Kumagai lightly pushed her back against the wall.

The cool feeling of the wall had calmed her nerves down a bit.

Nasu Squad had just finished a match and she felt her body heat up a little, even after everything had been said and done.

For the time being, she had gone her own way while leaving Nasu in the care of Hiura and Sayako. Having them see her as she currently was would only complicate matters.

Besides, we are still meeting up later to watch one of the later matches.

So she would need to cool her body by then and stop the rush of adrenaline that seemed to stick to her even after fighting.

Tapping her head to the wall, she felt the same cool feeling now reaching her neck as well.

She could have always gone for some solo matches to get the rest of it out of her system, but she thought that it would only add another problem.

Something like this had happened to others and she had always made sure to stay away from those types when she saw it. The battle crazed ones tended to still find her though.

But even with the cool feeling from the wall, she could feel the same rush flood her system.

So in order to fully deal with this issue, she pulled out her phone and unlocked the screen.

Once it was unlocked she tapped on Border's chat.

Using my upperclassmen like this could be bad, but it might end up helping me here. Guess I'll give it a try.

It was a last resort that may end up getting her in trouble.

But it was a risk that she had been willing to take.

Kuma: "Kimura-senpai, can you tell me a joke?"

Everyone: "WHAT!? AND WHY!?"

"Yeah… Leave it to these people to give an instant reaction like that."

Sometimes it was amazing how well everyone in Border worked together when it came to harassing others. The more obvious ones had been her upperclassmen a year older than her, but other ones could be just as bad at times.

This was one of those times.

Zaki: "Is everything okay, Kuma? Did something happen? Kotowari had told me your match went fine, so I thought you would be happy. Why are you suddenly asking for death like that?"

Red Picture: "Kuma-chan! Kuma-chan! Whatever you're going through, it shouldn't have led you to this! We can talk this out! Uh, uh…how about… I-I can give you some of my dorayaki!"

U-T: "Shouldn't you all calm down before trying to calm her down?"

Kōgetsu: "How old is she again? 17? Doesn't she still have a year before the crazy catches up to her?"

2.7 Maime: "But it reached you pretty quickly, Tachikawa-san~. Even before becoming 18~."

Kōgetsu: "Oh ho? Who is this coming from again?"

Cloudy River: "In my opinion, I think it starts to develop around 17. Some of us are just lucky not to catch it during that time."

Demon Child: "You just hide it well. No one on the same squad as Jinsei can say they don't have the crazy."

Simple Boy: "Am I crazy? If so, should I be happy about that?"

Lollipop Lover: "Oh, are you and Hisato done giving Hanzaki his 'congratulation kisses'? That was quick."

Yoshi: "No! They're doing it while typing!"

Decoy: "Daigo is continuing. I stopped after the first one."

Ortlinde: "You people change topics very quickly. Also, wasn't someone about to commit suicide via joke?"

Iko: "Ya get used to this kinda stuff, Chisato. Oh, but what do ya want for lunch?"

Ortlinde: "I already told you. If you wanna know again then just ask Satoshi."

Shōgi Boy: "Please don't send him over to me…"

Ortlinde: "Fine. Tatsuhito, I want some eggplant curry and ice water. Oh, but a bottled one is fine too. Just make sure you get here quickly. I don't want you missing our lunch together."

Iko: "This is why I love this cute girl, everyone. Suck it, all of ya damn lovebirds who go around makin' kissy faces at each other!"

Ortlinde: "You're going to make me get a big head."

Haru: "Sorry, what was that? I was busy telling Oshiro how amazing he was and that we're getting married later in life."

Hero: "S-S-S-Sumiharu! Th-that's… That was supposed to be a secret…"

Girls: "Oh my!"

Boys: "Damn you, Inukaaaaaaaaaiii!"

Kumagai felt herself heating up for a different reason as she fanned herself with her hand.

Her intent had been to cool off and yet those crazy people managed to only make her feel even more heated.

Oh, but I never got my answer from Kimura-senpai.

At this point it didn't seem to be worth it anymore. She would likely just be thrown back into the fire.

"Ah. Looks like 'That Gunner' has gotten even more posts. What's this? 'How did that idiot get a girlfriend before me!?' looks like it's also going up in numbers. I guess that's fair."

Sometimes it was fun to peak at those threads, but for the most part she wanted to stay away from them.

Only terrible things could come from looking at dangerous stuff after all.

"…"

She let out another sigh. Her problem seemed to have only gotten worse.

She felt a sudden vibration and pulled her phone back up.

The danger of it being another message from those people was high, but she took the risk anyway. No one would be able to call her a coward if she did.

But instead of it being a fight, it was…

Gambler: "So what's your problem? Do you wanna die that badly?"

.

It was Denji.

He was using full words and the mischief he usually had was gone.

That was how it should be with them. Holding nothing back and exposing everything for each other to see.

She smiled a bit at the words displayed before her.

Kuma: "I'm just feeling a bit heated at the moment. I thought that one of her terrible jokes would cool me down. Guess I wasn't thinking straight."

Gambler: "Of course you weren't, idiot. That would put you in freezing instead of cooling you down."

"I realize that now," she said with a sigh.

This was nice. In a strange way.

Speaking like this with Nasu had always been easy, but knowing that there was someone else who she could speak so freely with only made her happy.

Even if it was Denji.

Gambler: "So? Are you horny or something? Is that why you're heated?"

Kuma: "Of course not, you asshole!"

But there were still dangers when speaking with this man.

Like his lack of care about what he said to her.

I guess I can't complain though. After all, I'm the one who decided to take all of his hatred and negativity.

It was something that not even Nasu knew about. The other girl had never asked about the relationship she had with Denji, but that had been because she understood that it wasn't something that could be spoken about so easily.

Kumagai was grateful for her understanding of the situation.

The only other people who know what's going on are Murakami-senpai and whoever is closest to Sekai-san.

But only one of those two people was someone she knew.

Looking down at her phone, she saw that Denji had yet to reply to her. It was his way of telling her that he wanted to know what was really going on with her.

If this conversation had happened a while back then she would have assumed that he was just being rude again.

But she now knew better.

Kuma: "Hey, do you know who is close to Sekai-san?"

Gambler: "You're just gonna ignore my worries like that? Look, I don't want any of your hatred, got it?"

"That's not how it is."

He knew that as well, so his words were nothing more than a joke.

Kuma: "I'm just still riled up from my match. Is that good enough for you?"

Gambler: "I'll take it for now."

Kuma: "Good, because that's all there is to it."

There was nothing else going on, so she felt safe in her answer.

Gambler: "I don't know who it is either. #3 is in the same situation. He's hiding it pretty well and we can't just go asking for something like that."

Kuma: "That's true. Murakami-senpai and I have even less freedom when it comes to that stuff, so it would just be insulting if we tried."

Gambler: "Why do you want to know about that anyway? Something come up?"

Kuma: "I was just curious."

Was that really all though?

When thinking about it even more, she found that there were actually a few reasons as to why she would want to know. The most prevalent one was…

Kuma: "I pretty much forced this onto you, and Murakami-senpai has been friends with Yuki-san for a while now. So I'm just curious about the other situation."

Gambler: "Yeah, you were pretty rough during that time. I thought you were even trying to hit on me at first."

"That's disgusting on so many levels…"

A shudder ran down her body when she thought about it.

It felt even worse since the shudder came while her body was still pretty heated.

Gambler: "But I get what you mean. Sekai isn't the type to let something be forced onto him. He also didn't really have friends before joining Border. Even now, it's hard to say if he even considers anyone as a friend. So who could possibly know everything about him and what are the circumstances that led to that?"

Denji did not stop there.

This had been enough to catch his interest as well.

Gambler: "I had heard that it was Shinoda who convinced him to join Border, but I doubt it could be him. Whenever I tried to pick on Minoru, he would put a stop to it, if only because it was annoying him, but Minoru has his own problems to deal with, so he's also not an option."

Kuma: "Kuruma-san is someone who he is usually nice and laid back with. Could it be him?"

Gambler: "That sounds like a nice idea, but I don't think so. Tatsuku is the kind of person who would start to show it if something like that happened. I really just want to cross out anyone who is our age. The rest of them are pretty terrible people."

The irony of that statement had not been lost on her.

One of the worst people around is saying something like that… I think I'll just save that particular sentence if I ever want to get some revenge on this guy.

She made sure to cut the rest of the message so that other people would not be able to see what had led up to it. It would end badly if that had been found out.

But as she did so, a message came in that made her stop.

Gambler: "I'm starting to think that he may not have had anyone to begin with."

That was also bad.

From what she had experienced with Denji, Kumagai understood what it meant for someone like that to not have anyone to talk to. Someone who would be able to know everything and then provide their own thoughts on matters.

In a way, that was true for everyone. But it was even more true for people like Denji.

If Sekai had no one to talk to then…

What lengths is he going to to make sure people are happy…?

He had decided to give up his happiness. His unneeded happiness.

Denji had long since given up on his own hatred. It had been why Kumagai pushed her way through and forced herself into his life.

That way he would have at least one person to hate.

But what about the time before that?

What had he been like when there had been nobody who he could hate?

He was constantly destroying himself…

A bad image of a man flashed in her mind.

For just a moment the heat from her body completely drained and she only felt a freezing cold take over.

Once she shook her head free of that image, her body began to heat up like it had before. This time it seemed to not reach the same heat as before, but it still bothered her regardless.

If that image had done that to her because it involved Denji, what kind of horrifying image would appear if it was true that Sekai had nobody there?

Gambler: "You still there, Yūko?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the message that came through.

That was when she noticed she had wrapped an arm around herself.

"Yeah… I'm here."

Why did she answer that way exaclty?

The words came out, but had it been because she was answering his question or because she wanted to reassure him that he would not be alone anymore?

She could not find the answer to those questions.

"Kumagai."

But before she could open her mouth again, a voice reached her from the side.

Looking over to the end of the hall, she saw a familiar boy moving closer to her.

"Murakami-senpai."

.

Murakami smiled as he moved closer to Kumagai.

The direction he had been walking towards had put him into the same hallway as her. She was leaning against the wall and looking down at her phone, so he did not raise his voice to her.

Instead, he had said her name loud enough that it could be heard from down the hall while moving closer.

It had been enough to get her attention it seemed since she turned to him while saying his name.

"What are you doing here?" she asked while straightening herself out.

"I was going to go find someone," he answers honestly. It had been his intent to meet with one of his next opponents. "It's good that I found you here though."

"It is?"

He nodded.

There had been something he wanted to tell her but had yet to get the chance.

"I wanted to congratulate you."

"Huh?"

"Well, I guess I should give you a double congratulation."

"Why two?"

"One for winning the match you just had. The other for the fight you won during the attack."

He smiled more as she seemed to relate what he was talking about.

Word had been going around about the different fights that had taken place a few days ago.

Everything had been muddled or spoken as generally as possible by the ones involved. But the ones who had been fighting in the attack were free to speak with each other on almost everything that happened.

He knew about the other fights that had taken place inside of the base.

One of those fights involved Nasu Squad.

"I heard about how hard you fought and how you managed to get some really good hits on your opponent."

"It really wasn't much. I was running low on tiron and made some pretty big mistakes."

"But you managed to win."

"It was more like Rei got the final shot and I just threw her into that position."

"That's fine. You were working together after all. It might have been more concerning if it was a one-on-one fight. Besides, I know that the two of you wouldn't let just one of you fight a Neighbor."

"Still… I also needed Denji's help to really start doing anything. I got scolded in the middle of a fight and he even said he would come in to beat the Neighbor."

The way she looked down at her phone told him everything he needed.

The person she had been talking to was Denji, and him bringing up her recent fight had reminded her that he had to intervene during that time.

But still…

"That's fine though, isn't it?"

Her head shot up to look at him.

"You and Denji… It's only natural for one of you to go to the other's aid, right? You aren't really friends like you are with Nasu, but he isn't someone you can just leave alone. Likewise, he knows that losing you would actually hurt him a lot."

He understood that just as much as she did.

There was someone who shared the same relationship with him as Kumagai and Denji did with each other.

That was why there was no hesitation in his words.

.

Kumagai was silent for a moment.

Murakami had just said something she already knew to be true.

During that battle, and even after it, she had thought that it had been a bit insulting that Denji would do something like that.

He had come in for the fun of it, managed to stop her opponent with just his words and tone, and effectively spoke down to Kumagai because she was losing. It had felt like he was looking at her like she was someone in need of his help, even when she had been the one to force her way into his life.

But now that felt like a lie she told herself.

Denji was rude, arrogant and annoying at all times, but he had never looked down on her since she had forced her way into his life.

It was not respect or camaraderie he felt towards her. Calling it a friendship was just wishful thinking. No, she knew what kind of relationship they had.

We have a relationship of understanding.

They could speak freely with each other and he was able to show all negative aspects of himself to her.

In return, she had no reason to fear or hate him.

It had taken Murakami's words to remind her of that.

But that was also fine.

Murakami was someone who understood the situation as well as they did. Anything he said could only be viewed as something beneficial for them.

She felt a smile start to creep not her face as the heat from her body began to change into something else. Something more warm instead of hot.

"You're right. Thanks for remind-"

Gambler: "Hey, is that Kō!? Tell him I wanna talk to him about some stuff!"

Her words were interrupted by the sudden message.

Glaring down at her phone, she saw that the same message had been sent five times with two seconds of the first one.

Kuma: "You're right here! Tell him yourself! Just message him yourself!"

Gambler: "I can't. He scares me…"

She blinked.

Kuma: "How!?"

Gambler: "Just look how nice that guy is! Someone like that won't be able to hate me! That's pretty damn scary! It's not even like the other people who don't hate me! At least they do it because they're oblivious about it! He does it because he just doesn't want to be rude! He knows exactly what he's doing!"

That did seem to be the case with her upperclassman.

Since he understood enough of the situation, he had always made a great attempt at showing Denji only his good side.

In a way, it actually was something scary.

Kuma: "Ohh, but I saw him slowly pushing down on Taichi's head earlier."

Gambler: "What!? Why doesn't he do that crap with me!?"

That was a fair question.

But instead of answering right away, she looked up and faced Murakami directly.

"Murakami-senpai, what are your thoughts about Denji?"

Upon hearing her question, his smile softened a little while his gaze moved to the side. The look in his eyes gave her the impression of someone talking about a person dear to them.

"He is…a decent person, once you understand the circumstances. So I think he's fine. I'm really glad that you get along so well with him."

"…"

She immediately answered Denji.

Kuma: "Yeah, I don't think you can win here, Denji."

The cry from his message was ignored as soon as it came in.

She lowered her phone down to make sure that he would not be able to see the messages.

"By the way," she started. "I heard that you were doing a pretty good job during the attack too."

"Huh? You did?"

She nodded.

"Yeah. I don't know what exactly was going on, but I did hear some of the upperclassmen say something like, 'Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boooooooooooooyyyyy!' and 'MA! BOY! BE! BLOCKING! Those power shots don't have crap on him!' Some of them even appeared on the net."

.

Black Wolf: "Who was it!? I won't be mad as long as you come out and tell me who it was!"

Pokari: "Alright everyone, if you did something to him, please raise your hand."

Everyone: "Like we'll fall for that!"

Life: "Oh… Yeah. Ha ha ha. We won't fall for that one. Ha ha ha…"

Mi-Kon: "I see we have the culprit for this. Should I be the one to inform the guards or does someone else want that honor?"

Umi: "Already on it."

Life: "That was fast!"

Umi: "I figured that something like this would happen."

TetsuG: "What even happened?"

Everyone: "I don't know."

.

Kumagai raised an eyebrow at the defeated look Murakami had while leaning against the wall.

Kuma: "Well that's weird."

Gambler: "Those guys usually are."

Kuma: "This coming from you."

His next message of complaint was also ignored.

"Anyways…"

She felt bad for the way he would sling his body off of the wall. Everyone understood just how about his age group could be at times, so this was likely one of those times.

Feeling the need to change the subject after she had been the one to throw him into the lion's den like that, she brought up her hand.

There had been something on her mind since she had come to a certain decision.

Murakami was a perfect person to talk to about this.

"Murakami-senpai, you know Taiyōko, right?"

"Which one do you mean?"

How many were there?

Thinking back, she could remember talk of a dangerous woman with a dangerous appearance also having that name. There had also been a fight in the hall beyond her own fight that involved someone with that name.

Oh, I guess he would know all of them if he met at least Kotowari Squad's Taiyōko.

The connections he had to others was a bit amazing.

"Taiyōko Hoshi."

"Oh, yeah. She's a good girl. Why do you want to know?"

It could have just been her mind playing tricks, but the protective tone he took had been surprising to hear.

He did not speak rudely to her though, so she thought it would be safe to speak.

"I wanted to talk to her about some stuff."

"You want to talk about Fujin, right?"

Of course he would be able to figure it out that easily.

"That's right. With Kotowari Squad around, it might end up getting a bit crazy. I thought that, if you know her, well, you could get her to talk to me one-on-one. I won't do anything to her, of course."

"Oh, I know," he said with a smile. "You're also a good girl, after all."

Heat filled her body again.

This time it was for a different reason.

.

Murakami continued to smile at Kumagai. Even as she seemed to get a bit flustered, he smiled to her as if he had said nothing wrong.

He had found what she said to be true. Hoshi normally stuck to Kotowari Squad once she had joined them. She had thought of it as an extension of them hanging out while not inside school.

She had been friends with Takeshi and Toby before joining their squad, so it was understandable that she thought like that.

But by doing so, she had begun to be seen less without them around.

There had been complaints by the Engineers since she would visit them less often now that she was participating in the B-Rank Wars. In his opinion, that was for the better.

But…

"She told me that she will be busy soon, so I don't know when there will be any free time to talk to her."

Kumagai seemed to gather herself at hearing his words.

Her face was still a bit flushed, but her expression and the sigh she let out meant that she knew what he meant.

Cute.

A reminder of what Taichi had done came back to mind.

He would make sure to give the boy another scolding later on.

Or he could just leave it to Kon.

Either one works, really.

But that was for Future Murakami to figure out.

For now, he would focus on the conversation he was having with Kumagai.

"That makes sense. With everything going on, she would be pretty busy."

"Right…"

"Well, thanks for telling me that. I guess I'll just wait until everything has settled down for that."

"Sorry about that."

"No, no, it's fine," she said with a smile. Lifting herself up a bit, she scratched the back of her head. "Man, and I was hoping to ask her about Fujin. I learned something new about it today, so it felt like a good time to ask her. Then I remembered that she has a match later on. Actually, isn't her match against you guys?"

"That's right. We will be going against Kotowari Squad. Along with Ninomiya Squad and Meishō Squad."

"Ah, I see. In that case, I'll be rooting for you guys."

It was his turn to get flustered.

The full-teeth smile she gave made him go a bit red.

"Kotowari has been really good lately, and I have some friends in Meishō Squad, but you guys were the first ones this season to take points from us properly when it comes to all of the squads in your match. You even managed to make it to the top tier. No way do I want to see you guys lose. You hear me, Senpai? You guys have to win this one."

The way she leaned in to make sure he was listening only made him go more red.

It was true that the match Suzunari-1 and Nasu Squad had with Tamakoma-2 had been a proper match unlike the one Nasu Squad had with Kotowari Squad the first time. Everyone had been trying their hardest and they had even gotten commentary from Tachikawa and Jin.

That match had been where Murakami had defeated Kumagai, even with how hard she had tried. Everything she had done amounted to little when compared to his own experience and skill.

But that had not stopped her.

Their next match had been against Kotowari Squad and Katori Squad.

Kumagai had managed to bring things to a draw along with Katori and Hoshi. The fight had many moving parts and the two opposing squads were no pushovers. Yet they had managed to draw with them.

From there it only got better.

Kumagai had taken to Hoshi's prototype Trigger and managed to win both her fight against the Neighbor and the match she had earlier in the day.

In his eyes, that was amazing. It was something that he found admirable and something he would keep an eye on as time went on.

So that was why he made sure to pick his next words carefully.

He did not want to end up like the rest of his age group in front of this moving forward girl.

"I can't say we'll win, considering who our opponents are, but I'll at least tell you that we'll follow your lead and not back down an inch."

"Hahaha! Now you're just giving me a big head here! You guys do what you can and I'll make sure to praise you the whole time. After all, not only did you beat me the way you did, you're also someone who understands my situation the best."

There was also that.

They normally saw that was a sad thing, but Kumagai had just used it as a connection between the two of them.

"Well, I feel better than before. I'll admit that I was feeling a certain way after the match, but after talking with you and Denji, I feel pretty good now. I've calmed down enough to where I can really watch your match."

"Hey, Kumagai."

"Yeah?"

He stopped her as she turned.

There was still something he wanted to tell her.

Something to make up for not being able to help her talk to Hoshi.

"Hoshi also said that she would be around the Engineers during the weeklong break coming up. Kotowari Squad usually doesn't go with her during that time. It might not be too long, but that would be the best time to talk to her about Fujin. Or just anything in general."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. She's not the type to turn someone away, so it should be fine. Just be kind to her."

"She's someone dear to you, right? Then there's nothing to worry about. I already thought she was a pretty cool girl, so there won't be any problems between the two of us."

He would be lying if he said that there had not been any worries originally. But those thoughts had left with the confident way she spoke to him.

Both Hoshi and Kumagai were good girls, so he knew he could rest easy with them meeting.

"Well, I'll be off then."

He gave a final nod while watching her leave.

.

Once Kumaga was out of sight, he let out a sigh.

Pulling out his phone for a second time, he checked the time and noticed that there wasn't much time until his next match.

There wouldn't be enough time to search for the person he had been looking for.

So instead, he messaged that person in the chat.

Black Wolf: "Hey Mitsuteru, there's something I want to talk to you about."

An average looking boy with black hair and gray-black eyes stared down at his phone. There had been a wait time for him since the rest of his squad had yet to make it to their operating room. So for the time being, it was only him and his captain in the room.

He had just gotten a message from one of his upperclassmen while waiting.

He sucked in some air before slowly releasing it.

The tension that had built up in his shoulders was also released.

"So this really will be a stressful conversation for you, won't it?"

A voice came from one of the other rooms.

"I hope not. Senpai knows what to say and what not to say. Although it might just be me who ends up ruining everything."

"It's normal to think that, Teru-kun. Just don't think too much about it."

Mitsuteru lowered his shoulders and stopped himself from taking another breath.

Feeling any tension when speaking to Murakami meant that he did not believe in him and his words. That was something he did not want to think about, no matter what his own feelings towards the boy were.

Pulling up his phone again, she began to type out his return message.

Daybreakr: "Is this about our coming match, Senpai?"

Black Wolf: "That's right."

Daybreak: "Do you mind if Seiji-san listens in?"

"Are you sure that's a good thing, Teru-kun?"

Off to the side, a stylish boy with red hair having a streak running through it and green eyes looked over to him. The smile on his face told him that he knew what this could mean.

In response to the look, Mitsuteru nodded his head.

Black Wolf: "That's fine with me. Although it concerns your former squad."

"I figured as much…"

A message soon came up on his screen that read:

[2Truths1Lie has joined the chat.]

2Truths1Lie: "So what did you need to talk to Teru-kun about?"

Black Wolf: "You guys know that Yuki and Kimura will be commenting, right?"

2Truths1Lie: "Of course."

They had been told recently. There had never been a reason to hide who would be the commentators, and they would hear them speak at the end anyway, so all squads had been informed.

That included Meishō Squad.

Black Wolf: "I wanted to talk about what Mitsuteru was planning on doing."

2Truths1Lie: "We can't tell you about what we plan on doing for the match, you know."

Black Wolf: "I know. That's why I want to know only what Mitsuteru is planning on doing."

Seiji gave an apologetic look over to Mitsuteru.

"I'm sorry, Teru-kun. I tried."

He shook his head to say that it was fine. There would be no escaping this conversation and he was fine with that.

I just hope we finish before Shigeko or Shinichi-kun make it here. Kanji-kun should be fine, but those two might cause more trouble than I can handle.

Just thinking about what could happen had started to cause tension to build up. His shoulders lifted a bit while his shoulder blades stuck out.

He took in a breath before slowly releasing it into the air.

His shoulder began to fall back down while the rest of his body relaxed into his seat.

Daybreak: "I plan on going all out, Senpai."

Black Wolf: "Why is that? It will only be Yuki and Kimura. Senpai and Kanzaki won't be watching or participating. And remember, this is 'Yuki' and not 'Kiyoshi'."

"I know that. Please don't remind me of that…"

"It's okay, Teru-kun. Feeling that way is normal."

Mitsuteru nodded at his captain's words.

Everything he was feeling was normal.

Daybreak: "Our opponents are Senpai, Nino-san, and Kotowari Squad. Do you think I would be able to hold back if it was that case?"

"You really have been working hard this season. Although, I guess that's also pretty normal when you have a goal."

Black Wolf: "So you want to show off by trying to beat us?"

Daybreak: "Please don't say anything that doesn't make sense, Senpai. I only want to use this random chance I got."

"Was it random…?"

Black Wolf: "I see."

Did he?

He had to have.

This was someone who knew his former squad rather well.

If Murakami did not understand his words, then it would have been unlikely that anyone else would.

But he was not the only one.

"Yes. It's normal to think that way, Teru-kun. Don't let it get you down."

"...Seiji-san."

"Hm? Yeah, what is it?"

"Do you happen to know more about my former squad besides what I have told you?"

Black Wolf: "…"

Yes, that was the response he had been expecting.

Murakami knew where he was going with this.

"Hm… Not particularly. As a matter of fact, I don't even know what that squad was called. You made sure to omit that when speaking about them. Even Shigeko won't say who that was."

"Oh, she doesn't know either."

The surprised expression he got in return made him feel a bit bad for his captain.

"Well, it's not like she doesn't know. It's more like she knows the people, just not what happened while I was a part of that squad. You know them too."

"Yes, you told me that you had been on the same squad as Yukkun, Takato-san and Kanzaki. Rather, you had told me that you worked with them all before."

"That's right. But at the time, two fo them went by different names. And our entire squad was much different than what you see from ones like Kotowari Squad."

There was no tension in his body, yet he still took in a breath.

Unlike the quickness he took a breath, he slowly released it into the air.

He was taking this conversation seriously.

Both Seiji and Murakami knew that.

"Do you have time for a short story, Seiji-san?"

"It's normal to worry about that, so don't worry about it, Teru-kun. The other three don't seem to be in any particular rush, so it should be fine. Oh, but keep in mind that they are still rather unpredictable when it comes to timing."

He understood just how true that statement was.

Their remaining teammates had a tendency to have the best or the worst sense of timing, depending on how you looked at it.

Still, he wanted to take that risk.

"Senpai, are you okay with that? You can add in your commentary as well. Although, I'm not sure how much of this you know."

Black Wolf: "I have no problems with that. If Kuruma-san calls me over then I'll just listen in on my way."

That was fair.

Suzunari-1 still needed to get ready for the same match after all.

This story would be for the sake of having his captain know more about the situation.

"It's more than normal to tell friends stories, Teru-kun. I would even say it's expected to share things like that with others. And likewise, the ones listening in have a responsibility to be patient and attentive. So…"

Seiji held out his hand as if to tell him to start.

"You can go on without any worry."

So after taking in and releasing another breath, Mitsuteru began.

"To start, the name of my former squad was Taiyōko Squad. And our captain was Taiyōko Kiyoshi-san."