Careless, was what Azuma thought as he looked through his scope. It was not something based on emotion, it was a simple fact in his eyes.
It was not a single person being careless, but multiple people moving at once.
The two remaining Snipers were being careless in their movements. Both of them were showing themselves far too much and creating marks on themselves that others could use later.
Then there was the falling dog who thought himself to be faster than he was. The way he showed himself while there were others who could see him and predict his path meant that his speed was nothing more than an attraction.
His own teammates' opponents were probably the most careless here. Instead of retreating or keeping their distance, both of them had moved closer and were fighting Koarai and Okudera in close quarters combat.
Any of those people had become easy to snipe. Their openings were obvious and visible to him.
But firing now would be following their lead.
This carelessness was not something sudden or something he only now just noticed. It was carelessness brought about due to people leading it in that direction. Following someone's lead was something that an entertainer would be able to pull off without an issue.
I see. That really is dangerous. Kotowari Squad sure has someone of a different breed with them.
Without even being spotted, someone had managed to lead everyone into this state of carelessness without them even knowing.
"Then let's see what we can do about that."
Hoshi was the first to move. Every attack she made or blocked was followed up by Takeshi and his reckless attacks. The white light beams had become secondary to simply firing close-range trion bullets at their opponents.
Instead of fighting both of their opponents at once they had decided to move between the two of them, keeping them apart and keeping track of their movements.
Compared to Koarai and Okudera, the two of them were slow and uncoordinated. But that was what Takeshi had decided to use to their advantage.
Their ability to fight as single units while supporting each other brought them to a point where they could strike in two different ways without colliding into each other.
This is a new sensation.
When supporting Toby she had focused on not getting in his way while he supported her movements with his own.
She had supported Takeshi before, but this time was different. They were both on equal footing here, making it so they were supporting each other instead of it being one-sided.
It helped her realize just how outmatched she was compared to everyone else here.
That is fine.
If it wasn't then she would not be here.
But I am here, helping out however I can. Until Toby-kun can reach us.
It makes me feel like we are relying on him too much, but I doubt that he would mind all that much.
That was what was great about this squad. None of them minded when they were being relied on more than normal.
All of them understood what it took to fight with others and for others, giving her the confidence to hold out until he reached them.
Izumo: "I'm starting to lose momentum. I might be Bailing Out soon, Hoshi."
Shooting Star: "Then we should move things into the last portion of our fight, right?"
Takeshi nodded as he fired another reckless attack at Koarai.
Not much else could have been done after losing all of his momentum to Shigenaga earlier.
.
Koarai saw the action happen again. This would be the final rush for Takeshi and his teammate here. The amount of trion left for Takeshi was small, forcing both him and Okudera to make use of that by taking him out.
He made the first action in order to stop the two of them from advancing like they had been doing.
Okkun: "What are you doing!? Takkun is going to hit you with his attack like that!"
Koala: "Then help me out here!"
Okudera's groan reached him, but he moved alongside Koarai to counter to rushing duo.
From what they had seen before, Taiyōko would be the first one to move forward. Her swing would begin the action and Takeshi's shot would finish the action. They were separate movements, but became one for a brief moment.
Stopping that moment was what was important here.
He moved to stop that moment by striking at Taiyōko before she took the important step.
"Now!"
"My apologizes!"
Kaorai's eye widened when he saw Taiyōko take her starting step. This time was different form the times before in that she moved backwards instead of forward.
This simple movement altered the timing of his movements by leaving no target for him to attack. His body fell forward a bit because of this.
The first movement had changed and now he was left more defenseless than those other times.
Takeshi took advantage of that.
While Taiyōko moved backwards, Takeshi moved forward, hand outstretched with a cube of trion already in place. The size of it was small, but that didn't matter so long as it hit him.
"O-"
He began to call out to Okudera, but stopped when he realized why that was a mistake.
Taiyōko's backwards step had not been to alter his movement or allow Takeshi to move forward. It was to prevent Okudera from reaching them.
She had rushed Okudera with a burst of speed to throw off his timing as well. The two Kōgetsu clashed, neither one moving.
Okudera would normally have the strength to push back against her, however, Taiyōko's rush had caught him off guard. The attack likely sent power through her body into her arms and blade, pushing more than he could handle without being prepared.
With Okudera having to deal with Taiyōko's rush it was up to him to figure his own way out of this situation.
So he made a sudden action.
"...!"
"I guess you really are strong."
Koarai felt bad while facing Takeshi from directly under him.
He had activated Grasshopper and placed it directly in front of him. But he chose not to step on it himself, instead moving to the side as best he could.
This left Takeshi to be the one to step on the plate himself.
His body was lifted into the air and Koarai ran under him, towards Taiyōko.
"Do you mind losing to this terrible fighter?"
He heard Takeshi's words clearly below him.
The sound of something behind fired behind him was heard. It was followed by the sound of something crashing.
Taking a look behind himself, Koarai saw a concentrated shield block the sudden attack from Takeshi.
The shot had been poorly aimed, missing its mark by going to the right.
The following explosion rang out in his ears and blew him to the side.
"Are you really trying!?"
"I'm just not good at this."
Koarai was going to answer back to the self-deprecating comment when he stopped himself at seeing something he did not expect.
.
Takeshi prepared his Laser Shooter from his position in the air.
Being thrown upwards like that had been surprising, but he held back from letting it show on his face. Showing these types of people you expression only encourages their crazy ideas.
So he fired without showing his thoughts.
The white light beam he fired had been meant only for Koarai, but Hoshi's quick thinking had placed Okudera in the right spot to hit him too.
Nice thinking, Hoshi.
Her timing with Teleport had gotten better.
With a clear view of both opponents, he fired on them using three white light beams.
"...?"
He heard a crack from close by.
That's strange.
His opponents were a distance away, already putting up their shields to block his attack. His white light beams had yet to even reach them. Hearing a crack from here made no sense.
Shooting Star: "Takeshi-kun, don't let up!"
The urgency from Hoshi was unnatural, but that only made him do as she said.
Without relenting he fired on the two who were moving away from each other. Both of them had their shields up against his weaker white light beams.
Those white light beams continued to gradually get smaller and smaller the more he fired them.
No one needed to tell him how useless he was being here, he knew that well. Proof of that was the way he could not even break through those defenses anymore.
Firing like this would use up his remaining trion. Knowing that, he stretched out his arm to the side.
A cube of trion formed by his hand.
Even if I can't do much more than this, no matter if it means nothing in the end, I can at least try something here.
He feet touched the ground, but his white light beams continued to get weaker.
The cube of trion that formed in his hand split apart. The pieces of the broken up cube flittered around for a moment before being shot forward.
Takeshi's preptime had been short, but it had been enough for him to use here.
"..."
There's another crack.
The cracking did not stop, even after he saw the shields get put down.
It was strange.
JK: "Um... Does he just not notice?"
Honest Sister: "He is honestly focused on something else."
.
Her first step had been altered and her Teleport had been meant to help out Takeshi. Both actions were meant to end this fight as quickly as possible, but...
"That sucks..."
It had been Koarai who said it, but Hoshi felt the same way he did.
The cracks running down Takeshi's face had not been due to someone attacking him. They had been the result fo him reaching the limit of his trion.
The white light beams and scattered shots he fired were nothing compared to what had had done before. Their power and speed was something that even she could keep up with.
For that reason alone, she moved forward into another action.
She would turn those weakened attacks into a distraction for her to strike both of their opponents down here.
.
The sudden rush had caused Koarai and Okduera to move closer in towards each other.
They had been right to do so as the last of Takeshi's attacks had finished. The power had reached zero and his body was breaking apart before their eyes, but that only meant they would not be able to attack him in time.
However, his expression showed something other than remorse.
"I really am pathetic," he said. "But that's why I'm going to leave it to others here."
His body finally broke apart from the lack of trion. He turned into light and was gone just as fast.
Bail Out
In an instant, multiple ribbons of light reached their eyes. There were a total of 7. They were all a good distance away, but with that many blades...
"...!"
The ribbons had reached them in the moment they blinked their eyes and two of those ribbons managed to reach their arms. However...
"You got really close!" Koarai yelled.
It was not often that someone as inexperienced moved int hat close against them. The girl remaining here had so thoroughly made her way towards them, but when did that happen? It was unimportant, so they decided not to think about it.
But this did not happen often.
And it had been done by someone they had not just underestimated but had not even considered an opponent.
However...
"We know what that can do!"
They got through it.
The ribbons were limited and there would be no blade afterwards.
So the rest did not matter.
"Hey!"
They faced forward, but the enemy was not there.
"What!?"
Okudera moved forward and placed himself to Koarai's side to look around.
"Oh?"
Something caught on the left of his back.
He was quick to move away from it.
Trion was leaking from his back as he moved back and turned around. Their enemy was there.
Koarai had already began moving.
The ribbons of light extended out as if reaching for Okudera. The remaining 5 moved to the sides and both up and down.
They were trying to go for different angles.
But the thing Koarai and Okudera noticed about this attack was what remained in her hand.
It was a sword.
"She can keep the blade with those ribbons now!?"
She held it in both hands and she dropped her hips down.
"Let me tell you the proper greeting for times like this."
The inexperienced girl used her strength to transform the sword and ribbons into a barrage of strikes coming from multiple angles.
Okudera's left leg was severed at not just the knee but the very base.
His entire body tilted forcefully to the right.
The released tension in that area sent him to the right now that the left leg was gone.
He bent backwards and staggered back for a few seconds, but he did not back down.
"Taiyōko Hoshi, moving for battle!"
The shout was followed by a quick series of light.
.
Okudera looked over to see Koarai with an outstretched arm.
He had defended Okudera against the barrage of blades and quickly fired his own shots towards the Taiyōko girl.
That was...too close.
She had been inexperienced, but they had been careless after watching Takeshi Bail Out.
That had been a pity to watch, but it was overtaken by the girl's sudden movements.
But now it was over.
"Looks like we got the-"
Koarai stopped speaking.
Curious as to why, he looked over to the girl falling with holes in the side of her body.
She was smiling.
Last words came from her as her body began to break apart.
"We made it."
As she turned into light and flashed away, a certain noise reached their ears.
The sound of someone's feet repeatedly hitting the ground.
Bail Out
.
Toby wasted no time in confirming where his opponents were.
...Both Take and Hoshi lost. Damn. I need to make up for so much here.
That was what he planned to do from the start. He only now had even more incentive to do so.
Not wanting to lose any of his speed, he continued to fall while sliding across the ground.
At the same time, he made a certain action.
He put away his blade.
"Next."
A cube of trion formed directly above his head before slitting up. The size was not anything amazing, but the amount of bullets it had created were great in number.
When firing a Shooter-type Trigger the user would need to create their weapon, split it up, aim it, then fire. The time it took to do all of that varied from user to user with professionals doing it in a matter of seconds.
But for Toby, it was different.
He filled all of those requirements the moment he created his weapon.
This was no longer a single Shooter-type Trigger. It was a pack of Hounds ready to devour everything.
.
Koarai and Okudera forced their bodies to hop up as if lifting them into the air.
And Toby sent his pack of Hounds with him in the lead.
To fill the gap between him and then, he activated Headfirst Fall.
He reached them with Scorpion blades in hand - his claws.
They hit Koarai's shield and shook it from the impact. And...
"...!"
He leaped over that shield with ease.
Koarai's head turned as he tried to follow that path and felt himself beginning to get stung by something. A whirring sound came from directly in front of him until it reached his torso and...
"Seriously!?"
He was destroyed.
That was all there was to it.
Toby spoke up from behind him, trion coming form his twin blades.
"Thanks for being my real combat test dummy, Koala."
Koarai had been bitten and torn into by both Toby's claws and his pack of Hound. The shield meaning nothing in the face of the extreme force and precision.
His eyes went wide and his body was already turning into light. He was simply defeated. Seeing that, Toby took a breath and turned his head. He spoke up while looking directly at the hopping Okudera.
"Toby Awdry, confronting the enemy after taking one of them out. ...I'll make up for everything that I've lost here!"
Bail Out
Osamu saw it from his position on the couch between Chika and Kuga.
Awdry had rushed in, fired a pack of Hounds, and taken out Koarai before he could do much of anything or receive assistance from Okudera.
It was both amazing and terrifying.
"I can't be the only one who thinks that Toby seems different now."
"Are you afraid that he's gunning for your spot, Konami?"
"Of course not! But the Toby I know wouldn't ever use a Shooter Trigger!"
"Are you sure?"
Everyone looked to Kuga, the one who had spoken up.
He was grinning towards the screen as he spoke. The entire match must have been entertaining to him.
"Toby likes being an Attacker, but he isn't against adding more for some extra damage."
"And how would you know that?"
"I've been fighting him recently. Without his mentor helping him he's decided to hang around the booths a lot."
"Since when did he have a mentor?"
The way Takahashi turned his head was a bit suspicious, but not something so important that it took over the conversation.
Everyone else who noticed must have thought the same since they only shrugged or went back to the conversation here.
But it is something we should get back to at some point.
For now they only needed to focus on one thing.
"That brat always liked moving around, but that never meant he did so to make up for his brains."
"Oh, does that mean he's smart?"
The Yagura Branch director scoffed and looked back to the screen.
"Of course he is. Everyone likes to call him a dog or a wild animal, but only those who know him do so as a joke. Everyone else really does believe it."
"Wait, he isn't?"
"Just shows who knows him here." The Yagura Branch Director laughed without any offense, so it seemed fine to speak freely with him. "But no, he isn't. Not completely, at least. He likes to move around and doesn't do much when it comes to thinking, but that's only because he doesn't like adding that into his fights. He views these sorts of things as the best way to express himself without hurting anyone in some way. It backfires when he fights against the wrong people, but most people understand how he works by now."
If that was true then what he had just done was even more strange.
Someone who liked to enjoy a fight without thinking would not have prepared an attack like Hound so readily that is seemed to not take any time at all.
His thought must have been showing on his face since the Yagura Branch Director gave another laugh.
"That kid is way more smart than people give him credit for. You see," he said. "He hadn't done too well in school, so a lot of the teachers thought he was just too excitable or lazy to get things done. I don't like looking at things so simply, so I did something about it."
He gave another laugh when he took a moment to think about it.
Director Rindō waved off anyone who questioned this.
"I gave him two tests when I saw that his grades were lowering a bit more than usual. The first one had been your standard IQ test. I had even thrown in some trick questions in there just for the fun of it. None of it was really serious, so I decided that I would take whatever the score was and go from there. Like I expected; he got a high score. One that qualified him to be a genius."
"What was the second one?" Osamu found himself asking.
Finding out that Awdry was a genius felt oddly right. As if it only made sense for that to the conclusion.
But he knew that there had to have been more if there was a second test.
One that was different form that IQ test.
"You catch on quick there, Mikumo. Keep that good head on you and I won't have any problems helping you out when you need it."
The way Rindō muttered "just like his student..." with the Tamakoma senpais nodding along told him more than he wanted.
This time, though, the Yagura Branch Director did not chase Rindō around the branch office. Instead, he only grinned and continued.
"That second test was actually one for certain Border members. It wasn't anything telling about us, but it was the sort of test that normal agents wouldn't understand. It involved strategies, scenarios, abilities, and different viewpoints that we had managed to gather before."
"And the result?"
This time the one to answer had been his own branch director.
"All of us who had been out in the field before understood and agreed with majority of his answers. That includes the likes of Azuma, Ninomiya, Sekai, and even Shinoda."
He was not the first to react to that, but he did not fall behind either.
Hyuse and Kuga both straightened up in their position while Kizaki only nodded his head at this. The variety of responses to this news was left behind by the news itself.
If that's true then this changes the way we need to be viewing this match.
Everyone in the room understood that much.
"One of the people Rindō-san mentioned was Azuma-san..."
"If that's the case, he understands what it means for Toby to start acting like this. Everything can change because of it."
"Suzume-chan was guiding everything without being spotted, but Toby just changed that by taking out Koarai."
...Yes, they all know exactly what this means.
Maybe even more so than his own viewpoint.
The rapid creation and destruction of sign frames could be heard as Toby fell forward.
A pack of Hound followed directly behind.
His target: Okudera.
He ran forward without a care and led his pack into the fray. Each movement he made was followed by a repeated barrage from them that threatened to tear into Okudera.
The only thing preventing them from reaching Okudera's body was the constant movement from him and the concentrated shields that appeared.
"You really aren't letting up!"
"Mr. Azuma took one of my kills, so I'll double that here!"
Koarai had already been taken out, so this was his next target.
The noise generated from the rapid attacks was similar to a rushing wind that never seemed to stop. Everything was happening so quickly that Okudera was finding it hard to properly tell what noise was coming from which action.
But something that stood out here was the sudden appearance of a new noise.
The noise of something cutting through the air.
A new voice came through to the both of them as they continued to move.
"Finally! People who don't use those annoying shields!"
As if to respond to Kageura's sudden appearance, Toby sent a new set of Hounds toward Kageura while continuing his assault on Okudera.
It at least left some room to breath without the Hounds chasing him. Even if it was only a mild amount of space, he took it for what it was and continued to move.
They were all now here.
The three remaining non-Snipers were gathered.
Meanwhile, the snipers were likely to be watching the entire thing from a safe distance.
This applied more pressure to them all.
Especially when...
"Keh!"
"There!"
Toby and Kageura both moved to dodge the sudden shots fired at them from two different directions.
Okudera had thought that it was Azuma who had fired those shots, but it would have made no sense when the timing didn't allow for it.
I need to be careful here...
But it felt like the time for that had already passed.
He was missing an arm and a leg already. Being careful at this point in the fight meant little if he was only going to end up losing more because of it.
In that case...
He would just need to make the most of the current situation.
And the best way to do that was meet these two head-on while also making sure to not play into their game.
So he created his own cube of trion.
He fired a moment later.
.
Kageura saw the attack being fired from Okudera and could only click his tongue while preparing Mantis.
His fight with Shigenaga had gotten him going even more, but the odds of either Toby or Okudera fighting like proper Attackers anymore felt slim.
Tch. I guess I'll just have to put up with this for now.
He rampaged throughout the area by releasing Mantis.
The area around him began to gain more gashes as the trion bullets tried to reach him. Each one of them was cut down the moment they touched his flexible blade.
Toby had rushed Okudera once more, and once more he fired another set of Hound towards him.
Each one of them was accurate and felt much more like a pack of wolves moving in to devour him. In a way, it reminded him of fighting Murakami. The differences were obvious, but the general appeal of it was the same.
Something had come along to devour him.
It was something he had not expected to see in a place like this.
But that was what made it easy for him to counter.
"This is nothing!"
He would only need to eat each one of them before they could devour him.
Each one of them would tear into his body, claw at him, and leave nothing but holes if they ever touched him. This sort of attack was something he had faced when fighting others who had A-Rank level skills with these kinds of Triggers.
With someone like Toby firing them, someone who had the mental space to do so, he was left with even more accurate and powerful attacks to deal with. Ones that would not stop before they tore into their target and ripped them apart.
This was his answer to facing strong people.
The second time he had seen such a thing in this match.
This was fine with him, after all...
It tells me everything I need to know!
If Toby was doing this much then it meant his desperation had reached a new height. A place where he felt the need to unleash this sort of attack on two opponents at once while also facing sniper fire.
That's right, he thought.
Toby's so desperate that you can easily throw him off if you know the right timing.
All he needed to do was wait for that timing.
Something that was made more difficult by the sniper fire aimed at him.
Sometimes the shots fired at him would active his Side Effect, forcing him to move away from it. Other times they would appear out of nowhere and were followed up by an emotion lightly touching him.
The worst times were when an entire wave of emotions hit him, causing him to lose focus for a moment. Those time were when he had almost been taken out by the two sets of trion bullets fired by Toby and Okudera.
With all fo that going on, he decided that he would make his chance instead of waiting for it.
"!"
He went into action.
.
As sniper fire came down on the three of them, Toby, Okudera and Kageura all moved at once.
Toby fell forward using Headfirst Fall.
Okudera followed up with a Grasshopper plate to move away.
Kageura continued to destroy the bullets fired at him by cutting up the space around him.
Toby was the first to reach someone.
He brought out a blade in his hand. The size of it was small, but the density of it was enough for him to break through a quickly made shield.
His target had been Okudera, but he had already figured out what would happen if he continued that.
The only other target would have been Kageura.
Okudera had moved to get away from the two other Attackers, having only one leg to do so.
Kageura had already moved to aim for him, so he had bene preparing a shield to defend against whatever attack would be going for him.
The two of them were the closest to each other, so Toby's change in direction brought him almost directly in front of Kageura.
Once he was only a step away, he activated Headfirst Fall again. The sign frame signaling the activation of the Trigger appeared at his knee while he moved.
Kageura moved to stop that activation by throwing Mantis towards it.
At the same time, an accurate light came from the side. The target had also been that sign frame.
Toby only lowered his eyelids as he forcibly shattered the sign frame himself.
"What the hell!?"
"I would rather self-destruct."
That was exactly what happened.
Toby had been blown back by the sudden destruction of Headfirst Fall.
Once he had been pushed away the two attacks aimed for his knee hit each other.
"Keh!"
Kageura felt the feedback from the sniper shot hitting his blade.
"Dammit!"
His shout gave way to the next set of bullets that had already moved in to attack him.
Multiple pricks filled his body. A wave of emotion hit him a moment later.
"You're all annoying!"
Going on another rampage, he cut the area all around him.
Once it finished, something came.
It was at the ground level and moved from a horizontal position.
It was a bullet.
Mitsuteru watched from inside one of the buildings as his shot reached Kageura.
He had made sure to mix up his emotion wave attacks with his looking beyond attacks. It had increased his chances of landing a hit when others were already attacking him from outside of the building.
Now I just need to make sure I can hit someone else like this.
Okudera was the easiest target while Toby was the one everyone seemed to gang up on.
He would not feel bad about continuing that, but it would also come back to bite him later if he was found out with nothing to show for it.
So he chose the easier option.
With his spot now compromised, he would need to run out of the building. That itself was a problem when he was the slowest person on the ground level.
That doesn't mean I don't know what to do.
Even if everyone knew where he had fired from, none of them had seen him in person.
Back in his old home he had been used to running through narrow space and moving through open space. This false city was no different from those sorts of things.
He made an immediate dash towards the nearby door to the side of the building. Those doorways lead into the narrow spaces between buildings. That would give him a better chance to run while the others did what they could to find him.
Hiding, running, and sniping all amount of making sure you can fire and get away afterwards. Screw those guys. Yeah, screw those terrible cannibals. I'm going to do things how I want here! Shigeko tried so hard that I'll stand up to them if it means I can score some points here!
His courage was up a bit, but even he knew that it would be going down when faced with them directly.
Those mentors had always been difficult to deal with.
"...Haaaah."
Mitsuteru released a breath through his mouth.
The tension he had built up this entire time soon came out as well. His shoulders relaxed and his running began less stiff.
"Next would be...-"
"Found you!"
"You always want to harass others!"
He could only think "crap!" as he got out of the building.
.
Mitsuteru looked to both sides of the building as the door closed behind him.
The two exists to the narrow space had been covered by both Toby and Kageura.
Neither one of them waited to attack.
Toby activated Headfirst Fall to move forward while Kageura sent a Mantis into the narrow space.
Mitsuteru looked at the two of them for a moment before lowering himself.
Toby was the first to realize something was wrong with this action.
It was not one of defeat or resignation. His Side Effect had told him to move in a way that meant it was neither one of them.
"Teleport!"
The space Mitsuteru had been in was soon empty. The noise that had been created was followed by the air suddenly flowing back into the empty space that had appeared. The ring that formed upon activation disappeared in an instant, but it was enough for Toby to change his position again.
He forcibly threw himself against the wall and began falling up it.
The reason had been because Mitsuteru was no longer in between him and Kageura.
Before either one of them could reach him, he had escaped in a way they knew all too well.
"That guy!"
It had been an instant and a noise before Mistuteru had disappeared.
The two Attack turned to each other and modified their positions to reach each other.
Toby pushed off the wall and performed a new rush.
Mitsuteru found himself already in action once his teleportation had ended.
Unlike the normal teleportation that others used, this one had been a teleportation to a marker he had already set up ahead of time.
Still needing to get used to it, he had only been able to place a single marker down before he had to keep moving.
But someone had passed by that single marker.
The message from Kanji told him what he needed to do.
Feeling Alive: "Okkun is now facing away from it."
So he used that chance for himself.
He teleported to that marker and lifted his Ibis up.
Without properly aiming, he fired.
Okudera, realizing that someone was behind him, began to turn around in order to prepare a shield.
The shot pierced and shattered the shield.
"Dammit!"
The hole that appeared in his body remained as his body began cracking before it extended out.
Turning into light was the only natural follow-up.
Bail Out
"Now I need to get out of here. ...Eh?"
As he spoke those words, he noticed that the world was begging to tilt to the side.
No, it was not something as amazing as that. Something much more simple had happened to make it seem like the world itself had tilted.
His leg had been taken out.
"I finally reached you!"
A flexible blade pieced his chest a moment later.
Mitsuteru turned his head to see Kageura grinning at him with his arm stretched out and the blade going from his hand to Mitsuteru's chest.
"...Well that sucks. Oh, but I should say sorry for everything, Kageura-san."
Those had been the last words he managed to get out before his body turned into light.
Bail Out
.
"Keh. What kind of apology was that? There wasn't even a need for one."
The harassment had been annoying to deal with, but it had been fun to deal with new things like that.
Even if Ariake saw it differently, it was still something fun for him. Something he didn't think needed an apology.
"Well, whatever, that just leaves a few more."
The last person he could properly fight had reached him again.
Toby had already built up his speed to the point where he felt like he would not be able to take a hit or give a hit without slowing down.
Kageura found this sort of thing to be familiar.
There had been someone so reliant on speed that he had found it annoying, albeit fun.
That's right! That idiot used to use speed against me before he became a Teleport nut!
That idiot had always been crazy, even back then. The speed he showed was always something to try and see, but it was something that was hard to counter without knowing what to do already.
And for Kageura, he knew just what to do.
Lifting his hand, he made a swinging motion.
The flexible blade in his hand began tearing up the entire area. The ground received gashes while the windows from the buildings were shattered. A rain of glass began coming down.
As he had expected, Toby used those falling glass shards to increase his speed once more.
Once it had reached a certain point, Toby made his move.
He fell towards Kageura.
A new set of Hound had been created a fired, but Kageura did not back down.
He held his ground as he saw the attack coming.
That's right... The best way to deal with these kinds of people is...
A moment later, he was face-to-face with the wolf who had tried to devour him.
Everything that had been built up, everything that Toby had worked for here, came to a sudden halt.
All of the Hounds sent after him were had disappeared along the way to reach him, but he had managed to make it through.
Each shard of glass was now smaller, seeming much more like snowflakes instead of rain.
Kageura grinned, even as a blade was imbedded into him.
Toby had reached him and pierced his body with his blade.
"This is how you catch them!"
"Sh-"
Toby's words died out as Kageura cut off his head in that instant.
His grin lowered into a small scowl as few seconds later.
"If it makes you feel better, this is it for me too."
A light soon pierced the air.
.
Bail Out
Bail Out
Azuma had finally found the right chance to break through the carelessness he had been seeing the entire match.
It had taken more time than he would have liked, but that carelessness had finally gotten to the point where any remaining fighter would become an easy target.
This was the end result.
Demon Child: "Both Awdry-kun and Kageura are down."
"Awdry got taken out by Kageura, but I suppose it would have only hurt more if I took out Awdry as well as his first target in this match."
This was fine enough.
"Hah... Well there was that. I suppose that is honestly the best we could have hoped for, in the end."
Suzume spoke to her teammates as she covered her head with Bagworm's hood and dematerialized Lightning.
She had been doing her best to support Toby until the very end, but Kageura had much more experience dealing with people who used speed over everything else.
I suppose that is from his time with Yuki-san.
She wouldn't blame him for this loss, but she did have something to say about those who used speed as their selling point.
"But that can wait for later. What should I do now? It's just me an Azuma-san."
Her answer came shortly after.
Izumo: "...You can just leave."
Honest Sister: "Oh? Does that mean you're honestly giving up?"
Izumo: "It isn't giving up when you've already lost. ...No, I just want to use this match later on."
Shooting Star: "What do you mean?"
Hoshi's voice was wavering a bit, but held strong so she could speak with them.
Suzume smiled bitterly when she thought about how her other two teammates must have been taking the current situation. Knowing how they were, she would likely need to say something to them later on.
But for now, she needed to hear this.
Izumo: "I want to use this to show us just what we are lacking. We have failed so much in this match that stalling for time would just be insulting to everyone else. At least...that's how I se it."
Lobo: "Nah, Take's right. I'd feel bad if we stalled this out when it's only Suzume and Mr. Azuma left in the fight."
"So then?" she asked.
It was a rhetorical question, but she knew an answer was come regardless.
That was just how they were.
Izumo: "Senpai, you can come back now."
Mei watched as Suzume willingly left the battlefield.
The match was now over.
They tried their best. I doubt that Yuki will be okay with the result, but he will also understand what happened.
From there, they could all go over everything that had happened.
Well, only if they wanted to do so.
Mom: "With Agent Misaki leaving the battlefield, Azuma Squad gains two extra survival points. This leave the total score being Kageura Squad with 4 points, Azuma Squad with 4 points, Meishō Squad with 3 pints, and Kotowari squad with..."
Rampage Dress: "A single point."
Saying it out loud made it feel even more real. Even if she was no longer on their squad, she still felt the pain that came with that score.
Especially since now...
Myth: "With that poor score, Kotowari Squad is sure to end up deep in the mid tier after this."
Kiyome: "It had been a rough time for them all, but managing that singe point also showed us many things."
That was true.
Even for Mei, the match had shown a lot of things to consider in the future.
It's really a shame that it ended like this for them, but I know then well enough by now. This won't be enough to put them back to how they used to be.
Those days were gone and this version fo that squad was much different from back then. A time when they only knew of themselves as very little around them.
More than that, there were those in the audience who she knew to also be affected by this match. Not only because of her former squad but also because of the other squads who had done their best and shown themselves off here.
Even the noise from the observation room was something to consider once everything was over.
But for now, there was something that needed to be done.
Mom: "It is time to go over the final commentary for this match."