"It's a rough map downloaded from those big idiots," Usumi said as he swiped his hand through the air above Juna's arm. "Still usable, though. It's a few decades old—most of this area's been cut down and turned into housing."
His eyes tracked the faint grid forming in the air.
"…Yeah. Here we go."
Juna was lying back against a flat rock beneath him, her interface active along her skin. A faint holographic panel projected upward from it, flickering as data streamed across the display.
"Crates here. It's got the bio-aug chips—that's what we came for."
"Aug?" Juno repeated, eyes lighting up. "Wait, that's it? Why not go bigger—like a Rig, Frame, Unit—oh, or even a Husk? Those are way cooler!" He said it like anything below those tiers wasn't worth the effort.
From where Juna lay, she answered without lifting her head.
"Same reason we don't assign you to any form of basic domestic sanitation duties."
Juno stared at her for a second longer. "…Domestic what?"
She sighed, like the explanation itself was beneath her. "Washing dishes."
"Hey! I could totally wash dishes if I wanted to."
Juna finally glanced up at him, unimpressed.
"That's a hypothesis with no supporting evidence and an alarming lack of credibility."
"I don't even know what that means—" Juno pointed at her accusingly, "—but take it back!"
"I will not," she said flatly. "Just be quiet and listen to Usumi. If he says he needs it, then it's important. Don't talk back to him."
"I'm not talking back to him," Juno shot back immediately, pointing at her. "I'm talking back to you." Then, with a childish edge, he tugged down his lower eyelid and stuck his tongue out at her.
"Bleh."
"Why you little—"
"You're not that much older than me! Don't call me little!"
"Tch… enough." Usumi didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to. The word landed anyway—like something settling into place.
With a small gesture of his fingers, he closed his hand in the air. The holographic interface over Juna's arm snapped shut instantly, dissolving into faint light.
"Get ready," Usumi said, his tone steady. "When we get close, I'll need you two focused." He paused, just a second. "Stay where I can see you... If you're out of my sight, I can't help you."
Juna pushed herself upright immediately.
"Y-yes, sir."
She snapped into attention so quickly it looked almost automatic, her arm lifting into a rigid salute.
"You don't need to salute," Usumi said, pausing just long enough for it to sink in. "Just understand." He stepped forward, his ponytail shifting slightly with the motion, fabric at his shoulders stirring as he moved, already going before either of them could respond.
Juno, still behind her, leaned sideways to peek at her pose.
He squinted.
"…You really gotta stop doing that," he muttered, before leaning in and lightly poking her cheek. "You're gonna get stuck like that one day, you know."
Juna didn't even look at him this time.
"Are we doing ranks now?" he said, tilting his head clearly trying to egg her on further.. "Do I get promoted if I stand straighter?"
"…Just behave," she added, a touch sharper, but noticeably more restrained than before.
Juno let out a small sigh, already losing interest in pushing it further. He looked away.
"…Why do you always do that when he's around?" he muttered under his breath.
It wasn't meant to land. Not really—just something said to himself, more tired than teasing.
But Juna reacted instantly.
She was on him in a second—grabbing his sleeve, her face suddenly flushed red like someone had scribbled marker all over it.
"J-juna?" he blinked.
"Shut up!" she snapped, and shoved him away hard.
The force caught him off balance. Juno stumbled backward, arms flailing as he tried to recover, but his heel caught on loose dirt and he went down anyway, landing flat on his side with a soft thud.
He lay there for a beat, staring up at her in disbelief.
"…What was that for?" he asked, still trying to understand. "Why'd you push me?"
"I said shut the hell up already!" she snapped, too fast—like the words came out before she could stop them—already turning sharply on her heel. "You're insufferable," she threw back over her shoulder as her footsteps faded while she kept moving forward without him.
He stayed sitting for a moment, then slowly brushed himself.
"Jeez what the heck is her problem today…" he muttered. "Since when was the military a touchy subject?"
⬥ ⬥ ⬥
When Juna fell in beside Usumi, she spoke quickly, almost too quickly.
"Usumi senpai, I think your plan makes a lot of sense. A-and I was also wondering… what exactly happened to your arm. How did you acquire that inj—"
"I saw what you did back there," Usumi cut in.
Her breath caught—like a child caught doing something wrong, which was not necessarily far off from the truth.
"You two need to stop fighting. It's giving me a headache." His tone stayed calm. "I brought you out here to teach you contracts. I don't like doing it—but it's safer than city work."
They moved as they talked, stepping deeper through the forest-like path. Trees crowded in on all sides, trunks like dark pillars, while tangled roots forced the narrow trail to wind through the undergrowth.
"But—but Usumi—"
"No buts. The same rule I give Sakura still applies. I thought you'd have learned that by now."
"Th-that's not—" She froze, then looked away, flustered. "…Ugh. I suppose you're right… but he's a distraction. I don't want him anywhere near me right now."
"There's that 'but' again," he said evenly. "And you know that isn't true. You'd be the first one missing him if he wasn't."
"I-I…" Juna tried to find a comeback, but her words tangled as her face only grew more flustered under Usumi's calm, unrelenting attention to detail. She failed to form an answer and instead gave a small, irritated "Hmph."
Usumi slowly exhaled through his nose, sensing the weight of her frustration.
"Look, I'm not angry at you. It's just not the time for you to be acting your age right now."
Juna's gaze dropped slightly.
"Please… age has nothing to do with this." A pause, then softer—more careful. Her eyes lowered briefly to her chest before she spoke again. "…I'm still a woman. Maybe a bit young for you to notice, but that doesn't make me any less of one."
"You're a child."
"And what of it?" she replied coolly. "How does that make me any different from you, weren't you a kid once?"
"No," he said calmly, almost amused. "I don't think I ever fit the idea of 'kid' you're talking about."
"Usumi!" she snapped, composure cracking just slightly. "Are you seriously toying with me right now? —how ironic of you to—"
In one smooth step, he was in front of her—hands rising to suddenly cup her cheeks, thumbs steadying her face as he quickly guided her down into a low crouch with him, leaving the rest of her words to break off cleanly in her throat.
"Shh."
His head turned slightly, eyes already scanning past her shoulder at Juno.
"Get down," he said to him in a whisper. "Now."
In front of them two guys with purple hats passed by—members of some gang on patrol, moving with the weight of something important. They didn't see them hidden behind the bushes.
Around them, the air was heavy with sound—deep bass thumping through the ground like a second heartbeat. Music bled through the distance, layered with voices, laughter, and the pulse of a crowd somewhere nearby.
They'd been hearing it for a while, but the sudden silence in their immediate space made it impossible to pretend they hadn't noticed it.
But Usumi didn't care about any of it. His focus stayed locked forward, sharp and unmoving, like something ahead had already caught his attention.
"Woah… it's really cool looking," Juno said, eyes widening. "It's like a place you'd see in a video game!"
His appreciation for the place faded slightly as his hands came up to his ears. "...but that music is horrible. Sounds like someone put a cat in a blender or somethin'."
"It's a block party," Usumi replied quietly, keeping his hand steady as he held position. "A place like this is often used as cover—gangs, brokers… people who don't want to be seen doing business in the open."
Only then did he pause slightly, as if registering something he'd been doing without thinking.
His hand was still over Juna's mouth.
He released her immediately.
Juna drew in a sharp breath the moment the pressure was gone, her eyes widening in disbelief like she'd been trying to speak the entire time.
"H-hey—!" she snapped, pulling back slightly. "Juno, don't say things like that about cats. That's just gross…" She huffed under her breath. "And you, Senpai—you should've warned me you were going to do that."
"S-sorry," Usumi responded. His gaze shifted slightly, then sharpened again. "See those guys—those two who just passed?"
Juna and Juno squinted, lifting their heads slightly above the bush for a better look. "Yeah?" they said in unison.
"They aren't here for the party." Usumi's voice stayed calm, but precise. "Look at the bag on the man to the left. That carries one of the chips we're looking for."
"How do you know that?" Juno immediately asked.
"…You just pick up on it," he said flatly. "After you've seen enough of this kind of thing, you stop needing it explained."
Juna hesitated—then her expression tightened slightly, focus sharpening. "He's telling the truth… I can feel it too. There's an electrical signature coming from it."
"Okay, so what—now what? We can't just grab it without alerting them, right?" Juno added, looking up at Usumi.
"You're right. So what should we do now?"
"Hit them hard and take it from them!"
Usumi's face tightened, one eye twitching slightly. "Tch… haven't you been paying attention to anything I've been saying?"
"No—but that's basically what I've watched you do…"
"It's not that simple this time," Usumi said, his voice still even but lower, more focused. "That electrical feeling Juna felt isn't just the chip. These guys are augmented—don't you see that implant on the back of his neck?"
As he spoke, Juna's hand instinctively rose toward the back of her own neck, as if checking hers—realizing, belatedly, how close the comparison felt.
"They could be recording every single moment. Knocking them out isn't an option—yet—but we need to stop them from capturing our faces before we do anything."
He turned slightly toward Juna with a light, reassuring grin—though to anyone else it would've looked unsettling, the kind of expression that seemed dangerous even if it hadn't meant to be.
"Juna. You got this?"
Juna removed her hand and nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Good," Usumi replied, as if hoping they would understand the weight of it this time.
Before Juno could speak again, he stepped in closer too quickly and grabbed Usumi's sleeve as if trying to pull his attention back.
Usumi paused. For a fraction of a second, everything in him went still. His focus broke from the plan, something sharper flickering behind his eyes before it settled again just as fast.
He exhaled quietly and eased his arm free without force, as though the interruption had never fully registered. His expression returned to normal almost immediately.
"What about me?" Juno asked, oblivious to what had just happened to him. "What do I do."
"Just wait," Usumi said calmly. "I've got an important job for you."
"Important?" Juno echoed under his breath, a grin slowly spreading across his face as Juna stepped forward.
She raised a hand, her expression sharpening.
"// SHORT 01010011"
The moment the last digit left her lips, both men's heads snapped upward—bodies locking for half a second.
Usumi moved instantly.
In a blur, he burst from the bushes, seized them both before they could react, and smashed their heads together. They went limp instantly. Without hesitation, he hauled them back and dumped them out of sight behind the bush.
"U-usumi—" Juno blinked, caught off guard as they landed. "Why'd you bring them here?"
"You're on babysitting duty," Usumi smirked.
Juno stiffened immediately. "Stop doing things like that—and stop making that scary face already!"
"…Tch." Usumi's eyebrow lifted slightly, but the smirk didn't fade. If anything, it sharpened—less casual now, more edged, like he had teeth behind it. Like he was testing it again. "Am I really that creepy lookin'?"
Juno hesitated, then pointed at him like it was obvious. "I've said it a thousand times—yes!"
Usumi exhaled lightly through his nose, already turning back toward the bushes as if the conversation had already been filed away in his mind.
"Juna," he said, voice dropping back into focus, "get into the sub-division node on the network. The one tied to back-end freight routing."
Juna's attention snapped away from the exchange. She blinked once, then gave a small nod, forcing herself back into procedure.
"…Alright. Give me a second."
She raised her arm and began moving her fingers through the air, interacting with the faint holographic interface that bloomed from the device embedded along her skin. Lines of data flickered and reformed under her touch, cascading in soft light as she worked through the access layers.
"Alright… there. Got it," she murmured after a moment, focus narrowing.
A faint metallic jangle echoed behind her in the undergrowth, subtle but deliberate, like something shifting out of place.
She paused mid-motion.
"Senpai, I don't think your smile is bad looking. If anything it's more—"
Her words broke off.
When she turned her head back toward them, the scene had already changed.
Both Usumi and Juno were on the ground, restring the men cleanly and without ceremony. Their wrists were locked behind their backs, the bindings tight and precise. Cloth had been pulled over their faces, secured in a way that muffled sound while still allowing them to breathe.
For a second, Juna just stared.
"When the hell did you guys start doing that?" she asked, genuinely thrown off.
Usumi didn't look up from his work. His hands were still adjusting one of the knots, tightening it once more before finally letting go as if confirming a calculation had been completed correctly.
"We need them quiet," he said evenly.
His tone didn't shift as he continued, voice steady and detached.
"If they make noise, they'll draw attention. That cannot happen here."
Juno crossed his arms, watching the bodies being secured. "Or else they'll make a lot of noise and give us away, right?"
"Exactly," Usumi replied without hesitation. "There's no telling how long they'll stay under. Could be ten seconds. Could be ten minutes."
There was no emphasis in his agreement—only certainty, as if the outcome had already been accounted for long before anyone else had considered it.
He straightened slightly, already shifting focus. "Did you find anything related to the chips?"
"Yes, but it was only two of them—not a whole lot—"
"Perfect. That's the rest we need."
Usumi's tone didn't change. He had already moved past confirmation and into planning.
"This contract might actually go smoothly after all."
Then, without much delay—
"One last thing, Juna," Usumi said, voice low and steady. "Stay connected to the security cameras. Cut any recording feeds you can access, and guide me through the hall access route."
Juna hesitated. Her eyes flicked sideways toward Juno.
"You mean Juno's going to be responsible for my unconscious body while I'm out?"
Usumi answered immediately, without irritation or reassurance.
"Yes," he said plainly, like it wasn't up for debate.
Juna frowned immediately. "That's not comforting at all."
Juno scoffed under his breath, "What—seriously, Juna? Since when am I that unreliable, huh?"
"Since… like, always," Juna shot back, completely unconvinced.
Her expression twisted for a second—like a cat forced too close to a dog—before she reined it in, her eyes shifting back to Usumi.
"Look… I don't know about this, Usumi…"
Usumi stepped closer.
"He's not an external asset—he's your brother standing five steps away from you. You two need to rely on each other more."
He turned his head away.
"And I hope you realize… I won't always be available to reroute things for you guys."
Juna went still for a moment, her brows tightening as she tried to process his words.
"What?" Her breath hitched. "What are you trying to say, exactly?" she asked, her tone turning more serious.
Usumi finally glanced at her. The look was brief, measured, and entirely without urgency.
"It means you shouldn't rely on a single point of control," he said.
Juno crossed his arms. "That sounds like you're talking about yourself."
Usumi didn't deny it. He simply turned away again and started walking, as if the conversation had already been accounted for.
After he took a few steps, Juna spoke again, quieter this time.
"Senpai… you're acting like you won't be around later."
Usumi didn't slow down.
"I'm acting like I won't be needed later," he corrected calmly. A brief pause followed before he added, "That's the goal."
Juno frowned. "That's a weird goal."
Usumi's tongue clicked against his teeth. "Listen," he said, voice calm—but heavier now, like the words didn't quite want to leave him. "If I'm still required when you're grown… then I'll have failed you both by then."
Juna moved to stand, to call after him, to do anything except follow the mission right now—but Usumi was already gone, swallowed by the bushes.
"That imbecile…" she stated, staring at where he'd disappeared a moment longer. Then she exhaled slowly, the breath shaking just slightly before she steadied herself again.
Juna's expression tightened as she snapped her head back. "Come on, Juno… just don't make me regret this."
"Woah—you were totally about to cry just then. Calm down—Usumi's not really going to leave us or anything… right?"
The silence hung for half a beat.
"Please… shut up."