Light Shines Anew
Chapter 9: Mutual Understanding
Snipers were at the most disadvantageous when their position was known and they got closed in on. The problem was that the inside of the Exhibition Hall was huge and full of big, open areas. Even with Shiori's help to track where Ema's shot came from precisely, he had likely already moved.
Osamu couldn't move carelessly. That would be how he got shot, but he couldn't stay hidden behind this wall forever.
First thing first, Osamu activated his bagworm. He couldn't risk Ema shooting him just based on radar. He was a very skilled sniper and had only gotten better in the last few months. While shooting through walls and windows wasn't something snipers liked to do since it threw their shots off, it was something they could do if there wasn't another choice.
And if Ema really wanted to kill him, Osamu had the feeling the sniper would attempt to shoot him through a wall.
"Based on the trajectory, Ema-kun's shot came from three floors above you, Osamu-kun." Shiori said. "He likely moved already."
"He was probably sent to distract us." Osamu replied as he made his way down an adjacent hall since he couldn't go back on his original path with Ema hiding out and waiting for him to pop his head out. As he moved, he laid wires down on the lower portions of the walls. It would be nice to trip anyone up if they tried to follow him. "Him and Kitazoe-san. They want to stop us from helping Kuga."
Ikoma squad had played them.
An open area that was dangerous to roam in and a snow storm. It was to force them inside with them all thinking it would be an inside battle. That was the trick though. It caused Tamakoma and Kageura squad to come into contact to keep each other busy while Ikoma went after Yuma.
Yuma was the lynchpin for a majority of Osamu's plans. They added Hyuse to the team to cover for the areas that Yuma couldn't get to. By having two aces, Osamu had more options. To counter that, Ikoma squad was forcing Kageura squad and Tamakoma-2 into a deadlock while they cornered Yuma. Once they got rid of Yuma, they would be coming for the rest of them.
"Is all of Ikoma squad focused on Kuga?" Osamu asked.
"They were at the start, but Oki-san and Minamisawa-kun have activated their bagworms so I can't say for sure if they are still focused on Yuma-kun." Shiori replied. "So, you should be cautious of them possibly roaming the building."
"Right. Chika, did you find a room?" Osamu asked.
"On the fifth floor." Chika replied. "Seems to be an office."
Fifth floor.
That was three floors above Osamu.
Which was where Shiori predicted Ema's shot to come from.
Damn, how did they end up on the same floor?
"I'm coming up." Osamu decided. "Hyuse, either kill Kitazoe-san or join us on the fifth floor when you get in."
"Right."
Being separated was making this harder. He needed to gather as many of his members as possible. They had a better chance if they weren't all spread around being marked as they were.
*L*S*A*
The Meteors died down. There was no bail out sign so Hyuse knew his attack hadn't killed Zoe. He wasn't even sure if it hit him, but it did push Zoe back from blasting his Meteors out the window and allowed Hyuse to move again.
There was still too much open area to cover though. He doubted he could make it up the stairs and to the door of the building before Zoe recovered and started attacking again, especially with all the snow that was piling up to slow him down.
Hyuse looked at the debris lining the stairs from Zoe's Meteors. His attention followed the line of destruction to a bridge nearby that was connected to the building. It could get him out of the snow and inside a lot faster. It wouldn't do if the bridge was attacked by Zoe though so Hyuse activated his bagworm before he touched the ground to create an Escudo under him to use it as a launch pad that sent him flying towards the bridge. It was lucky that Zoe's Meteor ripped through it to give him an entrance.
Hyuse landed neatly inside and began to make his way across the bridge.
*L*S*A*
Yuma was getting farther and farther from the building. He couldn't keep dodging backwards, but approaching Ikoma or Kageura wasn't easy since they would send Mantis or Senku his way. The snow wasn't helping matters. It was getting deeper so it was slowing down his opponents, but it was worse for Yuma with his shorter legs. He couldn't even escape to the air like he wanted because Oki was likely waiting to snipe him once he made himself a better target.
Dodging wasn't going to change his situation though.
Yuma's Scorpion formed in his hand so he could block Kageura's Mantis from impaling him. Between him and Ikoma and Mizukami, he was given no time. He could not believe this had become two versus one. When did they decide to team up to kill him?
Yuma blinked and when his eyes opened, he saw a flash of Trion heading his way. The headache that he shouldn't have was back at full force with the pressure building up in his eyes becoming blindly.
"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."
What was this?
Yuma jumped back to escape whatever was coming after him. Why was his vision blurry?
He hadn't felt anything off before today. Sure, he felt a bit off before the match, but he assumed it was just the stress of everything from the past few days.
Did he get hit by an attack and didn't know it?
That couldn't be it. His eyes wouldn't be hurting like this if he simply got hit.
Yuma brought a hand up to one of his eyes to cover it. He always assumed he would feel something, anything, when his body was close to dying. When Jin said he had a month left, he was surprised because he felt the same as he always did. So, he had assumed maybe he was wrong and he wouldn't feel anything off as his death was approaching.
Or maybe a couple days ago wasn't close enough for Yuma to feel anything weird and he was finally hitting that time frame where everything was going to start feeling wrong.
Even if that was the case, he was using his Border Trigger right now. Why was the pain seeping through this far?
*L*S*A*
Red was flashing in front of her eyes. Warnings were popping up all over her screen of Yuma's vitals. Warnings were normal when the agents were in combat and they had gotten hit or the enemy's Triggers or Trion Soldiers were causing a weird effect.
Getting warnings in those situations, while stressful, were completely normal. However, in this current moment, Yuma was in a Rank War. The opponents didn't have any weird Triggers and they certainly hadn't managed to injure Yuma yet despite their best efforts.
"Yuma-kun, something's wrong." Shiori called to her teammate, but she got no reply which caused her to worry even more. If she was getting this many warnings then that meant that Yuma wasn't replying because he was already aware of the problems because they were hitting him.
Shiori's hands stayed frozen over her keyboard. What could she do? What should she do? Was this the final moment? Was Yuma's real body at its limit?
*L*S*A*
"Kuga?"
Yuma blinked, trying to get the blurriness out of his vision. He had to focus. He was in the middle of a rank war.
There was noise buzzing in his ear.
There were people standing in front of him.
They were all blurry and swaying where they stood.
Kageura stared at his friend. At the confused expression on Yuma's face. He knew how Tamakoma operated. They played tricks. He knew Yuma had a love for psychological warfare. He liked to get his enemies to drop their guard and that would be when he would move in for the kill. This confused expression could just be a trick to get them to drop their guard so he could strike and get out of this pincer attack.
However...
There was a bigger part of Kageura that didn't believe Yuma would pull this kind of trick right now. It wasn't how he normally operated in the B-Rank Wars though Kuga only had one B-Rank War season that Kageura could judge from. Yuma used psychological warfare, but he much preferred being an aggressive attacker and closing in on his targets by jumping around the field.
"Is this one of your tricks?" Ikoma demanded.
"Yuma-kun?" Shiori's voice sounded concerned in his ears, trying to break through the static buzzing in his head. "What's wrong? Your vitals are fluctuating. Your Trion is depleting at a rapid pace and your breathing is off."
Was it?
His mind didn't seem to want to think properly.
"Oi! Kuga!" Kageura snapped, trying to get his friend's attention.
Yuma stumbled back a step.
It hurt.
The pressure in his eye was pain.
SNAP!
Yuma winced as his eye ripped to shreds and disappeared. He could feel the Trion spilling out. He could feel the crack spreading down his face.
Kageura's eyes narrowed in concern as he watched the Trion being caught in the wind and pulling away from Yuma.
The hell?
Screw this. Kageura glanced at Ikoma and Mizukami who just looked surprised at the Trion spilling out from behind Yuma's hand as he hid half of his face.
"Kuga!" Kageura ran over to his friend. "What's wrong?" This wasn't right. This wasn't right. Yuma had been upset and argumentative for the past couple of days, but he had been perfectly fine.
His eye.
Yuma's eye was the first thing he lost to the assassin. His eye had been gouged out by those vicious claws. Why was that coming back now?
Jin said a month.
It had been three days.
*L*S*A*
Kazama covered his mic. "Get off Kuga." He hissed to Kunichika. It would be one thing if it was just official agents watching the fight. Most of the official agents know about Yuma's health issues. However, there were C-Ranks here and this was none of their business. Kazama, himself, didn't know what was going on here or how it was affecting Yuma in a Rank War, but he didn't need to know to know that something was really wrong and that they shouldn't be showing this to people who didn't know of his health issues.
Arashiyama stared at the screen in horror. This wasn't Yuma pulling a trick. They were all aware of how Yuma's body could break. They saw it a few months ago. Though, it didn't happen when he was using his Border Trigger. It was his non-combat Trion body back then.
"Is there a surgery you can have that will save you, Yuma?" Arashiyama asked.
"Yeah," Yuma replied. "But it's in the Neighborhood."
Arashiyama wondered why that sounded like a deal breaker for Yuma. He was originally from the Neighborhood so going there for a surgery shouldn't bother him. "And you don't want to do it?"
Yuma shook his head. "Not really, but Jin-san and the few who know of the operation, want me to do it."
Yuma had clearly been bothered by something yesterday. Jin had told Yuma of a surgery and some of Yuma's friends had been pushing him about it. Arashiyama knew that Yuma was dying. Most of the agents knew about that fact. What they didn't know of was when Yuma would die. He should have realized something was going on with how depressed Yuma had been and the fact that Jin was pushing Yuma for a surgery.
Jin could see the future.
He was pushing Yuma for a reason.
Kunichika quickly did what Kazama ordered and shifted the cameras to focused on the agents inside the building. Arashiyama could hear the confused murmurs from the C-Ranks, but they could remain confused. The official agents in the room who were in the know of Yuma's condition were tense and uncomfortable, but forcing themselves to remain as normal as possible. Despite that, Arashiyama bet they were all thinking the same thing and that was if Yuma was about to die here.
Arashiyama kept his eyes locked forward on the screen, staring the feeds that focused on all the other agents who had come to a pause. Kunichika got them off the group that was outside, but the agents inside had stopped attacking and hunting each other down. He would guess their operators all warned them of there being a problem.
Arashiyama's hands curled into fists, feeling frustrated at himself that he could only sit here and try to work with Kazama and Kunichika to cover the fact that there was clearly an emergency going on.
*L*S*A*
Murakami had snapped to his feet the moment he saw the fight come to pause. Kageura would never stop fighting in the middle of a battle unless something was seriously wrong and based on Kuga's expression and how he was swaying, Murakami could tell there was a serious issue.
"If there was a problem, would it affect Kuga while he is using his Border Trigger?" Arafune asked surprised, tensed up in his seat. It sucked that Kunichika had switched to the agents inside the building, but he understood why. The C-Ranks didn't need to see what was going on with Yuma. None of them were privy to that information, but the official agents knew Yuma wasn't well and when he was acting weird, they would get concerned.
"You wouldn't think it would, but with Kuga's real body being as injured as it is and heading towards death, maybe his Border Trigger can't maintain itself." Murakami replied. He wasn't an expert on Trion bodies and Triggers. The real experts were the engineers. He was just a Border combatant, but based on the knowledge he did have, he could make some guesses.
"You guys were arguing with Kuga earlier about him not wanting to get his real body back. Is there more going on that you guys didn't mention?" Arafune asked.
Murakami shook his head. "No, that was really all we talked about. However, Kuga had been acting weird before we argued about that. He was really distracted and depressed. We thought Tachikawa-san had said something to upset him."
"Kuga doesn't let things get to him." Arafune pointed out.
"True, and he defended Tachikawa-san by saying it wasn't him." Murakami agreed. "Something is wrong though. He has been acting distant since that argument and hasn't been answering his phone." Granted, Murakami and Kageura hadn't been making too much effort beyond a few texts in the past couple of days, but those were all ignored. On top of that, Yuma hadn't been active at all in the Attackers Group Chat.
Murakami's hands curled into fists on the table. This had to be because of Yuma's body. Was he dying? Well, yes, he was, but was this the time? Was he at his limit and he knew and that was the reason he had been so depressed lately? Should Murakami had pushed Yuma more for answers? Should he have addressed the issue and his concerns with Tamakoma?
None of them talked about Yuma's dying body out of respect for the fact that Yuma didn't like to talk about it and he was upset they all knew about it.
Was that a mistake?
*L*S*A*
Yuma's knees hit the ground before Kageura could reach him. That was as far as his collapse got as Kageura had reached him and caught him before he could faceplant the snow.
"Kuga!" Kageura shouted, staring down at his friend who was lying half in the snow and half on Kageura's lap. With his head turned on his lap, Yuma's empty eye was looking up at him. Though, with how blank Yuma's eye looked and that his chest was barely moving, Kageura doubted his friend was looking at him and it was more along the lines of he was just staring in the direction that his head was turned.
"Move." Mizukami was suddenly at Kageura's side. He pushed Kageura's arms away so he could turn Yuma over onto his back and laid him down on the snow. As he did so, he got Yuma's hand away from his face so he could see the hole that was supposed to be his left eye and the cracks spreading above and below his eye. The Trion was freely spilling out of his eye socket while Yuma's other eye was out of focus and struggling to stay open. Mizukami doubted Yuma could even hear them right now.
This wasn't one of Tamakoma's tricky plays. This was Yuma's body shutting down.
"We need to bail him out now." Mizukami decided.
"Is it safe to kill him?" Ikoma asked, hand hesitating on his Kogetsu that he had sheathed earlier when Yuma starting to behave strangely. He had wanted a fun fight with Yuma to make up for that kick he received from the kid months ago. Not that he was mad about the kick. He just used it to tease Yuma about. Yuma had better control of his actions then to just hit someone like he did back then. The fact that he kicked Ikoma back then spoke of his distractions and him being on edge. It was fun to tease Yuma about the whole thing.
Mizukami hesitated at his captain's question. Yuma's situation was so unique that none of them truly knew how to handle it when something went wrong. If they forced him into bailing out, would he still be in his non-combat Trion body when he went back to his team's room? Or was his non-combat Trion body breaking underneath this Trion body?
CRACK!
Mizukami's attention snapped back to Yuma to see the cracks spidering down to his neck. He stared at that young face, at that single eye that didn't seem to see them but was flickering off to the side, seemingly seeing something else. Mizukami followed Yuma's stare, but only saw the snow piling up around them.
"Oya–"
"Oya?" Ikoma asked confused, trying to understand the words Yuma was struggling to get out.
"Hey, Kuga!" Kageura wanted to smack some sense into his friend to get him to focus on them, but he didn't dare touch his friend's already fragile body.
"Mario!" Mizukami called suddenly. "Can you get into contact with anyone from Tamakoma?"
"From Tamakoma-2 or from the branch?" Maori asked.
During the B-Rank Wars, the only people they were supposed to contact were those from their team. They couldn't contact the teams they were fighting or even those outside of the battlefield, but this was an emergency. He was sure no one would care about the rules right now.
"You okay with this, Iko-san?" Mizukami asked. "We are breaking the rules."
"The best person to ask would be Jin." Ikoma said by way of answering. "I doubt anyone has the answers about Kuga's body, but we can at least know if it's safe for him to bail out."
"If you can't get into contact with comms, try his phone." Mizukami suggested.
"On it."
*L*S*A*
"Kai, Oki, remain on standby for the moment." Maori requested.
Oki stood up from his crouched position and deactivated his Lightning. "No need to ask that of us, Mario. I'm not going to shoot a nonresponsive child."
"This has taken a drastic turn." Kai said, scrunching his eyes as he tried to see his team and Kageura and Yuma in the distance. It was hard to make out from this distance, especially with all the snow. "Do you think Kuga-chan will be okay?"
"Not likely." Oki replied. He wasn't trying to be cold or mean. They all knew Yuma was dying and the fact that he was collapsing like this while in a Trion body was not a good sign. It meant something was wrong with his real body. This wasn't going to be an easy or simple fix.
*L*S*A*
"Jin-san."
"Ah, Maori-chan." Jin greeted, though there was a distinct lack of cheer in his voice that was normally there when he was talking to girls. He was busy quickly marching down the halls of HQ.
"You're not surprised I called." Maori said.
"Nope."
"If you knew something was wrong, you should have pulled him out." Maori scolded.
Jin chuckled, but it was a sour laugh. "Yuma is stubborn. It's not easy to get him to do something he doesn't want." It was a wakeup call for Yuma. It was cruel, but he needed Yuma to realize how difficult things were about to get. Though, honestly, the future of Yuma actually collapsing in the match had been so low when he first saw it. Something had caused this future's possibility to rise immensely.
"Well, you're pushing it onto us now. Can we bail Kuga out safely?" Maori asked.
"Yes, please do." Jin replied. "And send my apologies to your squad for this?"
"Will do."
The line cut off there. Jin winced. He was going to have to find a way to repay Kageura squad and Ikoma squad for this. He knew that none of them were going to be happy with how this match would end. He truly just wanted them to all have fun, but this round was going to be a complete mess for all of them.
*L*S*A*
"You do it." Ikoma told Kageura once Maori sent them confirmation from Jin that Yuma would be fine if they killed him.
"Huh? Why me?" Kageura demanded.
"I'm not killing the collapsed child." Ikoma said, nodding towards Yuma who was still staring off to the side at something with his half-opened eye. "It would be bad for my image. You already got a bad reputation."
"Seriously? This right now?" Mizukami asked in disbelief, hands hovering over Yuma as he didn't want to touch Yuma who looked like he would break from a simple touch. At this point, that was what they wanted, but he didn't want to cause Yuma any actually pain and when he started to act off a couple minutes ago, his expression had scrunched up into one of pain.
Ikoma huffed. "I don't want to score a point by having to off a suffering child. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth."
"And you think I want to do it?" Kageura snapped. It was one thing to defeat an opponent in the rank wars. It was a totally another thing to kill someone who wasn't fighting back and get a damn point from it. Ikoma was right about it leaving a sour feeling in them. This was not how he wanted to beat Yuma in a fight. This was not going to be a win for his bet with Yuma.
Mizukami rolled his eyes. He understood the frustration the two were feeling, but they didn't have time for this. "Hey, Kuga, don't know if you can hear me." He planted a hand above Yuma's chest. "But, sorry about this. Asteroid." His bullets appeared below his hand, smaller than what he would usually use. With an opponent that couldn't dodge and being this close, he could hit Yuma's Trion relay center directly and bail him out so he didn't need a lot of bullets.
The bullets slammed into Yuma's chest. His limp body flinched at the impact, but it didn't last long as he was forced into bail out a second later.
Ikoma watched the bail out, tracing it with his eyes. "I don't want that point. Think we can get it removed?"
Mizukami stood up, brushing his hand against his pants. That felt so wrong. He hated it.
*L*S*A*
Osamu stared at the bail out that was happening, teeth gritted in frustration. He didn't care about the match or that he lost a teammate. He was just so frustrated about what had happened. Shiori had called him frantically about what was going on. He was quite aware of how quiet it was in the building. It had already been quiet because everyone had been sneaking around, but he knew Ikoma squad and Tamakoma-2 had stopped moving as they waited to see what happened with Yuma. There was this feeling in Osamu that Kageura squad had paused too. He wouldn't be surprised if Kageura or Hikari had ordered Zoe and Ema to wait for a moment while they dealt with this.
Osamu's hand curled into a fist and slammed into the wall by him. They had found out that Yuma was close to death, but he hadn't expected his friend to just collapse in the middle of the match.
What the hell was this?
"Usami-senpai?" Osamu called.
*L*S*A*
The moment that Yuma's Trion relay center had been pierced, Shiori was flinging herself out of her chair and rushing over to the bail out room. She had just reached it when Yuma slammed into his tatami mat.
"Yuma-kun!" Shiori shouted as she ran over to her friend.
"Usami-senpai!"
Shiori heard Osamu call for her over her headset, but it would have to wait for a moment. "Yuma-kun!" Shiori called again as she shook Yuma's shoulders. His eyes weren't closed, but they were only half opened and didn't seem to see her at all. "Yuma-kun! Hey, can you hear me?"
What the hell?
What was this?
What was this?
Was he falling into a sleep mode again?
She rushed back to her desk. "Osamu-kun, Yuma-kun is unresponsive!" She called over her comms as she made her way back to her desk.
"What?"
The door to the room slid opened in that moment and took her attention away from Osamu's question.
"Jin-san." Shiori felt a wave of relief wash over here. Jin's face was anything but cheerful, but when he was here and acting, she knew they could rely on him. Even when he didn't say anything, Jin was always a reliable person. When he showed up, Shiori knew he was taking things seriously and that he would get everything figured out.
"Jin-san's there?" Osamu asked.
Jin hurried to the bail out room to find Yuma.
"He just arrived." Shiori stayed standing by her desk instead of sitting so she could lean forward to see into the bail out room. "He went to Yuma-kun."
Jin had arrived way too fast. That meant that he saw this happening with his side effect. Shiori's hand curled into a fist on the table.
"Hey, Yuma." Jin's voice came out to her. "I'm going to pick you up now."
It was sweet of Jin to tell Yuma that when Shiori was sure that he wasn't even aware of anything that was happening right now. She hadn't been able to get anything out of Yuma when she called out to him. He wouldn't blink for her or move his fingers. There was no movement from him. It was so unnerving and terrifying to see.
"Usami, connect to Kageura and Ikoma squads, please." Jin requested as he came out of the bail out room with Yuma in his arms.
Shiori's heart ached at the way that Yuma's head just fell limply on Jin's shoulders. "Right." It was against the rules, but she hardly cared at this point.
*L*S*A*
Kunichika saw the points change and she saw Yuma's image turn gray to indicate he had been killed. She wasn't sure how to deal with this though. She didn't want to bring attention to the fact that something had gone wrong, but they couldn't ignore the changes happening on the battlefield.
There wasn't anything she could do or say. All the agents in the match were currently just standing around in hiding. None of them were acting or looking for each other.
It was very likely that their operators all realized something was wrong and informed them. None of the agents were likely to take advantage of the situation when an emergency was occurring.
The longer this went on, the more the unease in the room was spreading.
"We apologize for the pause in action." Kunichika said. "Please just hold on for a moment." She covered her mic with her hand after that and turned to her fellow commentators. "How do we handle this?" They had never had an emergency during a rank war before. There was not a procedure for this. Good thing she had Mr. Public Relations with her.
Arashiyama covered his own mic. "Yuma's private business is his own. All we can do is be patient and cordial while this gets figured out. He was just bailed out so I'm sure something will start up again."
"I doubt Tamakoma will be able to properly focus after this." Kazama interjected. "Once the match starts up again, we just give commentary like normal. The C-Ranks can have as many questions as they like. We don't have to answer them beyond that there was an emergency." He stared at the timer for the match. This match likely would end in a stalemate with how much time was being wasted.
*L*S*A*
Jin shifted Yuma in his arms. "Sorry about this, guys." He said as Shiori had contacted Maori and Hikari and gotten their teams connected to Tamakoma's coms.
"Is Kuga okay?" Osamu asked.
"He'll be fine." Jin promised. Well, he would be fine from this, but there were other issues of concern, but they didn't need to think about that yet. "I want you guys to continue the match."
"Are you serious right now?" Kageura snapped.
Shiori leaned back in her chair, watching Jin silently as he stood next to her desk to talk with the agents. Most of her attention was drawn to Jin's hand. The hand that was wrapped under Yuma's back had attached itself to Yuma's hand. She could just make out the glow of Trion on both of their hands that indicated a Trion link connection. Seeing it made her breath hitched, but Jin didn't acknowledge it.
"Yes, look, I won't lie. Yuma is having some problems right now, but I would like to avoid a panic and drawing too much attention to it." Jin replied.
"If you wanted to avoid attention, you shouldn't have let him participate in the match." Mizukami argued.
"Yeah," Jin grimaced. "I'm not here to discuss that. Just continue the match. I'll get Yuma handled. Thanks for noticing something was wrong so fast and getting him out."
"Tsk," Kageura grumbled.
Jin knew they only realized the problem because of what Yuma went through back during the Mimic incident. Since they had learned so much about Yuma's condition back then, it helped them to recognize when there was a problem. It was true they didn't understand as much as Kinuta did about it since this was a difficult situation, but they knew enough to recognize the signs.
Jin nodded to Shiori. Getting the message, she disconnected from Kageura and Ikoma squad.
"Why do we need to continue the match?" Chika asked, worry and fear coating her voice.
"Trying to avoid the C-Ranks from realizing too much." Jin replied. "Plus, forfeiting the match will affect all of your rankings."
"I don't care about that right now." Osamu argued.
"I promise, Four-eyes, Yuma is going to wake up. He isn't going to be down for long and he's probably going to be embarrassed and frustrated by all of this." Jin replied. "When the match is over, come to Kinuta-san's lab."
Silence reigned over the comms.
"Don't let it distract you." Jin advised. "Something like this can happen to anyone while out in the field. If you let it distract you, it can get you killed. You need to learn to stay focused at all times and think clearly."
"Right." Osamu sounded defeated, but Jin knew that he would overcome this. Osamu had always known about Yuma's condition. He wasn't prepared for Yuma's death, but he wasn't ignoring Yuma's health issues either.
Jin nodded towards Shiori.
"Jin-san..."
"Sorry you guys went through this." Jin apologized.
"You're transferring your Trion to him. Is Yuma-kun's body breaking?" Shiori asked worriedly.
"No need to worry. His body and Black Trigger are fine." Jin promised.
"He's passed out in the match and came back unresponsive." Shiori retorted. "That does not sound fine to me. Osamu-kun told me about how he is running out of time."
Jin's grip tightened on Yuma's hand to help remind him of his friend in his arms. "I'm working on it, Usami."
Shiori knew that Jin saw the future and she knew that he was constantly working behind the scenes to alter the future to a path that was the best for them. Jin was not their enemy. Everything he did was to protect Border and the city. It was the reason why he was so well trusted amongst Border personnel.
Shiori settled back down in her seat, feeling defeat pull at her limbs. There was no reason to get upset right now. Jin had promised Yuma would be fine. She understood that he just meant right now though. This wasn't going to be over after this.
"Please, take care of Yuma-kun."
"You know I will."
*L*S*A*
"Are you joining us?" Karasuma asked Jin as he got ready to make another mug of tea for Jin.
"Ah, no," Jin said, raising a hand to stop Karasuma before he could get farther than pulling a mug out of the cabinet. "I actually need to go to HQ right now."
"That...that..." Konami screeched, grabbing at the tv to shake it violently. "JIN!"
"What happened to Yuma?" Yotaro demanded, tears pricking at his eyes. This felt too much like when Yuma almost died a few months ago. Yotaro didn't know too much of what happened since he was kept out of the loop, but he knew that something bad had happened to Yuma.
Karasuma shook his head.
"Just got into a fight with Kage-senpai."
Konami raised a brow. "Considering his disposition, it was only a matter of time before you two fought." She frowned. "Though, I don't think that would have you laying on a couch all depressed, Yuma. You don't let arguments get to you."
Yuma took a step back from his mentor and let himself collapsed back into the couch, leaning back into it to get comfortable. "I suppose...I just feel very mortal right now."
"Jin and Yuma!" Konami seethed. Jin had to have warned Yuma of something bad coming soon and that put Yuma in a depressed slump. It was right in front of her eyes, but she didn't see it. Or maybe, she didn't want to see it? None of them liked to acknowledge how injured Yuma was, but when he was upset, they did their best to comfort him and try to bring his smile back out.
They all should have realized just how serious this was sooner when Yuma stopped smiling.
"Konami-senpai, you're going to break the tv at this rate." Karasuma warned.
"I don't care about the tv!" Konami raged. Her Yuma was so much more important than a television. "Jin was right here and told us he was going to HQ because he was busy! He knew Yuma was going to collapse and didn't tell us! What is going on here?!"
The rage seemed to deplete out of her and she collapsed with her arms swung over the back of the tv. She didn't want to see this. She had already lost so many of friends in Aristera. She didn't want to lose anyone else important to her.
This wasn't supposed to be happening right now. Tamakoma-2 was supposed to traumatize the B-Rank teams with their amazing strength, and then tomorrow, they celebrate Yuma's sixteenth birthday. It was supposed to be all about having fun right now.
Not...
Not this...
*L*S*A*
Murakami had abandoned watching the rest of the match. In the grand scheme of things, the match itself wasn't important in this moment. He knew the agents had resumed the match, but he had other things to focus on which was why he found himself in an elevator with Arafune.
A tense silence had fallen over the two. Murakami truly was not in the mood for a conversation. He didn't know how Yuma's team had just gone back to the match after he bailed out. It had to be extremely hard for them to concentrate right now. He wouldn't blame them at all if they lost here.
The elevator doors dinged and opened as he reached the floor he wanted, but he didn't even need to step out as he found what he was looking for right there.
"Oh, hey, Kō, Arafune." Jin greeted politely as he stepped onto the elevator with them. He tilted his head towards the buttons. "Could you get that for me?"
Since he was closest, Arafune hit the floor button that Jin was indicating.
Half lidded red eyes stared at Murakami, though he didn't think Yuma was even truly seeing him. The always lively Yuma shouldn't be looking so out of it. It did not sit right with Murakami how Yuma almost looked dead in Jin's arms. He knew he wasn't because this was still a Trion body and if Yuma was dead, he knew his real body would be here right now. Yuma being unresponsive wasn't normal though and he didn't like it.
"He's going to be fine." Jin said as he noticed where Murakami was looking.
"How is he going to be fine?" Murakami retorted. "Isn't this just going to keep happening because of the condition of his real body?"
"He couldn't even make it through a match without collapsing." Arafune added. "It made sense when his Trion got siphoned by the Mimics three months ago, but nothing of the sort is happening right now. That tells me the issue is actually his real body this time."
Arafune had always been smart and observant. Though, honestly, Jin was sure many of Yuma's friends will be thinking the cause of this was a concern with his real body and they wouldn't be wrong. This wasn't something they would be able to hide forever anyway. Yuma's friends already knew of his condition.
"You aren't wrong, but can you trust me that I am handling it?" Jin asked.
"I trust that you are looking into it." Murakami replied. "But I know Kuga has no intention of getting his real body back. If his condition is worsening enough to cause him to pass out in a match, then that means he's going to die soon, doesn't it?"
Jin stared ahead of the elevator doors. He knew this was going to get out when he saw Yuma's future. "Yes, it does." He heard the sharp intake of breaths from the other agents.
"Is that why he has been depressed the past couple of days?" Murakami asked.
"Also, yes."
Murakami closed his eyes, feeling defeat hit him. They had been talking with Yuma about how they want him to get his real body back and the whole time Yuma was sitting on the knowledge that he was out of time. Now he felt guilt hitting him. They were getting mad at Yuma for talking about not going to get his body back while Yuma knew he was just out of time and couldn't do anything about it.
Jin eyed Murakami out of the corner of his eye. He huffed an unamused chuckle and shifted his arms to readjust Yuma. "He's not going to die today or tomorrow. It's not even going to be next week. It is soon, Kō. I won't lie about that, but we still have a little time left."
"That doesn't make me feel better." Murakami replied. A few weeks wasn't enough time to figure this out.
"Maybe not, but can you smile?" Jin requested. "For Yuma."
Murakami blinked. "What?"
"I know this hard for you all, but it is also hard for Yuma. You saw how depressed he has been lately. If you can smile for him, I think that will help him deal with this a bit better." Jin explained.
It was like Arafune said earlier. They had to make Yuma smile and remind him how to have fun. The idea was that by doing that, Yuma might actually put in the effort to fight for his life instead of giving up. Knowing now that Yuma's death was quickly approaching felt like making Yuma smile was for a different reason. It was more like they needed to make his last few days count.
"Before giving people that advice, you should smile first." Arafune pointed out.
"I'm saving my energy to smile for when he is awake to see it." Jin replied easily.
Arafune's eyes flickered down to Jin's hand which was connected to Yuma with a Trion link connection glowing on both of their hands. "Are you okay Trion wise?"
"All good. Yuma doesn't need a lot." Jin replied. Yuma's Trion had depleted a lot at a very rapid pace, but it wasn't dangerous enough to send him into a deep sleep mode like it had a few months ago.
The elevator doors dinged open and Jin stepped out. He turned and stuck his foot between the doors to keep them from closing.
"One more thing. Can you run interference?" Jin requested. "I know Yuma's friends that were watching the match are going to want to know what is going on and if he's okay. Just keep them away from Kintua-san's office. Only Tamakoma is welcome right now." He wasn't trying to shut out Yuma's friends. He just didn't need all the noise and chaos they would bring.
"Easy enough." Arafune replied. "Tell Kuga to take care of himself."
"Will do. Thanks."
As the elevator doors closed and left Murakami and Arafune alone again, Murakami found himself sighing. "It's not like they will know where Kuga went after he bailed out."
"If they are smart, they can figure it out." Arafune replied. An agent who lives in a Trion body who just passed out in a match using another Trion body? There were so few options of where Yuma would go after that happened. Arafune's top two picks would be to Tamakoma or to Kinuta-san.
Arafune sighed and pulled his phone out.
Attackers Group Chat:
Arafune: Midorikawa, do not freak out.
Midorikawa: A little damn late for that!
Arafune: Jin-san is on it. Kuga is with him. Let him handle it for now.
Yoneya: What's wrong with the shrimp?
Arafune: Don't know. Jin-san said to let him handle it.
Arafune: He also said Kuga would wake up soon.
Obishima: He's not conscious?!
Arafune: More along the lines of nonresponsive, but like I said, Jin-san said it would be fine. So, no need to worry.
Murakami shook his head as he read the messages over Arafune's shoulder. Yuma had certainly become quite popular in just half of a year of being a Border agent. He wasn't too surprised about that. With his outgoing and kind personality that made him easy to talk it, he was going to gain a lot of friends. Even those who weren't friends with Yuma at least respected him immensely for his strength.
"I don't think that will be enough to keep his friends from worrying." Murakami replied.
Arafune slid his phone back in his pocket. "There is nothing I can say that will make them not freak out. As much as we all trust Jin-san and his word, the fact is that even when Kuga wakes up, it doesn't change his situation."
No, it didn't.
But, there was nothing they could do to change Yuma's situation.
Jin's advice was just to smile and make Yuma happy. It felt a bit like ignoring what just happened, but it was Jin making this request for them. If this was what Jin wanted them to do, then it had to be important.
*L*S*A*
"Kinuta-san!" Jin called as he made his way to Kinuta's lab.
Kinuta looked up from his work, mouth open to get ready to scold Jin for just barging into his office, but the words never escaped him as he found himself just staring at Jin who was carrying Yuma.
"For the love of–" Kinuta pushed himself away from his desk. "You Tamakoma agents always causing me more work."
Jin ignored the complaining as he was used to it from Kinuta. He knew the complaints came more from a place of concern and stress then it did from frustration for the Tamakoma branch. "He passed out during the Rank Wars. I had Ikoma squad bail him, but he came back unresponsive." He explained quickly as made his way over to the bed to put Yuma on it.
"Is it lack of Trion?" Kinuta asked as he noticed the Trion link between Yuma and Jin.
"No, at least I don't think so." Jin replied. "I don't actually know what I'm working with here, Kinuta-san. I just know the two things Yuma needs to keep himself functioning is food and Trion." He raised his and Yuma's hand which had a Trion Link established. "Which is why I'm doing this. I saw Yuma's vitals on Usami's computer. His Trion had rapidly depleted."
Kinuta nodded as he listened to Jin explain the situation. This would be a whole lot easier if Yuma had his flesh and blood body because then they could send him to the medical ward. As it was, that wasn't an option. With Yuma's condition being what it was, this fell onto him to look into.
Kinuta moved away from the bed to start get his equipment to measure Yuma's Trion levels.
"Can you remove his shirt and hoodie?" Kinuta requested.
"Sure," Jin broke the Trion link with Yuma to do what Kinuta needed done. At this point, he was certain Yuma would be fine without being given any more Trion.
"I'm an engineer, not a doctor. If this is being caused by his real body, there is not much I can do for him." Kinuta warned as he hooked up wires and electrodes to Yuma's chest. When he was finished with that, he grabbed his penlight off his table that he used when working on delicate projects. He took Yuma's half opened eye and opened it wide to shine the light in his eye. Trion bodies were designed to simulate real bodies as much as they could. Still, there was only so much this could tell him. He switched to looking at Yuma's other eye. "Well, his eyes react to light. He didn't enter a sleep mode at least. Giving him Trion likely stopped him from falling into a sleep mode." Kinuta then pointed at the screen that was showing Yuma's Trion levels. "What you gave him is allowing him to level off. He'll need to rest some before he becomes fully responsive again."
"Thanks, Kinuta-san."
Kinuta grunted at the gratitude thrown his way. "I want to keep an eye on Kuga's vitals for a bit. When I spoke to him last night, he was upset, but other than that, he seemed fine. Him collapsing like this seems too rapid and too early."
"Too early?" Jin questioned.
"Kuga's situation is very unique and I have nothing to compare it to so I'm working on hypotheses here." Kinuta explained. He motioned to the nonresponsive agent. "Based on those guesses and the tests I've done on Kuga since finding out about his body, I've concluded that as his body got closer to death, it would be harder for Kuga to keep his Trion body functioning. The reason for that is because his body would be shifting focus to fighting to stay alive. The use of Trion for combat would be seen as nonvital when compared to using the Trion to sustain his non-combat Trion body."
It made sense from a hypothesis stand point. There was no way to prove or disprove the hypothesis since Yuma was the only one in this position. The only way to get any idea of what would happen would be when Yuma reached that point. It was a point none of them wanted to reach, but they all knew it was coming.
"My problem right now is that I think it is too early for us to be reaching this already." Kinuta continued as he waved a hand over Yuma's body to signify what 'this' was. "From what I heard, you estimated he had about a month left. Is that correct?"
Jin nodded. "Yes, that's right."
Kinuta sighed. "Either you're wrong, my hypothesis is wrong, or something else happened, because based on my predictions, Kuga shouldn't have started to feel the effects of his flesh and blood body beginning to fail until about a week before his death. It would be at that point that his body would be truly desperate and just be focused on living and nothing else."
Jin stared at his small friend. At those red eyes that were struggling to stay open and focus on his surroundings. "I'm not wrong about how much time he has left." That was something Jin was certain about. He had studied Yuma's future extensively to find the path that would save Yuma.
"I figured that would be your response." Kinuta replied. "Which is why I want to keep an eye on Kuga to see how long it takes him to stabilize."
Jin smiled. "Truly, thanks for all of your help, Kinuta-san."
It was reassuring to Jin to see Kinuta wanting to kill Yuma when he first heard about him to him now putting so much effort and time into studying Yuma's condition and more effort put towards medical applications of Trion. Perhaps Kinuta did it because he felt Border owed Yuma a debt and he also didn't want Border to lose a powerful trump card.
Jin was sure those factors played a part in deciding Kinuta's actions, but when Jin looked at Kinuta's desk and saw the framed picture of Kinuta's estranged wife and daughter, Jin saw the softer side of Kinuta.
It was the loving spouse and father that would do anything to protect his family, even push them away. A father would understand the plight of another father and the desperate need to protect his child.
In Kinuta's actions, Jin saw the respect he had for Kuga Yugo going above and beyond to keep his child safe. Understanding Kuga Yugo made Kinuta want to put in the effort to save Yuma.
A mutual understanding that parents shared.