Warning: The following contains spoilers for World Trigger, Season 2, Episode 10, “The Upper Ranks”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Round 6 of the B-Rank ranking battle in World Trigger Season 2 begins after Hyuse is allowed to join Border. However, he still has to go through all the procedures for new recruits and upgrade to B-Rank before he can join Tamakoma Second, so for now, his teammates face one more battle without him against two upper tier B-Rank teams that have stayed on top for quite some time.
The last time Tamakoma Second faced upper-rank teams in Round 4, they were dealt a significant loss, and this battle in Episode 10 isn't much easier, even with their new upgrades.
Their opponents are the no.3 Ikoma Squad and the no.5 Oji Squad. The two squads have opposite attitudes towards battle preparation, Ikoma Squad doesn't discuss detailed battle strategies, instead bantering about girls and food. This doesn’t mean they take the battles lightly -- it's clear from their conversation that they have studied their opponents. The fact that they have no anxiety means they are very confident of their abilities to take on whatever comes their way. The squad has four fighters, two attackers, one shooter and one sniper -- it is a well-balanced team with a very powerful captain, who is the best Kogetsu Whirlwind user in Border, according to Jin.
By comparison, Oji Squad takes strategizing more seriously. Just like Osamu, Captain Kazuaki Oji likes to research his opponents very thoroughly and preemptively design plans for different situations, and he also has much more battle experience than Osamu. Oji’s teammates are keen thinkers and understand the purpose of his strategies. This makes them difficult opponents in fast-paced battles because they are able to react to changes mid-battle with a clear goal in mind. The team is also well-rounded and highly mobile, with two attackers that can use bullets and one shooter, they are very effective in close-range combat.
Oji team decides to go after Osamu first, because they don’t want to give him too much time to laydown trap wires. But Osamu anticipated that he'd be the first target and uses the Bagworm to hide from the radar. Oji also sees this coming and knows that they just have to look for locations that are ideal for wire traps and they will find Osamu. Osamu sets up Yuma to play decoy and lead enemies away from him and towards locations where Chika can snipe them, but Oji doesn’t take the bait.
While both teams have detailed plans against the other, they seem to have no plan for Ikoma, because they know Ikoma Squad's laid-back attitude means that plans are pointless against them -- they just need to improvise when they see them. Osamu is chased by several other attackers and realizes his position is compromised. He takes advantage of both teams’ plans to take him out, and deliberately reveals his location by shooting at a billboard. This move lures the two of the youngest attackers from Ikoma and Oji Squads to the same location so they fight each other instead of Osamu, and Oji Squad's teamwork easily takes the win.
While they fight, Osamu thinks about his next move and decides to use Ikoma Squad as a shield against Oji Squad so they will be preoccupied with each other. But Oji predicted Osamu’s decision based on his past habits and closely follows Osamu. But now that everyone’s position is exposed, Yuma is able to rush in to intercept Oji Squad’s pursuit and give Chika a chance to take her shot.
This battle in World Trigger is completely different from the last round where Tamakoma Second dominated the field. This round is mainly a battle of wits between Oji and Osamu, and it all comes down to who can think quicker and predict the other’s movements ahead of time. Although Ikoma Squad is still mainly watching on the sidelines, they are the wildcard that could ultimately decide the outcome of this battle.
