Before Border

Who is He?

Jin held his head up high, listening to the rookie enlistment speech. He had made it through the initial exam, and was now part of the group that would test physically to become C-Rankers.

Whispers of older boys and girls surrounded him, all directed towards the young eight year old boy who lost the one person who loved him.

Sure, his parents said they lived Jin, but he knew from the instant he met Soichi that it was all an act. The sincerity wasn't in their voices. They cared about him sheerly because of hi unusual intelligence and physical ability as a young boy. They only saw him as the next leader of Kyokou, and never as their beloved son. Soichi was different. Even Rindo showed try compassion, though it was rare. That was just his personality. He did, however, seem to feel immense love for a woman about his age that came by every once and a while. Mikumo was her surname, as Jin recalled.

Sprung back into reality by a large eruption of noise caused by all of the possible new agents dispersing, Jin began to follow all of them to battle simulation rooms, where they would have to fight a Bamester, one of the Trion soldiers Meedem knew about.

"There's no way someone will get a faster time than me, I'm a black belt!" A boy Jin guessed to be 14 or so bragged to a group of his friends and some onlookers. Jin, not knowing exact courtesy of Meedem very well yet, walked up to the boy.

"I don't think that statement is true." Jin said simply, and everyone stared at him like he had grown a tail.

"Are you trying to threaten me, child?" The boy insulted, and Jin just sighed.

"No, I'm simply stating facts. Among all of the people here, there must be someone more skilled in a martial art, plus, you've never even used a trigger before, so how can you be so sure that you will succeed greatly in your first attempt?" Jin innocently asked, only for the boy to display more anger.

"Look up at the call board, it's my turn, and after that, it's yours. See how it matches up then, punk." The boy spat, and Jin had to hold back his laughter at the possible futures he saw before him.

The boy stormed off, his friends going to watch his attempt. Jin followed, and observed as the suddenly horrified boy faced a medium sized Bamester, weakly attempting to defeat it.

After making a fool of himself and taking one minute to destroy the monster, everyone applauded. Though one minute is a long time, he had done it the fastest all day, and considering there were 30 rooms at work right now, that was pretty impressive. What a shame Jin would have to ruin it for him.

"Try beating that, loser!" One of the posse members laughed at Jin.

"I will." He said, and with that, he made his way to the arena, and activated his trigger.

"Go!" The speaker announced, and a couple higher ranked agents could be seen from an upper balcony level.

Before anyone could see what had happened, the clock stopped, and the Bamester was gone. It read 0.14 seconds. Shocked faces surrounded the arena, and not even the announcer knew how to explain what had just happened.

"Not fair! Something malfunctioned, have him do it again!" The black belt from earlier shouted.

"The test will be re-given." The announcer spoke. "Go!"

Once again, Jin did what Soichi taught him. Don't wait around for your enemy to strike first, strike before you even cross their mind. It turned out that Soichi's strategy worked very well.

"Official time: 0.11 seconds." A shocked announcer spoke. "That is a Border record, ladies and gentlemen. Next."

Whispers of disbelief filled the room, and people gave suspicious glares to Jin. He didn't mind, though. They must have just been jealous. They also may have been scared, because sooner or later, they would being seeing him in a one on one battle for points to get to B rank.

From the corner of his eye, Jin could see a posse of A-rankers descending down the stairs towards him. He looked the opposite direction, and began to walk faster, but not so fast that they realized he was trying to avoid them.

Whenever other border agents saw Jin, the only thing they ever talked to him about was Soichi. They knew Soichi had taken him in after the invasion, and they tried to understand how he felt about Soichi's death, but they would never in their lifetime understand.

Jin wasn't in the mood for acting strong around other agents. He knew he was one sentence away from an emotional breakdown, and it was the worst feeling he'd ever felt. He didn't know how the Soichi shaped hole in his heart would ever be filled.

"Hey!" Jin cringed at the voice that called him. Begrudgingly, Jin turned around to see and A-ranker he didn't know by name, along with a kid he knew to be Arashiyama from Soichi speaking of him, and how he looked like Jin if they had the same color eyes and hair.

"Hi." Jin mumbled, looking at the ground.

"What you did back there was absolutely amazing, I was blown away. I hope Jun here grows up to be as skilled as you." The A-ranker spoke, and upon looking up, Jin soon realized why Arashiyama was here. They must be siblings, the only difference between them being their age by first glance.

"Thanks..." Jin replied, knowing what was about to come up.

"I know about your side affect, Soichi told me. And I'm sorry, I understand loss of a father figure. Mine was killed in the invasion, and people just won't stop bringing it up. I guess I'm as bad as they are, but if you ever need someone to talk to..." The A-ranker who would in turn also be called Arashiyama suddenly lost his original confidence at the memory of his father.

"Finally someone understands." Jin said. Arashiyama half understood it. Soichi wasn't just like a father, he was the first person to ever truly care about Jin. But at this point, he'd take what he could get.

"I'm Jun, we even have a similar name! Since I'm with my brother, it's fine for you to call me by my first name, honorifics and stuff like that is stupid in my opinion." Little Arashiyama spoke, and Jin agreed.

"I see what you mean, it is a bit weird. But I guess it's nice to meet you." Jin replied.

"So I'm guessing he gave you special permission to become an agent early?" Arashiyama spoke to Jin, referring to Soichi.

"Yeah, I'm...different, I guess is the best way to put it." Jin cringed at his wording, but Arashiyama seemed to understand.

"I wish I could be an agent! I still have like 2 years to go!" Jun groaned.

"In time, you'll be an agent. I'll make sure of it, little buddy!" Jun's older brother ruffled his hair. "Alright, we best be off, Jin. Go show 'me what you're made of."

Arashiyama and Jun walked back over to the group of A-rankers that had been observing the competition. Jin sighed and continued walking toward the one on one combat rooms.

One phrase lingered in his head, making happiness bubble in his chest for the first time in a while. It came out of the mouths of the jealous and the bewildered: "Who is he?"