B-Rank Wars Arc

The B-Rank Rank Battles Arc is the fifth arc of the World Trigger series.

A Flashy Debut
See also: Match History Osamu meets Kido in the hall, and they discuss the press conference. Osamu reveals that he is aware that Kido had intentionally used him as a scapegoat. He warns Kido to never use Yūma and Amatori like that, lest be deprived of his forgiveness. Kido complies and simply wishes Osamu good luck. Karasawa and Jin also discuss this, with Karasawa telling Jin that he wanted to give Osamu a chance to defend himself. He also divulges the increase in applications to Border since Osamu's outburst. Tamakoma Second makes its debut fighting against Yoshizato Unit and Mamiya Unit. Though Osamu is unable to participate due to his wounds, Yūma and Chika easily outdo their foes. It is a stunning victory, which attracts the attention of unsuspecting spectators. The team rank goes from #21 to #12, and their next rank battle will be against Suwa Unit and Arafune Unit. While they celebrate their victory, Konami alerts them that their next two opponents would be much stronger. The three participating teams begin analyzing each other, and on February 5, they have their second rank battle of the season.

Tamakoma Second vs. Suwa Unit vs. Arafune Unit
See also: Match History As the stage is Tamakoma Second's decision, Osamu chooses City C, a neighborhood sitting on a hill. It is initially met with surprise, as it would benefit the Sniper-oriented Arafune Unit. However, one of the battle's commentators, Azuma, reveals that his would force Suwa Unit to create an alliance with Tamakoma Second in order to prevent Arafune Unit from getting the advantage. Chika hides while Osamu and Yūma move on the offensive. Yūma goes to attack Hanzaki, but the two are shot at by Tsutsumi. While Yūma dodges the attack, Hanzaki is hit and Bails Out. Tsutsumi attempt to shoot Yūma, but Yūma dodges with his newly-gained Grasshopper and cuts him down. Yūma sets his sights on Hokari, but Arafune intercepts him and fights him with Kogetsu. Eight months before, Arafune had been a renown Attacker; however, he switched to being aa Sniper. Hokari supports his captain, giving Arafune the advantage. However, Sasamori comes intent on defeating Hokari. Osamu circles the battle zone, exerting pressure just by being there. Hokari decides to shoot Yūma, even though it means certain defeat at Sasamori's hands. Yūma is injured, and as he thought, Sasamori cuts him and he Bails Out. Yūma tricks Arafune into thinking that he would escape with Grasshopper, but uses the Trigger to launch himself towards his opponent and cut off his feet. Suwa comes to attack, and Sasamori, using Chameleon, traps Yūma for Suwa to get a clear shot, despite the fact that Yūma could stab him. Usami cues Chika to shoot at this moment, saving Yūma, but Arafune uses the opportunity to snipe back, hitting her and she Bails Out. Arafune and Suwa being attacking Yūma, but Osamu appears to shoot the two down, eliminating them, and giving Tamakoma Second the victory (6-2-1).

Tamakoma Second vs. Suzunari First vs. Nasu Unit
See also: Match History Following its second rank battle, Tamakoma Second moves to #8. Its next rank battle is against Nasu Unit and Suzunari First. Yūma and Midorikawa have a rank battle, in which Yūma dominates. Arafune comes along, and challenges Midorikawa for announcing his prediction that Arafune would lose the rank battle. However, before that, the No. 4 Attacker Kō Murakami comes along, with Midorikawa stating that he was the reason Arafune quit being an Attacker. He asks Midorikawa to fight him, but Midorikawa states that he can't afford to lose any more points, capturing Yūma's interest. Yoneya also refuses to fight, saying that he wants to fight a Grasshopper user. Yūma himself volunteers, much to the others' disapproval. Murakami agrees, but with 2 conditions: the battle is 10 matches long, and there will be a 10-minute intermission between the fifth and sixth match. Yūma accepts. In the first 5 matches, Yūma wins four times, which makes Osamu think that he should center the team strategies on Yūma. However, Yoneya advises him to keep watching. Murakami wins five times in a row, becoming the first person to beat Yūma in battle. He reveals that he has a Side Effect of "enhanced sleep memory", where he synthesizes information extremely accurately when sleeping. Yūma's loss surprises those in Tamakoma, but the fact he got 40% of the points impresses both Murakami's team Suzunari First, as well as Tamakoma Second's other opponent, Nasu Unit. The rank battle begins on Saturday.

The stage is the riverside one, in stormy weather. The map is composed of two segments of a city divided by water and connected only by one bridge. This is most likely to subdue Chika's Sniping abilities. None of the teams have all members on the same piece of land, making the bridge a central location. Nasu Unit's strategy hinges on them being able to group at the bridge before the other teams. However, this is quickly interrupted when Chika blows up the bridge. Unable to regroup, Nasu decides to clear her side herself, while Kumagai is approached by Murakami. She puts up a fierce fight, but is unable to keep up and Bails Out. Hiura attempts to shoot Yūma, but she misses, inadvertently giving her position away, and Yūma cuts her down. Yūma and Murakami are the only ones remaining and begin their fight. It seems to be an even battle, but slowly tipping in favour of Murakami. Seeing that using old techniques is useless against the latter, Yūma has Murakami step onto a Grasshopper to launch him into the river, where Yūma stabs him and defeats him, but is now stuck in the river.

It is revealed that Hyuse has been kept prisoner in Tamakoma Branch and he comments on the battle throughout its course.

Meanwhile, Nasu begins to barrage the opponents on her side, and manages to take out Betsuyaku and cripple Kuruma. She gets locked into a fight with him. Osamu has Chika break the dam, releasing the river water into the city. This bogs down Nasu, who has been relying on her maneuverability. Nasu manages to defeat Kuruma with Tomahawk, but before he Bails Out, he shoots Hound bullets. The bullets hit Nasu, severing her arm. Osamu uses this moment to try and claim a point by defeating Nasu. The attack is in vain as Nasu purposely had several Tomahawk bullets miss Kuruma so that they could be used against Osamu. Osamu Bails Out, but Yūma approaches, having survived the river. With significant Trion loss, Nasu is forced to Bail Out, giving Tamakoma Second its third victory.

Information and Training
Following Tamakoma Second's victory, it is bumped up to #6, and has Ninomiya Unit, Kageura Unit, and Azuma Unit as its upcoming opponents. The next day, Rindō takes Yūma, Osamu, and Hyuse to HQ. There, he is interrogated by the upper echelons, but he refuses to say anything. With Hyuse being a useless source of information, Kinuta takes Osamu and Yūma to their other source: Enedra. Parts of his psyche remained intact in his horns following his death, which allowed it to be put into a Rad. The Rad (Enedrad) contains Enedra's knowledge and personality. Enedra reveals that Aftokrator had come to Earth because it was in the middle of a civil crisis. Its god, the human that powers the planet's core via their Trion, was dying and Aftokrator had to fight a suitable replacement lest the country be destroyed. Thus, Hairein brought his Hairein's Expedition Force to obtain a person with high-Trion, which they nearly did. Enedra pledges his allegiance with Border for the sole reason of revenge, but Yūma detects this as a partial lie; he has a second motive. After the interrogation, Osamu has a chat with Kikuchihara, who warns Osamu that his team would not be able to reach the Expedition Force since it is too dependent on Yūma.

Back at Tamakoma Branch, a visitor has come: Masataka Ninomiya. Mikumo Unit has a discussion with him regarding Rinji's disappearance. He sheds some light on the circumstances surrounding the disappearance. His former teammate, Mirai Hatohara, had been discovered to have smuggled Triggers to civilians. She disappeared on the same day that Rinji did, which presents a possibility that they were collaborators. Ninomiya believes that Rinji might have manipulated Hatohara into doing such a thing since she was incapable of being so elaborate. Chika admits that that is something her brother might have done, but Osamu believes that both were fully complicit of each others' motives. Ninomiya leaves, refusing to divulge any more information until the unit has reached A-rank. He also tells Osamu that Mikumo Unit's only honest way of getting Rinji back is to send Yūma into an A-rank unit on the Expeditionary Force.

Kizaki reveals that Ninomiya Unit was demoted to B-rank as a result of Hatohara's actions, and advises them to keep the incident a secret. Osamu calls Karasuma for more Shooter training, but Karasuma has him train under specialists. The first one is Arashiyama Unit. Arashiyama asserts that Osamu need not act differently than he already has because Shooters have a tendency to assume a supportive role. Nevertheless, he and Tokieda train Osamu to better his skills. Next, Osamu visits Tachikawa Unit's operation room, where he experiences an unfriendly greeting from the weak but arrogant Takeru Yuiga. Yuiga's flashy nature is quelled by Tachikawa and Izumi. Izumi tells Osamu that teaching him composite bullets is pointless at his skill level, but he will do it if he can beat Yuiga 100 times in battle. Yuiga is appalled at this deal, but Osamu and he go ahead with it anyway. Osamu is unable to defeat Yuiga to the specified number, but refuses Izumi's offer to reduce it to 50 victories.

Chika and Natsume do Sniper training where they shoot at targets. They are easily outclassed by Narasaka, but Narasaka advises them to take a look at the Snipers who didn't aim for the bullseye; rather, they made flawless designs with their bullets. The Snipers are Tōma and Yuzuru Ema. Tōma introduces Ema as his pupil, though Ema says that the only person he considers to be his mentor is Hatohara, the girl who went missing with Rinji. Chika asks Ema for more information regarding Hatohara. Ema reveals that she was an excellent Sniper, but she didn't have the conviction to shoot at people; rather, she shot at their weapons. It was this weakness that caused Ninomiya Unit to be dropped out of the Expeditionary Force, in spite of the fact that she met the requirements. Chika admits that she too struggles to be able to shoot people. Ema mentions that she should not have said that, for he is part of Kageura Unit, Tamakoma Second's upcoming opponent.

Yūma and Murakami have a rank battle, resulting in Murakami's victory. Murakami takes Yūma to Masato Kageura, the captain of Kageura Unit, one of their upcoming foes. Moments before Yūma and Murakami arrived, Kageura had decapitated two trainees (in their trion bodies) for speaking ill of him behind his back. Murakami tells the trainees that Kageura possesses a Side Effect which let him read their mind, and assures them that they would not be harmed in their real bodies. They flee, regardless. Murakami introduces Kageura and Yūma to each other, and the two discuss Tamakoma Second's goal and the upcoming rank battle. Kageura leaves, but not without asserting that he wouldn't let a weakling beat him. Murakami explains to Yūma that Kageura's Side Effect is actually feeling others' emotions.

Azuma Unit begins strategizing for their rank battle by coming up with an idea for the map. Koarai suggests choosing a gimmicky map like the one Nasu Unit did, but Azuma and Okudera suggest otherwise. Tamakoma Second meets up. Osamu scolds Chika for revealing her secret, but Yūma defends her by stating that Ninomiya and Azuma, having known Hatohara, likely saw the resemblance between her and Chika, and having the only unaware opponent know is not too signficant. Kageura Unit watches records of Tamakoma Second.

Tamakoma Second vs. Ninomiya Unit vs. Kageura Unit vs. Azuma Unit
See also: Match History The commentators for Round 4 are Kako, Kazama, and Ayatsuji. The map chosen is City B, and the weather is snowy. Tamakoma Second and Azuma Unit concentrate on uniting, while Kageura Unit's members fight from their positions. Hiro shoots Meteora, but it ultimately fails, resulting in Ninomiya's counter with Asteroid. Ema attempts a shot at Ninomiya, but it also fails. Ninomiya orders his teammates to go hunt Tamakoma Second down, while Ninomiya goes after Kageura Unit. Yūma is intercepted by Tsuji of Ninomiya Unit, but is freed when Kageura comes along.

Inukai, one of Ninomiya Unit, reaches Osamu and gets into a fight with him. Inukai holds the clear advantage, and forces Osamu into a building. Osamu attempts to use hidden Asteroids, but Inukai proves to good for him. All of a sudden, Koarai and Okudera from Azuma Unit jump in and cut off Inukai's arm. Tsuji, Inukai's teammate, comes to save him. The two parties get into a fight, and Osamu tries to attack them. However, Azuma shoots Osamu, causing him to Bail Out.

The battle continues, with some worrying that Chika could shoot. Inukai assures them that Chika cannot shoot, but he is proven wrong when she does in fact shoot, demolishing the building in which they were. However, the shot was slow, allowing the targets to dodge. With Chika's location revealed, and Azuma being near her, she is unable to Bail Out so Inukai pursues her. Yūma tries to defend her, but once again, he is intercepted by Tsuji. He has Chika jump onto a Grasshopper to propel her. Inukai closes in, but is shot by Ema and stabbed by Kageura. Chika manages to Bail Out herself so that no team could collect points from her.

Yūma, Koarai, Okudera, Tsuji, and Kageura get into a brawl. Ninomiya goes after Ema, and manages to claim a point from him. Koarai and Okudera gang up on Yūma because his Grasshopper presents a threat to Azuma. Hiro attempts to shoot the group, but his shot is blocked by Azuma, who attempts to shoot him. However, he is protected by Ninomiya, who is intent on having Hiro for himself. Kageura takes out Okudera, Yūma takes out Koarai, and Azuma takes out Tsuji, leaving Yūma and Kageura to a one-on-one battle. They are quickly interrupted by Ninomiya's Full Attack Hound. Yūma uses the opportunity to try and take out Ninomiya, but he ends up being defeated by a surprise attack. The remaining three combatants make no aggressive action, leading to a time out, which results in Ninomiya Unit's victory.

New Tactics
See also: Hyuse Following their loss against the upper B-rank teams, Osamu asks Jin to join their team. When Jin asks Osamu for his reason, Osamu states that he wanted to go on the expedition more quickly since Yūma was running out of time before his death and he wanted to reunite him with Replica. Jin refuses because he says there are other things to which he had to attend and because he thinks there is someone more fitting to recruit.

The next day, Chika attends a practical snipping exercise at Border HQ. The goal of the exercise is to snip as many other snipers while taking the fewest amount of hits as possible. Radar is turned off, only sniper triggers are allowed, and no muzzle or sound is made when firing your rifle. Marks are placed on the trion body where the target is hit. Despite being unable to shoot people, Chika does fairly well in the exercise much to Ema's surprise. As they're walking back, he can't help but think of his mentor, Hatohara, and her similarities to Chika and how he doesn't want her to share the same fate. He suggests he try something out with Chika at his Unit's room, and Chika and Izuho agree. There, Ema gives Chika a Lighting Trigger combined with Lead Bullet. Ema suspects that the reason why Chika can't shoot people is because of the splatter that happens when a trion body dies. Lead Bullet only causes lead bricks to form, so that should allow Chika to shoot at people. Additionally Lightning balances out Lead Bullet's slow bullet spead, and since Chika has such a high trion capacity, she'll be able to have the bullet reach her target from a practical distance and speed. After testing it, the group learn that Ema's suspicions were correct: combination is viable and Chika can use it to shoot at others.

Meanwhile, Osamu contemplates who would be a better fit than Jin as another party member. Yotaro suggests that Jin was referring to Hyuse, who has been watch the last few matches of Tamakoma-2. At first, everyone thinks that the suggestion is outrageous, and even Hyuse quickly dismisses the idea. But then Osamu thinks of the possibility and starts to consider it seriously after looking into it more. Meanwhile, Yuma is called in by R&D Director Kinuta, who wants to question Enedra again. Enedra further explains that Hyuse is a member of the House Ellin, and that his lord is the most likely candidate for Hairein's proposed god. This is why Hyuse was abandoned on Earth, Hairein wanted Hyuse out of the way and unable to protect his master. With this, Osamu and Yuma learn that Hyuse wants to return to Aftokrator as soon as possible, and thus they both have a shared goal.

Osamu later visits Arashiyama Unit again, but Captain Arashiyama is not present. He sits with Kitora and Mitsuru, and Kitora explains why she things that helping Osamu at this stage is a wasted effort. After convincing her to help him, after Mitsuru's suggestion, Kitora decides to teach him about the trigger Spider. Spider creates trip-wires that can slow down or stagger opponents. Additionally, operators can alter their appearance to make them difficult to see by enemies, but extremely easy to see by teammates. Further, Spider doesn't take up a lot of trion to either equip or use and Osamu wouldn't have to shoot at moving targets. Osamu learns that this trigger is perfect for him, as he can set up wired areas that would be beneficial to only his team; yuma, with his fighting style, would be able to use the wires to his benefit; and Osamu would be able to help his teammates even if he is eliminated early on in the fight.

The Attack on the Ship
See also: Galopoula Invasion See also: Galopoula Expedition Force

Later, Jin goes to a meeting where the subject of another invasion is brought up. Two of three planetary nations, Galopoula and Rodochroun, coming near Earth are vassals of Aftokrator. Due to their small size, an all-out invasion would be unlikely, so a covert mission could happen. Additionally, Jin did not see any casualties happening in many citizens' and Border agents' futures. Just in case, a special barrier is in place until the planets leave Earth's proximity and the A-rank units are on alert. Enedra explains that because Aftokrator would have to deal with their internal issue of choosing a god, Hairein would send one of those two countries to do their work.

As the next round of the B-Rank Wars are underway, Galopoula begins its assault. The force is first seen in their ship discussing the general details about their mission: to cripple Border's offensive abilities. Gatlin, the invaiding force's commander, decides this is best achieved by destroying Border's Expedition Ship. They send Trion Warriors provided by Rodochroun to evaluate the strength of Border's defenses. Then, they send a large wave of them. Gatlin, Wen Sō, and Ratarikov blend in and Ratarikov uses his Trigger to go through the walls of Border to reach the ship while Reghindetz and Koskero served as a distraction outside of Border.

The three Galopoulan warriors inside of Border are attacked by Jin and Nasu Unit. Gatlin and Ratarikov manage to continue unharmed, but Wen Sō stays behind to fight Nasu Unit. Using Servitora and duplication tactics, she deals significant damage, but Nasu Unit, with the help of Kikuchihara, defeats her. Meanwhile, Miwa Unit finds Koskero. Koskero uses Nikokyra to dull his foes' blades and restrict their movement, but in the end, he finds himself slashed by Jin and bails out back to his ship much to Miwa Unit's surprise. Ratarikov and Gatlin head towards the Expedition Ship's dock, only to find themselves confronted by Tachikawa, Kazama, Konami, and Murakami. Despite putting up a considerable effort, Gatlin is defeated by Tachikawa's suicide tactic where Konami bisects both him and Gatlin together. Meanwhile, Kazama defeats Ratarikov.

With all members but Reghindetz retreated, the mission is considered a failure. However, Reghindetz attempts to lure Border's attention by pretending to attack Mikado City, but Jin's premonition tells everyone that this is just a bluff. Frustrated, Reghindetz is soon confronted by Hyuse and Yōtarō, the former of which demands that he be taken home. Reghindetz orders Hyuse to take Yōtarō hostage to prove his allegiance to Aftokrator, but Hyuse takes things one step further and appears to stab him. Reghindetz is horrified at the excessive measure Hyuse took, and informs him that Aftokrator had abandoned him, and that he had no intention of letting Hyuse board their ship and would even kill him if necessary. Yotaro's death, however, turns out to be a ruse. Hyuse used Scorpion to maneuver the blade around Yōtarō's body, stabbing nothing but his clothing. In anger, Reghindetz activates Thugater and attacks Hyuse, but Hyuse manages to easily defeat him with his Lampyris. Jin then approaches Hyuse and Yotaro, and Hyuse invokes the request he won from their bet "to return to Aftokrator as soon as possible, regardless of the method." Jin agrees and says that there's a position open that he'd be perfect for and the trio head towards HQ to watch the next B-Rank Match. Reghindetz bails out and reunites with his fallen comrades. As the depart on their ship, Gatlin notes that while the mission was a failure, they have plenty of time to try again.

Tamakoma Second vs. Katori Unit vs. Kakizaki Unit
See also: Match History