Chapter 1: Present
Chapter Text
It was a bright morning in Mikado City. There weren't many Gates opening yet which is the best thing that the current agents on defense duty can get.
All in all, it was a normal day like any other. Or it should be. Tamakoma's sense of normality always seems to be as unique as their custom triggers which is to say - not normal at all.
If one were to see what was happening in the kitchen and dining area of that branch, they’d think that the people who were looking a bit sick on the ground were poisoned.
Well, that doesn’t seem far off from what actually happened.
"So, What lesson did we learn today?" Yuri clapped her hands as she chuckled from the couch. The branch is as lively as ever. She missed this kind of rowdiness.
Although this kind of commotion that’s centered around a certain someone’s cooking is rare even back then. Maybe because they tried to stop it from happening after the first time. They were enough of a secret organization as it was. They didn’t need to lessen the amount of active combatants because someone cooked poison.
"That Boss sucks at cooking anything but Hamburg steak?" Yuma asked, munching on the snack that Yuri gave him earlier while his teammates and Torimaru were reeling from the after effects of eating Rindo's horrendous breakfast.
Rindo offered to cook for Tamakoma-2 except Yuma, who was busy working on something with Replica in his room. Yuri was apparently working on something too so both of them had been in their room for an hour or so. Jin was still asleep and Reiji was out jogging. Osamu agreed because what can go wrong if Rindo cooks.
The answer? Everything. Rindo isn’t a person that’s supposed to cook in the kitchen on a daily basis. He’s a walking kitchen hazard.
Yuma went down to grab something to eat since he’s been holed up in the room for hours - not like anyone knew how long he’s been there, they thought he was at the roof half of the time. He was. Until Jin told him something interesting.
Yuri and Yuma ran into each other in the hallway since both of them went to get something to eat and entered the kitchen - just for Yuma and Yuri to grab whatever they could and throw it accurately at Rindo’s hand that made him drop whatever he was about to add in whatever he’s cooking if the state of his people on the counter who taste tested was any clue.
Yuri just sighed and looked at the victims in pity before grabbing some light snacks and some drinks. Maybe some stomach medicine too.
"Yup. Good thing that we were able to stop him in time." Yuma looked at the victims with a sweatdrop. Right. In time she said. Osamu looks like he’s one step away from death - wait. Hyuse looks dead already.
"Is that," he points to the sickly looking victims that were either on the floor or halfway down the couch, "really on time?"
"Oh that's on time alright." Jin laughed, ignoring the betrayed look that Rindo was sending from the corner that his own agents forced him into.
He’s supposed to stay there while they fix things.
“The last time Boss tried cooking something else that wasn't hamburger steak, which was years ago, he ended up making Reiji-san, Konami, Chihiro and Shinoda-san sick and puking until they all got a slight fever. An upset stomach is way better than that.” Jin explained, ignoring the slight gagging sound that Reiji made. He can still remember how bad he felt that day.
“Kido-san ended up eating some too, didn't he? He nearly threw Uncle out the window for apparently
‘destroying food and people’s taste buds’
until Mogami-san stopped him.” Yuri said, recollecting what happened with a nostalgic chuckle.
“Kido-san did?” Yuma asked. He…didn’t seem like the person who’d do that from all his interaction with the man.
Rindo laughed from where he was kneeling at, slightly sweating at the menacing smile his niece gave him if he even tried to stand up from where he was at.
“It probably sounds weird if you only know how he acts and looks now but he was more open and expressive back then.”
“Well, if all of you are saying the same thing then it must be true. It’s not like we see Kido-san outside the meeting rooms so I can't say anything.” Yuma shrugged, picking up the pen he placed down earlier.
“Kido-san did change after what happened back then. Don’t think too badly of him.” Reiji said while picking up Osamu and Torimaru while Jin carried Chika and Hyuse. They were going to place them in the rooms - it was way more comfortable than being on the ground.
“Also, don’t try cooking anything else again unless someone taught you how to make them properly, Boss. Please.”
“There’s only 2 teams in our branch. Don’t lessen it to 1 please.” Jin jokingly added. Yuma and Yuri snorted at the offended expression on the man’s face. His cooking wasn’t
that
bad.
He took one look at the state of the people that Reiji and Jin were carrying.
Okay, it
might
be.
When the other two left the room, Yuri turned to Yuma with a confused look.
“Is your relationship with Kido-san that bad?” Yuma hummed a bit, thinking back on the few interactions he had with the man.
“Not really? I’m not sure. He’s probably a good person. He hasn’t triggered my Side Effect whenever he and I talked or were in the same room and for that I’m grateful. He probably just knows what words to say but still.”
Yuri leaned on her palm and thought about Yuma’s response. She and Rindo knew that Kido closed himself off from others after losing so many of them in that battle. But they also knew that despite the difference in the ideals of the HQ and their Branch, the man still cared about them.
Tamakoma Branch is probably Border’s problem child branch but despite Kido trying to cut ties with them and distancing himself from their branch - it doesn’t change the fact that he once held the same belief as them and lived under the same roof as they did.
Maybe an example would be how he still remembers clearly when their birthdays are and never fails to give them gifts like how he and the other members always did back then.
If he's in the mood and no one else is around to see it, he'd snatch Jin's bag of rice crackers and hide it because he's been telling the male to stop eating so much of it. Jin barely listens to him.
“If you can, would you try to get to know more about Kido-san?”
Yuma looked up with a raised brow, “He hates Neighbors and did in fact try to kill me before. I didn’t think he’d want to interact with me outside of official things that’s not related to Border.”
Rindo winced at that. Yeah, that’s definitely on Kido. He can’t even say anything because he knew that that was the main reason Yuma made sure to be careful around Kido. The teen didn’t want the man to try and use something that Yuma did against his team so most of the time, he’d just be there and silent unless talked to.
It didn’t stop him from dropping his polite tone when the topic was not to his liking. His branch just has no fear of Kido. The Kido faction agents would have an aneurysm if they witnessed it.
Osamu pointed out that Kido isn’t all that bad and Yuma just looked at him with an amused look and smiled a bit before subtly changing the topic. Yuma thinks that Kido would’ve wanted Yugo to be here instead, just like the council in Calvaria. He’s not blaming them. He wants his father to be here too instead of him. He was supposed to die, not Yugo.
“Who knows. He might be okay with you now. He did accept you to the Border.” Yuri pointed out
“After nearly causing an internal war within the Border, yep. If I ever have a chance, I’ll try. But I can’t say it’ll go that well.” Yuri shrugged. As long as they are trying, then there’s no problem.
Rindo knew that Yuma doesn’t trust Kido all that much compared to both him and Shinoda - the fact that Kido tried to kill him the first time around probably doesn’t help either. Although the teen himself explained that he didn’t mind Kido trying to kill him. It apparently wasn’t the first time someone tried to. He was just wary of higher ups in general or so he explained to Rindo.
It still bothers Rindo up to this day whether Yuma really wants to live longer or does he just want to wait until he reaches his time limit. From how he doesn’t want them to look into the state of his real body, he’s not so sure.
He’s not so sure whether the teen really has much time left if he’s going to be honest.
And that scares them.
— — — —
When Jin and Reiji came back to the dining room, they didn’t expect the atmosphere that seemed to have settled in the room.
“What in the world did you three talk about that made the air so…depressingly heavy?” Jin asked.
Yuma and Yuri looked at each other - ignoring the shiver that went up Reiji’s spine - and turned to look at the two that just came in with similar smiles.
“Nothing.”
“Scary.” Jin shivered from where he was leaning at. He looked at their boss who was still in the corner and decided that he’s probably had enough punishment and took off the paper that says “Punishment” and let him finally move from his spot.
“Finally…! I thought none of you were going to let me up from that spot.” Rindo exaggeratedly sobbed, making Yuri chuckle while Reiji and Yuma were snickering.
“Oh right!” Yuri looked away from Yuma’s work that she took a peek in curiously - he let her look anyway - and looked at the three males.
“You three did remember that we have to get to Kido-san’s office early so we can drop his presents without many people seeing….right?” She asked.
“Crap. I didn’t wrap mine yet.” Rindo cursed and ran out of the kitchen and to his office. Jin looked amused at their boss running around the place like his backside was lit on fire. If Yuri’s smile could set someone on fire when she was in the mood, it would be like that.
“I’ll go grab mines. When are we leaving?” Jin asked the female.
“Hm…20 minutes or so. If there’s anything I know, it’s the fact that Uncle takes at least 10 minutes failing in his wrapping before finally getting it right after minutes.”
Jin gave a thumbs up while dragging Reiji out because he needs help cleaning his room after Konami knocked down the boxes of his rice crackers.
“You should really keep those boxes away from Konami.” Reiji sighed when he was snapped out of his daydream of Yuri by Jin who dragged him away.
“I did. That’s why it’s in my room. Why would I expect her to just suddenly enter and tackle the boxes? I nearly got buried in those.”
“It’s Konami. She’s like a tornado. You can’t predict her sometimes.”
“I like how you're telling me out of all people about predicting things."
– – – – –
“What are you doing, Yuma-kun?” Yuri asked the white haired teen with a curious look. She took a peek at the papers in front of him and saw Neighborhood’s language written on it. It wasn’t the same language as the one she knew so she couldn’t read it.
“Translating. I asked Boss and Jin-san last night if there’s anyone in Border that can read this,” He raised the paper that had what looks like a letter addressed to someone written on it, “But apparently not.”
“We do know how to read Neighborhood’s language - pronouncing things is a different matter - but I don’t think we’ve seen that.” Yuri said
“What you all know is probably the “Universal language” of the other side. It’s like how English is for this world. This is Tropoi’s language.” Yuma tapped on the paper.
“Ah, I see. What are you translating? You look like you’re having a hard time.”
“Remember when some people visited last time? Raymond and his family?” Yuri thought back and yeah, she does remember. Some people from a nation named Calvaria that was headed by Raymond had visited.
“The ones that came in order to build a relationship with Border not as an ally but just to keep a non-aggression type of deal? Calvaria is a defensive nation isn’t it?”
“Yup that one.” Yuma said. He had a feeling they were trying to see if they could pull one over Border but hastily pulled back - much to Raymond’s exasperation and amusement - when Yuma entered the meeting room with Jin. They were a defensive nation. They shouldn’t even be picking any fights in the first place.
‘Maybe me smiling and looking them dead in the eyes was one factor that made them think twice. I know their secrets and I’m sure Izukacha would gladly give me some new blackmails if needed.’
Yuma holding a grudge is one thing but both Yuma and Izukacha holding a grudge and working together might just become Calvaria’s downfall. Those two will haunt the council’s nightmares.
“Well, if they ever try to go back on their deal and attack us, I can make them collapse with a few rumors and leaked secrets here and there but that’s if they break the deal.” Yuma smiled with a dark gleam.
If there’s anyone in Border who knows Calvaria well, it’s Yuma. Don’t underestimate how much of a little shit he was when he was there. He snuck around the place enough that he found out a few secrets here and there.
Replica hit the back of Yuma’s head with his wire, “You’re going off topic.”
“Right, right.” Yuri chuckled at their interaction, “One of the people that came along with them is my childhood friend, Izukacha - the female who visited our branch and greeted me by throwing a huge box at me."
Yuma pointed his pen at the papers and an average sized box next to him. “This was one of the things in the box. It was Dad’s belongings that he had left with Raymond.”
“Was everything in the box your dad’s things?” Yuri only heard a few things about Yuma’s father. He seemed like a good man and was apparently Border’s former Commander in Chief. That was an interesting bit to learn.
“I had some things there too but half of it was Dad’s.” Izukacha decided that putting a storage trigger that had more things inside the already huge box was a fun idea. There was more content in that thing than what it looked like outside. It was a good thing that he has his own room or it’ll be hell to go through.
“I barely got through half of it…I was going to look at it more and clean things up but Jin-san told me that today was Kido-san’s birthday so I might as well do this one first.”
“Are you giving that to Kido-san as a present?” Yuri chuckled at the pinched and slightly embarrassed expression on Yuma’s face.
“Could be. This is originally Dad’s present to Kido-san. Dad has some for Rindo-san and Shinoda-san too but I’ll give those on their birthday.”
“Oh, I see. If you’re going to give it as a present then the nearest one's birthday would be Shinoda-san’s. It’s on October 16. Uncle is on November 2.” Yuri told him with a smile while spinning a pen in her hand.
Yuma blinked at the dates she gave him. That was helpful. “Their birthdays are next to each other huh? Thank you, Yuri-san.”
“No problem. Do you want help in translating? You can dictate what to write to me. You look like you’re having trouble with writing Japanese.” Yuri offered it to the teen.
Yuma nearly slumped over in relief, “Please. I can understand Japanese but writing…I still need to improve on the writing. I was trying to figure out the Japanese equivalent to some words but at this rate I’ll just put them there literally.”
Yuri moved to Yuma’s side and pulled out the chair there, taking the paper and pen from the teen and motioned for him to dictate what to write.
“Okay. Here’s - wait. What’s this 4th entry… ‘How are you doing, Mr. I got my car sliced in half! Did Masafumi cut any cars again after I left? Did you finally find out the reason why I don't let Takumi cook anything but Hamburg steaks? I should tell you that Mogami knew about it too but decided to not tell anyone so if you’ll blame someone - blame him.’ “ Yuri and Yuma looked away, trying not to laugh at the beginning of the letter.
“Less than a letter, it’s more like he made entries of whatever he wanted to tell Kido-san whenever he wanted to. I feel like the ones for Shinoda-san, Boss and Mogami-san are the same too.” Yuma deadpanned at the papers he was holding.
“Mogami-san too?” Yuri looked surprised at the mention of Mogami. “Oh right. Uncle did mention that you were looking for Mogami-san when you came here.” Yuma nodded.
“He and Dad were apparently close. But Mogami-san isn’t here anymore so I’ll just give it to Jin-san.” If there’s anyone that can have Mogami’s things it’s probably Jin. It can be Yuma’s apology for making him need to give Fujin to HQ to let him enlist in Border.
If anything, Dad probably wrote some interesting things there so Jin-san won't be bored if he reads them.
Yuri and Yuma continued translating the entries. Yuma was verbally translating what was written while Yuri wrote things down while letting out a chuckle or two when she heard something amusing. Yuma just felt exposed from some entries where his father talked about him like how he was improving and might surprass Yugo with his skills, how he and his mother are so cute together.
“I can’t believe the one that’s going to be reading this is going to be Kido-san.” He looked horrified at the thought of Kido reading things that Yugo wrote about his family and his travels in the Neighborhood.
‘Oyaji, I don’t think Kido-san needs to know how attached I was to the Tsuchigami as a kid and vice versa. Well, he did explain Crown Triggers here so there’s that….’
“Your father sounds interesting just judging from what he wrote down.” Yuri chuckled at the ones that she and Yuma were able to translate onto the paper. She definitely heard so many interesting things just from the bits that she and Yuma translated.
“He was. Him being there would make things more livelier and if the situation needs him to be serious then he’ll be the most serious and menacing person in the room.” Yuma said, looking a bit melancholic but at the same time happy that he’s able to talk about his father like this.
“That sounds a bit like how you act doesn’t it?” Yuri chuckled at the confused expression that Yuma sent to her.
“When you’re in the middle of a battle or something serious, you’ll be serious and you’d be logical or in some times you’d give your own important opinion that can help move the topic forward. But outside it, you’re more relaxed around people you already know and less…well I can’t really say less on guard.” Yuri looked amused
“You always seem to have a guard up no matter what and yet manage to relax at the same time. It might be the experience you have. Well, I can’t explain it much right now but you get what I mean.”
Yuma didn’t answer but soaked in what Yuri told him. Maybe he did end up acting like that. He probably shut himself in when his father died and would only talk a bit more openly to Raymond and his family.
Everyone else in Calvaria were people he didn’t care about - especially the military ones. They lied so many times to him that at this point, he doesn’t care about anyone in Calvaria anymore except for Raymond and his family.
Replica looked at Yuma and sighed. He knew that the teen’s respect for Calvaria dropped down hard after what happened to Yugo. And if you’ll ask Replica’s opinion? He’s not surprised.
“Jin also picked up habits and all from Mogami-san after he died. Is it a way to cope? Maybe. Who knows.”
Yuma hummed but didn’t reply to Yuri so she took his silence as an agreement to what she said.
The teen looked at the papers in front of him, squinting at the other papers that they still needed to translate and sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“We should probably just stop at an entry and translate the rest for another time. I don’t think we can finish this in 20 minutes.”
Yuri looked at the time and noticed that they only had 5 minutes left. “Oh. Time passed by so fast. Yeah, let’s do this next time instead.”
“Sorry for taking up your time, Yuri-san.” Yuri waved his apology off
“It’s no problem. It’s not like I have much to do plus this was fun. If you need help in translating again, ask me again if I’m free.” Yuma stared at her, looking a bit surprised before laughing.
“What’s wrong?”
Yuma laughed for a bit longer before calming back down and took a deep breath - smile still on his face.
“No. It’s just that…Tamakoma members are the ones who have lied the least to me. Barely, even. Even if someone did lie, it’s something I wouldn’t mind since it’s usually when they’re messing with Konami-senpai and I usually join in on those.” He leaned back on the chair with a relaxed posture. It was as if whatever was weighing down on him had disappeared.
“It’s a breath of fresh air really…” It made him happy that he found people that he can wholeheartedly trust. It made Yuma wonder if his dad had a hard time trusting people until he met Mogami, Kido and the others - then created Border.
Yuri looked at the teen with a sad smile. She knew that Side Effects are thought to be some advantage by other people. Unfair advantage even when those people are high up in the ranks in Border. But from the interactions she had with people who had them, it’s nothing but something that made their life harder than normal.
“Having a Side Effect is hard, isn’t it?”
She can still clearly remember the reaction that Jin had when he took a look at their future before they left to provide reinforcements to one of their allies.
The teen had looked horrible. Downright horrified. Like he was a step away from breaking down. She saw him shakily approach Mogami, clutching his mentor’s arm - begging him to be careful. To not let his guard down. But to no avail.
He still had to watch his mentor go down in front of him and watch as he turned to dust - leaving Fujin behind.
If the aftermath of it was hard on them, then it was worse on Jin who saw it coming, who saw what will happen and yet couldn’t do anything to prevent losing them.
“It is…But as long as you find the right people to trust it’ll be fine.” Yuma chuckled. He stood up from the chair and grabbed the papers, leaving the translated ones and separating them. He took an envelope and placed them there before taping it to the box.
“Jin-san was able to be more open with his Side Effect when he joined Border, didn’t he?” He did. Jin was initially afraid of what he could see until he found the courage to act on one of his visions and approach Mogami. No one would think that the confident Power Elite that people know now was actually a shy and a nervous kid back then.
“Oh? What’s this? Gossiping about me?” Jin entered the room with a grin. “Who wants some rice crackers?”
Yuri raised a brow at the other’s timing, “Have you been there the whole time and was waiting for a chance to enter or did you just arrive?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Yuri-san. I just arrived.” Yuma snorted from where he was at, looking at Jin with an amused smirk.
“You tell the most amusing lies, Jin-san.”
“There it is. His catchphrase for calling out people’s bullshit!” Jin and Yuma laughed at that while Yuri shook her head at the two’s antics.
“At least Yuma-kun’s catchphrase isn’t -
“It’s what my Side Effect tells me”
I prefer his over yours.” Jin looked at Yuri with a mock betrayed look and dodged the pillow that the chuckling Yuma threw at him.
“I’m offended. Here I thought you liked my catchphrase.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not bad - we’re just used to it.” Yuri said
Jin looked blankly at her, “Is that an insult or a compliment?”
“What do you think?” Yuma snorted at the two, fixing up the gift he’s supposed to be giving to Kido. This should be enough right? The box with half of the things that his Dad had collected for Kido…the translated letters…Hm?
“Does Kido-san like cooking?” Yuma cut in between Yuri and Jin’s staring contest with no regrets.
“Yeah. He was always the one who cooked for us back then. Why?” Yuma hummed, leaning on his palm.
“So that’s why Dad always seemed to collect recipes when we’re traveling.”
“Hm?” Jin looked curious and asked, “Is your father’s gift to Kido-san a collection of recipes from the other side?”
Yuma patted the top of the box as an answer while grabbing a paper and a pen. “No wonder the copy of recipes that Dad has is in this box. I was wondering why he made 2 copies.”
“Food from the other side, huh? That’ll definitely catch Kido-san’s interest.” Yuri said
“Do you want to try some of them?” Yuma asked, while scribbling on a paper. “I can probably make some of them.”
“Really? You can cook, Yuma-kun?” Yuma looked up from what he was writing with a sweatdrop.
“I can. Izukacha and Raymond made me learn how to cook so that I can take care of myself since I had to travel on my own after Dad died. It’s not that good. Probably just average.”
“If it’s not worse than Boss’ cooking then it’s good.” Jin said, munching on his rice cracker.
“That’s one low standard you have there, Jin.”
“Would you rather have someone who has worse cooking skills than Boss? That might just kill someone.” Jin said
Yuri thought about it for a second before blanching, “I’d rather not have anyone have worse cooking skills than Uncle. One kitchen hazard is enough.”
“Hyuse is probably another kitchen hazard though.” Yuma thought back to the one time Hyuse tried to cook or heat something up in the kitchen. Yotaro had to ask Yuma if he could drag Hyuse away from the kitchen. Yuma looked confused before he saw the disaster that was about to happen.
Safe to say, they both saved the Branch from being blown up by Hyuse that day. An agreement was also made by Yuma and Yotaro to not let Hyuse be alone in the kitchen without any supervision or until someone teaches him how to
not
blow up the base.
“Is he worse than Boss?” Jin asked
“Does him needing to be tackled out of the kitchen by both Yotaro and Raijinmaru serve as enough of an indication of how bad he is?”
“Right, so it’s Boss and Hyuse who are banned from the kitchen. Got it.” Jin took a sticky note and wrote down the two people that were mentioned and wrote ‘ Banned from kitchen without adult supervision ‘
“Isn’t Uncle the adult here?” Yuri asked when she saw what Jin wrote. Jin gasped dramatically, “Then that means unless another reliable adult that’s older than him is with him in the kitchen then he’s not allowed in it…!”
“Why is it the first thing that I hear after coming back is you two insulting me?” Rindo deadpanned from the door, holding a paper bag. It seems like he was finally back from wherever he ran off to a while ago. He sent a curious look at the package near Yuma. Is he giving a gift to Kido too? That’d be interesting.
Yuri looked at the bag that he was holding and nearly snorted, “Did you give up wrapping it and just threw it in a paper bag, stapled it shut and called it a day?”
“Problem?” he raised a brow, daring her to say something. She did.
“No. It’s just amazing how that took you 20 minutes.” Yuma hid a snicker behind his hand while Jin turned away from the two - hiding a laugh as he ate his snack.
“It’s this early in the morning and you choose violence. Really, Yuri?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Uncle. Are you going to come with us to drop this off?” Rindo waved her off with a sigh.
“No. I have to finish some paperworks…I should’ve finished them last night..” he groaned in despair. He hates paperworks. Why does he have so much anyways?
Recovering quickly from his short despair he looked up at Yuma’s direction, “Are you giving a gift too, Yuma?”
Yuma looked up from where he was confirming things with Replica with a perplexed expression, “Maybe? This is more of Dad’s gift than mine’s. I’m just giving it in his stead.”
“It’s a gift from both of you then.” Rindo laughed. Yuma just smiled and shrugged. “I guess so.”
“What have you been writing there anyways? You suddenly perked up earlier and started scribbling something there.” Jin asked, walking towards the teen and peeking at the paper.
“Is that a recipe?” The male squinted at the recipe that was written in the universal language of the Neighborhood.
“Are you sure that’s edible, Yuma? I’m a bit rusty at that language but I’m sure I saw some pretty weird ingredients combinations.” Yuma waved off his concerns with an amused smile. He asked his friend the same question back then too.
“They are. Don’t worry. This won’t have any chances of killing you unlike Boss’ cooking,”
“Hey, slander!”
, “It’s weird but it’s really tasty. I found this while I was traveling only with Replica. The person I got to know gave me this recipe and showed me how to make it.”
“Yuma you can cook?” Rindo asked when his protest was ignored. Yuma nodded, “Should we add you to the cooking rotation? We thought you were bad at cooking so we just placed you with Osamu and you just helped him prepare things.”
“Sure. I can cook from time to time. I need to brush up on things I can cook anyways. Is it okay if I make food from the other side?” Yuma asked
“If you can make them, sure. Can you find the ingredients here?” Yuma nodded. He found some substitutes when he and Izukacha went to the supermarket when she was visiting that one time.
“Then that’s decided. I'll put you in one of Jin’s rotations.” Jin perked up at that. One less day for him to not cook. Maybe he can sleep in.
Yuri looked at the expression that the Power Elite was wearing and crushed his thoughts, “No, you’re not allowed to sleep in. You need to sleep properly, Jin.” Damn it. There goes his plans.
“Alright. If you two are going to HQ then you better go now before the other agents come in or else you’re going to have a hard time bringing those,” Rindo pointed to the gifts, “to Kido-san’s office.”
Yuma folded the recipe he wrote and slipped it in the box after confirming with Replica that the whole thing was correct. He made another copy for himself to use later. He nudged the box towards the other gifts and was about to go back to his room but was stopped.
“Why don’t you go with them, Yuma?” Eh? Yuma pointed at himself, “Yes, you. Unless there’s another Yuma here then yes. You’re not going to do much in your room anyways aren’t you?”
“Well…I won’t. I was going to go to the training room..” Yuma answered.
“You can go and fight Jin in the Solo Rank Wars or the training room in HQ after we drop off the gifts. The official agents might be in HQ already but the C-Ranks aren’t going to be there until 10.” Yuri suggested while taking her gift and Konami’s. Jin grabbed Reiji’s and his.
Yuma blinked at the suggestion before eagerly looking at Jin. “You’ll fight me?” he asked
He’s been wanting to fight Jin but he was either busy scheming something, asleep, or having a fight with other people so he never really gets a chance. Even if Jin was free, Yuma would be busy with Kage and the others.
“Sure.” Jin grinned. To be fair, he’s also excited to fight Yuma. Both of them knew that both of them were strong but they hadn't actually fought each other. “We’ll go up to 40 rounds if you want.”
Rindo raised a brow while smirking, “You sound excited, Jin. You never voluntarily fight that much with someone. Were you that curious about fighting Yuma?”
Jin nudged towards Yuma’s direction who was taking his box and Rindo’s paper bag into his arms and smirked, “He’s strong. I knew that ever since I first met him. I won’t put it past him to not give me a hard time even with my Side Effect.”
“I’ll make sure to annoy you even when you try to predict me.” Yuma hummed happily at the thought of fighting Jin. Fighting someone that can see the future is going to be interesting.
“We’ll fight a bit in the Solo Rank wars area but do you want to try using Kogetsu with me in the simulation area? We’ll use some spare training triggers.” Jin asked the teen who thought about it for a bit and nodded.
“Sure.”
“You’ll have to bug Kinuta-san to lend you some Kogetsu spare triggers if you’re going to do that.” Rindo pointed out before waving to them as he walked back to his office.
“At this point just give Yuma-kun any blade and he’ll be able to use it pretty well.” Yuri laughed and well, Yuma didn’t deny it because she’s not that wrong.
“You’re probably not wrong. I heard from Megane-kun that you used his training trigger to defeat that one Marmod in the school.” Jin grinned
“Ah, during the Rad incident. Yeah. The blade mode I had is different from what Osamu uses though.” Yuma thought back to that one incident that let them meet Arashiyama Squad
“I can’t wait for Tamakoma-2 to become our branch’s second powerhouse squad!” Yuri grinned
“Four Eyes and Chika-chan are getting there. Hyuse and Yuma are both getting better and better so they’re definitely getting there.” Jin said
— — — At HQ — — —
Like what Yuri had mentioned in their base, there weren’t any C-Ranks that were in the HQ at such an early time. Although they guessed that some A-Ranks were already in their base if the screaming that was happening in the Kako Squad operation room was any indication.
Another hazard in the kitchen : Kako Squad Captain, Kako Nozomi.
From the screams they heard it was probably Tachikawa, Ninomiya and Tsutsumi who got victimized by Kako’s cooking at what time in the morning. The latter is always the victim of the female’s cooking. It’s a wonder how she managed to drag those three to her squad room so they could test out her fried rice.
“Oh right. How many points do you have with your Scorpion now?” Jin asked while the three of them were walking to Kido’s office. They haven’t run into any agents yet. Maybe because no one’s insane enough to casually go to Kido’s office to…who knows, greet him Happy Birthday?
“Uh…around 8,000?” Yuma replied.
“
It’s 9,856 points.”
Replica replied from his place on top of Yuma’s hair. Oh right. Midorikawa ran at him and challenged him to a fight when he found out that Yuma’s points were higher than his then. Yoneya was cackling and asked for a fight too.
“Oh! You’re almost at 10,000!” Jin exclaimed. It’s been a year since Yuma has been in Border so he wasn’t surprised that he has that many points already. To be fair, he could’ve reached it sooner but he didn’t care much about his points and only wanted to fight strong people and have fun.
“How about you, Jin? You said you were aiming for Attacker #1 weren’t you? How’s that going?” Yuri asked
“So-so. I’m at 11,701 points. So that’s…#5 in the ranking. Yuma you’re Rank #9 aren’t you?” Yuma nodded. Murakami had dared him and Kageura during one of their meet ups to get up to the Top 10 of the Attacker rankings. Well, who are they to deny Mr. Attacker #4’s challenge like that?
It surprised some attackers on how they were climbing up the ranks and asked what was going on. Yoneya laughed hard when they answered that Murakami challenged them to get up to Top 10 because Kageura and Yuma are two people who typically don’t care about their points so seeing them rack up this much is surprising.
Arafune and Kakizaki just sighed at how the two make ranking up look easy. Kageura was #8 in the ranking but he and Yuma switch ranking almost every time. Last time the #15 kept changing between him or Yuma that half of the A-Ranks and B-Ranks made a bet on who would go past it first.
It was Yuma.
“That aside, are you sure Kido-san won’t be in his office when we get there?” Yuma asked. Jin didn’t say anything and just kept a smile on his face.
“Yeah. He’s usually not there this early. Maybe in half an hour or so. Are you scared to see him?” Yuri teased
“No. I just don’t want to imagine how awkward it’ll be if he was there and I have to give this to him.” Yuma sighed. He’s not normally an awkward person but just the thought of talking to Kido like how he interacts with Rindo-san and Shinoda-san feels impossible.
“Oh is that Kinuta-san?” Yuma perked up and saw the R&D Director in the same hallway. “Should we ask him now if we can borrow a training trigger?” Yuma looked at Jin who…seems to be busy silently laughing? What happened?
“Jin-san?”
“Oh sorry…sure. Let’s ask him now so we can get it on the way to the Solo Ranks area later.”
“Kinuta-saaaaaaaan!” Kinuta stopped walking and turned backwards at the unusual group.
“Tamakoma? What are you doing here so early?” He looked at all the things they were carrying and Yuma’s trion soldier partner that was resting on his head, “and carrying so many things too.”
“We were just going to drop something off. Jin and Yuma-kun have something to ask you.” Yuri answered with a smile
Kinuta looked at the smiling duo with a raised brow - he knew that these two being on the same wavelength can sometimes be headache inducing.
“What is it?”
“Can we borrow a spare training trigger? We wanted to try sparring with Kogetsu in the training rooms after we fight a few times in the Solo Rank area.” Jin explained to the director who stared at them before sighing. Oh? Is he actually going to lend them triggers without much persuasion?
“Fine. I have some spare triggers in my lab. Do you two only want Kogetsu? What about option triggers?” Yuma looked surprised at the offer. Kinuta noticed the other’s gaze and scowled.
“Don’t look at me like that. I just have spare time this morning. I don’t have anything to do for now.” Yuma’s eyes flickered to black for a bit before going back to normal. It was half a lie. He has something to do but not much.
Yuma just silently laughed at the other’s reponse. Leave it to Kinuta to not tell the whole truth because he was embarrassed.
“Hmm….Senkuu and Escudo. What about you, Yuma?” Jin turned to his left.
“Grasshopper and….Senkuu.”
“Can you manage to use Grasshopper while using Kogetsu? I know one of your specialties is your speed but Kogetsu isn’t as light as Scorpion.” Yuma waved off Yuri’s worry with his duck face.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. If we’re going to test things then we might as well try it now.” Yuma answered with a grin.
“Oh~ That sounds fun. Let’s talk about how we’re going to proceed with training with it later.” Yuma gave a thumbs up.
“Alright. Give me both of your triggers so I can copy the model real quick. Get both triggers in my lab when you three are done with your errand.”
“Roger!” The two handed their triggers to Kinuta.
The trio stayed in place until Kinuta disappeared after he took the next corner. Silence lingered in the hallway before Yuri spoke up with an amused tone.
“Kinuta-san didn't tell the whole truth earlier, did he? About not not having anything to do.”
“Nope.” Yuma grinned, “He has something to do but not much.”
“Kinuta-san is so kind~”
“He’s kind but our branch will end up giving him high blood pressure with our antics.” Yuri shook her head but she was smiling.
“What can we do? We’re all a bunch of problem children.”
“I can’t believe you’re shameless enough to admit that, Senior Problem Child”
“Right?”
“Whatever did I do wrong to you two?”
— — — — —
“And we’re here!” Jin yelled as the door to Kido’s office slid open when he used his trigger as an identification. Yuri bet that if the door wasn’t a sliding one, he would’ve slammed it open. Commander’s office or not.
‘Right. Our branch is full of agents that have no fear of Kido-san in them. Makes sense.’
Yuma looked around the office and was very surprised with how spacious it was. “It’s spacious and really neat. Kind of empty though.” He pointed out. He was right. There was barely anything that’d show that this was Kido’s office. The necessary things were there but all in all it screams
‘no bullshit allowed’
.
“Kido-san likes to keep things neat. It seems like that hasn’t changed.” Yuri said while walking around too. She hasn’t been to the HQ nor in Kido’s office for a while since none of them had any reasons to except for Tamakoma-2 who either goes to fight their friends in the Solo Rank booths, talking to their other mentors, or sniper training.
“Maybe I should bring some ribbons and confettis next year and come early so I can decorate the place.” Jin joked and placed down the gifts on the cleared up table.
Usually the table would be filled with paperworks but for some reason…it’s clear. Jin looked at the door to the right that led to another room that was connected to the office and snickered. The door wasn’t fully closed.
Yuri perked up at that and grinned, “That’s a nice idea. Let’s try that next year.” She turned to look at Yuma who was crouching down and munching on a pocky.
“Do you want to help us decorate Kido-san’s office next year, Yuma-kun?” She asked
Yuma looked at the female before looking off to the side. Next year….huh. Does he have enough time to last until Commander Kido’s birthday next year? He looked at the ring on his finger with a solemn look that disappeared as quick as it came.
“If I can.” Yuma looked up and chuckled a bit. Yuri just smiled, taking his answer as a yes while Jin grimaced a bit. That wasn’t a very comforting answer when you know what he knows. From the looks of it, not even Yuma knows if he has enough time.
Although if they were going to seriously pull the decoration plan, they might just get an angry Kido after them. It’ll be worth it though.
No they’re not masochists. They just don’t fear Kido as much as the other agents do.
“Well then. Let’s go now shall we? You two still have to get those spare triggers from Kinuta-san.” Yuri said after placing the gifts down and rearranging them and walked towards the door before being followed by Jin and Yuma respectively.
“Oh that’s true. I can’t wait to fight Yuma.” Jin placed his hands on the back of his head, placing his worries from earlier to the backburner. He doesn’t need to be stressed out early in the morning.
That’s a lie. He can’t just forget about it. But if there’s one thing that Jin is skilled in, it’s organizing his thoughts. Or else he would’ve gone insane with how many futures he can see seeing as he can’t turn off his Side Effect.
Jin paused a bit and turned to look behind him. “Yuma, can you see if I left my pen in Kido-san’s table?” Yuma looked at Jin with the most confused face he could muster up. Why didn’t he check it earlier?
He sighed and went to the table. There’s no pen. Hell, it’s pretty clear minus the computer and some notebooks. Yuma walked towards the door, “Jin-san! There’s nothing there.”
Yuma stood in front of the door and was confused when it didn’t open. Hm? Is he too small for the door to recognize him being there and opening? Nah that can’t be right. Or else Kazama-san wouldn’t be able to enter too. So all that's left…
“Jin-san. Did you just lock the door from outside?”
“No. Why would I?” The black smoke that seeped from the side of the door showed everything he needed to know.
“Why would you even lock me in Kido-san’s office? What if he comes here and sees me? He’s going to get annoyed and it’s just what time in the morning.” Yuma hissed out.
“Eh? It’d be a chance to make you two talk to each other outside of the stuffy meetings we have. The pressure in the room during those meetings is suffocating I tell you.” Jin answered.
To be fair, everytime there’s a meeting and Yuma is there, it feels like there’s some silent war going on between Yuma and Kido. The other directors noticed it but didn’t speak up about it unless they wanted it to be redirected to them. The two can be pretty intimidating if they want to.
“There has to be other ways than this. Didn’t you say he comes early? Let’s just go to the Rank War booths damn it.”
“You sound scared of Kido-san~ Are you that uncomfortable around him?” Jin teased. Yuma smiled but it wasn’t a happy one. It looks like one that you’d see on someone that’s about to commit a murder.
“Would you be comfortable around someone who tried to kill you? I know I wouldn’t be if I met that assassin from 5 years ago again.” Yuma retorted back.
He should’ve known Jin was planning something from the way he was silently laughing earlier. If he was going to talk to Kido, he’d like it to be on his own terms and not this. Thank you very much.
“Unlike that asshole you told to me about from 5 years ago, Kido wasn’t planning on killing you though. He took that order back after he learnt your name.”
“Taking my Black Trigger will kill me and you know that. Sorry, Yuri-san. I’ll explain later but not now.” Yuma winced when he realized Yuri was on the other side of the door too.
“Your whole conversation is worrying me but alright, you can explain to me later. But Yuma-kun..”
“Hm?”
“The desk is clear of paperworks right?” Yuri asked
“Yeah.”
“Then Kido-san might already be here - maybe in the adjacent room where he usually takes a nap in and where the other files are at. I think it’s to your right.” Yuma froze. Damn it Jin. He knew that didn’t he?
“Jin-san, you’re going to lose your older brother privileges after I’m done with you.” Yuri started laughing when Jin let out a choked sound. Older brother privileges?!
“No! Don’t take it away!”
“Open the door then.” Yuma poked Replica and gestured to the panel next to the door to ask if he could open it from his side.
“Give me a minute.” Replica answered.
The door to the right opened and revealed Kido without his suit jacket, holding a cup of hot coffee.
Fuck.
He did not look amused. Is it because Yuma’s there? Because they’re being loud? Which is it!? He can’t read the man when he’s thinking about other things! Mainly how much he wants to throw Jin out the window for pulling this.
Well, the man doesn’t look amused in general so it’s pretty hard to discern which is which.
Yuma turned around as fast as he could - not keeping an eye longer on Kido than he needed to.
No he’s not sweating. You’re hallucinating. He’s definitely not cussing up a storm mentally towards Jin who was laughing on the other side of the door. He can see the future but he can’t hear anything. It must look pretty amusing for him, huh?
“Jin-san, If I die now instead of at least another year or two I’ll make sure to drag you down with me!”
“
Yuma, please….”
Jin rasped out from the other side, “It’s too early for you to make any comments about your remaining time to live! Why a year or two - can’t you live for at least 20 more years?”
“That’s asking for a miracle to happen and you know that’s not possible!” At this point, he can feel the pointed stare that Kido is sending him. He’s not going to explain his impending death to him this early in the morning.
Jin’s definitely losing those privileges. He’s going to have to beg on his knees and apologize before he gets it back.
Not even Osamu and Chika’s convincing can make him give back those privileges without Jin apologizing on his knees.
“Yuma, Jin. What are you two talking about?” Yuma swore he could hear Yuri gasping for breath as she laughed silently on the other side while Jin froze up. He wasn’t expecting Kido to be awake.
“Nothing. Jin’s just delusional, half-awake and is in desperate need of a small slap to wake up.” Yuma refused to turn to the right. He’s not going to. Definitely not. It’s a bit surprising to hear Kido say his name and not his last name with ‘Agent’ tacked on but he’ll take it.
“You just lost your older sibling privileges, Jin. Yuri-san do you want it instead?”
“No honorifics!?”
“Sure. I’d be happy to.”
“It’s too early for betrayals like this, Yuma.” Jin cried out
“It’s too early for me to be planning to commit a murder but I might just do it if you don’t open this door.” Yuma answered back.
“Mm…stay there for a few more minutes and
then
, I’ll open the door.” Jin said
Replica moved away from the panel, showing that Yuma can open it now.
“Don’t worry, Yuma-kun. You can kick him the moment you get out. I’ll make sure he stays right here.”
Yuma placed his trigger on the panel and placed his access back when Jin temporarily removed it earlier. “Wait, no. I’ll open it so don’t –” Too late. A sharp intake of breath was heard when the door slid open.
The place was silent until Jin broke it with a shaky laugh.
“I didn’t know why people thought your glare was terrifying before but I think now I know why, Yuma.” Yuma smiled, his hair shadowing his face as he looked at Jin with glinting red eyes.
“Then
run
.”
For a voice that sounded chirpy, he sure didn’t look like someone who was about to hug Jin. He looked like someone that was one step away from kicking him out the nearest window. The smile promised hell.
Oh look, there’s a window there.
Crap.
Jin took the advice and ran with Yuma hot on his heels, leaving a chuckling Yuri. From the crash she heard, Yuma definitely caught up and sent Jin flying.
Yuri peeked at the room to look at Kido who was pinching the bridge of his nose while holding coffee.
“Good Morning, Kido-san. It sure is lively isn’t it?”
“Livelier than what I’m supposed to expect from a time this early. It’s rare for you and Jin to be the one to come here. You three are an unusual group.” Kido answered, placing his coffee on the table. He took a glance at the gifts that were on it and gave a small huff. They never do miss a year, do they?
“Well, I wanted to check what’s going on in HQ since it’s been a while since I came here. Uncle suggested that Yuma-kun comes with us too since he and Jin will be fighting in the solo rank wars. Seems like they were too busy to try it before.” Yuri answered.
“I see.” Kido stayed silent for a while, the conversation of the two from earlier ringing in his head.
“It’s too early for you to make any comments about your remaining time to live! Why a year or two - can’t you live for at least 20 more years?”
“That’s asking for a miracle to happen and you know that’s not possible!”
—
“Taking my Black Trigger will kill me and you know that –”
“Do you know what they were talking about earlier?”
About Yuma’s supposedly remaining time to live
“No, I don’t. Yuma-kun did say he’ll explain it to me later but from the looks of it, it’s been something they’ve been hiding for a while now. I’m not sure if anyone else but Jin and Uncle knows it.”
He might not tell you about it.
Was left unsaid.
That’s fair. He showed no reason for the teen to tell him about anything as important as that - especially about his life if what he said earlier was any indication.
“Would you be comfortable around someone who tried to kill you? I know I wouldn’t be if I met that assassin from 5 years ago again.”
An assassin from 5 years ago…5 years…is that when Yugo died? Did he die a year after Mogami? Maybe that’d give him some clue. A year or two….that was the estimated time that the teen gave from the conversation. But from the way he looked when he said that…
‘He doesn’t think he even has a year or two left.’
“Both father and son…giving me headaches at the most inopportune times.” Kido muttered before sighing.
“Tell Rindo to come here later. I’ll ask him if he knows anything.” Yuri raised a brow before letting out an amused huff, not feeling any pity for what her uncle is about to go through later.
“Roger. Those gifts are from me, Uncle, Jin, Reiji, Konami and Yuma-kun.” She grinned when the commander looked at the box that had a note from Yuma and a Happy Birthday scribbled on it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. By the way, Kido-san.”
Kido turned around to look at the female who was smiling and was waving at him.
“Happy Birthday. That’s from all of us in Tamakoma Branch.” the door slid shut.
Kido took a seat and looked at the gifts in front of him before leaning back and closing his eyes.
“Happy Birthday’, huh..?” He can never fully pull himself away from Tamakoma no matter how much he tells himself. The memories he spent there are too precious for him to really try.
“It’s not like they give me a chance to try and distance myself from them either.” Kido let out a rare chuckle when he looked at the gifts. They really never miss a year and in return, he doesn’t either.
They don't feel betrayed by his choice. Rather, they’re okay with it but they are still sticking to what they believe. There were multiple times where one of them had apologized to him but didn’t explain themselves.
When Border had gotten more applicants and agents, Shinoda had apologized to him and didn’t explain anything.
When they had their first meeting with new directors, Rindo went up to him before the meeting, bowing and apologized to him. Yuri had visited a day before the anniversary and apologized to him and didn’t look him in the eyes.
Konami had been stubborn and hadn’t visited the HQ after Jin got Fujin and the rankings that they once held had slowly lowered, a new #1 Attacker took the spot and he saw them less and less in the HQ.
Jin apologized to him before he entered the fight for Fujin. Kido apologized to him when the teen had received Fujin as a reward. It still haunts him to this day - the cries that Jin had let out when he turned to the next corner that was void of people as he clutched Fujin tight in his hands.
The apologies the teen had muttered to the Black Trigger - apologizing for letting it happen and for not being able to get the trigger sooner.
Kido wanted to apologize for putting a heavy responsibility on Jin but was never able to. Not even in the present time.
But they never stopped giving him presents and so he returned the favor.
He cares for Border as the Commander in Chief. He makes sure that they’re alright, that they’re able to stand up for themselves and from the invading trion soldiers and possible Neighbors.
Maybe it’s from the guilt of what happened years ago. He doesn’t want to lose anyone again but that itself seems unlikely. That’s why he’ll do everything he can to make sure that the agents can protect themselves.
To make sure what happened in Aristera won’t repeat itself.
He doesn’t want to attend anymore funerals. Empty casket funerals..
He doesn’t want to lose any more people dear to him. The pain that’s left behind is too painful. Maybe that’s why he tries to distance himself from others - something that’s failing.
He already lost two of his closest friends. He can’t let that tragedy happen again. Even if he has to be the cold looking Commander everyone sees, then he’ll do it. For the sake of his goal, he’ll take any help he can get. Jin had assured him that he’ll reach his goal and that’s what reassures him.
He doesn’t want anyone to die again.
That’s why Neighbor or not, he’s part of Border, part of Tamakoma Branch and Yugo’s precious son.
When the other people in that branch find out, he’s sure that they’ll all help as well. He needs the teen to understand that.
He’s now a Border agent and that means his life is also in Kido's hands.
If this is one way he can make up to Yugo, then he’ll do it. The least he can do is to fulfill what Yugo might’ve intended by sending his son here. To take care of his son in his place. Something that Mogami wasn’t able to try to do.
He knows that Rindo and Shinoda are already doing it if what happened during the first few weeks the teen was here was any indication.
If there’s one thing that he learned from the past year when he was still living on the same roof with the others, it’s being stubborn.
Him changing his ideals and position doesn’t change that. Not one bit.
Chapter 2: Past
Chapter Text
“What are you all doing?” Kido asked the group of people that were crowding the kitchen. He wasn’t expecting any of them to be awake at this time since it was early. Nearly half of them aren’t morning people.
“Ah. Good morning, Kido.” Mogami grinned and went towards the man and slung an arm around him.
“Why’re you up so early?” Mogami asked
“That should be my line. You’re the one who’s not supposed to be awake for another hour or so. So you tell me, why are you awake so early?”
“You’re not being cute here.”
“I’m not intending to be cute here. If you want someone to act cute, go to your student.” Kido retorted, trying to look at what’s happening in the kitchen but was getting blocked by Mogami.
Rindo entered the room and saw the group. “Oh are you all cooking? Maybe I can cook something too.”
Mogami removed his arm around Kido so fast that it took the man to realize that there’s no weight leaning on him.
“Now, now, Takumi. You know what, let’s go to the training room. I have some things I need to point out about your fighting style so let’s get that done for today.”
“Eh? But – “
“Okay, let’s go!” Mogami dragged Rindo by his shirt to the training room, successfully pulling the male away from the kitchen.
Kido just looked confused before sighing. If they’re not going to tell him anything, then he might as well do something else.
He could feel a stare on him and turned to look at the source and saw Jin looking at him.
“What’s wrong, Jin?”
“Nothing, nothing. I just thought the whole interaction you had was amusing.” Kido raised a brow before smirking. That wasn’t the whole truth.
“You tell the stupidest lies, Jin.” Jin blanched at the familiar phrasing that he heard from his mentor once or twice before.
“Why — Mogami-san kept saying that before too. Do you two just share that sentence?”
Kido laughed at the teen’s reaction, moving closer and ruffling his head.
“No. It was something that a close friend of ours liked to say and we kept hearing it so many times. I couldn’t help but use it just now since you gave me the best opportunity to do so.”
“You two must be really close to him, huh?”
“Yeah. I wonder what he’s doing now.” He muttered, thoughts about Yugo and how he’s doing on the other side came up.
“Did you say something, Kido-san?”
“Nothing.”
— — — — —
“Happy Birthday, Kido-san!”
Kido was standing surprised at the entrance of the door when he was pulled by both Rindo and Shinoda and pushed into the kitchen and was greeted by confettis.
“Ahahaha! His reaction really was the best! Did you get the picture, Jin, Shin?” The two aforementioned people grinned and gave a thumbs up.
“Happy Birthday, Kido-san.” The two who pushed him in greeted from behind him with similar mischievous grins.
Kido laughed and grabbed Rindo and rubbed his head hard, “So that’s why you two were snickering around like that, huh?”
“Ow, ow, ow, ow…!”
Shinoda tried to move away to not get caught and end up the same way as Rindo was but was foiled when Namekata blocked his way with a suspicious smile. His suspicion was answered when his shirt was suddenly grabbed by someone and he was placed in a headlock.
“Where do you think you’re going? Both you and Rindo will have to pay for dragging and pushing me here.” Kido grinned.
“It was Mogami-san’s idea!” Shinoda yelped.
“Oh?”
“Kido, heads up.” What? Kido turned to look at what Mogami was referring to when the said male suddenly threw a pie at his face.
“Oh, perfect hit. Maybe I should add a bullet trigger to my set next time.” Mogami teased.
“You asshole..” Kido cussed with a smirk before taking the pie that Kai handed over and threw it at Mogami who moved swiftly to the side and let the pie hit both Shin and Jin.
“Tsk, tsk. Such a bad aim. Maybe you need glasses, Kido.”
Everything was such a mess after that with all the mini food fights going on before they could actually start eating the food they prepared.
— — — — —
Kido looked up from his cake with a smile, “Thank you. For celebrating this.” Everyone who was sitting looked at him before they smiled or grinned respectively.
“We’ll celebrate it every year! If we can’t celebrate it, we’ll give you gifts instead. That’s a promise!” Namekata declared. The others nodded in agreement.
“We’ll give each other presents on their respective birthdays then. That way we’d always have things to look forward to.” Mogami said while setting down the drinks on the table with a smile.
“Who’s next after Kido-san then?” Konami asked, looking away from her food.
“Our resident Mischievous Brat.” Everyone simultaneously chorused while looking at the said person who had his drink dripping down his mouth as he stared at them in betrayal.
“....I hate all of you. Why can’t we just forget that nickname?” Shinoda groaned, wallowing in his misery as he heard the others chuckling.
“That’s impossible. You keep proving us right in giving you that nickname almost everyday.” Kido pointed out while the others nodded.
“No I don’t.”
“Kido-san’s sliced car would like to say otherwise.” Jin added with a smirk while the others snickered at the reminder of the sliced car.
“He’s got you there, Shinoda.” Rindo snickered and got a faceful of a pillow thrown by Shinoda.
“Shut up. Like you can say anything, Mr. I shoot my teammates.”
“It's not my fault you can’t dodge bullets.”
“You try getting used as a human shield by Mogami-san then we can talk.” Shinoda retorted back.
“Oi, don’t drag me to your mess.” Mogami chimed up from where he was at.
Kido turned to the other man with a raised brow, “From what I’m hearing, it seems to be your fault though.”
“From what I’m hearing, it seems like they need more training.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Why, thank you.”
Jin, Konami, Reiji and Yuri looked away laughing when Kido stood up and went after Mogami who vaulted over the couch and away from Kido. He got tripped by Chihiro though so he ended up getting kicked by Kido and got a faceful of the remaining pie.
“Damn it, Kido!”
“Sucks to be you.”
Laughters and some cussing were heard here and there in the small building for the whole day.
— — — —
Kido sighed in his seat, looking out the window with an indecipherable emotion in his eyes.
“Past is past. It can’t be changed. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t make it less painful to not long for it. Sometimes I wish everything could just be like how it was back then…”
SkipE on Chapter 1 Sat 27 May 2023 08:59AM UTC
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Xen (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Jun 2024 12:25PM UTC
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Fallen_Crest on Chapter 2 Thu 01 Sep 2022 06:06AM UTC
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aorierie on Chapter 2 Thu 01 Sep 2022 07:14AM UTC
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YumaCute (Guest) on Chapter 2 Tue 18 Mar 2025 03:43PM UTC
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Idontpost on Chapter 2 Thu 01 Sep 2022 08:11PM UTC
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aorierie on Chapter 2 Thu 01 Sep 2022 08:19PM UTC
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WriteSam678 on Chapter 2 Fri 02 Sep 2022 04:45AM UTC
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aorierie on Chapter 2 Fri 02 Sep 2022 06:15PM UTC
Last Edited Fri 02 Sep 2022 09:59PM UTC
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Cathycat294 on Chapter 2 Fri 02 Sep 2022 06:40PM UTC
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Cathycat294 on Chapter 2 Fri 02 Sep 2022 09:29PM UTC
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