"Will you not be watching the match your squad is taking part in, Shitokei-san?"
Mei looked across the table she sat at to see Kanzaki standing before her.
The younger girl seemed to be in her trion body. It gave Mei a feeling like the girl was going overboard again for some reason.
Well it isn't like I have any room to talk right now.
Along with her calculations, her energy had been pretty low for some time now.
After the fight against the Mouri Neighbors, she had taken time off to relax at random places.
All of the places she had gone to visit and relax at had been nice and comfortable, but…
None of them felt right.
The Tamakoma, Yagura, and Suzunari branch offices had felt oddly hollow to her.
Red Lightning was very busy, so there would not have been any quiet there.
Kotowari Squad was busy with a match which meant she could not go to the operating room.
There were many other places she wanted to get to, but for some reason she had known that none of them would be what she needed.
So now she was here, in the Border base. Kanzaki stood in front of her as she was seated with apparently nothing to do.
"You don't really look like you're going over to watch. The rest of us are over there after all."
"I see you still refer to our former squad as 'us'."
"Yuki isn't the only person I still have feelings for. Right now even those feel mixed up, so going back to think other people feels kind of nice."
"Would it be any help if I were to say that Kimura and I also have feelings for the rest of you?"
"You're too honest and straightforward to lie, so that makes me feel nice. Oh, but you forgot about our last member."
"I did not," Kanzaki said with a light shake of her head.
At seeing her ponytail sway a bit, Mei unconsciously moved her hand to her own hair.
"Ariake-dono's feelings about the rest of us are clear enough. There is nothing to say when we already know he still loves us very much."
"To say something like that… Maybe confirming with him first would be best. After all, you and Kimura are still the same as back then, but the two of us are very much different. Whether that's a good thing or not…"
Mei gave a bitter laugh at her own mumbled words.
This was too new for her.
Her Side Effect was not making her think of multiple things at once and her feelings were becoming more clear as time went on.
"I do not need to confirm with him. It is clear in the way he is fighting right now."
"So you saw what he's doing."
"As did you, apparently."
"Indeed. And from what I can gather, we are all currently a mess."
Kanzaki did not give a bitter laugh with her words, so Mei thought it would be right to do it for her.
She did not seem to take kindly to that.
"Well you aren't wrong about that. I have my own issues with Kushikage going on right now. Yuki seems to have gotten himself stuck in some personal hole. Ariake must be feeling left behind and is taking it out on my squad right about now. You and Kimura seem fine though."
"That is not true. After having witnessed that woman for myself, I now realize just how much I am lacking. I have not spoken to Kimura about it yet, but Inukai-dono has told me about a conversation he had with her."
"I want to ask you what that was about, but I might get in trouble if I do."
"Very likely," Kanzaki said.
Who would she get in trouble with?
Both girls had that thought deep in their minds, but neither one of them dared say it out loud.
Mei began to run her hand through her hair as she thought about the conversation they were having.
Being there for her squad was difficult at the moment given everything that had been happening. She felt bad for not being with them, but there was no doubt in her mind that they would be able to manage fine enough with her.
They were not the same people anymore.
So…
"Kanzaki."
"Yes?"
"The match is almost over."
"Indeed it is. From the looks of things, Murakami-dono and Kuruma-dono are having a great time fighting Ninomiya-dono."
That had gotten her attention and made her raise her brows.
Kanzaki had reached the same conclusion as she did from the way her own brows furrowed down her face.
"I see…"
Would it be good or bad to say she found that interesting?
Under normal circumstances it would not have been much to note, but that was not the case here.
Yuki was giving the commentary for that match while both Murakami and Ninomiya had their own things currently going on. If everything overlapped then it would result in a fight that most would not think of until they saw it for themselves.
"Well then, I will be cheering for Murakami the entire way then."
"Likewise. I do not think Suzunari will win that fight, but I would like for them to at least take out Ninomiya-dono."
"Kō?"
"I'm fine. Sorry about that. I got mad for a second there."
At who?
Murakami loosened his grip on Raygust as he directed that question inwardly.
Getting mad at Ninomiya did not feel right, but neither did getting mad at himself.
So there was only one option that could feel right.
I'm mad at Yuki. I'm mad at him for managing to get even Ninomiya to say something like that. That idiot…maybe I've been too easy on him. I should make sure to give him a good smack to the head for this.
It was a first for him.
Resignation and acceptance had been the things that Murakami came to associate with his relationship concerning Yuki. There had never been true anger or malice directed towards him until now, or vice versa.
But that doesn't matter right now. I need to stay focused and keep up our defense. But…
But…
We can't stay here. Ninomiya isn't someone we can beat in our current condition.
Kuruma must have noticed this already from the way he was leaning towards the narrow space next to them.
The wind had just left it, leaving it relatively safe for the time being.
It would trap them between the two buildings, but it would also make their opponents more cautious for any traps they may set there.
Kuru-ma: "Kō, let's fall back for the time being."
Black Wolf: "Right, you start going and I'll make sure none of the shots reach us."
With that settled, they began to move.
Asagi saw Suzunari-1's actions from the scope of his Ibis.
To make sure he would not be found by Ninomiya he had made sure to run after every second shot he fired.
The first shot would always be to go through Murakami's initial block. That would then be followed up by the second shot that would hit.
Well, that was how it was supposed to be.
After the first time of taking off his arm, Murakami had adapted and did not simply block the shots anymore.
Instead of holding still t block, he would now swing his arms vertically or horizontally in order to redirect the shots. This lessened the impact of them since it sent the impact across a surface instead of a single point.
That would have been fine if not for the fact that Kuruma had used his body to swing Murakami's arm back around to block the second shot.
It was a strange system that worked solely for this kind of attack.
One: "Tsu! When are you getting over here!? My pride is getting more and more hurt from this!"
Daybreak: "I kind of can't go over there right now. Just manage on your own. You have Seiji-san with you, so you have more options than I do."
2Truths1Lie: "I can only do so much here. They have more range than I do, so my Lead Bullets are less effective here. And I'm no Yuba-san, so I can't exactly rush forward and fire. Besides, I thought you would enjoy being over here, considering who our opponents currently are."
What did that mean?
He had been joking about his pride, but the way Seiji was speaking had none of that joking tone to it.
This entire match had felt strange from the start and what his captain was saying only seemed to add to that.
None of them had any complaints with Mitsuteru being in charge for this match, although Shigenaga did have some thoughts on the matter.
Asagi had taken it in stride, but now that everything had built up to this point it was clear that there was more to it than just Mitsuteru wanting to be put in charge.
One: "Hey Tsu, are you fine with this?"
Daybreak: "Yeah, I'm fine with this. Taiyōko-san is coming after me, but she's making it pretty hard to properly aim at her. So I guess that's pretty fun."
One: "That's not what I meant."
Daybreak: "I know."
He added a "but" after and Asagi could hear the bitterness in his tone.
Daybreak: "The match is reaching the climax and the end, so I need to be ready to just let everything go and go back to just being Ariake Mitsuteru."
What did that even mean?
Mitsuteru was always Mitsuteru, but he was saying that he was not that person.
Asagi wanted to say something to that, but found that nothing would come out.
He had always thought himself close to his teammates, but there was always a clear difference.
Whenever it came to Mitsuteru, Shigenaga or Seiji were the ones he would go to.
There had never been anything wrong with that, but it always seemed that the most important things were never told to him concerning the older boy.
"Hah. Guess that's just how things are. Fine, I'll go along with it for the time being. Right now there's something else I need to focus on."
After another successful block by Murakami it was clear that the double shot attacks were only doing enough to have Suzunari-1 keep their guard up.
Through his scope he could see the way the duo was moving towards one of the narrow spaces that kept him from firing on them from his current position.
"Uwah… They are kind of trapping themselves there. Even if no one else goes in there, the wind will start to pick up."
Lifting his body with a start, he began to move to the edge of the building.
The narrow spaces in that area were lined in a way that almost all of them were facing the same direction.
All he would need to do would be to get in a position that let him see all of those narrow spaces as once.
Sniping them had proven to only be support fire in this case.
Like his teammate, he could wait things out until he got the perfect shot. Lacking patience was not a concern for him, but with the way Ninomiya's shots had been moving around the area, it was hard to find a clear shot.
So once he had found a clear shot he would take that chance and double up on that with his second attack.
"It does feel like I'm being led by that guy though. Maybe he's purposefully making an opening for me to fire on?"
In that case, Ninomiya knew where he was and that was a frightening thought.
Having Border's #1 Shooter holding his survival in his hands at all moments felt very oppressive.
That can't be it. I've been making sure to hide myself. I might not be as good as that sneaky duo when it comes to hiding myself, but there's no way I've been spotted yet.
Shige-ko: "Hey, you've been spotted."
"What!?"
Had Shigenaga been reading his mind or something?
Feeling Alive: "Don't just tell him like that! It might make it seem like you were reading his mind!"
Wait wait wait! The same applies to you, Kaka!
Shige-ko: "Then how would you tell him?"
Feeling Alive: "That's easy!"
Was it really that easy they were taking so long to tell him?
Well, they were strange after all, so he let it slide.
Button he was curious as to what they meant.
Feeling Alive: "Alright, Shinichi, listen closely."
"What's up?"
Feeling Alive: "You haven't been sneaky at all! Ninomiya-san had your number for a while now and is done using you! Run, fool, run! …Or something like that. Do you get it, Shigenaga?"
Shige-ko: "Mm. Right. Hey Asagi, pay attention to what's around you and not to this idiot."
Doing as instructed, he took a look around himself.
The wind was picking up once more and seemed to be funneling back into the narrow spaces.
Throughout the entire match, the wind had been using the narrow spaces as funnels before dispersing at the ends of them. It had been what kept masses of wind from filling the more open spaces and what they had been using to snuff out anyone hiding in those areas.
Besides that, the pitch black that had been all around them remained lit up enough for them due to the visual settings that Kenzaide had set for them.
"Oh, but the stars look pretty ni-"
He blinked.
Stars should not have existed in that pitch black.
The only thing that should have existed in that pitch black was the faceless moon that would not be visible unless you looked hard at it.
"—!?"
But they were there.
And Asagi realized why that was.
"Crap!"
He quickly brought up a shield, but…
"Damnit!"
The "stars" he had seen all came crashing down on him like a harsh rain.
The harsh rain crashed into his shield, chipping away at it until they broke through.
And then…
Bail Out
"And there goes another one…"
"Um, that level of violence… Ninomiya really was just using him."
Mi-Kon: "That was pretty harsh of him."
The irony of Kon saying that after her treatment of Jinsei was not lost.
Mi-Kon: "That just leaves Meishō and Ariake-kun for that squad and Taiyōko for Kotowari Squad. Ninomiya Squad still has Ninomiya-san and Inukai."
"Inukai might be coming over here instead of going after Hoshi. With the way things are looking, she will be moving towards Mitsuteru since she knows she will have an easier time fighting him than the rest of us."
"Would it be good to go after her and Ariake then?"
Mi-Kon: "I would think not since that would leave Ninomiya-san and Meishō. It would be an easy point for Ninomiya-san before he moves to find you guys again."
"In that case," Kuruma said with his back turned.
Kuru-ma: "We can't beat Ninomiya. But without one of his Snipers backing him up, Meishō should be an easy target. His Lead Bullets are an issue, but only if we get within range of them."
Black Wolf: "If we add in the assumption that Inukai is coming over here then we should take Meishō out quickly and get out of the way."
Kuruma looked over at his Radar. The remaining two members of Ninomiya Squad could be seen moving with Ninomiya circling around some of the buildings.
Another person was also circling around, but his movements seemed to be avoiding the narrow spaces.
"Wait… Is that noise?"
Sure enough, distance sounds could be heard before they started mixing in with the building wind.
It sounded like…
"Buildings?"
.
Kuruma ran to the edge of the narrow space and held his back against one of the buildings.
Leaning his head over the building, he saw the open space that had connected some of the narrow spaces.
The open space was filled with smoke that started to move due to the wind.
The smoke had no single source and instead had been coming from multiple location
All of the narrow spaces lining the sides of it.
"What is he doing…?"
Meishō would be the one moving on this side of the narrow spaces, so he had to be the one causing all of the destruction.
But it made no sense.
I thought they wanted to use the narrow spaces as much as possible? Why is destroying the walls and creating blockades at the ends of the narrow spaces?
If he did something like that then the narrow spaces could not fill up with wind unless it came from above and dropped down into them.
Ones like he was in would still fill up since the openings were left untouched, but it would take longer for the wind to build up now that there were less spaces to go through.
So then…
"Why?"
Mi-Kon: "I get it!"
Holding his hand to his ear, Kuruma listened to what their Operator had to say.
Mi-Kon: "The narrow spaces were meant to flush out people when there were a lot who could be hiding. Since it's lowered down a lot there is almost no need for them. You two are the only ones hiding in them, so those spaces would only be taking the wind away from other places that could be used."
"In other words," she said.
Black Wolf: "He wants the wind to build up in the open spaces instead of the narrow ones. Doing that would either have us use an unstable battlefield or hide in one of the narrow spaces that is now safe from the wind."
Mi-Kon: "Right. But in doing so, you would be effectively trapping yourself for someone else to come in and attack."
That made too much sense.
It was a strategy that let the opponents feel like they were making a choice when in reality they would only be trapping themselves.
Kuruma understood all too well that strategies like these would be needed for weak people without their teammates. It was a quickly made plan by a single person who tried to maintain a place on the battlefield with people much stronger than them.
Yeah, something like this is needed to make sure we remain here. If not for ourselves then for our squads. We are their captains who rely on our teammates, but also support them. From what I have been told about some of the other matches recently, Tamakoma has also reached that place.
There was someone else who couldn't do much on their own, but could be there for their teammates and try for them.
Each one of them had varying circumstances but they were all on the same level now.
That meant he needed to view them as other weak people who could make strong impacts.
And one of those people was doing exactly that right now.
Kuru-ma: "We'll move in on Meishō before the wind gets too bad. From there we can figure out what to do concerning Ninomiya Squad. If they attack us while we do this, I'll be relying on you for defense again, Kō."
"Leave it to me."
Kuru-ma: "Kon-chan, we'll both be relying on you to let us know when something comes up."
Mi-Kon: "Understood!"
This is it. The last push for us in this match. I would like to say we can win, but that is unrealistic at the moment. Since that's the case…
He began to move away from the narrow space.
Murakami followed right behind.
"We will get these final points to make sure we aren't left behind."
That's not an expression I see on his face too often.
Sekai sat back in his seat without letting out a sigh.
What they were seeing was not something that could be considered irritating enough for him to sigh.
Suzunari-1 had begun to move again after realizing what the Meishō Squad Captain was doing and he found no fault in that.
White Fox: "So Suzunari decided to go after Seijin then. Yeah, that seems like the better option."
Manager: With Captain Meishō being alone now, it should be relatively easy for people like Captain Kuruma and Agent Murakami to gain a point from him."
WorTri: "I wonder about that. Don't forget that he has also done damage to Suzunari already with just his Lead Bullets. He's not on Miwa's level, but he managed that much. Hah. Yuki, you know more about him than I do, so anything you have to say about that?"
White Fox: "Seijin is actually kind of hard to categorize since his squad is usually there with him. Compared to others, Meishō Squad works with a semi-buddies system. Mitsuteru provides the support where it's most needed, but Asagi and Shigenaga are fine soloing most times. Seijin on the other hand needs the help of his teammates when fighting particularly strong opponents. At that point it becomes either Shigenaga or Mitsuteru."
So…
White Fox: "With Hoshi going after Mitsuteru, it means he can't go to support his captain. What we are seeing here is just a trick for Seijin to use since he has to solo this right now."
It was different from what he would do.
Since the amount of skill and experience between him and the ones fighting was clear, Sekai thought more about what a strong person would do.
But that was because he had not thought back that far.
If I think back to when I was still green about this stuff then I'll come to realizations about what is going on. Being strong leads you to strong thoughts, but makes you forget about the time when you were weak. All people are weak at different points in their life, but they can easily forget that if they become too strong. It's a good thing to always be reminded of what weakness feels like.
That reminder came in the form of the two captains still fighting.
Both of them were showing what they can do even as weak people.
Meishō was forcibly changing the area to his advantage while Kuruma was using his teammates to better gain an advantage.
At the moment Sekai would have thought of going on his own and call in support when needed. Things like what he was seeing would be in times where he would need to think about that stuff, but otherwise they would matter little to him.
Hm. Even the brat has reached a new place recently. If he keeps going at this rate then he will likely be someone I can rely on. But for now…
There was something he needed to stop.
Something involving his youngest teammate.
It had begun to show more and more by the days, but it was only recently that he had noticed how far it had actually gotten.
"Hah."
But I guess that's neither here nor there at the moment. I should just focus on the match and-
An arm flew in front of his face.
"So irritating."
"Oh… Sorry about that, Sekai-san."
I wasn't talking about you, idiot.
Sekai let out another sigh while moving Yuki's arm back down so that it was not in his face.
WorTri: "Well let's see just how this turns out."
Seiji moved with caution even as he fired Meteora at the ends of different buildings.
The narrow spaces would only give his opponents a chance to hide in those narrow spaces now, so he thought it best to make those narrow spaces into traps.
Enclosed spaces that would block out the wind but create an inescapable location when under gunfire.
The range of his own attacks was not so great when compared to his opponents, but even captured opponents would not be able to dodge them.
If they tried to leave those traps then the wind rushing through the main areas would keep them off balance.
His teammates had already done a good job at getting them points, stalling out their opponents, and giving it their all. Making into the top tier of B-Ranks for even this moment had been amazing. As their captain he felt a sense of pride as well as a feeling of wanting more.
To want more for them after they had tried so hard.
Even as a squad captain who had less leadership skills than his teammates, he still wanted more for them.
So that was why this would be.
This would be his showing of wanting more.
A selfish and greedy feeling that would let his thoughts reach out just a bit more.
And…
"—"
This would be his way helping one of his teammates get some payback.
Mitsuteru was no longer a part of his side of the match so it meant that he would not be able to get any more hits in on the ones here. His priority now was to focus on the girl who had decided to go after him.
Since that was the case, it fell onto him to get back at these opponents for his teammate.
He understood the meaning of the faceless moon and the reason for this map. It's settings had been decided on as a whole, but even that played its part here.
And now that everything had reached its climax, he would see it through to the end.
Even if help was now nonexistent, he could still do something.
This was it.
What he could do.
.
The wind in the open area blew harshly with no narrow spaces to move to now.
Kuruma and Murakami moved through that wind that blew in the opposite direction they were moving.
If they were not careful then their feet would lift off of the ground and move them away.
They saw their opponent use that to his advantage.
After lifting his foot into the air, he pushed off the ground in the direction the wind was blowing.
With the wind at his back, Seiji was propelled forward.
He pulled out one of the revolvers at his hip as he closed the distance between him and them.
Murakami moved forward with solid steps. He lifted Raygust up to cover for his captain.
Three repeated sounds were heard in the raging wind as shots were fired from the revolver.
Murakami held his ground against both the bullets as well as the wind.
From next to him, Kuruma fired from his rifle into the wind.
The speed and power of his bullets seemed to lessen as they tried to fight their way through.
Seiji once again lifted off of the ground with his next step.
Instead of moving forward, he turned to the side and let the wind carry him over to the side.
Kuruma followed him with his eyes while leaning his body to the side.
With his arm missing he could not give a full barrage with two rifles, so instead he used a shield to block the attacks.
The defensive power of Suzunari-1 had just increased at the cost of mobility and offensive power.
The two members knew this well so they moved to right themselves against the wind.
Seeing how they were moving, Seiji brought out his second revolver. With a quick finger, he pulled the trigger a total of four times.
Each shot fired moved straight through the wind.
He then fired three more shots from his first revolver in the direction he had come from.
Those shots curved back around as the two Suzunari members proper themselves up against both the wind and the bullets.
The impact for the four shots could be heard against the shield while gunfire followed after it.
The curving shots of Hound had come in contact with Raygust, not making it budge at all.
Kuruma fired without any reservation.
But when he did…
"—!?"
Seiji made a certain action.
.
I'm really glad I asked Yuba-san for some help.
Seiji felt his body lift up for a brief moment before he put his weight towards the ground to steady himself again.
The shots fired form the Suzunari-1 Captain moved to chase him like his shots had come before with Murakami.
In repose to this he had begun to turn his body while moving lightly along the ground.
It was a sliding turn that Yuba had used before.
It had been done in the match against Kotowari Squad and Seiji had thought it would have been a good idea to ask about it at some point.
The specifics on it had been hazy due to Yuba not fully understanding how he had managed it either, but that had been why it was good to have an imagination.
From his time as an action, Seiji had come in contact with many people who had all sorts of imaginations. What they could add to scripts, scenes, or just moments were sometimes really amazing.
Some of his own ideas had made it into multiple movies.
When finding out that his squad mates had watched some of his movies he had been happy to point out different facts about the inner workings of production and show them what he himself had added into the scene or adlibbed.
The responses some of them gave had been rather amusing.
"I see, I see. Yeah, that looks like something Seiji-san would add it. Oh! But that part really does tie it all together."
"You adlibbed that? Hm… Why can't you show off like that during battles then? If you can do something like that on the fly then stop making me seem like some circus flunky out there!"
"Oh~ So this is one of Cappy's movies!? Wait, so does this mean you got a lot of autographs then? Wait, better yet! What kind of pictures did you get to take!? I want to see!"
"Does this mean your autograph is worth a lot!? Hey, hey, Seiji-san, can I get one!? …Don't worry! I don't plan on selling it! I just want to show it off whenever I get the chance!"
Seiji laughed in his heart when remembering their reactions.
They are all such good people.
But they were also strong.
To keep up with them all meant that he needed to do things differently from how others would.
This sling turn was one of those things.
Normally he knew he would not be able to perform this kind of maneuver and get away with it, but the circumstances had been perfect for him to do it.
Using the wind as a pushing force, he moved his body along the ground as if gliding along it.
The wind pushed his body as he controlled the movement and placement of it. Once he had made a full turn behind them he could not feel the wind pushing against him.
Since Murakami had positioned himself to block the Hound shots, he was now creating a shield that prevented the wind from reaching him as he stood behind the two Suzunari members.
Chance!
Pulling up both revolvers he fired two from his left one and three from his right one.
Both contained Asteroid at the moment, but the difference between them had been in the way he set them.
Like Yuba, he had taken some liberties in how his revolvers would fire.
Even if you can deal with the right one's power, the left one has the speed to catch you off guard most of the time.
To confuse his opponents even more, the right revolver could fire the Lead Bullets when the opponent thought they could block the regular bullets fired. To match that, the left revolver also contained Meteora and Hound in it to give him more options of attacking.
And now that was on display.
With both Kuruma and Murakami facing away from him, he fired on them.
From his left revolver came Meteora shots aimed at Kuruma and from his right came Asteroid bullets for Murakami.
The explosion from the former would carry in the wind and give him a chance to get back in a place where he could have his back to the wind.
But…
"Oh?"
The bullets did not make it.
They had been stopped by something.
And that something was Raygust.
.
Murakami reacted the moment he saw the familiar sliding turn.
Raygust was being held in place against the raging wind. It prevented the Hound shots from reaching him, but it also created a safe space for their opponent since the wind would not reach him as long as he stayed behind Raygust as well.
He made a choice at that time.
He moved.
Lifting his foot to the side, he let the wind carry him into a turn. He used his other leg to steady and anchor himself so that he would not go flying.
From there he moved Raygust around in the opposite direction the sliding turn was coming from.
The twin revolvers fired.
But he had made it.
Raygust was slammed down into the ground using two points at the bottom.
The wind tried to push it forward but could do no such thing as Murakami held it down.
The first shots to reach him had been Meteora.
The explosive Trigger exploded on impact and smoke filled the small space.
All around them, the smoke was carried by the wind. They could not see their opponent but the impact of the next bullets came.
Asteroid repeatedly struck the shield, but it got nowhere.
Kurkuma was still turning around from his position next to Murakami and could not provide any offensive power to the fight right now.
That left Murakami with one choice.
"—!"
Lifting up Raygust for a second time, he activated the Optional Trigger that went along with it - Thruster.
The Optional Trigger combined with the raging wind in the direction had sent him forward with more power and speed than he had expected.
The air and smoke were forced to the side as Raygust crashed not something.
That something had been Seiji.
Using the built up power and speed, Murakami swung his arm to the side.
Raygust was forced to the side by the action and took the surprised Seiji along with it.
The two collided with a nearby building with a sickening noise. Remembering something he had been told before about the way someone had used Raygust, Murakami gave a mental order to the Trigger.
Raygust began curving from the sides in an outward way. The top started to bend downwards as the bottom reached the ground.
It had turned into a dome that captured Murakami's prey.
And now that he had managed to hold the Meishō Squad Captain in place, he raised his voice.
"Now!"
White Fox: "That guy… Heh. Sometimes even I'm amazed at how his adlibbing skills have evolved."
Manager: "He really wasn't the best during negotiations. But I guess you can say that he is now the beast at this fight."
The full impact had hit Yuki and Sekai to the point that they needed to turn away.
Down below they could hear the more terrible people start tearing into Kimura without any hesitation.
The rest of the hall seemed to have come to the conclusion that they would just ignore it altogether.
Manager: "I thought that was a good one! I mean he is Border's #4 Attacker, so he should be good at-acting, right?"
The second impact reached the two boys hard enough that Sekai had to stand up for a moment.
A noise sounding like someone hitting their head on a desk was also heard, but no one dared to turn to the commentators.
"Hey Kawa, don't you think you should be apologizing to everyone here!? Just look at Yuki! The poor guy can't even lift his head anymore!"
Yuki slowly lifted his hand to say that he was still alive after the double hitter that had come from Kimura.
White Fox: "C-can we just…please do some normal commentary."
Manager: "But I had a really good one on-"
"Someone stop her," the entire hall shouted.
Kimura only huffed and turned back to the fight.
What she saw was…
Explosive attacks reached the wall.
The entire wall began to crumble and fall apart after having been hit by close ranged Meteora blasts.
Murakami could feel Raygust loosen up with something holding it in place now.
With the wall now falling apart, he jumped back while pulling Raygust back and shortening it so that the wind would not catch it.
Once the wall fully collapsed, the two Suzunari-1 members looked down. Their guards remained up as they slowly moved around the rumble.
But as they moved closer, they noticed something.
The rumble was moving.
And soon enough…
"—"
The sound of something hitting the ground came.
Murakami looked to the side to see that the sound had come from Kuruma.
With his captain on the ground, he could see the reason for that had been due to the weights that had been placed on him by Lead Bullets.
"Maybe I should have gone with Asteroid. I thought you guys would have dodged though…"
The ruble moved a bit more and soon was tossed to the side.
The dying wind had taken the smoke along with it, but the rest of the wall remained on the ground.
Murakami could see Seiji slowly getting up as he spoke.
His body was partially destroyed and cracks ran along his face as he held a revolver in one hand while the other moved more of the wall away.
The Meteora blast he had used to escape the Raygust dome had done its damage to him.
"Alright, time to see what's faster. Me having to Bail Out or one of you forcing me to Bail Out."
As soon as those words left his mouth, Murakami rushed forward.
Transforming Raygust had been quick and activating Thruster had been even quicker.
By the time he had finished his swing, Seiji's head could be seen flying off.
"Yeah, I figured as much."
Both the body and the head were consumed by light before being sent flying off to the distance.
Bail Out
"Hahaha. Guess I got taken out pretty easily, didn't I?"
Seiji smiled towards his teammates while moving towards them.
Asagi smiled back while Kenzaide remained focused on the screen in front of him.
As for Shigenaga…
"I thought you wanted to get at them for Mitsuteru. What was the point of helping Suzunari like that?"
"Oh, so you noticed that? Guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought."
She narrowed her eyes from behind her sunglasses but said nothing else.
It was clear from the lack of response that she had reached the same conclusion he had during his fight.
That fact alone must have been what set her off in the first place.
"Sorry about that, Shigeko. But I wouldn't be able to do much more than that. I figured that Teru-kun would be satisfied if I at least took a point away from Ninomiya Squad, no matter if it isn't directly."
"You lost us a point here and basically handed one to our opponents. Even he would have something to say about that. So don't think I'll be letting you off the hook for that stunt you just pulled."
"Can I say that I wanted to try something new and get away with this?"
"It depends on how you think Mitsuteru will do now."
"Huh? Teru-kun? That should be obvious. Especially to you."
Shigenaga said nothing to that, but it was clear that she knew what the outcome was going to be here.
Asagi and Kenzaide had wisely chosen to not say anything and he couldn't blame them for that.
Giving another laugh, he made his way to the side of the computer to see what was now happening.
"Well I can trust him to get us the point I just lost us. That would at least put us in second place, depending on how my setup goes."
It did not end.
Kuruma knew what was coming next and so made a decisive action.
The weight that had been shot into him had been on his hip. Holding himself up from that became hard and the balance he already needed after losing an arm made it that much more difficult.
But he had seen it.
The figure standing beyond the rubble of the destroyed building.
Seiji's attack on the wall had cleared some things up for him and now he could see what he had been unable to before.
The figure beyond all of that who was holding a gun.
So with a last ditch effort, Kuruma lifted his rifle and aimed.
He fired.
Murakami had noticed the action behind him and followed along.
Instead of putting up any sort of defense, he fixed Raygust so that he held it as if throwing a javelin.
With a mutter of "Thruster" he threw the Trigger towards the direction the shots were going.
The figure held something up and the sound of gunfire could be heard as it moved to the side.
Raygust cut through the air but hit nothing.
The bullets that Kuruma had used made no notable sound either.
But that just means…
Lifting his gun once more, he aimed at a spot to the side of them.
And there…
"Got you!"
He fired.
.
Inukai would admit that he was surprised by the sudden decisiveness of the Suzunari-1 Captain.
He had managed to dodge the gunfire and thrown Raygust while moving closer, but he had not been ready for the Suzunari-1 Captain to respond to his appearance so suddenly.
It was clear that this fight had placed him on a new level.
Seeing that only brought a smile to Inukai's face.
He was a special factor here and I didn't even notice that.
He had thought he would be the only one who could drag others out from the past on this battlefield, but the Suzunari-1 Captain's mere presence on this battlefield had kept both Ninomiya and Murakami from going back to the past.
That much he was thankful for.
But now a new problem arose.
How am I supposed to escape this when I've already decided to attack?
He had moved into a position where he could attack right after moving closer, but it also meant that dodging in that position would be difficult.
I didn't think his would happen so I was just going for the kill.
No matter how he looked at it, the situation had worked out for the Suzunari duo.
Even so…
"I'll still keep going!"
Pulling the trigger on his gun, Inukai gave a rapid fire attack at the same time he received one.
But as he looked to see the results of his attack, he saw someone move.
It had been Murakami.
"Hahaha. Still wanting to be a protector here, huh? That's good."
He was soon filled with holes all around his body.
As if mirroring him, Murakami's body also became full of holes.
"Hey Kō-kun, keep thinking like that, got it? You'll need it to deal with Yuki."
Inukai saw his body begin to crack up from the attack he had received.
But more than that, he saw the final attack of this side of the match.
More bullets.
Unlike the ones from him or the Suzunari Captain, these ones had come from seemingly nowhere.
Their target had been the same as his though.
That meant the third point here had been taken.
And so…
Bail Out
Bail Out
Bail Out
.
Ninomiya stared at the wreckage in front of him.
Three bodies had turned into light before flying off into the distance.
Now it was only him.
Looking all around again he spoke to no one in particular.
"That brat… He should be fighting the last battle here in a bit."
The pitch black of the night was all that was left for him to see.
Kicking a nearby piece of the destroyed wall, he faced the sky with narrowed eyes.
"This will be the only time I wish for a Taiyōko to win."