[Kitsuna POV]
Sarian snorted while Chinada remained seated and Sirone rubbed her forehead. Brenda watched the six women disappearing through the doorway before turning back to me with the tired expression she usually saved for missions that had gone wrong in ways nobody could blame on the enemy.
"Well, that went worse than I thought it would."
"You knew it was going to go badly."
"I knew they wouldn't like the teams. I didn't expect you to make it sound like you were disbanding the squad."
Amari remained near the doorway, where I had asked her to observe without interfering. "You started with the bad news and gave them no explanation for what it meant."
"I was getting to that part."
"Half the squad left before you reached it."
The people still in the room were Brenda, Sirone, Olivia, Chinada, Toma, Sarian, Amari, and me. Rin, Brit, Mia, Ava, Apricot, and Nekro had walked out after hearing that the squad was being divided into two teams. Calling it a split had been a mistake, especially without immediately explaining that nobody was being removed.
That part was mine. Walking out of a meeting before their captain finished speaking was still fucking stupid.
I pushed myself out of the chair, and Sirone immediately looked at me as if I had announced that I planned to tear open my mana veins for entertainment.
"I'm walking down the hall," I told her. "Not casting anything."
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face did."
Brenda stood as well. "I'll bring them back."
"No. I made the mess, so I'm fixing it. You stay here and prepare to explain it properly after I make everything worse again."
"That is not reassuring."
"It wasn't meant to be."
Amari moved out of the doorway. "Try not to open with another word that sounds like abandonment."
"I figured that out."
The six of them had not gone far. Apricot stood near the doors leading into the training yard with her arms folded tightly around herself. Nekro remained several paces away from her, close enough to watch but not close enough to offer comfort. Rin paced near the wall while Brit followed every movement with controlled irritation. Ava had stopped beside a window, and Mia hovered nearby without knowing whether approaching would help or make Ava leave.
I stopped where all six could see me. "Turn around and listen."
Rin spun toward me first. "You said you were splitting the squad."
"I explained it badly. That part is mine. Walking out before I finished was still fucking stupid, so now all of you are going to stand there until I finish."
"You said we had too many ties," Apricot said. Her voice was quieter than Rin's, but the accusation behind it was much stronger. "Then you said you were splitting us."
"I should have known what that would sound like to some of you." I kept my attention on Apricot without pointing out why the word had affected her more than the others. She already knew. "I am not throwing anyone out, transferring anyone, or replacing the squad. Nine Tail Squad stays together."
Some of the tension left Mia's shoulders, although Rin remained angry.
"Then what are you doing?"
"Creating two teams inside the squad. Brenda leads one, and I lead the other. The members will change depending on training and mission requirements. When both teams deploy together, I retain overall command. When I am away, you return to one squad under Brenda."
Rin stared at me. "That was the part you should have said first."
"Yes. I know. That is why I am standing in the hall fixing it instead of pretending all of you understood me."
Apricot loosened her grip on her sleeves. "So the teams aren't permanent?"
"No. The command positions remain, but the groups change. The entire problem is that most of you keep defaulting to the same person whenever something goes wrong. Two permanent teams would only create two smaller versions of the same problem."
Brit glanced at Rin but did not argue. Mia looked toward Ava, who kept her attention on me.
"When I am gone," I continued, "Brenda decides what guarding, recovery, scouting, and training work the squad accepts. You will not accept high-level missions without me."
Rin frowned. "You don't trust Brenda to command us?"
"Do not put words in my mouth. Brenda can command you, and she has already proved it. The problem is that you are a small squad being sent against forces built to kill units much larger than ours. Removing the strongest fighter and pretending the risk stays the same would be fucking stupid."
Brit nodded slowly. "And the other problem?"
I looked around the group. "Brenda can stop an argument. If several of you allow personal shit to turn into a fight, she cannot physically put all of you on the floor before somebody gets hurt. I can. That does not make her a bad commander. It means she cannot solve every problem through overwhelming force."
Rin opened her mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again.
"Brenda and I discussed the command arrangement before this meeting," I added. "We have not decided the team combinations yet. That happens tomorrow, with input from the people responsible for weapons, medical support, barriers, and supplies."
"So this isn't punishment?" Mia asked.
"No. But the problems are real, and we are fixing them before they become mission failures. You all trust the squad, but most of you trust one or two people inside it far more than everyone else. That is normal until the person you depend on is wounded, separated, or ordered somewhere else."
Ava finally turned away from the window. "What happens if you place people together who don't work well with each other?"
"They train until they can. Brenda and I will listen if someone has a serious reason not to work with somebody, but discomfort is not enough. I would rather discover a bad pairing in the training yard than inside another ruin with Federation soldiers trying to kill us."
Apricot glanced briefly at Nekro. Neither of them spoke, but Nekro gave a small nod. They could work together when necessary. The ruins mission had already proved that.
I turned toward the briefing room. "The meeting isn't finished. Come back inside before I start choosing tomorrow's training partners based on who irritates me least."
"That would put Rin last," Brit said.
Rin looked offended. "You didn't even think about it."
"I have years of evidence."
The joke loosened enough of the remaining tension for them to follow me back. Amari had moved to the side of the room while Brenda stood near the table with her arms folded. She gave me a questioning look, and I nodded before taking my seat.
"Now that everyone knows the squad is not being disbanded, we can discuss what the teams are actually for," I said. "Brenda leads one. I lead the other. The members change depending on what we are training for or what the mission requires. The purpose is to make you work outside the same pairs instead of checking on one person every few seconds."
Chinada considered that before looking at the notes on the table. "Weapon loads can be distributed according to each team's range and purpose."
"Good."
"Medical support will be more difficult," Sirone said. "I can only remain with one team if they separate during an operation."
"Once you clear my mana veins for controlled use, I can handle emergency restoration for my team. That does not make me a replacement healer. It means I can keep someone alive until they reach you."
Sirone studied me for several seconds. "Emergency restoration only."
"Yes."
"And you do not decide for yourself when your veins are ready."
"I heard you."
"That is not the same as agreeing."
"I'm agreeing before this becomes another meeting."
Olivia made another note. "Supply kits and communication equipment can be divided. I'll need the possible team compositions before deciding what each group carries."
I looked toward Brenda. "You and I will build the first options tomorrow."
"With input from Sirone, Olivia, and Chinada," Brenda said.
"Obviously. We are building working formations, not guessing where everyone belongs."
Brenda appeared mildly surprised that I had agreed without arguing. I ignored that and looked around the table.
"The rules remain simple. Mission first. Any personal problem that might affect deployment gets reported before we leave. No couple or close pair becomes its own smaller squad, and nobody ignores an order because the person they care about is wounded. If you cannot keep functioning when the wrong person gets hurt, you sit out until you can."
Toma lifted her hand. "What about anger?"
"What about it?"
"If someone gets hurt and I get angry."
Sarian looked at her, and Toma held the look before returning her attention to me.
"Anger is useful when you still choose where it goes," I said. "If it makes you ignore command, attack the wrong target, or abandon your position, then it becomes another problem trying to kill the squad. Be angry and keep doing your job."
Toma thought about that before nodding.
Rin lifted her hand next. I considered ignoring her, but that would only delay whatever she wanted to ask.
"If the teams are supposed to stop fixed pairs, are you splitting the couples?"
"Sometimes. The purpose is not to interfere with anyone's relationship. It is to stop couples and close working pairs from becoming blind spots."
Rin looked at Brit. Chinada and Sirone exchanged a quieter look, while Toma leaned back beside Sarian. Mia glanced toward Ava, but Ava did not return it. Brenda and Olivia remained focused on me, although Brenda leading one team already meant that they would probably spend more operations separated.
"Keeping a pair together can be useful," I continued. "Splitting them can also be useful. Team balance decides it, not who wants to spend the entire mission watching their partner."
Rin's expression tightened. "You make it sound like we're useless apart."
"If I thought you were useless, I would replace you. I think you have habits that will eventually get someone hurt if we leave them alone."
That answer did not make anyone happy, but it was the truth.
Brenda stepped in before the room could become hostile again. "Trust between partners is useful. Overreliance is not. We will consider both when building the teams, and the combinations will change during training so nobody becomes dependent on one arrangement."
Rin pointed at Brenda. "She explains things better."
"That is one of the reasons she is my second-in-command."
"Can she deliver bad news from now on?"
"No."
"Worth asking."
I looked around the room one final time. Nobody appeared ready to leave again, and Apricot no longer looked as if she expected me to remove half the squad before nightfall.
"Meeting finished. Get something to eat before tomorrow's training."
The squad left in the same groups they usually formed. Rin and Brit walked together, Chinada and Sirone immediately began discussing medical and ammunition requirements, and Toma argued with Sarian about which of them would be worse when separated. Ava left first, with Mia following after a short delay. Apricot waited near the doorway until Nekro passed, then followed at enough distance to avoid making their discomfort obvious.
Their choices proved the point better than anything I had said.
Brenda stayed behind with Amari. Once the door closed, she gathered the notes Olivia had left for her and looked at me.
"That still went badly."
"It went less badly the second time."
"That is not the same as going well."
"I know."
Brenda hesitated before continuing. "You were right about me not being able to physically stop everyone."
"You sound annoyed."
"I am. That doesn't make you wrong. I can stop Rin and Brit from arguing. If several members start fighting with weapons, I cannot overpower all of them before someone gets hurt."
"That is not a failure in your command. You should never need to wrestle your own squad into obedience."
"But you think I might."
"I think people do stupid things when they are scared, angry, or watching someone they care about bleed. This squad has more personal attachments than most. Pretending that cannot become a problem would be worse than preparing for it."
Brenda accepted that with a small nod.
"You handled the ruins mission well," I added. "You corrected your mistakes, kept everyone together under pressure, and stopped me from taking over when it wasn't necessary. I trust you to command them. Tomorrow, we make sure the squad you command is strong enough to function without me."
Brenda looked down at the notes as if they had suddenly become more interesting. "That sounded like a compliment."
"It was."
"You should warn people before doing that."
"Go eat."
She left with the notes, leaving Amari and me alone in the damaged briefing room. Chairs had been moved away from the table, several cups were still half-full, and chalk dust covered part of the map where somebody had rested an arm.
Amari waited until Brenda was gone. "They have built too many field habits around the people they care about."
"I noticed."
"No, you noticed the obvious pairs. You already know your disappearance hurt them. What you haven't properly considered is how that fear changed the way they fight."
I leaned back in the chair. She was right, which was becoming an irritating habit. Brenda had taken more control because I had been gone. Sirone watched my health more closely than necessary. Apricot reacted to separation as if it might become permanent, while Rin and Brit checked each other whenever the fighting became serious. None of that was new. I had simply treated each problem separately instead of recognising what they were becoming together.
"I know they are people," I said before Amari could repeat the lecture from the hall.
"I didn't say you didn't."
"You were going to."
"I was going to say that trying to understand their feelings does not mean you have to protect those feelings from every uncomfortable decision."
That was closer to something useful. "They can be angry about the teams."
"Yes."
"They still have to do it."
"Yes."
"And I don't have to apologise for fixing a real problem."
"You only needed to apologise for explaining it like an idiot."
I looked at her.
Amari gave me a small smile. "You are improving."
"Slowly."
"Very."
We found the squad in the side lounge. It had once been a polite room used for guests, but the women had filled it with mismatched chairs, folded blankets, training equipment, half-cleaned weapons, and enough food to survive a short siege. Rin and Brit occupied one couch. Chinada and Sirone had taken the table beside Olivia and Brenda, while Toma and Sarian argued over a plate near the wall. Ava sat alone in one chair with Mia nearby. Apricot had settled on the floor with a blanket, and Nekro sat on the opposite side of the room.
Every problem from the meeting was sitting in front of me.
Rin noticed us first. "Are we having another meeting?"
"No. If I have to explain it a third time, someone is getting hit."
"Good."
I stepped farther into the room. "The squad stays together. The teams change according to training and mission needs. Brenda commands when I am away, and nobody is being transferred. Is anyone still confused?"
Apricot looked up from the blanket. "You aren't leaving because of this?"
"No. Orders might send me elsewhere, but that has nothing to do with the teams. When that happens, I leave you with Brenda and come back when the mission is finished."
She nodded and relaxed against the couch behind her.
Rin shifted enough to make space. I sat before she could change her mind, while Amari claimed one of the remaining chairs. The tension did not disappear, but food started moving around the room again, and the conversations slowly returned.
Tomorrow, Brenda and I would start separating the habits that had become dangerous. For that night, nobody had left the squad, nobody had been transferred, and everyone was still in the same room. Considering how the meeting had started, that was enough.