Light Shines Anew

Chapter 17: Last Day

"Thanks for listening to me and not killing me."

"Moron." Kageura grumbled which just got Yuma to shoot a grin over at him from where he was sitting on Murakami's motorcycle. He held up a hand with his thumb and index finger barely a centimeter from touching. "You were this close to getting your head caved in."

Yuma laughed. "You really want to cave my head in."

"Because you're causing my blood pressure to rise." Kageura snapped. "It's amazing your captain hasn't suffered from an aneurysm yet."

"Osamu's too young for that."

Kageura massaged his temple, willing a headache away as he resisted the temptation to throw his helmet at Yuma's head. That might actually do damage to Yuma and he didn't actually want to hurt his friend. He needed Murakami to get back out here so they could leave, though to be fair, Kageura could leave any time he wanted. He had his own motorcycle and could just head out as Murakami was the one giving Yuma a ride back to Tamakoma since it was near the Suzunari Branch.

"That's the point, Kuga." Kageura muttered. "Sometimes you're exhausting to be around."

"Hmm, but it's always fun when I'm around so that makes up for it." Yuma replied cheerfully.

"I swear, you're like a second coming of Jin-san."

"That's a compliment, not an insult like you think it is."

"Some might disagree."

"You mean Miwa?"

"So, you are aware he doesn't like Jin-san."

Yuma snorted. "When I met Miwa and he wanted to kill me, I mentioned Jin-san's name in the hopes of getting him to back down so we could talk it over. It only made things worse though."

Kageura snorted. "That sounds about right. You can have mentioned anyone else in Border and he would have been more willing to listen."

"The only people I knew from Border back then were Osamu, Jin-san, and Arashiyama squad and of that group, only Osamu and Jin-san knew about me." Yuma replied. "I didn't have a lot of options at the time and Jin-san seemed like an important Border person when I met him so I thought his name held some power."

"It generally does as long as you're not dealing with certain people." Murakami had reappeared from the convenience store, holding a tray of drinks.

"And Miwa is one of those people it won't work with." Kageura added as he accepted his slushie from Murakami.

"That lesson was learned." Yuma said as he accepted his own slushie. "Thanks. I could have paid for myself."

Murakami leaned against his bike as he sipped at his slushie. "Can you jet let me treat my friend before he leaves tomorrow?"

"Okay, okay." Yuma said easily. He already had too much money he didn't know how to spend and now people kept buying stuff for him. How was he supposed to get rid of all this paper if they wouldn't let him be the one to pay?

Sighing, Yuma took a sip of his slushie. "Ack."

"What? Don't like the flavor?" Murakami asked concerned. "I just get you cherry. It's a basic flavor."

"It's cold." Yuma said as he took another sip. "But it tastes good so no worries, Murakami-senpai."

"Of course it's cold. It's made with shaved ice." Kageura scoffed.

"Kage." Murakami warned. "Kuga, you've been in Japan for months now. I can't believe there is still so much you don't know about this world."

"I know." Yuma stared down into his cup at the shaved ice that was colored red. "I thought I had learned so much about this world, but I keep turning around and finding something new to experience. Each new thing I try reminds me of how little I actually know about this world. I wanted to experience as much of it as I could before I died. Just another reason I didn't want to leave initially when Jin-san told me about the surgery."

Kageura frowned at those downcast eyes of his young friend. Ever since they had learned of his past during the Mimic incident, Yuma had become so much more comfortable with letting his guard down around them to let them see when something was truly bothering him. "You can experience it all when you come back."

"Not if the surgery fails." Yuma sighed. He shook his head roughly before taking another sip of his slushie. He wanted to stop thinking like that. The surgery was already greenlit and his departure was scheduled for tomorrow. If he kept thinking so negatively, he might talk himself out of leaving and that wasn't something he needed right now. He had already declared to everyone he was leaving for the surgery and he was going to do just that.

"You've been doing a really good job lately of making every conversation so negative." Kageura complained.

Yuma wished he could object to that statement, but he couldn't refute something that was so obviously true. He had been a mess since Jin first told him about the surgery. He hated being like this too. "Alright, how about this then. Are you guys ready for the Rank Wars tomorrow? I heard Murakami-senpai's team will be facing my team. It's a shame I won't be able to partake in the fight."

"Don't think for a second, Kuga, that I will tell you anything my team has planned. You would probably warn your team as your last action to help them before you leave." Murakami replied.

Yuma just smiled innocently behind his straw as he took another sip of his slushie. Well, he could tell Osamu that he tried, not that Osamu ever gave him orders to spy on his friends' strategies.

"Is that the real reason you came to my Branch earlier? You were trying to spy and used the excuse that you needed to tell me you were a Neighbor to distract us." Murakami teased.

Yuma stuck his tongue out at his friend. It hadn't even been an hour since he told his friends and they were already comfortable enough to make jokes about his Neighbor status. He didn't know how it was possible that he made all the right friends at Border for not a single person he told to care.

"Forget about the rank wars right now. There's something else I want to know." Kageura interrupted. He did not want to think about the Rank Wars right now. Mentioning the Rank Wars while Yuma was sitting right in front of him just got Kageura to think of a snow-covered area with Yuma staring at them with a pain, confused expression before he crumpled. That's not the image he wanted in his head.

"From me?" Yuma asked, pointing at himself in confusion.

"Who else?" Kageura retorted.

Yuma pointed at Murakami.

"Kō has nothing I don't already know. We have no secrets." Kageura sniffed, offended as he glared at Yuma. "I thought the same with you. I thought we learned everything there was to learn about you during the Mimics incident."

"A foolish assumption on our part. He is from Tamakoma." Murakami took a sip of his slushie. "They're full of secrets there." He nudged Yuma in the side, but not too hard as he didn't want to knock his friend off his motorcycle that Yuma claimed as his seat. Apparently, Yuma was too lazy to stand like Kageura and Murakami. "We should have realized he was hiding something else."

"How could we? If I learned anything in the months we've known him, it's that his smile is full of secrets." Kageura scoffed. "Just like Jin-san. That smile is full of deceit."

Yuma raised a brow. "So, you want to know how much deceit I have in me?"

"No." Kageura said. "Considering the stupid shit you still pull–"

"What stupid shit do I pull?" Yuma interrupted with mock offense.

"Please, don't talk like him. Tamakoma really will kill us." Murakami pleaded. The longer Yuma stayed in Japan, the more informal his Japanese became. That wasn't a problem. It made it more natural for them all and showed how close they were when Yuma didn't speak so formal. What Murakami did not need, though, was Yuma speaking in the same rough, offensive way that Kageura did.

"Like flaunting your cash and throwing stacks of bills down on the counter to pay." Kageura overrode Murakami's plea. "Nearly eight months you've lived here and you have never stopped being an idiot!"

"I do not flaunt the money." Yuma said offended as Kageura put his slushie down on the ground. "It's just paper. Why are you all so obsessed–Hey!"

Murakami sighed and snatched the slushie out of Yuma's hand before it could spill and moved away as Kageura suddenly assaulted the younger teenager, who was now struggling to not be knocked off the motorcycle. He would give Kageura at least a minute to get it out of his system before he intervened.

Murakami took another sip of his slushie as he watched Kageura manhandle Yuma who had pulled a leg up in between them and was trying to shove Kageura back. Arafune was right in his judgement when he said that these two were constantly children. Though, Murakami didn't think Arafune had a leg to stand on when he was constantly roughhousing with agents he was friends with.

"Kage-sen–"

Kage shoved a hand in Yuma's face, shutting him up while his other hand started to ruffle through Yuma's pockets. He grunted when he felt Yuma's foot dig into his gut and Yuma shoved a hand in his face to try to push him back, but he didn't let it deter him from his search. He knew the brat was hiding it in his pocket.

Murakami shook his head and set the drinks on the ground. He took his phone out and quickly snapped a picture of his two idiot friends before they realized, though he doubted the two were aware of anything going out outside their roughhousing.

Attackers Group Chat:

Murakami: Picture attached.

Murakami: Kage found him

Konami: What are you doing, Kō? Don't let them kill each other!

Murakami: Kuga isn't even on the list of people that Kage would kill

Arafune: Such children.

There it was. That was what Murakami wanted. He smirked and slid his phone back in his pocket. If Murakami had to deal with these two, Arafune would have to suffer the headache they caused as well.

"Found it!" Kageura stepped back from Yuma, rubbing his abused stomach, but smirking smugly as he held up Yuma's stack of cash. "You're a dumbass."

"Says the one waving the cash in the air." Yuma pouted. Whenever he did that, everyone scolded him and said he was going to get attacked if he threw his money around like that. But it was fine when Kageura did it?

Kageura bopped Yuma on the head with the stack of cash before shoving it back in his hand. "Like anyone would come near me. My point, Kuga, is that even after all this time, you're still a naive, oblivious idiot when it comes to certain aspects of this world. And I want to know how much worse it was when you first came here."

"You want to mock me, don't you?" Yuma asked, accepting his slushie back from Murakami.

"Look, he's learning." Kageura teased, picking up his drink off the ground. "We heard about your meeting with Miwa squad and it was great. What else kind of stupidity did you get up to when you knew absolutely nothing about this world?"

Yuma sipped at his slushie as he thought about that first week in Japan.

"I heard Midorikawa mentioned something about a broken leg once." Murakami prompted.

"Eh," Yuma smiled innocently under Kageura's judging, but curious stare.

*L*S*A*

Konami was chopping up the vegetables, eyes flickering between what she was doing and her phone that she had sitting nearby as she was watching the Attackers Group Chat as she waited to see if Murakami, Kageura, or Yuma would come into the chat. What exactly were they doing that had Kageura attacking Yuma? She guessed she shouldn't worry too much since Murakami seemed to be amused enough by it to take a picture and send it to everyone instead of stopping whatever nonsense those two were up to.

"Are you making dinner tonight, Konami?"

Konami looked down at the child's voice to see Yotaro as he rode into the room on Raijinmaru's back. "I am."

"But it's not your night to make dinner." Yotaro said confused.

Konami brushed the carrots she just cut up into a bowl. "No, but it's Yuma's last night in Japan so we promised him my curry before he had to leave."

"What do you mean it's Yuma last night here?" Yotaro demanded. What was going on? Why was he always being left in the dark about what was going on? He was a member of Tamakoma too so he should be kept in the loop!

With a sigh, Konami put her knife down on the counter. "Do you remember what we told you about Yuma's injuries?"

"That's he trapped in a Trion body cause his real body is dying." Yotaro said, eyes widening in horror as he recalled how Yuma collapsed a few days ago. He pushed down on Raijinmaru's back to straighten himself up. "Are we losing Yuma?!"

"Of course we're not!" Konami declared passionately. She refused to believe that their friend was going to leave tomorrow and actually die from the surgery. She had to have faith that the doctors in Galopoula knew what they were doing and would succeed. "But Yuma can't stay in a Troin body forever so he's leaving for the Neighborhood tomorrow because there is a surgery that could help him."

It was best if they didn't tell Yotaro that the surgery's success wasn't a guarantee. The rest of them were already scared of the failure of the operation, but had to put a strong front on for Yuma, who was nervous himself. They all heard about the surgery and they all understood the risks involved so they were worried, but Yuma needed them to smile. They couldn't go with him to Galopoula so they needed to instill confidence in Yuma that everything was going to work out. They needed to push their own doubts to the side.

"He'll be cured then?" Yotaro asked.

"Yes," Konami said. If Yuma died in the surgery, they would have to explain that to Yotaro, but for now, she would have the child believing that everything was going to turn out perfectly. Yotaro didn't need those fears keeping him up at night. "We don't know how long he will be gone though so we having a farewell dinner tonight."

"And we're just having curry?" Yotaro asked confused. He liked Konami's curry, but that was something so normal for a farewell dinner, not that he ever had a farewell dinner before so he didn't know what the different was.

"You got something against my curry?" Konami bopped Yotaro on his helmet. "This is Yuma's favorite so we're having it. He didn't want anything big or fancy after his birthday last night." As much fun as Yuma's birthday was, making it into a giant festival had been a lot for all of them. They had simply done it because Haruka suggested it as something that would make Yuma really happy and when Konami thought about the surprised look on Yuma's face which had morphed into a big grin, she was happy for Haruka's suggestion. After having Yuma being upset for days and then him passing out in a Rank War, seeing Yuma's smile come back had been a huge relief.

"We should make him something!" Yotaro suddenly decided.

"Huh? Weren't you listening? I'm making dinner!" Konami said.

"He can't take that with him to the Neighborhood." Yotaro replied. "Raijinmaru, forward." He pointed ahead of him, but Raijinmaru instead turned around and headed back in the direction they just came from.

Konami watched the two go with a raised brow. "What is that even about?" She muttered as she made her way back to the counter to continue cutting her vegetables.

*L*S*A*

Rindo leaned back in his seat, tapping his pen mindlessly against his desk as he read through the paper in his hand. He had to make sure everything was in order for Yuma's leave of absence from Border. At this point, it had been verbally approved by everyone who needed to agree with it, but Rindo still needed to make sure everything was filed properly as a paper trail was always good to have. Since Yuma had been so distracted with deciding if he wanted to go and was now running around to say his goodbyes, Rindo would take charge of getting the reports organized. He just needed to make sure Yuma signed it when he got back.

After checking that everything was correct, Rindo quickly signed his signature in the appropriate spot and dropped the document on his desk. With that done, he knocked his head back against his headrest with a sigh as his eyes slid shut.

It had been days waiting for Yuma to give his okay to attempt the surgery which had been stressful for everyone. All they wanted was to make sure that Yuma would have the chance at a normal life without his impending death dangling over his head. It should be a relief for Rindo now that Yuma accepted the surgery and would be leaving tomorrow, but he had simply reached the next stage of concern. The first stage was Yuma not agreeing to surgery and choosing to die at the end of the month. They got pass that when Yuma agreed to go to Galopoula, but now the second stage was him being concerned the surgery would fail.

They had always known the success rate of the surgery when they discussed this with Ratarykov and Gatlin. Just because they wanted Yuma to go, it didn't mean they were ignoring the low success rate. That low success rate was simply much higher than the zero percent chance of survival if Yuma stayed in Mikado City. That was the biggest reason of why Rindo was betting on Galopoula. Tamakoma was always willing to make friends with Neighbors, even those who once attacked them. In this case, Tamakoma (Rindo and Jin) had their ulterior motives when talking to Galopoula, but it didn't make their intention of forming alliances any less true.

In fact, the purpose of alliances was to help each other when one side needed help. For that reason, Rindo wouldn't feel bad about having a specific reason for wanting to form an alliance with Galopoula. It worked out for them because they had Jin's side effect. As they were meeting with Galopoula after they attacked, Jin started to look at the future with them and when he did, he found a path to save Yuma. It gave Rindo and Jin even more incentive to want to make the alliance with Galopoula work out for everyone.

For everyone.

Rindo pulled open the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a picture frame. He smiled at the picture that was of Yugo in the middle with his arms thrown over Rindo's and Shinoda's shoulders, his personal students, in front of him. On Yugo's sides were Mogami and Kido. There was much chaos in HQ back then, even if the number of people in Border in those days was less than ten.

The days were full of so much noise and excitement.

When Border grew in size and Kido and Shinoda moved to the headquarters in the Restricted Zone, the old Border HQ became Tamakoma and Rindo took charge. It felt like some of the life had left their home. Part of it had to do with the friends they lost in Aristera, but the other part of it was the divide that happened between Shinoda, Rindo, and Kido after the first large scale invasion. It wasn't that his agents weren't lively. It was more like they had lost something after their friends died or quit Border. It was something they needed to recover from.

When Yuma arrived in Japan, he brought with him a breath of fresh air. He brought an air of mischief and excitement that reminded Rindo so much of Yugo. Maybe it was just a nostalgia Rindo had for seeing Yuma and being reminded of his mentor who had left so long ago. When he looked at Yuma, he could sometimes see Yugo and had to blink to get the image and memories of his mentor to go away.

The past couldn't be changed.

As much as he missed his mentor and was sad he didn't get a proper chance to have one last conversation with him, he was glad to meet Yugo's son. He could never repay Yugo for everything he had done for him as his mentor had died. He hadn't been able to do anything for Yugo since he hadn't seen his old mentor since he left Border. However, that didn't mean he couldn't help Yuma. When Yuma came to them, Shinoda, Rindo, and Kido (in his own special way) had eventually all ended up on the same page to agree to look after Yuma in Yugo's stead. They would protect him and, in this moment, that meant saving him from his death. This was the ultimate form of paying Yugo back that they could offer.

They couldn't save Yuma with their own power, but they could find a way to save Yuma. Yuma was good, but he was still a child. The adults had resources Yuma didn't have available to him and they would use it and their diplomatic skills to get them where they needed to go. Most of the work fell on Rindo and Jin, who was working in Mogami's stead to save his old mentor's friend's son, but Shinoda and Kido each put in their own effort in their own ways to make this possible.

Rindo turned his chair to the side to look out the window, smiling softly as he watched the clouds drifting lazily by. There was no telling how the surgery would turn out, but everything they were doing was them putting in all the effort for Yugo and Yuma. One day soon, he hoped Yuma would be stepping back into this world with his real body ready to enjoy easy, lazy days that would go on for a long time.

*L*S*A*

He was going to make himself go insane at this rate.

The future was never ending. There were infinite futures and for every person, there were dozen upon dozen paths their future could fall onto. Jin could control it to a degree by putting people in the right path to alter the future to fall onto the one that he wanted. However, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't control everything about the future. There were some things that were just completely out of his control.

And Yuma's surgery was one of those things.

Jin braced his elbow on his knee and pressed his hand over his mouth. Despite knowing that he couldn't control everything, Jin just couldn't stop looking at the future. All the windows of the future popped up in front of him and he just kept scanning them, looking for any sign of Yuma in them.

At this point, everything was out of his control. They got Yuma to agree to the surgery and now all they could do was wait for Yuma to return. He hadn't even left yet and Jin was already staring at the future to see if Yuma would be back in their lives in a few weeks. Even though they pressed for Yuma to take the surgery as it was his only option, that didn't mean Jin didn't have his own concerns about it.

Yuma was right when he said that the success of the surgery all fell onto Galopoula's doctors and engineers. Jin trusted that Ratarykov trusted his capable surgeons and engineers, but even Ratarykov had made sure to warn Jin and Rindo that the surgery wouldn't be foolproof after he learned about the severity of Yuma's injuries. Everyone involved in this knew the risks, but also understood there were no other options available to them.

It truly was, as Yuma said, do or die.

They had one shot at the surgery.

Only one chance.

"Is this where you snuck off too?"

Jin didn't take his eyes off the river. He had come outside of Tamakoma to sit on the broken steps to stare at the river as it was a nice place to hide. Yuma liked the roof, but he chose the roof because people could find him up there and he was always eager for company when it was given. Jin liked to come out to the broken stairs in the back of Tamakoma and just sit to stare at the river while really focusing on observing the future when he wanted to be alone.

Only a few people knew where to find Jin in these times.

And it was those who were part of Old Border.

"What's up, Reiji-san?" Jin greeted as he easily slipped back into his cheerful, Power Elite mode.

"I should be asking you that." Reiji replied as he took a sit by Jin on the steps. "You look like you're beginning to doubt your plan to send Yuma to Galopoula."

"Doubt it?" Jin echoed, shifting his eyes to stare up at the clouds lazily drifting by. "No, there are no other options we can use and we're out of time so I'm not doubting the surgery, but you know as well as I do, that nothing is guaranteed. Once Yuma leaves tomorrow, all we can do after that point is pray."

Reiji stared at his friend for a moment as he tried to read the expression on his face. "When you told us about the surgery, you seemed so confident in the plan even with only a twenty percent success rate. Was that just another one of your fronts?"

"I wouldn't call it a facade." Jin replied. "It's like you said. Twenty percent is actually pretty high for someone who is dying." He rubbed the back of his head, sightly softly. "There is reason to be hopeful it will work, but that doesn't chase away the fear I have that it will fail and we lose Yuma. For Yuma's sake though, I've been pushing my own concerns away. If he sees us doubting it or getting scared, it will only make his own nerves worse. Of all of us, Yuma has the hardest part in this."

"I would say the doctors and engineers have the hardest part." Reiji argued. "They're the ones who have to put in all the work and effort to keep Yuma alive during the surgery."

"True," Jin nodded in agreement. "But that's not what I meant."

Reiji stared down at the river below them, watching it ripple as the wind blew around them. After learning so much about Yuma in the last few months, it wasn't hard to realize what Jin was getting at. "You're talking about Yuma's guilt. I thought he came to terms with things during the Mimic incident."

"He came to understand the situation and accept what happened, but I don't think he will ever not blame himself for disobeying the orders in the first place." Jin's eyes softened in sadness as his fingers traced the edges of his sunglasses. "Things like that never really leave us."

Guilt.

Grief.

Frustrations.

What ifs.

It wasn't a healthy way to live to constantly be thinking about all those mistakes, but Jin used it to improve himself. He remembered his mistakes and used what he failed to do in the past to make sure it didn't happen again. When he looked at Yuma, Jin saw a younger version of himself and that made him certain that Yuma did the same as him.

"You worried that Yuma's feelings of guilt might rear its ugly head when he leaves." Reiji concluded.

"Yuma may not be able to do anything in the surgery, but mentality does play a part in it." Jin replied. "If he drowns in guilt like he used to, his body might decide it's not worth the effort to put in the fight to survive and just shut down during the operation."

"Hmm," Reiji fished out his phone. "Kuga-san trained Yuma to survive and though Yuma's reasons over the years since Kuga-san's death weren't the right ones, Yuma always fought for his life. He never once gave up a fight despite all that guilt weighing him down." He opened the app on his phone and scrolled up through a bunch of messages he didn't care to look at right now until he found what he wanted. He clicked on the picture to enlarge it then shifted the phone for Jin to see. "I think Yuma's reasons to fight for his life had shifted to more positive reasons. I don't think you need to worry about Yuma giving up the fight in the surgery."

Jin stared at the picture.

At the way Kageura and Yuma were roughhousing and limbs were being shoved into each other as they tried to one up each other.

More than that, Jin stared at their faces. At the smiles that pulled at their expressions. At the way their eyes lit up in amusement.

"You wanted Yuma to have fun so you invited him to join Border." Reiji continued. "You've done everything you could to help Yuma. At this point, everything else falls on Yuma's shoulders and I think he is a good place mentally."

Yes, maybe Reiji was right.

Up until Jin told Yuma his prediction, Yuma had been so happy with everything ever since he came back from the away mission. He was so happy that the smile Yuma wore those days seemed to be glued to his face and his laughter had been loud and never ending. Jin was the one who took it away when he told Yuma he would be dying soon. It put him in a depression, but it was one that came to be because Yuma was so desperate to live now. He lost his will to just accept his death and became scared at losing this life that gave him every reason to live.

That smile Yuma wore in the picture wasn't fake or forced.

It was a genuine smile screaming happiness.

"Whatever happens when Yuma goes to Galopoula, we can at least be assured that we gave him the best life these past few months." Reiji closed the app and slid his phone back into his pocket.

Jin rested his hands behind him on the stairs so he could lean back and fully enjoy the nice summer breeze that blew around them. Talking with Reiji always brought him a sense of piece. Reiji truly knew what needed to be said. Jin was a master schemer that protected the future, but Reiji was the one who had words of wisdom that he needed.

"Also, Yotaro seems to be making Yuma a card to give him. Make sure you sign it." Reiji added.

Jin grinned. "Will do."

*L*S*A*

Hyuse stared at Yotaro.

Yotaro stared back him.

Neither of them seemed to be willing to back down.

"What's the big deal?" Konami asked, glancing up from her pot to stare at the scene of the two stubborn boys. "It's just your name."

"He can't possibly let Yuma know he cares." Karasuma took a sip of his water, only raising a brow when Hyuse's shifted his glare to Karasuma. There was nothing terrifying about the Neighbor who come back to Japan from the away mission to work as a liaison for Afotkrator. It meant they were allies and Karasuma feared nothing from allies.

"Hyuse!" Yotaro demanded the older Neighbor to look back at him. He held up his colored pencil towards Hyuse with a determined expression. "For Yuma."

For a moment, Hyuse just stared at Yotaro, who refused to look away from him. Yotaro could be such a stubborn child when he wanted to be, which tended to be most of the time. After a moment, he broke their staring contest and looked at the card on the table that Yotaro had made. For the smallest bit of rebellion, he picked up a different colored pencil on the table and signed his name amongst the rest of Tamakoma's signatures.

Konami put a lid on the pot and leaned on the counter to watch the show with her chin popped up in her hand as she grinned. "What a tsundere."

"You, of all people, do not get to say that." Karasuma said. He immediately leaned back in his chair when Konami tried to lean across the counter and smack him. "You're mad because it's the truth."

"I'm mad because you're slandering my good name!" Konami retorted, climbing onto the counter so she could reach farther and smack Karasuma's arm.

"All you're doing is proving my point." Karasuma replied.

Osamu was going to ignore it all. He was going to ignore Hyuse and Yotaro contest of who could be the most stubborn. He was going to ignore Konami and Karasuma's roughhousing. He was just going to get himself water and wonder why he was the only sane person in Tamakoma. No, wait, that wasn't fair. Chika was here with him. She would never abandon him to deal with this insanity alone.

"Hey, Osamu," Karasuma twisted away from Konami's assault. "Did you guys manage to get a strategy worked out for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how well it will work out." Osamu took a sip of his water as he made his way over to the breakfast counter and sat down next to his mentor. "I'm so used to having Kuga on the team that I kept thinking of strategies with him in it and had to start over."

"That's natural." Konami hopped off the counter as the conversation had shifted so Karasuma was free from her revenge for the moment. "Jin used to be on our team until he became S-Rank when he got Fujin. Our team dynamic shifted for a while and we kept forgetting the hole in the team formation."

"How did you get over it?" Osamu asked.

Konami shrugged. "We just got used to it after a while. It takes time to adjust to a new formation." She turned back to the stove to check on her cooking. "And then Torimaru transferred from HQ and filled that hole, but we had to adjust again because Reiji-san and I had gotten used to being a two-person team by that point." She glanced back over at Osamu with a soft smile. "You won't have time to adjust to being a team without Yuma because he'll be back before you have to. You just need to make do for a little bit without him."

Osamu dearly hoped that would be true. Ever since he learned that Yuma was dying from Replica, he had been scared of waking up one day to find out that his friend was just gone from the land of the living forever. There was never anything he could do for Yuma so he pushed his fears to the side and focused on what he was able to. It was easy to forget that fear when he was able to see Yuma every day and see that he was his usual cheerful, alive self.

That was the thing though. He was able to see Yuma every day and those fears were put to rest for the day. However, Yuma was leaving tomorrow. That meant that Osamu wasn't going to be able to see him to know he was okay. Once Yuma got on the away ship to go to Galopoula, they were all going to be left in the dark of what his condition was.

The unknown was what was truly terrifying.

*L*S*A*

Walking back into Tamakoma, Yuma was greeted with the warmth of a feeling of home that made his heart feel so light. There was really something to be said about having a place to call home and entering that place. It was full of so much warmth and love that just engulfed him when he returned.

Maybe he was just thinking this because he was in such a state of relief after having Kageura and Murakami accept him when they found out he was a Neighbor.

Or maybe it was just a feeling of longing as he knew today would be his last day that he would walk through those doors for who knew how long.

"Welcome back, Yuma."

Yuma looked up at the balcony to see Rindo smiling down at him. He smiled back at his boss. "I'm home, Boss."

For a moment, Rindo's eyes widened in surprise before his expression smoothed out and his smile grew just a bit bigger. He never thought he would get to hear Yuma make out that call when he walked through those doors because he knew that Yuma felt like an outcast when he first came here. Japan was Yugo's home, but Yuma didn't feel like he belonged because of how the people here felt about Neighbors.

To hear Yuma called out that he was home, it lifted Rindo's spirit. It felt like he...no, they had all done something right. They had given Yuma a place where he felt like he belonged. Maybe Rindo couldn't be the one to physically put in the work to save Yuma, but he didn't have to. Seeing that smile on Yuma's face, Rindo could tell just how much they had already saved Yuma by giving him someplace that he was comfortable enough to call home.

"It's almost time for dinner, but before that, can you come up to my office real quick, Yuma?" Rindo requested.

"Sure thing." Yuma bounded up the stairs. For some reason, despite knowing he was leaving for a surgery with a low success rate tomorrow, he felt so light right now.

So relaxed and happy.

Whatever tomorrow brought was a tomorrow problem.

For now, he was having a good day.

"So, what do you need?" Yuma asked curiously as he followed Rindo to his office.

"I just need you to sign a couple things for your leave of absence. It should only take a couple minutes."

"Okay."

*L*S*A*

Jin quickly signed his signature with a bright pink colored pencil. "That's everyone, right?"

"Yep, you were the last one." Chika leaned forward on the table to quickly scan the card to make sure everyone's signatures were there.

"Perfect." Jin took the handmade card and stood it up on the table in the spot that he knew Yuma would sit. "Yuma and Boss will be down in a minute."

"Is that what your side effect tells you?" Konami said, earning a grin from Jin. She huffed in amusement as she went back to putting the finishing touches on dinner. "Osamu, can you get the plates out?"

"Sure thing."

"It's a very nicely drawn card." Jin told Yotaro, who grinned proudly up at him.

"I am a great artist." Yotaro declared.

Chika chuckled softly as she glanced at the card that had a rough drawing of all the Tamakoma members on the front of it. Yotaro had even drawn Replica on top of Yuma's head. Yuma would definitely love the card.

Hyuse walked behind the group, scooping up Yotaro as he went to plop the kid in his seat at the table. He took a seat next to him as he waited for Konami to serve dinner. Despite it being months since the milkshake incident, he was still banned from being in the kitchen. When he was in the kitchen, he apparently needed 'adult supervision.' It was completely ridiculous. Hyuse knew how to use a blender now.

"Dinner smells amazing!" Yuma greeted as he barged into the room with Rindo following behind him.

"It better. I put all my love and care into the curry tonight." Konami replied. "Come and get some, Yuma. You get first dibs at food."

"Awesome!" Yuma grinned at his mentor.

In very short order, everyone had a plate of curry and were taking seats at the table or the couches nearby. As Yuma reached his seat, he slowed down to stare at the card that had been placed there. He set his plate down to free his hands to grab the card, feeling a smile pull at his lips as he looked at the hand drawn picture of all the current Tamakoma members. He flipped the card open and was blinded by all the bright signatures that stood out as everyone seemed to choose the brightest color possible, except for Hyuse who chose the darkest black he could apparently find. It pulled a small chuckle from Yuma.

Get well soon, Yuma!

We love you!

Yuma smiled at the messy writing in the center of the card. He could guess that it was Yotaro's writing based on the same messy signature Yotaro added at the bottom of the card. His smile turned into a grin when saw a stamp of Raijinmaru's paw on the page to. "Thank you."

"You can thank us by coming back as soon as possible." Hyuse replied. "Don't stress Osamu out even more by taking forever to come back to the team."

"Hyuse's way of saying he will miss you." Konami whispered conspiratorially.

"I can hear you." Hyuse snapped.

"Good." Konami retorted. "You aren't fooling anyone with your aloof attitude, Hyuse! How hard is it for you to speak from your heart for once?"

"But he has." Karasuma interrupted. "He once said Konami-senpai was a much stronger fighter than him and he was eager to learn from her."

"He did?" Konami said surprised.

"He did. Hyuse has a rough exterior, but it's just to hide his more sensitive side." Yuma added.

Konami blinked as she processed that before she was smiling smugly. "It's about time you realized who your superiors were, Hyuse."

Karasuma took an eager bite of his curry, smirking behind his silverware as he met Osamu's deadpan stare and Hyuse's glare straight on.

"I never said that."

"Oh, now you want to be modest."

"He's right." Karasuma took another bite of his curry as he waited for Konami to turn to look back at him. "He never said any of that. I lied."

"...What?"

Konami was around the table so fast that Osamu was almost convinced she had a Trigger activated and had the Transporter Trigger. He leaned to the side as Konami started to bop Hyuse on the head repeatedly. "How dare you lie to me, Hyuse?!"

"I said nothing." Hyuse said dryly.

Yuma smiled at the familiar scene. It was always fun when they got to tease Konami like this.

"You might want to eat your dinner before it gets cold, Konami." Rindo warned.

Konami huffed, but relented her assault on Hyuse to return to her seat next to Yuma. It put her right across from Hyuse so she was able to glare at him. "This isn't over."

"Training rooms tomorrow after my match." Hyuse said.

"Deal." Konami agreed immediately. She would teach Hyuse who was the better fighter between the two of them. "I'll destroy you."

"Always so competitive." Jin said amused.

"Someone has to keep these rookies from getting too cocky." Konami said.

"Who keeps you from getting too cocky?" Yuma asked.

"Watch it, Yuma."

Yuma laughed. He loved being able to tease Konami. She always seemed to open herself up to something and made it so easy to do.

This was a familiar routine. Tonight was Yuma's last dinner at Tamakoma and he didn't want it to be anything special. His birthday party yesterday was more than enough. Right now, right here, the familiar noise of dinner with every member of Tamakoma was all he needed for his last night in Japan. He didn't need anything crazy or something that would draw attention to the fact that he was leaving tomorrow and that was all they focused on. The card Yotaro made and had everyone sign was more than enough focus on his approaching departure.

The familiar routine of dinner and teasing and talking was all he needed. He wanted the familiar routine that always made him happy and what made him enjoy every moment as a Border agent. This was what he wanted to remember. This was so much better than all those serious, depressing conversations from the past few days.

"Movie time!" Jin declared as dinner was over and cleaned up. He grabbed Yuma's wrist dragged him over to the couch.

"You guys don't have to train some more?" Yuma asked surprised when he saw his team following them.

"We trained all day. Whatever comes from the match tomorrow comes." Osamu replied.

Yuma gave his captain a mock glare. "I don't like that attitude. I better not find you guys in the bottom tier of B-Rank when I come back."

Hyuse kicked Yuma's ankle as he passed him to snag the single person chair for himself. "Don't think for a second that we aren't a highly functioning team without you, Yuma."

Yuma sniffed in mock offense. "Well, it's not like I've seen you do much in the Rank Wars, Hyuse."

Hyuse's brow twitched in annoyance. "I've only had three matches so far! And news flash, I'm not the one who passed out in our last match so you didn't see what I accomplished."

"I know you didn't win." Yuma retorted. "Ikoma squad did."

"Ikoma squad got a free point because of you." Hyuse argued.

"Actually," Shiori butted in. "The score for that match changed today. It turned into a three-way tie after Ikoma squad lost one of their points."

Yuma blinked in surprise. "You can lose a point after the fight?"

"Not usually, but it was a special circumstance." Shiori replied. "In that, Ikoma squad didn't want the point for killing you to get you out of the match in an emergency. I guess Shinoda-san heard their case and agreed to remove the point from that."

Yuma blinked and then blinked again. "What a bunch of idiots."

Jin barked out a laugh at that reply. "The war veteran on a team greedy for points to rise in the ranks would think that."

"I wasn't upset they got a point that way." Yuma pointed out.

"Maybe you weren't, but think about it from their perspective. One of their comrades was seemingly dying in front of them and they were scared and were unsure of how to handle the situation." Reiji explained. "Their ally was collapsed, in pain, and the only way they could help him was to put a hole in his chest. In rank wars, we kill each other all the time. We do not, however, have to potentially watch a friend die and have to think for a moment that after the match, he might actually be dead and it was their fault for forcibly bailing him out when it wasn't safe."

"But it was safe." Yuma pointed out.

"Only because they checked with me before they did it." Jin argued. "If I wasn't there to answer their call, Yuma, they would have forcibly bailed you out and have no idea if it was the right call or not. Just because they knew before they did it because I told them doesn't mean they were okay with having to do it."

Yuma sighed and fell into a corner seat on the couch. Maybe it was just because he had been around Triggers and Trion bodies his whole life that he had less concern with overthinking about attacking someone's Trion body. Granted, he didn't even hesitate to attack someone in a flesh and blood body so maybe he wasn't the best person to be judging other people's moral compass.

"I think it was very honorable of them to want the point removed." Karasuma added. "Ninomiya squad would have never even thought about it."

"Ikoma squad is a lot more easy going with the Rank Wars than Ninomiya squad. They fight seriously in the battles, but they aren't concerned about their rank. Ikoma-san is also very serious about having honor in his fights so I'm not surprised he wanted to adjust the points." Konami said.

"Yuma might complain, but I won't. It's one less point for them to have. Makes it easier to kick them down." Hyuse said.

"Why are you trying to kick them down?" Konami asked. "Just stay above them in the ranks and you don't have to worry about them."

"Can you really say that when you want to beat everyone?" Osamu asked.

"I'm not kicking anyone down. I'm showing them where their place is at which is below me in the ranks." Konami argued.

"What's that say about Tachikawa-san and Kazama-san and Jin-san?" Yuma asked.

"That no matter how strong you are, there is always someone stronger than you so you should never let your guard down." Reiji answered.

"Very true!" Jin replied as he picked out a movie for them to watch. "Now, let's get this movie marathon going!"