Obishima tilted her head when she saw Hoshi get run through by a Scorpion blade.

"She was close with that one," she heard her captain say.

Looking again, Obishima saw Trion leaking from Kuga's body. Each strike had landed, even if they had been shallow cuts.

The only ones that mattered here were the ones that let Hoshi break through the defense and reach Kuga. The last two had broken the Scorpion blades and let her Kōgetsu cut through Kuga.

So then why was there a blade through her back?

Something had happened that allowed that blade to pierce her more than Kōgetsu had pierced Kuga.

After a moment, Hoshi began moving back, allowing for the blade in her back to be pulled out.

Now they were able to see the state of both fighters.

"Thank you for this opportunity. And I am sorry for using your space, Yuba-san."

"It's fine. If I minded then I would have said something at the start."

"You are very sweet."

That had been the final nail.

Without changing his expression, her captain turned around and lowered his head. The way he held his head in his hand while his shoulders shook was a bit concerning.

It was too late to worry about him, though, since none of the others noticed the odd behavior, too wrapped up in their own conversation.

Hoshi-chan really does have a hold on Yuba-san, even if she doesn't know it...

To be fair, she knew that Kotowari Squad also held a similar interest in her due to the friendship she had with Hoshi.

"I also want to thank you, Kuga-senpai! I learned a lot!"

"Same to you. And please keep looking after Hoshi-chan."

"Of course! We're friends, after all!"

"Yukari! Oh, you are so great!"

Even with a body thrown onto her, Obishima only smiled.

It was nice to have someone act like this with her. Having it be Hoshi, a girl who had held back from doing these things before, was only that much better in her eyes.

"Thank you for humoring me, Yuba-san. I'll get my revenge in our match."

"You can try all you want."

Oh, he seems back to normal.

Her captain had righted himself and crossed his arms over his chest. The effects of having Hoshi around had worn off, meaning that he should be fine the next time she thanked him.

Should be.

"I see. Right, right. So everyone is finally settling in."

Someone spoke while seated on a stone stairway in the evening.

It was Akasora Chishi.

He was in one of the more urban parts of Mikado City. That area was essentially where he felt at home and this particular location had good company to speak with or to speak about.

It was a place he was familiar with, but...

"Now that school's out, everyone feels like they have more freedom. ...Those troublemakers are either going to college or decide to just get jobs, so I should probably nab me some people who think they can skip out on extra education."

Instead of his work uniform, he wore a black inner suit with a tracksuit and he leaned over to tighten the laces of his shoes.

"We just had another major problem, so I think I will spend the next 5 days checking up on my former students to see how they are doing. If any problems crop up, you can deal with them as you see fit. Do not use my name. As long as you leave that as a final piece of insurance, you are free to use your own discretion. And make sure to send a report to the base if anything happens. I asked some of the other to do the same, so...well, your job is to deal with everyone's complaints."

"...That is fine with me," replied the Autonomous Trion Soldier behind him.

But a new set of footsteps approached that duo.

It came from the top of the stairs behind him. The footsteps were rushed and skipped every other step on the way down.

"What do you want, Newbie? Running down the stairs is a good way to break your neck."

"My name isn't Newbie, Big Boss! My name is Futoyuki and I have some news!"

Futoyuki leaped from the stairs.

He soared over Akasora's head and took a prostration pose in midair. He also used a nearby stick in his right hand to spin around in the air.

"Big Boss!"

The newbie completed the spin and nailed the perfect prostration landing.

"I'm here with pretty urgent news!"

.

Akasora nodded in the evening sun shining on the stone stairs.

"Glad to see you're doing well, Futoyuki." He tapped his arm with a bottle of sunblock lotion. "A midair horizontal rotating prostration leading into a stairway prostration? That must have hurt your knees. For that, I'll hear you out."

"Right! A tight inner suit is pushing it at your age, don't you think?"

"Hey, someone get over here and execute this guy. Remember when he made a scene sucking things during training? Split him in two like that."

"I misspoke!"

"You have a tendency to blurt things out, so do be more careful. Also, don't get up from that prostration. ...Now, someone record this and distribute it over Border's network."

"Akasora-san, why did you call us here today?" asked the local guard.

"There's a lot I don't understand, so I'm leaving all of you in charge of the area and weirdos like this guy over here. I tend to rush through things too quickly when I do them myself."

So...

"With things being settled, everything has settled down enough to where we can have our last B-Rank War match in peace. Do you know what that means?"

"Yeah," replied Futoyuki, still prostrating. "We can figure out which of our B-Rank squads suck and need to be put through the training blender! The better top tier squads are basically already celebrating and they're being sent so many doujinshis based on their captains!"

"You don't have to show them to me on your phone. And I said to stay prostrated."

"Right!" he replied.

Akasora sighed and spoke to them all.

"Everyone will be able to relax a bit more after the B-Rank Wars."

So...

"There's a decent chance we'll be seeing some pretty annoying things from some of them after the last match."

.

Akasora appreciated how everyone gasped.

...Good.

They knew that meant them. He loved how a good portion of the city was ready for his former students. With those people, they knew that something abnormal would end up happening to their everyday lives.

He had once held back and regretted it, but this meant they could get by without him. So...

"I bet all major people in the city will end up thinking that something is going on and join them in some sort of festival by the end of it. The question is what to do about the idiots who are too free. It's strange that the actions of some brats have such an influence on our future decisions."

So...

"I think while they enjoy themselves, Border's directors will be preparing something. Masafumi has already sent me a notification on something they have planned. Before I'm dragged along with that, I want to take another look around. I might be able to find something new around here. And..."

Something he had heard about had caught his attention.

...That former squad has all of its members in the city now.

Mikado City currently had all members from a particularly dangerous squad inside of it, but what were things like for those members?

He doubted he could figure all of that out easily, but it was still worth keeping an eye on.

"Whatever. My point is, I'm going to be busy. I'm sure each person will be using the current time to do their best in their last match, so do everything you can to prepare for whatever is going to be coming after this last match on your on. The city might be in trouble of the citizens aren't ready for Border to go a bit crazy again."

"Right!"

Good, he thought while putting on his backpack. Unlike his usual all-purpose one, this one only had necessities inside of it. It was light and used more for a small trip instead of a long day away from his branch office.

...I also brought some extra stuff to use for lectures.

Makes it look like I'm planning to go back to teaching, he thought, but there was a chance he would be visiting place he could not openly visit or pass through. This equipment would come in hand then.

But, he thought. This isn't going to last much longer.

...Either from those troublesome brats or my own job as branch director. Which, I can't say.

"Now, Futoyuki, what is this news you have for me?"

"Right! Look at this!"

He held up his phone. He scanned through it, reread it, and smiled bitterly.

"Ha. I guess this is something I can't put to the side?"

"That's right! But you will feel like it's a parent-teacher conference!"

"Where did you learn all these things exactly?"

"I learned about the internet!"

That sounded like a bad time.

"In that case," he said, standing up.

He faced forward.

Looking down the stairs, he saw the rest of the city down below. That was where he would be looking around.

About 50km past that, beyond the city in front of him, was where the Border base was.

He viewed that large structure that had shimmering heat rising from it.

"Tell him that it's fine, Futoyuki. Also, do me a favor and stick with Yuki for a bit today. I would rather have one of our branch members watch out for him."

Listen.

"I'm going to be meeting someone rather important. Pyrínas, this might get you involved, too."

"Hello? Yeah? What's up? You don't contact me ever, so what's going on? ...Huuuuh!? Seriously? Can't you just do it? ...That's true, but still! You know how I'm going to feel about something like that. True, I do owe you for that... Tch. Fine. But we're calling things even between us, and I want some dinner to go with this, got it?"

Mei raised a brow as she sipped on the cup of tea in her hand. It had a nice flavor to it and it calmed her down enough to not punch Yuki, who was currently sitting next to her and holding her free hand.

The voice on the other end of the phone was easy to make out, but the words had been muffled. This left her to make minor calculations to figure out what was going on.

Oh, I guess it would be more fun if it was like that instead.

Feeling like she should enjoy herself a bit, she replaced some numbers in her mind and came to an enjoyable conclusion. The only problem with it was that it quickly evolved into something that could rival one of Suzume's doujinshis.

Thinking at that level may have been giving herself too much freedom.

Deciding that it would be best to reign in her thoughts, Mei took another sip of her tea and turned to look at Yuki.

"So what was that about?"

"Tamakoma-2 asked Torimaru for some help, but he then went to me for this help. They're already at the branch office, so he told me what he needed my help with. It's pretty annoying, so I kind of don't want to go."

"You said you would, so no backing down here."

"I know that. The problem I have with it is that they want me to mimic some Combatants, and that's pretty annoying when I'm going off of muscle memory."

"But your muscle memory comes from your Side Effect, so it's also retained in your mind. There really should be no problem."

Yuki clicked his tongue and turned away from her.

He was not rejecting her words, but it showed just how uncomfortable he was about the entire thing.

I don't blame him. Even if it isn't as bad as some others, his Side Effect is still a hassle for him to deal with.

Like all other Side Effects, there was no way to turn it off and it was always active.

Unlike majority of them, the trigger to active his Side Effect was simply opening his eyes. It's similar to Jin's like that,she thought bitterly. Such Side Effects usually came with the most troublesome effects, even if they were also helpful. In the case of Yuki it was the downside of losing control of his body when his Side Effect was being used.

In a way, covering one of his eyes wasn't just for show. It really did help him.

Then again, it was annoying when he covered only one eye. ...I think I like looking at his eyes.

...Well, they aren't anything special. Especially the color. But...they do seem nice. Like a pure black that I would have no problem-

Something audibly cracked within her grasp.

In one hand was the cup of tea, still appearing to be intact. As for the other hand...

Right...

It was Yuki's hand.

Quickly turning to Yuki, she saw that he was already halfway across the room and looked ready to shield himself with any nearby objects.

She looked down to see that the source of the crack she had heard was the harder part of the couch she was sitting on.

Yuki had known what was coming and responded correctly.

"Were you having some sort of Tatsuhito-like thoughts!?"

"I don't want to hear that from someone who is still confused about Minoru's former squad."

"It doesn't make sense!"

This was his chance to jump back on that. It was annoying to hear, but she felt that it would be fine as long as he continued to speak while looking at her with those eyes.

The eyes she found to be amazing.

I guess it's just one thing amazing about him. There aren't too many, so this is a good thing.

Oh, but I can't tell him or he will get an even bigger head.

But she did make a mistake here.

"I just don't get it! Okay, I guess having Sekai-san and Minoru on the same squad makes some sense when we consider everything, but not Denji! That just doesn't make any sense! And get this! I know now! I completely know now! Ketsu-san and Yasuko-san were also a part of that squad! That means they all had to deal with Denji! But how did that squad not fall apart right away! Yeah, everyone on that squad, that isn't Denji, can work together, but I doubt they would do too much with teamwork. Sekai-san has always been the loner type, so he would find it hard to work with anyone else, even back then! Actually, especially back then! And Ketsu-san told me about how he used to be. He told me that working with others was not his strong suit! Oh! Actually, he's told me and Shiro about the only squad he has been on until now... So that was it!? He was talking about that squad! Do you know how many crazy things he's said about them!? A lot! A whole lot that is still stuck in my brain! I won't ever get rid of them now! Not when I know who it involved! It just doesn't make sense to me! There's no way that actually happened, right? But they wouldn't lie about that... Wait! Yūko! I can ask Yūko about it! She would know if they were lying about it! I'll message her right now to see if it's true."

She knew it was her fault, but it was amazing to see him start going off without a care in the world.

Rampage Dress: "Question: What should someone do when their idiot of a partner is confused, but also very excitable?"

Life: "Strip! Strip! Strip! Gah! What was that for, Kawa!? What kind of person throws a cup at someone else's head from three buildings away!?"

Manager: "What kind of idiot starts striping when asked a question that wasn't even directed at him!?"

Life: "Did you want me to have a crossdressing day, then?"

Manager: "I want you to be a normal human being for at least five minutes!"

Everyone: "Not gonna happen."

Mi-Kon: "Kimura, you know as well as I do, that sort of thing won't happen. That's why we need to be ready with any attack possible. Like, say, a full Thruster shot to the crotch into an uppercut before he can fully lean down."

Life: "Wait, what aresxdgchfvjgbkhnijk"

On her own scale, Mei found that she could give Kon a high score for her immediate implementation of her description.

It's lacking a bit, but I guess that can be forgiven if she is busy performing the actions.

But there was something about the conversation that interested her.

Rampage Dress: "Kon, do you have Kō do all of that? Your Trion reserves wouldn't be enough for all of that."

Mi-Kon: "I did. He performed it perfectly. Do you want a recording of it?"

It was tempting, but that was not the point.

Black Wolf: "Um, Senpai? In my defense, she had told me what to do, gave little reasoning, then sent me off. I didn't think it would be for this."

Kage: "Do you regret it?"

Black Wolf: "...It's probably better if I didn't answer that."

Rampage Dress: "Did you apologize afterwards?"

Black Wolf: "Of course! If I was going to do something like that, I would want to know what I'm doing first!"

Rampage Dress: "That's good, Kō. I am proud of you for knowing when to apologize over an accident."

Everyone: "That's not what you should be proud of!"

Black Wolf: "And to answer your question. In your situation it's completely fine to ignore him."

That was something she had done before. It felt kind of boring to repeat that process when she could do something else instead.

But what should that be?

Asking those underclassmen might be too much, but there would be no one better than them to figure out what to do about Yuki.

Maybe I should spend more time with them. Majority of them had gone to the same school as me a year back, but the one who had gone to other ones are the ones I don't know too much about. Inukai is likely the exception, but that is because of different reasons than simply school.

That may be a rough excuse since I am friends with Yuba and the others. That's right, not counting the Operators, I think I am pretty close to the guys.

But wait...

"Maybe they were forced together...? Yeah, that makes sense. There's no way they would be on the same squad unless the circumstances called for it! It makes sense when I look at it like that! But wait... Denji isn't the type to work together, even under stressful situations! And Sekai-san hardly takes orders from anyone! So who the hell could get them all together like that?! It has to be someone with a lot of authority, and someone who can gather people easily. But that sort of charisma isn't something you just find around. Especially not with those guys..."

Yuki seemed to still be stuck in his own confusion, but there was no helping that at this point. It was just how things were at the moment.

Things might have taken a bad turn with him, so it really did seem like ignoring him was for the best.

Instead of dealing with him, Mei opened a second chat that she was familiar with.

.

Rampage Dress: "We are friends, right?"

Polished Place: "Alright, who did something!? Jin, Ikoma, confess!"

Iko: "I've been spendin' time with Chisato, Take-chan, and Eri-kun! I haven't done crap!"

2.7 Maime: "I've been busy with other things, so I didn't do anything either."

Polished Place: "Anything before that?"

Iko: "Uh..."

2.7 Maime: "No comment."

Polished Place: "Confess right now! And apologize to Takato for whatever you did!"

Bookkeeper: "This poor guy..."

#5 Mountain: "I really do feel bad for him..."

770: "It's worse when you remember that she chose a crappy boyfriend."

Zaki: "Even if he isn't the best boyfriend, you probably shouldn't go saying that to the girlfriend."

Polished Place: "The rest of you need to keep quiet so these two can give their confessions!"

Ikoma and Jin probably had a lot to confess, but that had nothing to do with her question. The other topic had gotten her interest, but that also had nothing to do with her question.

Some of them had thought of this and ignored the boys' rambling to answer her.

Gudako: "Yeah, we're friends. Why do you ask?"

Mei: "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't mistaken anywhere. This is good to know."

Songstress: "Do you want us to come over? I have a new song I have been meaning to give a try! The music for it is still in the works, but the lyrics for it are completely done! It's thanks to Hoshi-san, actually, so I would love for you to hear it!"

It looks like Hoshi is doing well for herself, thought Mei with a genuine smile.

It was good to know that she was making friends with others like this.

Rampage Dress: "I would like to hear what you wrote. But you don't need to come over here. I will go over later tonight, that way we can all enjoy ourselves."

Iko: "Party!"

Gudako: "It's going to be a girl's night! Back off! Besides, I need this for tomorrow."

Polished Place: "Then make sure to get good sleep."

Gudako: "Yeah, yeah."

Rampage Dress: "I will make sure she gets to sleep at a good time."

Polished Place: "Thanks."

HD: "Getting back to the actual topic... Did something particular come up for you to ask us that, Mei?"

Rampage Dress: "I was just thinking that it would probably be a good thing to get to know people more."

HD: "That is good to hear."

Rampage Dress: "And the first people I thought of for that was our former underclassmen."

Cloudy River: "Pick again."

It was really no surprise that Kumokawa would say that. As the one who dealt with Jinsei the most out of them all, it was understandable that she would be against this idea.

All of her calculations pointed at this being a bad idea for many reasons, but...

Rampage Dress: "As crazy as they can be, they have been doing a lot recently. I want to get to know them better so that I can properly do something the next time it comes up. From there, I want to get to know the people older than us, the ones who are younger than our former underclassmen, and all of the citizens around Mikado City. I think my understanding of people and how to properly live with my emotions will only get better if I do that."

So...

Rampage Dress: "Can I still be a friend to everyone here?"

There was a pause in all of the messaging.

She knew that it may have been a bit much with what she had put, but she decided to ignore her calculations and only type out what she thought felt right.

Everyone around her liked to base their actions on both emotions and information. She had always done things based on her calculations and information, never once allowing her emotions to come into play. It was the cost of her Side Effect. A focus on every possibility in the world base on information.

Each Side Effect had a downside. This was her's.

But...

...I feel so free.

The calculations would no stop, her mind would keep all the information, her actions in battle would remain ones that relied on her calculations, and she would always see things in a world of numbers. But there was something else there now. The thing she had kept away until it was forced to come out.

Her emotions had been the only thing used to speak with these people - her friends.

No calculations were placed into her message and the only response she got was acceptance from them. There was no way to properly explain how she felt about all of this.

So it was a good thing when they all spoke up again.

Gudako: "Jin! Ikoma! Confess, right now!"

HD: "There will be consequences if you don't."

Zaki: "Seriously, guys. Don't go making Takato feel like this."

Cloudy River: "I will make sure to let my captain know about this."

Bookkeeper: "We should be preparing the punishment for these two."

#5 Mountain: "What is it going to be?"

770: "I say we go with Dunk-and-Chunk."

Tough Turn: "That takes too long to set up, though. Why not just go with the usual?"

Songstress: "Oh, I will get the shoelaces ready, then! I made sure no one from my squad touched them, that way we can be ready for a moment like this!"

2.7 Maime: "Wait, don't we get a say in this!? Seriously, we're friends, Mei! Great friends, even! Yeah! Let's go out to show them what great friends we are!"

Iko: "Not subtle at all! But I can't say the same thing. Chisato and I are trying to plan a beach day for us and the other two. So don't go punishing me before that! And make sure to give me a warning before it comes up!"

Almost Everyone: "That's not how it works!"

They really could be as bad as their former underclassmen.

But that is fine. I would be worried if they were any different.

She could feel the smile on her face. A new sensation had built up in her chest, something she knew she would want to keep there.

Voyager: "You guys are a riot! I can see why everyone over here always looks like they have the time of their lives!"

Then there was someone who was new to them.

Almost Everyone: "Who are you!?"

"I forgot that some of them haven't met him yet." Mei shrugged to herself, continuing to ignore the rambling Yuki.

Well, she tried to do.

"Urg! What's even going on!? I can ask them! I need to ask them! But Sekai-san didn't look like he was doing so well. And there's still the issue with Minoru I need to resolve... Plus, I really don't want to talk to Denji. I might just end up giving him another asshole."

There was something that she still needed to clarify. With Yuki going on like this, it may be the best time to do so.

Rampage Dress: "This is Futoyuki. A newer member of Yagura."

Voyager: "Hello, hello! I think I know some of you already, so what's up!? ...That's how you use that phrase, right?"

Gudako: "You a foreigner, or something?"

Voyager: "Something like that! I don't have a Threat to Humanity trait, though! Existence Outside of the Domain on the other hand..."

Polished Place: "What is this person talking about?"

Zaki: "Oh, that's from some game, isn't it? Man, I thought he was serious for a moment."

Voyager: "Huh? I'm a bit confused now."

Iko: "I know nothing about anything."

Polished Place: "Confession accepted. You can get the second degree punishment for it."

Iko: "Dammiiiiiiiiit!"

He had brought that on by himself.

Still, it seemed like Futoyuki was enjoying himself as much as everyone else.

Songstress: "Well, regardless of the punishments, it is nice to meet you! But, um, what is your last name? Or is 'Futoyuki' just a nickname?"

Voyager: "You can just call me by name! Last name's feel all stiff, so don't bother with it!"

Bookkeeper: "It's called being polite, Foreigner. Now give us your last name."

Voyager: "Boo! You're one of those uptight people, aren't you? Just like Hatomi! Boo! Boo! Old man!"

Bookkeeper: "I'm not old!"

Rampage Dress: "His last name is Hiinu. Just don't mind him and it will all be fine."

2.7 Maime: "Hey, Futoyuki. You're coming over, right?"

Voyager: "I am?"

Damn that Jin. He knew what was coming and went ahead without me.

Deciding to get some small revenge she began calculation something else and gained satisfaction with the end result.

2.7 Maime: "Mei! Stooooop!"

She ignored him and looked up from her phone.

Jin had been right to ask Futoyuki that, but the one that mattered to all of this was the boy who was now sitting next to her again.

Oh, looks like he finally tired himself out.

Holding his hand again might end up terribly for her, so she held back from doing so. A bit of heat did rise at the thought.

"When will you be leaving for Tamakoma?"

.

Yuki raised a brow at Mei's sudden question. The entire time he had been thinking about what had been said, she had been on her phone. At times she would smile while other times she looked like there was nothing wrong.

They were small expressions, but he refused to miss any of them.

Seeing her like this only makes me fall for her more.

It was a pretty cool thought to have, no matter how much he thought he was turning into Tatsuhito with it.

"I'll probably be leaving in a bit. I'm going to be having dinner over there, so don't feel like you need to wait up for me."

"That's good. I planned on being with some others tonight, so it works out well."

"Was that what you were talking about on your phone?"

"Something like that."

There was clearly more than that, but it must not have been anything major if Mei was not telling him about it.

Standing back up, he held out a hand for her.

There was a moment of hesitation before she took it. He helped her with a thought, I guess she's wary of how she will react if we hold hands so casually.

Their relationship would take time to get used to as it was, but they could always remained like how they had been.

Only better.

Everything was fine between them now. Nothing felt out of place between them.

It felt nice.

"Do you plan on taking anyone with you?"

"I guess I could have Arisa tag along with me. Apparently she made friends with the newbie at Tamakoma and Takahashi. It would do her some good to meet the other members for when she has to go on defense duty with them."

Their own new members all had varying personalities and reactions to everything around them. Among them all it felt like Arisa always kept things within her own little space. At times, she would go see Kei or Sawamura, but there was no one else she felt comfortable around.

It's probably because she still feels guilty about what happened before. Sensei and Tora-san are fine with everything that happened, but Seidō-san was as close to her as I am with Sensei and Kei-san is with Tora-san. For her to be left here with those people who knew him best...

"It must be hard," where the words he had said before. But now, with everything settled, he could tell that it really had been hard for her. Accepting everything that had happened was not something an ordinary person could do easily.

That was why it was good to hear that she had made friends when she first enlisted into Border. It showed them that she was able to start accepting things and keep moving on.

"Hm."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just that this branch might be for people who need to move on but find it hard to do so."

"Are you barely reaching that conclusion?"

He had always been behind with these sorts of things, so Mei's words felt light and curious more than anything.

Nodding to her, he opened his phone to begin messaging Arisa. The girl would likely be in her room within the branch office, but he didn't want to leave Mei here. This was a simple way to do things.

"So why do you want to know when I'm leaving."

"That way Futoyuki can meet up with you two over there."

"Did you set something up?"

"It's more like it's better to have people there with you. Besides, it is probably a good thing to have Futoyuki go to the branch most inclined to support Neighbors. ...Ahem. Pardon me. Foreigners."

The smile of her lips left him with questions. It's probably some inside joke. The questions were still there, but he figured that it was best not to ask about them for both his sake and simply because it might end up being trouble.

So he decided to shrug his shoulders on the matter and get ready for his departure.

The night was still young and he had a feeling that he would end up having to work more than he would like.

That's fine, though. I should use what's left of me to be of some use to those around me.

Even with things settled between him and the people around him, he still found himself with these thoughts.

Thought of someone who was Unnneeded.

Yeah... I should enjoy my time and make some great memories with everyone, that way it won't hurt as much when I die.

He gave a bitter smile, making sure Mei could not see his expression.

This was not something he would be hiding, but there were only a few people who could understand it.

"Are you sure this is fine?"

Karasuma looked over to see Usami giving him a nervous smile.

Osamu had called him early to ask for him help in training against their next opponents. Naturally, he agreed to do so and passed on his dinner duties to Konami. But in reality...

"As long as we all keep quiet about this, we shouldn't have a problem."

"I'm not talking about Konami and you know it."

"Is something wrong? I know that the first person he spoke to on the phone was Konami-senpai, but do you know who the other one was?"

Usami's smile tightened a bit more as she nodded.

Her concerns were not unfounded.

Karasuma had made sure to limit his words while on the phone so that he would not slip up and say something that would inevitably backfire on him. It was his way of showing respect to that person who had helped him in making sure that lying was easier.

I guess that isn't something to be proud of, but it's fine. Nothing can go wrong.

So long as they kept quiet to Konami about this.

"By the way, won't Konami have to see him once he gets here?"

"...Crap."

Usami's smile grew that much tighter.

"It's fine, really. I can come up with something to tell her. And I'm not against getting on my knees and begging him to stay silent."

"If not for the situation we're in, I would have recorded you saying that for Suzume-chan."

"...Please don't scare me like that."

"You kind of deserve it for this."

"Um, can we know what's going on?"

Oh, right, Osamu and the others don't know, thought Karasuma.

They were all still new to everything with Hyuse not even having met the person he spoke to on the phone. Figuring out what was happening would be impossible if they kept quiet like this.

It was only because of Usami's kindness that they got their answer.

"That second person that Torimaru-kun was speaking to on the phone was Yuki-san. That's why it might have sounded odd with the way he was talking."

"Huh? Is talking with Tsukiko-senpai something to worry about?"

"Is it because of the stuff that was going on a few days ago?" asked Yūma. It was a good guess, but that did not involve them.

Usami shook her head, confirming that they would not be involved with the incident from a few days ago.

"It's because Torimaru-kun didn't fully explain what he wanted from Yuki-san. He let him know that you guys needed help, and specifically what kind of help, but not who he would be copying. What's more, he asked for something that is pretty taboo when it comes to Yuki-san."

"What do you mean? Tsukiko-senpai had said that he was fine with helping out whenever he can, so was he lying then too?"

"That's not it."

Yuki did tend to lie, but if he told someone that they could rely on him for something then he would stick to his word. The interest he found in Osamu was not something they were ignorant to, so it only emphasized his words even more.

Yūma might have been able to tell if he had been lying, but he had not been present at the time.

"First: Do you guys know about Yuki-san's Side Effect?"

The original trio shook their heads. To the side, Hyuse was listening next to a nodding Yōtarō.

Karasuma took this as his cue to continue.

"Well, to put it simply, he is forced to copy any movement he is looking at. Be it directly or a sideways glance, his body will react to it and begin to copy those movements. He has told us that he doesn't like it because of the nature of it."

"Wait, you said he is 'forced to copy'. Does he really not have a choice?"

"No, he doesn't." Karsuma shook his head and saw Usami's smile fall a bit. "Yūma and Chika can probably tell you, there isn't a way to turn off Side Effects. A lot of them seem to have some nasty downsides. In Yuki-san's case, he has to always be aware of his body's movements so that he isn't trying to copy everything he sees. Because of this, he is a top contender for a fighter who can fully control their body. I would really find it hard to find someone on his level for that."

Yūma lightly raised his hand and said, "I know how to control my body pretty well, but there are still things I can't do. Would he be above or below me for something like that?"

That was an easy answer, but also one that had something else to it.

Knowing that this could be its own conversation, Karasuma decided to give a simple answer.

"He is way above you in that. I have no doubt that his movements would be much more flexible than yours if he didn't have his Side Effect holding him back."

Yūma expression changed to something else, but it was hard to pinpoint what it was.

So he went on.

"To go with this copy ability, there is a sort of 'paste' ability with it. According to Yuki-san, everything that he copies is immediately turned into muscle memory for him. It doesn't matter if it's after one time or ten, his body will remember the movement and move that way when he wants to. It does take him some time to get comfortable with the new movement, but he gets it pretty quick."

"So the reason why it's bad to ask him for something like this is..."

Osamu had finally caught on while both Hyuse and Yūma looked to have already figured it out.

"That's right. He doesn't like his Side Effect - a Side Effect that takes way the freedom of moving his body - so asking him to come over here to mimic the styles of your next opponents is the same as asking him to give in to his Side Effect the entire time. If not for him owing me a big favor, I doubt I would have been able to get him to agree."

The looks that Osamu and Chika were giving told him exactly how they felt. Going so far to win the last round of the B-Rank Wars may not have sat well with them.

Yūma and Hyuse look like they have the right idea.

Even if it was not the kindest way to go about it, this was the best way to get experience without having to go directly to their next opponents and fighting them.

Karasuma knew that he would be able to copy them to some extent, but Yuki's Side Effect was on a different level from his abilities. It placed Yuki in a position to become a pseudo-version of each person. Their movements, quirks, and abilities as fighters would be replicated to perfection by him, giving them all the best training partner for the upcoming match.

But the real problem had yet to be addressed.

Usami was quick to point that out.

"Now tell them why this might turn into a bad situation."

It was a bit harsh, but that might have been because she knew what would happen otherwise.

This was where he would need to own up and deal with the consequences.

"I thought that asking Tsukiko-senpai for something like this was the problem?"

"It's the general problem here. Like I said: I managed it because of a favor he owed me. This next thing is...more of a personal issue for him." He looked back over at Usami and saw her motion with her hands for him to continue. He let out a small sigh. "Out of everyone in Border - and I mean everyone in Border - no one knows Ninomiya-san's fighting style better than Yuki-san. The two of them are complete enemies. They have fought inside and outside of Border, to the point where they have learned every small thing about each other... Or at least that's what we have heard."

"Huh? You aren't certain?"

"We know they don't like each other; there isn't anyone in Border who doesn't know that. But neither Torimaru-kun or I have actually seen them fight in any sort of situation. We don't know for sure if they really fight enough to know each other that well."

"If we are going off of the assumption that all of that is true, it means that Yuki-san will be furious if we ask him to copy Ninomiya-san's style. Their styles are pretty much opposites, and they hate each other, so having him copy that style to help you all train is like asking him to admit that he knows that much about it."

"I see," Osamu said. Everything was getting through clearly, and that was the most frightening thing. "In that case, can't we just have Karasuma-senpai mimic how Ninomiya-san fights?"

"I would be fine with that, but..."

They needed to take full advantage of this chance.

There was someone who knew Ninomiya well and knew his fighting style from both an opponent's standpoint and from Ninomiya's own standpoint. To let that go now meant that they would need to make up for that while also worrying about the other opponents.

Giving this up was not an option.

.

The entire time the conversation had been going on, Hyuse had been feeling like he would need to prepare for something.

Being prepared for a fight was obvious, and being prepared to work with everyone else only made sense, but this feeling was not like either one of those. It was a familiar feeling that made him feel both irritated and nostalgic at the same time.

...What is this?

Yōtarō seemed to be fine next to to him. Everyone else in the room was focused on this Yuki person. There was nothing particularly out of place here.

Until he heard a voice.

"Oh, it's you. Wait, don't go in there! They're busying practicing!"

Maki's voice could be heard from the hallway. The way he had raised his voice was concerning, but the real reason to be concerned came a moment later.

It came with the reason for his familiar and nostalgic feeling.

"Little Hyuuuuuuuuuu!"

It came flying directly towards him.

"Crap! Hey, don't just jump someone like that!"

"Huh!?"

"Oh?"

Hyuse could heard everyone's reaction to the thing flying towards him, but he did not care about that. All he cared about was fixing his position so that he could easily lean back on the bench he sat on.

Yōtarō had decided to jump off before the impact could happen. That was good.

"Shut up, Futo."

With a single motion, Hyuse grabbed the flying body heading for him by the wait and began to lean back. Once he was far enough...

"Not the floor!"

A solid impact rang out.