrong and their positions only heightened the truth of the matter.
But…
Mystery Smoker: "You're both wrong."
He knew what to expect.
Mystery Smoker: "Arafune's not that dumb. He might bite you after hanging out with those guys for so long, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing. The fact he's gone to using Kōgetsu just means that he's ready to end this match."
Black Bullet: "From the look at his Trigger set, he only had Bagworm and Shield in his sub set. If he could use one of the Sniper Triggers there instead, I would be inclined to believe you. But this just doesn't look like something that's possible for him. Especially with his trion going down from the match so far."
Mystery Smoker: "Just watch. If you think he can't win, fine by me. I'm sticking to my own thoughts though. Arafune isn't so dumb or weak to lose here."
He heard another laugh.
This time he did look down to the girl who had laughed.
Their eyes met for a moment and her smile only seemed to grow.
He started to get a bad feeling in his stomach when seeing that smile.
It was her next actions that made him realize that he was screwed and there was no longer any way of him getting out of the hall without issues.
The girl lifted her two pointer fingers, smacked them together, made some strange face, then mouthed words that only he could read:
"I honestly know."
Maintaining a professional appearance here was needed. He could not throw his head down in front of him or it would only gain suspicion from the two next to him.
So instead, he cursed that girl from deep in his heart.
Noah noticed something when he moved around the space with Arafune.
The two of them continually crashed into each other. It was not a simple matter of who was better so much as it was who had more force behind their attacks.
Both Kōgetsu blades would hit each other with a lot of force before being pulled back.
Noah would move around the air, never giving his opponent a chance to get a lock on him.
Arafune would hide his movements with Bagworm, never giving his opponent a chance to see what he would be doing.
The two of them only allowed for the bare minimum to show before they threw themselves at each other.
And as they continually crashed into each other, their words spilled out in front of them.
"You're very straight forward, so I won't need to worry about you pulling stuff like Kūga!"
"Thank you for the compliment!"
"You can't beat me like this!"
"I only need to win! I don't need to beat you!"
"You've grown up a bit, haven't you!?"
"Not at all! I'm just a sore loser!"
That's right.
Arafune remembered the name given to Noah.
Defeated Boy.
A name representing just how many times Noah had lost.
Each loss was recorded and marked down to show others.
Denji was just that kind of person.
"But still…!"
He had to add something to that name.
It was nothing special, but he knew that it would be enough for Noah.
"I'll knock you down before the other two get here! I'll knock you right off your balance beam!"
With a shout, he pushed forward one more.
This time he made a decisive action.
As Noah's blade moved forward to crash into his one more, he reach out his hand. His arm extended out as the blade came down.
He grabbed Noah's arm.
Noah tried to pull his arm away, but it was too late.
He had been caught.
Arafune pulled Noah closer at the same time he swung his Kōgetsu.
"Hm…!"
Before his blade could reach Noah, he felt something on his foot.
There had been no reason to see what the feeling was from since he had seen it happen before his eyes.
Noah had released Kōgetsu from his hand, throwing it towards the ground.
Turning a bit, he used the foot opposite of Kōgetsu to kick the blade down and into Arafune's foot.
Meanwhile, Arafune's Kōgetsu got closer to his neck.
Before it could, something had appeared to stop it.
Kōgetsu's scabbard.
Noah had used his free arm to lift up the scabbard in order to block the attack.
Now both of them were locked in place.
But it did not last long.
Noah raised his voice.
Arafune could finally see through the goggles.
What he saw was resolve.
"They made it!"
"…This match…is over…"
"Tenryū?"
"Oh? Have you found something out, Shobu-kun?"
Shobu said nothing as he lowered his head a bit.
Neither one of his upperclassmen had said anything wrong, but having their attention on him had made him feel nervous.
…W-Willpower… …I need to have some willpower here… …So, um…what should I…say…?
He had never gotten used to speaking with others, so he instead went with the first thing that came to mind.
"…Orange…"
Well that had failed.
And yet…
"Orange? Do you want an orange right now? Hey, foolish dog, go get this sweet boy a sweet orange."
"You idiot, that's not what he's saying!"
"Um… Is it bad that I had thought the same thing?"
He wanted to reassure Sasamori that he was fine for the time being, but there was something he had to do.
He had messed up the first time, so he had to try again.
So this time…
"…From above…"
The response he got was just as bad as the first time.
"Above? You want oranges from above? Heavenly oranges? Sorry, shobu-kun, but Mikado City is a city of tangerines! Yes, a tangerine heaven that only ends up being hell for oranges!"
"Tenryū…you can ignore her. …Our entire class does after all."
"Same over here. Our squad is too used to this by now."
"Heh heh heh. Is that so? Then I guess my next one will be about the both of you. Now which one of you honestly wants to bottom? Or do you both want mob characters to be in it? Or if you really want, I can have Dai-chan help you to properly model for a nice full spread. And I honestly mean a full spread of your legs of course."
"Alright, we're going to move to those open seats over there, Tenryū. Come on, come on. No need to listen to this any longer."
Shobu did as he was told and followed Sasamori and Toby to the seats that were away from Suzume.
He did have to worry once she started hugging herself and wiggling around, but that was a problem for other people.
At the moment he needed to properly explain himself.
Both older boys were waiting patiently as he gathered his thoughts.
…This time…for sure…
After taking a small breath he began to speak.
"…Other two…"
Sasmaori tilted his head. It looked like he was trying to put the pieces together.
Toby seemed to understand him, but also looked unsure.
Azure Dragon: "Do you need help?"
…Oh… …That's right…Ruri-san is…listening in…
Nodding his head would be pointless, so he answered back in text before showing his screen to the there two boys.
"Huh? Oh, the new friend you had mentioned? Let's see…"
Azure Dragon: "'Kakizaki Squad is already going in for the attack. The match will be over once they make first contact.' That's what he's trying to tell you guys."
Both older boys hit their fists in the palm of their hands with an O expression.
At the same time they both gave the same statement:
"Yeah. This match is over."
The first response to an area attack would have been to move out of the area or bring up a defense to block the attack. If it covered a wide area then it meant that the attack was likely made in the moment and held no real power behind it.
For power behind area attack, it would require power on the scale of an A-Rank. That had been why Arafune was certain he would be able to block the attack using Shield.
The issue that came with that was in front of him.
Noah had good hold on him and his foot had been run through by Kōgetsu and held in place. Putting up a shield now would only give Noah a chance to attack. After all…
The scabbard isn't a Trigger! Since holding him here means he can't use Grasshopper, he can freely fire an attack directly in front of himself!
The only thing stopping him right now was the fact Arafune was holding onto his arm and pushing against the Kōgetsu scabbard.
His current situation left him with only two options.
The first would be putting up a shield while holding Noah down. This would defend him from the rain coming down on them but leave him open to attack from Noah.
The second option…
"Keh!"
Move back.
Arafune released the force he was using against the scabbard. In the same moment he moved his leg to take a large step back.
The sudden disappearance of the push made Noah begin to lean forward, but not lose his balance.
He immediately reached out for Kōgetsu once his hand was also free from Arafune's grasp.
But Arafune did not wait for him to get the blade.
In one harsh push backwards, his foot was cut from the center to his toes by the blade stabbed into the ground.
This was his resolve.
.
Tomoe was shocked at what he saw upon reaching the ongoing battle.
The collaboration rain of Hound he had used with Teruya had been meant to see how Arafune and Noah would react. If they put up defenses then he and Teruya could move in to attack.
It seemed more like this had been what Noah wanted though, so it put him on edge a bit.
What he did not expect was for Arafune to move back and cause injury to himself. Trion leaked from the deep cut on his foot, yet that did nothing to stop him.
The Sniper removed his Bagworm in order to put up a shield to block the rain of Hound.
The shield began to break in parts, but otherwise remained sturdy.
Compared to someone like Ninomiya, the attack had been a light shower more so than a downpour.
None of the shots managed to hit Arafune or Noah. Both had managed to defend themselves before being hit.
And as Tomoe moved towards them, his eyes came in contact with Arafune's.
Zaki: "Tomoe, sorry to have you do this."
The voice of his captain came through to him.
Even after being taken out and allowing them to move how they thought would be best, he still apologized.
Zaki: "But just hold out until Teruya is ready, okay?"
There was something different with how he spoke.
He apologized, but did not sound like it was anyone in particular's fault.
That was because they all agreed to this.
The words from his captain were meant to tell him that he could do this. It was an apology that told him he was sending him out because he could get this job done.
So he would.
"Here I go!"
.
Teruya heard what her captain had told Tomoe. It ran through her too, but she said nothing about it. There was something else that needed her attention.
From the way the match had been going, Kakizaki Squad was in the lead when it came to numbers. They had two members still fighting.
But both of them were injured.
Teruya had lost an arm to Hanzaki and Tomoe's side had been shot through by Fubuki. Both of them were low on trion, especially after their combined attack.
At the same time, their opponents had no backup and had injuries of their own.
Arafune had just crippled himself by cutting through his own foot. His strength as a former Attacker meant that losing a foot would force him to steady himself more as he attacked and defended.
The worst problem had been brought down to a level that any of them could manage.
That was why she was preparing herself.
Recently, she had heard talk of a certain girl who had appeared in a squad that they had fought in the second round. The girl was an unknown to them, but the squad she joined was known to them.
That guy…
That squad had a captain that she has yet to forgive.
The boy had shown a disgusting side of himself during that match and treated her captain as nothing more than prey. And for what?
He was being selfish and a brat. Someone like that…
Her captain had been telling them that the boy was getting better and really did feel remorseful for his actions. Everything that had built up because of that match seemed to be slowly dissipating form her captain the more he was around that boy.
But she could not feel the same way.
She refused to go near him. If she did try then she was sure she would end up going off on him.
That was why she had not found out what the girl who joined that boy's squad was. All she knew was what the girl had managed to do.
She had managed to make a strong Trigger.
Talk from others had led her to learn what the Trigger was like and what the drawbacks of it were. At the time, it sounded interesting, but not something that she would try to use without practice.
And then more talk had reached her.
Talk of Nasu Squad's Kumagai using that Trigger.
The way she had been trying to use that Trigger quickly got her some attention. Some had even said she defeated a strong opponent using that Trigger.
So Teruya had looked into it.
Then she found it.
Fujin.
A Trigger supposedly based off of a Black Trigger. One that used the blade of Kōgetsu to slip into multiple ribbons of light, each one being a blade by itself.
Upon hearing about it, she had asked to try it out.
What she found was something beautiful, yet deadly.
The ribbons of light that acted as blades moved freely upon activation. When she began mentally commanding them to move around, they seemed to dance through the air while following her instructions.
It had been an amazing sight.
She had taken to it immediately.
In her squad's last match, she had been unable to use it. The entire match had been something of an eye opener for them all, but that was only after the fact.
Now that they were more free to move about, she had thought about what she could do.
Fujin was what came to mind.
A series of close range attacks that no one but her would be able to figure out without help.
So that was what she would do.
With a calm voice, she lifted Kōgetsu with her remaining arm and spoke.
"Fujin."
.
Enjoyment began to take over Noah's entire body. As the fifth went on, he felt himself enjoying everything about the fight.
He would not win and he would remain defeated, but all of that didn't seem to matter as he continued.
It was not the same type of enjoyment as when he fought Toby or Shana, it felt like nothing could reach that point, but it was enough to make him start smiling as he moved around the battlefield.
His trion was already in a dangerous spot, so repeated use of Grasshopper had been out of the question. That left him with his physical abilities while fighting against Arafune and Tomoe.
He was keeping up.
Tomoe was not much of an issue simply due to the small difference in skill, but Arafune had been brought down to a level where he could fight both of them. A few scratches would appear on his body, but nothing that would hold him back from moving forward.
It was amazing.
None of them were making decisive attacks and none of them were getting taken out in an instant.
It was so different from fighting against Toby and Shana.
So…
"One more time!"
He brought down the scabbard in his hand.
The target had been Tomoe.
With his small size, it would be difficult to properly hit him right now.
He was proven right when Tomoe ducked down along with the scabbard and moved back.
That did not stop his attack though.
Using Kōgetsu in his other hand, he took a swing at Tomoe, who was moving backwards.
From behind him, Arafune could be seen moving to cut the boy down.
Do better than that!
Shifting his feet to turn to Tomoe, he placed a Grasshopper plate at the bottom of his foot.
He was thrown forward.
His swing with Kōgetsu held more power in it as he moved forward.
Tomoe tried to dodge to the side, but was too slow.
Noah's Kōgetsu cut through his side while the scabbard and hit him directly in the stomach.
Arafune, having seen the attack, moved to the side before hand and prepared to cut through Tomoe.
Even better!
"Asteroid!"
While still moving forward, Noah created a cube of trion before firing it at Arafune and Tomoe.
With the sound of a clicking tongue, Arafuen dodged the attack.
Tomoe had not been so fortunate.
His body was quickly littered with holes as the Asteroid ran him through.
Bail Out.
His body turned to green light before flying off into the distance.
But that did not stop the other two.
Noah used his foot to stop himself and turned around.
But when he did…
"Huh…?"
He saw ribbons of light.
Those ribbons of light moved around him as if embracing him.
Three of those ribbons of light touched him. They touched his neck, his arm holding Kōgetsu, and they touched his stomach.
Each one of those ribbons of light tore through his body, separating him and forcing green lines to run along his body.
It had finally hit him.
These ribbons of light were blades.
Bail Out.
.
Teruya wasted no time in moving to her next opponent.
In her hand was a hilt with three ribbons of lights coming out of the hilt.
Arafune quickly recognized that Trigger. He was aware of its applications.
I need to keep a distance from it!
He began to move back as Teruya moved forward.
She lifted the hilt of the former Kōgetsu as if to strike him.
The three ribbons of light moved along different paths.
Each one could be controlled by Teruya using her thoughts or her voice.
If she went with the former then the attack would lag for a moment.
If she went with the latter then the attack would move faster, but he would be able to figure out where the attack would come from.
So how would she attack?
Either option would be fine so long as he kept a distance.
But…
"Keh!"
He had trouble moving.
The feeling of falling soon overcame him. His back would reach the ground after he tripped.
His foot was torn from the center to the toes and made moving around more difficult.
"Guess this is it…"
A grin began to form on his lips as he started to fall on his back.
The ribbons of light soon came down on him.
"!?"
But none of them reach.
Each ribbon of light touched a green shield hanging in the hair. The blades that formed those ribbons of light tried to cut through the shield.
The blades managed to cut through them, but disappeared afterwards.
Arafune continued to grin as he fell back, bringing up Kōgetsu as he did so.
"Learned this one from Senzai!"
The Kōgetsu cut through Teruya's arm as his back hit the ground.
With a forceful push, he did a tumble while turning off Kōgetsu.
Now on his knees, he took aim. Egret was in his grasp while he faced the leaning forward Teruya.
He fired.
Bail Out.
Feeling Alive: "With that, the match is over. The end score is Arafune Squad with five points, including survival points, Shor Squad with a single point and Kakizaki Squad with two points. The winner is Arafune Squad."
Mystery Smoker: "Heh! Told you guys that Arafune had this!"
Black Bullet: "I'll hand it to him, I didn't expect him to win in the end there."
Feeling Alive: "To be fair, he is probably use to attack like that all the time because of the people he usually hangs out with."
Mystery Smoker: "Stop right there. Say anything more and they might end up coming over here, Miwa."
"Damn right they will. Then I'll be the one to have to deal with them."
Arafune spoke with a grin still in place. He walked over to the monitor where the rest of his squad was situated.
Hokari patted his back while Hanzaki gave a thumbs up.
"Good work out there, Arafune-kun."
"Thanks. I didn't expect Teruya to pull out something like that, though. It's a good thing I'm used to attacks like those already. If not for that then I would have lost for sure."
"She did her best too. But since that Trigger is relatively new, she couldn't have had too much time to practice with it."
"Once Taiyōko fixes those drawbacks, that thing will end up being a terror."
"For now we should be glad that it is still the way it is."
Arafune nodded his head. It was clear that his loss would have been assured if not for these particular circumstances to have happened.
With a sigh, he turned back to the screen.
Hanzaki was studying next to it while on his phone.
Deciding to get a small peak over the boy's shoulder, he saw some messages coming through and couldn't help the chuckle coming from his throat.
Simple Boy: "Good job winning, Yoshito."
Yoshi: "I don't need congratulations from you…"
Simple boy: "Then would you like a kiss on the cheek? I hear that it's what couples do at times like these."
Yoshi: "I definitely don't want that from you! Leave me alone!"
Simple Boy: "I see… I understand. You want a double kiss from both me and Hisato. I will tell him right away."
Yoshi: "Don't you dare! If either one of you tries, I'll punch the both of you!"
Simple Boy: "You will find that to be too much work and allow it anyway."
It was the truth and they all knew wit.
Hanzaki may argue all he wants through messages, but none of them believed that he would be against such a reward.
From what Arafune Squad had seen, Hanzaki was always the most content when being smothered by both Suwa Squad's Attacker and Hikigane Squad's Attacker.
Now that I think about it…
Suwa had been one of the commentators for the match and he had heard that Hisato would be watching the match from the seats. That meant there had been no escape for Hanzaki in the first place.
He gave another chuckle at the thought.
His thoughts had been interrupted when he felt his own phone go off in his pocket.
The likelihood that it was some of those terrible people was rather high. Opening it may result in a storm of things said about him.
Instead…
Mystery Smoker: "That final sHOT was nice."
He immediately covered his face as it went a deep red.
He was also in for a rough time after this match.
"You guys did great out there."
Tomoe felt a bit better at hearing that while Teruya's expression turned smug for a moment.
Once that moment was over, she deflated and looked to the side.
"I guess I should have stuck with what I know instead of trying to use a Trigger that had been barely invented."
"You wanted to try something new, that's all. Besides that Trigger is not complete yet. I'm sure you would have done fine with it being perfected for use."
"Still…"
Kakizaki gave a hum to the girl while crossing his arms.
Tomoe felt bad for her since she would not have been put in that situation if he had not gotten taken out before her. But there was nothing they could do about it now.
He wanted to say something, but Kakizaki spoke up before he could.
"Then how about this?" He raised his index finger while looking directly at Teruya. "I know that you don't like being around Kotowari."
The disgusted look she got on her face made Tomoe look away.
He was more indifferent towards his upperclassmen since Kakizaki had told them all about how the Shooter had his own problems to deal with.
The same could not be said about Teruya though.
"So how about I pull him away from his squad for a bit? That will give you a chance to speak with Taiyōko."
"Taiyōko?"
"Right. She is the one who invented this Fujin, so she should be the best person to speak to about it. I know that you have been holding back from doing so because of Kotowari, so I'll inform him about this. It will give you a chance to learn something new and help to improve Fujin."
After a few seconds of thinking about it, Teruya's expression turned a bit brighter. Her eyes showed more interest than before and her stance was righted once more.
It was nice seeing her like this again.
Tomoe smiled at his upperclassmen.
As he did so, he felt something vibrate in his pocket. It was his phone.
Thinking that it might be Ema or Midorikawa, he opened it to see a message he was not expected.
More accurately, a message from an unexpected person.
Shobu: "…You did well…Tomoe-sama…"
Noah slowly brought himself to the main room where the rest of his squad was waiting for him.
Off to the side he could see Fubuki banging her head even when there had not been any music playing.
I'm pretty sure she always has music going on in her head though…
Seeing her began to calm down his nerves a bit.
Once he felt ready, he looked over to see Sora and Fubuki smiling in his direction.
He gave a sheepish grin while rubbing the back of his neck.
Once he felt the strap of his goggles, he began to fiddle with the front of it. A habit he had taken to recently.
"Sorry about-"
Fubuki turned her head with a raised hand. The plan of her hand facing him.
"Don't even say it. We don't want to hear that stuff from you."
"Okay…?"
"Just tell us how you feel."
"I feel…"
"Oh, and don't give us any sort of response we would hear from our upperclassmen."
A harsh, but fair demand.
"I feel like I did all I could. It wasn't at the level of others, but it managed to get us a point. So…I'm satisfied with that. For now."
The smiles on their faces only grew at his words.
They understood him well enough to know that he would be fine.
He was still a defeated boy, but that was not the only thing going for him anymore.
Defeat was something that everyone has gone through. After that defeat, it was only reasonable that moving forward came after. Once a person began moving forward it showed that a defeat was nothing more than a way to continue moving forward.
Noah felt that he understood that better than ever now.
So with his own smile, he moved forward.
He moved to stand by his squad.
"Let's do everything we can in our next match too."
Sora and Fubuki continued to smile while Minubuki bounced over to them.
"Understood!"
Sasmaori pumped his fist once the score had been announced.
Disregarding the wiggling girl in the other seat, they were all rooting for different squads during this match.
Toby had been there to watch Shor Squad, Shobu had been told that he should root for Kakizaki Squad, and Sasamori was behind Arafune Squad all the way. That was why he felt so excited when they had won their match.
He was not the only one to feel this happy as he got a message as soon as it was over.
Simple Boy: "Hisato. I had heard that couples usually give kisses as a sort of congratulations. Is that right?"
Decoy: "Uh… I feel like I know who told you that… But I guess that can be true."
Simple Boy: "In that case… We must shower Yoshito in kisses for his win. Head-to-toe is usually how this works, right?"
The scary part was that Daigo would take that literally and actually kiss every part of Hanzaki's body.
At the same time, he found that it wouldn't have been too bad if he got to see something like that.
No, no! You're letting that wiggling girl over there get inside your head! Only Satori should be that bad!
Slapping his cheeks, he went on to respond to Daigo. It was best to do something before it became a mess.
Feeling a bit of relief, and disappointment in himself, he put his phone down while looking to the two boys at his sides.
To his right, Shobu could be seen typing out a message, His fingers moved slowly and with uncertainty, but he continued typing regardless.
You can do it, Tenryū! I believe in you! Just don't end up with friends like mine!
Deciding to give the boy some privacy, he looked over to his left. Where Toby was sitting.
The dog boy had his arms cross and his brows furrowed.
It was clear that he was upset about the match.
"I'm sure Shor doesn't feel bad about that last part."
"Huh? Oh, yeah… By the end of it, he seemed to finally get a hang of what he should be doing. I'm really happy about that. But…"
"You're mad that they didn't win."
Toby only nodded.
Sasamori could understand the sentiment. He was sure that he and Daigo would feel the same way if Arafune Squad had lost.
Even so…
"He did his best."
"Nah. He isn't like you or Daigo."
"Oh?"
Toby shifted in his seat so that he could properly look at Hisato.
"He isn't the type of person to do is best. No is a great loser, so he's the type of guy to do everything he can. Do better than what he can. He does stuff that's usually beyond his best, even when it's not necessary."
"I see."
And he did.
There was a difference between "doing your best" and "doing even better".
From his own experience, "doing your best" meant improving constantly while not giving up on yourself. It was to not feel down when everything you have tried fails and you need to start over. It was the essence of trying with everything you had.
"Doing even better" meant using yourself at every chance you could get. The failure involved in that hurt more, but the victories were that much more rewarding. A person's best could be viewed as a limit, so the people who "do even better" are the ones who find the determination to break through their best.
Knowing that, Sasamori patted Toby's head lightly.
"My bad. I'll apologize to Shor later on too."
Toby looked up to him in confusion, but said nothing about it.
"Well, time for the final commentary. Are you going to be staying for that?"
"Yeah. We weren't here for the start of the fight, so I want to know what happened."
It was Sasamori's turn to nod.
"Still… I wonder how the other match is going. Take and Hoshi were the ones to go over there."
That match was…
"It sounds like it's a tough match for everyone involved."