Light Shines Anew

by Fallen Crest

The incident with the Mimics is in the past. The Away Mission is complete and all the agents are back in Japan. Peace had settled down around Border once more, but there is one problem yet to be solved. Yuma's body is still sealed away and dying inside his black trigger. With each passing day, the clock ticks down for Yuma.

20. Ch 20: Intermission

Light Shines Anew

Chapter 20: Intermission

A week had already passed.

Osamu shouldn't say already. That single week felt so long and never ending. Nothing about his days had changed. They were still full of training, studying strategy, and hanging out at Tamakoma. On days where he had Rank Wars or training with Izumi or Arashiyama squad, Osamu would head to HQ.

His days hadn't changed.

There was just a Yuma shaped hole in them.

When Osamu first heard about the surgery and then Yuma agreed to go, he knew it was going to stress him out from having his friend gone. It not only put a strain on his team as they had to make new strategies and learn how to fight without Yuma, but the bigger part was that their friend was gone and they had no way of knowing how he was doing.

They were completely in the dark and just had to trust that everything was going okay with Yuma.

Osamu slapped his cheek a few times and stood up from his desk. He wasn't going to get anything accomplished if he just sat around and wondered how Yuma was doing. Yuma told him to keep their team up in the ranks so that meant he needed to be focused on training and not what his friend was up to.

When Osamu made it back downstairs, it was to find Shiori sitting at her desk, wearing an amused smile as she looked at something on her computer.

"Something funny, Usami-senpai?" Osamu asked, walking around the desk to take a look at her screens, only to gape at what he was seeing. "Is Hyuse training with Jin-san?"

What was the world coming too?

Hyuse preferred to have nothing to do with Jin at all, but since they were part of the same branch, he accepted the fact that Jin was going to be around. That did not mean, however, that Hyuse trained with Jin. If he wanted to learn how to use a Trigger that Jin used, he went to someone in Tamakoma-1 who also used that Trigger.

Hyuse did not train with Jin.

"It seems Hyuse-kun is taking the loss against Suzunari First and Kageura squad personally." Shiori replied.

Right, round three of the Rank Wars had put them up against Murakami and Kageura a couple days ago. Those two were people Yuma struggled to beat on a daily basis in solo rank wars. In a team match where they both had their teams backing up, they were a force to be feared. The only reason they beat those teams last season was because Hyuse and Yuma had teamed up on Murakami and Kageura in two vs one fights in the Rank Wars.

Without Yuma, Hyuse struggled against Kageura and Murakami in a one vs one vs one fight. Murakami knew everything Hyuse would try and Kageura could predict Hyuse with his side effect. Hyuse at least managed to kill Kageura before Murakami killed him.

It didn't matter though as Suzunari still won the round.

Murakami had always been an impressive agent, but now his teammates were getting stronger as they had to operate without Murakami for a long time while he was on the away mission. It taught them a lot and they were showing that skill by managing to stay in the top tier of B-Rank for longer than a single round at a time this season.

"You know, being B-Rank #3 isn't bad." Shiori said.

"I know it's not." Osamu reached into his pocket and pulled out his Trigger to activate it as he wanted to get to training. "But we promised Kuga to stay up in the ranks. I don't want to fall in the ranks just because we don't have him."

Shiori smiled sadly. "Yuma-kun won't be disappointed no matter where the team is at when he returns. He'll say it will be fun to fight to the top again. Besides," She turned her attention back to her monitors, in particular Chika's room where Reiji and her were working on her usage of Hound and Meteor. "I don't particularly want to try for A-Rank this season."

Osamu paused in heading to his training room. His original goal of fighting to get to A-Rank was so they could get on the away mission, but they had already accomplished going on the away mission. The only reason their team was still aiming for A-Rank was because Hyuse and Yuma wanted to be an A-Rank team because they thought it would be fun to fight their way up there. "Because you want to reach it as a team with everyone present."

"Exactly. Yuma-kun should be here for that."

Osamu knew that. Reaching A-Rank was something that his friend wanted to do. For that reason, Osamu agreed with Shiori. He didn't want Yuma to come back to see his team as an A-Rank squad without him. Almost everything Yuma decided to do was based on how much fun it would be for him, and reaching A-Rank with his team was something Yuma definitely would want to do with them.

"How many matches are we doing this season? I heard it would be another short season." Osamu turned back to Shiori's desk as he asked her this.

"The B-Rank War summer season usually starts in June and goes to the end of August." Shiori replied. "Considering we started halfway through July, it will probably be around ten matches this season."

Osamu nodded in understanding. Ten matches at least and they already had three matches. That meant they had about seven matches left. That was seven matches to keep themselves in the top tier of B-Rank. Even if they couldn't get their #2 spot back, Osamu would consider it a win if they could remain in the top tier.

If they went for six more rounds, counting the breaks they got every three matches, that was about four more weeks of matches. If Yuma's surgery went well, would he be back in time to see the end of the Rank Wars? He, of course, wouldn't be allowed to participate in them as he would still be recovering from his surgery, but just being back and seeing them all fight would get him excited to recover quicker so he could get back to training.

At least, Osamu hoped that day would come.

He wanted to be able to see his friend, in his real body. His friend who would be healed and doing what his father always wanted for him, living out his life to the fullest without the threat of death hanging over his head.

It was what they all wanted for Yuma when they found out about his injuries.

He didn't deserve what had been done to him.

"I'm going to train. Tell Karasuma-senpai to meet me in our room when he comes down." Osamu said after a moment. He couldn't do anything to help Yuma right now. All he could do was continue his training and fight for his team's rank like he promised.

"O-kay." Shiori sung as she got Osamu's room ready for him.

*L*S*A*

Kageura's sword connected with Murakami's Kogetsu. A second Scorpion formed in his hand to block Raygust from slamming into him before he was jumping away from Murakami. Despite moving away from him, Murakami didn't relent as he swung Kogetsu, sending a Senku slash straight for Kageura.

Having already predicted what his friend would do, Kageura had jumped into the air to avoid getting cut in half. While he was up there, he swung his Mantis straight for Murakami to force him onto the defensive so he wouldn't be able to try to attack Kageura again before he could hit the ground. Unlike other agents, Kageura didn't have Grasshopper so when he entered the air, he couldn't maneuver freely like them.

When Murakami went to block with his Raygust shield, Kageura shifted his Scorpion's form into a claw so when it hit the shield, the edges latched into the shield which Kageura used to pull himself toward Murakami. His feet slammed into the Raygust shield, but before he could attack, Murakami acted.

"Thruster on." Murakami released his Raygust to send it and Kageura flying backwards.

Not letting it deter him, Kageura dug his Scorpion into the Raygust to stable himself as he flipped himself over the shield before he could get too far from Murakami. Another Scorpion formed in his hand and he flung it at Murakami as he came flying down from the sky.

Murakami knocked the falling Scorpion away before side stepping to dodge Kageura as he hit the ground with his arm flying out towards Murakami with a branching blade coming out that Murakami just barely dodged to avoid getting his head cut off.

Murakami's Kogetsu came flying around only to meet a Scorpion blade to block his attack. Twisting around to get away from Murakami's right side which was where he held the Kogetsu, Kageura shifted to his left side which was left opened after he threw Raygust away. With his hand hidden by his body, Kageura threw out his Mantis again.

Seeing it coming, Murakami swung his Kogetsu over his shoulder to defend his back, but instead of striking where he expected it to, Kageura curved it at the last second to have it piece through Murakami's Trion Relay Center.

Before he bailed out, Murakami glanced at Kageura from the corner of his eyes.

"You're much more aggressive today than usual." Murakami said as he handed Kageura a water bottle from the vending machine. Kageura was always an aggressive fighter as he didn't really focus on defense as he had an edge in combat because of his side effect. Even so, he seemed to take it up to another level today. "It feels like you're in bad mood, Kage."

Kageura scoffed and dropped down onto the couch, cracking open his water bottle to hydrate himself. He knocked his head onto the back of the couch so he could glare up at the ceiling. "How can I not be?"

Murakami raised a brow. "Considering you're not explaining it to me, I can't say I understand."

A snarl escaped Kageura before he kicked the table in front of him. "I'm pissed at getting my number two spot back."

Murakami's eyes were drawn to Kageura's jacket very briefly to see Kagerua's new rank on his jacket that his team achieved as a result of the last couple matches. Kageura squad was racking up points while Tamakoma was struggling a bit to fill the hole their ace left. "You're mad about that? You got your rank fair and square, Kage. I thought you wanted it back."

"You think I want to take it back because Tamakoma lost one of their aces?" Kageura snapped. He wanted to beat Yuma in a fight with his team to take it back. It meant nothing if Yuma wasn't here. Tamakoma-2 was a four men squad when they stole the rank and he wanted to beat the four men squad that took it from him. "It feels cheap to get it like this."

Murakami frowned, looking around the room as he thought. It was hard for him to dispute what Kageura was feeling. Their friend had left for a surgery and they were all hoping it went well, but it did mean they had to move on without him. The B-Rank Wars would go on. Defense duty would go on. While Yuma was on a leave of absence, they would all be advancing in the Rank Wars and increasing their solo ranks.

Yuma was going to be so far behind when he came back.

But...

"Kuga won't care." Murakami decided. "He was never concerned about rank. He was simply doing all of this because he thought it was fun." He looked back at Kageura. "So, with that being the case, let's both try to outclass Tamakoma-2 in the B-Rank Wars and rack up our solo points to take us to the top. We're make him have to put in double or even triple the effort to catch up when he comes back."

Kageura glanced at Murakami, brow raising at his friend's plan. It seemed devious for Murakami to want to do something like that, but he was right. Yuma found it extremely fun to fight his way to the top. "He already fought his way to top and he's going to lose it and have to start over just because he has health issues? That sucks."

"Yeah, well, life isn't fair. Kuga is aware of that. He'll be fine dealing with this." Murakami replied. "So, since he won't care, you shouldn't either. Take the number two spot because once he comes back, he'll be aiming for your head to take it back."

And that had the desired effect to get Kageura to laugh. Kageura always enjoyed a good challenge and Yuma was one of the best at giving him the fight that he wanted.

"We'll be here sharpening our blades. By the time that brat gets back, he's not going to know how to deal with us." Kageura decided.

Murakami laughed. It would be just like when Yuma first met them. He had no idea of who they were or how skilled they were as fighters. He didn't know what to expect from Murakami and Kageura which gave them an advantage against Yuma in combat. This time, they were going to get stronger while Yuma was laid up in bed, unable to fight.

"So, want to go again?" Murakami asked, pointing at the booths and got a sharp grin in return.

*L*S*A*

Jin smiled as he dodged Hyuse's Viper bullets. The ones that he couldn't weave around, he used a shield to defend from. As he was defending, Hyuse ran towards Jin to attack. His sword and Jin's slammed into each other as Jin already predicted him coming. Jin broke his blade free and jumped back, but Hyuse just chased him and forced them into a fierce exchange of attacks.

As he took another step back, when Jin's foot touched the ground again, he activated Escudo. Instead of using it to hit Hyuse with like he did in the past, this time, he used it to launch himself in the air to get away from Hyuse. Hyuse took a step back, looking up to track Jin with his eyes, already forming Viper by his side.

Jin flipped in the air so his feet would hit the ceiling first. He formed a second Escudo from the roof under his feet to use it as a launch pad to send him flying back towards Hyuse. Just as Hyuse unleashed his bullets, Jin sent his Scorpion soaring down ahead of him. Hyuse simply deflected it with his sword while Jin used his shield to defend from Hyuse's Viper. He couldn't defend on all sides as he only had one shield, so he took some damage, but he protected his head and heart to keep from getting killed.

As Jin hit the ground in front of Hyuse, he smirked behind his shield as Hyuse didn't see his attack coming until he was already getting impaled from the side. Hyuse glanced down at his chest to see the blade piercing his Trion Relay Center. He followed the blade to see it came from the sword he deflected earlier. Jin must have connected to the sword with a mole blade.

"You're copying Yuma now?" Hyuse bit out annoyed.

Jin smirked and stepped back, deactivating his Scorpion altogether. "Apologies. It's not my usual method fighting, but I wanted to try it out. Yuma's ideas are very creative."

Hyuse snarled. It wasn't Jin's style of fighting and Hyuse knew that Jin knew he knew that. He did it to trick Hyuse. Nothing more than that.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. It's fine when your team pulls tricks, but it's a problem when I do it?" Jin asked.

"All you do is trick and deceive." Hyuse retorted. "It's a mystery why anyone trusts you."

Jin just laughed, smiling easily as he listened to Hyuse's complaints. He knew the younger agent hated his side effect because it allowed him to play mind games when they fought during the Aftokrator invasion. Hyuse saw it as a distraction and the reason why he was unable to beat Jin and make it back to help his comrades. To Hyuse, he probably thought if he got rid of Jin that day, Aftokrator wouldn't have lost and he wouldn't have been abandoned here.

For that reason, Jin never took Hyuse's harsh criticism to heart. It came from a sense of betrayal and confusion.

At this point, as Aftokrator and Tamakoma had a very tentative agreement of no more violence between them with Hyuse acting as liaison, Jin hoped that Hyuse would let that go and warm up to him eventually. Jin liked to think it was already going well since Hyuse was the one to ask for them to train together today.

"Arashiyama squad will be coming by tonight." Jin said as he and Hyuse exited the training booth.

"Do I need to be in a Trion body again?" Hyuse asked annoyed.

"Naw, it will be fine. Arashiyama squad knows you're from Aftokrator. I just wanted to give you a head ups that they were coming." Jin replied.

"Why are they coming?" Hyuse asked. Agents from headquarters didn't usually come to Tamakoma, and yet lately, it felt like they kept showing up. At least when it was certain A-Ranks, Hyuse didn't have to hide his horns.

"It's Konami's birthday today and Arashiyama's is tomorrow so we were just going to have a small celebration." Jin explained.

"We're not doing another festival, are we?"

Jin laughed and clapped Hyuse on the shoulder, shifting his leg out of the way to avoid Hyuse trying to kick him. "No, no. That was a one-time thing to make Yuma happy before he left. This is just going to be a normal get together with all of us and Arashiyama squad."

"What is with all the birthdays lately?" Hyuse grumbled.

*L*S*A*

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"You've gotten much better, Natsume." Ema complimented.

"Yes!" Izuho cheered when she saw her scoreboard. "I really appreciate your help, Yuzuru, Toma-san."

"It was painful to watch you struggle all by yourself." Ema said.

Izuho's brow twitched and she pinched Ema's cheek in retaliation. "Don't be nasty. It's not like you were any better since you needed a mentor too."

"All the best agents get taught by someone at some point." Toma pointed as he pet Izuho's cat. "You don't just get skills like we have from doing the same thing over and over again every day. Repetition helps, but having someone help you find your mistakes and help you correct them is also needed."

"Beyond shooting, have you gotten better at hiding and sneaking around?" Ema asked, rubbing his now red cheek. "You'll never survive in the B-Rank Wars if you can't even manage that."

Izuho huffed. "Everyone has areas they are weak in."

"So, you haven't gotten better." Ema deduced.

"I have too!" Izuho argued. "I'm not as bad as I was when I started at Border. I improved a lot while you were on the away mission."

Ema snorted. "Should have made it up to B-Rank before we came back. Maybe then, your future squad wouldn't be struggling as a two person squad in the B-Rank Wars."

"So sorry we can't all be rank B-Rank number two." Izuho huffed. "They number nine right now. I don't consider that a bad rank."

"If they stay in mid B-Rank, it will be better for you when you join the B-Ranks." Toma replied. "You don't want to be joining in the middle of the B-Rank Wars with them in top tier. You'll get slaughtered."

Izuho chuckled nervously. That was something she realized last season when she was watching Tamakoma-2 blasting their way through the ranks to reach the top. The top ranked agents were not ones to be trifled with and even when she reached B-Rank, she was still going to have a lot that she needed to learn.

"Thanks for the image I didn't need." Izuho said.

"Getting killed a bunch of times will teach you how to properly hide finally." Ema said. "Or you'll fail like Akane always did."

Izuho glared at her friend, wiggling her fingers as she threatened to pinch his cheeks again. "Don't say that about Akane-senpai when she isn't here to defend herself."

"What's wrong with speaking the truth?"

"Sometimes the truth is too harsh to say." Izuho retorted.

"No one gains anything by not saying what needs to be said. You won't improve if you aren't told what you're failing out." Ema argued.

"You could be kinder about it!" Izuho shouted.

"Why? It's not like you're speak nicely either."

"YOU–"

*L*S*A*

"What are you doing?"

"Leave me alone." Shun muttered, staying lying face down on the floor.

Yoneya raised a brow and prodded Shun with the end of his spear, but the younger agent made no attempt to get up.

Izumi crouched down by Shun's other side. "Hey, useless Midorikawa, I invited you guys into my team's training room to train, not so you could die on my floor."

Shun shot up to sit up on his knees so he could properly glare at Izumi. "Who are you calling useless, stupid Izumin-senpai?!"

Izumi responded by prodding Shun in the forehead. "The useless idiot who thinks he is going to learn anything by lying on the floor."

Shun knocked Izumi's hand away from his forehead before flopping backwards so he could lay on his back and stare up at the ceiling.

"And how is that any different than before?" Yoneya asked, poking Shun in the side with his spear again.

Shun just grumbled under his breath about the abuse he was getting from his friends. Was it so wrong for him to want to mope in peace on the floor? "I was trying to figure out that curving blade Yuma-senpai uses."

"He didn't tell you how to do it before he left?" Izumi asked.

"Is he gatekeeping his moves?" Yoneya wondered, smirking in amusement down at his despondent friend. "And after you went to all the trouble to teach him how to use Grasshopper."

Shun groaned. "He explained how to do it when he showed it in a training match with Obishima-chan. Well, he gave the basic explanation of how to do it, and he said he would show me when he got back from his surgery, but I can't always rely on other people to teach me how to do something. I need to start learning for myself so I thought I would try to figure out the curving blade so I could show Yuma-senpai I mastered it when he comes back."

"And what? It's not going well?" Izumi asked.

"Did you not watch what just happened?!" Shun cried.

"You somehow decapitated yourself with your own sword." Yoneya said, trying very hard not to break out in laughter as he recalled what had just happened.

"It was truly impressive." Izumi added, grinning widely. "I know I'm not a Scorpion user, but–"

Shun shoved a hand in Izumi's face to get him to shut up. "Exactly, which means, you can shut up, Izumin-senpai."

Izumi grabbed Shun's wrist to pull his hand off his face while dragging Shun towards him to get his friend into a headlock. "Exactly nothing when not that long ago you were asking for my help to be more creative in combat so you could decimate the spear fool over there in a ten-round match!"

"Maybe it's because you turned out to be completely useless that day!" Shun shouted as he struggled to escape from Izumi's hold.

"Useless?" Izumi repeated, wrapping his arms tighter around Shun's neck. "We never even got to train that day because Kuga interrupted us to tell us he was leaving. I didn't get to show you any of my expertise knowledge on how you can kill the spear fool!"

Yoneya snorted and crouched down in front of the two wrestling agents. "Don't drag me into this nonsense. I didn't say anything."

"You're already involved!" Shun and Izumi screamed at the same time.

"Eh?" Yoneya rubbed his head. "Anyway, Midorikawa, how did you decapitate yourself? All you have to do is shift the shape of the Scorpion into a curving blade, don't you?"

"You would think! It shouldn't even be that hard!" Shun complained. "But when I was shifting the shape, I must have made a mistake because I extended one of the blades on it and it hit me in the neck! I don't get it. Yuma-senpai made it look so easy."

Izumi released his hold on Shun and shoved the younger agent away from him. "Idiot. Anyone who mastered something can make doing it look seamless." He shifted to sit down cross-legged in front of Shun and held his hands out in front of him. He activated Meteor in one hand and Viper in the other hand. In just a couple of seconds, he had combined them into one bullet and fired it off towards the other end of the training room where the bullets exploded harmlessly against the virtual walls. "When you become a master at something, you can do your skills so easily and so quickly that they look easy, but not just anyone can do this. If an inexperienced shooter tried to do that, they would likely blow themselves up. Combing Triggers isn't exactly easy. It just looks easy by those who watch pros do it."

"I highly doubt Kuga created the curving blade and mastered it in a single day." Yoneya added. "There's probably more than one reason why he didn't show it off until the last match of the Rank Wars last season."

Shun groaned and threw himself back onto the ground. "You say that, but Yuma-senpai saw Mantis for the first time in his match with Kageura-san last season and he used Mantis in the same match. When we had a match when he was a trainee, he saw me use branching blade and then he copied me."

"You can't compare yourself to Kuga. He's a freak of nature with ten years of combat training. It's only natural he could figure out those moves." Izumi said. "And besides, he simply used them in those matches. He wasn't a master at using them. He had to spend time actually training with them for his skill at using them to get sharper."

Yoneya crouched by Shun, resting his chin in his upturned palms as he grinned down at friend. "And speaking of sharpening skills, Kuga is having a surgery and is going to be stuck in a bed for weeks to recover. That means you have plenty of time to sharpen your fighting skills and show them off to him when he comes back. I'm sure since he'll be recovering that even when he returns to active duty, he'll have to take it easy in the beginning. You can beat him then."

Shun whacked Yoneya's leg. "Where is the fun in beating someone who can't fight at their best?"

"Ah, so you do have some pride." Yoneya replied. "Then think about it like this. When Kuga comes back, he'll need help getting back into fighting shape. You should help him with that."

Shun snorted. "Already planned to. I still wanted to show him the curving blade when he got back though."

"So, keep trying." Izumi said. "Here, we'll try to help you." He jumped back to his feet and brushed off imaginary dirt from his clothes.

"Do you two even know anything about Scorpion?" Shun muttered.

"Should be enough to get by." Yoneya said.

"And how is that going to help me learning the curving blade?! It needs more than just the basic knowledge of Scorpion!"

*L*S*A*

Yuri carefully set the cake down on the counter before dropping her purse down to the floor. She nudged it closer to the counter with her foot so no one would trip on it if they came in.

"Hey, Kirie-chan." Yuri greeted when she saw her friend sitting the living room. "Not training today?"

"Jin, Torimaru, and Reiji-san are training the kiddos today." Konami replied, turning the tv off so she could turn to get Yuri her full attention.

"Jin-kun is helping to train them?" Yuri said surprised. It wasn't that Jin didn't spar with people. It was just that usually he was too busy to help train Tamakoma-2 and so he left it in the hands of Tamakoma-1.

Konami snorted. "Hyuse demanded it and since things have quieted down around here, Jin said he had some free time so he's going to show Hyuse his place."

A smile twitched at Yuri's lips. She was absolutely certain that only half of those words belonged to Jin. The other half was definitely something that Konami had added to it. "So, you're just sitting on the couch watching tv? Seems like a boring kind of thing to do for your birthday."

"We got all the fun and excitement out during Yuma's birthday. I just want to relax today for mine." Konami replied as she stretched her arms above her head, relishing in the way her muscles relaxed from the motion. She let herself fall to the side so she was lying down on the couch. "Already so relaxed over here."

Yuri chuckled. "You're like a cat."

"Cats are cute so that is a compliment."

Konami sighed as the conversation came a stand still. She truly did want to relax for her birthday. Taking it easy once in a while wasn't a bad thing, but she would have also gladly trained to if someone was available for some training. At one point, there were eight agents in this branch so they could have all paired off if Jin really wanted to take part in the training. Unfortunately, right now, Tamakoma only had seven active agents.

Eight days.

It had been eight days since Yuma left and there hadn't been any word about how he was doing. That wasn't too surprising. Galopoula wasn't near their world want now. It wasn't the easiest thing to have communications between Neighbor worlds and their world. It was tricky and time consuming so it made sense that Galopoula wouldn't be able to contact them.

In fact, the only way they were able to contact each other was through the silver bracelet Galopoula gave them month ago. However, that bracelet only allowed communication when their nations were close to each other. If they weren't close, it only told them each other's location.

From what Jin had told her, having looked at the bracelet, he determined that the Galopoula Neighbors, and by extension Yuma, have made it to Galopoula, but that was all they knew.

They had no idea of what was happening in Galopoula.

The door to the room opened and Konami looked up to see Yotaro riding Raijinmaru into the room. Seeing the young Neighbor, in this moment, Konami was reminded of Aristera. She didn't normally think of that horrible day when Aristera was destroyed and so many of her friends were killed, but this wasn't a normal situation.

Right now, the situation they were in was one where they could possibly lose another one of their friends. For that reason, when she saw Yotaro, she saw Aristera, and through that, Yuma's face popped into her mind. She knew this surgery was Yuma's only chance, but that didn't mean she wasn't scared. Without the surgery, Yuma would die. With the surgery, there was a chance Yuma could be saved, but it wasn't high.

She didn't want to attend another friend's funeral.

"Cake!" Yotaro cheered. "Is it snack time?"

"No, the cake is for tonight." Yuri replied, shifting the cake on the counter farther away so Yotaro couldn't reach it. "If you're hunger, we have some dorayaki." She glanced back to Konami. "Do you want one too, Kirie-chan?"

Konami sat up on the couch, brushing her hair behind her ear to get it out of her face. "Sure. Thanks, Yuri-san."

*L*S*A*

"Ah, Nasu-senpai! It's been a while since I've seen you in the solo rank booths!" Koarai said.

Nasu smiled at the Attacker. "Kuma-chan wanted to get some solo sparring in so I thought I would do the same."

"Scary." Okudera joined in. Shooters didn't often jump into the solo rank booths, but when they did, they were difficult for Attackers to fight as it was hard to close in on them.

Nasu chuckled softly. "Well, since you two are both training to use bullets now, how about you fight me and see if you can do something?"

"You're just looking for an opponent who isn't scared of you." Koarai replied, though he wasn't being malicious. He was quite amused by the situation. Since Attackers struggled to close in on shooters, fighting them in solo rank wars was very difficult to do. However, there were some insane Attackers who relished in the challenge of fighting shooters and trying to close in on them.

"Unfortunately, I don't see any all rounders in here so you two will have to make do." Nasu teased.

"Like we're cannon fodder?" Okudera asked, laughing lightly.

Nasu waved towards where the solo booths were waiting for them. "You can see it however you like. Are you up for it?"

Okudera and Koarai shared a look before they were both suddenly raising their hands. "Whoever loses rock-paper-scissors has to go first." Okudera decided.

"Of course."

"Rock-Paper-Scissor-Shoot!"

*L*S*A*

Pop! Pop! Pop!

"Happy birthday!"

The voices cheered together as Konami and Arashiyama got covered in the party confetti. Arashiyama smiled easily as he brushed the confetti off of his shoulders. "Thank you for inviting us tonight." Though his and Konami's birthdays were right next to each other, they didn't usually celebrate together.

"It's more fun to celebrate with more people." Jin said, handing Arashiyama a drink.

"Not too many people. Otherwise, it gets too crowded and hectic." Kitora said.

Jin laughed. "Did Yuma's party bother you?"

"His party was fine. It was just chaotic."

"The exact kind of thing he loves." Konami replied as she grabbed herself a piece of pizza. They were having a simple party tonight with cake and ice cream for dessert. This was similar to what they originally planned to do for Yuma's birthday before Arashiyama squad got involved and suggested a festival instead. However, festival birthday parties were not feasible to do all the time and as Konami learned afterwards, Haruka had suggested it because Yuma was upset about the surgery and had mentioned festivals to her and Arashiyama. It was simply her trying to cheer up Yuma after he opened up to them.

It was a bit frustrating on her part to learn about it after the fact. She was Yuma's mentor, but he hadn't felt like he was able to open up to her about the surgery or tell her what was bothering him. She didn't understand why because she knew that Yuma trusted her as he opened up to her about other problems in the past.

Jin nudged Konami in the side as he grabbed a plate and got some pizza for himself. "Why does everyone insist on frowning on their birthdays? This is meant to be a happy day, Konami." He laughed when Konami sent a scowl in his direction. "We even got you a strawberry cake for your birthday. It's your favorite, isn't it?"

"You think you can bribe me with cake?"

"I know I can." Jin's smile lessened a bit, but he refused to let it fall away fully as he lowered his voice. "I know you're worried about Yuma. We all are, but please keep smiling."

Konami scoffed and turned away as she took a bit of her pizza. Ever since Yuma had told them about his body, she had been so scared for her student just up and dying in the middle of the night while they were all sleeping. After they saw his real body that day he faced off against his father, what Konami saw in her dreams was Yuma's trion body failing and he was left to die alone and in pain while they all slept on oblivious to his suffering.

When he went on the away mission, the worries persisted, but she was able to deal with it by knowing that even if something happened, he had all his friends and comrades by his side. He wouldn't be alone.

Now, though.

Now, he was alone with strangers in Galopoula.

"Konami," Jin called, drawing her attention back to him. "A few days before Yuma left, before he even agreed to the surgery, he said something to me."

"And that was?"

"'If you're happy, I'm happy.'" Jin replied. "Obviously, it means he doesn't want us to be living in fear or wallow in despair over him. He'll want us to be happy and living our lives." Jin knew that obviously Yuma wanted to be a part of this life with them. That was why he got so scared and depressed when Jin told him his death was coming. Despite Yuma's fears about dying soon, he never told his friends to cry for him. "I think it was something Yuma learned during the Mimic incident."

"What?" Konami asked sharply. There was nothing good to come out of the Mimic incident. That was one hellish week that none of them wanted to think about.

"When Kuga-san died, Yuma suffered a lot from his guilt over it as he felt he played a part in his father's death." Jin explained, pausing to take a sip of his drink to give Konami a moment to think that over. It was something they all realized. It wasn't hard to see since if Yuma talked of his father, all they needed to do was look in his eyes and they could see all the guilt and depression swirling in them. "He lived with that for years and admitted he didn't have fun for years until he came here. Despite that, the guilt still ate away at him." He glanced at his friend who was staring at him, still frowning as nothing about this conversation was going to make her smile. "When Kuga-san came back in the form of a Mimic, for as much as Yuma suffered through that week, I think seeing Mimic Kuga-san and then getting saved by his father in the end revealed something to Yuma."

"Are you saying that it was a good thing it happened?" Konami happened.

"No," Jin said sharply. "I would prefer it never happened, but I'm looking for a silver lining here, Konami. I think it helped Yuma with some of his guilt and he doesn't feel as guilty about living his life in his own terms anymore. He's accepted what his father did for him and that taught him that his father would want him to be happy. Even if Kuga-san is not here, he wants his son to be happy." He shot a sharp look to Konami. "And now Yuma is saying the same to us."

"I don't want him to die. I can't lose another friend." Konami whispered.

"That's not what I'm saying." Jin said. "Yuma's future is still up in the air, but right now, he's in Galopoula. He would want you to be smiling right now and having fun. You smiled when he was leaving. Where is it now?"

"That was a week ago." Konami said. "It's always better to see someone off with a smile." She huffed and threaded her fingers through her hair. "I understand what you are getting at, Jin. I do. It's just hard to smile all carefree like when we don't know what is going on with Yuma."

Jin shifted his attention off his friend to stare at everyone else in the room. At the way the Tamakoma members and Arashiyama squad blended together to talk and hang out as they ate. There were smiles and laughs, but Jin could also see the worry lines that crinkled on their faces. For as much as they all tried to focus on other things they had to get done, Yuma was in the back of their minds. They couldn't fully push him out of their minds because the unknown was absolutely terrifying.

If the surgery was taking place here in Japan, it probably would have been easier because they could have still seen Yuma right before his surgery. They could have seen him after the surgery. They could have seen him wake up. Or, they could have known when he died in the surgery when it happened.

But, being in Galopoula and not being in contact range meant that they were completely in the dark. They had no idea of what was happening and that was why they couldn't stop thinking about what was going on.

"Will it help if I say he's still alive?" Jin said.

"I thought we had no contact with them." Konami said.

"We don't, but Yuma's future is still undecided." Jin looked back at Konami, catching her eye and getting her to keep eye contact with him. "I see futures where he is here with us and futures where he isn't here. That means, right now, Yuma is at least still alive. That chance that he returns to us still exists."

It wasn't much, but Konami understood that was truly all Jin could give her. He had his side effect, but in this situation, that only helped him so much. He was still in the dark about what was truly going on in Galopoula just like them.

"So, smile for him?" Jin requested.

Konami's eye softened in sadness and understanding. Jin was smiling. He had been smiling every day, but while they were all in the same state of worry for Yuma, Jin was seeing it every day. The moment the future shifted to the worst, Jin would know because those paths where Yuma was in the future with them would just disappear. Despite knowing that could happen, Jin didn't let his smile waver.

"If something happens, you better tell me, Jin. Don't think you have to suffer with the knowledge by yourself." Konami shoved her friend's shoulder, shot him a smile and then went to mingle with her cousin.

It wasn't much. It wasn't big either, but Konami had forced her smile back into place. What Jin said wouldn't get her worries to just magically go away, but there was only one thing that could help them all live without worries right now.

"Hey, Kirie." Arashiyama greeted as his cousin joined his side.

"Jun," Konami greeted. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Mikumo-kun was telling me that Izumi said he might be ready to learn composite bullets soon." Jun replied.

"Soon?" Konami scoffed, nudging Osamu in the side. "Why soon and not now?"

"The stipulation to start those lessons was beating Yuiga in a hundred matches to start learning more advanced shooter techniques. We did that so next is composite bullets. Izumi-senpai wants me to win a ten-round match against Yuiga. I've managed to tie with him, but to start the composite bullet lessons, I need at least six wins out of ten." Osamu explained.

"Seriously?" Konami pinched Osamu's cheek. "He's the weakest A-Rank to ever exist. Get to it already."

Jun laughed. "Be nice, Kirie. That may be true, but Yuiga is improving too with his training with Osamu. They're both getting something out of these training exercises."

"Sounds like an excuse. You're learning from some of the best A-Rank agents we have." Konami complained.

"It doesn't matter how good the agents are." Kitora interjected. "Training still takes time. Mikumo-kun has only been getting advanced training for a few months. You can't expect him to magically be at our level after just a few months of training."

Jun whistled. "Wow, these girls are so harsh, aren't they, Mikumo-kun?"

Osamu smiled, pushing his glasses up. "Maybe that is true, but I've gotten used to them. Besides, they both are very good agents who know what they are doing. I should take their words to heart."

"Wha-huh."

"When did you become such a smooth talker?" Konami demanded while glancing at Kitora who looked simultaneously embarrassed and furious at Osamu's words. Sometimes, Konami truly did not understand what was going on through the younger girl's head. She knew Kitora loved being praised so she didn't know why she look aggravated at Osamu's words.

"Is it smooth talking when it's just speaking the truth?" Osamu asked confused.

Chika took a bite of her pizza. She was sitting at the table with Reiji as she didn't prefer standing and eating at the same time. She glanced up as Satori approached the table and dropped his plate at an empty seat and sat down.

"Hey, hey, Reiji-san, you should come to HQ sometime! We can have a sniper off." Satori suggested before taking a bite of his pizza.

"And what would that accomplish?" Reiji asked.

"It would be for fun. We'll see who has better aim. You or me with my twin snipe." Satori explained with a grin. "You don't do joint sniper training with us nearly enough. Keep taking the training lightly and someone is going to become better than you."

"I train solo here enough times." Reiji replied. "Or with Chika. And I'm aware you're just trying to egg me on for a match."

Satori sighed. "Aw, you're not fun." He glanced at Chika with a grin. "How do you deal with him as a mentor?"

"Reiji-san is an amazing teacher." Chika replied, grinning up at Satori. "I couldn't ask for a better teacher."

Satori almost faceplanted the table. "She doesn't get it at all." He smacked a hand on the table and looked back up. "Fine, if he's so great, you get him to come to joint sniping training with you sometime and we'll see how good his sniping skills still are."

"What do you think I do all day? Laze around?" Reiji asked.

"You could be. The only time we ever see you in action is during invasions." Satori replied.

"Isn't that true of all of Tamakoma-1 though?" Tokieda joined in on the teasing. He knew his teammate was just teasing Reiji to try to goad him into coming to HQ for training sometime so he was taking the chance to help him. "They hide from the solo rank booths at HQ. I think the last time we saw any of them train at HQ was during the Mimic incident and that only happened because they couldn't access their base at the time." He shot a grin towards Chika. "I know Tamakoma-1 is training your train to be A-Rank one day. Do you all plan to abandon HQ in the future when that finally happens?"

Chika smiled softly. "Hmm, that seems like it won't happen for a very long time."

"You think so?" Satori asked. "If you take a Meteor and just blow up the battlefield, you can get so many points in the Rank Wars!"

"Chika's attacks are powerful, but they're easy to see. Any good team that is prepared can dodge." Reiji pointed out. They saw that last season when Chika tried to take a snipe on four people. They all dodged the attack. Perhaps, it would have worked if Chika didn't take so long to take the shots, but the point was that just because her attacks were powerful, it didn't mean they were invincible.

"Well, there's that, but I meant that we don't plan to move up to A-Rank anytime soon." Chika replied.

"I thought that was the goal your team set for this season though?" Reiji asked confused.

Chika smiled sadly. "We set that goal at the start of the season when we had a full team."

The three boys stared at her in surprise, but that soon shifted a solemn understanding of what she was saying without voicing it out loud.

"You don't want to surprise him with being A-Rank when he comes back?" Tokieda asked.

"We can't try for A-Rank unless we ranked number two or one at the end of Rank War season. We don't know when he is coming back." Chika pointed out. "Besides, even if we try for A-Rank and get it, it wouldn't feel right. Yuma-kun wanted to aim for A-Rank because he thought it would be fun. I don't want to just hand it to him when he comes back."

Reiji snorted. "Yuma would definitely be upset to be just handed anything."

Rindo chuckled as he walked behind his agents. "Shinoda once offered to fast track Yuma to B-Rank since I made Yuma start at base points as C-Rank and Shinoda wanted him out of C-Rank. Apparently, Yuma turned him down point blank. That boy doesn't want anything handed to on a silver platter. I'm certain that is something Kuga-san taught his son. That he has to actually put in the effort and fight for what he wants. It means nothing if it is just given to you."

"Putting in the effort makes it much more satisfying when you get it." Reiji agreed. "It aligns very well with how Yuma lives his life." He shot a smile at his pupil. "You understand your teammate very well to know that."

Chika blushed, scratching the back of her head. It was because they spent so much time training together that she was able to learn so much about Yuma and came to understand him much better. The better she understood her teammates, the more natural and easier it became for her to shoot around her teammates. The trust they shared with each other and all their training made her more confident in shooting past their heads. It really helped that when she was first developing her skills in sniping that Yuma never flinched when her powerful blast would go past him.

The base was truly so noisy. Ever since Tamakoma-2 joined Tamakoma, a new life had been brought back to the branch. It was something Yuri wasn't here to see unfold as she was on the recruiting mission, but when she returned from it and saw the new life in the building, it brought a smile to her face.

This kind of excitement in Tamakoma was exactly what they all needed. It made their branch feel that much more welcoming and homely. It was a place where anyone could be welcomed with opened arms.

Yuri finished placing the candles in the cake. Eighteen on the side of the cake that was strawberry flavored for Konami. And twenty on the chocolate side of the cake for Arashiyama. it was perfect.

"Is it finally time for cake?" Yotaro asked.

Yuri laughed lightly, giving Yotaro a pat on the head. "A few more minutes. We have to sing first."

"Right!" Yotaro said. "Gather around everyone! We need to sing so we can eat cake!" He shouted his orders as he rode on Raijinmaru around the room. Raijinmaru nudged the leg of whoever was near to push them towards the table as that was where Yuri was heading towards with the cake.

"Uncle, your lighter." Yuri ordered.

Rindo planted the lighter in his niece's hand.

"Alright," Yuri began to light each of the candles on both sides of the cake. "Where are my birthday cousins?"

Arashiyama approached the table, smiling down on the cake. It was one huge cake, but based on the divide in the middle of the cake with the icing, he could tell there were two cakes. Konami's side had eighteen candles and had "Happy birthday, Kirie!" on it. While his side had twenty candles and had "Happy Birthday, Jun!" on it.

"You really didn't have to put in all the effort." Arashiyama said. It was nice of Tamakoma to go through the effort, but he was turning twenty. Birthday parties weren't really something he was overly concerned with nowadays.

"Says you." Konami flicked her cousin's shoulder. "I'm going to devour this cake."

Yuri clapped her hands. "First, we sing. Happy birthday to you!"

Yuri once again led the charge for starting the song to get everyone to sing happy birthday to Konami and Arashiyama. She knew there were plenty of concerns on everyone's minds right now. She knew it impossible for them to go a day without Yuma's name passing their lips because they were worried about how he was and if he was alive.

But that was why she wanted to do this. She wanted everyone to continue to have good times and to continue to smile. Life never stopped. Just because something bad was happening, that didn't mean life was frozen in place because of it. They needed to keep moving forward. Right now, Yuma wasn't here, but he would come back and he would have to run to catch up to them.

And when that happened, they would all be right here stretching their hands out towards Yuma to help pull him forward to their sides.

That was the future though.

For now, it was time for Konami and Arashiyama to celebrate their birthdays.

"Blow out the candles!" Yotaro hurried the two agents along, eager to get a piece of cake.

"Don't rush me! I need to make a wish!" Konami knocked her fist into Yotaro's helmet. She pulled her hair back to keep it out of the way, keeping tied in her fist behind her head as she leaned down to blow out the candles.

"I wish for Yuma to come home safely."