Light Shines Anew
Chapter 24: Tachikawa Squad
"Yuma? Are you with me?"
Someone was leaning over him.
Yuma blinked a few times to try to get the blurriness out of his eye.
When his vision cleared up, it was to see a young man with a buzz cut staring down at him, worry shining in his eyes.
"Yuma?"
Yuma twisted his head on the bed, pulling his attention away from the young man. His head didn't feel right. He couldn't think at all. Any thought that he tried to form just slipped away. The thoughts couldn't form at all.
"Yuma, it's me, Rata. Can you tell me if you can understand me?"
There was an annoying buzzing in the air.
The world went black.
Smoke wafted through Yuma's vision.
What was going on?
Where was he?
"Good morning, Kuga!"
For a moment, Yuma just blinked, memory vanishing as he twisted his head on the pillow to look at the doorway to examine the teenager standing there. He had dark blond hair, sharp gold eyes, and was wearing a long black coat. Yuma's eye shifted to the logo that was on his arm.
A-01.
What did that mean?
"Eh, not going to say anything back, Chibi? That's rude."
A new voice.
Yuma shifted attention to the taller male that came up behind the younger one, examining his grey hair and eyes. His eyes looked weird with the strange crosshatched design in them. They were strange, but Yuma didn't focus too much on them as he stared at the similar coat that he wore.
"Chibi?" Yuma repeated confused.
"Just Tachikawa-san's nickname for you. Don't worry about it." Izumi replied as he fully entered the room and stole the seat by Yuma's bed.
Yuma blinked, feeling confused as he looked at the person that was now known as Tachikawa. A nickname? Giving someone a nickname implied closeness, didn't it? Or was it an insult? Chibi meant small person, didn't it?
"I can see you overthinking from over here, Chibi. Stop it." Tachikawa said.
Yuma eventually just shrugged, wincing a bit as he felt his arm scream at him. This was so frustratingly stupid how he couldn't even do simple motions without his body constantly reminding him that it was broken. "Why are you here?" He muttered, trying to subtly massage his arm. He didn't think either of the people in front of him missed the action, but they were nice enough to not call him out on the action.
"To see our friend. It's been a couple weeks since we last saw you and we didn't get to talk to you yesterday." Izumi replied before pausing and staring at Yuma, at the eye that stared at him in that same unknowing manner as it did yesterday. "But maybe we should introduce ourselves first. I'm Izumi Kohei. I'm seventeen and work as a Border agent." He kicked out his leg to lightly kick his captain's ankle. "Introduce yourself without being an asshole."
Jin was right about the group of agents that came with him not being the best at being gentle with an amnesic kid. They were the rough kind of agents who didn't hesitate to speak their minds. He wasn't sure if the current Yuma could handle them, but right now, this was all they had. All of Yuma's nice friends, minus Jin, were in Japan.
"Tachikawa Kei. I'm twenty years old and the captain of the A-Rank number one squad in Border." Tachikawa announced.
"You just couldn't avoid slipping the A-Rank number one in there, could you?" Izumi asked dryly.
"I have to make sure the kid understands he is dealing with the best of the best of Border. See that, Chibi? You're in the best hands out there." Tachikawa turned back to Yuma, meeting his blank stare with a confident smirk. It sucked that the kid lost his memory, but Tachikawa wasn't going to let it get to him. He was sure his friends would be really upset about it, but Tachikawa wasn't concerned. That stare Yuma was giving them was blank as he didn't know them, but he saw the same Yuma they all knew shining through the confusion. They just needed to pull him out.
"A-Rank means nothing to me." Yuma said. "I don't get why you're so incessantly proud of it."
Izumi snorted while Tachikawa adopted an offended look.
"Yep, this brat is the same brat he was before he lost his memories. I don't get what Jin is worried about." Tachikawa grumbled.
"Probably because people get upset when their friend forgets all the moments they shared." Izumi pointed out. He turned back to Yuma with a grin. "How about I give you a rundown of how Border works so you know what A-Rank and S-Rank and B-Rank mean? We shouldn't make Jin-san do all the explaining. I'm perfectly capable of doing some of it." He jerked a thumb towards Tachikawa. "Not so much my captain here. He can be bit of an idiot."
"I am right here, Izumi." Tachikawa said.
"And?" Izumi drawled.
Yuma blinked and then blinked again at the two arguing agents. He supposed being on the same team meant nothing about respecting each other. "What is san?"
"Huh?" Izumi glanced back at Yuma. "San?"
"You keep saying it." Yuma said. "Tachikawa-san. Jin-san. I thought their names were Tachikawa and Jin."
Izumi gaped at Yuma for a moment. Yuma had been using Japanese with them. He knew the kid was doing that because it was the language he fell into when Jin started speaking Japanese with him yesterday which meant Yuma knew the language. That wasn't surprising since Yuma told Izumi once before that his father taught him the language growing up. But, did Kuga never teach his son honorific?
"I see we have a lot to teach you. At least you're not being disrespectful on purpose." Tachikawa said.
Yuma's expression twisted into one confusion, which got Izumi to snort in amusement.
"Alright, we'll start with a small lesson on honorific and then I'll explain Border's hierarchy to you. Does that work, Kuga?" Izumi asked.
"I guess. I don't see you leaving unless you get your way."
"Scratch that." Tachikawa grumbled. "He's being disrespectful on purpose."
*L*S*A*
"This is the worst. I could be in Japan right now."
"Are you still sick?" Toma glanced at his captain who was doing his best to dig his face into the table. He had dragged his captain off the away ship to drag him through the city to get him some fresh air. The idea was that the fresh air would help him and he could get the chance to stretch his legs as they explored the city. Digging his face into a table at a restaurant was not going to help.
"Why did I ever let Maki convince me to be an agent? Being an engineer was so much better for me." Fuyushima groaned.
Toma rolled his eyes as he was too used to his captain's complaints about Maki recruiting him to be an agent. The complaints only ever came when he was feeling sick from the away ship. This was when he was at his most miserable after all. Most of the time, Fuyushima was studying Triggers and Trion and strategy or he was lounging around. Being a trapper, he didn't have to do any extensive training like the rest of the agents had to do. He excelled best in invasions by working as a strategist as he laid down his traps in the most efficient place that would give his allies the best advantage.
"We're only going to be here for a couple days. Is this really how you want to spend those few days?" Toma asked. "It seems like a shame to not take in the sights in a nation that isn't hostile to us." He accentuated his point by stretching his arms behind his head and folded them there as he fully relaxed. It wasn't often they went to Neighbor nations where they could be so calm. They usually always had to be on edge of the Neighbors realizing they were outsiders and being wary of them. Coming to a nation where they were welcomed by a prince and given a small tour of the city on their way to the hospital was a rarity for them.
Fuyushima groaned and raised a hand and closed his palm into a fist to ask for silence. "I wanted to spend these days in Japan. How did my plans change so much?" He didn't even know why he was asking this. It was clearly Jin's fault this happened because he wanted to rush to Galopoula to check on Yuma.
Snickering at the complaints that always amused him, Toma turned to look out the window of the restaurant, watching the people go about their days. Having been to the Neighborhood a few times already, Toma knew he held no hatred for the Neighbors. Sure, they got attacked by Neighbors plenty of times and got invaded by them, but the Neighbors that did nothing to do them or the ones who wanted to drop the hostility between them were interesting.
It was the reason why when he met Yuma, he didn't think anything of it or his Neighbor status. Like Kageura, he just saw Yuma as someone to be fun around. He knew they had a mission to go after Yuma when he first came to Japan and he accepted the mission without question because a Neighbor they knew nothing about roaming freely in Japan with a Black Trigger was dangerous. It was certainly why Kazama had been so on edge when they first heard about Yuma.
However, any hostility ended for most of the away mission squads back then when the higher ups accepted Yuma's enlistment into Border. If the higher ups were dropping the matter and trusting the Neighbor, then Toma, like most of the others, just accepted the matter. The higher ups and Jin all insisted it would be fine so if the Neighbor wanted to give his loyalty to Border, then Toma would accept it.
Then he started to see the kid in the Rank Wars and he couldn't help but grin as he looked like a lot of fun. He was always eager to fight against a strong opponent. It was a shame that Attackers and Snipers didn't fight in solo rank wars nor could they do joint training.
Toma didn't actually get to start hanging out with Yuma until Kageura started to invite him to hang out with them outside of training. It had been a surprise the first time he saw Yuma joining their group, but it wasn't a bad one. Outside of Rank Wars, Toma learned that Yuma was actually pretty easy going and carefree. It was the complete opposite of his serious, no-nonsense agent persona that appeared when he was in a fight.
And now that same person was staring at them with suspicion. His easy smile had slipped away as caution and confusion replaced it.
It certainly wasn't how Toma expected things to go when they finally saw Yuma again.
*L*S*A*
"Did you get all that?" Izumi asked.
"It's not that complicated, Izumi." Yuma said. "A-Rank are elites. S-Rank are top elites because of their Black Triggers. B-Ranks are the main force of agents. C-Ranks are trainees."
Izumi's brow twitched at the lack of honorific on his name despite the explanation he just gave Yuma about honorifics. He took a moment to just breath and let it go. He couldn't expect Yuma to fully understand the need of honorifics just because he explained what they all meant. Right now the kid in front of him with no memories of the last five years hadn't been to Japan to yet so he wasn't just going to acclimate to how they did things just because Izumi told him more about Japan.
It seemed his captain found it pretty amusing as he was standing at the end of Yuma's bed, just playing with a stuffed octopus that had been sitting there. He flipped it over to the angry looking octopus side and waved it towards Izumi.
Izumi shot a deadpanned look at his captain.
Tachikawa threw the octopus at Izumi's face. Leaving his teammate to fumble with catching the toy, he walked around the other side of the bed so he was on Yuma's left side. He grinned at the kid when Yuma had to turn his head to follow him since his left eye was still covered under bandages and he didn't want to lose sight of someone coming at him from his blind sight.
"Just wanted to see." Tachikawa said by way of explanation when he grabbed Yuma's left arm to bring it up higher. He felt Yuma's arm tense up, but that was it. He examined the bracelet that was seemingly locked on Yuma's wrist. It was a simple silver bracelet with a white line that wrapped around it that was enclosed firmly around his wrist. It was also something that he knew Yuma never had before. "I'm going to assume this is a Trigger? The one that powers your new limbs and organs?"
Yuma curled his hand into a fist and yanked it away from Tachikawa to pull his arm towards him.
Tachikawa let it happen, just shrugging when Izumi shot a glare at him from over the bed and launched the octopus back at his face.
"It is." Yuma replied, keeping his arm, and by extension, the Trigger, pulled into his chest to keep it away from the agents. This Trigger was the only thing keeping him alive. It didn't have any offensive abilities as it was a Trigger designed with the sole purpose of creating Trion prosthetics for those who lost limbs on their real body. Or, at least, that was what Doctor Deacon explained to him when he woke up and was calm enough to listen to what his doctor had to say.
"He's not going to take your Trigger, Kuga." Izumi promised. "He was just curious about the Trigger and didn't go about it the right way to ask you to see it. I told you when we came in that my captain is a bit of an idiot. Don't hold it against him."
Tachikawa threw the octopus back at Izumi's face.
Yuma's brows furrowed as the two agents kept playing a game of toss with that stuffed animal. He didn't even know why it was in here. There was a lot of stuff in this room that Yuma was not familiar with when he woke up. According to Rata, it all came out of his bag, but the only thing in the bag that he had been familiar with was the mini Replica.
"Can I ask something?" Yuma asked.
"Hmm," Izumi paused in throwing the toy back at his captain's face. "You can ask anything, Kuga. We are here, after all, to get you caught up on things."
Yuma pointed at the toy. "What is with that? I don't think I ever owned toys before but it was in my stuff when I woke up here."
"You're going to break Yu-san's heart, Kuga." Izumi lowered his arm to stop from throwing the toy so he could hold it out towards Yuma instead, but the younger agent made no attempt to take it from him. "Before you left for your surgery, we had a mini festival to celebrate your birthday. You won this from my team's game. You didn't know what prize you wanted, so Yu-san chose this for you."
Yuma blinked a few times. Why did everything Izumi say just cause him more questions? "Who is Yu?"
"No, no, no." Izumi said frantically, dropping the toy in Yuma's lap. "Her name is Kunichika Yu, Kuga. She is the operator of our team and you need to address her as Kunichika-san, Kuga." He was more than willing to let Yuma get off without adding the honorifics to their names, even if it was annoying, for the time being as the kid was confused, but he would not let it go with his operator. They were really going to have push more on the honorifics later on when they were back in Japan though.
Yuma scowled, getting more confused by the second. He thought the agents were here to make things clearer for him. "You address her by her last name, but want me to use her first name?" That made no sense to him.
"What?" Tachikawa said confused. "Kunichika is her surname."
"Surname is the family name." Yuma argued. "And it goes last."
"Ah, I see." Izumi said. This whole time, Yuma thought he was using their first names. His father may have taught him the Japanese language, but there were clearly some things, a lot of things, left out. "Let's do introductions again, Kuga. I'm Izumi Kohei. I'm seventeen years old and a Border agent. Now you go."
Yuma frowned, staring at Izumi in confusion. He really didn't get the point of this at all when they already knew each other's names. "I'm Yuma Ku–"
Izumi made a buzzing noise, cutting off Yuma and leaving him confused. "In Japan, we introduce ourself with last name and then first name. It's more polite and respectful to use people's last names when talking to them unless you are really close to them. When we introduced ourself, we put our last names first and since you immediately used them, we never realized you forgot this fact."
"Ah," Yuma nodded in understanding. "My name is Kuga Yuma. I'm ele–"
This time, it was Tachikawa to make the buzzing noise to stop Yuma from finishing. He smirked at the annoyed look shot his way. "Wouldn't have to if you did it right, Kuga."
Yuma's cheeks puffed out in frustration before he sighed and tried again. "My name is Kuga Yuma. I'm ele–argh, sixteen years old. My side effect is lie detector and I work as a mercenary."
Izumi buzzed him again.
"What now?" Yuma asked.
"You used to be a mercenary in the Neighborhood." Izumi cannot believe what he was saying. He never knew Yuma classified himself a mercenary before he came to Japan. He supposed it made sense. Yuma didn't have a home as he traveled the Neighborhood pretty much his whole life. The mercenary title was probably self-proclaimed since he had nothing else. "Now, you got a new life in Japan and you work as a Border agent."
They really had to get this in Yuma's head. When it was time to bring him back to Japan, they needed to make sure that Yuma didn't let anything about his Neighbor status slip. If he went around saying he was a mercenary while only having memories as an eleven-year-old, it was going to make a lot of people suspicious.
His story needed to be concrete. They would have to ride his ass about this until it became natural for him to say with no mistakes.
"Kuga, can you–"
Knock. Knock.
Izumi gave up on his question and leaned back in the chair to look over at his shoulder.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I need Yuma."
"Who are you?" Tachikawa scanned the young woman up and down. She didn't look much older than him, but she was dressed in some red scrubs with her blond hair tied back in a ponytail and gentle brown eyes that watched the group.
"Evangelia. I'm Yuma's physical therapist." Evangelia introduced herself, walking into the room with a wheelchair. "I heard from Doctor Deacon that you are Yuma's allies from Meeden. It's a pleasure to meet you, but I need Yuma for his physical therapy." She smiled in a soft, teasing manner when she saw Yuma's expression twist from confusion that was aimed at his allies to one of displeasure aimed at her. She was quite aware of the fact that Yuma hated physical therapy. Very few people liked it because of how uncomfortable it was. Attaching Trion limbs to a flesh and blood body wasn't as simple as a surgery and everything was good for them. There was time needed to get used to the new limbs and making sure they assimilated to the body properly.
"Of course. Don't let us keep you." Izumi said. It was best to get Yuma through his check ups before they had to leave Galopoula.
"If you like, you may go to the cafeteria to get some lunch." Evangelia offered. "It's on the fifth floor. Yuma and I will be on the fourth floor." She pulled the railing down on the bed and pushed the wheelchair closer to the bed as she learned early on that Yuma preferred to be as independent as possible.
While she stepped to the side to let Yuma get himself off the bed, Evangelia hid a smile by turning her head when she saw the two Meeden warriors keeping their eyes on Yuma. Neither made a move to help him so they must have a good idea of Yuma's stubborn independence, but they looked ready to move if Yuma faulted, not that he would. This was a routine Yuma was quite familiar with by this point.
As Yuma scooted off the bed and gingerly set his feet on the ground, he was forced the grab the mattress since he needed a second to stable himself before he turned to sit in the wheelchair. While he did that, Evangelia grabbed his slippers and dropped them in front of him so he could slide his feet, one bandaged and one bare, into them.
"Good luck with your therapy, Chibi." Tachikawa said.
Yuma stared at him and Izumi. He tilted his head into consideration as he looked at them. He was very confused with everything that was going on and he just wanted things to go back to normal. The normal that he was familiar with. These Border agents weren't familiar to him, but he was clearly familiar to them. They even went so far out of their way to come to Galopoula to see him and took so much time to explain things to him.
"Thank you for visiting me, Izumi, Tachikawa." Yuma said politely.
"Yeah, no problem." Izumi waved as Evangelia wheeled Yuma out of the room. He kept the grin on his face until he was sure they were far enough down the hall and then the smile slipped away. "What was that? Why the hell is he so formal?"
"Formal?" Tachikawa repeated. "Did you hear a single honorific come out of his mouth? He's rude as all can be!"
"Not what I meant." Izumi retorted. "His Japanese. It was completely formal." The Yuma they knew from a few weeks ago was using informal Japanese. It had been something that just started to slip into Yuma's speech from talking to people in Japan.
"How can his father teach him Japanese, but not how to respectfully address his elders?" Tachikawa complained.
"I don't see how you can complain about that when half the time you don't even call him by his name." Izumi countered as he left the room. The idea of lunch did sound appealing. It would give him a chance to try out the kind of food Galopoula served.
"It's a sign of fondness!" Tachikawa called after his teammate's back as he followed him down the hall.
*L*S*A
Jin wanted to climb up to the roof of the highest building in the city and just overlook the city from that height. He was sure the view would be amazing, but he pushed his urge to be at the highest point down. It would not be a good idea to do that in a city that wasn't his own. It might just cause a panic among the people here who just got their freedom back from Aftokrator. He shouldn't instigate anything by unnerving the citizens by being an unknown soldier on one of their roofs.
So, instead, Jin found himself walking the streets, taking in the sights of the busy streets as people went about their day. He eyed two of the people he walked past, seeing their futures as they were engaged in combat with Trion Soldiers. By the look of them, they were soldiers on patrol. Unlike Mikado City, the nations in the Neighborhood didn't have a Restricted Zone where they could force Gates to open. For that reason, they needed to be out patrolling the city in case any Gates opened.
The Galopoula warriors were few in number, but they were elites at what they did. Trion soldiers would hardly be an issue for them. They were likely going to get attacked by some Trion soldiers from the nearby nations to test how Galopoula's defenses were as they just got their freedom back.
Jin continued his stroll down the street, checking the near futures of those he passed. He did it partly out of habit, but also because he was checking the safety of them and his own team. When he told Yuma he wanted to send him to Galopoula, he truly meant it when he said he trusted Rata and that Galopoula wouldn't betray them. Even so, Jin was in the habit of always checking things over and over to make sure things would still be okay and that nothing had changed.
Being at the hospital was something he wanted to do as he wanted to check on Yuma, but he didn't want to crowd Yuma with too many people and he wanted his friend to get used to the others as well which was why he sent Tachikawa and Izumi to check up on them. After talking to Yuma last night and hearing the sharp, cautious tone he held with him and Utagawa, Jin realized that his friend could handle the foul mouths of the others, particularly Tachikawa and Kikuchihara.
Yuma may have the mind of his eleven year old self, but speaking to him yesterday reminded Jin of the fact that his friend was a trained soldier even at eleven. He didn't need to be treated like a completely fragile child. In fact, Jin had a feeling that Yuma would be completely offended if they even tried to treat him like the child he looked like.
Jin honestly didn't know what the right call was with his friend. Amnesia was never something that he had to deal with. He saw friends dying with his foresight. He saw friends getting hurt. He's manipulated battlefields to save those friends. He's used his foresight to help him win fights.
What his foresight never showed him was a friend losing their memory. He supposed there were still new things even for Jin to have to deal with in his life. As much as Jin wished his friend hadn't lost his memories, Jin could see this as a good learning experience for them on how to handle someone with amnesia.
He had to find a positive in here somewhere.
"Jin-san."
Jin paused in his walk as Maki's voice buzzed in his ear. "What's up, Maki?"
"There's Gates opening."
"That's not too surprising. This is the Neighborhood. We told Rata we wouldn't engage in any fights though so we–"
"I'm aware." Maki cut him off. "However, I thought you might be interested that they are opening near the hospital Kuga is staying in."
Oh.
Come on!
He couldn't send Yuma anywhere!
It was like trouble was just attracted to him!
Jin spun on his heel and ran back down the road. "Tachikawa-san and Izumi are there. Have Kunichika contact them."
"Already on it. Should we engage or stay out of it like we promised Galopoula we would do?" Maki asked.
Jin's eyes narrowed as he stared at the future. Someone was attacking Galopoula. It was something he saw earlier, but he also saw the soldiers being able to do that job. However, those soldiers he saw earlier were not heading to the hospital. He didn't actually know if there were any soldiers near the hospital.
The promise to not get into fights had to do with not getting into with the people of Galopoula. They were in the process of forming an alliance so their best bet was not to cause trouble with Galopoula. However, fighting off intruders wasn't the same and he was sure Rata would understand if they defended the hospital. It wouldn't just be protecting their ally. They would be protecting the other patients and employees there.
That was more important than standing by and not causing trouble.
"Tell them to defend the hospital. I'm on my way to help them."
*L*S*A*
Izumi got that this was the Neighborhood. Despite how common it was now in Japan, Gates opening in the Neighborhood was still a lot more common. For that reason, he figured Gates would be opening at some point and attacking the city while they were in Galopoula.
What he did not figure into that was sitting in the cafeteria, trying to enjoy lunch as he tried Galopoula's food, and see Gates opening up right outside the window. This truly was some really crappy luck to be happening right now.
"Well, look at that. Something fun to do." Tachikawa smirked as he watched the Gates opening, clearly feeling differently than Izumi about this bad luck.
"We're not supposed to fight here." Izumi reminded. "We promised Rata to not cause trouble."
"Jin-san said to engage and defend the hospital." Kunichika's voice came over their comms immediately refuting what Izumi just said. "He's also on his way there."
Izumi leaned back in his seat, dropping his silverware on his tray as it seemed eating was not going to happen. "And we won't piss off the Galopoula soldiers?"
"Hmm, I don't know."
Tachikawa stood up from his seat, stretching his arms above his head. "If Jin said to do it, then that means this is free game." He planted a hand on his sword at his side, smirking as he watched Trion Soldiers that were already climbing on the outside of the building and slamming its blade into the window. While the employees and patients in the cafeteria ran to escape, Tachikawa pulled his sword out.
"Get down!" Izumi shouted.
Experienced as the people here were in getting attacked, not a single person hesitated in following the command even if they didn't know who it came from. It saved them from losing their heads as Tachikawa unleashed his Senku as he drew his sword from the sheath. The slash slammed through the window and in return, the Marmod's eye which sliced it in half.
With an eager bounce in his step, Tachikawa approached the now broken window. "Izumi, get back to Kuga. Make sure he doesn't die. I'm going to go have some fun."
"We're really doing this?" Izumi said. He really couldn't believe Tachikawa and Jin. They wasted no time in going back on their word to not fight.
"We're going to be allies with Galopoula in the future, right?" Tachikawa asked amused. "We wouldn't be really good allies if we didn't assist in protecting their city." He planted a foot on the ledge of the window as he got prepared to jump down to the ground to play with the Trion Soldiers. "Besides, we have to protect our injured comrade."
Izumi gave his captain a deadpanned look as he launched himself out of the window and down below to the deal with the Neighbors. He was totally using 'protecting Yuma' as an excuse to go fight while making Izumi the guard dog.
Well, whatever.
Evangelia said she was taking Yuma down to the fourth floor. At least it wasn't too far from here.
Izumi paused in walking out of the cafeteria.
Actually, they were on the fifth floor and a Marmod already reached up here to try to attack the cafeteria.
And Yuma was on the floor below them.
Oh, crap.
*L*S*A*
Sweat was dripping down Yuma's brow. His knuckles were white from how hard he was gripping the railing as he focused on walking down the small aisle. He hated coming to the physical therapy room. He was ele-sixteen!
Damn it!
Yuma glared down at his feet as he tried to get his feet stable under him. They were shaking so hard as he walked down the lane that was set up for practice for those who needed to relearn to walk.
This made no sense.
He understood what everyone was saying. He was sixteen and lost five years worth of memories. He looked eleven because his body had been sealed away for five years and because of that, he couldn't grow. His body's growth had become stunted because of that.
Logically, it would make sense to not trust anything that anyone was telling him. When he looked up at the wall mirror that was in the room to help people see what they were doing in their therapy, he saw a baby face of a child. If anyone else saw this and was told they were sixteen, they wouldn't believe anything those people were saying.
It would be so clear they were lying.
However, Yuma learned he wasn't like those people when he realized his dad's side effect was still coursing through his veins. Yuma wasn't completely sure of how everything with the lie detector side effect worked. He was sure there were things he had to learn about it, but the basics of it was that he knew when people lied to him.
As confusing and frustrating and scary as everything was from the moment he woke up, he knew for a fact that when they told him it's been five years and his body had been sealed in a Black Trigger in all those years, they were telling the truth. He knew it was true. He knew it made sense to them even if it wasn't all that logical.
But, it didn't to Yuma.
He listened to them.
He knew it was the truth.
But, for Yuma, it was unnerving to suddenly have everything be completely different from what he remembered.
It certainly didn't help that Oyaji's smile as he turned to dust was burned into Yuma's mind.
Yuma sighed in relief when he reached the end of his walking path. His new Trion leg was throbbing where it met his flesh and blood body. It felt so wrong to have the two attached like this. What was he thinking when he agreed to this surgery?
"Good job, Yuma." Evangelia complimented with a little clap. "Tell me, is it getting easier with each day?"
Yuma's brows furrowed, glaring down at his bare feet. He hated how hard this was for him. It was getting easier with each day he did it, which was in part why he didn't fight Evangelia on the physical therapy. His dad always told him to train his body so he could do things by himself. He wasn't going to get anywhere by lying in bed and crying about how much physical therapy sucked.
"Yeah, I just wish–" Yuma's reply fell silent. As he was staring in the mirror, he could see the black Gates that were opening in the sky behind him. "Evangelia!"
That was all Yuma got before he was getting slammed into by Evangelia. She wrapped her arms around his small form just in time to protect him as a Marmod fell from the Gate and slammed into the window, shattering the glass, leaving it to rain down on the room's occupants.
Something warm hit Yuma's face. He looked up at Evangelia's face to see blood trailing down her face where it dropped down onto Yuma's face. Despite bleeding, her eyes were still open as her normally gentle look turned into one of fierce rage as she glared at the Trion Soldier that was bending the frame of the window to get itself in.
Yuma pat Evangelia's arm, trying to get her to let him sit up. She understood she tackled him to protect him from the glass, but this was hurting. His new limbs were on fire. He needed his space back.
"We need to go." Evangelia pushed herself off of Yuma, but when she tried to stand, she fell back to her knees and went to grab her lower leg.
Following the action, Yuma winced when he saw the glass that had embedded itself in her leg, coating her leg in blood. They really made a fine duo. Her with an injured, bleeding leg and him with a Trion prosthetic leg that he was still getting used to and was currently trembling from the exertion of his physical therapy.
The bleeding needed stopped.
Yuma knew that much, but more important than that was the Marmod that had broken the window frames and was pulling its body into the room.
This was easy.
"Protect yourself by yourself. Don't rely on others to save you." Yugo's voice echoed.
All Yuma needed to do was activate his Trigger. He's killed Marmods be–
Yuma stared at his hand that he had thrown out in front of him. He had been...
A green shield produced from a glowing ring on his left hand.
What was he doing?
Yuma blinked back to reality, finding the Marmod bearing down on him.
He didn't have a Trigger one him right now.
His Trigger was gone.
Fear surged through Yuma as he watched those blades coming for him. His dad saved him just for Yuma to die at the claws of a Marmod tearing through his body.
Claws?
Black claws tore through Yuma's body, uncaring of the scream that was torn out of his throat. Merciless, cold eyes stared down at Yuma's shredded body.
The blades were going to tear him apart all over again.
Bullets suddenly ripped through the air to slam into the blades of the Marmod, slicing them off of the Marmod to prevent them from impaling Yuma. Those bullets were quickly followed by another set that twisted around Yuma's body to slam into the Marmod's eye, tearing through it so easily, leaving black Trion filling the air.
"Oh, man, you're a trouble magnet wherever you go. We really can't leave you alone for a minute."
Yuma looked over his shoulder to see Izumi in the doorway.
"Numbers are key to fighting. Nobody can do everything alone. Don't be averse to relying on allies when they come to your aid." Yugo's voice whispered in his ear.
"Izumi-san." Yuma felt relief course through him at the sight of the Border agent.
Izumi's eyes widened marginally at the honorific. "You remember me?" He asked as he walked into the room.
"You were in my room earlier. My memory isn't that bad." Yuma grumbled.
Disappointment raced through Izumi, but he quickly pushed it to the side so he was smiling and crouching by Yuma's side. "My captain is dealing with the situation outside." He glanced towards the dead Marmod. He wasn't really sure where the best place to go would be. This wasn't like Mikado City at all, and normally on away missions, they weren't protecting the nation they were in. They were just keeping themselves alive usually.
"Yuma's room." Evangelia said.
"What?"
"His room is an inner room of the hospital with fortified walls. It's safer than here." Evangelia explained, grimacing in pain as she applied pressure to her leg.
"That sure if convenient." Izumi replied.
"His highness orders. We're supposed to treat our guest with the utmost courtesy and protection while he is here." Evangelia explained. Not that it was hard to do what Rata asked of them. For the most point, Yuma was a sweet kid who was just confused and frustrated from his lack of memories. She had no problem treating him gently.
"Right." Izumi held a hand out to Yuma to help him to his feet. "Let's go."
Yuma stared at the hand stretched out to him. To grab it, he needed his right arm. His new Trion prosthetic...Yuma stretched out heft left hand, forcing Izumi to switch which hand he had held out.
"Whoops, my bad. Your arm must still be hurting." Izumi took Yuma's hand in a solid grip and pulled him to his feet in one fluid motion. He dropped his free hand on Yuma's shoulder to help him stabilize as his legs were shaking a bit. When Yuma was able to stand without falling, Izumi turned to Evangelia. "What can I do for you?"
Evangelia looked around the destroyed room until she found her jacket over by the table. "My jacket."
"Right."
Once Izumi handed her the jacket, Evangelia got to work quickly tying it around her leg to staunch the bleeding. As she did that, Izumi walked over to the window to check for any more approaching enemies. Instead of seeing more enemies approaching them, he found Jin and Tachikawa engaged in a contest once again.
He didn't even know why he was bothered on where to take Yuma when those two were here.
"Jin-san and Tachikawa-san are making quick work of the Trion Soldiers." Izumi said, turning back to Evangelia and Yuma. As he made his way back over to them, Evangelia grabbed the railing and used it as leverage to pull herself up to her feet. "I see Kuga isn't the only stubborn person here."
Evangelia shot a strain smile towards him. "I have to much the stubbornness of my patients."
"Can I at least offer you an arm so you don't fall flat on your face?" Izumi asked.
"Thank you."
Izumi took her arm and threw it over her shoulder and then glanced at Yuma. "Can you walk?" He really hoped so. Izumi could not be helping two people get around right now. He still had to be available on the very unlikely, rare chance that a Trion Soldier got passed Tachikawa and Jin.
Yuma nodded. "I can."
Izumi highly doubted that. He didn't know much, or anything really, about prosthetics, including Trion ones, and he knew even less about physical therapy, but with the way Yuma's legs were trembling, he doubted it was easy. Even so, their Yuma wouldn't have hesitated to admit he needed help.
A sigh escaped Izumi at the thought. That wasn't right. This Yuma and their Yuma was the same person in front of him. The only difference between them was five years worth of memories which meant five years less of experience. Those five years determined the stubborn nature of Yuma of whether he would request help or not. A Yuma with only eleven years worth of memories was more stubborn and too prideful to ask for help.
Well, that stubborn nature would get Yuma in trouble one day, but right now, Izumi was going to accept it. Once the initial shock of almost getting killed wore off, Yuma seemed perfectly calm. That felt weird for a child who almost got killed, but Izumi guessed this was pretty normal for the Neighbor child. It meant that he didn't have to worry about Yuma hesitating in moving to get back to his room.
*L*S*A*
Jin came flying down from the sky with a Scorpion blade already formed in his hand. His blade slammed through the Bander's head that he landed on. A second blade formed in his free hand which he threw behind him directly at a Marmod's eye, killing it instantly.
"Your kōhai is a trouble magnet."
Jin smirked as Tachikawa appeared, slicing through another nearby Marmod with his Senku. "I hardly think it's fair to blame Yuma. We're in the Neighborhood after all. This was bound to happen."
Even as he said that, he did get what Tachikawa was saying. Yuma did seem to get himself into trouble very easily. It was just that more often than not, they didn't give it much attention since Yuma was also very capable of handling himself. He wasn't someone that typically needed saved.
Typically, because as they learned during the Mimic incident, it didn't matter how strong someone was. At some point, everyone needed help, and right now, Yuma was without a Trigger so he was left to rely on them to keep him safe in the hospital.
"This is the one time where I will let his bad luck off the hook." Tachikawa said.
Jin shot a look of disbelief at his friend. Tachikawa would say something like that. There were plenty of fighting maniacs in Border who got an adrenaline rush from combat, but Jin would definitely say that Tachikawa was the worst of everyone. At least all the other fighting maniacs don't beg for a fight to happen or for a Black Trigger to walk into their path.
"Like old times, right, Jin?" Tachikawa asked.
"Perhaps not the best idea to play a game while not in our Restricted Zone." Jin replied, and yet, even as he said that, he jumped off his dead Bander and raced towards the next Neighbor, but before he could slice his Scorpion through it, a shot came raining down from the sky to pierce through its armor. Jin immediately pulled himself to a stop and jumped back a step before looking in the direction the shot came from. "I had that one, Toma."
"If you're going to drag us on an away mission, I'm not going to sit around the whole time in boredom." Toma's voice buzzed in Jin's comms.
Jin rolled his eyes. Tachikawa and Toma were both just waiting for something to happen to ease their boredom.
*L*S*A*
"How long has he been doing physical therapy?" Izumi asked softly. He was speaking to Evangelia, but his eyes were locked on Yuma who looked to be concentrating very hard on putting one foot in front of the other. His entire body seemed to be completely tensed up as he tried to keep himself upright. Izumi had never seen someone have to relearn how to walk since walking seemed so completely natural. It wasn't something he ever had to think about so he never realized just how difficult it was for someone to have to figure out how to walk again. He supposed Yuma's struggle came from having to use a prosthetic. It was a Trion limb which Yuma should be used to, but it was a Trion limb attached to a flesh and blood body. It had to feel really strange to him.
"It's been about nine days since we started physical therapy." Evangelia grimaced as her next step put too much weight on her injured leg. "He's actually doing very well. I suppose that is his stubborn nature pushing him forward."
Izumi raised a brow as he watched Yuma plant a hand on the wall to help him keep his balance as he walked towards his room. He really knew nothing about physical therapy, but if his physical therapist said this was good progress, he would have to believe her. Besides, he knew how stubborn Yuma was.
"Izumi, Tachikawa-san, Jin-san, and Toma-san are finishing up on their end. How is it going for you?" Kunichika's voice buzzed in Izumi's ear.
"All good. I found Kuga. He's fine." Izumi replied. "I'm taking him back to his room." He would like to drop Evangelia off with a doctor, but this wasn't their world. There wasn't anything else they could do except to kill the Trion Soldiers. There wasn't anyone they could contact to get assistance from.
At his name, Yuma glanced back at Izumi. "Who are you talking to?"
Izumi twisted his head to show off the side of his head to Yuma. "Comms, Kuga. I'm talking to my operator."
"Oh?" Yuma looked intrigued by that, which confused Izumi. Comms were a very common type of device. Then again, didn't Yuma say he worked as a mercenary before? He knew Yuma had his father growing up before he died. Did Yuma and Yugo not use any communications devices like this?
"Kunichika, right?" Yuma said, remembering what Izumi said this morning about their backwards way of introducing people.
"Kunichika-san." Izumi corrected, frowning when Yuma wrinkled his nose in confusion and just turned back around to keep walking. "I let you get it away with me and Tachikawa-san, but you really need to start using them, Kuga. You'll run into a lot of problems in Japan if you don't use them."
Yuma paused on his next step, frown pulling at his face. "Japan?" He repeated confused.
Izumi didn't pause in walking until he had walked past Yuma. He had thought Yuma would start up walking again, but when he didn't, that's when Izumi came to a stop to look back at Yuma. That red eye was looking down in confusion, brows furrowed as if not understanding what Izumi said.
Was it not obvious?
Did Yuma not realize that they came here to take him back with them?
He knew Yuma lost his memories of being a Border agent, but they spent all this time telling him about Border and about who they were. Surely, Yuma realized that. If he didn't, then why did he think they came here to see him?
"Not a conversation you want to start right now." Evangelia warned. "This requires a calm setting without a battle happening outside."
"Right, I'll have Jin-san handle it." Izumi decided. The power elite would be much better at handling this type of conversation than Izumi would be. "Come on, Kuga. We're almost to your room."
"Right." Yuma muttered and started to move forward. "Hey, why do you insist on me using honorifics, but you don't use them with my name?" It was really important, but he noticed Izumi and Tachikawa doing this with him and he noticed Tachikawa didn't use one on Izumi's name earlier. He was curious, but mostly, he was just asking right now to distract himself from the throbbing in his leg.
"You're younger than me. With people your age or younger than you, you can get away without using the honorifics. Some people always use the honorifics, even with those younger than them. Some don't. However, if someone is older than you, you should always use it to address them respectfully." Izumi shot a smirk over at Yuma. "That includes us, but we've been letting it go for the time being as you're trying to get adjusted to everything. It won't last though, Kuga, so you should try to get used to them."
Yuma just blinked and found himself frowning again. It was a strange concept to him. He always just addressed people by their given name. Well, except for the generals in Calvaria. He used their titles for them. Maybe the honorifics were similar to that?
So strange.