Noise filled the hall as feet pounded on the floor and people took their seats.

All around the hall were different groups taking their spots in front of the large screen.

Different voices could be heard and sounds of bodies being hit rang out.

"Hey, hey, hey! What was that for!?"

"Did you seriously have to crossdress while we watch this!?"

"What are you talking about!? Suzume's in this match! I need to show my spirit for her!"

"There are a good amount of people here for this one."

"That's to be expected considering the ones involved."

"Whoo! We made it in time!"

"Let's just go find a seat already."

Sekai sighed as he looked at everyone who was coming into the hall.

The idiot crossdresser had noticed him and began to wave wildly.

Everyone around him turned to see who was waving at and received a glare from him. The only ones not affected by it had been the idiot crossdresser, Ōji Squad's Shooter and Senzai Squad's captain. Everyone else had quickly turned away.

He let out an irritated sigh while muttering "irritating" under his breath.

The noise all around him had done nothing to distract him from what was happening right next to him.

"It looks like we will be having a full hall this time."

"Hah. It's not even the last match of the season. These people are likely just here because of the people involved and the people commentating on it. Hah. It's actually pretty irritating. It feels like they are really expecting a lot from us."

"Considering who you two are, that makes sense. Maybe I should calm everyone down before we start though. I have been waiting to tell this joke, so it would-"

"Hah. Please don't do that. It would be irritating to try and get everyone back to the world of the living."

"You don't have to put it like that!"

Even with their voice bouncing back and forth between each other, the person in between him and Kimura remained quiet.

Since they had first entered the room, No, before we even met up, Yuki had stayed quiet and kept his head down. Because of where was sitting, Sekai couldn't even see the look in his eyes because of the hair that was covering his right one.

Well, it's not like I could sit to his left with Kimura needing to sit there. And sitting between the two of them would give him the perfect chance to escape.

Sekai let out a sigh while lifting his hand.

Out of pure reflex, he placed his hand atop Yuki's head.

Yuki turned to him with a bitter smile. His eyebrows lowered and his eyes moved towards the ground.

"It's fine, Sekai-san. I'm not going anywhere until this match is over."

"Ah. That wasn't my intent. …Sorry about that."

Kimura's gaze had been obvious, but he chose to ignore that for both of their sakes.

"Hah. So, letting the two of you know, I won't be able to fully speak for everyone in this match." Both younger members fully turned to him at this point. It was a good thing they were both so attentive. "I can speak about abilities and skill all I want, but I don't know a majority of these people well enough to tell if they are doing something out of character or not."

"That's fine. We can make up for whatever you miss."

"Right. Hah. But to make sure we do not mix ourselves up, we should probably go over who we best know and compare. That way we know who to leave it to."

"Oh, that sounds like a good idea."

Sekai was quick to catch the look in Kimura's eye.

She's quick to catch on when it comes to the important things. That's good.

The three of them knew that this was not necessary, but none of them had rejected the idea. Knowing a person could help with things like these, but it was not strictly needed to give proper commentary on the way someone fought. So long as they understood how fights worked, there would be no need to know any of them personally.

And yet…

"Alright, here's the list of all participating members. I have included the Operators since they also play a part when it comes to fighting."

The quiet around the three of them had given him the time to type up this list.

At times like these he had been grateful for the technical advances Border had gone through. It made organizing and categorizing things much easier than they had been at the start.

Masataka Ninomiya

Sumiharu Inukai

Shinnosuke Tsuji

Aki Hiyami

Takeshi Kotowari

Suzumebachi Misaki

Toby Awdry

Hoshi Taiyōko

Suzuka Nakagami

Tatsuya Kuruma

Kō Murakami

Taichi Betsuyaki

Yuka Kon

Seiji Meishō

Naki Shigenaga

Shinichi Asagi

Mitsuteru Ariake

Kanji Kenzaide

Takato still being swapped really lowers the possibilities for Kotowari Squad. But more than that…

He looked over to see Yuki's eyes go a bit more dull while Kimura bit her lip looking through the list.

The "fact" of her not being here ends up weighing on the people who understand the "reason".

It was a harsh thought, but Sekai found himself lacking in enough reason to expression himself the way the other two were doing.

He was just not close enough to Mei to feel too bad for her at the moment.

Letting out another sigh, he began to slide his finger across the screen in front of him, crossing out names.

"Hah. Going down this list, the people I am best suited for are; Masataka, Inukai, Tatsuya, Kō, Shigenaga, and Kenzaide."

He crossed the other names off with his finger after sending a copy of the list to Yuki and Kimura.

WorTri: "

Masataka Ninomiya

Sumiharu Inukai

Tatsuya Kuruma

Kō Murakami

Naki Shigenaga

Kanji Kenzaide"

Instead of a sigh, Sekai clicked his tongue at his own realization.

I don't know Kotowari Squad too much.

It had not been because he didn't want to know them, Okay, maybe a bit, but there had been no reason to do more than nod in their direction when they were nearby.

The noise that came with them was an irritation and his teammates had a better time with those kinds of people than he did. It was just a matter of differing personalities.

Akasora had tried to get him to properly meet them as his students, but that fell flat once the older man had seen his facial reaction to the idea. The sigh that had come after helped nothin.

Thinking about that stuff now made him think that it would have been better to meet them properly in the long run.

Oh well. Nothing I can do about the past now.

He needed to focus on what was in front of him. And what that had been was…

Manager: "Alright, I finished crossing the names off."

Sekai looked over to see what kind of reaction Yuki had to the list, but what he saw was something a bit unexpected.

Yuki had his list sorted out, yet he had yet to send it. The reason for that was his finger.

His pointer finger lightly hung over the screen and above a certain name.

Mitsuteru Ariake.

The conflict of picking the name or not was coming off very clearly to both him and Kimura.

He gave another sigh before looking at Kimura's list.

Manager: "

Aki Hiyami

Tatsuya Kuruma

Yuka Kon

Seiji Meishō

Mitsuteru Ariake"

That was concerning.

Kimura knew one less person than he did, and a good amount of people she knew had been the same as him. That would make this entire thing even more pointless than it already was.

It meant that the two of them would be able to speak about those people from two different viewpoints, but that left the remaining people with only their general viewpoints to go off of.

Sekai refused to regret his choice here, but he would admit that he had gone about this poorly. The idea had not been thought out enough in the few seconds it had come to mind.

Wanting for at least some hope, he looked over to see that Yuki had sent his list. His eyes were closed as if he didn't want to think about his answer.

Even so, he and Kimura looked down at the list that had been sent to them.

What they saw was something that made Sekai realize what kind of situation they were now in.

White Fox: "

Masataka Ninomiya

Sumiharu Inukai

Takeshi Kotowari

Suzumebachi Misaki

Toby Awdry

Hoshi Taiyōko

Suzuka Nakagami

Tatsuya Kuruma

Kō Murakami

Taichi Betsuyaki

Yuka Kon

Seiji Meishō"

Yuki's list had included most of the people there, But..

Shit.

The majority of the names had been on his list.

Under normal circumstances that would have been perfect. Having at least one person know the majority of the fighters personally meant that they could go in-depth on the fighters, but in this case it only made a long list of people Yuki could only few as "needed" to his "unneeded".

And…

"You really didn't do it."

Kimura's words pierced through his thoughts.

.

Kimura could feel her anger begin to boil up.

The idiot fox next to her had not acknowledged that he knew one of their former teammates.

He had rejected the boy.

All members of the former Taiyōko Squad knew how the past had affected both boys. It was clear what both thought about the incidents that had occurred.

And that was why she was mad.

The idiot fox next to her had shown his want to remove the past from before he had become "Yuki". In doing so, he had begun to reject the people who had not been able to maintain a connection with him after that.

No, he didn't stick to people who already had a connection. This guy had just created new connections with those same people.

He had chosen the people to remake connections with. She and Kanzaki had been two of those people, but even they were kept at a distance when compared to some others.

But out of all the people from his former connections, there had been a single person who he had never tried to remake a connection with.

Ariake…

The one name he had not put in his list.

He had spoken to Ariake a few times, but not enough that I would call it a "connection". It had always been in passing and it was usually a greeting at best. The way the original members of Kotowari Squad had acted at that time did nothing to help the situation.

There had been too many times when those three had scared others off due to their dependence on their captain.

Some had found that kind behavior dangerous, but Kimura had only ever seen it as pitiful. It felt much more like they had been using that idiot fox as a lifeline instead of someone to look out for. The fact that it had not been one-sided only made her that much more disgusted by the situation.

But now things had changed.

The idiot fox had left those three.

Their behavior after that had been even worse. That had been the point where Kimura had been prepared to go to the directors concerning the issue.

If not for the situation with the sponsors, the Yagura Branch barely being made, and certain people telling me to wait, I would have done so right away. If not making sure that they were kicked out of Border, I would have at least brought things to a suspension of service.

But…

Now I'm glad I was stopped from doing that.

Kotowari Squad was still a hassle when they were around, but they had begun to change.

Instead of being dependent on the idiot fox or their Operator, they had started to spread themselves out and make their own connections. Their behaviors had improved and their skill in combat had been something to note for her.

So that just left the idiot fox next to her.

He hasn't changed at all since becoming a new person.

Her former captain had been troublesome, annoying, loud, rash, stubborn, and overall someone who cared little for what others said.

But he knew who he was.

This idiot fox did not.

She had no clue as to what was really going on with him, but his behavior only seemed to worsen as time went on.

He's different from those three in that sense.

And it was not in a good way.

"Hah…"

Letting out a sigh of her own, Kimura looked at the time and saw that the match would be starting soon.

The amount of people walking in had decreased to single digits and only the noise of the people sitting down could be heard.

Looking over at the other two, she put her headset on.

"Let's get started."

.

Manager: "Welcome to Round 6 of the B-Rank Wars. I will be your commentator today. I am Hogo Squad's Operator, Kimura Kawaguchi. A pleasure. Helping me in this is Hikigane Squad Captain Hikigane Sekai and Yagura Branch Representative Tsukiko Yuki."

WorTri: "Yo. …Hah"

"Stop sighing, Sekai! Smile! Smile! Yeah, smile with you man boobs pushed up like- Ow! What was that for, Arafune!?"

Shut up, you idiot. And stop going out in public dressed like that!

It was probably better than having him run around in the nude, but all felt like the same thing with that guy.

White Fox: "Thanks for having me."

Kimura was quick to turn her head.

The tone Yuki had taken was a shock since it was far different from what his expression had shown up until now.

When she turned to look at his face, she grounded her teeth at what she saw.

Yuki had a smile on his face, his eyes were closed, and the relaxed position he took was nothing like what they had seen.

He was faking everything for this.

This guy…!

She remembered that she had a job to do. So she began again.

Manager: "This match will be having Ninomiya Squad, Kotowari Squad, Suzunari-1, and Meishō Squad fighting. Because of their low position here, Meishō Squad had been given the right to pick the map and setting for this match. And the map they had chosen is Cityscape E."

WorTri: "A lot of tall buildings and narrow paths. They clearly had their Snipers in mind when picking this map."

White Fox: "A map like this really is good for Snipers, but that isn't the only reason they would pick it. It also forces long-range fighters like Ninomiya and Takeshi to think about how they want to move. As Gunners, Kuruma-san and Seijin can shift between long-range and close range. More than that, their guns work better in narrow spaces than if they were Shooters."

Manager: "That's right. Shooters would have to make more precise actions and have to aim better in a narrow space than a Gunner would."

White Fox: "Exactly."

WorTri: "The Attackers and All-Rounders have less of an issue, but they also need to watch how they fight. If they aren't careful, they can be sniped or take an onslaught from shots with little room to escape."

Kimura was well aware that both boys were leaving something out. She herself saw it as well, but chose to not mention it.

It's better to keep some things a secret until the time is right. Besides, I'm already worried that we may have given too much away.

Suzaku Squad's Secretary would have had a field day at this point and being like that was something she did not want to end up doing.

So with that resolve now in her, she spoke up again.

Manager: "There will now be five minutes before the combatants are teleported in. That's right, I will tell-e you all when they are teleported in."

The entire room froze and became quiet.

Manager: "Oh, come on! That was a good one! Right, you two!?"

She looked to the side to see Yuki's expression of pure betrayal and Sekai's entire body facing the other direction.

You guys suck!

"Do you think they had us in mind when picking the map?"

Inukai looked over to his teammates as he spoke.

They had all recovered relatively quickly from Kimura's joke and were now focusing on what they had been told.

"I can imagine that being the case. But they could have been thinking of limiting Kotowari."

"True. Take-chan's lasers become more of a hindrance than people would think. His aiming takes longer since he has to keep those orbs closer to his body."

He waved his hand through the air without a care.

Tsuji nodded from next to Hiyami. Their plans had already been thought through and only minor touches would be made due to the map.

For the most part what Inukai and Tsuji would need to do was the same.

As for Ninomiya…

"Of course we go against these people…"

Tsuji and Hiyami looked to each other. Across from them, Inukai gave his captain a knowing look.

The conversation he had had before this match was still fresh in his mind.

"Are you saying they'll be giving us more trouble than we thought, Ninomiya-san?"

Ninomiya turned to him with an unimpressed expression.

Inukai smiled at the face his captain made.

"Of course not. I'm only saying that because I already know how much trouble they all are."

"I have actually been wondering something about that."

"Hm? What's that, Hiyami-chan?"

"Meishō Squad has always been in the mid tier and never went higher than the middle of that. Even if they just barely made it, how did they manage to make it to the top tier?"

"That would be because of Teru-kun."

The confused look reminded him that Oshiro would be watching this match with Taku and Krümel.

I really wish I could hear them cheering me on.

At least he would be congratulated on doing well once the match was over.

Getting back to the question from Hiyami, he gave a hum while turning to the ceiling.

"Looking back at the logs, it wouldn't be obvious that it was him. After all, he's a completely normal person."

But.

"But that's not necessarily a bad thing. He's the kind of guy who doesn't stand out, so it makes his teammates stand out even more. As a Sniper, that's actually a really good thing for them, but a dangerous thing for their opponent."

"Then he should be taken out quickly?"

"Well, you see, that becomes difficult for people like us."

"Inukai-senpai, please stop being vague like that."

A sigh came from the other side of the room.

Ninomiya faced away from them, but it was clear his arms were crossed.

"Inukai, just hurry up and tell them. It's about to start."

"Right, right, my bad. Sorry about that."

But Oshiro loves it when I play around with him. I guess that just proves that Oshiro is cuter than even Tsuji-chan.

He chuckled at the thought of playing with Oshiro and the two dogs.

But they were still waiting for him to explain.

So he did.

"What I mean is that he's so average and ordinary that strong people like us tend to forget he even exists."

"What exactly would be the limit for 'strong enough'?"

Hoshi held her hands in front of herself as she listened to Nakagami questioning their captain.

Takeshi had just told them something important about one of their opponents. It sounded like it would be trouble to go against, but it also brought a sense of unknown sadness to her.

A sense of sympathy came for her opponent.

"I'm not sure. That's just something I heard when asking around. Nasu-san has said that she forgets that he was even in the match while Kakizaki-san said that he was acutely aware of Ariake-senpai once he had been noticed."

"In that case, we can determine that anyone at Nasu's level or higher is likely not to focus on him at all. Then anyone at Kakizaki's level or lower will notice him better. In that case, you guys should be able to keep track of him."

"Heh heh heh. What exactly is that supposed to mean, replacement Operator?"

"Gah! That one actually hurt me! You hit right in the core of a person's being, you know that!?"

"I honestly try."

Even with the usual antics of her squad, Hoshi couldn't find it in her to smile.

Something felt off.

Knowing that, at a certain level, one of their opponents would be more trouble than they thought was good for planning, but she felt nothing good from it. There was only a cold feeling in her chest when she thought about it.

Is this because of what I had seen with Minoru-senpai?

But she had resolved herself to helping him. He was not even around for this match, so that made even less sense.

So then what was it?

Why did she feel so sad when she needed to prepare for a fight.

"Hoshi, something wrong?"

Feeling a hand touch her shoulder, she jumped.

Toby looked at her in worry as the noise from the others continued. It was clear that they were listening though.

She put on a fake smile and waved her hands in front of herself.

It was obvious, but that was all she could do.

"N-nothing in particular. I just… I have a bad feeling about all of this."

"Huh? About what? If you're worried about being useful, then you're fine. With the plan Take thought up, you won't have anything to worry about. I'll be right there to make sure none of them can reach you."

"U-um… Right. Of course. I do believe in you, Toby-kun. It's just…"

Just what?

What words could she use to describe what she was feeling now?

Everything was only made worse since she knew only a few of the people they would be fighting.

Murakami had been like another older brother to her since they met, and Inukai was a good upperclassman who took care of her when he could. But she had no trouble in her resolve of fighting them. It would have been an insult to not fight them with everything she had.

But what about everyone else?

She had met some of them before, but never interacted much with them.

This was even more true for Meishō Squad.

She had never spoken to any of their members. So it made no sense as to why she felt a sad pain when her teammates brought up one of their Snipers.

"Hah. Look, just try your best, okay? I don't mean to say this as an insult, but I think you're weak enough to where you would notice Mitsuteru once we've found him."

It was hard to feel insulted when it was the truth.

She was well aware that she was weak. It was a simple truth that she took to readily.

But a sad pain hit her again at the mention of that Sniper.

"That means he's likely not to hit you since you will be more cautious of him. And if he becomes trouble, we know we can rely on you to take him out. At that post, we'll make sure you reach him and no one reaches you. Got it?"

Hoshi could only give a weak nod.

All of the words Toby was saying and the tone he was using had been meant to calm her down. Instead, they only added more sadness to her.

But she wouldn't let them know. Their match was about to begin after all.

And Kiyo-nii is watching them again here.

"So everyone understands what they need to do, right?"

The members of Suzunari-1 nodded towards their captain.

Among the four of them, Taichi raised his hand while bouncing on his feet.

"Yeah, Taichi? Is there something you need me to go over again?"

"No, I'm good on what I need to do. But I thought of something."

"What did you think of?"

Murakami found himself also interested in what Taichi had to say.

Suzunari-1 had gone over everything they needed to do in a review here, but the more intricate parts had been decided on earlier than this. Taichi himself had a part for himself separate from what he and Kuruma would be doing.

"Wouldn't it be better to use this to our advantage? We could use the chance to take some points after Ariake-senpai fires, or something!"

Oh.

"That wouldn't work, Taichi."

Murakami took a step forward.

The topic had already started to make him feel a bit heavier. It was a reminder of the story he had heard before this match.

A story he was all too familiar with.

"Mitsuteru is like Tonooka. Do you know what that means?"

Of course he did. He had seen how Tonooka did things as another Sniper.

So.

"He will wait for the right moment to fire. And when that happens, getting the timing right would be an issue. And besides that, there are also his teammates."

That's right. He wasn't alone.

He now had a squad who would not leave him like his former one.

"He's a support type of Sniper. Once he fires, his teammates will use that chance to strike. And remember, Taichi, he isn't the only Sniper on their squad."

That's right.

Mitsuteru being strong against the strong and weak against the weak was troublesome, but he was far from being the only issue here. Ninomiya Squad was full of strong people while Kotowari Squad's unpredictability in the worst situations made it hard to move around freely. The rest of Meishō Squad also knew their way around the kinds of maps. There was nothing particularly special about that one boy.

"So we're leaving him up to you. You can do it, right?"

Comments from earlier in the day came back to mind, but he pushed those away. They had been accidents that he had gotten over easily enough.

Murakami covered the few steps between them while raising his hand.

Taichi flinched back from the reminder of what had happened before.

The rest laughed as Murakami gave light pats to his teammate's head. They got a pout in return for their laughter, only making them laugh more.

"Right! Are we all set?"

"Yes!"

Mitsuteru released a breath.

The tension left his body with that breath.

"Don't worry, Tsu, we've got this!"

He felt a harsh pat on his back and turned to smile weakly at his teammate.

The smaller boy smiled up to him as if nothing was wrong.

"Hey, Asagi, he's trying to get rid of his tension, not get any more! Stop beating up the guy! And Mitsuteru, tell him to stop when he does that crap!"

"Oh, come on, Nana. Lighten up a bit. We finally made it to the top tier, so just relax and enjoy the view from the top."

"I don't want to hear that from you! You've been even jumpier this season than the last, so that left Mitsuteru to support the captain and myself!"

"But he likes doing that kind of stuff! I'm just letting him do what he likes, is all! Isn't that right, Tsu!?"

Three more pats hit him on his back.

He was tossed forward with the last one and was caught by an extended arm.

Looking over, he saw that it had been Seiji who had caught him.

His captain smiled down at him while helping to straighten himself up.

"Alright, you two. We need to focus on the match now. We had let Shinichi-kun pick the map, but we let Teru-kun choose the settings. He is more familiar with some of the opponents than we are, so he will be having a more active role here. It's going to be our job to make sure his plans work out as best as they can. For that, we need to keep from bickering during the fight itself."

"Always charismatic, aren't you, Captain?"

"What's with that look, Shigeko?"

"Nothing," the girl called "Shigeko" gave a harsh look while pushing up her glasses. "But it feels like you're leaving command to someone else again. For the most part it had been to me or Kenzaide, which had been fine enough, but you are aware that Mitsuteru is an idiot who collects tension for a hobby."

"Was that really necessary to say, Shigeko…?"

Mitsuteru flinched back at the sharp look he got from her.

They may have been friends since he moved to Mikado City, but she was still a frightening person who he did not want to get mad.

She was just too scary.

He wanted to ease her worries by telling her that it had been his idea in the first place, but he was stopped by a hum.

Looking over, he saw Seiji with his arms crossed and a knowing smile on his lips.

That look had made him want to take back what he had said before.

No. If this is where I'm going to leave all my grudges behind, I need to keep this up until the end.

Once this match was over, he would let go of those bad times that stuck with him.

It was normal to hold grudges, but even he knew that holding them for this long was not a good thing. That's why…

No matter if we win or lose, I'll let it all go.

Then maybe all the tension built up in him would also disappear.

"Hm. That does sound unreasonable, doesn't it? But Shigeko, does that mean you don't believe that Teru-kun can manage this?"

"Wh-what!? No! I just mean to say that-"

"Hahaha. My bad. I didn't mean to question your friendship or anything. I only meant that…"

He gave a quick look to Mitsuteru.

"There's a solid reason it has to be Teru-kun this time. So, just this once, can you overlook this choice?"

The look "Shigeko" gave made it hard to figure out what she had been thinking. The shaded glasses she wore helped nothing in figuring that out either.

So after a few moments, Mitsuteru moved forward to tap her shoulder.

Before he could do so, she let out a breath of her own. A sigh. One he had heard many times before, usually when she had resolved herself to dealing with any issues pertaining to him.

With a flick of her wrist, he hand came up to pinch his nose as hard as she could.

"Fine. I'll overlook it this time. But this just means that I'm going to be grouping up with you as soon as possible, got it? You're probably thinking of something stupid, so I need to be there to keep you in line. I won't take no for an answer, so deal with it."

He smiled.

Of course she would say that.

Once she released this nose, he nodded his head.

"Yeah. I'll be relying on you."

Manager: "The combatants will now be teleported in. This will begin Round 6 of the B-Rank Wars."

WorTri: "Hah. Now let's see what Everyone's come up with."

The large screen in front of them quickly split what they would be seeing as members of each squad began appearing.

To the sides of the screen, pictures were shown with names next to them. In total there were 14 pictures and names.

It was finally starting.

Manager: "With all of the combatants now on the map, we can start. The map chosen by Meishō Squad is Cityscape E. And the setting…"

It was pitch black.

Manager: "…A moonless night."