149A/N: It's hard to believe that this is the end. I wish I could keep writing this multichapter forever, but clearly that is impossible. Still, still it's been around 8 1/2 months since I started this, and it'll be weird to not be working on it any more. I have hopes for starting a new multichapter at some point, but it'll definitely be awhile, at least a month, before that will happen. That is, if I stop being a lazy procrastinator and actually write. Anyway, sorry for any errors, typos, OOCness and just overall crappy writing. This chapter is so cheesy I'm cringing, but I'm both a sadist and a sucker for fluff, so this is what happens. Plus I had a lot of lose ends I forgot about, including Yotaro and Tamakoma-1. Enjoy the long final chapter of Black Trigger! *sobbing nonstop*
BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR READING. YOU ARE ALL GREAT!
Yuma cracked an eye open when he heard the distant sound of a door opening. His gaze shifted from the anime on the television he had been listening to, to the hallway door, which swung open to reveal Jin. The brunette swept the room with his gaze until his eyes found Yuma, and a smile tugged at the edge of his lips.
"Hey, Yuma. Are you enjoying your time off?" Jin asked, walking over to the couch and dropping down when Yuma pulled his legs up to his chest so he was no longer laying down. The elite agent glanced at the television, huffing out a breath of laughter when he noticed that 'Fullmetal Alchemist' was on, one of Konami's favorites. Given the strawberry blond herself wasn't there, Jin guessed that she had probably wrangled Yuma into watching it and gotten him interested.
"It's nice to not have an assassin tailing me, attacking people when they get in the way as it tries to kill me," Yuma replied, his voice nonchalant as if assassins were something he was very used to. At this point though, those at Tamakoma were well-acquainted with the idea of an assassin, after weeks of dealing with one.
Mikumo squad had been given a few days off of defense duty, and the Rank Wars were further delayed as the Border higher-ups worked to close up the assassin case. All that was left was paperwork really, as well as a few mandatory check-ups in the infirmary for Jin. Shinoda, Kido and Rindo had decided to take Jin's Trigger, again, and ban him from all active work, again, until he was healed, unless there was some sort of emergency that required his help. The check-ups had been Shinoda's idea, since the man thought it would be good to make sure Jin's wound healed correctly. Plus, the doctors in the infirmary drew blood every time Jin went it, searching for remnants of the drug that had caused the disappearance of his Side Effect.
"Oh, I forgot to ask. Jin-san, did they say anything about your Side Effect?" Yuma asked. Jin had just returned from the infirmary in Border, where he had gone to see how much longer he'd need his stitches. The time had been prolonged due to the fact that he ripped a few while helping Tachikawa fend of stray attacks just a few days ago in the showdown between Yuma and the assassin.
"Yeah, actually. Kinuta-san came in, and apparently he'd been working on the drug to see if they could figure it out. Turns out Kido-san really wants my Side Effect back. Kinuta-San compared the blood sample that was taken when I first got brought in to the infirmary to the one that was taken today, and found that there's only a trace left. On my way in, I also saw a flash of one of the doctors' futures. I got a small headache from it, and it made me a little dizzy, but Kinuta-san is pretty sure the effect of the drug is only temporary. He thinks I should have my Side Effect back and fully functioning within the next week or two," Jin explained. Yuma nodded.
"Seems like wishful thinking, but Kinuta-san seems like he usually knows what he's doing," the young Neighbor pointed out. He then glanced around the room, as if he was searching for something.
"Where's Rindo-san? I thought he'd come back with you," Yuma asked, a bit confused. Jin cringed, his hand going to the back of his head to comb through his hair uneasily.
"He's still at HQ with Kido-san and Shinoda-san, working on the paperwork. It's probably best that he has some time to simmer down, the other two as well," the Power Elite explained.
Yuma fixed the brunette with a curious expression. Jin's words had caught his attention.
"Simmer down? Did something happen?" he asked. Jin stiffened, then sighed.
"Rindo-san has been busy with paperwork lately, but today he gave me quite an earful about how reckless it was to use my Trigger when I was still healing. He admitted that it helped Tachikawa, and someone could have gotten hurt if I didn't do it, but given the fact that I wasn't supposed to even have my Trigger, he got a bit worked up. He wasn't exactly angry, Rindo-san isn't that type. He's more of the father type with us, and his tone was more of the 'lecturing your reckless son who could have horribly injured himself' tone, rather than the 'what the hell were you thinking you idiotic subordinate' tone. That was more Shinoda-san and Kido-san when they were scolding Tachikawa-san. Actually, I wonder if Tachikawa-san even survived," Jin questioned. Yuma raised an eyebrow.
"Why were they so upset with Tachikawa-san? He stuck to the plan," Yuma said, trying to think of what the older attacker could have done wrong. Jin shook his head.
"It has nothing to do with what he did while you were fighting. They were upset because he stole my Trigger from Kido-san's office and gave it to me when I wasn't supposed to have it. His intentions were good though, or at least what he said to me wasn't harmful. He thought it would be better if I had my Trigger and a fighting chance rather than being stuck as a crippled sitting duck. You know, come to think of it, Kido-san and Shinoda-san were also a bit mad about him not helping you fight, even though you told him not to, but it was mostly the Trigger issue," the brunette explained. Yuma nodded.
"Was he still getting scolded when you left?" the younger teen asked. Jin winced.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. If extremely loud shouting is scolding, then he was getting scolded," he reasoned.
"Wow, do they value you that much? Not that you're a bad at fighting Neighbors or anything," Yuma asked, a bit surprised that Tachikawa was in so much trouble over such a simple thing. He knew it was probably something bigger than he'd understand, like why violence was illegal in Japan, but he was a bit curious.
"It's more my Side Effect that they value. Anyone with foresight would be someone Border would want to keep alive. Though I know that below his anger and cold-heartedness, Kido-san cares about each and every one of his agents," Jin said, his tone light at the end like he was telling a joke. Yuma's Side Effect told him that he was.
The young Neighbor chuckled before returning his attention to the anime.
Jin smiled at his junior before glancing at the television. The anime wasn't a bad one, and he didn't have anything to do, so he settled on watching it. He found it funny how similar Edward Elric was to Kazama. Strong, short soldiers.
-000-
A little while later, just as the episode of 'Fullmetal Alchemist' ended, the door to Tamakoma opened once again. Jin and Yuma looked up with twin expressions of slight curiosity as Osamu and Chika walked in, followed by Rindo, who looked a bit weary. The man's hair was unkempt, as if a stressed hand had run through it a dozen times, and his suit was wrinkled. His tie was also missing.
"Oh, you're back," Yuma commented as Jin discreetly averted his eyes from his boss to his two kouhai in the doorway.
Rindo gave a wave while Osamu and Chika wandered up to their team mate, peeking at the television to see what he was watching and catching the end theme of the anime. Rindo glanced over at the television as well, sighing when he heard the familiar theme, but his lips were pulled into a small smile and the creases of tension in his face were starting to relax.
"Ah, that show. Konami must have gotten you into it, Yuma," Rindo assumed, hanging up his coat on a peg near the door. Yuma nodded, watching his boss move around the room, dropping a few things here and there as he put stuff away.
Jin and Tachikawa hadn't been the only ones to receive lectures. Yuma had also been pulled aside, and Rindo had spoken to him briefly.
"It's good that you took care of the assassin, but that was risky. I ask that you try to avoid doing something like that in the future. I know Border isn't exactly the safest line of work, especially because you're a Neighbor, but I prefer not to lose my agents. Jin's incident and Osamu's were two scares too many already. Plus, while it may not seem like it, Kido does care for you a bit. He dislikes the fact that you are a Neighbor, but you're Yugo's son, and I know he can't bring himself to truly hate the son of his old friend. Shinoda got a bit worried when he learned about your near-death in the fight, as well," Rindo had said to him. Yuma hadn't known if he should be happy or confused over the fact that Kido didn't hate him. The man wasn't rude to him, but he wasn't particularly nice. Maybe that was some weird Japanese thing.
Outside of Tamakoma, a truck was approaching, it's engine loud enough to be heard from inside. Rindo glanced out the window with raised eyebrows.
"Well, speak of the devil," he murmured, reaching up to adjust his glasses. The room fell into silence, broken only by the sound of the truck outside and a distinct, high-pitched voice yelling something about homicide.
Just seconds after the engine silenced, Konami burst in the door, her hair fanning out behind her as air rushed past her, which only made the Attacker look more intimidating when paired with the enraged look on her face.
"JIN! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, FIGHTING THE ASSASSIN ALL BY YOURSELF WITH NO ONE AROUND, WHEN NO ONE KNEW WHERE YOU WERE? AND WITH A NORMAL TRIGGER! WITH YOUR SIDE EFFECT OUT OF COMMISSION! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" the strawberry blond raged, stomping toward Jin with her hands up, fingers bent like claws as she got ready to strange the brunette.
For the first time, Yuma saw actual fear on Jin's face, as if the other agent actually thought Konami was going to kill him. Knowing Konami, she probably planned to. However, Jin's savior appeared in time, and Kyosuke pulled Konami away by the shoulders.
"Given the fact that the assassin took away his Side Effect, Jin-san probably didn't have much of a choice. Even if he had tried to get away, the assassin probably would have gone after him," Kyosuke reasoned. Konami's mind registered his words, then she blinked, her whole expression changing in that instant from anger to something similar to worry, but not quite that.
"Your Side Effect! Wait, is it still gone? It's no gone permanently, right? RIGHT?!" the girl screamed, loud as usual. Jin cringed when Konami's voice squeaked as she yelled, but he managed to shake his head.
"Kinuta-san and the doctors in the infirmary agree that my Side Effect should be back within the next week or two. I even saw part of someone's future this morning, but it gave me a headache and made me dizzy. It'll be fine though," Jin explained, repeating almost exactly what he had said to Yuma earlier.
"That's good," Reiji said from where he suddenly appeared in the doorway. Shiori poked her head out from behind him, giving a peace sign to the other agents in greeting. Reiji quickly side stepped so he was out of the way, allowing the Operator to come into the room.
"So you're Side Effect really is going to come back?" Osamu asked from next to Rindo. He hadn't spoken since he arrived, but it was clear that he had been listening intently to the others. Jin gave the four-eyed teen a smile and a nod, earning a relieved smile in return.
The Tamakoma-1 team began to bring their bags back into Tamakoma, having brought a few things with them due to their long stay. While their time in Shizuku had lasted much longer than the few days originally intended, they hadn't had much of a problem with wearing the same clothes twice. Only Konami had protested, but after Kyosuke told her that many people in Shizuku had head lice, and that the lice were drawn to clean clothes, she had no more complaints.
It was just as everyone began settling in, Yuma, Osamu, Chika and Jin sitting on the couch, watching the episode of 'Fairy Tail' that had just come on, that Konami began ranting again. Tamakoma-1 had been unaware of the details of the showdown between Yuma and the assassin, and had only been told that Yuma was alive and the assassin was no longer an issue. As Mikumo squad and Jin began watching the anime on television, Rindo explained to those who had been in Shizuku what had happened. When the group heard about Yuma's near-death, Konami was on the Neighbor in an instant.
"YOU ARE JIN ARE SO ALIKE! BOTH OF YOU ALWAYS NEARLY GETTING KILLED! WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO, FIGHTING THAT THING BY ITSELF? YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD TACHIKAWA-SAN HELP YOU! WHAT IF YOU DIED!?" she roared, her arm locked around Yuma's neck as her free hand formed a fist and dug into Yuma's skull.
Yuma allowed Konami to continue messing up his hair and digging her knuckle into his skull because he felt that his mentor deserved the outlet, plus, it didn't hurt.
"I wouldn't have died," he said simply, his voice a bit monotone like he was stating a fact. Maybe he was. Konami huffed.
"I swear, you and Jin...you both think you're invincible," she muttered, her tone rough. Her face was twisted into an annoyed expression as she tiredly plopped down on the arm of the couch next to Yuma, not yet releasing him from her headlock. However, he arm had loosened significantly, and everyone in the tell that, despite her expression, she was just glad that her student was safe.
Kyosuke raised an eyebrow at his senpai before walking up to Osamu.
"I heard you came up with the master plan that saved Yuma," he stated. Osamu nodded, his gaze shifting to the small girl next to him on the couch.
"That never would have worked if Chika weren't there though," he pointed out, causing the young sniper to turn slightly pink.
"It's like I said when you told me you wanted to be a Shooter. You're weak, not stupid," Kyosuke recounted, his golden eyes locked on Osamu. The captain decided to simply take the compliment and shut up before Yuma started reminding him of good things he'd done again.
Next to Osamu, Chika jumped slightly when a large shadow suddenly loomed over her. She relaxed though when she looked up and saw that it was her mentor.
"Sounds like you did good, Amatori," he pointed out. Chika shook her head, eyes shifting to the ground.
"All I could do was use my Trion. Yuma-kun, Osamu-kun, Jin-san and Tachikawa-san did all the work," she explained, wishing she could have aided in the fight like Osamu, Jin and Tachikawa.
A large hand landed on Chika's head, and she looked up at Reiji's face in confusion.
"Many people would completely freeze up in the situation you were in, but you did what you were told. Plus, you didn't run away and abandon your comrades. Those are good skills to have," Reiji told her, getting a nod in response.
"Yes! It's so great that you were able to help them out, Chika-chan. Without you, Yuma would have surely died!" Shiori piped up, hee face a her usual bubbly happiness and a tinge of sadness. Chika smiled at the Operator, but her smile turned to confusion once again when the doorbell rang, causing everyone to turn to the door. The sound of approaching footsteps was odd, a mixture of loud, slow steps along with faster, lighter steps.
The footsteps abruptly stopped, then the door opened, and a spiky head donning a yellow headband poked in. Yosuke's eyes widened and his lips twisted into a smile when he saw Rindo.
"Rindo-san! I know you said you would come by later, after Tamakoma-1 got back and was settled in again, but the brat didn't want to wait," the teen said just as a brown lump waddled into the room. On its back was a boy wearing a familiar white helmet, and when his eyes landed on his father, he lifted a finger and pointed at the man.
"To dad, Raijinmaru!" he ordered. The capybara huffed, then wandered over to the Tamakoma Branch Director. Rindo smiled and bent over, picking his son up off of his pet and balancing him on his hip, pulling the boy into the best side hug he could manage in their current position.
"Hey, Yotaro! I hope you didn't cause Yosuke any trouble?" he questioned, glancing at the teen in the doorway.
"I'm not sure how he survives without me," Yotaro said as Yosuke gave the man a thumbs up to signal no trouble, then frowned when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He plucked it out and smiled as he read over the text.
"I hate to leave so quickly, but Shuji fell asleep at his desk again, Narasaka and our Operator aren't at HQ today, and Kodera is too afraid he'll be killed if he tries to wake Shuji up himself," Yosuke said with a chuckle, typing a text in response before stepping toward the door. He froze mid-step though and turned around suddenly, his eyes locking on Yuma's. "You still owe me a Rank War, shrimp," he reminded before walking out, closing the door behind him. Yuma received a few glances from the other Tamakoma agents, but didn't say anything.
Suddenly, Rindo spoke up.
"Well then. It's your turn to cook, Reiji. I made sure to buy extra meat when I stopped at the store on my way back from HQ," the man said, directing his attention to the red haired man on the other side of the room. Reiji nodded, a glint in his eyes as his mind registered the words 'extra meat', before he headed to the kitchen. Shiori waved for Chika to get up, and the two dark haired teens followed Reiji to the kitchen to help with dinner, given it was starting to get late and they didn't have much else to do.
"Karasuma-senpai, do you think you could help me train a little bit? You don't have to if you're tired from your work in Shizuku," Osamu asked, tacking on the last part quickly when he remembered where his mentor had just gone. Kyosuke shook his head.
"It's fine. I have time," he said, earning a small smile from Osamu, who jumped up from the couch and followed the older teen out of the room.
Yuma looked to Konami hopefully, his eyebrows raised. He enjoyed having time off from working after all he'd been doing during the assassin issue, but had been itching for a fight for a while now, no longer able to stand lounging around all day with nothing to do.
Konami sighed, releasing her kouhai before getting to her feet.
"Alright, ten rounds, but you have to let me change my clothes first. Here, the lice won't get me," she said, walking off to her room.
Yuma got to his feet, staring in confusion for a moment before coming to the conclusion that Kyosuke had likely tricked Konami or something like that so she wouldn't throw a fit about whatever problem it was that they had encountered, something he'd seen Osamu's mentor do before. The boy then shrugged and hurried off to the virtual training rooms, already ready to fight. He had the feeling he'd do good.
-000-
Later that night, after Osamu and Chika had gone home, when it was pitch black outside other than the pale light cast from the moon, Yuma stepped out onto the roof of Tamakoma. He walked to the edge, jumping up on it and settling in with his legs dangling over the water far below. A sense of ease washed over him, relieving weeks of built up tension. He hadn't truly relaxed even after defeating the assassin. He guessed that the presence of Tamakoma-1 and the fact that Yotaro was back was enough to finally get every part of his brain to understand that it really was over.
Behind Yuma, the door to the roof swung open again, and the Neighbor knew who it was without even turning around.
"You should be sleeping, Jin-san. It'll heal your injuries quicker if you rest more," Yuma pointed out, not pulling his gaze from the water. A soft chuckle filled the air behind him as Jin neared, dropping down on the ledge next to Yuma before carelessly swinging his legs over the edge, as if he wasn't afraid of accidentally falling into the river. Chances were he wasn't.
"It's nice to hear you sounding normal again and not all tensed up like you have been," Jin commented, his eyes on his kouhai. Yuma shrugged simply in response.
"There's no reason to be tense anymore." Jin nodded in agreement.
"You sounded pretty convinced earlier when you told Konami you wouldn't have died fighting the assassin, even if things had turned out differently," the brunette pointed out, though his tone held no trace of accusation. Yuma couldn't help but smile as his mind wandered back to what he had been thinking while talking to his mentor.
"I wouldn't have, though. Not as long as Osamu was there. He's a demon of helpfulness when it comes to others, but he's a daredevil when it comes to himself. I know that, had things gone a lot worse, he would have still helped me, even if there was a large chance of him getting killed. While I thought I actually was gone to die out there for a moment, I wasn't surprised when I was suddenly okay. Osamu thinks things through, then finds a solution, though his solutions don't always help him very much. Still, that's just who he is," the Neighbor explained, memories of when marmods attacked their school coming back to him. Jin smiled.
"Our Four-Eyes is an odd one, that's for sure. Many people underestimate him because he's not an amazingly talented combatant, but they don't see his promise as a tactition. Brute strength doesn't solve everything," the elite commented wisely.
Yuma pulled his eyes off the water, looking up at Jin with slight curiosity. The brunette had his eyes fixed on the moon, and his icy blue irises were almost white from the light that reflected off of them.
"Did you know that Four-Eyes ran into Kido-san after the Second Invasion? Kido-san asked him if he was upset that Border was going to use him as a scapegoat, but apparently Four-Eyes told him he wasn't really bothered by it," Jin explained. "However, he did say that he'd never forgive Border if we ever used either you or Chika-chan like that," he added. Yuma's eyes widened slightly, but the smile on his face showed that he wasn't very surprised.
"Typical Osamu," he said, shifting his own gaze to the moon.
Yuma was glad to be alive, because he could still fight and do Rank Wars with his friends. However, he was also very aware of the fact that the day would come when his real body would die. No one would be able to stop that, or at least, that is what Yuma used to think. He had the sneaking suspicion that, with Osamu on his side, things might not turn out how he had thought they would before he got to know the other teen.
As the moon illuminated bloody diamonds in his ruby red eyes, Yuma felt a twinge of excitement for whatever was next to come. Even if it was his problem, he wouldn't take all the weight on himself again like he had with the assassin. That's because he had come to realize something very important that he had forgotten after the assassin showed up, dragging him back to a time when it was him against the world.
He was no longer alone.
A/N: Was that a hopelessly cheesy enough end? I hope so *trying to mask my sobs with sarcasm* As I promised in the last chapter, I'll explain the original endings for Black Trigger from before I settled on the one you all read.
1)Black Trigger originally was going to have 5 endings. Yuma died in all of them, but the details were different. In one of the five, Yuma's Black Trigger ended up with Osamu, since only he and Jin could activate it, and Yuma used what remained of his life to create another Black Trigger as a 'replacement' for the Fujin Jin gave up, making Jin S-Rank once again. I lost the paper containing the five endings, but I do remember that Tamakoma-1 originally stayed, and in one case, after Yuma died, they defeated the assassin alongside Jin, who originally was never going to fully lose his Side Effect, rather it would have been like a signal that kept cutting in an out randomly. Jin was also originally not going to be injured, and no one in HQ was originally going to play a part in dealing with the assassin, or even know about the issue.
2)The ending used in Black Trigger was a bit last minute, one I made up as I went until finally got it planned out around chapter 25-30. The reason this ending was chosen is because Chika and Osamu don't have as much time to shine as Yuma and Jin, especially Osamu, thus Jin's injury and Osamu saving Yuma's life.
3)The reason why Yotaro and Tamakoma-1, along with Shiori, were sent away, is because I had too many characters to keep track of, and Tamakoma-1 would not be able to be involved in the fight, or it would have made things too easy for Border. It seemed like sending away the five-year old and the powerful senpai was the best option.
That's about it for anyone who might have been curious about how much the plans for this story changed. Thanks again for reading, and I hope everyone liked it!