Light Shines Anew
Chapter 12: Distraction
"What are you plotting?" Kazama demanded.
Jin blinked and pointed at himself. He looked around the empty virtual space he and Kazama were in. He had come to the solo rank booths at Tachikawa's demand and Yuma's request so they could all spar together. "How to kill you?"
Kazama glared at him and pointed his Scorpion at his friend. "Mikami got a text from Ayatsuji to tell all available teams today to go to Tamakoma without letting Kuga know."
Jin blinked again. He knew he saw a great party happening today. That was why he told the Tamakoma members to put their all into planning the party and he was inviting Yuma's close friends to show up, but he hadn't told Haruka to send out more invitations. Though, it certainly sounded interesting. "For once, that isn't on me." He replied, but it would explain the future he had been seeing. "I wonder what Ayatsuji has in mind."
Kazama was tempted to throw his sword at Jin's head. It wouldn't do anything since Jin would likely dodge, but sometimes, Jin was truly frustrating to be around with his all-knowing side effect.
"Are you going to come?" Jin asked curiously. He knew Kazama squad didn't have defense duty tonight, but they also weren't that close to Yuma. They were trusted allies, but not friends, though after teaming up with Utagawa for the exam, Yuma had gotten closer to him.
Kazama narrowed his eyes as he stared at Jin. He truly wished he could figure out what was going on through his head. "Tachikawa said it's Kuga's birthday today."
"It is." Jin replied.
"And that requires all agents to show up at Tamakoma." Kazama said.
"No, it doesn't. Like I said, I didn't tell Ayatsuji to send out that call to all free squads." Jin replied. "It's surprising that she would. I wonder what happened." When Kazama just glared at him, Jin just laughed. "Despite what you think, I do not know everything that happens. I see the future, but I don't always know how we get to that future unless I'm trying to actively shift the future and am looking for every path."
"But you aren't going to change it." Kazama countered.
"Why would I?" Jin replied easily. "Tonight looks fun and it will make Yuma happy. After he fainted last night and missed his match, all I want is for him to be happy right now."
A sigh escaped Kazama. That was the same reasoning that Jin gave when they asked why he gave up Fujin to HQ for Yuma to enlist into Border. At least this time, he understood there was a deeper meaning to Jin's words since he knew about Yuma's lifespan running out.
"I'm going to kill you now." Kazama decided for his own sanity.
*L*S*A*
"Eh? Tamakoma?" Tachikawa said.
"Yep," Kunichika replied cheerfully. "They're planning a party."
Tachikawa twisted his head around to look at Yuma who was sitting a bit ways off as he watched Jin and Kazama fight. When Kunichika had called him, he had moved away from the kid that Jin put him in charge of babysitting while he and Kazama had a match. "It is Kuga's birthday. What does that have to do with us?"
"Tamakoma is setting up a party and inviting all of us along." Kunichika replied. "They want any free agents to help set up."
Tachikawa raised a brow. Perhaps this was what Jin meant when he said that he was babysitting Yuma today. A part of it was likely concern of Yuma's health after he collapsed yesterday, but Tachikawa was seeing there was more to it now. He was distracting Yuma. He wanted to keep Yuma at HQ so he wouldn't wander back to Tamakoma in the middle of the set up.
"I'm busy right now." Tachikawa replied. "If you want to go, go right ahead."
"I planned to. It sounds like a lot of fun." Kunichika replied. "There was something else I was asked to pass along to you though. It's about Director Shinoda."
Tachikawa could feel it in his bones that he was going to be dragged into whatever scheme that Tamakoma was currently planning. They wanted to use his connection with Shinoda being his mentor to get something.
"Oh, relax. It's nothing too hard or time consuming." Kunichika replied.
Yuma watched Jin and Kazama go at it, but his attention wasn't completely on the fight. He was distracted by the room of agents dressed in white. It wasn't strange for a bunch of C-Ranks to be in here. This was where they trained after it. No, it was the distinct lack of official agents in here. Since it was now summer vacation, the agents who were students were spending more time in here to train with each other. For that reason, it was strange to see none except himself and Tachikawa.
Maybe it was for the best. Yuma didn't want to explain to his friends that he couldn't train right now because Jin was still worried about his health. He didn't want to see the pained, worried expressions they would adopt if they heard that.
"Alright, Kuga," Tachikawa said as he returned to where Yuma was sitting.
Yuma glanced at him. "What?"
"We're taking a trip." Tachikawa said.
Yuma raised a brow. He glanced back up at Jin and Kazama's fight. They were only on their fourth match. "Jin-san said to wait here."
"Come on, Kuga. You're sixteen. Make your own choices." Tachikawa countered.
Yuma snorted. Tachikawa better not be serious with that. He spent his whole life making his own choices, which led to mistakes being made and causing him lifelong problems. "I did choose this. I'm watching Jin-san–Oh."
Tachikawa had swiftly tossed the kid on his shoulders, which drew attention from the C-Ranks, but he paid them absolutely zero attention. "Just a small field trip."
"Okay, I get it." Yuma pushed against Tachikawa's back so he could himself up a bit. "You can put me down. I'll follow you, but you take the blame when Jin-san asks where we went."
"Think he'll fight me again if I do?" Tachikawa asked interested as he set down Yuma by the exit.
"He doesn't need a reason to fight you." Yuma replied, brushing imaginary dust off of his hoodie. "So, where are we going?"
"I need to ask something of Shinoda-san." Tachikawa explained.
*L*S*A*
"You want us to what?" Ikoma asked shocked.
"You heard me!" Haruka announced.
A horde of agents in the base was not what Konami wanted to come downstairs to, but it was what she found in their living room. It was way too crowded. "Whatever this is, can it be somewhere bigger like the bridge outside?"
"It's where we're going anyway apparently." Shiori said, rubbing a cloth against her face to try to clean some of the flour off. "Ayatsuji has decided to make this party into something more."
Konami raised a brow. She was sure whatever it was Haruka had in mind that Yuma would enjoy it. There tended to be very little that Yuma actually hated. He found pleasure in anything he did. "And it has to be here?" She paused and looked over at the boxes stacked on their dining room table. "And what is with those?"
"From Arashiyama squad." Chika replied.
Haruka clapped her hands to get the attention of the agents back on her. "We have," She paused and took her phone out of her pocket to check the time. "At least six hours to get this set up. Let's get to it."
"Wait, I get what you're asking of us, but it really feels like you're asking too much with so little time." Kakizaki protested.
"We have so many teams here. We can definitely get this done."
"And what of supplies?" Kumagai countered.
"If it's supplies, I have some stuff at my house we can use." Madoka offered. "I'll just need help getting it here."
"I can drive you." Azuma offered.
"Like that." Haruka said, pointing at Azuma and Madoka coordinating. "We can totally make this work if we all work together like that."
"It'd be easier if you didn't decide to do something like this last minute." Mizukami countered.
"It can't be helped. Kuga-kun only just mentioned it two days ago." Haruka protested. "Don't you want to do something nice for the poor, dying child?"
Mizukami raised his hands in surrender. "Seriously, low blow." That was way too low after they had all watched Yuma collapsed last night. Even if they weren't all friends with Yuma, he was still a comrade and watching someone they worked alongside with just faint while knowing his failing health wasn't something they liked.
Sighing in acceptance of his fate, Mizukami turned to his captain. "You're a pro when it comes to cooking. Take charge of the food."
"Not by myself."
"Of course not. If we want to get this done, we have to do it in groups." Haruka replied. "Anyone who excels in cooking can help Ikoma-san."
Osamu blinked as Haruka took charge in getting the agents sorted into their groups and what they were going to be doing. This was the type of task that he expected operators to excel at it. Organization and getting people where they needed to be to get tasks done. He just didn't think it would be happening inside their base.
"Isn't this a bit too...extravagant for a birthday party?" Osamu asked weakly.
"Oh, it's completely over the top for a birthday party." Tokieda agreed, nonchalantly sipping on his water that he helped himself to from Tamakoma's kitchen.
"Really falls in line with Tamakoma's personality." Kitora added.
How was Tamakoma being blamed for this? Yes, it was their base but Arashiyama squad were the ones who came in here and started to make decisions to shift this birthday party into some completely over the top without Tamakoma's input.
"Kuga-kun was in our room talking with Arashiyama-senpai so if you want to blame anyone, blame him." Kitora said when she saw Osamu's look of disbelief at being blamed.
"Seems harsh to blame the person not here." Shiori replied.
"Speaking of him, Yuma would be so mad if he heard you called him a 'poor, dying child.' Konami shot at Haruka, who just grinned back at her.
"Come on. This is going to be really fun. It may be for his birthday, but everyone is definitely going to enjoy this." Haruka replied.
Konami sighed and turned to Yuri. "Has anyone told Boss about this?"
Yuri smiled. "No, but there is no way Uncle would have a problem with this. He'll enjoy it too."
"I'll take care of it then." Konami replied and headed out of the room. As she made her way upstairs, she saw Hyuse heading downstairs and was relieved to see that he had activated his Trigger. Lucky for them that they heard all the noise of the agents when they were coming downstairs so he had rushed back upstairs while she went into the kitchen. "They're going to be here all day."
Hyuse nodded. He could hang out in a Trion body all day even though he shouldn't have to in his own base. However, there wasn't anything he could do about it so he would deal with it and see what all the commotion was about. As far as he was aware, Yuma's friends weren't supposed to be showing up until later.
Konami continued her way upstairs to get to Rindo's office. Today definitely got a lot more hectic a lot earlier than any of them had been expecting. It was surprising, but Konami was willing to go along with it. It would bring chaos for Yuma's birthday, and since Yuma loved chaos, it was going to make it even better.
The problem was getting everything ready in six hours.
They really were being thrown into the deep end on this.
Konami knocked on the door to Rindo's office. "Boss, there's been a change of plans."
*L*S*A*
Kumagai made her way to the front door and knocked politely. After a few moments, the door opened. She turned to motion at Azuma and Madoka to wait where they were leaning against Azuma's car before she entered and made her way upstairs.
"Sorry for barging in unannounced, Rei." Kumagai called as she entered her captain's room.
Rei looked up from her book with a smile as her teammate came in. "It's alright. Does this have anything to do with the text Sayo-chan sent us?"
Kumagai nodded and took a seat on the floor. "It's Kuga-kun's birthday. Tamakoma is having a party and Ayatsuji-chan decided to make it into a giant party. We need all the help to get it set up last minute and then we're all going to celebrate a fun summer night. Sounds fun, right?"
Rei smiled. It certainly sounded like fun and not something she got to do that often because of her poor health. Going out for something that required a lot of moving around wasn't something she tended to get to do because of her health which was why she enjoyed exercising in her Trion body. It gave her a chance to move around which she didn't get any other time. "Perhaps if I can use a Trion body."
"You can be just like Kuga-kun then." Kumagai said. They both had health issues, but at least Rei had access to her real body and switch to a Trion body whenever she needed to be highly active.
Rei smiled softly. After learning about Yuma's situation, she felt a sort of kinship with him. Their health issues were completely different, but they both relied on Trion bodies to be fully capable of doing anything. Perhaps she couldn't fully relate because despite her health issues, she wasn't actively dying, but she did relate about having Triggers helping both of them in their lives.
"What about Sayo-chan? Is she coming?" Rei asked.
Kumagai shook her head. "Too many people for her, but she asked us to send Kuga-kun her best wishes."
"Alright, simple enough." Rei threw her legs over the edge of her bed and reached over to her nightstand to grab her Trigger.
"We have to stop at my house to pick up some stuff to help set up for the party." Kumagai added. "Tamakoma wasn't prepared for this huge shift to the party so we need more supplies."
Rei smiled. "Give me some ideas of what is changing about the party. Maybe I have something here we can use."
*L*S*A*
"Does it feel empty in here to you?" Yuma asked as he traversed the halls with Tachikawa. It really was strange how he hadn't seen any official agents. He saw plenty in the cafeteria earlier, but now it was like they had all suddenly disappeared. It was eerie how they all just vanished when his back was turned.
Tachikawa glared at the hall ahead of him. Why did Jin have to put him on babysitting duty? Maybe it was partially his fault for demanding Jin come train to him when he was busy distracting Yuma today, but how was Tachikawa supposed to know Tamakoma was planning a party for the shrimp? Now he had a suspicious kid with a lie detector side effect starting to question everything. How could Tamakoma plan a surprise party for him? Nothing got pass him.
"Tachikawa-san?" Yuma questioned.
"They're probably busy with something." Tachikawa replied.
Yuma raised a brow. "All of them?"
"It's summer, Kuga." Tachikawa retorted. "I know this is your first summer in Japan, but they all want to spend the summer doing fun things that aren't only about training."
"Like a festival?" Yuma piped up.
Tachikawa choked on some air. "What?"
"I heard about summer festivals from my classmates. Have you ever been to one?" Yuma asked. "They sound like a lot of fun."
A breath of relief escaped Tachikawa. It was just a general question. "Of course I've been to summer festivals. You don't live your whole life here and never go to summer festivals. You would definitely enjoy them." For as mature as Yuma was, he still had the heart of a child and went out to seek anything and everything that he thought would be fun. A summer festival would be right up his alley.
They rounded the corner and had to both immediately step to the side to avoid slamming into Kido who was making his way down the hall.
"Excuse us, Commander Kido." Tachikawa said politely.
Kido held up a hand, saying it was okay. "It's good timing. Agent Kuga, a word if you would please."
"Now?" Yuma asked, glancing towards Tachikawa.
Tachikawa waved him off. "It works out perfectly. I need to talk to Shinoda-san privately anyway. Don't run off, Kuga. Head back to the solo rank booths when you're done."
Yuma raised a brow as he watched Tachikawa walk down the hall. If he was just going to abandon him at the first opportunity, Yuma could have stayed in the solo rank booth and watch Jin and Kazama's fight.
"Agent Kuga."
Yuma turned his attention back to Kido. "Yes sir?" He met the hard stare of his commander with one of his own. Despite Kido's harsh and strict personality, Yuma never let himself falter in front of him. He had dealt with worse military upper echelons than him. At least Kido was always honest with him. It might have to do with the fact that Kido knew of his side effect, but still, he never tried to lie to Yuma, not even a white lie, and he appreciated that.
"I heard from Shinoda-kun that you are refusing a surgery that will save your life."
A groan almost escaped Yuma, but he held it in. He hadn't been aware of the fact that Kido even knew of the operation that Galopoula had suggested, but he supposed it wasn't too surprising if Kinuta knew. If Rindo wanted him to go take a surgery, he would need to tell Kido to get permission for Yuma to take a leave of absence and be allowed to go to the Neighborhood for it.
"That is correct. I do not want to attempt the surgery." Yuma replied.
That answer seemed to be wrong as Kido's expression shift ever so slightly into something akin to disappointment. Honestly, it was a look that Yuma was getting too used to these past few days. It didn't make it any less annoying though.
"Your father would be disappointed in you." Kido said after a moment.
This time, Yuma really did groan as he fell back against a wall and knocked his head against it. It was only a matter of time until someone brought up his father in regards to his choice. "Maybe, but Oyaji taught me my whole life to make my own choices and that is what I'm doing here."
"I don't recall Kuga ever teaching anyone to throw away their lives." Kido countered.
Yuma's sharp eyes snapped up to glare at Kido. "Really?" He sneered, wiggling his fingers to bring attention to his Black Trigger. "Because that is exactly what he did when he created this."
"Incorrect." Kido argued. "Kuga did not throw away his life for nothing. He sacrificed his life so that his son could keep living. He decided the life of his son was more important than his own life. If you refuse this surgery and die, who are you saving? All you are doing is dishonoring Kuga's memories by choosing the easy way out."
Easy. Easy. Easy.
Everyone kept calling dying the easy path.
Did they really think it was that easy to accept death?
It's not like he wanted to leave, but dying on an operation table wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want to die lying down. He had fought his whole life to get where he was. If he was going to die, he wanted to die on his feet like the warrior he was trained to be. He was already going to die. He wanted his death to mean something at the end like his father's did.
"Dying on an operation table isn't how I want to go out." Yuma admitted.
"Why is that what will happen?" Kido asked.
"Because it's eighty percent chance of failure."
Kido frowned. "Your father didn't hesitate when failure was a high likely hood. Perhaps I misjudged and you're less like him than I thought."
That wasn't something Yuma wanted to hear. Yeah, he knew he wasn't Yugo and there was a lot that was different between him and Yugo, but he knew there were some similarities between them. Yuma wanted to be his own person, but he also wanted there to be some similarities with his father. It made him feel closer to him somehow.
"My father never failed." Yuma said.
Kido raised a brow. "No, but he could have. Take a look at yourself, Agent Kuga. At your Black Trigger and at your Trion body. Tell me, how difficult do you think it was to do everything that Kuga did? Black Triggers are extremely difficult to create to the point that it's more likely people will fail when trying to create them. On top of that, Kuga created a powerful Black Trigger, he forced it to activate while he was dying and sealed your body inside it and created this Trion copy for you to continue living."
Yuma's eyes widened, staring down at his Black Trigger.
"You're scared to take the surgery because of it only having a twenty percent chance of success and you're likely to die, but Kuga was in the same position when he chose your life over his. There was no guarantee he would succeed in saving you when he chose to create a Black Trigger." Kido stared at the shocked agent, unsurprised that Yuma hadn't even considered this when thinking about his choice. He turned and continued on his walk down the hall. "He chose to fight for you knowing that either you would both die if it failed or you would survive. Even as he was dying, he never stopped fighting for what he wanted."
Yuma brought his hand up to his chest, hand curling into a fist over his heart as he watched Kido walk down the hall as he continued on his way to where he was originally heading towards before they ran into each other.
It wasn't...
It wasn't...
It wasn't..
Yuma knocked his head back against the wall, eyes sliding shut.
Who was he trying to fool?
Yuma didn't know the percentage of success that Yugo was facing when he chose to save Yuma's life, but he knew what his father did wasn't an easy feat and it definitely wasn't one that could be easily copied. Despite the difficulty, Yugo didn't hesitate when he found Yuma. He didn't even have to think about his choice that day.
Yugo knew he wanted his son to survive more than he wanted to go on living after watching his son die. Yuma wasn't Yugo so he had no way of knowing what was going through his father's head when he found Yuma dying on the ground, but he wondered if his father felt the same fear that Yuma was currently facing.
If Yugo was scared of failing...
Yuma cracked his eyes opened and stared down at his Black Trigger.
Despite the high chance of failing to save Yuma, Yugo still went ahead with his plan.
He didn't let the fear of failing and dying with Yuma stop him.
*L*S*A*
Kageura stomped on the rubble. He wished a Gate would open so he could kill something to get his frustration out.
"I heard Yuma-kun woke up." Zoe said.
"That does nothing to change his situation." Kageura growled, kicking his rubble to send it flying through the air. He just had to have defense duty right now. If he was at HQ, he would...he would be doing what? Giving Yuma another lecture? Lectures didn't seem to stick in Yuma's head when it was about his health.
"I get that you're mad, but are we still going to Tamakoma tonight?" Hikari asked over the comms. "Cause I got a text from Ayatsuji earlier and it sounds like the party is going to be a lot of fun tonight."
Kageura raised a brow. They knew Tamakoma had been planning a surprise party for Yuma tonight as they had been invited to it a few days ago. It was a good thing that Yuma didn't seem to care all that much about his birthday because it meant it was easier to keep the party a secret from the human lie detector since he wasn't asking about his birthday.
"What is Tamakoma doing this time?" Ema asked.
"Ayatsuji asked for anyone who is free to go to Tamakoma because she needed help to set up." Hikari replied. "And since it is Tamakoma, I'm sure it will be something fun."
Kageura scoffed. More people there. Just what he needed.
Zoe nudged his captain's shoulder. "I know you're worried about Yuma-kun which is making you frustrated, but can you please try to push that to the side today? It's his birthday and he just fainted last night. He doesn't need his friends getting on his case right now."
Kageura scoffed again, but didn't refute what Zoe had said. He understood what Zoe was saying. It was similar to what Arafune and Murakami told him last night after Yuma collapsed. Jin wanted them to basically make Yuma happy. If Jin was saying making Yuma happy was what they needed to do then Jin had a plan in the works.
His hand came up to viciously scrub at his hair. He understood what they were asking they do for Yuma, but knowing Yuma's plan to just accept his death made it hard to look at his young friend and smile without any concern. Especially after he spoke to Murakami and learned that Jin revealed Yuma was going to die soon. How could they hang out without worry?
"Hey," Zoe shoved Kageura's shoulder again to get his attention. "People react to the emotions around them. Yuma-kun has been upset lately. You getting mad at him isn't helping him. It's actively pushing him away. That isn't going to make Yuma-kun change his mind."
"So what? Be happy around him and he'll be happy?" Kageura countered.
Zoe smiled. "Exactly. All the negativity isn't going to make him want to change his mind about his choice. It will only solidify his choice, but by making him happy, he can remember everything that is worth fighting for."
Kageura walked away from his teammate, dragging a hand roughly through his hair. "He should already know what is worth fighting for."
"It's easy to forget when you get depressed." Ema countered. "And he's been upset for days so the longer he is, the more he will forget. Just stop fighting with him, Kage-san."
"Fine," Kageura tilted his head back and shouted at the sky. "I get it. We'll go to Tamakoma tonight and drag a smile out of him."
"Did you get him a gift?" Zoe asked.
"Yeah, yeah."
*L*S*A*
Today was the day where Shinoda was going to leave work early. He didn't often leave early because he had a lot of work to do and a lot of agents to watch over. However, Rindo had asked him to come to Tamakoma to celebrate Yuma's birthday and he couldn't say no to that. He may not be Yuma's guardian as Rindo took on their role when he accepted Yuma into his branch, but he still wanted to be a part of Yuma's life. It was what he wanted to do because of how much he felt he owed his old mentor.
Shinoda just really hoped that nothing happened today that would get him busy. Jin hadn't said anything about any trouble to come. The worst thing to be happening right now was Yuma's health worsening. That was a huge concern for him, but knowing that Yuma had woken up this morning, Shinoda felt some relief come over him. There were still pressing concerns, but for now, Yuma was awake and fine.
Knock. Knock.
"Come in," Shinoda called. He was really hoping he didn't jinx it and cause something to happen.
"Good afternoon, Shinoda-san." Tachikawa said as he entered the office.
Shinoda raised a brow. "You don't usually come here, Kei."
"I hadn't planned to today either." Tachikawa replied as he walked towards his mentor's desk. "But I've been asked by Kunichika to request your help."
Now that was a surprise. The agents very rarely asked Shinoda for help with anything. They were all quite independent and able to handle themselves. While he was the commander of defense, he didn't often interfere with his agents unless there was an attack that required him to take command of all the agents in the field. "Did something happen?"
"No, no." Tachikawa said before Shinoda could get concerned about anything. "Tamakoma just needs some resources."
Well, that explained why Tachikawa came to him and not Kido. Between him and Kido, Shinoda knew he was the easier of the two to approach about something that wasn't work related. "It's not money, is it? Paying for that pizza party you all had a few months ago was a one-time thing." Jin still hadn't apologized for his sneaky maneuver and throwing the bill on him and Rindo. He better not expect Shinoda to pay for another pizza party.
"Well, not really money related per say." Tachikawa replied.
Shinoda took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Not money per say meant to him that he might need to pay for something. "What did Tamakoma do this time?" And why wasn't Rindo coming to him about it? It better not be another car accident that he had to pay for it. Then again, Yuma was still in HQ so he couldn't have gotten hit by another car.
"Nothing. It's about what they are going to do."
Shinoda waved a hand towards Tachikawa so he would take a seat. "Explain it to me."
*L*S*A*
Suwa wiped some sweat off his forehead. "How did we get conned into doing manual labor today?" Manual labor under the hot, scorching sun. It was the middle of summer, damn it! If he had to be outside in this heat, he wanted to be jumping into a pool.
"We replied to Arashiyama squad's request for help." Hisato replied.
"We should have known better when they said to come to Tamakoma." Suwa replied. It was rare for any of them to come to Tamakoma branch. They all knew where all the Border branches were at, but they usually didn't go to them. It was usually saved for emergencies. Building a stand was not an emergency.
"Maybe, but it's fun." Daichi said. "I haven't done anything like this since I was in high school."
"You at least had more time to prepare in high school." Suwa grumbled. "Telling us to do this in six hours. They're insane."
"Less complaining and more working." Osano interrupted. "Complaining isn't going to get this done."
This was not the kind of thing Suwa ever thought he would be doing when he was in Border. He knew that every day would bring something new, but this was never on his radar. It had nothing to do with his job as an agent.
"Sorry for making you help us, but thanks for the hard work."
"Yeah, yeah..." Suwa turned at the young voice and any more complaints froze on his tongue when he saw Chika crouching by him with a tray balanced on her lap while she held out a glass of lemonade to him. "Oh, uh."
Osano snickered. "What do you have to say now, Suwa-san?"
"Shut it, Osano." Suwa retorted as he graciously accepted the drink from Chika. "Thank you, Amatori."
Chika smiled. "I know this is a bit unconventional for a birthday party, but Yuma-kun will love it so I really appreciate your help." It wasn't at all how they planned for Yuma's birthday to be, but Arashiyama squad arrived with an idea and just took charge. It sounded fun so she was all for their plan despite how much work it suddenly threw on everyone.
"Right, well," Suwa coughed, taking a sip of the refreshing lemonade she had brought them. He couldn't be upset when the little girl was being so sweet and honest with him. "He better love it after all this last minute hard work we're doing."
Suwa glanced up and down all along the bridge that led to Tamakoma to see all the squads that had answered the call and got sent out here by Haruka hard at work with what they had so far. Some of the agents had left to gather supplies from either their houses or the store if they wanted to use their money for this. Despite it being so last minute and a crazy request, everyone seemed to be putting their all into this project.
"Damn it." Suwa punched his fist into his palm. "There is no way we're losing to them. If we're going to do this, we're giving it all our!"
"Oh yeah!" Hisato pumped a fist into the air in excitement.
Daichi smiled and turned back to Chika. "By the way, Amatori, how is Kuga? Since we're putting all this effort in for his birthday, I assume he woke up?"
"I haven't seen Yuma-kun today, but Jin-san texted us earlier to say he woke up." Chika replied. "He asked us to get this party set up and it's taking longer than we thought it would."
"Well, when you decide to change the party's plan last minute, that is bound to happen." Osano pointed out.
*L*S*A*
Jin blinked and then blinked again. He looked around the solo rank booths. It was a sea of white in here so that made it hard to find the head of white hair he wanted to see. Even if he couldn't find Yuma, Tachikawa should be easy to spot at least. "I told them to stay in here."
"It's amazing you thought those two could sit still." Kazama said.
"They're perfectly capable of standing down for a few minutes." Jin protested.
"If they're both gone, then it's likely they left together." Kazama pointed out.
Yuma had promised to hang out in here until Jin was finished. He didn't think Yuma would go against that after their conversation in the cafeteria so this definitely had to be Tachikawa's fault.
"You didn't see this future?" Kazama added.
Jin huffed. "I was focusing on sparring with you and Tachikawa-san." He turned to a nearby trainee. "Hey, did you see two agents leave here? A tall guy with dark hair and a shrimp with white hair."
"Yeah, hard to miss them with the commotion they caused." The trainee said as he pointed towards one of the exits. "They went that way."
"Thanks." Jin patted the trainee on the shoulder in thanks and made his way over to where he saw the two leaving. "Tachikawa-san kidnapped my kōhai."
"You left him in charge. You get what you get." Kazama replied as he followed Jin out of the solo rank booths.
Trustworthy as a captain and an ace Attacker, but maybe Tachikawa shouldn't be left in charge of his cute kōhai. If Jin thought about it, maybe Tachikawa and Yuma was a bad combination. Those two while great fighters and serious when in combat were quite similar when it came to situations outside of battle. They chose options based on fun.
Just as they reached the first intersection and their first choice to decide on where the other two went, they lucked out as Yuma was rounding the corner.
By himself.
"Where's Tachikawa?" Kazama asked.
Yuma blinked, taking a step back to avoid running into the two older agents as he wasn't expecting them to round the corner. "He went to talk to Shinoda-san. I was going with him, but Kido-san needed to talk to me so we separated." He explained. "And actually, I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving. I think I'm going to head back to Tamakoma now."
"Now?" Jin echoed. Nope, no, not happening. This was way too early.
"I don't have anything to do here." Yuma replied. "It's boring. And no one is here. They seemed to have all left."
"We're going out for ice cream."
Yuma blinked.
Jin blinked.
They both stared at Kazama.
"What?" Yuma asked confused.
Kazama stared back at him, unflinching despite the out of the blue claim he just said. "It's your birthday, right? Let's go get ice cream." He spun on his heel and began walking down the hall.
Yuma blinked, opened his mouth, closed it, and then looked at Jin hoping for an answer to that strange interaction.
Jin, for his part, was confused but also relieved at Kazama's sudden excuse to keep them from going to Tamakoma. Maybe this was Kazama's way of helping Tamakoma set up the party without actually having to go to Tamakoma to help the agents set up. "How lucky you are, Yuma. Kazama-san is offering to treat you for your birthday."
"Is that what this is?" Yuma asked baffled. "If he wants to treat me, he can stop refusing to fight me all the time!"
Kazama scoffed as he heard Yuma shout at his back. "You're not A-Rank yet."
Yuma grumbled under his breath, but started moving forward to follow Kazama when Jin started to push him forward. "What about Tachikawa-san?"
"He's not here so he gets nothing." Jin replied.
"I wouldn't be paying for him anyway." Kazama glared at Jin over his shoulder. "You either. If you're coming, you better be ready to fork over the cash for your own ice cream."
"Wow. Yuma really is the only special one here." Jin replied amused.
Kazama rolled his eyes and looked forward once more. Jin was really going to owe him for this when it was over. He truly had no intention of getting Yuma ice cream for his birthday, but Jin needed a distraction and he just offered one. Now he needed to find an ice cream parlor.
*L*S*A*
Rindo stood on the roof, watching as the agents on the bridge below worked hard on setting up for this giant birthday party. Yuma was going to be so confused when he came back later. Tonight was going to be such a lively night.
"Where do they get all the energy?" Michael asked, leaning on the ledge next to Rindo to watch the agents and operators working down below.
"The energy of the youth." Rindo replied.
"Is it alright to be doing this? The civilians might get confused." Michael pointed out. The bridge belonged to Border which belonged to the Tamakoma branch, but what the agents were doing would draw attention of any civilians that happened to walk past.
"Maybe, but this is private property. They won't intrude." Rindo said. "Besides, they all deserve to have some fun like this. They all worked so hard all year. Something like this once in a while is okay." Once in a while and already they had a pizza party and rank war battles at HQ a few months ago. At least this time, their planned party was outside of HQ. Granted, it was still Border property they were doing it on, but Rindo was a lot more lenient at Tamakoma. He certainly didn't mind something like this happening here.
"Because it shouldn't be all doom and gloom, fighting Neighbors is all they know." Michael replied.
Rindo nodded. "Exactly. We need to enjoy these moments so that when we're out there fighting, we remember what we're fighting to protect." It was the reason he never protested anything that his agents wanted to do. He wanted them all to have as much fun as possible. Most of the agents were still children and they deserved to behave like children. They didn't have to be the mature agents all the time.
"Not just for them, but Yuma too, right?" Michael asked, catching Rindo staring at him out of the corner of his eyes. When Galopoula gave Rindo the file for Yuma's surgery, he had seen it as Rindo and him worked together on studying it.
"Right now, I think Yuma needs a chance to just have fun." Rindo admitted. "We've been pressuring him so much the past few days. I'm willing to back down on that today so he can just play with his friends. It's what he needs right now."
*L*S*A*
Kazama glared at Jin across the table. Jin stared right on back, licking his ice cream as he did. He knew why Kazama was annoyed with him. He got dragged into Jin's distraction mission, but it was Kazama's own fault. Jin did not tell him to offer a distraction to Yuma in the form of ice cream. This was on him.
Yuma, for his part, wasn't paying any attention to the glaring contest happening next to him. He was too busy admiring the parfait that Kazama had bought him. There were multiple flavors of ice cream that was topped with strawberries and blueberries, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and had a duck shaped biscuit added to it.
It was so fancy.
And it was absolutely delicious.
Why had he never come to an ice cream parlor before?
"Are you ever going to stop glaring at me?" Jin asked.
"No." Kazama stabbed his spoon into his ice cream. The ice cream was a nice way to cool down on a hot summer day. As delicious as it was, being in an ice cream parlor with Jin and Yuma was not at all how he planned for his day to go. It's not like he had anything major to do today, but this just felt weird to him.
"You guys aren't going to start another civil war in Border, are you?" Yuma asked.
"That was your fault." Kazama retorted.
Yuma pouted and scooped more of his delicious ice cream into his mouth.
Jin nudged Yuma in the side. "What do you say to Kazama-san for buying you that?"
Yuma choked on his ice cream and nudged Jin back into his side, but look up at Kazama. "Thanks for the parfait, Kazama-san."
Kazama sighed. "Happy birthday, Kuga. Expect nothing else from me."
"I didn't expect anything to begin with." Yuma replied.
Jin snickered. "It's becoming well known how much Yuma loves trying our food. I wonder how many food related gifts you will get."
Yuma snorted. At least if his friends gave him food related gifts, they wouldn't go to waste like material possessions would when he died.
"He chose to fight for you knowing that either you would both die if it failed or you would survive. Even as he was dying, he never stopped fighting for what he wanted." Kido said.
Yuma stabbed his spoon into his ice cream. Why did everything keep coming back to his impending death? Even when he was trying to focus on other things, it still found a way to wiggle back into his mind.
"Hey," Jin poked Yuma's cheek. "I said no frowning today."
Yuma whacked his friend's hand away from his face. "I'm thinking."
"Too hard. You're gonna get wrinkles."
"Trion body." Yuma retorted, waving a hand over his body. Nothing about his physical features could change. "If anyone is going to get wrinkles from overthinking, it's going to be Osamu. He stresses out too much."
"Sixty percent of that is from being captain." Kazama replied.
"Only sixty?" Jin asked amused.
"The other forty is his fault." Kazama nodded his head towards Yuma.
"Rude." Yuma said, but he was smiling in amusement at least. He understood that he put pressure on Osamu from being a Neighbor he had to hide and because of his health issues. "Doesn't Hyuse cause him some stress too?"
"Hmm," Kazama thought. "Alright, thirty-five percent is your fault. Five percent is Hyuse's fault."
Yuma raised a brow. That was so unbalanced. They were both Neighbors that Osamu made the decision to add to his team. That was a stressful secret he had to keep. In fact, Yuma would like to say Hyuse was a more severe secret Neighbor than him since he was from a nation that attacked them once. Yuma, at least, could fall back on being half Japanese and that his father helped create Border.
Actually, speaking of his team.
Yuma fished his phone out of his pocket. He hadn't heard from anyone on his team or from Tamakoma all day. He knew he was out of it since the match last night, but surely they knew he had woken up. It's not like he cared about his birthday, but since his friends kept mentioning it, he thought he would at least get a 'happy birthday' text.
There wasn't a single message from anyone.
Not his team.
Not Tamakoma.
Not even his friends from HQ.
He wondered if they were upset with him for disregarding his health. But, it's not like he knew he would pass out in the match yesterday.
Plus, he knew Konami was excited to celebrate his birthday based on what Arashiyama told him. Maybe she was waiting to see him in person to wish him a happy birthday. She had to be at Tamakoma by now along with his team. If his friends from HQ were going to be busy, then he would go see his friends at Tamakoma. Besides, he wanted to let them know he was okay. Jin likely told them already, but seeing someone in person after they collapsed gave more relief then a simple text.
Jin snorted, getting Yuma to look up from his phone to see him looking at his own phone. He caught Yuma's eye and twisted his phone around for him to see.
Tachikawa to Jin
Tachikawa: Where the hell did you guys go?
Tachikawa: I swear I told Chibi to go back to the solo rank booths
"We probably should have told him we were leaving HQ." Yuma said. They had just walked out of the base to go get ice cream without telling him. Even shooting a text to him would have been a good idea.
"This is funnier." Jin replied.
"Are you going to reply?" Yuma asked.
Jin paused and stared at Yuma for a moment before he was suddenly grinning. He twisted around in his seat to hold his phone up to get all of them and their ice cream into the picture that he decided to take. Once he got his picture and was satisfied with it, Jin twisted back around, meeting Yuma's amused stare and Kazama's annoyed glare, and sent the picture to Tachikawa.
"I'll send him on a mission." Jin said as he was typing out a response to Tachikawa after taunting him with the picture. When he was done, he slipped his phone back in his pocket.
"Why would he agree to any mission after you mocked him with what he is missing?" Yuma asked.
Jin just grinned back at Yuma. "Eat your ice cream before it melts."
"I am. I am." Yuma replied. "I won't waste this delicious treat. It would disrespect the money Kazama-san spent. Plus, I want to get back to Tamakoma after this."
Kazama twisted his phone to Jin and woke it up to show the time to him.
Three twenty two.
They still had to distract Yuma for at least three hours.
It would be difficult to do. The more they pulled Yuma away from Tamakoma, the more suspicious he would get. Once he got suspicious, Yuma would start asking questions and once he asked questions, they were screwed. Any excuse they gave would set off his side effect.
Jin stared at Kazama.
Kazama glared back at him. He could not believe he had been dragged completely into this scheme. He never should have listened to Tachikawa's suggestion that they bother Jin for sparring matches today just because they knew Jin was in HQ.
"What is with you two today?" Yuma asked.
"Jin and Tachikawa are idiots." Kazama said.
Yuma blinked as his side effect didn't go off after Kazama said that. He didn't think Jin and Tachikawa were actual idiots. Well, sort of not idiots. They were smart in certain areas. With Tachikawa, his smarts came from combat. According to Izumi, he was a bit dense outside of battle, but not like stupid. He just did idiotic things which honestly, Yuma was here for. It was funny the kind of chaos the agents could manifest outside of combat. Maybe Kazama just meant he was fed up with the two and that was why he called them idiots? He meant it from the bottom of his heart when they annoyed him.
"How are we the idiots? Aren't you the one who bought children tickets on public transportation for years without realizing it?" Jin countered.
Yuma snorted which caused him to choke on his ice cream.
"Kuga, shut up. You're eternally eleven years old." Kazama snapped.
"I didn't say anything." Yuma retorted.
"And you," Kazama turned his sharp gaze onto Jin. "Like you don't do stupid things."
"Like what?"
"Harassing people by sending them a whole box of rice crackers if they take one of your bags."
Yuma raised a brow.
"If they are daring enough to steal my snack, then clearly, they really like them. I'm simply making sure they have a decent supply."
"Yes, by getting their address and shipping a box to their house without telling them. That's creepy."
Yuma snorted. The supposed powerful top Attackers of Border were actually ridiculous outside of combat. It truly was amusing to see how they behaved when they didn't have to put on the air of serious agents. Well, Jin was always easy going, but Yuma had never seen Kazama outside of work. It was amazing to watch.
"And you," Kazama turned that sharp glare back to Yuma.
"Eh?" Yuma pointed at himself in confusion. "What'd I do?"
"Have you ever been to the mall near here?" Kazama asked.
Yuma blinked. "What?"
"The mall." Kazama repeated, looking like he was about to punt Yuma across the room if he didn't answer correctly soon. He was about fed up with being involved in Jin's scheme. He was going to completely ignore the fact that he inserted himself into the distraction plan by helping Jin with a distraction when Jin didn't ask for his help.
"Um, I don't think so?"
Kazama nodded. "Finish your ice cream. We're going there."
"But why? I want to go to Tama–" Yuma broke off with a chuckle when Kazama glared at him. Why was Kazama so on edge today? It wasn't scaring Yuma, but it was confusing him so much. The older agent just seemed so fed up with everything right now.
Kazama looked at Yuma, seemingly scanning his body. "You should be tall enough."
"Tall enough for what?" Yuma asked confused.
"There's a mini amusement park in the mall." Jin replied.
"In the mall? It's a shopping center." Yuma said, feeling himself getting more and more confused by the second.
"It's an entertainment section." Jin said with a shrug. "It's not too big. Just a few rides. I bet you've never been to an amusement park before so you should enjoy it." And it would definitely waste a few hours.
"Jin's paying though." Kazama added.
"What?"
Kazama glared at him. "I told you. I'm not giving Kuga anything else for his birthday. It's your turn."
"An amusement park ticket is more expensive than a parfait!"
"So, you don't want to treat your cute kōhai? What a horrible senpai."
"I already got him a gift!"
"I can pay." Yuma offered. Why did he keep letting these two drag him around when he just wanted to go see his friends?
"No way." Jin twisted around to glare at Yuma. "It's your birthday. No paying for anything."
Yuma shook his head. "Just because it's my birthday, that doesn't mean you guys have to pay for everything."
"It's fine when we want to." Jin replied.
"Do you want to though?" Yuma motioned from Jin to Kazama. They were just arguing about this.
"Yeah, yeah. It's fine. Kazama-san just threw the amusement park on me unexpectantly. It's really fine, Yuma. Let's go!" Jin replied cheerfully.
Yuma shook his head, feeling amused. He wasn't stupid. Kazama and Jin were trying to keep him busy for some reason. Well, Jin was and he dragged Kazama into it. Well, whatever. He would let them keep fumbling with coming up with ideas. It was funny. Besides, he was curious about what these rides at a park were.
*L*S*A*
"I thought you were with Kuga and Jin-san." Izumi said when he spotted his captain walking down the bridge of Tamakoma, looking around in fascination.
"I was before they abandoned me at HQ when I got distracted talking with Shinoda-san." Tachikawa replied.
Kunichika popped up from under the table. "So, you decided to show up after we've pretty much finished setting up our booth."
Tachikawa took a step back to admire the booth that his team had been setting up. The table was covered in a black tablecloth with the front of it housing their team's emblem. He opened his mouth to question where they got something like that before closing it and deciding that it simply wasn't important. In front of the table was a small tank that was filled with water and colorful rubber like balls.
"Yo-yo tsuri?" Tachikawa questioned. He looked at the table behind his team to see that it was set up with supplies for the game. An umbrella was set up next to the table and housed multiple prizes hanging all around it.
"Exactly. A simple game and one Kuga will definitely enjoy." Izumi replied.
Tachikawa nodded. "Simple and effective. It's exactly what Kuga will want to experience since he wanted to know what our festivals were like." He looked all up and down the bridge to take note of all the stands that were being set up by their comrades. Now that he was looking, he noticed that every stand had somehow gotten their emblem somewhere on their booth.
"Did Shinoda-san get what we asked for?" Kunichika asked.
"He went to get them." Tachikawa replied. "Though, considering what you set up, I don't see why we need them."
"They not for us. Nire suggested a senbonbiki booth for her team, but since they were on defense duty until five, they didn't have time to get their supplies. She just wanted some help." Kunichika explained.
"You sure arrived late, Tachikawa." Kako said as she approached to take a look at the game that the Tachikawa squad set up. "Didn't want to put in the effort to help, did you?"
"I was helping Jin distract Kuga." Tachikawa retorted, though he had been doing that by accident. He hadn't been aware at first that Kuga needed to be kept busy and away from Tamakoma until he got the call from his operator. He paused and looked more closely at Kako. "Is that a butterfly mask?"
Kako slid a hand down the side of her face, being careful to avoid the intricate blue and purple butterfly mask that went over the top half of her face. "My squad is doing a face painting booth. Kitagawa is more used to drawing then painting so I let her practice on my face. What do you think?"
"It's so pretty." Kunichika complimented. "Maybe I should have her paint my face too. I didn't know she was so good at art."
Tachikawa waved a hand over the booth. "Aren't you running this?"
"Only one person needs to be here at a time. That way we can all take the chance to explore what everyone else set up." Kunichika replied. "It's going to be so much fun."
"Are you all almost ready?" Tachikawa asked. "Jin said he was going to bring Kuga back around six thirty."
"Yeah, somehow everyone got their booths set up." Kako replied. Each squad tried to set up a booth that either fit their squad's skills or was a traditional summer festival booth all along either side of the bridge outside of Tamakoma. Along with the booths, lanterns wet set up on the ledges of the bridge to give me light and strung up above them were strings of lantern lights that were connected to each booths' umbrella and led up to Tamakoma's roof where they were securely attached. For a rush job, Kako would say they did an amazing job of setting up their mini festival.
"Games, face painting. What else you got?" Tachikawa asked.
Kako smiled. "Ikoma squad set up squads with good cooks to have a food booth. Ikoma squad is doing a yakisoba booth, Nasu squad is giving out candy apples and chocolate bananas, Kakizaki squad is kakigori, Azuma squad is doing takoyaki, and so much more."
"You guys have been busy." Tachikawa said surprised. "Tell me you guys did not spend all your money on this."
"Think we can nag Tamakoma to reimburse us some of the money." Izumi suggested. "Or Shinoda-san."
Tachikawa knew that look his teammates were throwing at him. They wanted him to take the bills to Shinoda. His mentor who just told him to not ask him for money. "I cannot believe you spent your money on this."
"On the ingredients for the food." Izumi retorted. "Tamakoma didn't plan for a festival type of party so we had to splurge on ingredients."
"And some supplies." Kunichika added as she poked the balloons in their pool. "Some of the stuff, we were just able to get from our houses."
"Did you buy anything?" Tachikawa asked Kako.
"The face paint and paint brushes." Kako admitted. "In all honesty, since there are so many of us here, we all just chipped into the pot of money for the food. On an individual level, it didn't actually cost us all that much."
"At least there's that."
"You should add some money to the pot." Kunichika told her captain. "Ikoma squad got the ingredients so give them some money to help pay for it."
"Especially since you didn't help set up at all." Izumi added.
"I was busy!" Tachikawa grumbled, but he did agree that he should help Ikoma squad out. He didn't know how much all the agents gave them to help lessen the blow they would take to buy the food, but he could help lessen it just a bit more by paying some of it back.
Murakami approached the group. "Did I hear you were with Kuga today?"
"For a bit." Tachikawa replied. "Why do you ask?"
"How was he?" Murakami asked.
"Fine. He was awake and arguing with Jin." Tachikawa replied.
Murakami snorted. If he was well enough to argue, then Yuma was perfectly fine just like Jin said he would be.
Tachikawa pointed at his team's stand. "Are you doing a game too?"
"No, Ikoma squad snatched us up to cook since Kon is known to be an excellent chef." Murakami replied. "We're making yakitori."
"That sounds delicious. I'll have to stop by at your stand." Tachikawa said. Based on what he saw during the first phase of the away mission, there weren't too many master chefs in Border and it seemed Ikoma squad snatched up who they figured could handle making food without messing up.
"No one is getting food until the party actually starts." Kako said. "Which will be whenever Kuga-kun arrives."
"But you can get your face painted already." Kunichika whined.
"This was practice. You can get yours done soon." Kako replied.
*L*S*A*
"Are all amusement parks like that?" Yuma asked curiously. That was quite fun. And maybe a bit scary at first. The fear mostly came from having to rely on the machine to keep him safe as it flung him around. He didn't mind the heights since he was constantly throwing himself in the air to fight, but when he was flying through the air in battle, he was in complete control of his body. Riding an amusement park ride meant putting his trust into the ride.
"That was a tiny park since it was just a few rides inside the mall." Kazama replied. "Amusement parks are a lot bigger than that and are usually outside."
"There are typically more roller coasters and a lot more in actual amusement parks." Jin added.
"Hmm." That sounded interesting to Yuma. This world really did have so many interesting things to offer. With each new thing he got to experience, it felt like the list of new things to try only kept expanding. It should be the opposite, but with each new thing he tried, he realized just how little he had truly experienced here.
"Did you like it?" Jin asked.
"Yeah." Yuma replied. "I would want to try more roller coasters. The lines were long though."
Jin nodded, happy to hear that Kazama's idea let Yuma have fun and wasted plenty of time for them. "Lines at parks are typically long. You need to be prepared to wait if you ever go to another one. But," He clapped his hands and turned around to stop Yuma in his tracks. "For now, I need you to do something for me."
"Oh?"
Kazama came to a stop a few steps ahead of them and turned to watch the two Tamakoma agents patiently.
Jin held out a hand towards Yuma. "Trust me and close your eyes."
"Eh, why?"
"It will be worth it. Promise, Yuma." Jin replied.
Yuma's brows furrowed, but he eventually consented to Jin's request. His side effect didn't go off. Jin truly believed that for whatever reason, Yuma closing his eyes now was the right move.
"Thank you." Jin took Yuma's hand and gave it a small tug to tell him to start moving while Jin guided him along. "You'll know when it's time to open your eyes."
"Are you sure about that?" Yuma asked, fighting hard to keep his eyes shut. It was odd to be walking down the sidewalk and relying completely on someone else to guide him. Even with Jin holding his hand to guide him, it still felt unnerving to take steps without being able to see at all because his balance felt wacky. It made him want to crack his eyes open, but he did his best to keep them closed.
"Absolutely." Jin said. "You won't have to keep them closed for long."
Yuma hummed in response.
"Did you have fun today, Yuma?" Jin asked.
"Yeah." The day got so much better when they left HQ where he didn't have anything to do since he couldn't train. "But I want to see my friends at some point, Jin-san." He didn't much care about his birthday, but considering he passed out last night and hasn't seen them since he woke up, he wanted to meet up with them. It would be enough to make him happy for his birthday.
"I know, I know." Jin replied. "It's been a long day. We have one more thing to do and then we can go to Tamakoma."
"Is Kazama-san coming?" Yuma asked because he could hear three sets of footsteps.
"I stuck around this long. I figure I could see it through." Kazama replied.
"See what through?" Yuma asked.
"Stop, Yuma." Jin ordered.
"Why?" Yuma's brows furrowed in confusion which grew more when he ran into Jin's back.
"Oh," Jin helped right Yuma. "Sorry. I meant stop walking, not stop talking. The light is red."
Yuma rubbed his face as he took a step back to get some space back between him and Jin, but he kept his eyes shut. Jin said it was worth it to keep his eyes shut so he was determined to see why. He was quite curious as to what they were doing.
When he felt a tug on his arm, Yuma took that as meaning the light was green and started walking. As he stepped down from the curb and entered the street, Yuma hesitated for a second, but only for a second as Jin was still walking and holding his hand so he got dragged forward. Getting hit by a car wouldn't do anything to him, but considering the stress it put his friends under, he didn't want it to happen again. For that reason, crossing a street blind was a bit unnerving, but he had always trusted Jin. Jin wouldn't let anything happen.
"Almost there, Yuma." Jin called back to him.
"Can I open my eyes then?"
"Nope, not until we get there."
There was a tapping sound. It was a sound that Yuma had become quite familiar with in the last few months. Someone was on their phone.
The longer Yuma kept his eyes closed, the harder he had to fight to keep them closed. His eyes were twitching with the urge to open. It was like when he had to pretend to sleep during the away mission exam. It got so boring to just keep his eyes closed while lying still in a bed for hours at a time. In this case, it wasn't boring. Walking blind and having to be led by someone else was a huge matter of trust. It was a good thing he trusted Jin so much.
A few minutes later, he felt a harder tug on his hand that pulled him forward. Jin's hand left his hand and instead he felt a pair of hands land on his shoulders to hold him in place.
"Happy birthday, Yuma/Yuma-kun/Yuma-senpai/Ochibi-senpai/Kuga-kun/Kuga/Kuga-senpai!"
All the voices blending together had Yuma's eyes snapping open to see all his friends and a huge group of comrades gathered on the Tamakoma bridge and some on the roof. There was a bang and suddenly a banner unraveled from the roof that read 'Happy Birthday, Yuma!'
At the front of the group of Border members was the Tamakoma members and Yuma's closest friends.
Behind the huge group, Yuma could make out booths set up all along the bridge which was lit up by lanterns that were strung up along the booths and leading up to Tamakoma's roof.
Yuma found himself blinking a few times.
Smiles and laughter.
The scent of delicious food in the air.
A warm feeling surrounding them all.
Yuma didn't even realize it was happening until the smile had overtaken his face. This was so completely over the top for a birthday. He may not know much about this world, but he had celebrated some of his friends' birthdays and this was not how they were done.
"Why?" Yuma asked, feeling a laugh start to build up.
"You said you wanted to know what a summer festival was like. Well, here is one!" Arashiyama announced, sweeping an arm out behind him as he stepped to the side with some of the others moving out of the way to give a better view of what they had set up.
Jin squeezed Yuma's shoulders. "What do you say to everyone who spent all day setting this up?"
Yuma blinked. He stared at the highly decorated bridge, at the proud looks all the Border personnel held at accomplishing this, at the excitement on their faces for getting to do this. When he said he wanted to attend a summer festival, he didn't mean for them to set up one. It was way too much, but at the same time, seeing the happy and proud looks and the excitement that came from them all getting to experience this together, it made Yuma's own happiness begin to rise. He never asked for them to set this up, but since it was here, he was excited to see what it was like.
"Thank you!" Yuma gave a deep bow to everyone in front of him.
"Let's get this party started!" Tachikawa declared. "I'm starving!"