"Ummm..."
"Didn't you hear me? Get up.", Rin said in a commanding voice intimidating Takeru even more.
"Uhhh, I-"
"Stop it, Ryuzaki-chan. You're scaring the poor kid.", Yoru said as he walked up to the scene. "Whatever, just come to the bridge.", Rin replied heading over to the bridge.
"She seems scary, Yoyo-senpai.", Takeru said in whimpering voice. Yoru placed his hands on Takeru's shoulders and said, "Don't get scared, kohai. Don't you remember I told you that this is your chance to show off? If you get scared by just another SOMA agent, what's gonna happen when you encounter a high level alternate?"
At that moment, the memory of witnessing the first class medium alternate and letting his alternate takeover flashed in Takeru's mind. Putting on a brave voice, Takeru said, "I understand, senpai! I won't be scared."
"Now that's more like it.", Yoru said as he patted Takeru's back.
Takeru began confidently walking towards the bridge though he was still scared on the inside. While on his walk, Rento suddenly called out to him.
Takeru looked back and saw Rento staring at him with a blank face.
"After your match, come read the two new chapters of Pain Machine on my phone. I have them downloaded. You must've not gotten to read them since you were in there."
With a faint smile, Takeru replied, "Really? I'd love to, man." Yoru looked slightly shocked. "That brat can actually be nice?"
"You're fighting her, huh? Good luck, If I couldn't beat her then you definitely can't."
Yoru looked disappointed. "There he goes being a little brat again..."
"Wait, she already had a match with you? The first round of eliminations is already over?", Takeru asked in a confused voice.
"Naturally, yeah. There aren't that many of us and plus, with Group 3 still missing, this year's one was even quicker.", Yoru replied.
"Then this is about to end pretty quickly and there's so much of the end still left. It'll be even quicker tomorrow since there are even lesser Group Leaders, why give us the whole 3 days off from regular work?", Takeru asked.
Yoru smiled. "Honestly, Ichino-kun. This whole thing isn't that serious, The Chairman mainly just wants to give us a break. He knows we're just human. He cares about us, just can't be upfront about it a lot of the times. That's why he started this whole yearly event thing."
"Ohhh..." Takeru's view of The Chairman was being changed.
Takeru then slowly walked up to bridge with Rin standing there menacingly freaking him out even more. "Why is she being so scary?"
"2nd form." Takeru clenched his fists getting reading for the fight.
"So Yoyo left us for you, yeah?"
"Uhhh... Yoyo-senpai didn't really leave for me, he said he wanted to leave anyway and decided to form a new group with me."
"2nd form." Rin leaped towards Takeru. "Holy shit! She's fast"
She punched him straight in the stomach. "ARGHHHHHHH!", Takeru screamed. He then fell onto the ground crawling in pain.
"Don't you dare refer to him as 'Yoyo' as if you're close or anything!"
"OW!!!! What the fuck is your problem, lady!?"
Rin looked extremely offended. "What did you say? Is that the way to address a senior SOMA agent!? You refer to me as 'Ryuzaki-senpai', you got that!?" She then picked him with one hand and threw him all the way to the other side of the bridge.
Takeru was on the ground, still trying to regenerate. "Shit..."
Rin looked over at Yoru and screamed. "THAT'S THE PERSON YOU LEFT US FOR, YORU!?"
Yoru angrily said, "You're taking it too fa-"
"Oh, shut up! Who are you to tell me anything!?", Rin said with even more anger.
Takeru had finally fully regenerated and had fully stood up. Rin looked towards him fiercely. Takeru almost jumped back just cause of her gaze. "What is with this bitch? Yoyo-senpai even said that this stuff isn't that serious and she doesn't want me to call him Yoyo? Like wha- Wait... maybe I shouldn't. Not cause this bitch doesn't want me to but cause, it might be disrespectful for Yoru-senpai. I mean, he's been so kind to me... I should probably be more considerate, I started calling him Yoyo without thinking much about it... Gosh, that reminds me of when I accidently called that one fat ass teacher piggy without thinking and Kaito and Hiroki fucking burst into laughter like crazy. That dickhead gave us cleaning duties for the whole but damn was it worth it... Wait! What am I thinking of right now? I can't be distracted!"
"Why is that kid just staring at me...? Whatever!" Rin leaped towards Takeru again. Instinctively, Takeru dashed to the right but Rin immediately reacted by changing her direction and then stabbing Takeru's left hand with her sharpened nails.
"OWWW! YOU BITCH!", Takeru shouted. Furiously, Rin grabbed his collar and threw him into the ground. "OI YORU! THIS IS THE KIND OF PERSON YOU LEFT US FOR!? A BRAT THAT CAN'T HANDLE A LITTLE PAIN AND A BRAT THAT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO TREAT HIS SENIORS!? Have you suddenly become stupid, Yoru? Why the hell would you leave us for that caused the death of his comrade through his own damn incompete-"
"ENOUGH!!!!"
Everyone went quiet. No one there had ever seen Yoru raise his voice that high, it was almost disturbing. Rin's words having a massive effect on him, Takeru laid on the ground with the guilt and shame Yoru had worked so hard to remove all returned.
Yoru slowly walked towards Takeru and gently picked him up. He face Rin angrily and said, "Look at what you've done... Blaming that on this poor kid, have you gone insane? And for that, Ryuzaki-chan? For what?"
Yoru was different at this moment. For the first time, Rin was scared of him. "Yoru... I just wanted to-"
"To what!?"
"I- I- I- jus-"
"What the hell are you trying to say!?"
"I just wanted you to come back to us! We love you, Yoru! We love you, alright!? I'm sorry... I wanted to prove to you that I was better than this kid hoping tha- that it would ma- make you wanna join us ag- again..." Suddenly, Rin's eyes were filled with tears.
Even with what she had just done, those tears melted Yoru's heart.
"Geez... More drama? Gross!", Yoshimi said as she watched everything unfold on the bridge.
Rin faced Takeru and said, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean what I said." Takeru slowly nodded.
Yoru thought for a bit and sighed. "Fine... I'll rejoin Group 1. I guess it was a bit extreme to just leave." Rin's eyes instantly lit up. "Really, Yoru? Thank you so- Uhh... Well yeah! You better rejoin us! We're the only ones that suit you!"
"Yeah yeah...", Yoru said as he smiled. Takeru was confused. "Wait! So what's gonna happen with me?"
"You can rejoin us, Ichino-kun!", Yuko said from the back with an excited voice. Her and the rest of Group 5 had also come there.
"That's perfect! You started with Group 5, yes? I'm sure you'll do fine with them, Ichino-kun."
"But I wanna stay with you, Yoru-senpai..." Yoru was shocked. "He didn't call me Yoyo?"
Yuko's heart was silently broken in the back. "Don't worry, senpai. He'll realize soon that you're way better than that Four-eyes.", Rento said.
"I heard that, you brat! Anyways... Takeru, you can always come to me whenever you want with any problem you may have. I'm still your senpai and so I'm hoping for great things form you so don't you dare disappoint, alright?"
"Alright, senpai..." His voice was saddened, he still clearly wanted to be with Yoru. Yoru looked over at Group 5 and said, "But if Takeru's joining your group, what's gonna happen with Kanji-Man over here?"
Kanji-Man looked happy. "Senpai knows my name!"
Yuko sadly looked towards Kanji-Man and said, "Kanji-Man-kun, I-"
"You need not say anything, senpai... I know how much you care for young Ichino-kun here, I'll leave if that is what must be done."
"Kanji-Man-kun...", Yuko said feeling guilty. Kanji-Man started rubbing his chin and began looking around. "Hmmm... Aha!" Kanji-Man rushed towards Yabo and Hina and did a formal bow. "May I join your group, senpai?"
The atmosphere was suddenly thick. Everyone had been awkward and scared to approach Group 4, especially Yabo, for 2 weeks now. Yabo stared at Kanji-Man not showing any emotion at all, everyone assumed he was pissed.
Yuko rushed to the scene as well. "Don't mind him, Warugaki-kun! He doesn't mean to be insensiti-"
"Fine, you can join. Better not be fucking useless out there though."
"Huh?"
"I'll do my best to not be, senpai!", Kanji-Man excitingly shouted.
"Nice guy, weird but nice.", Takeru said. "Yeah, dude's motivated purely by Super Sentai of all things.", Rento replied.
"Seriously, that's hilarious!"
"I know." They both chuckled.
"Oi, you really missed me that much? It was only for a day.", Yoru asked cheekily. "When the hell did you get a sense of humor?", Rin replied.
"I wasn't jo-"
ZAP!
Lighting suddenly almost struck Rin. "What the hell is this!? Is this a unique ability?", Rin said confused.
Out of nowhere, a thunderstorm had begun in the area. There were lightning strikes all over Lake Okutama. "OH! WHAT THE FUCK!", Takeru screamed.
"Everybody, we need to get the hell away from here.", Yoru screamed. Everyone activated their 2nd form and began dashing out of the area but suddenly, Hikari stopped in his tracks. He had noticed something, a familiar scent.
"3rd form: Metamorphosis! EVERYONE! CONTINUE TO GET AWAY, I'LL DEAL WITH THIS MYSELF!", Hikari shouted and then dashed into The Okutama Forest. Most were confused but they had to keep moving.
"Its the scent of the teleporting alternate... He's hiding here within this forest. Among those 4, the only one whose unique ability I didn't see was that schoolgirl. This sudden thunderstorm must be her doing..."
Hikari kept on going further and further into the forest tracking down Shion's scent. But suddenly, it vanished.
"Damnit... Teleportation! What the hell do they want?"
When he thought he was all alone, Hikari suddenly felt the touch of a hand on his shoulder. He instantly turned back. "YOU- Oh... It's you, Shiori-san... What are you doing here?"
"I'm a High Alternate-user too, you know? I can handle anything you can. Now, tell me what's going on..."
"They were here, senpai... 2 members of that organized alternate group but they teleported away... I was tracking the teleporting one's scent."
"Hmmm... The thunderstorm seems to be clearing as well."
"Yes... I'm probably right that it was the schoolgirl's unique ability."
Shiori grabbed Hikari's shoulders again and said, "Well, there's nothing we can do now... Let's just head back."
Hikari had an extremely worried look on his face. "Something bad is brewing within Tokyo, senpai... We are in desperate need to find out what it exactly is."
Shiori silently nodded.