The shots fired from the rifle were followed by Shooter-like shots. The space behind the sunglasses girl had been filled with green lights at the same time she had fired her rifle.

The black wolf was the first to respond to the attack.

"Volley shots!"

He lifted the Raygust in his hand to shield both himself and Kuruma.

The shots fired had crashed not the defense as his captain removed his Bagworm. A new rifle appeared in his hands.

None of them wasted time in attacking and countering.

The black wolf shifted his feet so that he would be in front of his captain without getting in his way.

Kuruma fired a double-rifle attack as the volley of shots crashed into the Raygust.

In response to the attack, the sunglasses girl twisted her body to turn in the direction she had come from. Towards that narrow space.

But she did not leave their sights.

The sunglasses girl stopped just before the edge of the narrow space and began anew.

With a push of her feet and a hop to her step, she rushed the black wolf and his captain while firing her own rifle. Asteroid shots came in from above and collided with the rifle-fired ones.

The distance would normally have been easily crossed in seconds, but the shots coming from both sides made it difficult to move along the road. If the fight entered one of the narrow spaces then it would have been an automatic loss for her.

Still…

"Don't make light of me!"

The sunglasses girl forced her way through the barrage of gunfire.

Even with the spaces between shots being too small to move through, she pushed on forward.

The black wolf narrowed his eyes at the action. This sunglasses girl was willing to take some hits in order to reach them.

Then he saw it.

Shields.

Each time a shot would manage to scrap her, a small shield would appear to cover up the hit area.

With the area being covered, trion would not be able to leak out. Even the smallest amount of trion loss could result in a loss against strong opponents, so this was actually amazing to see firsthand.

But…

"She is using more trion creating those shields than she is by taking those hits."

The black wolf could figure out the amount of trion loss for each outcome. It would be minuscule, but creating shields, no matter how small, would result in more trion being used than lost.

And yet this sunglasses girl still moved forward.

She had clear resolve in her eyes as she inched closer towards them.

But all of that resolve was meaningless if she could not reach them.

"Kuruma-senpai, let's move ba-"

Without any sort of warning, the black wolf made a snap decision to move backwards.

The reason became obvious as something hit the ground. The attack smashed the ground and made a crack into the concrete.

"Ibis."

.

Daybreak: "Sorry about that, Shigeko."

Shige-ko: "Just make sure it actually hits next time."

Daybreak: "Will do."

Shigenaga clicked her tongue while moving forward.

Murakami's battle intuition was something amazing for him to realize that the attack had been coming even while moving backwards.

Still, she took the chance to advance.

That idiot. Where does he get off thinking that he can start this fight without telling me anything. I'll need to beat him later on.

It had been on her mind ever since they found out who they would be fighting.

He really is an idiot. I thought he was the one who said he's too average to feel anything major towards other people!

She made a careful stomp on the ground to push herself forward.

Using some sideways momentum, she blocked the incoming shots with some of her own.

Whenever some of the shots would manage to graze her, a small shield would appear to cover the wound.

The action had not been done by her or even Mitsuteru. It had been by Asagi who was still following through with their plan.

He understands that there's something else going on here too, huh.

So far, everything was going just as their teammate had predicated.

The flashes of light throughout the dark area would cause a problem for anyone who was not using night vision, but it would also cause problems for those who were using it too. The only way to counteract the sudden flashes of blinding lights would have been to get the right ratio of light to dark.

Since they had been the ones to plan for this, Shigenaga had no problems with the flashes of light that filled the road.

She would move forward, rely on her teammates, and charge through everything else in order to obtain victory here.

No, no just here. Everywhere. People hate losing as it is, but I hate losing at times like these.

So.

I'll open a path to victory!

After all, she was not here for herself anymore.

This fight had been brought about because her friend had forced it into place.

The same friend who was an average, everyday boy with nothing going for him.

If he was going to put so much effort during this season of the B-Rank Wars then she would constantly put herself on the line for him. There would be no regrets about it and she would never hold herself up because of it.

Her friend wanted victory, so she would grant him that.

That was why she only felt determination when faced against the black wolf and his captain.

Her body felt like it was moving on autopilot. Every movement was an action that had been engraved into her upon joining Border.

After all…

I joined in order to protect his average and everyday life!

Shigenaga felt her anger start to boil out into her actions.

The forceful way she threw her body was unlike her, yet at the same time it was exactly something she would do.

Daybreak: "Did I get you mad? Sorry about that."

Don't apologize, you idiot! That only gets me more mad!

The black wolf reacted to her forceful movements with snapping ones that stopped her from reaching his captain.

"Keh!"

The Raygust in his hand pushed her back before her shots could hit either one of them.

Let me through!

These two were not ones who lived in the same word as her friend.

I guess Kuruma-san is closer to it, but Murakami was pushed away by them. That just means I need to try even harder.

Because…

I should show him that he can still live in that world!

That ordinary world with ordinary people.

The same one her friend lived in.

The one she had tried and failed to protect.

He was too easily swayed! Who the hell says, "Sure. I mean, it would be a good after school activity" when asked why they don't join Border!?

The conversation had been like a normal one between classmates. Both people involved were only speaking to each other because it was simply what classmates did.

There had been nothing wrong with it for them.

But the same never applied to her.

I can't ever understand things like that…

.

There was never a place for her in that kind of world. A world where everything could be black and white and all worries had to be about trivial things that could be solved by a few minutes of thought.

She had found that world to always be out of reach without thinking about what could be in it.

It was boring anyway.

The people who lived in that world could only raise people like her up without caring about how others felt.

They only had to go about their daily lives while listening to instructions whenever a Gate opened.

Most saw Border agents as some sort of heroes who needed to be put on pedestals and taken off when they failed.

Conversations with them had no real meaning, and options of different matters always changed. No one ever seemed to stick to their word like she and a few others did.

The actions done by those people were all easy to read. Each one of them moved with no urgency or want to reach a place.

Every single one of them were ordinary.

Sometimes there would be people with something special to them, but it was only special in that ordinary world.

Someone like her, someone who could only live in that world of fighting, could never hope to reach the people in that ordinary world. It would have been similar to asking Neptune to move closer to the Sun - an impossibility.

"You're really good at moving around, Shigenaga."

Or that was what she had thought.

"Hey, are you coming or not!?"

"Yeah, yeah, give me a second here! …Sorry, I have to go. But I actually want to talk to you about some things later, okay?"

One of those ordinary people - "Maybe a bit too ordinary", she would later mutter to herself - had gone up to her so compliment her. People had done that to her before, so there was nothing new about that.

No, what had been new was the way he spoke to her.

The boy had gone up to her like she was nothing special, complimented her, had been told his friends would be leaving him behind, turned to her, told her he wanted to talk some more, and finished it by walking away like she had littler importance when compared to everyone else.

When she had brought it up with some others, they had laughed at her. Some of them had been making fun of her, so she punched them in the face.

The ones who had taken her seriously had been nice enough to explain that it was just something that people did naturally. It was nothing new, exciting, or thought provoking.

It was ordinary.

So when that ordinary boy had gone up to hearth next day, she gave into her curiosity and followed him along.

Everyone around them seemed to either ignore them or begin whispering.

A quick glare in their direction quickly changed that.

Once they had reached a more secluded area, the boy had sat down while looking over at her with a smile.

The only thought she had had been, I actually forgot who I had been following there for a minute. This guy really doesn't have much of a presence, does he?

Regardless, she had taken a seat a good distance away from him.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Getting right to the point here would mean she could finish this discussion sooner.

"How are you doing today?"

She had given an unimpressed looked at the question.

A question like that felt like a waste of time. But she still answered it.

"I am fine enough, I guess."

"That's good."

That ordinary boy had nodded his head while looking out into the distance.

A silence had fallen over them.

Shigenaga had felt her irritation rise, but held it down.

She began again.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Hm? Oh, I was just curious."

"Curious about what?"

"About how you were doing."

"Why does that matter?"

"Aren't you the one who asked me about why I was curious?"

"But what's so important about it!? You don't just ask how someone is without having a good reason!"

"Is that so…? But me and some of the other guys always ask that. Although that just turns into a weird conversation at times and Nire-chan usually joins us. That girl is loud, but she's actually pretty funny too. Oh, but then Miwa gets dragged in and we get yelled at."

What just happened?

Shigenaga knew from a basic understanding of conversations that this boy had changed the topic to an explanation on what he did with others in his class.

He had sort of answered her question while going into unimportant details that she did not care about.

"Anyways," he said. "I heard you're pretty smart. And I've seen you do some crazy things while on the track."

This was it.

This ordinary boy wanted something from her and had led up to it.

He didn't really wait too long though, she thought bitterly.

She was surprised at how long she had wanted that unimportant conversation to go on.

But now she had to face this head-on.

"Yes. I get good grades, but am more of an athletic type."

"Yeah, that was the kind of feeling I got from you. Hahaha. Good to know I was right."

Another silence came.

He had not said that he wanted anything.

This could have just been him being curious again, but that just made no sense to her.

After all…

"Why does that matter!?"

"Well, doesn't everyone feel good when they find out they are right about something?"

He had done it again.

"Oh, but I guess when you're right about something bad then it actually sucks, doesn't it? Yeah, like when you know that the market runs out of your favorite snacks and they won't restock until the weekend." He had said that with his own bitter expression, but it had been for a completely different reason than her own. "But it's pretty funny when you make a guess after betting with your friends, then you find out that you were right. That's right, I still need to get my money from Nire! She better pay up or I'll have to complain to Miwa and Miura!"

"…"

"I guess in your case it's less impactful though. You seem like the type who doesn't get many things wrong," he had said with a shrug. "Ah, but judging a book by its cover is kind of messed up. So I was wrong there. Heh heh. I got to use a cool sentence there. Alright, that's at least two 'cool points' for me today!"

What?

The ordinary boy was making no sense. Everything coming from him felt like it connected while also being so disconnected that it confused her.

So with a start…

"Why does that matter!? Why are you asking me these simple questions!? What do you want from me!? Stop changing the subjects and answer me properly!"

She could not just sit there and be played with by the boy. Someone who had no presence, seemed like an airhead, and couldn't even reach her if in a fight.

It was insulting and she wanted nothing more to hit him.

Instead, her fists remained at her side as she glared down at him.

And his response to her anger?

"Hahaha."

A laugh.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just that… I guess this really does show me how much more reliable you are than someone like me."

His words and the laugh that had come before them did not connect.

The laugh was genuine, but the words had a bitter feeling to them.

Once again, this boy had confused her with little effort.

"I heard that Border agents were crazy people who had some sort of justice complex. But when I look at Miura, Miwa and Nire, I don't see that at all. I mean, Nire is crazy in her own right, but not like how I heard what Border was like."

"Border has been around for roughly two years now. How do you not know about its members?"

"About that… I just recently moved here. I guess I was scouted, but it was more like someone recommended joining Border. I kinda just thought it wouldn't really hurt, so I brought it up with my parents."

"So you moved to Mikado City because of a suggestion…"

"More-or-less. My parents weren't really onboard with me wanting to join Border, so we made an agreement that we would live here for a year before deciding on what to do."

"So you won't be entering this year."

"Yeah. But I'm fine with that. I would want to familiarize myself with the city first, but take my time doing it. Besides, I don't need to be in Border to meet people like you and those other two."

All anger had started to drain from her body as the conversation went on.

He handout answered her anger-filled questions and changed the topic again, but this time it felt different. Everything he was saying got her thinking about his situation and how he had wanted to wait before entering her world.

Unlike her, who had to make snap decisions and follow through with them, he was taking his time on making his choices while incorporating his family and his own feelings into it.

She had finally caught a true glimpse at the world she could not enter.

It was still out of her reach, but she could at least look at it from afar and witness as the ordinary boy lived happily in that world.

"Oh yeah. Haha. Guess we never did properly introduce ourselves, did we?"

She started at that.

Even with everything going on, she should have known that introductions should come before all else.

"Shigenaga Naki. Class 1-B."

"Nice to meet you, Shigenaga. I'm Ariake Mitsuteru from Class 1-D. I would like to be your friend, so please take care of me."

.

That guy doesn't need this kind of thing on his mind.

The rest of them had no clue as to what was going on, but they would still follow through.

Our captain seems to have an understanding though, so that also helps.

But they knew nothing.

Something from the past must have come up for her friend to take these measures and put himself out there.

There had been things that even she did not know about her friend, even when she had tried to drag it out of him.

Some things were just not meant to be told.

This frozen night was one of those things.

Still…

"Here me now!"

She would continue to move forward for him.

Daybreak: "Shigeko, don't go all out from the start! There's still a lot of the match left!"

One: "Uwah~… What did you do to get Nana so pissed, Tsu?"

Daybreak: "Um… Did I do something? I guess I can ask that later. Shigeko, just pull back for now! It's coming in a bit, so just hold off until then!"

No! The people you want to get back are obvious targets! I want to deal with them for you, you idiot! Let me do this much!

He would not allow it.

Not because of his plan, but because she was getting angry.

2Truths1Lie: "Didn't we agree to listen to Teru-kun for this match?"

Shigenaga clicked her tongue.

With a great forward movement, she pushed off the black wolf's Raygust.

As she performed a backflip off the large shield, she fired another volley of shots down towards the black wolf and his captain.

That's right, damn it! Even that little punk Asagi is following it!

There was no choice here.

They were right.

The match had barely started. She had even seen a new tactic from Suzunari. All of that should have been satisfying enough.

Shige-ko: "Tch. Fine. I'll back off for now. Get ready to send me the locations of the next targets."

Daybreak: "Hah… Thanks. Hey, Kanji-kun, are you ready?"

Feeling Alive: "I'm ready whenever. Shigenaga, it's going to be there in 10 seconds, so back up to where you had been at the start."

Shige-ko: "Got it."

Daybreak: "…Sorry about this, Shigeko."

Just shut up before I go over to beat you up…

.

Murakami noticed something as he pushed back against their opponent.

Shigenaga's attacks had been relentless and well timed from the start. Each movement was smooth, yet held power behind each one of them.

But…

She's falling back.

It had looked like she would be moving in for an even stronger offense, that had been why he brought up more of a defense.

That had been the incorrect action though as she loosened her body and used his defense to throw herself back.

The distance she had been so adamant to cover had not gone back to how it had been at the start of the fight.

Shigenaga now stood where she had been upon coming to face them.

"Kō, be careful."

There had been a lot of things that felt wrong about this fight, and it seemed that Kuruma noticed that as well.

It took Kon some time, but she managed to find the right values to where the gunfire won't blind us. That could be why she is pulling back now, but…

There had to be more.

Shigenaga was not the type of people to simply fall back because something became more troublesome.

Her two supports were also the type of people to not do such things unless it was absolutely necessary.

So then what is it?

"—?"

Murakami stopped his forward pursuit upon feeling something.

Something light had been hitting them constantly since the start of the match, but it had been nothing for him to really think about.

At least, not until now.

The small pushing feeling from all around him had been overshadowed by every movement made during this fight. But now that they were standing relatively still, he could feel it much better.

Wind…?

The wind had started to pick up at some point.

Realizing what that meant for them, Murakami quickly shifted Raygust so that he could use his full arm for an overhead throw.

"Kō!?"

His action had been a snap decision that gave him no time to even speak to Kuruma.

The volley of shots came to an abrupt stop as Murakami used his entire upper body to throw Raygust with all the power in his body.

"Thruster!"

The large shield forcibly pushed aside the air and wind as Shigenaga to a jumping step backwards.

"I'm sorry, Kuruma-senpai, but we need to stop her from falling back!"

He ran forward with his hand already going for Kōgetsu at his hip.

From the corner of his eye, he could see a flash in the distance.

The sniper shot came in contact with a focused Shield.

Sorry about this, Captain.

The shot had been blocked, but had the cost of Kuruma using trion to block it.

"I just need to-"

A second shot.

Before he could make his next step, a second shot had tore through the air and crashed into the cracked shield.

The shield shattered and Murakami's fight or flight instinct kicked in upon seeing that.

"You're really pushing your limits at the start, aren't you!?"

"We have to or else we'll fall behind!"

Quickly drawing Kōgetsu from his hip, Murakami made an instantaneous movement forward. His feet sank into the ground as his arm came up with the blade in a reverse grip.

His body began to turn to the side as he lowered his hips.

Without Raygust, he was lower on defense. So to make up for that…

I'll force my way through!

Senshi had been known for his absurd amount of offense that it also became his defense.

Murakami had always prioritized a sort of balance of offense and defense, but that could not happen right now.

Raygust was still reading for Shigenaga and he only had Kōgetsu.

"—!"

But he had the advantage here.

With Raygust's weight no longer holding him down, he used the memories of his time training with Senshi to put all his efforts into offense here while the memories of moving his body properly came up from his training with Yuki.

So with a single motion, he forcibly cut the air as the second sniper shot broke through the shield.

A noise rang out as the shot crashed into Kōgetsu's blade.

Using all of the momentum he had built up, he pushed his arm to the side for a slash.

A third shot from a different direction soon reached him.

Kōgetsu blocked the attack by attacking it with more force.

"Right!"

Lights flew all around him from the direction he had ran from.

Kuruma had fired from where Murakami had left him.

.

Shigenaga saw something that she could only describe as amazing.

The black wolf had noticed what she was doing, as well as noticed the conditions set for this match, and responded right away.

He had thrown his best defense at her while moving forward to make sure her escape would become impossible.

When the first shot from Mitsuteru had reached the black wolf, his captain had put up a shield to block the attack.

A second shot had reached the cracked shield almost immediately. It was the foresight of someone who understood battles now that caused the second shot to have little time between it and the first shot.

And that's with Ibis. The firing rate for that thing is terrible, but he still managed to decrease it by a bit.

Even she was amazed by her own teammate.

But that second shot did not hit either.

The black wolf had forgone all types of defense and used accurate body movements to throw a fully offensive strike at the second shot, as well as the third one from Asagai.

This was not a lone black wolf.

He is a full pack of wolves in one body!

Once that realization reached her, she saw the shots from the black wolf's captain coming from behind.

They did not reach the speed of the Raygust, but they were in no way slow.

So that's what this is! This wolf can coordinate with others even while being his own one-man-pack!

It sent a shiver through her heart.

Amazing!

This was what they had to contend with for the rest of the match.

It was perfect, in her option.

These fighters were not like those in the lower tiers and they had managed to hold off three of Meishō Squad's members as she tried to fall back.

But that just means we need to fight just as hard! We can fight together too!

Feeling the ground now underneath her feet again, she activated a Trigger.

Two narrow paths were to her right and her left.

Raygust and multiple shots were flying directly towards her.

And yet…

"Escudo!"

A large shield sprang up from the ground.

Upon impact from the Raygust, the shield slightly caved in on itself, creating a dent in it. The shots fired at her made no real impact against the defense.

She had managed to escape a dangerous situation.

The walling front of her prevented her from seeing what was in front of her, but that was fine. After all…

"My job here is done."

With a single leaping the air, she moved towards the narrow path to her right.

A fierce wind picked up from her left.

"There we go! Nice job, Murakami!"

Kurauchi nodded at the yell from directly behind him.

Arafune had thrown himself up upon seeing what his student had managed to pull off.

Even as a Shooter, he understood the kind of ability that would be needed for a movement like that. It made complete sense that Arafune would act like that.

"Oh, that makes me a bit proud."

"That was your kind of style wasn't it, SenSen?"

"Yeah. Kō had come to me before, asking to show him how to use a full offense for defense. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, so I agreed. Since he uses Raygust as a defense, though, I wasn't sure how to explain it to him."

He nodded again.

The difference between using something as heavy, but powerful as Raygust as either an offensive Trigger or a defensive one was pretty wide. Switching between the two was not something many people could do on a whim.

It seemed that even Murakami was not able to do that.

"Still, I did my best to explain it and show him the movements. He's already great at offensive since he has a good balance of offense and defense, so there were no issues there. And with his Side Effect, he had it down by the end of the training session."

"And I'm guessing the body movements came from that fox up there?"

Kurauchi narrowed his eyes towards his captain. The tone he had taken could not be overlooked, but Ōji only shrugged and threw his thumb over his shoulder.

The crossdresser that was sitting next to him began using the thumb to make some provocative movements, so he focused on where the thumb was pointing instead.

Above them, the three commentators could be seen.

White Fox: "Because of the difference in our body mass, we had to figure out a good way for him to use his body. I can make smooth and curving motions easily enough, but they lack any power. Since Kō has power built into him, he can't make smaller movements as easily. But we had found out that he is better off with snapping motions. The way he threw Raygust was a good example of that. He didn't just use his upper body for that throw; he also used his arm, wrist, hand, and fingers to throw it."

WorTri: "Since he couldn't properly hold Kōgetsu for the second shot, he also used snapping motions to bring it out. Hah. I sometimes do that too when I find myself fighting Gunners."

Kurauchi could hear some hollering coming from behind him, but thought it would be better to leave the crossdresser to Arafune.

For now, he would focus on what had been said.

He knew firsthand what it was like going against both a heavy offense, precision body control, and skilled opponents. To see all of that in a single person would have likely terrified others, but he only saw it as a matter of course.

"Kazuki?"

Feeling a hand on his back, Kurauchi looked over to see Senshi staring at him in question.

"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking about what a good job you did explaining things to him."

"Like I had said: he already had a good affinity for that. I only told him how to make it work when he had less defense."

"But you noticed that. That means you at least have a keen eye for others like you."

"If you say it like that…"

TetsuG: "Urg. Making fun of this bara couple wouldn't even be any fun."

Ōji: "I know what you mean. I always feel disgusted whenever they do this kind of stuff in the operating room and I can't find anything to say about it. I just turn away and pretend like it isn't happening."

Demon Child: "Wait, what's going on over there!? What's this about bara!? Hey, send me some pictures or a recording! And if you can't deal with it, Ōji, you can just send them over here so we can get some good material out of it."

It was frightening that his captain seemed to be thinking of that as an option.

"Does this count as my bad luck acting up again?"

"No. These people are simply that terrible." Pulling Senshi a bit closer to him, Kurauchi glared at Arafune who was pretending to deal with the crossdresser. "Just don't think about it too much and I'm sure they will all end up with minor misfortunes themselves."

Demon Child: "Are you saying that an all-nighter isn't a small misfortune? I still need to get everything done by the end of the week so that Suzume doesn't get on my case here."

Life: "Hey, Mako."

Demon Child: "Yeah, what do you want?"

Life: "You think you can make at least one uncensored version of those two the next time you use them? I need a nice side dish for my long bathroom breaks."

Demon Child: "That's more on Kagami, but I'll see what I can do. It might cost you extra though."

Life: "That's fine. Just bill it to my captain, like you usually do."

Noticing the ominous presence above them, Kurauchi turned to see Sekai glaring down directly at his teammate.

Understanding the pain the man was going through, he stood up while giving a nod towards the commentator.

With an iron grip, he grabbed a hold of Jinsei's head, wig and all, and began dragging him towards the stairs.

"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing, Karachi!? Oh, is this a hidden NTR route!? Amazing! I get to be the first to experience it! Hah! Take that, Arafune! I get the double di- Gack!"

The shoe that landed perfectly into the crossdresser's mouth had shut him up.

Sekai gave him an approving nod while waving his hand at the shoe he had just thrown.

He could see both Yuki and Kimura only looking away, both already knowing that it was better not to get involved.

The sounds and lights all around Toby had started to annoy him.

The firing of guns had used the frozen night to be filled with many types of flashing lights and it was irritating his eyes.

Lobo: "Hey, Suzuka, you figure out the right ratios yet?"

Jk: "Just got done with it. It would have been easier to do with you were closer to that kind of stuff, but I managed either way."

Good. I don't have to worry about that stuff anymore. That means I just need to worry about…

"Hah. This guy…"

"So you won't be attacking me. At last this proves that even you are smarter than that faker."

"I would be pissed at that comment, but I know that's just how you two communicate at this point."

Toby wasted no time in activating Headfirst Fall as multiple Hound shots were fired at him.

The glare coming from Ninomiya did nothing to faze him, having already dealt with terrible glares before from the likes of Kitora and his own father.

This one doesn't even look like it's directed at me. That means he's just mad that I told him a truth about himself and Yuki.

If this situation had come up a few weeks ago, there would be no doubt that his reaction would have been different from the one he had right now.

But he was not the same as before.

He knew that.

Would have yelled, thrown something at him, and likely gone completely offensive on him for that. Thinking that it was because of what I said wouldn't even have crossed my mind. Heh. I want to say that I'm growing up, but this is something that I should have already noticed before I even took that first step.

It was the same with his family.

The first step he had taken to dealing with it all should have long since been behind him. Instead, it was still within his sight, something he found regrettable, but also something to learn from.

It had been because of that first step that he was able to realize the difference in abilities here. The gap would have seemed small before, but now the true value of that gap was on full display for him here.

Lobo: "There's a problem here. Masataka found me and I don't think he'll let me leave without me putting my full effort into it."

Colors: "I'm almost there. Just try and hold off for a bit more."

Lobo: "Easier said than done, you know. As far as I can remember, Yuki's the only one who can fully get away from this guy."

Honest Sister: "When you think about it, that does make sense. Yuki-san's use of Teleport is honestly on a different level than the rest of us. Even you upping your speed is nothing compared to him when he's going all out."

"Yeah, that's a blow to my ego," he sighed. His movements were clear and precise as he moved through the Hound shots.

Each one was coming from a different angle, but he was still able to tell exactly where he should go while still letting his reflexes take the lead.

Yuki was the only known person to escape Ninomiya's attacks unharmed while in the middle of a battle. The bar was high, and the likelihood of Toby being able to reach it was extremely low.

Headfirst Fall - or Kiyome, as it was originally called - was a good choice to fight against Ninomiya's style, but it held the same disadvantage as using Full Guard. Both would allow for defense against the power pullets and the speed bullets, but it would get him nowhere close to offense against him.

So what would be the best course of action here?

Toby tried to think about what he could do as Hound shots collided with each other behind him.

Each one of them had been trailing behind him as he took the lead with Headfirst Fall. The repeated shattering lights of the sign frames appeared in front of his knee, leg and foot.

Mid-air fights here would be terrible since the Snipers would have an easier time pressuring me. Well, not like this guy is letting up on the pressure at all, but that's different.

Ninomiya was actively not going all out from the start.

If he wanted, he could have let out a full barrage to the point where Toby would have nowhere to run, but he had yet to do so. The plan he had thought of must have been preventing him from tackling Toby with a full on attack.

Or maybe…

He's wary of something.

Instead of letting everything out for an attack, he was saving up a part of his thought process for defense as well.

The first shot fired in this match must have been aimed at him. That means there is someone who is targeting him specifically. If he knows that, he won't want to have no guard at all in case he gets attacked again.

Let's see. He has speed and power to his bullets, but can't use them to their fullest right now because of that first attack.

That first attack had come from someone who was aiming directly for him. That means they are also keeping tabs on him.

Headfirst Fall and my Side Effect can keep me from taking any major damage for the time being. And I only need to hold off until Take and Suzume get here.

So that leaves me with only a few choices here.

Escape was impossible at the moment from the way Ninomiya would fire at any exit points he could find.

But there was something he must not have noticed if that was the case.

Toby grinned as he felt that something all around him.

Headfirst Fall forcibly pushed aside anything that would restrict his movements' speed, but the time it took to do so depended on how much needed to be pushed aside.

As he ran, Toby could feel the amount of time it took Headfirst Fall to activate growing.

That meant that the amount of things to push aside was increasing.

And currently, there was only one thing that counted as a restraint for his speed.

The wind!

.

Ninomiya felt irritation build up inside of his body.

Irritation that was not directed at the dog in front of him but instead was directed inwards.

As much as he hated it, he was pulling his punches here because of the setting and the first attack against him.

He was being targeted and needed to be ready to defend in case whoever it was would attack him again.

Who was it again…? Asagi, right? But he would have been easy to take out. So then…

Who had attacked him again?

That thought had gone through his mind as he fired the next volley of shots towards the falling dog.

His irritation made him rather blind to the path the falling dog was taking and instead only saw the fox who had managed to escape him multiple times.

They were completely different people, and this falling dog was nothing compared to the fox, but the flashes of the person reminds him of that time long ago.

Inu: "Ninomiya-san!"

Inuaki's voice brought him back from the depths of his own mind.

Inu: "That's just Toby! He has speed on his side, but he still hasn't reached the same level as some others. You can still catch him easily enough."

He already knew that.

A lone dog was nothing compared to a single fox.

Inu: "Hah. This Mino and Yuki stuff has really gotten to you, hasn't it?"

"Inukai, watch what you-"

Inu: "Look… I'm worried just as much… No, even more than you are. Minoru is my best friend and, even if he wants to deny it, Yuki is pretty much the same. You hate Yuki, but I like him. I have more to worry about when it comes to those two. There's also Mei-san to think about. I'm really worried about all three of them. I even have Oshiro worrying about me because of it."

But.

Inu: "Thinking about it here doesn't help anything. Kō-kun is the only other person who knows what happened, and whoever set this place up just got lucky. That was the past and we all managed to get through it. This is the present, so we now need to push through it again. For now, we need to win this match. Afterwards, we can both go and see what's happening with those three."

That's right.

They were all currently fighting.

This was the present and they were fighting.

Nothing done here could affect what happened back then.

He had come to terms with that at the start of the match, but that had slipped his mind when seeing a member of that fox's former squad.

A lone dog was nothing compared to a single fox.

That much was true. But comparing the two was not fair at all.

After all, this lone dog had done nothing while that single fox had found himself drowning in the past.

So.

I'll first get out of that past myself so that I can pull him out of it too. Kicking and screaming would be preferable, but I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

That single fox was the only person he hated with everything inside of him.

That would be why he would pull him out of the past.

His only enemy would not be allowed to be the only one to drown himself there anymore.

"…Inukai."

Inu: "Yeah?"

"I will be dealing with these troublesome ones, so you and Tsuji take care of the rest."

Inu: "Just leave it to us!"

"And one more thing…"

Not for his own sake, but for the sake of his most loved one and most hated one, he spoke out.

"I will likely need a reminder to not stay in the past for this match. I will be relying on you to get my head out of that mindset at times. Can you do that?"

Inu: "Sure thing! And like I said: we can go see those three once we're done here!"

There was no hesitation.

Ninomiya scoffed at that.

Without moving his hands at all, he created his next attack.

Unlike before, these ones would hit.

They would lead to his victory and he would not hold back from that.

"Hm. Who would want to see that faker willingly?"