The morning briefing room buzzed with cold fluorescent light. Kouji sat stiff in his seat, hands folded, eyes scanning the file placed in front of him — not that it contained much.
Assigned: Kagami (Lead), Kouji, Yorihito (Support)
Target Class: Nightmare Scout
Threat Type: Static Influence
Instructions: Scout and Report
The chair beside him screeched loudly as someone dropped into it, legs kicked onto the table with no hesitation.
Black messy hair, high bangs, gum-popping laziness.
Yorihito.
Kouji glanced at him once. No greeting was exchanged. The chewing was loud.
"Guess I got the rookie this time," Yorihito muttered, "Try not to get in the way."
Kouji didn't respond. He didn't have to — the room shifted as the door opened again.
"Good. You're both here."
Kagami stepped in, casual as ever, in a loose sweatshirt and athletic pants, long blond hair tied back. Her spear was strapped across her back, unassuming but obvious to anyone who'd ever seen it in motion.
She tossed her folder onto the table and sat across from them.
"No known Nightmare presence. We're scouting, nothing more. Quick in, quick out. Clear?"
"Crystal," Yorihito said, stretching.
"Good," she replied without looking at him. "Kouji, you've done recon work before?"
"Not officially," Kouji said. "But I've tracked aura before."
"Ryo mentioned that. Said you adapt fast."
Kouji tensed. "He said that?"
"He also said, 'Don't let him overthink or he'll start trying to explain metal like it's poetry.'"
Yorihito actually laughed. Kagami grinned.
"Relax," she said. "Let's just do the job."
The area was half-abandoned. Concrete towers rose like tombstones — windows shattered, fences rusted. The streets were empty, save for wind-tossed paper and the occasional crow perched overhead.
Kagami led with confidence, checking corners and rooftops like second nature.
Kouji walked behind her, mind split between the mission and the quiet shift in his body. His Analyzing Blessing had felt... different lately. Less precise. Less responsive. He could still sense materials, structure — but movement, which once lit up like a diagram in his mind, now remained a blur.
But when he touched the edge of a broken fence post —
steel, rust, stability: low
— he could already imagine what it could become.
Not a read. A blueprint.
Yorihito kicked over a bin with unnecessary force.
"Why are we even out here?" he muttered. "There's no scent. No pull. Just a waste of time."
"There were reports here," Kagami replied, calm. "That's enough."
"Or maybe someone just sneezed hard."
Kouji ignored the bickering. He touched a pipe, fingers trailing across the corroded surface, eyes narrowing.
"The aura's stale. Old disruption, not fresh. Maybe someone with unstable Blessing training nearby recently."
Kagami nodded. "Good call."
Yorihito blew a bubble and popped it without interest. "Then let's wrap it."
The moment snapped.
A loud clang echoed from a nearby stair.
Kagami froze, hand already near her spear. Kouji stepped slightly forward, ready to read the angle of the building. Yorihito was already moving — too fast.
He turned a corner without warning and grabbed a figure standing just inside the alley.
A man.
Middle-aged. Startled. Civilian.
"Don't move!" Yorihito shouted, raising his arm — sharp strings gleaming between his fingers, poised to launch.
"Stop!" Kouji yelled.
Yorihito ignored him. The man cowered, trembling.
"I said—"
Kouji moved.
He darted forward, forming a short metal baton in his hand from a street sign's base. The weapon glinted — raw, clean, shaped in less than a second — and clashed against Yorihito's sharp strings with force.
The string misfired, slicing into the wall.
Kouji didn't stop. He spun the baton once and pressed it to Yorihito's collarbone, expression cold.
"He's a civilian. You could've killed him."
Yorihito's eyes narrowed. "Back off."
For a second — just a second — it felt like it would escalate.
Then Kagami's voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"Both of you — down."
Kouji stepped back first, breathing hard. Yorihito lowered his string with a scoff.
The civilian stammered thanks and bolted.
The mission ended soon after.
Back at HQ, the automatic doors hissed open.
Yorihito peeled off immediately without a word, muttering something under his breath as he vanished into the east wing. Kagami headed toward the report terminal but paused when she saw Kouji lingering near the vending machine.
"You alright?"
Kouji nodded. "Yeah. Just thinking."
She gave him a once-over, then disappeared down the hall.
A voice called out from across the room.
"Well, if it isn't trouble himself."
Yumi, leaning against her desk at the far end of the lobby, arms crossed, hair messy under her glasses. She looked amused — and tired.
"I saw the report. First mission with a new squad and already breaking up fights?"
Kouji walked over, pulling a bottle of water from the machine. "Not exactly what I wanted to be known for."
"Could be worse," she said, smirking.
He let out a quiet breath — maybe a laugh, maybe not.
Her eyes flicked over him for a second longer, then softened. "Your aura's shifting again."
Kouji glanced up.
"Still heavy," she added. "But not like before. It's... sharper now."
"Is that bad?"
"I didn't say that." She leaned a little closer over the counter. "Just means you're either getting stronger — or getting closer to breaking something."
Kouji blinked.
Yumi shrugged. "Maybe both."
She pushed a small packet across the desk — a pre-stamped copy of his uniform request file.
"Here," she added. "Support finally processed your custom gear order. Might want to double-check your specs, though. You wrote 'low resistance' on half the plates."
"I wanted mobility."
"Just don't complain when someone stabs you."
He gave a tired smirk. "Noted."
Yumi gave a mock-salute as he turned to leave. "Hey, Kouji."
He stopped.
"Next time you get into a fight with a teammate, try to make it look like less of a win. People talk."
He didn't answer. But he didn't have to — the corner of his mouth twitched upward for just a second before he walked off.