Snippet #2763593

"Shun, are you seriously doing this right now? You know that he's still a C-Rank, right?" he asked Midorikawa.

"Well, I just felt like it!" he replied to Shugo.

Shugo can only sigh at the little boy. This also happened when he entered Tamakoma, though he did beat Shun in the end.

"Fine, I suppose." Shugo said, as he then left the two to their own business.

He then walked towards the meeting room. He rarely gets summoned by the higher ups, so this was one of the rare occasions for him. He then entered the room.

"Agent Kurenai Shugo, present." he said with a monotone voice.

"Thank you for coming, Kurenai." Shinoda said to him.

Inside the room, aside from Shinoda & Shugo, there was only Kido. While the meeting seemed not that high up in terms of importance, it was still something for these two to be there. Shinoda Masafumi, the strongest normal Trigger user and head of the so-called "Shinoda Faction". Kido Masamune, basically the Commander-in-Chief of Border and head of his own faction, the "Kido Faction", as it was known. While he was aware of the political struggle within Border that involved these two and Tamakoma, he never really got involved as he rarely attended anything that would caught the attention of these two people.

"So, about what we've been talking about before..." Shinoda said before Kido interrupted him.

"To be frank, you're an asset that I cannot allow to stay neutral. You have to choose who will you side with." Kido said immediately, interrupting Shinoda.

"I've already said this before. I'm not interested in your petty politics." Shugo replied to Kido.

"We've already tolerated your neutrality for a while. But now is the time to decide. Once again, choose now." Kido said to him once more.

"I'm done with this conversation, Sir. Even if you're the head of Border, this is far too much. Please think carefully before you start to use such power on your subordinates." Shugo said to him in a calm, but angered voice.

"Now that's enough. This conversation is going nowhere." Shinoda said as he slammed the table.

"Once again, I'm sorry for this, Kurenai. The reason we're calling you here is for your promotion." he said to Shugo.

"Promotion? Don't tell me..." Shugo replied.

"Yes, it's regarding your promotion to A-Rank." he said.

"But I thought only Squads that could be promoted?" Shugo asked him.

Shugo was stunned. While he did got offers to be promoted to A-Rank, it was entailed with the fact that he had to join the existing A-Rank Squads that had less than 4 combatants, since the rule doesn't really give any individual promotion to A-Rank if they're still a solo Agent, regardless of their performance in Rank Wars.

"Yes, but after reviewing your performance since you joined us, we've decided that we could allow for this exemption." he answered.

"But how will the others view this, sir?" Shugo asked him again.

"Ah... We've already discussed this with the rest of the A-Ranks some time ago, and they approve of this offer." Shinoda answered.

"Regardless, if you chose to accept the promotion, you will have to report to me or Shinoda, not just Rindo." Kido said.

This was a risky offer. While it would be great to have greater access in Border, it would be bad for his personal mission for Kion. Even if he's a Border Agent, he's technically still a soldier of Kion, regardless if he's from Earth. He chose not to jeopardize the mission. Not to mention, the media could get more exposure of him and it would cause unnecessary ruckus if his country of birth's government caught a wind of him.

"I'm sorry, Director Shinoda. While I would love to accept it, I can't, due to certain reasons that I can't say." he replied to Shinoda.

"I see. I'm sorry for asking you to come this early in the morning. But please think about it once more. The offer still stands, if you're willing to accept it in the future." he said to him.

"Ah, no no, it's fine, Sir. I will think about it." Shugo said as he shook his head.

"I will take my leave now. Please excuse me." he continued as he bowed and left the room. It was a short meeting, all in all.

While his relationship with the Director wasn't that close, he has a considerable amount of respect for Shinoda. He then walked towards the Rank Wars hall once more, only to find Tora won against Shun, 7-3 of 10 rounds. He then immediately went to Tora, who was clueless on what he just did. He then karate chopped Tora's head.

"Great, now you got a lot of the higher ups' attention. You should've known better. Bloody hell." he said to him.

"I'm headin' back now. As I've said before, tonight. At Tamakoma. You and the other rookie." he continued as he walked back, exiting the hall and eventually the building, heading back towards Tamakoma.