God Eater: Infinity Paradise

5: The Shadows of My Doubt

Dealing with Alisa always looking down on him from her tall ivory tower was actually nothing in comparison to the current situation Kota found himself trapped in -- being caught in between two clashing mountains. At this point, the orange-haired lad was wishing he had whatever skill Lindow used to calmly and peacefully deal with these two veterans, whereas Kota would always feel like there's a knife on his throat whenever he would try to at least talk to them.

As usual, Soma refused to waste even only a few drops of saliva to lighten the growing tension, and Yuka decided that out of all the possible days, today would be the one where she really wouldn't tolerate Soma, or anything else for that matter. She was unusually silent, often caught dazed and staring blankly at space, if not glaring angrily at her childhood friend. Man, after Kota thought this would be his rare chance to pull tricks on Soma and have Yuka's support. It doesn't look like Lenka cares about this kind of set-up too.

Finally arriving on the location stated in their current assignment, the blonde wrinkled her nose and turned to the pair of younger God Eaters. "Alright. Let's split up and search for the Fallen Ogretails and Gboro-gboros."

Kota's face lightened up. He didn't have to deal with this! "Lenka, how about we--"

"Let's go, Lenka-kun. Kota, you have your radio, don't you?" Yuka asked, her eyes obviously avoiding Soma who was standing behind the boy in question. Kota nodded meekly, and watched as the other pair simply waved him off. "You're definitely going to need it."

Why does he always end up with Soma anyway? This guy never bothers to talk! The teenager frowned at the male who started to go his own way, onto the opposite direction. "Oi, Soma. How long do you and Yuka plan to keep ignoring each other?" He asked, shoulders slumped down a tad bit. "It's pretty hard on us too, you know." Welcome to the super awesome Kota's monologue.

Truth be told, none of them has any idea what happened after Soma carted Yuka out of the cafeteria. They all continued eating in silence, as all had accepted such scenes might be something they'd have to get used to from now on. But when the two returned for the assignments they had, Soma and Yuka looked like they wanted to rip each other's heads off, and no one had seen them talk to each other after that. Lindow would just shrug, Sakuya would shake her head, Lenka would keep silent, and Alisa will say it is really none of her business. Everyone else seem to just roll along with it.

With Soma's refusal to engage in any more conversations, Kota sighed, and instead tried his best to be vigilant, always looking left and right for anything that might come jump on them.

"... If you will keep that act up, then you're not the Soma I knew..."

Soma clicked his tongue as the words crossed his mind once again. He shouldn't even be bothered by it. How she wishes to live her life is none of his business. Soma grunted to himself, frustrated by the fact that he was actually distracted by those kind of thoughts.

"Oi, Soma! Watch out!" 

Shots were fired.  

If Soma hadn't been into this job for six years, he honestly would be crawling on the ground right now, as the consecutive ice missiles of the Gboro-gboro went straight towards him. Even his Tower Shield was not completely able to stand against such suprising force, pushing the wielder a few inches back at every attack deflected. "We got some fish here!" He heard Kota yell at his radio.

"Uhh... yeah!" Came that familiar voice from the other side. "You're not the only one-- We'll be there in..." Gunshots. "... a few minutes!" 

Soma snorted, dashing towards the amphibian Aragami and crushing its fins. Kota was firing a barrage of spark piercing bullets at said monster's back fin. The white-haired lad swung his blade around, sending a Fallen Ogretail down on the ground. He sprinted towards another one, forcing it down with a second forceful smash before it could spring up on him. The smaller Aragamis are easier targets to finish off with two or three more heavy blows, if Soma need not to keep in mind that a Gboro-gboro behind could back strike him with melee or ranged attacks. "Dammit!" He cursed, barely being able to dodge one of the Ogretail's spring attack, stumbling down to the ground. The Aragamis marched towards him, fangs bared. He cursed once again, holding onto his weapon.