"So, let's discuss what we should do for the match that is happening in a short while."
Kimura took a breath with the wind on her back as she sat by the rec room window.
She knew everyone was watching her.
...Now, then.
She continued speaking.
"This is something for Kotowari Squad to figure out, but I would like the opinion of everyone else."
But she was fairly certain that they would do that without being asked.
"Their next opponents are Ikoma Squad and a rematch with Yuba Squad and Hikigane Squad."
"So you expect it to be a grudge match between all of us?"
"I guess so," she confirmed. "Both Ikoma Squad and Hikigane Squad... You know, it's getting to be a mouth full to say their full names. We'll just abbreviate it to IkoSquad and HikiSquad. Yuba Squad is pretty simple, so they can remain the same."
"She finally caught up with us!" they all exclaimed.
"Anyways. Both IkoSquad and HikiSquad are usually fighting for third ranked among the B-Rank squads. Well, when the latter is trying, that is."
"That kind of pressure is pretty harsh when you're at the top tier," added Inukai.
Her captain nodded in impressed agreement.
Come to think of it, there were other squads who had their own importance, so her captain probably found that viewpoint a fascinating one.
So Kimura continued.
"With those two squads always being near the top, it's going to be difficult to come up with something, it will probably be that they want to take out the ones below them in ranking first. That means KotoSquad will be the ones with targets on them for this round."
So...
"We need to be careful with how we go about this all, meaning that we should take everything into consideration, that way they won't be caught off guard. Even a moment of that and they're done for."
"Eh? Really?" said Koarai. "What's with them? Wouldn't they be put at a disadvantage since Toby's got close range covered and Takeshi's got long range covered?"
"Cut them some slack. They're used to fighting stronger people." Kimura raised three fingers to point at everyone else. "Three factors will affect how things turn out."
She started with the first.
"First, how much of a threat they think each other are. This happens a lot with people who are in the top tier. They know how to counter stronger opponents and ones they have been fighting for some time. That means they can likely predict what weaker squads will do in certain situations, even if they aren't the ones in control."
Everyone nodded in understanding, so she moved on.
"Second, squad interference. To be blunt, this one's mostly about what KotoSquad does. The actions of any squad members joining in can always change any kind of plan."
And the third.
"Third, there's the personality issue."
.
"Personality?"
Yuki saw almost everyone tilt their head at that one.
They were clearly confused how personality could affect a squad's plans, so he raised his hand.
He understood this one due to understanding people as a whole. Basically...
"Is it about if they want to even try to fight or not?"
"Yes. Exactly." Kimura nodded. "Yuba Squad has some pretty serious people, but it's really just them. IkoSquad is strange, but they go at a weird pace. One that goes for the flashiness of a battle instead of a win. At least until you back them into a corner. And HikiSquad... Their idiot is like Misaki over there. They have entertainment values instead of normal ones like the rest of us. I can't say much about Girikage, but I can also say that the logs show that Hikigane himself can also end up not doing much."
"With Hikigane-san, would it laziness or him being too relaxed?" asked Hitomi.
"That's hard to say," replied Yuki.
"Really? Not even you know?"
"Well, it really depends on what exactly happens as we're talking here."
Because...
"Everyone else is determined enough to win, but there's someone who can flip on a dime. If he can't find the motivation to fight here, it will be easier to take care of things. Laziness and overly relaxed is not seen as a good thing normally, but if he remains that way then things in general should be fine. But..."
Yuki opened his phone.
It showed the list of participants in the coming match from each squad, starting with who was at the top. The entire list was made up with the overall points every one had.
The one who had little compared to what they thought was also there.
"Sekai-san doesn't participate in solo matches much, if at all. He trains and does defense duty just fine, but he doesn't fight others often. It's only under certain circumstances that he does. His points suffer from this, but he isn't one to care about that."
Just as he started to say "but" again, she spoke up.
"But can you still figure something out from this?"
"Eh? Oh, yes, I can. ...Rather, I already know. I have fought Sekai-san once in a solo match and it was a no-contest fight for sure. So if you keep an eye on him..."
"Won't it be too late if they notice anything by the time the match starts?" asked Mitsuteru.
Yuki shook his head.
"He won't normally change his attitude before a match. Rather, he might feel even more unmotivated and think it's 'to irritating' to even bother with. So he will do little to nothing during the match itself. With that said, I don't recommend fighting him if he's in that state. Don't run the risk of motivating him."
"I see," said Mitsuteru.
"So their job is to ensure they don't miss their chance?" asked Mei with a double thumbs up. "Impressive work, Yuki. Just when everyone thought you were troublesome to let start speaking again, moving, and causing chaos, you prove how you can at least do something!"
"Wait, shouldn't you be defending me during those times!? I thought we finally got over that!"
Why did everyone refuse to look him in the eye after that?
"Anyway, Kotowari Squad needs to be on the lookout for that kind of thing. Once they know what kind of attitude he has, they can go about changing their plans as they see fit during the match."
"I see," said Mitsuteru again before taking a breath. "And then they have to figure out how to deal with the others, don't they?"
"Yes," said Kimura. "That's the real problem here."
.
Kimura crossed her arms and groaned.
They tend to run into this problem a good amount, she thought.
"You guys have fought against HikiSquad at the start of the B-Rank Wars and Yuba Squad during it. You know how to counter the latter now, I hope, but the former is one that looks like it's changing a good amount. And IkoSquad is just crazy."
So...
"What do you have planned for all of that?"
"We will be using Suzume-senpai's entertainment tempo to keep track of IkoSquad and go from there," said Kotowari.
"Right." Kimura uncrossed her arms and shrugged. "Personally, I think you should dog pile onto Ikoma or Yuba first."
"It's a little late now, but couldn't they have figured out which one to tackle first?" asked Koarai.
"Hmm, they had the week to do so, but then something big happened yesterday that could have messed them up. So..."
At that point, Kimura looked out the window.
She could see several white line rising from below the room.
"Is that smoke from someone cooking?" asked Yuki. "There sure is a lot of it."
"Yuki, remember that Kako is currently in the kitchen making something. If there wasn't any smoke, I would be more worried."
"Isn't that already worrying if smoke that thick is coming right under us while she is just making fried rice?" Mitsuteru pushed back his hair and opened his tablet. "My family worked on repairs for this building. The distance between the downstairs kitchen window and this room shouldn't be close enough to where we get this smoke, no matter what she's making."
It was unclear how much of that was true, but how much was Kako making and of what to send the smoke this high?
"What exactly is she making down there then?"
"I feel like... Yeah, I'm sure we don't want to really know. The ventilation also shouldn't bring anything up from there."
Mitsuteru opened a screen displaying the Yagura Branch's interior, so he was probably planning to look over the branch office later on.
He sure is resilient, thought Kimura, but...
...Oh.
She belatedly remembered something.
"We..."
Everyone stopped moving to listen.
They turned toward her and she worked to keep a relaxed expression as she continued.
"We were fighting a lot recently, weren't we?"
"How could you forget!?" they all shouted back at her.
.
"I know we were distracted with other things until now," said Koarai while fanning Hitomi by the Yagura Branch's rec room's wall. "But only Kimura-senpai could ask 'we were fighting a lot recently, weren't we?' as casually as asking what we ate for breakfast."
"Yeah, but it's easy to forget now that we're back to our normal lives," said Kimura.
"If you aaaaask me, this is hardly ooooour normal lives," said Mukuro who had stopped by to replenish the ice in the rec room's small ice room. "Weee still seem to be fiiighting to me."
He pointed out the window where some people were taking a practical exam outside.
Hitomi stretched up to see the Yagura Branch Director speaking to some boys.
"Listen up, you two! This isn't a place for you to be stalkers here, you got that!? If you've got something to say, go into the office and speak directly to one of us!"
"What do you mean!?" One boy in casual wear raised his hand. "Mister! Can't go in there when we know how crazy you guys are!"
"We may be a branch filled to the brim with lunatics and other people most would not want around, but that's fine! So!" The branch director wobbled on his feet and then collapsed onto the front yard of the branch office. "This is...too much for...me as well."
"Mister!"
"Don't die, Mister! We don't want to be blamed for killing you!"
"Let's go drag his body off somewhere, Ame! We'll have to make it look like we're helping him here!"
Are they about to invent a new sport while hiding a dead body? wondered Hitomi. But...
...That's about how it was for us in the 2nd year too.
That suggested Japan's "culture" was being successfully passed down. And...
"Oh?"
Hitomi noticed a familiar face running on the front yard. They wore a black track suit and a hat.
"Kawaguchi, should Piecchi really be running out in the open there?"
"Could you maybe come up with a better nickname first?"
But Kimura did hold a hand over her eyes (despite being in the shade) to take a look.
There she saw...
"Pyrínas is usually here as a caretaker and citizen. Keep that in mind, everyone."
.
Okudera rolled the name "Pyrínas" around in his mind.
He was someone who had appeared rather randomly recently.
...Misaki's definitely drawn a doujinshi based on him by this point.
He was entering his second lap around the front yard after passing in front of three children who were carrying water bottles.
"What is he doing, Kimura-senpai?" asked Ariake.
"Something had apparently happened rather recently that he wants to look into, but there is no way for him to properly do so right now. He was so focused on taking care of those kids that now he wants to see if anything comes up by doing these kinds of things now."
"What do you mean?"
"Basically, since he can multitask in his mind, he's doing physical exercise to see if he can change things up inside of his own head while focusing on something else. Those kids are the ones he usually watches over, so I guess they're there to hep him with that. It's pretty adorable, if you ask me."
Takeshi nodded in an impressed sort of way while looking to the front yard with a tray in hand.
"In other words, these laps are like his way of saying that he has chosen a life here with those children and us all?"
"That's a pretty bold way of putting it, Takkun."
"Oh, um," said Takeshi, but he did not actually deny it. Even a she gave a light blush behind his scarf.
...He really has changed.
He seemed to have somewhat accepted that denying these things would accomplish nothing. Okudera and Koarai had a fair bit of that between themselves, but now that unsure Laser Shooter was becoming that way too.
Okudera knew he and Koarai still had a way to go in the regard. Koarai in particular had made a lot of progress since the invasion, so it felt like he had surpassed Okuder there.
"..."
Okudera began to wonder if his teammate felt inferior to him in any way.
If they both felt that way about each other, then was that another way they were "equal"?
If so…
…It should be interesting to see how our things go from here.
He constantly felt a desire to make sure he was a worthy teammate.
"Takkun."
"Yes?"
"How are things going for you?"
"With understanding others, you mean?"
"Oh, sure," said Okudera noncommittally. "I was just hoping you were making new friends."
"Wh-why?"
It was impressive Takeshi had time to do anything else at all with how busy he was with trying to better himself and mend some things. But doing things he did not feel obligated to do was probably a sign that he was still growing as a person.
That was probably best indicated by whatever he considered to be his new "normal".
Changes in a relationship came from changes in both parties.
Tsukiko-senpai, Awdry, Misaki, and Takato-san must be changing as well.
Koarai and I must have done some changing a lot too.
Hooray for fights then? Well, maybe not, but circumstances do change people.
In that case…
…Oh.
Okudera wanted to do something too.
Whatever the situation, they were headed into another Rank War match. With some major battles behind them, he was looking to the future and searching for possibilities.
He wanted to do something new.
Entering the Rank Wars was not required, but once you joined, there was no point in not doing it. so if he was going to make the most of his time outside of matches...
"Kimura-senpai, about our own match."
He directly asked what was weighing on his mind.
They were all looking forward to the next match, but…
"Can we get some help over here too?"
.
Mitsuteru was seated close to Kimura, so he got a good view of the girl's reaction.
...Oh, I know what that means.
The rest of us aren't getting any help, thought Mitsuteru based on Kimura's reaction.
The former Taiyōko Squad Operator made a snap decision.
And her snap decisions were always about what would be happening with the people who were around her.
This snap decision meant they had to keep everything moving along, so they could not spend time on something else.
As a Sniper, Mistuteru was prepared to accept that. Snipers kept the fights running smoothly and provided general support.
He was sometimes tasked with unnecessary odd jobs or joke jobs, but that was now how it was supposed to work. Although I feel like the jokes have become the majority lately. Of course, I bring it on myself a lot, so I guess I can't complain too much.
But at the moment, he saw the Operator start to say something.
"––––––"
Everyone sent emotionless looks the Operator's way, as a sort of counterattack.
At some point, the Suzaku Sister and the Azu-Duo's Okkun had displayed an advance tactic spreadsheet on their tablet and Hogo was doing the same with a "Japanese Summer Dishes He'll Love" was strange to see that when he considered the month, but that would be for later. Mei was writing an article on curry and Suzume was staring at the operator while swaying lightly.
They clearly all hoped to get some help.
Even Kimura would have a hard time telling them they were not getting any help from the battle maniac now.
"No," she began, but then she forcibly changed direction: "Yes."
A pause followed.
No one said anything, but they could hear voices from outside…no, from the first floor of the building.
"Okay! Let's toss him right on in!"
"Splaaaaash! Splish, splish, splish!"
"Hold it, you lot! You may be in the hallway, but make sure you go up for air! Not that I know what that's like since I have high tolerance."
Those other boys were bringing sports to a strange new territory. But…
"––––––"
Everyone exchanged a glance and opened tabs.
.
White Fox: "I'm stuck looking over something right now, but what do you think about Kimura's joke just now?"
Izumo: "It ended with 'yes', so I think that probably counts as a yes."
JK: "She changed course at the very last second, so I feel like the help will be short if you guys end up getting any at all."
.
Mitsuteru agreed with Nakagami's assessment.
Across the room, Hogo looked up at the Ninomiya Gunner.
"Yes-no?" He blushed and tilted his head. "What is that supposed to mean, Sumiharu?"
"I-it's always a yes for you! And my answer will never be a zero, Shiro!"
Kimura gasped when she heard that, so Mitsuteru looked to Mei. And Mei...
"Aka- Yuki!"
"R-right! Kimura, don't even think about coming up with a pun using 'zero' and 'Shiro'. It would barely qualify as a joke!"
"Dammit, you keep cutting me off on my jokes lately!"
"Hold it!" interjected Akashi. "Takato took a moment to insult me there, didn't she!? Tsukiko-kun, you heard that, didn't you!?"
Starting with him before moving on had become so standard no one paid any real attention to it. And you should count yourself lucky their cannibalism is hitting you in such a harmless way, Secretary-senpai.
But that aside…
"Kimura-senpai?" asked Hoshi. "How much help will be provided to everyone?"
.
Takeshi saw Kimura rest her elbow on the windowsill and stare outside.
Du-Sis: "Is she trying to avoid answering?"
But Kimura answered while still staring into the distance.
"Helping out everyone here is going to be tricky."
In other words...
"You could say we're helping out, but you could also say we aren't."
.
Takeshi tilted his head at that.
"So which is it - yes or no?"
"That's the thing." Kimura turned back around and shrugged. "Kotowari Squad is in a weird predicament when compared to the other squad members here, but everything other than that will essentially be like helping out the others."
That would mean... thought Takeshi.
"The people already in the high top tier will have to plan even more, won't they?"
There was one person who would obviously have a lot of work.
...How will he handle that?
Everyone turned to Inukai and he looked back at them in a cautious way.
"What do you say to that, Inukai-senpai?"
"Hm." He crossed his arms and tilted his head and upper body. "For the most part, that's just how it has to be."
He was apparently prepared for it. But he would probably need a little bit of encouragement.
...He's changed too.
In the past, it had felt like he would put on a smile regardless and go with the flow. With certain requests from Yuki, he would often think nothing of it.
It was easy to guess why he had learned to hold off on jumping right into these sorts of things.
...Hogo-san.
He was no longer alone. He had someone waiting for him no matter what, so he could not rush into making decisions without discussing it with him first.
...If I do have Asano-san by my side like that, will I also start thinking like that as well?
Only time would tell in his case.
White Fox: "C'mon, Inu. You've been way too protective and defensive lately."
Lobo: "I think you could stand to learn how to be more defensive, Yuki."
Honest Sister: "Heh heh heh. There's no way he could ever pull that off, so specializing exclusively in offense is honestly the right move for him."
Rampage Dress: "My attacks are indeed unavoidable."
If only Mei's comment were not so true.
At any rate, Mitsuteru sent a comment to Hogo.
Daybreak: "Um, Hogo? What would you do if Inukai-senpai was stuck planning more than he is right now?"
Hero: "Eh?"
That must have come as a surprise because Hogo hung his head toward his phone with something spilling from him.
The reaction meant his thoughts had to be in a positive place and that either inspired Hitomi to give him some encouragement or simply to tease him.
Demon Child: "Would you join him if you could? Like you did two days ago?"
Hero: "No, um."
Rampage Dress: "Now, Oshiro, it is time to choose."
With that much encouragement, Hogo hung his head while blushing and gave an answer.
"I-I would make Sumiharu something to eat every time he would need to leave."
.
Inukai realized everyone was focused on him. But...
...I must avoid anything that would waste Shiro's efforts here.
"Shiro." He spoke to his flushed and somewhat downturned face. "It's possible that I won't be able to constantly eat alongside you for these next two matches."
But…
"So how about I thank you for the meal when you give me something to eat before the matches and thank you again when we finish the matches?"
His hair shook as he turned to look at him. Something scattered and there was a smile on his lips.
"I would love that!"
.
Takeshi gasped.
...Is this how you put your pride on the line in a good way!? But with these kinds of people...
But anyway, thought Takeshi as he looked to Oshiro and Inukai. The Hogo Squad Captain continued to smile brightly as he tried to get back to his tablet. Inukai watched that then stood up.
"Here."
He sat down to Oshiro's right.
His shoulders tensed in obvious surprise, so Inukai raised his right index finger.
"This is a Gunner technique called side sitting."
"A-a Gunner technique!?"
"Yes. Now that I have used this technique on you, you can't help but let me sit by your side."
"R-really?"
Kimura responded to their conversation by leaning out the window and taking deep breaths. You just have to get used to it, Kimura-senpai.
But Inukai was not done speaking.
"Those affected by this technique are also doomed to see the caster when they look to the side."
Demon Child: "I'm going to die."
Izumo: "Um, Hitomi-san? Let's not overreact."
Demon Child: "I've known Inukai-kun long enough, but this really going to kill me. Too much of a good thing really is poison."
Koala: "But why is it Shiron-paisen's advances get a positive response, but Inukai-senpai's get a 'has he gone insane' response? This is definitely the latter."
White Fox: "Ignore him. This can be the most delusional part of someone's life."
Inu: "I'd prefer you call it the happiest part of my life!"
Incredibly, Takeshi could easily imagine him continuing on like this forever.
Regardless, this meant they had solved the Inukai problem. So...
"Kimura-senpai, this mean you have at least some plan to help everyone else here, doesn't it? What are you thinking?"
"Well, they have some pretty strong people, so I think it's whatever."
That was a somewhat frightening thing to hear, but then Kimura crossed her arms and turned toward Takeshi.
"You see, Kotowari Squad just went down in their overall strength." She opened a new tab on her tablet displaying the statistics and she tapped on Kotowari Squad. "You haven't forgotten, have you? Mei over there has left your squad and become a part of the Yagura Branch."
.
Kimura made sure everyone was focused on her before she continued.
"Are you listening?" she began, earning her some nods.
They all understood, so she went ahead and said it.
This had been a sort of starting point for Kotowari Squad.
"Yesterday, Mei had resigned from being Kotowari Squad's Operator in order to join the Yagura Branch."
Mei nodded.
"I decided to leave them on a good note, unlike a certain idiot we all know, so it worked out well enough that they understand that I will still be here for them whenever they need me. But I will be transferring to the Yagura Branch proper soon enough."
"I'm pretty sure this will end up terribly for some people, but I'm personally fine with it, so I could care less about it most times." Or better yet, thought Kimura as she added that to another list of her "Yuki is an idiot" folder. "While the Yagura Branch has gained something important with that transfer, Kotowari Squad lost someone who could perform super calculations, - bordering precognition - someone who could keep all of them in line, and someone who knows the battlefield well enough that she can help just by sitting there and speaking to them. Her multitasking skills are also lost to them at this point. Instead, they have some JK who is honestly weird."
"She an hear this conversation, right? I suppose it is fine as long we all understand that she is someone who has a strangeness level that exceeds Kotowari Squad."
Mei said it so naturally that they all ignored the large amount of spam coming from the network.
Kimura was relieved that she was able tp speak so freely like this after a long time.
"Yes," she confirmed. "But she also has her merits. While not on Mei's level, she is capable enough to also be an Operator for the Yagura Branch. She was sent over temporarily, but Akasora-san agreed to let her become a part of Kotowari Squad since they plan to join the Yagura Branch at some point."
"So they went down in power because they lost Takato-san, right?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean they don't have a lot going for themselves. They still retain a lot of things."
Kimura swung her right arm and Krümel did the same with his right foreleg to open a new folder.
Then she spoke to them all.
"They should not have that much of a hard time against squads who are just as crazy as they are right now."
"This is looking like trouble, isn't it, Asu-chan?"
The smells of cooking lingered on a street where a boy and another figure walked together.
"There has been so much trouble lately, I would appreciate it if you specified what you're referring to, Jinsei."
"Ah, c'mon, you know what I mean." Jinsei's wig was slipping off his head a she placed a hand on his chin. He rubbed his mouth with his thumb and then pointed the finger at his crotch. "It's really now allowed?"
"Don't start stripping around in public. Because then I will be held responsible and it sounds like a pain."
"Things can be a pain for someone like you?"
Kumokawa glared over at him. And...
"That is all."
"You wound me, Asu-chan! Look, look! I'm wounded right here!"
"Please don't point to your ass when you are speaking about something I have done."
"Fine, fine. But at least look over there." Jinsei pointed at one of the greengrocers along the street. "Those eggplants would be great in some tempura, don't you think?"
"You're talking about cooking now?"
"I am." He sighed and saw Kumokawa use her phone to look up the money he was allowed to spend for squad expenses. "What are your thoughts on how Sei-chan has been, Dai-chan's situation, and our return to the top tier?"
"You changed how you refer to him?"
"There was a confusion when Kai-kun was around, so I ended up changing it," Jinsei shrugged. "Besides, 'Sei-chan' sounds nicer, don't you think?"
"If I may ask first, do you plan on actually fighting this time?"
Kumokawa spend no time getting back on topic.
"Of course I am, but I'll be doing it in my own way. I might need to even put in extra work if Sei-chan decides that things are too irritating and instead just become lazy during the match. I'll have Dai-chan there to help me, but losing Sei-chan will be a tough blow."
"If he refuses to fight, couldn't we just send some people over?"
"I guess," he said while Kumokawa gave their order to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper knew her well enough for a "good to see you again".
"Is this from the next city over?"
"It's from the other side of it. But..." The shopkeeper pointed to outer Mikado City. "I still have some special grade vegetables we got for the festival, so just as if you need some. The mushrooms were really popular, so if we did get some more, I'm hoping we can get some through an easy channel."
"Sounds like a lot of work," said Jinsei before taking a breath. He turned to stare into the outer city even though nothing was visible from this distance. "Now that I think about it, Sei-chan is from the outer city and not the inner part."
"Does that mean Akane-chan is also from there? I don't know much about their relationship, so I can only ask."
"It's a good question," he said. "I can't say anything about that particular relationship since Sei-chan like to keep things to himself. And I'm sure the vagueness of it all is a real pain for you."
He smiled and placed a hand onto his wig but didn't move it.
He looked up to see Kumokawa holding her right hand back toward him.
"If this discussion will only be a pain, then I will ask you to stop there." She did not turn around to look at him. "For now, how about I search the databank for some options on cooking these vegetables? Unless you want to do it yourself?"
"Our next opponents are annoying."
Eh? That's how he would describe them?
Obishima looked to her captain quickly enough to gather some attention. She ducked her head for a moment before turning back so they would not say anything.
It worked well enough with Tonooka shrugging and Fujimaru giving a huff and smile.
"Ikoma Squad aside, Hikigane Squad looks like it's always changing and Kotowari Squad is only learning new things."
"Mittsun told me about some things they've done, but I'm sure Obishima would know more than me," Tonooka said, turning the attention back to her.
The pressure was a bit much, but she decided to lessen it by thinking of it a different way.
I get to talk about my friend!
It would be helping her squad while also giving her a chance to talk about her time with the Engineers while she sat with Hoshi. Those time had always been fun or interesting, but now there were even more people there that it only made things more fun.
"I can only speak of Hoshi-chan," she said. "I am not sure about the others, though."
"That's fine. That girl is the one who made those prototype Triggers, so it will actually be a good thing if we know more about that situation."
"You're really tense about this match, aren't you?"
Her captain waved off Tonooka's words, but they could all see it.
The way her captain's shoulders were tensed as he crossed them over his chest showed them how much this match would be affecting him.
"Hey, hey, Tonooka, don't you remember how his cool turning slide was brushed aside by a dog? Yeah, remember how that dog beat him and is only getting better? Of course he's feeling tense about this."
"That was unnecessary!"
"Yeah, but it got a reaction from you."
"You!"
Obishima felt like this was too normal for them to interrupted.
Tonooka must have felt the same way since he only shrugged his shoulders and motioned for her to go on.
Um, aren't these the people who came before the current terrible people?
That was a terrifying thought.
"Sorry, go on Yukari."
Oh, it's still morning, isn't it? Obishima thought to herself as she checked the time quickly.
Fujimaru was not a morning person, so this was probably not something she was excited about.
"Right! Um, where do I start...? Oh! Yes! Fujin has been coming along nicely, so much so that Hoshi-chan smiles when she thinks about it. Anything having to do with Teleport is put to the side for now, but I have seen for myself how much she has improved some other Triggers. Starlight has been found out to be usable with Kōgetsu and Raygust, but it's really tricky to use. Oh, it also doesn't cause instantaneous Bail Out either! It does take a good amount of trion, though."
"Obishima."
She recognized that tone.
She had been going on and rambling a bit.
Oh, but he isn't saying anything afterwards.
Was this her captain's way of saying that he was happy she had a friend like Hoshi? She liked to believe so.
But even still, she knew why he had stopped her.
He wants me to speak about what I know concerning the abilities of Kotowari Squad.
That particular squad was pretty open about the information they had. It was not due to arrogance of a sense of superiority, but rather, it was their trust in their own abilities and wants to overcome whatever was in front of them.
Obishima admired not only her friend, but the entirety of Kotowari Squad for that. They were fine with telling others what they were capable of simply because they were asked. It was a way for them to let others know that they were prepared for these sorts of things.
It was unorthodox and she liked that.
"As far as I know, Misaki-senpai hasn't changed."
"That sounds terrifying as it is... But continue."
Did he want the girl to really change?
Well, whatever.
"Hoshi-chan hasn't really been focusing on fighting, so I don't know how much better she has gotten. But she has mentioned that Awdry-senpai and Kotowari-senpai have been trying something new and interesting, but even she doesn't really know much about it."
"So those two are looking for something new?" sighed Tonooka with his shoulder dropping.
It was understandable that he would be the most wary of them. Snipers tended to have a hard time against Awdry and Kotowari once they were found out. Also...
He is one of the people who isn't sure about Kotowari-senpai.
Obishima had been reassured multiple times that the Kotowari Squad Captain was not someone bad. The start of the B-Rank Wars had shown something else, but she managed to meet him when Hoshi invited her to their squad's operating room once.
...He looked more nervous than anything, she thought when she remembered how the boy would shift and lift his scarf to hide his lower face. It was hard to see a bad person in those actions.
But there were still others who needed to confirm it for themselves.
.
Obishima isn't the best at hiding her thoughts.
That was understandable, so he didn't blame her too much.
Tonooka felt something shake inside when he thought about what she could be thinking about. His response to her speaking about Kotowari Squad might have been enough for her to understand his feelings.
They had recently gained some fans, but they were a squad made up of people who he could only describe as extreme. The choices they made were on a different scale from the way he made his choices and were in direct conflict with them. The only one safe was Obishima's new friend.
Mitsuteru had told him time and time again that they were not so bad, but he still had his own thoughts on them.
Their captain in particular.
They had all seen what he was like during the start of the B-Rank Wars.
He had gotten some people to help with his change, but Tonooka couldn't just let go of the image he saw in his head.
The image of someone willing to do whatever it took to win or get their way.
There had been no particular penalty for the way he had acted or the way he had done things, but that was likely because he had some protection due to the people he knew. It was frustrating to think about and Tonooka could only view it all as something that should not have happened in the first place.
But it had. So he had to accept it.
Accepting that had been followed with news that his best friend had made up with Kotowari Squad.
He felt something shake at that as well.
Mittsun is too soft once he's made an attachment to someone.
He had many things to ridicule them for or hate them for, but he had decided to start anew with them. Now he was over at the Yagura Branch, helping them fight against Tonooka and his squad.
"Tonooka!"
"Yes?"
"You will have the freedom to do whatever you want in the next match! But I also want you to support one of us if you see any of the more troublesome fighters nearby!"
"Which ones are counted as 'troublesome' here?"
Yuba didn't sigh and he didn't criticize him. Instead, he only pointed to where the list had already been made, likely by Fujimaru.
And what he saw was...
"...Is this right?"
.
Obishima tilted her head once she heard Tonooka. The way his brows closed in together had her wondering why he was questioning this list. It felt right to her.
She looked back over it to see if she had any different thoughts, but found she could only say that it was correct.
Hikigane Squad - Hikigane Sekai, Kirikari Jinsei, Girikage Daigo
Ikoma Squad - Ikoma Tatsuhito, Mizukami Satoshi
Kotowari Squad - Awdry Toby, Kotowari Takeshi
She felt like the Kotowari Squad Sniper should have also been added, but there was likely a reason for her captain to leave the girl out.
But before she could go into that thought any more, Tonooka spoke up again.
He gave a reason for his question.
"Are you sure Dai-kun and Kotowari should be here?"
"I would think that you would be fine to have Girikage on here."
"Is it because he's a part of Hikigane Squad," Tonooka said with narrowed eyes.
It was unusual to see him become defensive like that.
When she thought about it, the two of them had been fast friends and were seen around each other at times. Even if it was Sasamori and Hanzaki who helped him out more, Tonooka had always done what he could for the Attacker.
This was probably one of those times.
But her captain didn't back down in the slightest.
He took a step forward and was stopped by a hand coming up between the two boys.
It was Fujimaru.
"Hey now, you know that's not the reason," she said. "You told us a bunch of times how much better he's gotten, and about what Hanzaki says about him. If we didn't put him here then it'd be like we were disregarding what he can do now." Tonooka stayed quiet, so she continued. "Besides, we heard that he's done some crazy good work recently. Jinsei says that their squad would probably be in the mid tier if he wasn't there to make up for their captain's problems."
"...That's true. Sorry. I'm just used to others slapping something onto him just because of pointless things."
"Being a part of Hikigane Squad isn't pointless."
Tonooka narrowed his eyes again, but her captain spoke up to calm him down.
"The fact he remains as their member means that even Hikigane sees a lot of value in him, so that makes him someone dangerous."
"...Yeah, that makes sense."
If that was the case, why did she only remember seeing that captain laze around while his teammate was performing a crossdressing dogeza party?
Her captain had told her to wipe it from her mind, but there was no chance that she would be forgetting something like that.
That takes care of why Girikage-senpai is on there.
That just left...
"As for Kotowari..."
He was on the list for a reason.
"He has a chance to be like your friend - Ariake."
"How so?"
"Well," Fujimaru said.
Before she could finish, her captain continued.
"He can harass whoever he wants without any problem!"
"Chu!"
"What an honestly cute sneeze."
"You better not be getting sick before our match, you hear me?"
Mitsuteru smiled as he watched Kotowari Squad walk away from the branch office and towards the Border base.
Their meeting had ended up in a strange place and had gotten almost nowhere, but it looked like they had gained something from it all.
Seeing Yuki so active and getting a general feel for everything that is going on right now must have made them more relaxed. Their next opponents are difficult, so they shouldn't be too stiff when facing them.
Everything had seemed to be in working order for them as he lightly waved toward them from the front of the branch office.
"We'll be going too! Thanks for having us over!"
"Oh, you're still here, Ariake?"
Mitsuteru turned around in time to see the Azuma Squad trio walking towards him from inside of the branch office.
Hitomi looked much better after some rest, but neither Okudera nor Koarai seemed particularly bothered by everything right now. That was also good.
"I still need to do some looking into for this place. My family doesn't like to half-ass anything, so I want to do a checkup on the place. See if anything needs fixing."
"Yeah, we can tell how good you are are checking things over. The way you go all out when it comes to harassing others is pretty scary."
"...Huh?"
"Eh?"
All movement stopped.
Mitsuteru was certain that he heard an upstairs window open up, but he ignored that. There was doubt that looking up at whoever opened the window would only be viewed as a win for them.
So he focused on the confused tiro in front of him.
Hitomi had started sweating while she looked away, Okudera was standing still with his arms to his side, and Koarai...
"Ha ha ha! Don't be so shy about it! The way you've been harassing squads left and right in the rank wars is terrifying!"
"I really don't know what you mean," he retorted.
This time it was Koarai who froze up.
Okudera was the first to recover, pulling out his phone and quickly typing out a message.
Soon enough, his own phone was buzzing like crazy.
.
Okkun: "Hey, we have some trouble here! Ariake is acting like he hasn't been harassing anyone during the rank wars!"
Black Bullet: "You shouldn't be lying like that."
Shige-ko: "He does it so naturally when we're planning out our matches that I just figured he was aware of what he was doing."
Feeling Alive: "Saaaaaaaaaaame!"
Okkun: "So what should we do here?"
Everyone: "Figure it out yourself!"
Daybreak: "Um, hey? I really don't know what's going on here? I mean, when I think about it, I was harassing NinoSquad and Suzu-1 in our match, but that's all. Everything after that has been fine. Actually, this is the first match since then."
Yuzu: "Mitsuteru..."
Daybreak: "Hm? What is it, Yuzuru?"
Kage: "Why did our Sniper just shake his head while muttering, 'This guy really is clueless'?"
Bright Child: "Because our very own Mittsuncchi decided to ignore how much he harasses others when he's fighting!"
Kage: "I haven't seen much when it comes to the guy, but he was helpful yesterday."
Daybreak: "Kageura-saaaaaaan!"
.
There was at least one person on his side.
"Woooooow... He managed to harass Kage-san into saying something like that."
"I didn't do anything!"
The three of them motioned for him to calm down, so he did just that. With a breath in and a breath out, he released any tension that had been building up.
"Now then," Hitomi started. It looked like she wanted to say something else, but she turned the other way and started whistling.
Okudera took the lead again.
"So, Ariake..."
"Yes?"
"Oh, thank goodness!"
Mitsuteru only felt lost at this point.
"From your perspective, how do things look for Kotowari Squad going into this?"
So that was what they wanted to know.
The Azuma-duo had seemed close to Takeshi when they had been discussing what to do. It was nice to see the younger boys getting along so well.
That was enough for him to overlook what just happened so he could answer.
"I don't think they can win."
But...
"As long as they put up enough of a fight to where the other squads get frustrated, they should do well enough."
Another window opened up from within the branch office and he could hear some people crowd around the upstairs one.
Hitomi brought her arms up and counted down from three. Once they were lowered, they all gave a chorus.
"That's called harassment!"