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.

7. Ch 7: Confrontations

Light Shines Anew

Chapter 7: Confrontations

It was late, but not too late when Yuma made his way back to Tamakoma. Knowing what his captain was like, Yuma suspected that he would still be awake as he overthought everything for the match tomorrow. At this point, there was nothing more they could do, but that never stopped Osamu from sitting around and constantly going over what they planned. Yuma thought it was silly, but this was how Osamu caught up with the rest of them since he wasn't strong.

Yuma came to a stop outside his captain's room. Just as he expected, he could see light peeking out from the crack at the bottom of the door. Instead of just barging in as he was known to do, Yuma knocked on the door and took a step back as he waited for it to open.

While the door did open like Yuma expected it to, he was not expecting the pale face that he was greeted with.

"Are you sick?" Yuma asked.

"Kuga," Osamu greeted, relief coating his voice. "No, I'm not sick."

Yuma nodded. "Good. That would suck if you had to miss the first match tomorrow." He tilted his head towards Osamu's room. "Can I come in?"

Osamu stepped to the side and waved him forward. "What did you have to go to HQ for?"

"Kinuta-san just needed me." Yuma replied as he got himself comfortable on Osamu's bed. "And then I talked to Arashiyama-san for a bit."

Osamu returned to his desk where he had been mulling over everything he had spoken about with Jin earlier before Yuma came knocking. He spun his chair around so he could sit facing Yuma who as usual claimed his bed to sit on. "Was there something you needed to talk about?"

Yuma stayed silent, staring at his captain as if trying to figure him out. His eyes studied the pale face and the distressed eyes that seemed to be locked on Yuma. "It looks like you're the one who needs to talk."

Between the two of them, Yuma had always been the better one at hiding his emotions behind a facade. The only time it ever broke for Yuma was when it involved Kuga Yugo. He supposed that Yuma mastered the art of hiding behind an indifferent facade because of growing up in warzones. It kept him alive.

"Fine, it's useless to keep secrets from you anyway." Osamu replied, leveling a stare on Yuma. "I spoke to Jin-san."

Yuma bit back a harsh retort. He didn't need any more than that to know that Jin told Osamu. It would definitely explain why his friend looked so distressed. "He didn't have the right to tell you my private business."

"We're going to disregard the fact that I am your captain and should know the condition of my team members, because before that I am your friend." Osamu retorted. The two teenagers stared at each other, each wanting the other to back down first. The thing was, while Yuma was a stubborn, strong person so was Osamu. When it came to protecting people, it didn't matter that he was weak. Osamu didn't back down for anyone or anything. "I want you to take the operation."

Yuma scowled.

Just like Osamu to come right on out and say it.

"Jin-san told me you don't want to because you're scared of dying sooner than he predicted, but Kuga, I want you beat his prediction and live longer." Osamu pleaded. "I want you to keep fighting."

"I think I would want them to do the surgery." Arashiyama decided.

"Why?"

"It's death either way. At least with the surgery, they have a chance to fight for their life." Arashiyama explained. "I understand your reasoning of making their last days the best they ever had, Yuma, but I can do that too. Before the surgery, give them a very fun time so they can go into the surgery with a smile. And then after that, all I can do is pray. Pray that they will make it out and we can go out and have another fun day where we can build more memories. If they do die, then we at least have those last few days together."

Yuma plopped backwards on the bed, leaving his legs dangling over the edge, and stared up at the ceiling. He didn't want to stare at those pleading eyes for a moment longer. His friends really knew how to make him feel horrible. He just knew none of them would be happy with his decision.

And it sucked because it's not like Yuma was happy about it either.

This was the hand he was dealt though so he had to deal with it.

"Osamu," Yuma said softly, keeping his eyes locked on the ceiling because he knew this was going to hurt his friend. "You need to start figuring out how to fight as a three-man squad without me." They had training as a three-man squad but that was with Yuma. They needed to work on training with Hyuse taking Yuma's spot.

Osamu's eyes snapped to Yuma's, anger flaring through his body at the suggestion. The anger died out just as quickly as it started. This was always something he knew would come one day. He just never thought Yuma wouldn't try to fight what was coming his way.

Instead of replying right away, Osamu took a moment and just breathed. A breath in. A breath out. A breath in. A breath out. He just needed to breathe and calm himself down. Getting upset over what Yuma said was not going to help anything here.

"It's a good idea to train as a three-man squad since you won't always be able to get to us to help." Osamu said, and he knew it went completely against why Yuma suggested it. "We have time to practice it since we don't know how long you'll be in Galopoula."

Yuma shot up, eyes blazing as they met Osamu's defiant ones. "I'm not going." How many times was he going to have to say that until people let this go?

"Chika, Hyuse, and I will train to fight without you." Osamu said, turning away from Yuma to grab a pen on his desk to make a note himself. "We'll train for the future where you are dead or gone for the operation." His pen paused on the paper. "Kuga, is your only reason for not wanting to do the surgery because you don't want to die sooner than Jin-san predicted?"

"And if it is?" Yuma asked.

"It's a weak reason." Osamu replied. He spun back around to glare at his teammate. "I will not accept your choice to just die without a fight, Kuga. Without the surgery, you will die. With the surgery, you have a chance at surviving and getting to continue to live your life here. Your one reason for not wanting to do it is because you're scared of dying a few weeks sooner."

Yuma bristled, anger making him curl his hands into fists. He planted his fists on his lap so he wouldn't smack the bed in an attempt to release the anger welling up inside of him. "You don't get it. None of you do."

"Then explain it to me." Osamu pleaded. "What is going through your head right now, Kuga?"

"I don't want to die in Galopoula." Yuma admitted. It wasn't hard to admit that. He had been saying that constantly, but none of them got it.

"Is dying in the Neighborhood different from dying in Japan?" Osamu countered. Death was death. It didn't matter where it happened.

Yuma brought his hand up to his chest, staring at his ring. He curled his hand into a fist. "Oyaji died in Calvaria. He died creating a Black Trigger. All that was left of him was ash."

Osamu's brows furrowed in confusion as he didn't get what Yuma was getting at here, but he kept quiet. He was sure Yuma had a point in here somewhere.

"Calvaria wasn't our home and there wasn't anything left of him to bury. We were there to help his friend fight a war. His one friend there."

"Kuga."

"I don't want to die in a strange country, Osamu. Maybe before I never cared, but now that I've found a place that I can call..."

Osamu waited patiently, but surprise was welling up inside him. Yuma's opinion on this had actually changed?

"Ever since my father took me away from Tropoi, I never got a chance to settle down as we were constantly traveling. I didn't hate it because it allowed me to see so many new things, but coming to my dad's home country and meeting you all, I realized how nice it is to settle down and have someplace to call home. If I'm to die, I want to do it in my father's home surrounded by friends and..."

"And?" Osamu prompted gently.

Yuma scratched his cheek. "People I can see as a family?" Jin would never let him live it down if he heard him say that.

Osamu smiled. That was an admittance that was a long time coming. The way Tamakoma opened their arms to Yuma. It was only a matter of time until he verbally announced that he felt like it was a home to him. Japan was originally a place where Yuma didn't feel comfortable in because he didn't feel like he belonged, but with all the people he befriended, Japan became a warmer and more accepting place to Yuma.

Though, it seemed that was becoming a problem.

"You don't seem like the type to get attached to a place." Osamu said. "Attached enough that you would rather die than leave temporarily."

"It's not that I have a problem leaving. I just don't want to die surrounded by strangers." Yuma replied. "When Oyaji died, it felt so cold and impersonal. The only people who really knew him in Calvaria were Raymond and me. I'm not saying the soldiers didn't have respect for him and mourned his death. It's just they knew him as a soldier and not on a personal level. I don't want to die surrounded by that same coldness."

Because Yuma had gotten so used to the warmth that Japan had wrapped around him.

"I used to think I would die alone during my travels through the Neighborhood. The only one who would be there would be Replica." If he died alone like was originally planned, Replica would have been left all alone. Now though, if he died and Border managed to repair Replica, Replica could stay with Border. He wouldn't be left alone after Yuma died. "That's not the case anymore. I want to die surrounded by people who care about me."

Osamu hated this conversation. It was a much needed conversation, however...

"Stop talking like that." Osamu ordered.

Yuma blinked and looked up from his Black Trigger. "What?"

"Death. Die here. Die there. All you are talking about is death, Kuga." Osamu retorted. "It's like all you can think about is your death right now."

Yuma blinked a few times. Osamu didn't really get mad at Yuma for anything. They got along fairly well.

"Can you think about living for just a moment? Your death might be approaching, but put that out of your mind and just live in this moment, Kuga." Osamu demanded. "Stop looking four weeks ahead when you will be dead. Tell me right now. Are you enjoying anything or are you so focused on thinking about your death that it is distracting you from living your life properly?"

Yuma's mouth dropped open and then closed. He opened his mouth again to reply, but no words escaped as he tried to process what Osamu just said. The annoying thing was, Osamu was right. Yuma hadn't been able to get what Jin said out of his head so he was just thinking about how everything he was doing might be his last time to do it. When that thought hit him, it made him depressed and he wasn't spending his limited time having fun at all.

He knew this.

He recognized this problem already.

But, he just couldn't get it out of his head.

"Before you come to me demanding I start to look for plans and strategies that don't involve you as you prepare for your departure, take a look at yourself and everything around. Ask yourself if you're really ready to leave it all behind without a fight." Osamu turned his back on Yuma, grip on his pen tightening in anger.

No one's life was disposable.

Last B-Rank War season, Osamu gave Chika the order to bail out if he and Yuma were killed. They wanted her to learn to value her own life and think of her own safety.

He didn't think he would have to be concerned about the same thing with Yuma. Yuma was always cautious in battle and gave advice based on keeping people safe or finding the best option. After his father's death, Yuma learned the propriety of watching out for his own life and believed everyone should consider their safety in plans as well.

That was in combat though.

Outside of combat, with a life that was about to run out, it seemed the same rules didn't apply.

Yuma opened and closed his mouth a few times, but couldn't seem to find the words he needed because he understood what Osamu was saying and he agreed with it. The thing holding Yuma back right now was fear. That fear was keeping him from acting and so all he could think about was dying.

Dying and leaving everything behind.

Spinning on his heel, Yuma left the room as it felt like he was being dismissed when Osamu turned his back on him. He made it a couple doors down the hall to his room and dropped his forehead against the door.

Stupid.

He was so stupid.

"I thought I told you to get the distractions out of your head."

Yuma groaned. "Hyuse, not now."

Hyuse scoffed, glaring at his teammate's depressed slump. "I would say you're worse than you were yesterday. Should I start preparing for us to lose the match tomorrow now?"

Yuma's head snapped off the door to glare back at his teammate, though there was no true heat in it. He just didn't have the energy for another argument. "Not now, Hyuse." He said again as he opened his bedroom door to get away, but when he tried to close it to escape Hyuse, he found it wouldn't close.

Red eyes snapped to the foot blocking the door from closing and then snapped up to meet Hyuse's stare.

"Really?" Yuma asked annoyed. He stomped his foot on Hyuse's to get him to pull it out. Though it made Hyuse flinch in pain, he refused to move it and instead grabbed Yuma's door with his hand to apply more pressure to keep Yuma from closing it. "What's your deal?"

"What's yours?" Hyuse retorted. "This is too drastic of a change in you when you were fine when we came back to Japan."

"What do you care?"

Hyuse's anger fell a bit as he made an offended noise in the back of his throat. He knew he never said it out loud, but he did see Tamakoma-2 as his friends. There was more than one reason as to why he agreed to work as a liaison with Border for Aftokrator. And right now, one of those friends he came back to be with was acting weird and out of sorts.

"Because friends don't like to see their friend upset."

Yuma's grip on his door slackened, giving Hyuse the chance to slam it open. He didn't give Hyuse any attention though as he stared at Chika standing off to the side. "You haven't gone home yet?"

"I'm sleeping here tonight since we have a match tomorrow." Chika replied, frowning at her fellow shrimp agent. "Yuma-kun, we're worried."

"You shouldn't worry." Yuma choked out. He wanted the words to be true, but he knew they weren't. His friends were always worried ever since they found out he was dying. It would only get worse when they learned how little time he had left. He was already out of sorts so he didn't want them to know as well and get distracted from the match tomorrow.

Hurt flashed through Chika's eyes at his dishonesty. As much as it frustrated and upset her months ago, she understood the lies when Yuma was dealing with the Mimics because there had been so much he was a keeping a secret from them. However, they knew it all now so there was no reason for the lies and secrecy right now.

"She'll stop worrying when your eyes stop turning black when you speak." Hyuse scoffed.

"Instead of thinking about me, try thinking about the match tomorrow." Yuma retorted. "That's where all your attention and energy need to be directed."

With that said, Yuma shoved Hyuse out of the doorway and slammed his door shut to escape it all.

Down the hall, not too far from the Tamakoma-2 agents that just got a door slammed in their face, Osamu leaned against his doorframe, looking at his teammates distressed faces with a breaking heart. A little further down the hall, Jin sat on the stairs, back facing the agents as he sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Hyuse spun on his heel and glared at the two. "One of you two better start talking." He demanded, stalking down the hall towards his captain and the annoying power elite he hated. "Before I activate my Trigger and slice that door down."

Osamu pushed his glasses up, glancing into his room. He had heard Hyuse and Yuma arguing so he came out to see what it was. He should have just closed his door, but he couldn't just refuse to acknowledge his teammates' raising voices.

"Osamu-kun," Chika turned pleading eyes towards their captain. She was tired of being left in the dark because her team was trying to protect her. She thought she had more than proved herself as a capable agent at this point. "Please?"

*L*S*A*

A part of Chika wished she had never asked–demanded–to be informed on what was going on. It was only a small part of her though. They had known for months that Yuma was going to die early. At some point, they were going to reach the point where Yuma's time was going to run out. \It was a harsh reality they had to face. She could not run from this. None of them could.

Chika looked up from the couch she was sitting on to stare up at Jin and Osamu who had just spent thirty minutes explaining everything to them. "Jin-san, do you see Yuma-kun going to take the operation?"

Jin smiled sadly. "I see it and I don't see it. The future isn't set in stone, Chika-chan. Anything can cause the future to shift to a different path."

"And what is the current path we're on?" Hyuse demanded.

Jin tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. The ceiling wasn't all that interesting, but he knew Yuma was currently upstairs, locked in his room. He was suffering a lot right now because of what Jin told him. It was distracting him and causing him to lose his calm as everyone around him disagreed with his choice. Yuma was upset right now, but Jin wouldn't necessarily call it a bad thing.

If they stood back and didn't voice their thoughts about Yuma's decision, Yuma wouldn't take a moment and think things through properly.

"I understand that you are upset, but remember, Yuma is still our friend." Jin settled on as an answer. The future could shift very easily so he couldn't just say what path they were on right now. Anything could tip the scales right now. "Say what you think he needs to hear, but don't get too mad at him, okay? He's trying to figure it out."

*L*S*A*

"Death. Die here. Die there. All you are talking about is death, Kuga." Osamu retorted. "It's like all you can think about is your death right now."

Yuma blinked a few times. Osamu didn't really get mad at Yuma for anything. They got along fairly well.

"Can you think about living for just a moment? Your death might be approaching, but put that out of your mind and just live in this moment, Kuga." Osamu demanded. "Stop looking four weeks ahead when you will be dead. Tell me right now. Are you enjoying anything or are you so focused on thinking about your death that it is distracting you from living your life properly?"

Yuma laid on his bed, arm thrown over his forehead as he stared at the ceiling above him. Since he left Osamu's room, Osamu's words wouldn't leave him alone. He told him to think about living before dying. To just forget his incoming death for a moment and look at what was right in front of him.

The problem was, that every time Yuma looked at what was in front of him, looked at his friends, his clock ticking down flashed in front of him. It distracted him and he forgot to live in the moment as he got frustrated at the lack of time he had left.

Yuma's teeth gritted in frustration. That was exactly what Osamu meant. He saw right through Yuma and called him out on it. With that ticking clock in his face, Yuma wasn't having fun and was finding it impossible to enjoy himself in the moment despite how he kept telling himself that he would have fun.

Yuma picked up the confection and without hesitation took a bite of the new type of sweet. His mouth immediately salivated at the delicious treat and he eagerly took another bite.

His eyes blurred.

Everything he did only caused him to remember that it was going to end. He couldn't enjoy himself because he was going to lose everything soon.

His arm fell from his forehead and hit something soft. Yuma turned his head to the side to see the stuffed animal that Konami and Shiori got for him a few months ago. He turned to lie on his side and traced his fingers through the soft fur while staring at the tag on the collar that said 'Cougar.'

This stuffed animal was one of the first material possessions he had been gifted in such a long time. Actually, he had a hard time remembering the last time he was given something like this. Sure, his father gave him stuff, but he was his father and was just providing for his son.

But now Yuma had people in his life who had the resources to give him stuff.

Yuma's eyes softened in sadness. "You don't need to get anything for me. It would just be a waste of money."

"Huh?" Shun frowned. "It's your birthday, Yuma-senpai! I have to get you a gift, especially since you haven't owned much in life cause you were constantly moving. You've settled down here so you need to fill your room at Tamakoma with stuff now!"

People who wanted to give him something.

People who wanted him in their lives.

He knew their reactions all came from a place of care.

And that he was selfishly throwing it all right back in their faces.

Yuma brought a fist up to his forehead. He was stupid. Osamu's words hit him so hard that he got left in a daze and then just snapped at Chika and Hyuse. Neither of them deserved that.

He had been so out of whack since his talk with Jin a couple days ago.

It had to stop.

Yuma sat up and smacked his cheeks. His death approaching was nothing new. It was always something he knew was going to happen one day. The only thing that changed was that he met someone who could see the future and he was warned of how long he had left. It shouldn't change anything for him.

Osamu was right when he said Yuma was focusing too much on death. That didn't mean it was easy for Yuma to get it out of his head when he thought of everything as his last moment to enjoy a specific thing.

The best way to forget what Jin told him was to get so busy that he didn't have time to think about it.

But, what could he do so that the thought of Jin's prediction wouldn't cross his mind?

*L*S*A*

There was a tension in the air when Yuma made it downstairs for breakfast the next day. He grimaced when he saw the bags under Chika's and Osamu's eyes. This was part of the reason why he didn't want them to know just yet. It was already stressing Yuma out. They didn't need the stress and fear weighing them down as well.

"Breakfast?" Jin offered cheerfully when he saw Yuma standing in the doorway.

Yuma glanced at him then looked back at his team. When he looked at them, he saw Chika, Hyuse, and Osamu all staring back at him. They didn't know last night, but the way Chika and Hyuse were looking at him told Yuma that they learned about Yuma's time running out last night. He really slammed the door in their face for no reason last night if Osamu and Jin were just going to blab right after.

Yuma massaged his neck and twisted his head away to avoid the stares for just a moment. This was his fault. He knew it couldn't remain a secret. He was going to tell them eventually.

"Kuga, we need to clear the air." Osamu said.

"You told them." Yuma glanced over at Osamu, frown tugging at his lip.

Osamu grimaced. "I'm sorry about that, but tensions were running high. Things would have only gotten worse."

"We should have included you in the conversation, but I thought you needed some time alone to think, Yuma." Jin joined in the conversation as he moved dishes over to the dining room table.

"Seems like a heavy topic for breakfast." Yuma said as he moved closer to the table.

Hyuse humph at that. "That's your fault. We tried to talk last night and in return you tried to break my foot."

Osamu made a distressed noise at that. He really thought Yuma got the idea of breaking bones out of his head.

"If I wanted to break your foot, I wouldn't try. I would do it." Yuma retorted.

"Don't." Osamu said quickly when he saw Hyuse open his mouth. "He's not lying." He glanced back at Yuma. "A Trion body is stronger than a normal body. He can break your foot easily if he really wants to." He had already seen that before. It was months ago, but Osamu knew he would never forget those first couple of days when he met Yuma. "Kuga, you too. No breaking feet."

"Are hands free game?" Yuma asked.

Osamu shot a glare towards his friend. It was like dealing with Yuma in those first couple days he knew him. He thought the violent tendencies were gone. That was Osamu's fault for thinking he would have one last thing to stress about and let his guard down. "No bone breaking of any kind."

Yuma gave a long-suffering sigh and fell into his seat at the table next to Osamu.

"Yuma-kun."

Yuma looked up to meet Chika's eyes across from him. At those pleading, sad eyes that just wanted him to listen. "Chika." He called back.

Chika stretched a hand out across the table and turned it palm up, never breaking eye contact with her friend as she made her silent request obvious.

There wasn't anything that Yuma wouldn't do for his gentle friend so he only paused for a few seconds before he raised his hand and took Chika's. Chika's fingers curled around his palm softly as in a way to just acknowledge that each other was there.

"I don't want you to leave." Chika said.

"I'm not going to leave." Yuma replied.

Chika's eyes flashed in anger for a moment before they fell back to being sad. Those sad eyes coupled with the bags under her eyes made her look older, more tired and exhausted from everything she had gone through. It didn't fit her at all. "But you are going to. I can understand if you left for the operation because you would come back. But if you don't do it, you'll die and then you will have left us permanently."

"You would come back."

There was no lie in Chika's voice when she said that.

Yuma blinked. "Chika, I wouldn't necessarily come back. The success rate–"

"No," Chika cut off Yuma which surprised him enough that he did fall silent to listen to her. "I know the operation's success rate. I don't care about it, Yuma-kun, because it doesn't matter to me. I know you will overcome those odds."

Annoyance flashed through Yuma. He already had this conversation with Jin. Before he could do something he would regret, like snap at Chika, a hand landed on his head to ruffle up his hair to distract him.

"Yuma thinks since he has to rely on Galopoula to save him, it doesn't matter how good he is at beating the odds." Jin explained.

Hyuse scoffed as he dished out some food for himself. "With that kind of attitude, he'll surely die."

"Hyuse!" Osamu slammed his hands on the table as he stood up, causing the glasses to shake, but Hyuse didn't even spare him a glance.

"If you go into it already believing you are going to die, then you will die." Hyuse said, glaring at his surprised friend. "It's the same as going into a fight you don't plan to win." Fighting was what Yuma seemed to understand the best so he would use combat examples to get through that thick skull.

"Don't just keep taking the attack." Karasuma advised as he watched Osamu train against the Marmod. "You have to fight back."

"Karasuma-senpai!"

"You can't win with defense alone." Karasuma said. "Even if Raygust is a defense type, it'll break if you keep taking the attacks. The less Trion ability you have, the faster it'll break, so counterattack before it gets broken."

"You say that, but there's no chance to fight back." Osamu protested.

"That's because you can't imagine fighting back." Karasuma replied.

"Imagine fighting back?" Osamu repeated.

"First, you have to imagine it, your body will move accordingly. The body doesn't move by itself. Without an image of poking through an opening with a counterattack, you won't ever be able to notice your opponent's openings. Imagine the best moves you're aiming for. In order to get closer to that, think about how to do it, and move." Karasuma explained.

It wasn't exactly the same, but Osamu could see how Karasuma's advice matched what Hyuse was trying to tell Yuma. "You can't win when mentally you've already given up." Osamu said.

That was the lesson Osamu learned from all his mentors and friends. They had to fight tooth and nail for what they wanted. It wasn't good enough to fight with the mentality of just trying to survive until help arrived. He had to give it his all and say he would win.

"Kuga, I don't want to see you die in a month. I understand you want to die surrounded by friends as it would bring you comfort, but what about us? Do you think it would bring us any comfort to watch you die knowing that you didn't even try to fight for your life? To know that Galopoula had a solution and wonder for a long time after you die if you would still be here if you just attempted the surgery?"

That wasn't fair. Osamu was playing dirty with the 'what ifs.' Those 'what ifs' haunted Yuma after his father died so he understood the feelings that Osamu was referring to. The feeling of inadequacy. The feeling of what he could have done better. Of what could have been...

"I don't want to die there." Yuma settled on saying. It was all he could say. The argument was old and tired at this point.

"Don't think about dying." Jin advised, getting Yuma to glance over at him, so he smiled at his kōhai. "Instead, think of all the fun you will have when you come home."

The conversation came to a standstill after that, but Osamu didn't think that was a bad thing. Yuma was a stubborn person. He wasn't just going to change his mind on the spot, but they surely gave him something to think about. They couldn't make Yuma do anything, no matter how much they wanted him to take the surgery. They could only tell him what they thought. The rest was up to Yuma.

*L*S*A*

A part of Yuma wondered if he was jealous as he sat in the viewing room above the bleachers where everyone was sitting to watch the Day B-Rank matches. He watched Murakami and Arafune start a duel as Murakami found the sniper and forced him into drawing his kogetsu. Even though they were taking the match seriously, Yuma could still make out their smiles as they enjoyed the thrill of the fight.

So carefree.

Yuma lost that easy, carefree smile a couple days ago.

He desperately wanted it back.

"Wow. You really are depressed."

Yuma blinked and pulled his head off the table to look towards the door. "Izumi-san, what–"

"Tachikawa-san said you were upset the other day, but I didn't think he was actually right." Izumi plopped down in the seat next to Yuma. "See, my captain can be a bit of an idiot sometimes so I wouldn't call him the best judge."

Yuma snorted. "Do you have the right to call him an idiot when you, Yosuke-senpai, and Shun are called the idiot trio?"

Izumi laughed. "All in good fun. Your nicknames aren't all that flattering either."

Yuma pouted. "Are they not? I liked them."

"You got called a devil in C-Rank."

Yuma shrugged. "Kage-senpai still refers to me as a devil, but I think White Nightmare has a nicer ring to it."

"Definitely fits too." Izumi leaned back in his seat, observing the current match. "Man, I can't believe your team only lost once last season."

"Is that weird?" Yuma asked confused. "I thought with Kageura squad and Ninomiya squad firmly at the top of B-Rank that none of the others could surpass them, that they won often."

"Nope." Izumi said cheerfully. "Not to say they don't win a lot because they do. It's just that often, they end up with draws or wins, and a draw doesn't count as a win." He poked Yuma in the side. "Just because you beat Ninomiya squad once doesn't mean you can do it again. You played a lot of your tricks last season."

"Then we need to get new ones." Yuma replied. "You're teaching Osamu composite bullets, aren't you?"

"Nope." Izumi said with a smirk. "At least not yet. He needs to win a ten-round match with Yuiga first. He didn't quite manage it the other day. He's getting there though. He's come a long way since the Aftokrator invasion." He eyed the Neighbor out of the corner of his eyes. "I suppose we all have."

Yuma caught the look and raised a brow. "What?"

"You know, we once had a mission to come after you."

"I know."

"I'm glad it fell through. You're a lot of fun, Kuga." Izumi laughed and poked at Yuma's cheek. "It's not a smile, but that baffled look is still a lot of better than the depressed one you had before."

Yuma rubbed at his cheek where Izumi had poked him. His hand froze as he processed what Izumi said.

"No, no." Izumi suddenly grabbed Yuma's cheeks and pulled at them. "I can see that frown starting to come back."

Yuma grabbed Izumi's wrists to tug his hands off his face. He dropped them on Izumi's lap and then looked up at the older agent with a smile. "Thanks, Izumi-san." He then turned to face the window to go back to watching the match.

Izumi blinked and looked around the empty room in confusion. Thanks for what? He had no idea, but it was considered a win that Yuma smiled, right?

*L*S*A*

"It was a good match." Murakami said.

Arafune scoffed good naturedly. "You've become even more of a nightmare to fight. What exactly did you go through on the away mission?"

Murakami smirked. "I'm not the only one who has improved. You're not as rusty with the sword as you were last season."

"I'm not making the mistake of forgoing my kogetsu to focus solely on my sniping skills again. Kuga showed me why that was a bad idea." Arafune replied. He raised a brow when Murakami grimaced right after he spoke. "Did I say something wrong?"

Murakami shook his head. "No, it's just..." He trailed off and glanced toward the line where Kageura was grabbing himself some lunch. While Kageura wasn't radiating an aura of death that scared everyone away yesterday, he was still scowling darkly. Murakami knew he was mentally preparing for his match in a few hours.

"I heard Kage was in a rotten mood yesterday." Arafune said, following Murakami's line of sight to the other attacker. "What does that have to do with what I said though?"

Murakami didn't reply as he caught sight of a white head of hair. "Shit."

Arafune watched in confusion as Murakami hurried towards Yuma. He was curious enough to follow after Murakami to see what was going on since his friend seemed to be jumping through hoops to get to different conversation points. He was sure it made sense in Murakami's head, but for Arafune, who seemed to be out of the loop, it was jarring.

As soon as Murakami was near Yuma, he grabbed the younger agent's arm and pulled him around to drag him away from the cafeteria.

"Murakami-senpai?" Yuma asked confused as he was dragged away from getting food. "I'm hungry. Can you let go?" When he continued to get dragged farther away from the line, he guessed the answer was no, so he just sighed and looked at Arafune who was following. "Good match today."

"You were watching?" Murakami asked surprised. "I thought you would be preparing for your own match."

Yuma shrugged. "Not much more to do at this point."

Murakami released Yuma's wrist and turned to face the younger agent to speak, but over the top of the head of the short agent, his eyes locked onto Kageura's eyes. Damn it. He should have taken Yuma out of the cafeteria, but he hadn't wanted to prevent Yuma from getting food altogether. He just wanted to make Yuma wait to get into line until Kageura had sat down.

And now Kageura was walking over here.

This was just getting worse.

Yuma's brows furrowed in confusion. He turned to see what Murakami was looking at and was left with more confusion as to why he was so upset to see Kageura. Though, Kageura's face did look even more vicious than it usually did as he stalked over to them.

"Is there going to be a scene?" Arafune sidled up closer to Murakami. "Cause with the way Kage's face looks right now, I feel like we are about to cause a scene."

"I really hope he doesn't yell and draw attention." Murakami said. There was still time. He could grab Yuma's arm and get them out of the cafeteria. It wouldn't stop Kageura from following them, but it would at least prevent too many prying eyes being on them. "Kage, wait." He called when Kageura got close enough to hear them.

Kageura didn't acknowledge him as he only had eyes for Yuma right now. His hand flew forward to grab Yuma by his hoodie and pulled him up high enough that Yuma had to stand on his tiptoes to avoid dangling in the air.

Murakami slapped a hand over his eyes. Kageura hadn't even said a word yet and he already knew this was going to be bad.

"What's your deal?" Yuma asked confused. He was used to the roughhousing with Kageura, but that usually had a more playful feel to it. Kageura's face right now did not indicate anything playful about this.

"My deal?" Kageura repeated, eyes narrowing to slits. "My deal!"

"Kage–" Murakami quickly stepped forward to grab Kageura's wrist that was holding Yuma's hoodie.

"Stay out of it, Kō." Kageura snapped.

Arafune glanced to the side to see that some of the people closest to them were beginning to notice something about to start. He shifted his body to try to hide Yuma and Kageura as much as possible. At least Murakami had the sense to drag them to a wall so there were less angles people could see this from. "Kage, whatever is wrong, we can handle this in a better manner than this." He tried to reason. "You don't need to strangle Kuga."

Kageura glared at Yuma, who was still just looking so confused. Despite that confusion shining in Yuma's eyes, Kageura knew that the shrimp was ready to retaliate if Kageura went too far. At any point, Yuma could hit Kageura right now. Getting close to Yuma like this was dangerous after all, especially when being antagonistic. However, Kageura didn't care. He cared even less when Yuma spoke which indicated he didn't acknowledge why Kageura was mad.

"Did you forget what you said the other day?" Kageura demanded.

Yuma wrinkled his nose. No, he did not forget. "No, but it was days ago. Are you still mad about that?"

Murakami released Kageura's wrist to throw his hands up in the air as he turned his back on the two. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he began to feel a headache forming.

Kageura snarled angrily. "Am I still mad? You damn brat!"

Shit.

Murakami whipped back around and Arafune moved at the same time as they both lunged forward to grab Kageura's raised fist.

"No, no! Not the way!" Arafune snapped.

"Don't do something you'll regret!" Murakami yelled at the same time as he and Arafune worked together to separate Yuma and Kageura.

Now they definitely were drawing attention with the raised voices.

Arafune dragged Yuma away from Kageura, but didn't stop there as he headed towards the doorway to get out of the cafeteria. The footsteps behind him indicated that Murakami and Kageura was following him. He would prefer that not to be the case, but at the same time, maybe Kageura and Yuma did need to talk this out. Talk it out preferably with witnesses present to prevent any murders.

Yuma twisted around to look at his friends behind him, but couldn't do more than that as Arafune kept a tight grip on his arm to prevent the two from getting close to each other. Though, to be fair to Yuma, he hadn't actually done anything to need to be babysat like this. Kageura was the one who was pissed off it seemed, though from what Arafune picked up on, Yuma did say something the other day to cause it.

Honestly.

"Kō, get your hand off of me. I'm going to knock some sense into that thick skull of his." Kageura's voice reached Arafune's ears.

"You have a match with him today. Do you really want disqualified before it even starts?" Murakami retorted.

It was like herding children.

Neutral ground.

They needed neutral ground.

Arafune shoved Yuma in a chair when he got to his squad's operation room.

Yuma blinked as he was forced into a chair. All he wanted was to get some food. How did that translate into getting into dragged to Arafune's strategy room? Even before that, this was Murakami's fault for dragging him away from the line in the cafeteria.

All he wanted to do was get some food. He barely ate anything at breakfast because he had been distracted with his thoughts after having his team confront him. It left him with so much to think about that he hadn't been focused on making sure to actually eat his breakfast. That was a mistake because he really needed food now. He was absolutely starving and now his friends were distracting him.

Arafune pulled out a chair and collapsed into it, throwing his hat on the table. He glared at Kageura. "Do not fight in here. I am not cleaning up a mess."

Kageura scoffed, but crossed his arms as a show of keeping his hands to himself this time.

"Why would you even try to punch me?" Yuma said, deciding to focus on his friends right now since getting food right now did not seem to be an option with the way Kageura was glaring at him. "You know I can't feel it."

"Emotions ride high and take logical reasoning out of things." Murakami replied.

"Translated to mean Kage wasn't thinking and let his anger blind him." Arafune explained. He shot another glare towards Kageura. "It's that kind of blind rage that got you demoted to B-Rank in the first place."

"Shut up!" Kageura snapped.

"He's not wrong though." Murakami replied. Kageura had punched Netsuki in the face in defense of his team's feelings. Kageura did lash out a lot, and a lot of time, it was for him because his side effect was bothering. However, there were times when he did it for his friends that he cared about. This time, Kageura did try to punch Yuma, but Murakami could tell it was a mix of his own frustration and his worry about Yuma's wellbeing that Yuma seemed to be disregarding.

"This isn't about me!"

"It kind of is."

"Shut up!" Kageura snapped a finger at Yuma. "You! Right now, I haven't been this mad in a long time! You and you blase nature about the whole dying thing."

Yuma blinked. "Blase? I told you, Kage-senpai, that I–"

"Am scared of dying! Yes, I heard it." Kageura snapped. "I'm not denying the truth of those words. What is pissing me off is how you admit to not wanting to die, but refusing to want to get your real body back. You're just lying down and accepting your death! You're giving up without a fight. That is what is pissing me off! You're letting that assassin who attacked you win!"

Arafune felt like he was missing a lot, but with Kageura's ranting, he was able to catch up pretty quick to why Kageura was mad. His anger was a cover for his fear of his friend dying. He was dealing with it in the only way he knew and that was by lashing out. Such children. They needed to handle their arguments better than this.

For the first time since Kageura approached him in the cafeteria, Yuma's eyes flashed from confusion to anger at the mention of the assassin. "He already won!" He snapped, snapping to his feet. "He destroyed my life!"

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Kageura snapped, shoving a finger in Yuma's chest. "Until you're dead, that assassin hasn't won."

"That's only because of my father." Yuma retorted, shoving Kageura's hand away from him.

"And what? You think Kuga-san would be happy to see his son give up fighting to live?" Kageura twisted away from Yuma and kicked a nearby chair.

Arafune threw a hand into the air in disbelief. He didn't know why he expected anything else from Kageura when he was in a bad moon like this.

"I know what my father would have wanted." It was the same thing all of his friends wanted. It was the same thing Yuma wanted, but there was just too much risk and loneliness involved in it.

Kageura scratched furiously at his head. "Stupid brat. I can't figure out what is going on in that damn head of yours." He spun around to glare at Yuma. "Your father gave up his life to save yours."

"Twice." Murakami added.

"Twice." Kageura agreed though that was a ridiculous statement. If he didn't go through the whole Mimic incident, he would be so confused as to how someone could die twice. "And now you're planning to throw it away without trying to find a way to save it, so since Kuga-san is dead, I'll deal with this."

Yuma raised a brow. "What?"

"If your team loses the match today, you have to start fighting to live." Kageura declared.

Yuma blinked. "What?"

Arafune sat up straight in his seat. As mad as Kageura was, he didn't come to fight with Yuma in the cafeteria. It seemed that way since his anger blinded him and Yuma's unconcerned response didn't help, but he really just wanted to make a deal with Yuma.

"I'm not repeating myself." Kageura snapped, spinning on his heel to leave. "I'm not going to stand by and watch you give up on living. I'll make you fight for your life."

"Are you making a bet with me?" Yuma demanded. "And what do I get when my team wins?"

"Come to me with that if you actually win." With those parting words, Kageura stormed out of the room without a single glance back to his friends.

Arafune braced an arm on his table and covered his eyes with his hand. "I heard gossip around that Kage had been in a bad mood, but I didn't think it would lead to this."

Murakami sighed and righted the chair that Kageura had knocked over. "Sorry about that, Arafune. Thanks for giving us the room to handle this privately."

Arafune waved the gratitude off. "I just didn't want this to get around to the higher ups."

Yuma glared at the door that Kageura had disappeared through. He already owed Jin a favor for the bet he lost. He was not going to lose another bet and owe two favors, but he didn't actually have anything he wanted from Kageura. He was now going to have to think of something to get from him.

"And you," Murakami snapped suddenly, drawing Yuma's attention to him.

"What? Are you mad at me too?"

Murakami sat down in the chair he just righted. "Kage isn't the only person upset about your easy acceptance of your death."

Yuma scowled. "Yes, I know because everyone has been saying the same thing over and over again for days."

Murakami raised a brow. It was well known among the official agents, but not talked about that Yuma was dying. It was a topic that they all avoided out of respect for the fact that Yuma didn't want to discuss it. They broached the topic at lunch the other day because it seemed that Yuma was bothered by something. It seemed, though, that someone else was talking with Yuma about his impending death. If that was the case, it was no wonder Yuma was so frustrated lately. He wasn't being left alone about it.

Even knowing that, Murakami wasn't going to do what Yuma wanted and drop the topic. He, at least, wanted to get something off of his chest.

"I won't bother you too much then. I just have one thing I want to ask you. Have you ever stopped to think about those you would be leaving behind if you died?" Murakami asked.

"Of course I do." Yuma said.

"And how do you think it would feel?" Murakami asked.

"Probably like how I felt when Oyaji died." Yuma replied. He understood the feeling of inadequacy and depression and trauma and guilt that came when someone died. Someone he truly cared about and loved.

"Then why would you want to put your friends through that?"

Yuma shook his head. "Even if I could try something to save my life, it doesn't mean it will work. You'll hope it will work, but when it doesn't, it only makes it hurt more because that one option you had failed!"

"It might hurt to know it failed, but there is something that will hurt more than that." Arafune retorted. "Watching a friend die when he didn't even try to save his life."

The argument was the same. It was the same as his team's argument about the surgery. They all really believed a slim chance was better than nothing. Well, not exactly the same argument since Murakami and Arafune didn't know about the operation that Jin found for him. They were talking hypotheticals here.

Yuma could have said something, anything, but it wouldn't change anything. His friends still wouldn't agree with his choice. It was just like how he didn't want to listen to same thing from all of his friends who didn't want him to die. It hurt to know how they wanted him to live, but Yuma couldn't. That was wrong. It's not that he couldn't. It was just the surgery unnerved him.

"Alright," Murakami said as he watched how Yuma's expression twisted into one of frustration. "Let me ask you this then. Do you understand Kage's feelings on the matter on a personal level?"

Yuma's nose wrinkled in confusion. How could he not get it? He understood what it meant to be friends after all. "I get it. It's because we're friends. I would feel the same if one of my friends was dying."

"No, you don't get it because that is a generic reason." Murakami refuted. "You need to think beyond just the generic reason of it so let's look at an example that is personal to you. Your captain almost died in the Aftokrator invasion. Tell me how you felt then. Why was it so important to you that he didn't die?"

"Why?" Yuma echoed.

That felt like it came completely out of nowhere. Yes, seeing Osamu injured had been horrible, but Jin told them that Osamu would be completely fine so there wasn't too much reason to fret. Even so, Yuma had stayed by Osamu's side the whole time his friend had been in the medical ward at Border's HQ. Once he got moved to the hospital, Yuma had to head out to take care of other things. Jin telling them Osamu would be fine helped him make the decision to focus on trying to find Replica.

Still, having been involved in combat his whole life and having lost loved ones, Yuma did understand what grief was, even if he didn't know how to properly deal with.

But Murakami's question was about why he didn't want someone to die on a personal level.

"Because he was honest with me from the start and a good person. I've been surrounded by liars and manipulators for so long that I appreciated his honest, good nature and didn't want to lose the first person in a long time that I was able to trust from the moment I met him." Yuma explained.

"Because of your side effect?" Arafune asked.

Yuma nodded. "I thought a lie detector side effect would be really convenient to have because you would always know when someone was trying to trick you, and then I inherited it from my father." He brought up a hand to his face, covering his eye. "The shadows that cover the world is really disheartening. You don't realize how often people lie until you can tell when they are lying. Or how often someone will try to manipulate you. Even the smallest white lie can set it off if it's in my hearing range."

"Sorry, Kuga. That does sound rough." Arafune replied.

"So, you understand how difficult side effects can make your life." Murakami clarified.

Yuma's brows furrowed. He did know the people with side effects had a huge benefit, but it also caused them to suffer. For example, he knew Jin's side effect was always active so he was forced to always see the future. He could, to a degree, control what future to focus on so to not get overwhelmed by looking at everyone's future all at once. However, that didn't change the fact that he was watching all the time and he had to see his friends' death and then work out how to prevent it from happening.

...Something that Yuma was throwing in his face by refusing the operation.

Great, now he had guilt eating away at him again.

"Knowing how side effects can be a double-edged sword, think about if you were in Kage's shoes, how would he feel if you died?" Murakami asked, but didn't give Yuma time to ponder as he plowed on. "Kuga, you're one of two people who doesn't set off his side effect. He doesn't have to be on edge around you cause nothing about you causes him pain. When things get too much for him, he knows he can hang around you and calm down. He's scared of losing a friend he can be completely relaxed around."

If Murakami's goal was to make Yuma feel horrible, he was doing a great job. Unlike Osamu who constantly put people ahead of him because he thought saving people was the right thing to do, Yuma was always a selfish person and put a lot of thought on himself so when it came to a surgery that would likely kill him, he refused it because he didn't want to leave this fun world behind sooner than Jin predicted.

But that was only what he thought.

Everyone around him clearly thought differently.

"And what about you?" Yuma asked, staring at Murakami. "You seem to be mad at me too."

"My side effect has always caused me to get pushed away from others before I joined Border. I thought the same thing would happen here, but I learned that me being strong is better for Border." Murakami glanced at Arafune as he said that. It was his then mentor, now friend, who had knocked some sense into his head and put things into perspective for him. "Sometimes people get upset with how often I beat them, but they always come back to try again. What I really appreciate though is how you never get upset when you lose, no matter how many times you lose. You just laugh and talk about how much fun it was."

That was just the years of training and real combat experience talking. Yuma understood that there were powerful people out there and there would always be someone stronger. It was what made fighting fun. There would always be something new and exciting to learn, like what Viza said after Yuma defeated him. Though, Yuma only heard Viza's comment very briefly as he was running away from Viza as soon as his last attack blasted through his Trion body.

Even though Viza was his enemy back then, Yuma recognized that they both felt similar in terms of fighting. Perhaps it was a strange thought to the people of this world. Growing up in the Neighborhood meant combat was the norm and something he was used to so it was where he found the most fun. Yuma knew his friends thought he focused too much on fighting which was why they were trying to find Yuma other hobbies.

"Kuga?" Arafune called.

Yuma glanced over at him. "Yeah? What is it, Arafune-san?"

"If you were in Kage's shoes or Kō's shoes or any one of your friend's and your friend was dying, you would be telling them to fight for their life, wouldn't you?" Arafune asked.

"That's not fair."

Arafune scoffed. "And it is fair that you are throwing everyone's concern right back in their faces? Kage may have gone about it in a rough way that wasn't the best, but it is how I would expect him to be when trying to make a point to you. I hope you stick to the deal."

"I never agreed to his bet." Yuma protested.

"You asked if you got something in return if you won. That is basically a confirmation that you agree to his terms." Murakami pointed out. "Be prepared, Kuga. He'll be coming for you head tonight."