Purpose | World Trigger

じゅうきゅう

Chapter 19 | Preparation to Climb the Ladder

Luna has been constantly hearing the same few sentences for the past 48 hours. She has completely turned into the gossip of the organization and her popularity seems to have skyrocketed even more than it should have.

"She certainly got what-"

When Luna heard the start of the sentence, she ran into the nearest bathroom, and teleported to one of the set coordinates that she had input in her Black Trigger. Her eyes were closed and she let out a sigh as she deactivated her Trigger.

Luna was expecting the treatment, but she didn't think she would be so intolerable towards the words she has been hearing.

"Luna? How'd you get in?" A sudden voice made her open her eyes and look at her surroundings, making her realize her mistake.

I should have paid more attention to what I was pressing.

"Sorry Yuma, I wasn't paying attention to what I was pressing when I was teleporting."

There weren't many things that could bother Luna, and Yuma knew that. She was usually careful with her actions and wouldn't make such a rookie mistake, that's why he knew that something was bothering Luna.

"Is it the people at Border again?" Yuma asked as he patted on the spot next to him at the sofa, to which Luna walked over and took a seat.

"...I have no reasons to lie to you. Yes, I am affected by their words, and I shouldn't be."

Luna had been caught by a random agent when she was entering her room at the HQ, which shouldn't have been a problem. However, to a normal agent, it was a forbidden room that only authorized people are allowed to enter, and to their knowledge, Luna was not one of them.

When she received a message from Jin, telling her that Kido had wanted to see her and she should be ready for some sort of setback, she started racking her brain for an answer but arrived at nothing.

By the time she arrived at the HQ, she knew something was wrong because majority of the eyes of the room were staring at her. She could have deceived herself and told herself that they were just staring at her general direction, but she knew it was futile.

When she met the person who had summoned her, she was told that she had broken a rule, in which she entered her room. Everything then clicked in her mind, and she began criticizing herself for not being careful enough.

True, it was stupid to punish someone for entering their own room, but the public didn't know that and that information is not to be released to the public. Therefore the only course of action was to punish the agent responsible for breaking a rule.

When Luna received her punishment, she punished herself even more with harsher words.

"Mikumo-tai will be demoted to the lowest rank."

She had involved the others because she wasn't paying attention, and now they would have to waste even more time climbing up the ladder again.

"Luna, don't mull over it. It's fine." Yuma said confidently.

"No, it's not. Chika-chan wants to find her brother and we need to at least be in the top 2 squads of B-Rank if we want to be considered. Climbing up the ranks again is just a waste of time."

"Osamu already said it's fine because we now have more time to test out our strategies. It's a good thing. Just shut off all the words that's bothering you, and if you can't completely do that, I'll help you.

I know you feel guilty for what you have done, but everyone of us makes mistakes. That's why we're human."

But I'm not.