Masataka Ninomiya (chapter)

Short Summary
Ninomiya sheds some light to the circumstances of Rinji Amatori's disappearance.

Long Summary
Ninomiya asks Osamu and Chika if they knew Rinji Amatori, to which they both replied 'yes.' He then shows a photograph of a woman, asking them if they knew her. Neither of them knew it, so Ninomiya explains that she, Mirai Hatohara, was a former Sniper of his unit. She had illegally provided civilians with Triggers, and then with missing. It was concluded that she had opened a Gate and gone to the Neighborhood. 3 others had gone missing too, but they were not Border agents. Kazama Unit had been sent to search for her, but to no avail. Ninomiya believed that Rinji may have been 1 of the 3 civilians to accompany her. Osamu remembers seeeing Ninomiya at Chika's house when Rinji had disappeared. When Osamu asks why Ninomiya was so concerned about the case, he explains that HQ considered Hatohara to be the principle offender. However, Ninomiya believed that Hatohara could not have planned something like that, and that someone instigated her. Chika admits that her brother may have been the instigator, saying that he could do something like that if he wanted to. Osamu explains what he knew; that Rinji had a Trigger from Border, and that he was going to explore the Neighborhood with "collaborators". He also recalled the map of possible Gate opening locations, stating that it should match with Hatohara's information. At the same time, Osamu believes that Rinji didn't instigate Hatohara since he had made a "transaction" of some sort with the collaborators, and that he and Hatohara collaborated due to having common interests. Ninomiya gets up to leave, and refuses to give more information when Osamu requests it. Osamu then explains that they planned on going to the Neighborhood to find Rinji. Ninomiya bluntly tells Osamu that their team had no chance of being chosen for the expeditionary unit, saying that sending Yūma into A-Rank was their only hope of personally recovering Rinji honestly.

After the discussion, Kizaki reveals that due to Hatohara's actions, Ninomiya Unit was demoted to B-Rank as punishment. He explains that he knew this because he and Hatohara were fellow disciples of Azuma. He warns Osamu and Chika not to talk about it to prevent copycat cases.

Osamu calls Karasuma to request Shooter training, stating that they depended on Yūma too much in their previous battles. Karasuma explains that if he had given Osamu Shooter mentorship, he would have become more reckless in battle. He tells Osamu that if he wanted to know how to be a Shooter, he should ask the specialists.