Light Shines Anew
Chapter 2: 20%
"You've run out of time, Yuma."
"You've run out of time, Yuma."
"You've run out of time, Yuma."
Jin's words echoed in Yuma's head. His eyes slid shut, a slow breath escaping him. With his eyes closed, he could focus more intensely as Jin's words fully processed for him. "How long?" He heard himself ask though he barely registered that those words came from him.
"I would say a month, and that's if you're lucky." Jin admitted.
Yuma grimaced. That was less than he expected. He cracked his eyes open to look down at his hands. His unmarred, smooth hands. "Strange. I always thought that when it started to get near, I would feel something, anything, but I feel the same as I always do."
Jin stared down at those small hands, eyes drawn to the Black Trigger. It kept Yuma alive, but ever since seeing Kuga Yugo make the sacrifice a second time to save Yuma and fix the Black Trigger, it had new memories and feelings to Jin. When Yuma's real body came out, it had been an utterly terrifying experience. If anything went out of Yuma's or Jin's expectations, Yuma would have died that day. It was a day that haunted Jin's memories. The last thing he ever wanted was to lose anyone else important to him.
"Your body's time running out is sooner than I originally predicted when we first met." Jin said, diverting his attention to stare out at the river. "We should have had longer than this."
Jin's predictions were good, but they weren't perfect. He saw multiple futures that could be altered by the actions that people took. Yuma turned his eyes back to the sky as a conversation that felt so long ago came to mind.
Shinoda leveled Yuma with an unimpressed look. "Your body is sealed inside a Black Trigger, gravely wounded and slowly dying. What part of that sounds alright, Yuma-kun?"
Yuma shrugged. "I've been living like this for five years now."
"And now you've taken a huge toll on your body." Kinuta scolded. "Your lifespan had already been shortened but just slowed down by being sealed in a Black Trigger. By forcing your real body to return to make your father seal it away again, you drastically decreased how much time you have left."
Yuma had put that conversation out of his mind. Not because it wasn't important, but because he got busy with training for the away mission and then going on said mission. He simply just forgot. It wasn't a good excuse, but it was the truth. He got so busy and was having so much fun that he just didn't spend time thinking about his impending death. The only time he ever bothered to think about it was when his friends came to him with haunted eyes that only vanished when they landed on Yuma. He knew since the week of the Mimics' attack and his friends finding out the truth that they were scared of their friend dying.
And now their fears were going to be realized.
They all knew it was only a matter of time until this happened. Their fears weren't unfounded as Yuma was on a time clock that was ticking down slowly. And that time clock was about to reach its end.
"Yuma," Jin said slowly. "This doesn't have to be the end."
Yuma blinked and redirected his attention to Jin. To his friend who turned those sharp, focused eyes to Yuma's. Yuma shifted to straddle the ledge, never breaking eye contact with Jin. "What do you mean?"
"There is a small chance of survival." Jin admitted. "I saw this chance a while back but the pieces hadn't been properly laid for us to take this course until now."
Yuma tilted his head forward slightly, in a silent request for Jin to go on.
"I don't know much about the method myself, but Galopoula does have the technology that can be used to save you." Jin explained.
"Galopoula?" Yuma repeated dubiously. "The nation that attacked us during the B-Rank wars? The one we formed a temporary alliance with to work together against Aftokrator? The ones who likely won't take it well that we formed a tentative alliance with Aftokrator?"
Jin held up a finger to silence Yuma's questions. "The ones we became friends with who owe us after we freed them from Aftokrator's reign." He corrected.
Yuma leaned back, a bit away from Jin. He planted a hand on the ledge behind him to keep himself somewhat upright. "You've been planning this from the start, haven't you? I thought the idea of Tamakoma was to make friends with Neighbors, but it seems you did it with an ulterior motive."
"Allies help each other out, Yuma. It's the point of alliances. When they need help, if they call on us, we give them that help. In return, when we need help, we expect the same hand reaching out to us to offer that help." Jin replied.
"And have they offered it?" Yuma asked.
Jin smiled which was all the answer Yuma needed.
"Alright, if they have a solution and are willing to help, why did you say there was a small chance of me surviving?" Yuma asked.
That got the smile to slip right off of Jin's face. "They have a method they can use to save your life, but it's not full proof, Yuma."
Yuma quirked a brow in question. "And?"
Those ruby red eyes were burning into Jin's blue eyes. It felt like Yuma was seeing pass all of Jin's safely guarded walls and seeing the truth inside. Jin could have excused it as Yuma's side effect since Yuma could see the truth, but that wasn't fully it. Yuma's eyes held so much intensity in them. When he was happy, his eyes were pretty relaxed, but when he was in a mood where he wasn't going to let himself be pushed around, those eyes could just pin someone in place.
"It's twenty percent." Jin admitted because he never had any intention of hiding this from Yuma.
Yuma made a pained sound at the back of his throat. Twenty percent wasn't a lot. Yes, it wasn't zero percent, but it might as well have been with how low that number was. It just meant there was eighty percent chance of failure and failure here meant death. It wasn't like the rank wars where if he failed, he just lost and would have to train to get stronger.
"Twenty percent?" Yuma repeated, feeling his heart sink. "So what? Die here or die there? Die now or die in a month? Your possible solution just sounds like immediate death. I would rather enjoy what little time I have left. I'm sorry, Jin-san. I know you worked hard on this for months to get all the pieces aligned, but I'm not going."
Jin looked pained at Yuma's response, but not surprised. He reached forwards towards his friend to offer comfort, but Yuma jerked away and hopped off the ledge, abandoning his mug of cocoa that he didn't bother to drink.
That was horrible of Yuma. Jin was just trying to save him and this was likely the only option he found in all of his searching. Yuma wasn't offended by what Jin was offering.
He just couldn't take it.
Yuma's feet pounded on the stairs, taking them two at a time as he quickly made it downstairs to his room. He should try to be quieter. He would either wake someone up or disturb those who were still awake but working on other things.
It was okay.
It would all settle down as soon as he got into his room and they would have peace back.
Despite how he barged into his room, Yuma actually closed the door very softly and just fell back against it, staring down at his Black Trigger. His hand closed into a tight fist, digging his nails into his trion created hand and he knocked it against his forehead.
Jin did nothing wrong.
He just didn't get it.
Eighty percent chance of the procedure failing was pretty much just guaranteed death. If he was going to die anyway, he wanted to stay in Japan and have as much fun with his friends as possible. He wanted to die surrounded by his friends who have made him the happiest he had been in a long time.
And perhaps that was selfish of him.
He was shoving all of Jin's hard work of trying to find a way to save Yuma right back into his face by refusing the only option he managed to acquire.
That was Yuma's problem though.
He had always been so selfish.
Yuma slid down the door and pulled his knees to his chest to wrap his arms around them. He glanced up to see the tv and game system that was recently added to his room at the insistence of his friends and bought with his dad's money. To give him something to do at night.
"I don't really get the point of this."
"It's just something fun to do." Murakami said as he and Kage settled down on the floor to go through the collection of Kageura's games while Yuma sat on Kageura's bed behind them and simply watched.
Yuma was always eager to try something new, but that something new didn't usually begin at...he glanced at the clock on Kageura's desk to see that it was eleven thirty at night. It was the weekend so none of them had school in the morning. The agents also stayed up all night when they were on defense duty on night, but they were in trion bodies when they did that so they didn't feel sleepy while working. "We can do this in the morning."
"Where is the fun in that?" Kageura retorted, tossing a controller over his shoulder towards the general direction of where Yuma's voice came from.
Yuma lunged forward to the edge of the bed to catch it before it could fall. "You won't be tired?" He suggested.
Murakami shot a smile over his shoulder towards the youngest. "Have you never had a sleepover?"
Yuma shook his head.
"There tend to be very little sleeping at these things." Murakami explained. "This is all about ruining our sleep schedule and hanging out with friends all night while eating junk food and playing games."
"Or reading manga." Kageura added. "Just hanging out with each other."
Yuma's brows furrowed. "This is normal for sleepovers? Then why are they called sleepovers?"
"Cause we're just gathering at someone's house for the night." Murakami replied. "And there might be some sleeping. Typically, people try to stay up all night, but we might end up passing out from exhaustion." He joined Yuma on the bed and held out a can of pop to him. "If we fall asleep on you tonight, don't take it personally."
"No, it's fine." Yuma took the drink and popped the tab. "I'm used to spending nights alone which is why you don't need to do this."
"When else would we do it?" Kageura scoffed. "Between school, training, and defense duty, it's not like we have much free time so shut up and enjoy yourself." He tossed a collection of games on the bed. "And choose something to start with."
Yuma stared down at the game cases feeling completely lost at the names and pictures that stared right back at him. He knew absolutely nothing about games. "Why?"
"Because this is about finding something you can enjoy at night during your free time." Murakami replied. "Midorikawa said games might interest you, but because of your rough childhood, you never got to experience them."
Yuma looked back at the floor where Murakami and Kageura had abandoned some games. "What's wrong with those ones?"
"There multiplayer games." Kageura explained.
"You guys don't want to play?" Yuma asked.
Kageura knocked a hand against Yuma's head. "Are you listening at all, brat? This is to teach you how to play games so you can do it at night and get off that damn roof of yours."
"I like it on the roof."
Kageura knocked his knuckles into Yuma's forehead. "Don't try to convince me you don't get bored up there doing the same thing every night."
"Ow." Yuma muttered.
"It's a trion body. You don't feel pain." Kageura retorted. "Now pick a game out."
Yuma made a show of rubbing his forehead where Kageura grinded his knuckles into. Kageura had always been rough with his handling as it was how he showed his care for his friends, but it felt like he was harder on Yuma. Maybe it was because Kageura knew that Yuma didn't feel pain or much of anything because of his trion body. He probably thought if he hit harder than Yuma's trion body would process the pressure of the hands and that could mimic the feelings of pain that Yuma hadn't felt in years.
"You know, Kuga, if you ever get lonely at night, I'm sure any one of your friends would gladly give up on a night of sleep to hang out." Murakami suggested as Yuma picked up the games one by one and turned them over to try to get an idea of what these games were.
"I know." Yuma muttered. "But I'm not asking." He looked up from the games to catch the eyes of both of his friends. "I've been like this for five years. I'm used to it."
"Pretty shitty thing to get used to." Kageura scoffed.
"That's life." Yuma murmured. And it was something he accepted a long time ago.
Yuma accepted it. He accepted his shortened lifespan. Back when his father first died, he just kept fighting and fighting and fighting. All he did was fight because that was all he had going for him. To just fight and wait for his time finally run out.
Well, not completely true.
Yuma did want to revive his father from the Black Trigger that he poured everything into. Doing so would kill Yuma in the process, but he was barely hanging on by a thread when Yugo saved him anyway. Yugo didn't need to die for him so Yuma wanted to return his life, but when he realized his endeavor was useless, he simply lost purpose in life.
Then he got it back.
Because of Osamu and Chika.
They asked for his help and he so willingly gave it to them because it gave him new direction in life. Through helping them, he met so many interesting people and began to have so much fun.
He had a reason to live.
Everyone here made it so easy for Yuma to want to smile.
And now he was to die.
It sucked, but he knew it would be coming one day. Jin said he had one month so he was going to make sure he had so much fun before this one month ran out.
Just one month.
One month.
Yuma dropped his forehead onto his knees.
At most that was thirty days.
Thirty days and counting.
*L*S*A*
"What was the stomping last night?"
Yuma stared at the washed mugs sinking next to the sink. He had abandoned his cocoa on the roof but it seemed that Jin had brought both of the mugs down here and cleaned them. Somehow, just staring at the mugs made Yuma feel worse. It felt like a reminder that he had thrown Jin's hard work right in his face and then just ran away.
"Kuga?"
Yuma jerked away from the counter and twisted around to look at his captain on the other side of the breakfast counter, dropping his plate of toast on the counter. The worry shining on Osamu's face was something that he couldn't escape without running from the room. "Did I wake you up? Sorry, Osamu."
Osamu's face twisted into concern. "I don't care about that, Kuga. Did something happen?"
Yuma shrugged. "Jin-san and I just got into a disagreement."
"Again?" Osamu asked, though to be fair, it had been a few months since Jin and Yuma had gotten into any fights. The only time they ever argued was when they were both stressed out during the Mimics incident.
"Yuma!"
Osamu and Yuma's conversation ended abruptly as they turned to see Jin coming into the room, grinning as if nothing was wrong.
"You're on defense duty with me tonight." Jin explained. "So, be sure to be back here before ten."
Yuma glanced at Jin, suspicious crossing through his eyes, but quickly looked away as he nodded his head. A frown tugged at his lips. That's weird.
Osamu looked from Yuma to Jin, brows furrowed in concern. "Jin-san–"
Jin clapped Osamu on the shoulder, still smiling brightly. He flashed his smile across the counter towards Yuma. "Everything is alright. With my Power elite status and Yuma's A-Rank skill level, we could practically be a S-Rank team, right, Yuma?"
"To be called S-Rank anything, you need a Black Trigger." Yuma replied. "I'm not using my Black Trigger tonight. You'll have to settle for being a B-Rank team tonight."
"I am A-Rank." Jin replied, pointing at himself in confusion.
Yuma pursed his lips. "I don't want to be mock anything just because I'm with you. My team is going to reach A-Rank and then I'll gladly take the title and then we can be a faux team with status of A-Rank when we go out on defense duty together. For now, we will be counted as B-Rank."
"So prideful." Jin teased.
Osamu's eyes flickered back and forth between his two friends. For having gotten into a disagreement last night, the two seemed completely fine. Maybe Yuma was a bit hesitant when Jin first came in, but as Jin spoke in that comforting, assured manner, Yuma fell back into an easy rhythm with him.
"Osamu, are you going to HQ today?" Yuma asked, diverting the conversation and turning his attention back to his captain.
Osamu blinked, beginning to feel whiplash from how this conversation kept switching topics. "Yeah," He said slowly. "I'm going to train with Izumi-senpai and Yuiga."
Yuma's felt a smile tug at his lips. "Yuiga, again? You didn't hold too much of a high opinion of him when you first met him."
A blush burned through Osamu's cheeks. It wasn't that he thought lowly of Yuiga's skills since he was stronger than Osamu. It was because he didn't understand why he was A-Rank. "His personality is a lot to deal with, but since I trained with him so much, we've become..."
"Friends?" Jin suggested.
"Uh," Osamu scratched his cheek.
"Acquainted?" Yuma suggested.
"Hmm," Osamu shrugged. "We're something. On friendly terms at least."
Jin nodded happily. "Those type of connections are very important to have. It means that whenever you need help, you'll have those people who willing to offer their hands to you."
Yuma jerked his head towards Jin, eyes narrowed at him. Jin just quirked a brow back him, still smiling. Throughout the whole exchange, in what he could only assume was a silent conversation, Osamu just watched in confusion.
"So, you're having more training matches with Yuiga?" Yuma asked, only removing his eyes from Jin to look at Osamu once he finished the question.
"Uh, sort of." Osamu replied. He really felt like there was something he was missing between Yuma and Jin. Normally, it wouldn't bother him, but considering how much Yuma and Jin kept to themselves during the Mimic incident, he really didn't want the secret, silent conversations taking place in front of him. "Izumi-senpai wants to see what I learned during the away mission so he wants me to train with Yuiga. Depending on how I do, Izumi-senpai might teach me more about composite bullets."
"Composite bullets are really advanced." Yuma replied, munching on a piece of toast. "Combining Triggers like that is tricky."
"Yeah, which is why I stuck to things like Asteroid and Hound." Osamu replied. He still had a lot to learn as an agent. During the away mission, he stuck to what he knew. Unlike the Rank Wars, the away mission was real. He didn't have the skill necessary to try something new in the field during the away mission. He couldn't afford to get killed during the mission so he stuck to what he learned and mastered during training.
"You got the best mentors in Izumi and Kyosuke to teach you." Jin said.
Osamu nodded in agreement. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have top A-Rankers agree to help him with his training. If it wasn't for him meeting and befriending Yuma back in December, it was very likely he would still be drowning in C-Rank right now.
"I can't wait to see what you learn. You'll have to show me when we train." Yuma said.
"But Kuga, you already know how to do this?" Osamu said confused. "With your Black Trigger?"
Yuma blinked. "I suppose? The only time I combine Triggers is when I use compound seals with my black trigger. It might be similar to what Izumi-san does with his bullets, but I've never seen it up close." Usually by the time he seeing it, the bullets were flying at him and he had to dodge. He wanted to see how they actually formed the composite bullets. "I imagine though the idea is similar, it might be different than what I do with my seals. It's never been something I could do with Border Triggers since I don't use bullets so I want to see it up close, Osamu. Be sure to learn a lot that way we can be ready for if other shooters do this."
"Composite bullets are difficult to use. How many people will actually use them in B-Rank?" Osamu questioned. "Besides, Ninomiya-san, Kurauchi-san, and Nasu-san of course." In B-Rank, only the best of the best shooters managed to use composite bullets because of how difficult and time consuming it was.
"I wouldn't be surprised if other shooters have been spending their time improving their skills while we were on the away mission." Yuma replied as he thought back to his match with Shun yesterday. Shun may not have won the ten-round bout, but Yuma saw the vast improvement in him. "They had an extra month to prepare since the B-Rank wars are starting late. This first round is going to be about us all gathering intel on how much people have changed since the last season."
Osamu nodded.
"Or how little some teams changed." Jin piped up, catching the attention of the two younger agents. "Since some agents went on the away mission without their teams, it means those teams lost out on valuable training time with each other."
"Ah," Yuma nodded. "Like Murakami-senpai's team."
"Almost seems unfair to them." Osamu said.
"It's Murakami-senpai. I think he'll be fine." Yuma replied. Murakami had only gotten stronger with his experiences in the Neighborhood and his side effect allowing him to advance even faster. He could easily use what he learned to help his team be stronger. Yuma was sure while they were gone, Kuruma and Taichi weren't slacking off. They probably worked on some good combos for the two of them. If Kuruma and Taichi could work efficiently as a pair, then Murakami could work more as a solo ace that could focus on the aces of the other team or even an efficient front line attacker while Kuruma and Taichi could properly support him from behind. They always worked as a team, but Yuma knew they could be much stronger if they improved on working solo.
"What about you, Kuga? Got any plans for today?" Osamu asked.
"Solo rank wars." Yuma replied.
Osamu raised a brow. "You didn't get enough of that yesterday?"
Yuma shook his head. "I have a lot of opponents to face off with. Since we were gone for so long, I have a lot to catch up on." He took a sip of his juice. "I'll see if I can find Ikoma-san and have a match with him. If I can see what he improved on since the last rank wars, it will help us a lot."
"If you want a ride to HQ," Jin pointed towards the door he just came through. "Boss is heading there for a meeting now. He'll gladly drive you."
"Now?" Yuma repeated. He shoved the last of his toast in his mouth.
"Thanks, Jin-san." Osamu said as he headed towards the door with Yuma following him.
Before the door closed behind him, Yuma glanced over towards Jin, meeting his eyes one more time. He had been surprised that Jin didn't bring anything up from last night. He thought his friend would push him more on the topic. Jin wasn't one to just give up like that.
Jin just smiled and wave at Yuma as the door swung shut behind him. As his cute juniors left, Jin felt his smile slip away. He collapsed into the stool by the counter and pulled his phone out of his pocket to type out a text. He hoped there were very little questions since he didn't want to answer them right now.
*L*S*A*
"Did you really just have a disagreement with Jin-san last night?" Osamu asked.
Rindo glanced in the rearview mirror at his young charges sitting in the back. He wasn't aware of the fact that Jin and Yuma were fighting again.
"Yeah," Yuma replied, glancing out the window to stare at the passing scenery. "We just have different opinions." He knocked his head back against the headrest to twist his face towards his friend and smiled at him. "Kind of like how you and Hyuse argue about the actions we should take sometimes."
Osamu's brow twitched at the reminder. He didn't mind that Hyuse would disagree with him. He had more experience and skill than Osamu so he would see things differently. They started on a rough patch, but they were at a point where they had mutual respect for each other. That didn't mean they still didn't have times where they disagreed on what they did, but Osamu embraced the arguments and disagreement from his team. It allowed him to see things from a different point of view and take everything into account properly.
"It seemed more like you disagreed and are still grumpy about the conversation." Osamu pointed out. From what Osamu saw, Jin seemed fine and like he was trying to put the conversation behind them.
Yuma sighed. "Maybe. I don't want to think about it right now."
Osamu hummed softly. He didn't want to push Yuma when he was openly admitting that he didn't want to talk about something. Usually if he was asked, Yuma would tell him. Well, as long as he wasn't stressed out about Mimics and keeping secrets because of said stress. "If you can promise me that it's not immediate danger, I can let it go."
Immediate danger? Yuma's brows furrowed as he thought. It wasn't even danger. His impending death wasn't going to bring any harm to Border. Maybe all his friends would be upset at his passing, but they wouldn't be in danger. Nor was the situation impending. A month wasn't a long time, but it also wasn't a short amount of time. He did need to tell Osamu what Jin said, but it wasn't a topic he wanted to breach right now.
"There is no immediate harm." Yuma said. It was the truth, wasn't it? There were still four weeks to go.
Osamu looked dubious, but thankfully dropped the topic.
That was good. Yuma didn't want to distract his captain from the B-Rank Wars. It looked like this was Yuma's last B-Rank Wars. He wanted his team to reach A-Rank before he died, but based on Jin's prediction, Yuma wasn't going to make it to the end of the B-Rank Wars. If he wasn't going to get to the end, then Yuma needed to get his team as many points as possible.
As many as possible before he...died...
Yuma stared at his Black Trigger. The ring was the only reason he made it this far and got to have so much fun, but truly wished it could have lasted longer. He didn't even get to spend a full year with Border.
"It's twenty percent." Jin admitted.
Yuma scrunched his eyes shut. It wasn't high enough. Twenty percent wasn't enough for Yuma to want to take that chance. He didn't want to die in Galopoula.
"Have a good meeting, Rindo-san." Osamu said, bowing slightly to their boss.
"And you have fun with your training." Rindo said, smiling at his young agent as he stepped out of the elevator to head to the Tachikawa squad room. With Osamu gone, Rindo bit down on his cigarette and turned to his small agent. "Do you want to tell me what that was about in the car? You and Jin don't argue, Yuma."
Yuma stubbornly stared at the closed elevator doors. "No, sir, I do not."
"The last time you kept secrets while you and Jin were fighting, you almost died, Yuma." Rindo pointed out.
"I'm always dying." Yuma retaliated. "So, it's not like it was new."
"Hmm, can I wager a guess then?" Rindo asked. He quickly pressed the elevator door close button to prevent the doors from opening as they had reached Yuma's floor.
Yuma sighed. "It's not like you're giving me a choice, Boss."
Rindo smiled sadly. "Jin told me that Galopoula could save your life, but it had a very high chance of failing and killing you immediately."
Yuma eyed Rindo out of the corner of his eyes. He wasn't surprised that Rindo knew that much. There was no way Jin could be making deals with Galopoula without Rindo's permission. "And?"
"On its own, I can't see why that would make you argue with him so perhaps there was something that Jin left out when he was discussing his plan of sending you to Galopoula." Rindo explained.
Yuma bristled in annoyance at the thought of Jin already making plans for Yuma. The annoyance didn't last long though. There was no reason to be mad at Jin. He was just trying to save his friend's life. Yuma had no right to be mad at him for that. If Yuma was in Jin's position, he would want to save his friend as well. The thing was, no one else was in Yuma's position. They didn't understand what it was like for him.
But, wasn't that on Yuma? He talked of what happened to him, but he never properly opened up about what he was feeling now. He preferred to act like that problem didn't exist because he wanted to enjoy life and just how much fun he was having right now. Talking about his impending death was a painful conversation for him and for the one he was talking to because it was a reminder.
"Yuma?" Rindo prompted.
"I just want to have fun." Yuma admitted so softly that Rindo had to strain to hear him.
"No one is saying you can't." Rindo said confused.
Yuma gritted his teeth, looking down at the floor. All he wanted to do was play. Play as much as he could in the month he had left. If he went to Galopoula, there would be no playing. He would get thrown into an operation and most likely die on the operation table. All the fun would be gone in an instant.
"Jin-san said I only have a month left, Boss." Yuma practically whispered because he truly didn't want Rindo to know. He didn't want it to be out in the open right now because he still needed to come to terms with himself. He just needed a few days before he told Osamu.
Rindo's hand fell from the elevator button in shock. Jin hadn't said anything about how little time was actually left. He just wanted Rindo's help with talking with Galopoula about requesting their help to get Yuma back to his real body.
Since his hand fell from the button to keep the doors closed, the elevator doors opened and Yuma didn't hesitate to take the chance to escaped the confines of the elevator. Rindo simply watched Yuma run down the hall to the solo rank booths as the doors closed back in his face and continued upwards to his own floor. He could have easily chased after Yuma, but right now, that would achieve nothing. Yuma clearly wasn't ready to speak about what Jin told him. On top of that, the fact that Jin wasn't pushing Yuma more to go to Galopoula told Rindo that Jin likely didn't want to push Yuma. Considering it was Jin though, Rindo doubt he was sitting back and doing nothing. He wasn't as opened about it as Konami, but Jin was protective of his friends.
For now, Rindo had his own job to do.
*L*S*A*
Osamu smiled as he stepped into the Tachikawa Squad room. When he first came here, he had been nervous about being in the No. 1 A-Rank team's room. He had felt so out of place back then, but that feeling had vanished a long time ago. It helped that he came here so often to train with Yuiga.
"You sure took your sweet time getting here, Mikumo-kun!" Yuiga said by way of greeting. "An elite like myself doesn't have to be waiting–"
Izumi suddenly appeared behind Yuiga and started pulling at his cheek to get him to shut up. "Shut up, Yuiga. Four-eyes here is my guest. You're not late, Four-eyes. Ignore him."
"No, it's okay. I'm used to how Yuiga acts." Osamu replied.
"Izumi-senpai!" Yuiga whined, tugging at Izumi's hand on his face.
Osamu ignored the usual roughhousing from the two and stepped farther into the room. He spotted Kunichika in her usual corner, playing video games. "Good morning, Kunichika-san. No Tachikawa-san to play with you today?"
Kunichika glanced briefly at him to give him a smile before looking back at her game before she could get killed. "He was here, but he left a bit ago. He said he had something to take care of." She explained.
"Does he? The top agents always seem so busy with something." Osamu said.
"Of course we are." Yuiga butted in as he escaped Izumi's cruelty. "We're elites. Someone is always vying for our attention. You should be honored we spare our free time to train you."
Izumi slammed a fist on top of his head. "You're here as cannon fodder. You're not a trainer." He flung his teammate to the other side of the training room.
Osamu stared at the downed Yuiga for a second before turning his full attention to Izumi. Good thing Yuiga was always in his trion body while inside the base. Though, perhaps he did that because Izumi beat him up so much.
"Well, Four-eyes, let's see how much you have improved during our time in the Neighborhood." Izumi said, pointing down at the downed Yuiga. "Fight him and get," He paused and thought about it. "Let's say, six wins our ten. If you can win a ten round bout against him, I can start showing you even more advanced shooting techniques."
"Understood, Izumi-senpai."
*L*S*A*
Who should his first opponent be? Yuma stopped at the entrance of the solo rank room, eyes scanning over the crowd of trainees and agents. He didn't want to fight any trainees. That wouldn't be much fun and it wouldn't be enough to distract him. He wanted to just have solo rank wars and have that be the only thing on his mind to get him to forget what Jin said last night, if only momentarily. For that to happen, he needed a strong opponent.
Shun could work.
So could Yoneya.
Murakami?
Kageura?
Was Ikoma here? He told Osamu he would try to fight him if he saw him.
Or maybe Kazama? Yuma had still yet to fight against him. Kazama was being so stingy about giving him an actual fight.
Arafune could be fun. It would give Yuma a chance to see if Arafune got his edge as an attacker back.
Maybe Kumagai? She wasn't at the level of Murakami or Kageura, but she was strong and was getting better. It might be fun to fight her. Ever since their Rank War last season, Yuma knew she was practicing with having a shooter Trigger in her set. It could be a challenge. Most of the Attackers Yuma trained with didn't have shooter Triggers since they just wanted to focus on the sword.
So many options.
Yuma's attention landed on a hand waving in the air to get him to look at them. He smiled and jogged over to Shun who was hanging out with Murakami, Kageura, Suwa, and Tokieda. What a strange group.
"Hey there, Shrimp." Suwa greeted as Yuma came to a stop by the couches.
"Don't usually see you in here, Suwa-san." Yuma greeted cheerfully.
Suwa shrugged, motioning to the booths. "Hisato is training and I'm scoping out the competition."
"Hmm?" Yuma smirked. "Oh? Who is your team matched up against in the rank wars?"
"Suzunari First and Arafune squad." Suwa said, making no effort to hide the disdain in his voice. "Why do I have to deal with the damn snipers for the first round?"
"At least you get to pick the map." Tokieda replied. "And you can take control so you don't get stuck with the lower rank squad manipulating you into fighting alongside them."
Suwa's teeth snapped down at the reminder of his first match with Tamakoma-2. He glared over at Yuma as if that was his fault.
"You have to take that up with Osamu." Yuma said easily, holding his hands up in surrender.
"I'm so glad your team is in top tier so I don't have to deal with your shitty strategies again." Suwa grumbled.
Yuma laughed. "You should make it to the top tier so we can fight again."
"No way in hell, shrimp. Stay the hell away from my squad." Suwa retorted.
Shun snickered. "But I want to see that rematch. Tamakoma-2, Arafune squad, and Suwa squad."
"It would be a grudge match of the century." Murakami said amused.
"The rule should always be to target Tamakoma from the start and kill them and once they are gone, we can have a proper match without any of their tricks." Suwa ranted. He whipped around to stare at Yuma. "Who are you fighting first round?"
"Ikoma squad and Kageura squad."
Suwa twisted his head towards Kageura while pointing at Yuma. "Kill him first."
"That is always my plan." Kageura grumbled.
"You're so mean, Suwa-san."
"Says the White Nightmare from Tamakoma." Suwa retorted. "You have a reputation, you know."
Yuma blinked. "Is it a better reputation than what Kage-senpai has?"
Suwa opened his mouth and then closed it as he thought that over, ignoring Kageura's sudden shout of rage towards Yuma. He looked towards Tokieda for help. "Is it?"
Tokieda hummed thoughtfully, looking Yuma up and down. "Well, he doesn't look as scary as Kageura-san."
"You want to go, Tokieda?" Kageura shouted.
"But, appearances are deceiving." Tokieda ignored Kageura.
"Ever think that he is as bad as me?" Kageura demanded.
"He never lost points for bad behavior." Murakami pointed out.
"So? I'm talking about how evil he is in a fight!"
"Chibi!" Tachikawa suddenly appeared behind Yuma, swinging an around Yuma's neck, cutting off the conversation. "Just the person I was looking for."
"Oh?" Yuma said interested. "You want a match?"
"As much fun as that sounds, I actually had something else in mind." Tachikawa replied before he started dragging Yuma away. He looked over at Murakami as he walked away. "We should train later, Ko! Come on, Kuga. We have places to be."
Shun watched, blinking as Yuma and Tachikawa got farther away as they headed to the door to leave the solo rank booths room. "It's not like Yuma-senpai can refuse while Tachikawa-san has him in a stranglehold."
"That damn Tachikawa-san." Kageura snarled. "I was going to drag Kuga into a fight for the insults."
*L*S*A*
"What are we doing?" Yuma asked as he struggled to get out of Tachikawa's hold.
"We're going to watch something." Tachikawa replied. He released his hold on Yuma's neck to let the kid walk next to him, though his hand hovered over Yuma's jacket to grab it in case Yuma tried to turn back around and held back to the solo rank booths. When it seemed Yuma wasn't going to turn back and just walk alongside him, Tachikawa let his hand drop to his side.
"Watch something?" Yuma repeated. "I came here to train, Tachikawa-san. I don't want to watch a movie."
"It's not a movie." Tachikawa dragged him into the elevator and hit the floor he wanted.
Yuma rubbed his head and turned to stare out the window of the elevator at the Restricted Zone that surrounded them. He had four weeks until his time ran out. He wanted to fill all of this time with as much fun as possible. Getting dragged around by Tachikawa wasn't what he could consider fun, but it would probably be interesting. Tachikawa wasn't the type of person to do something for no reason.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Tachikawa watched the small teenager. He wondered if Yuma realized how down he looked right now. It had Tachikawa wondering if it was his fault. Yuma had looked plenty happy when he was Murakami and the others as he laughed and joke with them. Now that Tachikawa dragged him away, he got all depressed. That was kind of offensive. Did Chibi find him so aggravating that he got upset when he was around?
It didn't take them long to reach the floor they were after.
"This way, Kuga." Tachikawa dragged Yuma's attention off the window to get him to follow him out of the elevator.
At this point, Yuma was at the mercy of Tachikawa. He thought he was getting used to the hallways of Border HQ, but having been gone for a long time for the away mission, he had forgotten the layout. He needed Tachikawa to guide him now. His friends must not found out about this. His lack of direction in HQ after being an agent for months would only get him teased again.
Tachikawa led them down one hall then around a corner and then down another hall before he stopped in front of a door. He walked in, slamming the door open so it slammed into the wall very dramatically. "I'm coming in!"
Yuma peaked in, staring at the poor wall that was abused by the door and Tachikawa. "Aren't you supposed to knock before entering?"
"Tachikawa-san!" Taketomi pushed her hands onto her desk. "Barging in again? If you want something, you know you have to pay me with something!"
"Not this time!" Tachikawa grabbed her by her jacket and tossed her out of the room and then slammed the door shut, flipping the lock shut.
Yuma blinked, looking from the door, which Taketomi slammed her fist into angrily and then at Tachikawa who just had a smug look on his face. He blinked a few more times. He needed to change his assessment of what it meant to hang out with Tachikawa. The No. 1 Attacker was more insane than he originally realized. Yuma loved insane people. They were so fun to hang out with.
Still though...
"Don't you think that was kind of rude?" Yuma asked. Though, maybe he wasn't the best person to say that to someone. He had been told his blunt nature could be pretty rude sometimes.
His voice seemed to remind Tachikawa that he was here because he was suddenly grabbed by the arm and shoved into Taketomi's desk chair. Tachikawa pointed a finger in his face. "Don't move from that seat."
Yuma watched as Tachikawa then turned to the shelves and began to rifle through them as he looked for something.
"Um," Yuma watched him for a moment before he slid his phone out of his pocket.
Attacker Group Chat:
Kuga: I feel like I got kidnapped
Kageura: Say the word and I'll come cave Tachikawa-san's head in
Midorikawa: Where did he drag you off to anyway?
Yoneya: Am I missing something fun?
Yuma paused and looked up at Tachikawa.
"How does he expect me to find anything in this damn mess? Taketomi doesn't have this in good order. You would think she would have some type organizational system, but no." Tachikawa grumbled under his breath.
Kuga: I think Tachikawa-san has gone insane
Murakami: You know he will see these messages the next time he opens this chat, right?
Kuga: What's he going to do? He already kidnapped me.
Kageura: If you didn't want kidnapped, you should have punched him in the gut
Murakami: It's that kind of attitude that got you demoted, Kage. You can't just punch people.
Ikoma: Are we all forgetting Kuga kicked me across the room a few months ago and he never got in trouble for that?
Midorikawa: Are you still holding a grudge over that?
Ikoma: HALFWAY ACROSS THE ROOM, Midorikawa!
Midorikawa: Huh...
Midorikawa: Anyway, Yuma-senpai, where did you go?
Kuga: Taketomi's room. Tachikawa-san is looking for something.
Ikoma: Are you ignoring me now?!
Murakami: The only things in there are logs from past rank wars.
Yoneya: Why would he want to show you one of the logs?
Kuga: Don't know. He also threw Taketomi out of the room and locked the door. Does this spell dangerous to anyone else?
Kageura: I can be there in five minutes and kick the door down
Murakami: Kage, no. Kuga, you'll be fine. Just entertain Tachikawa-san for a few minutes and then he'll get bored and you'll be free of the room
Jin: Yuma, tell Tachikawa-san to look on the second shelf on the left to find what he is looking for
Kuga: Okay
Yuma relayed the message to Tachikawa, who just glared at Yuma's phone before doing what Jin said.
"He couldn't have told me that earlier." Tachikawa grumbled under his breath as he ruffled through the multiple discs.
Kuga: If I managed to escape this room, does someone want to have a rank war with me?
Kageura: Yes
Murakami: Sure
Midorikawa: Me first, Yuma-senpai!
Yoneya: Sounds fun, but I have defense duty
Ikoma: If I wasn't busy, I would get my revenge for that kick, Kuga.
Arafune: It was months ago. Let it go
Midorikawa: Can you speak when you won't leave Yuma-senpai alone about learning how to properly use our currency?
Arafune: That is a life lesson he needs. It valuable. Nothing good comes of revenge
Murakami: Are you saying you wouldn't go for Kuga's head if your team got matched up against him in the B-Rank wars?
Arafune: That and this are two different things
"Found it!"
A case was slammed onto the desk by the keyboard, pulling Yuma's attention away from his phone.
"You could have saved time by asking Taketomi to get you what you needed." Yuma said as he slipped his phone in his pocket.
Tachikawa scoffed. "And then I would have to give her something. She would probably drag me into doing commentary again."
"So, you're just going to do whatever you want." Yuma glanced over his shoulder when he heard a kick against the door. Was that Taketomi or did Kageura make do on his promise to come up here? No, it couldn't be Kageura. There would be more yelling and the kicking would be a lot more violent.
Tachikawa snatched the headphones off the desk and shoved them on Yuma's head.
Yuma quickly grabbed the headphones before they could fall off and adjusted them so they would actually stay on. "Is there a point to this?"
"Jin wanted me to show you something." Tachikawa replied as he got to work inserting the disc in the computer to load it up.
"Jin-san?" Yuma repeated, lips twitching into a frown. If it was Jin, then that meant it had to do with their conversation last night. Yuma knew his friend wasn't going to just let this go, but he didn't think he would drag Tachikawa into it. "And you're doing it?"
"He promised me a thirty round rank war." Tachikawa explained.
"Of course he did." Yuma said. Because that was how many agents operated. If they wanted something done, they promised rank wars with themselves or to get them a rank war with someone they desperately wanted to fight.
Tachikawa didn't reply on he loaded up the video of the match. He didn't want the whole fight. Jin said he just wanted Yuma to see a certain part of the match.
"—techniques pretty well at the right moment but is still unseasoned." Tachikawa's voice sounded through the headphones in the middle of his sentence. Though his voice was heard, the stand off between Yuma and Murakami on the bank of the river was on the computer monitor. "He can't match the focused Ko like that. His sword is filled with all of his past fighting experiences against tough enemies. I bet you see Ko winning, don't you?"
"Well, the odds surely are against Yuma." Jin agreed. "I'd say it's 80-20, but the future isn't determined yet. I'll bet on Yuma's victory."
Yuma activated his Scorpion.
"His sword is definitely filled, too." Jin said. "With the loads of things that he went through himself.
Yuma watched as his past self fought against Murakami. He wasn't sure what the point of this was. He fought Murakami. He knew how this fight ended. And once he watched himself kill Murakami in the river, Tachikawa paused the video and pushed the headphones off of his head so they fell down to hand around his neck.
"I'm not sure what Jin wanted." Tachikawa said. "But he said you needed to hear us talk about your fight with Ko."
It wasn't the fight Jin wanted him to see. It was Jin and Tachikawa talking?
"I'd say it's 80-20." Jin's voice repeated in Yuma's head.
Was Jin really serious about this right now?