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.

21. Ch 22: Intermission II

Light Shines Anew

Chapter 21: Intermission II

Scorpion and Kogetsu met in a fierce clash.

Jin couldn't fight back the grin on his face as he and Tachikawa traded blows. Considering the way Tachikawa was smirking as he broke his sword from Jin's only to bring it up in an upwards swing aimed at Jin's face was all Jin needed to know what was coming.

Jin simply took a step back to dodge, feeling the tip of the sword breeze pass his face. He jumped back a few more steps to get some more space in the narrow alley they were fighting in. Considering how narrow it was, Jin had the advantage with his Scorpion. Tachikawa's Kogetsu's length would hinder him in the narrow alley so Jin wasn't inclined to leave this spot just yet.

However, he knew Tachikawa would want to get them out of here.

And there it was.

Recognizing Tachikawa's stand for his Senku and seeing it coming with his foresight, Jin was already one step ahead. From where he was standing, a line of Trion extended to the nearby wall where he extended an Escudo that slammed right into Tachikawa's side. Fighting in a narrow alley was not an ideal location for Tachikawa, but it was perfect for Jin. With his Escudo sending Tachikawa flying into a wall and knocking the aim of his Senku off as he had just started to swing his sword when he got hit, Jin was able to dodge and send himself flying into the air with another Escudo under his foot.

From the air, he sent his Scorpion flying down towards Tachikawa who was still trying to climb out of the broken wall he was sent flying into. Even as he struggling out of the rubble, Tachikawa still swung his sword up to block the Scorpion from piercing his heart. What he couldn't stop was Jin coming down from the sky. His foot slammed into Tachikawa's arm to slam it against his chest to keep him from attacking and his new Scorpion was slamming into Tachikawa's head in the same motion.

"Learning cheap tricks from your kōhais?" Tachikawa complained, staring up at the ceiling of his rank booth that he had slammed back into.

"They're not cheap tricks if they work." Jin's voice came over the computer. "Defensive Triggers don't only have to be used for defense. You guys need to start to think outside of the box more."

*L*S*A*

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Tamakoma."

Hyuse felt his brow twitch in annoyance, but he stopped walking and turned to face the voice that he already knew belonged to an obnoxious, arrogant fool who was going to make him want to chop him in half. "And who are you?" He asked, scanning the agent up and down. Hyuse knew he didn't come to HQ often, but he at least knew who the agents were as he studied them in the logs for the Rank Wars.

Nothing about this guy's face was drawing a picture in Hyuse's mind. He just kept coming up blank.

"I'm the answer to your problems."

Nope.

Hyuse was done entertaining whatever this was. He spun on his heels, turning his back to the no name, useless agent. "I don't have a problem and if I did, you wouldn't be the answer."

"That's some attitude for the team that couldn't even keep their rank up after losing their shrimp of a teammate."

And now Hyuse was back to being involved in the conversation if only so he knew how many limbs he needed to slice off. "I would choose your next words very carefully." Hyuse growled.

"All I'm saying is you guys have been dropping like crazy in the ranks since Kuga left. You clearly need some help and I'm willing to offer my services." The no-name agent said, pointing his thumb at himself as if he was some magnificent answer to all of life's problems. "Clearly, you don't work as a–"

Hyuse's hand fell off his sword as he watched the agent's head fall off his body and a puff of smoke replaced it as his Trion body swapped out for his real body. He didn't spare the body another glance as he glared at the two agents that had approached. "I was going to handle it."

"You were going to get your team demoted even farther down the ranks." Murakami said.

"You bastards!" The agent shouted, shooting to his feet, grabbing at his neck as he felt his head back. "You can't attack agents outside training!"

"HUH?" Kageura snarled, glaring at the agent. "I didn't see anyone do anything. You just fell over." He turned to his friend. "Did you see anyone attack anyone, Kō?" He looked at Hyuse. "Cronin?"

"I saw nothing." It wasn't even a lie. Hyuse was so focused on the dumb agent in front of him that he didn't see Murakami and Kageura approaching. He only acknowledged their presence after the Mantis cut the kid's head off.

"You should be careful when Kage is around. He can read your mind." Murakami warned the agent.

"Read minds?" The agent looked at Kageura in fear.

"Be careful what you think when he is near." Murakami said. "Especially when it's about one of his closest friends."

That seemed to be enough as the terrified agent ran off. Once he was far enough away, Murakami rounded on Kageura, glaring at his friend.

"I get you get irritated, Kage, but you're not going to keep getting away with beheading agents in here." Murakami scolded. He kept having to cover for Kageura to keep him from getting demoted even more. He would never tell anyone Kageura's true side effect though. The fear of mind reading was better anyway. It got everyone to run away quickly without asking any more questions or saying anything else rude. They didn't even have the guts to complain about Kageura after he attacked them because of it, but Murakami doubted that would work forever.

Kageura scoffed, kicking the nearby couch. "They get what's coming to them." He sat on the armrest of the couch so he could face both Murakami and Hyuse. "Hey, Tamakoma, the C-Ranks and the ones that are advancing to B-Rank are talking."

"About what?" Hyuse asked annoyed, glaring at the retreating form of the agent who dared to approach him. He had only come in here to get some training against agents outside of Tamakoma. It wasn't good to train against the same people all the time as it would cause bad habits to form. He needed different training partners. He did not come here to accosted by random, no-name agents. "Are you telling me that he was a new B-Rank? Would explain why I couldn't figure out who he was."

"They're talking about Kuga." Murakami replied, avoiding answer the question about who the new agent was since Hyuse already figured it out. "They don't know about his injuries or why he suddenly just left. They assume he quit and now they're vying for the open spot on your team since you are a top tier team."

Hyuse scoffed. "They're not even Tamakoma agents."

Kageura barked out a harsh laugh. "Those idiots think they can just transfer to Tamakoma. For anyone with a braincell, we know it's not that easy to get accepted as a Tamakoma agent." His laugh died down as he shifted to frown. "But seriously, they think they can appease you by saying they can take Kuga's spot on the team and do it better than him."

"Better than Yuma?" Hyuse asked sharply. "These weaklings? Did they not watch the B-Rank Wars at all last season?"

Murakami shook his head. "These aren't the same trainees who watched Kuga last season. These are the trainees who joined while we were on the away mission who have never seen Kuga in action. All they saw was Kuga in one Rank War this season and that was when he passed out. After that, Kuga disappeared from Border. People are talking."

"Well, tell them to shut up before I take care of it." Hyuse snapped, furious that anyone would dare disrespect his teammate like that.

"No!" Murakami held up a hand, getting ready to push Hyuse back from doing something as he was glaring at the sea of white in here. It was like having to deal with a second Kageura. He thought Hyuse was more level headed, but it seemed disrespecting his teammate, his teammate who wasn't here to defend himself, was his limit. "Weren't you listening? Fighting agents outside training is against the rules. You'll lose points."

Hyuse scoffed. He had never once cared about his points. "And get my team demoted farther down the ranks?"

"I don't know. Ninomiya squad and Kageura squad got demoted from A-Rank in the past, but I don't know if they would demote your whole team if you attack an agent." Murakami shot a glare over his shoulder at Kageura. "You guys already fell to number four in the rankings. Don't take yourself down any farther."

Hyuse glared at Murakami. The top teams have shown no mercy to Tamakoma. They were still adjusting to the hole in their formation that Yuma's departure had put there, and the other teams were taking advantage of that and gaining up on Tamakoma. It was frustrating, but at the same time, Hyuse respected their harsh nature to show no pity to Tamakoma.

"You act like falling two ranks is a big deal." Hyuse scoffed again. "When it takes you five rounds to knock us down two ranks, you should take a moment to look at where you're lacking if that is all you managed."

With his piece said, Hyuse spun on his heel to leave again.

"Just one more thing, Cronin." Kageura called to get Hyuse to stop again.

"What now?"

"Kuga. Have you heard anything about him yet?" Kageura asked.

Hyuse should have known. It had been fifteen days. Fifteen days since Yuma left. They were all in the dark about what was going on with Yuma while he was gone, but Hyuse wasn't surprised that the HQ agents might think Tamakoma knew more than them and would ask them about it.

Unfortunately...

"No. Nothing yet."

They were in the dark just as much as all of them.

Hyuse kept walking. He didn't turn to look at Yuma's friends' faces because he didn't want to see their disappointment. All of this disappointment and worry was getting tiresome. All Hyuse wanted at this moment was to know whether his teammate was dead or not.

And to chop some of these weak agents up who dared to think Tamakoma needed their help.

They were perfectly fine the way they were as they waited for Yuma to come back.

*L*S*A*

"Did we just see Kageura chop someone's head off?" Tachikawa asked. He looked at Jin, but pointed in the direction of the agent that was running away from Hyuse, Kageura, and Murakami. "Should we report that?"

"Huh? What'd you say?" Jin looked up from his phone, squinting in the direction that Tachikawa was pointing. "Sorry, wasn't watching."

"Were you not watching? Or is this a plausible deniability kind of thing?" Tachikawa demanded.

Jin snorted. "I wasn't watching. And considering how we broke the rules right in half last year by fighting in the Restricted Zone, I think you should get off your high horse, Tachikawa-san." He held up his bag of rice crackers towards his friend. "Cracker?"

Tachikawa rolled his eyes, but took an offered cracker. "You sure are relaxed."

"How can I not be?" Jin teased. "I just stole the number one Attacker spot from you."

Tachikawa's brow twitched at the reminder. "Don't get too comfortable with that. You'll only holding onto it for the moment." This was how it always was with him and Jin. They basically shared the number one spot with how often they kept switching it between them from all the sparring they did. "You just got lucky today. The next time we train together, it's coming right back to me."

"We'll see about that." Jin replied, tossing a rice cracker in his mouth.

"'We'll see about that.'" Tachikawa mocked. "Let's go again, right now, Jin!"

"Sorry," Jin tossed another rice cracker in his mouth and stood up from the couch. "The power elite Jin is actually busy the rest of the day."

Tachikawa tsked. "Then tomorrow."

"Hmm, nope." Jin shot a grin at his friend. "I'm actually busy all week so I guess I'll hold onto being number one until I'm free next."

"You asshole!" Tachikawa snapped at Jin's back as he was walking away. "You can't just take the number one spot and then run away! That's not how this works!"

Jin turned to face Tachikawa, but kept walking backwards as he smirked at his friend and gave him a two-finger salute which just earned him another annoyed glare.

*L*S*A*

"So? What do you think?" Izuho asked as she gave a little twirl to show off her brand new uniform.

Chika clapped happily as her friend did another twirl. "You're look amazing, Izuho-chan! Congrats on finally reaching B-Rank!"

Izuho's twirl ended so fast so she could dig her fist into Chika's hair. "The 'finally' part was unnecessary, Chikako!"

"Not inaccurate though." Ema said. "You sure took your time in joining us."

This time, it was Ema's turn to get a fist in his hair while Chika worked on fixing her hair. "So sorry we can't all be prodigies or have Chikako's levels of power."

"Um," Chika raised a hand. "At least you did it through your own strength. I only made it to B-Rank because they wanted me to have a bail out function with my Trion levels so Yuma-kun and Osamu-kun transferred their points to me to rank me up faster."

"Well, duh." Izuho scoffed. "We can't have you running around with such a huge target on your back. How you managed to do it for thirteen years by yourself is beyond me."

Chika chuckled sheepishly. "I got used to it, but it also stopped being as bad when Border built their base and the Restricted Zone. It kept the Trion Soldiers away from the city so it wasn't an issue for me any longer until I joined Border and started putting myself in their line of fire on purpose."

"That's really not something to be okay with." Ema muttered.

"No, it's not, but there is no use to being upset about it." Chika replied, smiling at her friend. "I've come to accept my massive amount of Trion and all the good and the bad that comes with it."

"Really?" Izuho asked dubiously. She knew that Chika lost her friend and brother to the Neighborhood because she was being targeted by Neighbors. That happened because of her Trion levels so she didn't think Chika would ever be able to accept this part of her.

Chika hummed in approval. "I think meeting Yuma-kun was something I really needed." She looked down at her lap, turning her hand over in her lap so she could look at her palm. "I spent my whole life running from Neighbors, never asking for help because I didn't want to drag anyone into my problems. Then I met Yuma-kun and learned more about Neighbors and their world from him and Shiori-san. Yuma-kun told me to fight so I could protect myself and as I went through the B-Rank War last season, I learned that my power while destructive can also be used to protect. If it means saving myself or, more importantly, my friends, I won't hesitate to shoot ever again. So, while my Trion levels caused me a lot of grief growing up, I'm very grateful for having run into Yuma-kun that day and being introduced to this world."

Izuho smiled at her friend. It was so nice to see her friend so relaxed without any stress hanging on her shoulders about her Trion levels or how she couldn't shoot people. She knew the last B-Rank season had been really hard on her mentally because of that. Instead of saying anything that she knew Chika already knew, Izuho chose to throw herself forward and hug her friend. "I'm glad you two met too because if you didn't, you wouldn't be here with us now and I would have missed out on having a wonderful friend."

Chika laughed and hugged her friend back. "Same here."

"I would probably still be struggling in C-Rank too if I never met you." Izuho added cheekily.

"I don't think that is true." Chika protested.

"No, it definitely is." Izuho replied, shooting a grin at Ema, who just blushed and looked away from the two friends hugging each other. She had a feeling that a certain boy was jealous he wasn't getting to hug Chika. He always kept himself so respectful around her. "It was because of you being my friend that I got to interact with so many of the official agents and they started helping me improve my skills. You showed off your skill and impressive Trion to them in Rank Wars and they started to approach you and because I was by your side, I gained mentors along the way."

"Connections are very important." Ema said.

"Oh, I guess that's true." Chika said, breaking off her hug with Izuho. "Jin-san says every little thing we do causes a ripple effect and causes the future to shift to different paths. I guess I can see how that works with what Izuho-chan said."

"Damn straight!" Izuho said excitedly. "But Chikako, listen to this. I get to be in my first B-Rank War match on Wednesday."

"You're going to get killed immediately." Ema said.

"Watch it, Yuzuru!"

Ema scoffed. "It's your first match and your team is up against Katori squad and Yuba squad. You're the weak link in the team with it being your first match. The teams aren't so nice as to go easy on anyone." He glanced at Chika. "Just ask Amatori-san. The top tiers are targeting their team every match."

Chika grimaced at the reminder. "And because of that, your team has solidly locked in the number two spot."

"Maybe, but I know Kage-san is frustrated by it." Ema replied.

"Why? Shouldn't that be something to be thrilled about after losing it last season?" Izuho asked confused.

Ema shook his head. She just wouldn't get it as she hadn't been in Rank Wars yet. "Kage-san wanted revenge against the team who took the number two spot from us. The whole team."

"Ah," Izuho grimaced, scratching the back of her head as she was reminded of the missing Tamakoma agent.

Chika smiled softly. "Yuma-kun will think it will be fun to fight to get back to the top when he returns so Kageura-san shouldn't be too upset. We'll steal it back from him."

"If he comes back." Ema muttered.

Izuho's eyes snapped to Ema, flashing angrily. "Unnecessary, Yuzuru! He has to come back." She gave another little twirl. "I have to show him I reached B-Rank! Ochibi-senpai can't die before that!"

Ema tsked, glancing at Chika again. "Have you heard anything about Kuga?"

Chika shook her head, looking down sadly. She told Yuma that she believed he would conquer the surgery because she always believed in her friend, but the silence from Galopoula was so nerve-wracking. Any little bit of information from them would have helped them.

Izuho and Ema shared a look above her bowed her head. None of them had known how long Yuma would be gone when he left, but two weeks without any word didn't really comfort anyone.

"I'm sure everything will be fine. I mean, this is Ochibi-senpai we're talking about. He never lets us down!" Izuho grabbed Chika's hand and tugged at it to drag her forward. "And until he comes back, we need to keep training. We're going to blow him out of the water when he sees how much we have improved."

*L*S*A*

"Oji squad and Azuma squad."

Osamu nodded. "Azuma squad will have the right to pick the map this time around. Normally when they choose the map, they pick an area where Azuma-san will excel."

"He is their ace." Shiori replied. "But what to remember is that Okudera-kun and Koarai-kun use bullets now so they will be trickier to deal with."

"And with that, we have Oji squad's run tactics." Osamu added, staring down at the reports of the six agents they will be going up against. Since this was his second season in the B-Ranks, he had a better understanding of all the teams. Those who didn't go on the away mission didn't change that much in terms of strength, but they had developed new strategies that he would need to be wary of.

Shiori stared at her captain for a moment, watching the way his eyes scanned over all the information in front of him as he thought. "Osamu-kun," She sat up in her chair and leaned forward to be closer to where Osamu was standing on the other side of desk.

"Yes, Usami-senpai?" Osamu asked without looking up from the papers.

Shiori countered Osamu's distraction by putting a hand over the papers to get Osamu to look at her. When he did look up, she smiled at him. "Maybe we should try something new."

"Something new?"

Shiori sent a sad smile his way. "We have no goal this season that we are desperately fighting towards and because Yuma-kun had to drop out of the Rank Wars this season, you've compensated for that by being overly cautious."

Osamu pushed his glasses up to hide his face behind his hand. He couldn't argue with what Shiori was saying. On their team, Yuma was always the fastest one so Osamu would use Yuma to cover any openings or to have him move around quickly to backup his teammates who got into trouble. Without Yuma here, he didn't have anyone who could get around the field quickly so he was being more cautious with how he moved his teammates.

And Osamu knew it frustrated Hyuse to no end. Despite how much Osamu has learned the past few months, he just couldn't match Yuma's skill so he couldn't properly fill in to be Hyuse's partner. Hyuse and Yuma were the strongest vanguard pair. Osamu just couldn't match Yuma's strength to pull off the support that Hyuse needed.

"I'm just saying, maybe it's time to try something risky, Osamu-kun. Being cautious is–" Shiori cut herself off, staring at something behind Osamu in surprised.

Osamu raised a brow and turned to find himself face to face with a furious Hyuse. "Okay," Osamu shifted a step to the side to get some personal space back. "What happened this time?"

"I'm with Shiori on this. I'm done with this cautious bullshit." Hyuse snapped. "We need to make a statement in the next round."

Osamu glanced at Shiori, but she just raised a brow, looking just as confused as Osamu about what was going on. "Are you going to tell us why the sudden rage?" He knew that Hyuse was annoyed with the losses, but all the losses did was push him to train harder and work more with his team on their strategies of how to overcome the strength of their opponents who seemed dead set on taking advantage of their missing ace.

Hyuse's jaw twitched, clearly showing his agitation. "Have you been to the solo rank booths recently?"

"I don't usually go there." Osamu replied. He preferred to do his training at Tamakoma or with Izumi and Yuiga or Arashiyama squad. Although, maybe he should do some solo rank wars in the solo training booths. It had been a long time. He should see how he handles the HQ agents in solo combat.

Hyuse slammed a hand on the desk, right over the reports of the teams they were going to be fighting in a couple days. "Those damn new agents are talking about Yuma. They want to take his spot on the team and are saying they can do a better job than he ever could!"

"Ah," Shiori grimaced in understanding. "Hyuse-kun, they don't know that Yuma-kun will be coming back. Once he does, we can shove their words back in their faces then. There's no use in getting so riled up about it. Yuma-kun wouldn't care about the rumors. He would use them looking down on him as an advantage because they won't expect what he will throw at them."

"Throw it in their faces when he comes back?" Hyuse snapped back. "And when will that be? It's been two weeks since Yuma left and we haven't heard anything! We know Yuma has been in Galopoula for twelve days now! It doesn't take twelve days to do a surgery. So, why hasn't anything come of it?"

"You know the most about the Neighborhood, Hyuse, so you know that Galopoula is too far away to contact us about the surgery." Osamu protested.

"I also know Galopoula's orbit. With how it circles Meeden, it gets close enough here two times a year to open Gates. We are nearing the time where Galopoula will be in range, which means they should be close enough to contact us." Hyuse snapped. "So, why haven't they tried?"

Osamu frowned, looking down at the ground as he tried to think of a response to that, but he couldn't. Hyuse was the most knowledgeable one here about the Neighborhood so of course he would be thinking about this and realizing things Osamu wouldn't think of.

"We don't know when they would have done the surgery though. Just because they got to Galopoula twelve days ago, that doesn't mean they did the surgery right away, Hyuse-kun." Shiori protested.

"It's still been twelve days. I doubt they were going to arrive in Galopoula twelve days ago and wait a week to do the surgery. Jin said it himself. The longer the surgery is put off, the less likely it will succeed so they had to have already done it if they want good results. So, why haven't they tried to contact us or sent an away ship here to speak to us?" Hyuse demanded.

"Something happened."

"Or the surgery failed." Hyuse said. "Either way, they're keeping something from us. And they're not telling us because they don't want to mess up the alliance with Border."

"You can't know that." Shiori argued. "The surgery Yuma-kun is undergoing is very risky and dangerous. They probably just don't have time to contact us. You need to stop assuming the worst of them, Hyuse-kun. They promised to help Yuma-kun and made an agreement with us that no matter the outcome of the surgery, it wouldn't affect our alliance because we all understand the risks involved with it."

"Then they should have found a way to keep us in the loop." Hyuse snapped.

Osamu grimaced as Hyuse stormed out of the room, leaning a hand on the desk to brace himself. "I thought he was mad about the agents insulting Kuga. How did it turn into a fight about the surgery?"

"Galopoula did help us and go against his country. I'm sure there are some bitter feelings there." Shiori said softly, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes as she focused on breathing and calming her heart. She didn't expect an argument to break out in here, but she couldn't say she disagreed with what Hyuse was saying. All those same fears had hit her. She just didn't voice them out loud. "But, at the end of it, it was about Yuma-kun. I think he's actually worried about him, but you know Hyuse-kun. He can't just show concern or worry. It's not his nature, so he lashed out instead." She opened her eyes and sent a weak smirk Osamu's way. "Maybe he is really a tsundere like Konami said."

Osamu snorted. He pushed up his glasses and rubbed at his tired eyes. "Let's just take a break right now, Usami-senpai. I think I need a moment after that."

"Of course, Osamu-kun."

*L*S*A*

Rindo slid a file across the table.

Shinoda stared at the file, not making a move to open it and see what it was. "Why do you keep barging into my office?" He asked, unimpressed with his friend, but his friend just grinned at him.

"I told you. It's much more spacious in here." Rindo threw himself down on Shinoda's couch. "I would have invited you out to lunch to ask you to clear that, but private information, you know? Don't want anyone to overhear our conversation."

With a long-suffering sigh as Shinoda was too used to the eccentric nature of Tamakoma, Shinoda pulled the folder closer to him and flipped it open. He read the paper silently for a moment, brows raising in surprise as he did so. "And you want me to approve this?"

"What's the difference between Yuma taking a leave of absence and Jin going away for a few days?" Rindo asked calmly as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

Shinoda flipped the folder shut and dropped it onto his desk. "Yuma-kun left for health-related reasons. What does Jin even need to leave for? Jin doesn't leave the city as he is our best form of defense with his side effect." It wasn't often they let Jin leave the city. Or, it was more like, since Border went public five years ago that they couldn't afford to send Jin to the Neighborhood.

"We're in a state of peace right now. Jin said we don't have to worry about any large invasions right now." Rindo promised.

"Still," Shinoda jabbed the file on his desk. "He wouldn't leave for just anything, so what is his leave of absence request for, Rindo. Don't play games with me."

Rindo took a drag from his cigarette, blowing out the smoke from the corner of his mouth, but he kept watching Shinoda from the corner of his eyes as he watched the lines around his eyes crease in concern. "Galopoula is coming back around."

"What?" Shinoda asked confused.

"They're approaching us again." Rindo clarified. "Jin is planning to head over there when they are in range in a few days."

Shinoda sat up straighter in his seat, sending a sharp look towards his friend. "Has Galopoula contacted you?"

"Nope." Rindo replied. "But Jin said he needs to head to Galopoula."

Shinoda's brows furrowed in confusion once more. "I don't understand. He wants to go to Galopoula when they haven't contacted us to let us know Yuma-kun is ready to come home? What is Jin getting at? And how would he get there? Yuma-kun got there on Galopoula's ship. If Galopoula hasn't contacted us yet, the only way for Jin to get there would be our away ship. That would require permission from Commander Kido so we would have to involve him in this conversation."

When all Rindo did was take another drag of his cigarette and stare out the window behind Shinoda, Shinoda felt himself frowning. It wasn't like his friend to keep these kinds of things from him. When Yuma came to them, they both made the promise to protect their old mentor's son as a way to pay back their debt to him. When the Mimic incident occurred and Shinoda learned how much Rindo was keeping from him about Yuma, he made his friend make another promise to him that he would be kept in the loop.

After a moment, Rindo sighed and looked back at Shinoda to meet his eyes. "Jin said something is wrong, but he doesn't know what it is."

"Galopoula betrayed us?" Shinoda asked sharply.

"No," Rindo said immediately before Shinoda's thoughts could start spiraling. "But something happened. The future shifted and Jin can't make heads or tails of it so he wants to go to Galopoula to get a better read on what is happening."

Shinoda fell back against his chair and took a moment to just breath. Rindo was clearly saying they still trusted Galopoula so if something went wrong, it was with Yuma. However..."If it was Yuma's death, he wouldn't be so confused. That is a pretty straight forward future, so it's something else he saw, isn't it?"

"It's very possible."

Shinoda averted his eyes to the ceiling, tapping the armrest of his chair as he thought.

"But it's also possible, Yuma did die and Jin is going there to get the Black Trigger and he just doesn't want to tell us." Rindo added. He didn't want to think Jin would keep something important like that from him, but he needed to voice out loud all the possibilities of what was going on so he could properly think them through.

Shinoda's eyes snapped back to Rindo's.

"Yuma made Jin promise him that if he died during the surgery, he would get the Black Trigger back." Rindo explained. "Because Yuma wants Border to have it if anything ever happens to him."

A huff of air escaped Shinoda. He wanted it be one of disbelief, but it was more exasperation and fondness. That was just like Yuma. It was like Yuma said that his father always told him to go to Japan if he ever died. Yuma was trying to prepare for the worst-case scenario just like his father. Yuma would want his final wishes known if something were to happen.

"I don't think Galopoula would try to keep Yuma's Black Trigger from us if that happened though. They do want this alliance. They're a small nation so they're going to want allies that can help them if they ever get attacked again."

Shinoda rubbed at his jaw. "Maybe. Galopoula is still in a state of repair after they regained control of their Mother Trigger back from Aftokrator. They might be desperate enough to betray us here." He leaned forward and flipped open the folder on his desk again to scan the leave of absence request. "Does Jin have an idea of what he would be walking into if he went there?"

"What do you mean?" Rindo asked.

"Would he be walking into an ambush?"

"Ah," Rindo nodded in understanding. "No. Jin says there is no threat of violence which is why we believe they haven't betrayed our deal." He studied his friend's face, trying to understand what he was thinking of. "You don't want Jin to go, do you?"

"It's not that I don't trust Jin's prediction, but..." Shinoda trailed off.

"You're worried about what Jin saw that has him concerned enough to want to go there." Rindo finished.

Shinoda sighed and rubbed his eyes. He really should have expected some complications with this. Nothing that the Kuga family got involved in was ever easy. "I understand that Jin feels he needs to go there, but I don't feel comfortable sending him there alone." He picked up the folder and tossed it to the side. "So, no, I won't approve his leave of absence. I will, however, approve a mission to Galopoula. If they are approaching as you say they are, then it should only be a few days in the Neighborhood. We can spare a few of our elites to back up Jin in case something does go wrong."

"Galopoula might see it as a sign of aggression." Rindo warned.

"If we're to enter an alliance, then we have to start trusting each other when our soldiers appear in each other's worlds." Shinoda replied. "We didn't say anything when Galopoula sent a whole team here to pick up Yuma-kun. They should extend the same trust to us. It's just a precaution in case something goes wrong."

Rindo sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I see, but you don't have the authority to send the agents into the Neighborhood."

"I'll draft the mission and get Kido-san to sign off on it." Shinoda replied. "Since it's a rush mission and will likely be short, we're just choose A-Rank teams we can trust with this."

*L*S*A*

By break, Osamu meant that he was going to hide out in his room and just breath. Everyone in Tamakoma was worried, but they were acting like things were normal. Everyone went about their normal routines because life didn't stop just because Yuma left. Everything they did were things that still needed to get done, but keeping busy didn't keep their concerns away.

And with each passing day where there was no word from Galopoula, their concerns only got worse.

Osamu hunched over on his bed and placed his hand on the back of his neck to massage out the tension that was building up there. He got that Hyuse was worried, but he didn't need to argue with them about it. They were all worried about Yuma. Though, Osamu was sure the B-Rank Wars where they were dropping rank because of his overly cautious nature this season wasn't helping their nerves.

Maybe it was time to do something risky to show that Tamakoma-2 wasn't out of the running yet, but Osamu didn't think they were doing that bad. They had five rounds this season so far and they only dropped two ranks. They had five more rounds to make that up.

Shuffling.

Osamu looked up from the floor, frowning as he listened to the shuffling nearby. It wasn't in his room, but it was close which he thought was strange. He didn't think anyone else was upstairs.

Getting up from his bed, Osamu left his room and looked up and down the hall until his eyes paused on the door to the room next to his which only made his confusion grow worse. That was Yuma's room and he knew for a fact that Yuma wasn't back from Galopoula.

Leaving his room to approach the room next door, Osamu nudged the door open more to peer inside. He found himself blinking when he found Shiori with her hair tied back with a bandana and cleaning supplies by her side. "What are you doing, Usami-senpai? I thought we were taking a break."

Scrubbing a room down was not exactly what Osamu saw as a break.

"Oh, Osamu-kun." Shiori looked back at him with a smile, waving her duster at him. "What does it look like? I'm cleaning Yuma-kun's room. We want to keep it clean for his return." She shot a sad smile at Osamu. "Hyuse-kun voiced all our worries about what might be going on in Galopoula, but the truth is we really have no idea. However, I know Jin-san and Rindo-san trusted them to take of Yuma-kun. We can have all our fears we like from being left in the dark, but we should still trust them. Jin-san has never led us astray before. And so," She waved her duster around the room in a sweeping motion. "I'm cleaning in here. When he comes back, he'll be recovering from a serious surgery and be back in a body that hasn't seen this world in five years. His immune system has to be shot, so we want to keep his room free of germs."

"Of course." Osamu smiled lightly. Their concerns would never go away until they knew what happened to Yuma, but they couldn't let those worries stop them. Life was still moving forward. "Would you like some help?"

Shiori smiled softly at her teammate. "Please."

Osamu entered the room, but froze after a couple steps when his eyes landed on Yuma's desk. No one had been in here since their friend left as they kept the door firmly closed so he had no idea. He found his feet dragging him to the desk where he put his hand the Border Trigger sitting innocently there. He dragged his finger through the dust, leaving a clean line on it.

"Oh, that," Shiori said, noticing what had distracted him. "I guess Yuma-kun left it here when he left."

Osamu's hand curled into a fist on the desk. He just left it here without telling any of them? Did Yuma think it was best to leave it behind in case he died during the surgery? "Before he left, Kuga said he didn't want to die on an operating table. We put on a brave face for him to push him to take the surgery, but with each passing day where we don't hear anything..." Osamu's knuckles knocked into the desk, pressing firmly in the dust that had gathered there. "I don't want his fears to be realized."

Shiori stared at him. At the Trigger sitting so innocently on the desk. There was nothing she could say to make that worry better. There wasn't anything any of them could say since they were all in the same boat of not knowing what was going on. "It's all out of hands now, Osamu-kun." She knocked the duster into Osamu's chest to get him to take it. "All we can do is pray for his safe return."

Osamu took the duster that Shiori pressed into his chest and watched as she made her way over to the bed to strip it of the blankets and sheets. After a moment, he looked back at Yuma's Trigger sitting on his desk. All they could do was pray, huh? It sucked, but there truly wasn't anything else for them here. From the moment Osamu heard of Yuma's past, he knew he would be useless in doing anything to save his friend. He just didn't have the skills or knowledge to help him.

What Osamu did have, though, was an honest heart. It was what pulled Yuma towards him. It was why Yuma chose to stay by his side. It was why Yuma always looked at his captain with a smile full of trust for his captain and his plans.

So, what Osamu could do was return that same trust to Yuma. When Yuma looked at them and told them he wasn't going to do the surgery, it was with a pained, confused look. When Yuma saw them off before his departure, he had done so with a strong smile as he found his resolve to live. Osamu was going to trust that last smile he saw his friend give him.

Yuma didn't leave his Trigger here because he thought he would die.

Yuma left it here because he was determined to come back for it.

That was what Osamu would choose to believe.

He would put that trust in his friend.

*L*S*A*

Kido leaned back in his chair, reading the file that Shinoda handed him very carefully. As usually, the Tamakoma branch and Shinoda fraction were making plans behind his back and only coming to him to get his signature for approval. It made his life easier that he didn't have to get involved in all their conversations, but he would prefer to not have secret maneuvers behind his back, but Kido was realizing that was a pipe dream when Jin was involved with Tamakoma.

"And what did Galopoula do to get us to assign a mission to head there?" Kido asked, tossing the file on the desk so he could give Shinoda his full attention. "Kuga-kun has only been gone for two weeks. It seems too soon to be thinking Galopoula betrayed the deal we made."

"Jin believes something went wrong in Galopoula in regards to Yuma-kun's surgery. He's not sure what it is so he wants to go there to check the situation out." Shinoda explained. "However, I'm not comfortable sending an agent alone into the Neighborhood. We had to with Yuma-kun because we couldn't justify sending agents into the Neighborhood for an undetermined amount of time, but according to Rindo, Jin said this shouldn't take more than few days. With Galopoula being in range in a few days, it will be real easy to send our agents there to check out things regarding Yuma-kun's surgery."

"And Galopoula won't see it as a threat?" Kido asked.

"If we keep the team small, it should be fine." Shinoda replied. "Which is why I recommend a small team of A-Ranks who have been to the Neighborhood and know how to conduct themselves."

Kido looked back at the filed that Shinoda gave him which consisted of the teams that Shinoda suggested go on the mission. Though, it seemed less like a mission and more like a mini trip to Galopoula to check on the situation there.

"Alright, I approve the mission." Kido quickly signed his signature on the paper to officially approve the mission. "However, depending on what Jin confirms of his worries and if he is ready and his doctors agree, I want them to bring Agent Kuga back here that way we can be done with this."

Shinoda accepted the file back from Kido. "Are you sure? Yuma-kun's surgery was dangerous. He might need more time to recover."

"I have no doubt he will be off duty for a while, but if he is well enough to travel, have them bring him home. He can finish recovering in our medical wing." Kido replied. He shot a look at Shinoda. "Or Tamakoma if that is where he would be more comfortable and he is well enough to not be in a medical wing."

Shinoda smiled in understanding. It was Kido's own way of saying that he wanted to know his old friend's son was safe and healthy. Everyone would be much more relaxed when Yuma was back home where he belonged.

*L*S*A*

To Kazama Squad:

Mission Notification

Report to Commander Kido and Director Shinoda on 8/7 at 9:00.

Prepare to be gone for a few days.

General Manager and Commander of Self-Defense Unit,

Shinoda Masafumi

"We always seem to be in high demand." Utagawa said, resting a hand on the back of Mikami's chair as he leaned forward to look at her monitor.

"So, you haven't heard anything about this until now?" Mikami asked as she thought that her team had simply forgotten to mention an upcoming mission to her.

"No, it's news to me."

"Strong squads will always be pulled into missions at the last minute." Kikuchihara said.

Utagawa wanted to disagree with his teammate, but it did feel like the higher ups were more likely to grab strong, efficient teams when something was going on last minute and they didn't have time to prepare other teams to take on this role. "'Prepare to be gone for a few days.'" He read out loud. "It's either a recruiting mission in another city or it's an away mission."

"No way it's recruiting. They wouldn't pick a top team for that last minute." Kikuchihara said.

"They also wouldn't pick this team for that." Utagawa replied. He liked his teammates, but there was no denying that Kikuchihara and Kazama both had sharp tongues. They were the kind of people that the higher ups would want to keep away from potential recruits.

"Then it has to be an away mission." Mikami decided.

Utagawa frowned. "An away mission without an away team selection process is weird." It was also weird that there was no mention of this before now and that the e-mail didn't have any more information about what they were going to be doing. "Does Kazama-san know?"

"I forwarded the e-mail to him."

*L*S*A*

To Fuyushima Squad:

Mission Notification

Report to Commander Kido and Director Shinoda on 8/7 at 9:00.

Prepare to be gone for a few days.

General Manager and Commander of Self-Defense Unit,

Shinoda Masafumi

"Doesn't that sound fun?" Toma asked amused.

"No, it sounds like I'm going to get sick." Fuyushima complained. "This is definitely an away mission they want to send us on. Since when do they give us a last minute away mission?"

"It's certainly strange. The away missions are usually planned meticulously for months." Maki agreed. "And this time, they're not even giving anyone a chance to request to go on the mission. They're just choosing the teams."

Toma grinned. "It makes me much more curious about what they are going to be asking us to do."

"How important do you think it is?" Fuyushima wondered. "Maybe I can opt out of the mission."

Toma laughed at his captain's complaints. While his captain liked to see the Neighborhood, he was not fond of the away ship at all so for what seemed like a small mission since it would only be a few days, he would think about trying to get out of it.

"Lazy old man." Maki scoffed to which her captain just laughed at as Fuyushima himself always said he was too old to keep up with the younger agents.

*L*S*A*

To Tachikawa Squad:

Mission Notification

Report to Commander Kido and Director Shinoda on 8/7 at 9:00.

Prepare to be gone for a few days.

General Manager and Commander of Self-Defense Unit,

Shinoda Masafumi

Tachikawa's brow twitched in annoyance as he looked at the order.

"It came in an hour ago." Kunichika said, glancing at her captain, who looked ready to set the computer on fire. She smiled in bemusement. "I thought you would be excited for a mission."

"That damn Jin. This has his name written all over it." Tachikawa grumbled.

Izumi leaned over the monitors from behind the other side of the desk to look at the e-mail from Shinoda upside down. "I don't see Jin-san's name anywhere on in this e-mail. You can't blame him every time something comes out of nowhere."

Tachikawa smacked the desk, glaring at the screens. "This didn't come out of nowhere. He said yesterday that he couldn't fight me again for a while because he was going to be busy and now a day later, we're getting a mission? And the e-mail doesn't even tell us what it is we are doing. This is Jin's doing!"

"Ah," Izumi chuckled nervously and backed up from the desk, sharing a look with Kunichika.

Kunichika just shrugged and smiled easily again to try to ease the tension. "It says be prepared to be gone for a few days. The only time we ever go out of the city is if we need to go to another city for an attack, which has only happened once, or we are going to the Neighborhood." That was enough to catch Tachikawa's attention and he caught Kunichika's eyes. "And we all know we don't go on away missions so soon after we just get back from one. However..."

"There is an agent on leave who needs to come home." Izumi realized.

"Why wouldn't they just say that in the e-mail?" Tachikawa grumbled.

"Security reasons maybe." Izumi suggested. While they knew Yuma was in the Neighborhood for his surgery, it wasn't well-known among most of the other agents. "Jin-san didn't say anything to you about the mission or about Kuga?"

"No, he never brought up either, but we were in the solo rank booths. Too many ears around." Tachikawa replied, understanding hitting him. "It's a secret mission." He snapped his fingers and pointed at Izumi. "Which means, don't mention this to anyone."

"I'm not the one you have to tell that too." Izumi rolled his eyes. "I assume, as usual, we'll leave Yuiga behind."

"Sounds like a plan."