obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Distortions (Symphogear) (Spoilers for Those Who Haven't Seen XV!)
- Thread starter obssesednuker
- Start date
- Location
- in between
Oh, I know she'll freak right the hell out afterward, I just want that bastard to die.
Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Let's see if I see how well I am able to guess what the likely SONG vs. White Nose pairings are using how the final bit of the chapter went:
Hibiki Tachibana vs. Samantha Acampora
Tsubasa Kazanari vs. Jwa Ji-Eun
Chris Yukine vs. Kir Cheslav Voronin
Maria Cadenzavna Eve vs. Caprice Calcattera
Shriabe Tsukuyomi & Kirika Akatsuki vs. Timoty Darmawan
Miku Kohinata vs. Mwikiza Gowon
Hibiki Tachibana vs. Samantha Acampora
Tsubasa Kazanari vs. Jwa Ji-Eun
Chris Yukine vs. Kir Cheslav Voronin
Maria Cadenzavna Eve vs. Caprice Calcattera
Shriabe Tsukuyomi & Kirika Akatsuki vs. Timoty Darmawan
Miku Kohinata vs. Mwikiza Gowon
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Well, you are correct for this go around, but I do intend to shake some things up in future fights. Ironically, how the characters play off each other (in terms of whom is some variation of twisted counterpart to whom) is a bit different then the fight line-up this time around.
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Chapter 6: White Noise
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Author Notes: Trigger warning. This chapter briefly deals with self-worth issues and suicidal thoughts.
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Next Chapter: Shattered Dreamland
Distortion Key Notes, Chapter 6:
Ambient Phonic Gain Equalization Device (APGED/"Apegear"):
A purely high technology device which utilizes a number of similar components to a Symphogear, with the most glaring difference being the absence of any relic, created by the Four Horsemen's Research and Development Section ("Pale Unit"). The nicknamed "Apegears" are implanted directly into the user's brain in the same region influenced by LiNKER/Anti-LiNKER chemicals. When the Apegear user comes in sufficiently close proximity of an active Symphogear adaptor, the implant absorbs the same phonic gain generated by the Symphogear adaptor and grants the same gains in physical strength, durability, agility, and likewise improvements to its own user.
Apegears have many advantages compared to a Symphogear. First, Apegeasr are always activated, gaining phonic gain and empowering their users without the need for a transformation sequence. Second, Apegears do not stress the users body out as much as Symphogears because all of the stress from the need to synchronize with a relic and generate phonic gain is done by the Symphogear adaptor, leaving only the stress from phonic gain build-up to worry about. Lastly, Apegear users can theoretically match the Symphogear adaptor in phonic gain no matter the level, nullifying any advantages the Symphogear adaptors may make in activating their X-Drives, Superb Songs, and/or Ignite mode. In practice, however, there are few individuals whose body are able to handle the levels of phonic gain build-up these functions use, and most individuals capable of handling such high levels of phonic gain are already Symphogear adaptors. As such, few Apegear users can handle the strain of something like X-Drives or Swan Songs.
Apegears have a number of potential drawbacks. The dependence on absorbing a Symphogear adaptor's emitted phonic gain means that an Apegear user can never surpass a Symphogear adaptor in terms of phonic gain, and the basic functionality of the Apegear is fundamentally dependent on the proximity of an active Symphogear adaptor. Additionally, each Apegear can only draw from a single Aufwachen Waveform at a time, meaning there are no additional gains from being in proximity to multiple Symphogear adaptors. Amalgam acts as a major counter to the Apegear, as it diverts significant amounts of power to a single special gear function with only minor phonic gains. Finally, Apegears do not grant their adaptors any form of special abilities or weaponry, requiring them to continue to rely on their mundane weaponry and learned skills. As a partial recompense, Apegear users are often trained to channel phonic gain through their weapons to enhance their durability and power.
Symphogear Identification Codes:
The official UN identification codes for each of the individual Symphogears are as follows:
SG-r01 Ame No Habakiri (Adaptor: Tsubasa)
SG-r02 Ichaival (Adaptor: Chris)
SG-r03' Gungnir (Adaptor: Hibiki)
SG-x00 Airgetlamh (Adaptor: Maria)
SG-i01 Shul-Shagana (Adaptor: Shirabe)
SG-i02 Igalima (Adaptor: Kirika)
SG-i03 Shenshoujing (Adaptor: Miku)
By comparison, the Four Horsemen have their own set of identification codes for the Symphogears and their adaptors:
HVT Sierra-1 Actual (Tsubasa/Ame No Habakiri)
HVI Sierra-2 Retired (Kanade/Gungnir)
HVT Sierra-2 Actual (Hibiki/Gungnir)
HVI Sierra-3 Retired (Serena/Airgetlamh)
HVT Sierra-3 Actual (Chris/Ichaival)
HVT Sierra-4 Actual (Maria/Airgetlamh)
HVT Sierra-5 Actual (Shirabe/Shul Shagana)
HVT Sierra-6 Actual (Kirika/Igalima)
HVT Sierra-7 Actual (Miku/Shenshoujing)
The significant difference between these sets of ID codes is twofold. First, the UN codes are descriptive purely of the relics whereas the Four Horsemen codes do not differentiate between the relics and their adaptors. Secondly, the UN codes assist in identifying the facts and circumstances of the Symphogears development whereas the Four Horsemen codes are purely to assist in target identification and liquidation.
General Public Knowledge of the Symphogear System:
Despite Japan's publication of the existence of the Symphogear system following the Lunar Incident, there are a few details available to the general public. The amount of information available to the average "man on the street" can be summarized as follows:
First, there is a unique weapons system known as "Symphogears" that are able to combat various supernatural threats that have arisen over the past decade, most notably the Noise.
Secondly, the Symphogears can only be wielded by a select group of users who have been assembled into the UN organization known as SONG.
Thirdly, these Symphogear users are responsible for vanquishing the five major supernatural incidents that threatened mankind's existence over the past two years.
Fourthly, only one of the Symphogear users' identities is known: Maria Cadenzavna Eve. Her most notable, and public, exploit is her infiltrating and destroying the supernatural terrorist organization Finé in the Frontier Incident, preventing them from wiping out much of humanity by crashing the moon into the earth. Another Symphogear user, a girl with chestnut hair, briefly appeared on television during the same incident, but she has not been identified, and no official statement has ever been made about her.
Beyond the above information, everything else about SONG and the Symphogear system in the general public amounts to little more than baseless speculation. With the cooperation of the major powers of the UN security council, SONG has been able to run an inordinately successful cover-up and misinformation campaign. Significant details that could prove politically problematic for SONG were successfully concealed even from major governments. Given the lapse in supernatural incidents following the Shem-Ha Incident, it seemed like the identities of most of the Symphogear users and the details of most of their exploits would remain hidden for well after they passed from living memory.
That is, until the Four Horsemen decided otherwise...
Authors Notes: That Kirika still has the death/suicide letter she drafted off-screen during the latter part of G is something that is mentioned in XDU. I'm usually ignoring XDU as non-canon for this fic, but there are some elements I will be pulling in if I think they fit. Like the letter.
Sinwon-Up is a real location. The Jwa family are… well, Jwa is an actual Korean surname but this Jwa family is fictional. I hope.
The UN ID codes are canon. The Four Horsemen ID codes obviously not so much.
Shluha vokzal'naja = Literally translates as "Night Butterfly", but really it means something like "Hooker" or "Whore". Or so the internet says.
I discovered something rather important in writing this chapter: I have a hard time writing fights on a scale of ~half-dozen participants each. One on one? Sure. Massed mooks vs massed mooks? Yep. A handful of actual characters against massed mooks (like last chapter)? No problem. A handful against a handful, though? My mind promptly slapped to a halt trying to put it together at first. I tried breaking it into a series of one vs ones, but that made each fight feel too isolated from each other. Thankfully, with the support and input of my beta's (for whom I am immensely grateful), I think I was able to put something together that is reasonably entertaining, manages to balance 1vs1 with handful vs handful, and fulfills all the objectives I wanted this fight to do in terms of both "social combat" and showing off how each member of the White Noise fights.
Finally, I believe this is the first chapter with no appearance by the Pale Man. I wonder what that rascal is up too...
Distortions
Chapter 6:
White Noise
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Chapter 6:
White Noise
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The sound of clicking boots filled the air as the sentries straightened their backs and made way for him as he came down the steps of the ministry. He didn't pay much attention to the salutes, simply acknowledging them with a curt nod as he passed them to step into the waiting limo. He glanced up to his chauffeur in the driver's seat. "Straight home, as you please."
Without even waiting for a reply he closed the window. The passenger compartment was armored, completely soundproof, and the bulletproof windows were not so much tinted as they were outright a one-way mirror. The only person who could see him was his chauffeur and, for appearances sake, he made sure to click on a football game.
He had no fear of electronic surveillance. His other job ensured that. "Red Unit, report."
The voice that came back over the speakers was as appropriately artificial as the thing it was speaking for. "JSDF ingress has been mitigated. Sierras deployed but intercepted by Whiskey-November, currently engaging. Objective Charlie-Delta-Tango prepared for liquidation. Alpha-Sierra-Papa egress commencement ETA, thirty minutes. A window of air superiority has been secured for their withdrawal. Current losses: Nine-hundred eighty-six White Unit Infantry WIA-slash-KIA and four VTOL attack aircraft write-offs to the Sierras. Three air superiority fighter write-offs to JSDF forces. Munitions expenditure thus far-"
"Success is basically assured then." He cut it off as he poured himself a drink from the limo's refrigerator. "Projected risks?"
"In addition to the loss of deployed White Unit Battlegroups, six-point-eight-seven percent chance of casualty within Whisky-November, twelve-point-three-four percent chance of discovery on Pale Unit facility five-sixty-seven. Twenty-four-point-seven-nine percent chance of discovery on Black Unit facility five-thirty-two. Forty-six-point-six-one percent chance of discovery on-"
"That's enough." He again interrupted, sitting back and at least appearing to give his full attention to the game. "Forward the list of installations they have a greater than half-chance of finding to my home terminal. Odds of a significant casualty on the Sierra's side?"
"One-point-three-three percent."
He chuckled. "It was a little bit early to be hoping for that, I suppose. If only we could have had the opportunity to catch one of them by themselves. Or if we could only have waited until Project Sabin was completed. Ah well... who knows, after tomorrow someone else might do it for us." He took a sip. "Speaking of, status on the release?"
"Packages have been dispatched, first deliveries have already arrived. Projected time until first broadcast: inside of six hours."
"Good." He said. "Prepare an AAR for me the moment the operation ends and transmit it to my home terminal. That is all."
The Lamb let the compartment lapse into a comfortable silence before closing his eyes for a moment. No more time for any doubts now, he was committed. He opened his eyes again. "It is our duty to kill the gods with the tools of man and man alone. Humans cannot be truly independent until that is achieved."
With that reminder, he downed the rest of his drink and actually started to watch the game.
Without even waiting for a reply he closed the window. The passenger compartment was armored, completely soundproof, and the bulletproof windows were not so much tinted as they were outright a one-way mirror. The only person who could see him was his chauffeur and, for appearances sake, he made sure to click on a football game.
He had no fear of electronic surveillance. His other job ensured that. "Red Unit, report."
The voice that came back over the speakers was as appropriately artificial as the thing it was speaking for. "JSDF ingress has been mitigated. Sierras deployed but intercepted by Whiskey-November, currently engaging. Objective Charlie-Delta-Tango prepared for liquidation. Alpha-Sierra-Papa egress commencement ETA, thirty minutes. A window of air superiority has been secured for their withdrawal. Current losses: Nine-hundred eighty-six White Unit Infantry WIA-slash-KIA and four VTOL attack aircraft write-offs to the Sierras. Three air superiority fighter write-offs to JSDF forces. Munitions expenditure thus far-"
"Success is basically assured then." He cut it off as he poured himself a drink from the limo's refrigerator. "Projected risks?"
"In addition to the loss of deployed White Unit Battlegroups, six-point-eight-seven percent chance of casualty within Whisky-November, twelve-point-three-four percent chance of discovery on Pale Unit facility five-sixty-seven. Twenty-four-point-seven-nine percent chance of discovery on Black Unit facility five-thirty-two. Forty-six-point-six-one percent chance of discovery on-"
"That's enough." He again interrupted, sitting back and at least appearing to give his full attention to the game. "Forward the list of installations they have a greater than half-chance of finding to my home terminal. Odds of a significant casualty on the Sierra's side?"
"One-point-three-three percent."
He chuckled. "It was a little bit early to be hoping for that, I suppose. If only we could have had the opportunity to catch one of them by themselves. Or if we could only have waited until Project Sabin was completed. Ah well... who knows, after tomorrow someone else might do it for us." He took a sip. "Speaking of, status on the release?"
"Packages have been dispatched, first deliveries have already arrived. Projected time until first broadcast: inside of six hours."
"Good." He said. "Prepare an AAR for me the moment the operation ends and transmit it to my home terminal. That is all."
The Lamb let the compartment lapse into a comfortable silence before closing his eyes for a moment. No more time for any doubts now, he was committed. He opened his eyes again. "It is our duty to kill the gods with the tools of man and man alone. Humans cannot be truly independent until that is achieved."
With that reminder, he downed the rest of his drink and actually started to watch the game.
----
"H-hold on!" Hibiki hastily said. "Can't we talk about this first?"
Lieutenant Acampora sighed in annoyance. Behind her, Caprice shot a victorious grin at Voronin as she pulled the grenade launcher off her back. "Ha! You owe me!"
The sniper just rolled his eyes in response.
Chris snapped her head towards Hibiki, fury written all over her face. It'd been a long time since she felt this angry at Hibiki's instinct to try and appeal to a human enemy. "Idiot! Do you really want to talk to them? They killed the old man! They killed Genjuro!"
Hibiki looked at her. "I'm not so naive as to believe we can avoid fighting after what they have done." She turned back to the White Noise. "But even so, I want to know why."
"And you think we'll just tell you?" Jwa's voice was incredulous, brandishing her blade. The rest of the White Noise squad followed her lead, raising their weapons. The adaptors tensed, preparing to receive the attack. But the Lieutenant held up a hand to stay them, giving Hibiki a thoughtful look.
Finally, Samantha spoke. "You think this is some issue of understanding, correct?"
Hibiki nodded.
"Then you are badly mistaken." Samantha said. "Our interests are irreconcilable. You want to live, and we want to kill you. There can be no compromise."
"But why?" Miku asked, following her girlfriend's lead. "Why do you wish to hurt us so badly?" For a moment she thought she had made a mistake, as Samantha's gaze hardened into clear hatred as she looked at Miku. In spite of this, she did not signal her subordinates to attack.
"I'm sure you of all people know my personal reason." The American almost hissed back at Miku. "I will not speak for the others."
"You can speak for me!" Caprice said eagerly. "I want to blow stuff up!"
"Thank you, Corporal." Samantha added in a tone that clearly really meant 'shut the fuck up, now'. The Italian obediently lapsed into silence. "But for the reasons that aren't personal? Well, let me ask you a question in turn: what guarantee do we have that all of you or the inheritors of your gear, whoever they may be, will not wield them against humanity?"
Hibiki opened her mouth to reply… only for nothing to come out. It was a question she had simply never considered before. Using her gear to hurt others without provocation? The thought was absurd. That she could say with confidence and she would instantly say the same about her friends. And she knew her friends were better than that too. But what reassurance would that provide to people who didn't know her or her friends? And then there was that caveat Samantha had added. Assuming she won this and any future battles, she would still grow up, have a family with Miku, live her life, and then pass away. What sort of person would wield Gungnir then?
"You must be joking." In lieu of an immediate response from Hibiki, Maria stepped up to answer. "All the times we've risked our lives to save humanity… does that mean nothing to you?!"
"The past is no guarantee of the future." Darmawan said. "And if you do wish to appeal to the past, then what does your collaboration with Doctor Ver say?" His gaze drifted over to Chris. "Or this one's collaboration with Finé?"
"You may have freed mankind from the Curse of Balal, from the custodians." Voronin added. "But there's no point in casting out the old gods just to replace them with new ones. As it is, you have distorted our history as much as the Custodians have. Even if you never turn against mankind, you will hold us back with your 'heretical technology'."
"Your powers are an affront to God. That's why they are 'heretical.'" Gowon concluded.
"Maybe you're right about that." Hibiki finally said. "Maybe we can't guarantee the Symphogears would never be used for the wrong purposes again. Perhaps we are holding humanity back in some way. I don't believe it, but I can see how I might be wrong there. But even so!" Hibiki's eyes narrowed. "You can't harm people for things that haven't happened! To hurt others just to destroy the relics? Just to destroy the Symphogears? That isn't right! Don't you think that could hurt humanity too, even if just morally?!"
"I understand." Samantha's blunt admission surprised all the adaptors. "But as I said before, this is not a misunderstanding. So let me make this perfectly clear: I don't care one wit about right and wrong. Not after you killed my brother. Not after what his death did to my family. Not after I learned the truth." She gave a twisted smile. "So cut the moralizing shit. What I do care about is freeing mankind from the Custodians' influence, all of its influence. You're no different from Finé, the Alchemists, and Shem-Ha. You're all poisonous fruit from the same tree. For the sake of my brother and everyone who has suffered at the hands of the Custodians, you must be eradicated."
Then the smile disappeared, replaced by grim resolve. In a flash she snapped her rifle up, took clear aim at Hibiki, and shouted her next order loud and clear: "ENGAGE!"
Lieutenant Acampora sighed in annoyance. Behind her, Caprice shot a victorious grin at Voronin as she pulled the grenade launcher off her back. "Ha! You owe me!"
The sniper just rolled his eyes in response.
Chris snapped her head towards Hibiki, fury written all over her face. It'd been a long time since she felt this angry at Hibiki's instinct to try and appeal to a human enemy. "Idiot! Do you really want to talk to them? They killed the old man! They killed Genjuro!"
Hibiki looked at her. "I'm not so naive as to believe we can avoid fighting after what they have done." She turned back to the White Noise. "But even so, I want to know why."
"And you think we'll just tell you?" Jwa's voice was incredulous, brandishing her blade. The rest of the White Noise squad followed her lead, raising their weapons. The adaptors tensed, preparing to receive the attack. But the Lieutenant held up a hand to stay them, giving Hibiki a thoughtful look.
Finally, Samantha spoke. "You think this is some issue of understanding, correct?"
Hibiki nodded.
"Then you are badly mistaken." Samantha said. "Our interests are irreconcilable. You want to live, and we want to kill you. There can be no compromise."
"But why?" Miku asked, following her girlfriend's lead. "Why do you wish to hurt us so badly?" For a moment she thought she had made a mistake, as Samantha's gaze hardened into clear hatred as she looked at Miku. In spite of this, she did not signal her subordinates to attack.
"I'm sure you of all people know my personal reason." The American almost hissed back at Miku. "I will not speak for the others."
"You can speak for me!" Caprice said eagerly. "I want to blow stuff up!"
"Thank you, Corporal." Samantha added in a tone that clearly really meant 'shut the fuck up, now'. The Italian obediently lapsed into silence. "But for the reasons that aren't personal? Well, let me ask you a question in turn: what guarantee do we have that all of you or the inheritors of your gear, whoever they may be, will not wield them against humanity?"
Hibiki opened her mouth to reply… only for nothing to come out. It was a question she had simply never considered before. Using her gear to hurt others without provocation? The thought was absurd. That she could say with confidence and she would instantly say the same about her friends. And she knew her friends were better than that too. But what reassurance would that provide to people who didn't know her or her friends? And then there was that caveat Samantha had added. Assuming she won this and any future battles, she would still grow up, have a family with Miku, live her life, and then pass away. What sort of person would wield Gungnir then?
"You must be joking." In lieu of an immediate response from Hibiki, Maria stepped up to answer. "All the times we've risked our lives to save humanity… does that mean nothing to you?!"
"The past is no guarantee of the future." Darmawan said. "And if you do wish to appeal to the past, then what does your collaboration with Doctor Ver say?" His gaze drifted over to Chris. "Or this one's collaboration with Finé?"
"You may have freed mankind from the Curse of Balal, from the custodians." Voronin added. "But there's no point in casting out the old gods just to replace them with new ones. As it is, you have distorted our history as much as the Custodians have. Even if you never turn against mankind, you will hold us back with your 'heretical technology'."
"Your powers are an affront to God. That's why they are 'heretical.'" Gowon concluded.
"Maybe you're right about that." Hibiki finally said. "Maybe we can't guarantee the Symphogears would never be used for the wrong purposes again. Perhaps we are holding humanity back in some way. I don't believe it, but I can see how I might be wrong there. But even so!" Hibiki's eyes narrowed. "You can't harm people for things that haven't happened! To hurt others just to destroy the relics? Just to destroy the Symphogears? That isn't right! Don't you think that could hurt humanity too, even if just morally?!"
"I understand." Samantha's blunt admission surprised all the adaptors. "But as I said before, this is not a misunderstanding. So let me make this perfectly clear: I don't care one wit about right and wrong. Not after you killed my brother. Not after what his death did to my family. Not after I learned the truth." She gave a twisted smile. "So cut the moralizing shit. What I do care about is freeing mankind from the Custodians' influence, all of its influence. You're no different from Finé, the Alchemists, and Shem-Ha. You're all poisonous fruit from the same tree. For the sake of my brother and everyone who has suffered at the hands of the Custodians, you must be eradicated."
Then the smile disappeared, replaced by grim resolve. In a flash she snapped her rifle up, took clear aim at Hibiki, and shouted her next order loud and clear: "ENGAGE!"
—
While the verbal exchange took place, Miku had been dividing her attention between it and getting her Ionocraft modules working again. Without them, she knew she was at a crippling disadvantage in the imminent fight. Despite surface appearances, the mechanisms of Symphogear armor were not strictly mechanical. They were an expression of the adaptor's will, and this enabled a degree of emergency self-repair, particularly when it came to "internal systems".
As the White Noise's leader raised her rifle, Miku managed to rearrange something in the internal combinations of her modules to cause them to sputter back to life. Shooting forward, Miku unfolded the Shenshoujing's fan and interposed herself between Hibiki and Samantha just as the latter fired her rifle's underbarrel grenade launcher, which detonated harmlessly upon the impromptu shield. In a Flash , a series of rapid fire beams burst from the Shenshoujing's fan towards White Noise's position. But they were already moving in anticipation of the counterattack, scattering away from the shots.
Immediately Chris's eyes locked on to the retreating form of Voronin, who had leapt back away from the adaptors. She scowled at the coward and took off after him, Billion Maiden shifting back to her crossbows. "Get back here!"
"Yukine!" Tsubasa shouted, moving to impede the Ichaival user. "Don't get-"
She was interrupted as Jwa darted towards her with astonishing speed, her own sword already swinging for a strike. Tsubasa brought Ame no Habakiri around just in time to block the blow, but Jwa didn't waste any time trying to force her way through the block. Instead, she brought her sword down at another angle, forcing Tsubasa to retreat.
Samantha circled around the two engaged swordswomen to get a clear shot of Tsubasa, popping another grenade into her underbarrelled launcher and levelling it. She paused, cocked her head, and ducked down just in time for Hibiki's fist to pass through where her back cavity would have been. Samantha's leg kicked out in response, trying to sweep Hibiki off her feet.
Hibiki leapt into the sky and pulled Gungnir back, the gauntlets shifting to add rockets on the back of her arms. The rockets blazing away, she plunged back down with a Spear's Violent Destruction . Samantha tried to roll away, but the impact was still close enough to send her sprawling forward onto her face.
Pushing herself up, Samantha looked up only to find herself staring straight into the folded fan of the Shenshoujing, Miku already prepared to deliver a point-blank laser blast. Their eyes locked…
Samantha smirked.
Alerted by the simple expression, Miku shot backwards just in time for a hail of machine gun bullets to tear through the space she was occupying. Gowon quickly shifted his fire to follow, his tracers chasing the black haired girl as she tried to swerve and dodge away from the incessant gunfire.
With Miku and Hibiki engaged, Maria leapt forward to assist Tsubasa, Airgetlamh extending out. With no other choice, Jwa disengaged and seemed to practically dance away from the whip-sword as she fell back from Maria, blocking any strike that looked like it would actually connect. Sensing they had the Korean on the backfoot, both Maria and Tsubasa pursued.
"Any time, Caprice." Jwa muttered into her suit's commlink.
"It's a question of place, not time." The Italian's voice echoed in her ear. "Speaking of which, you'll want to jump… now ."
At the cue, Jwa leapt well into the air, far further than any regular human could. Tsubasa and Maria primed themselves to follow… only for the ground itself to explode out from under them as Caprice detonated the hastily placed charges Jwa had lured them over. The two young women were flung apart, both too stunned to recover before they hit the ground. Tsubasa barely managed to roll back onto her feet before Jwa was on her again, the Korean's Chilseongem a constant blur of motion.
Maria, for her part, rolled aside on instinct. A solid decision, as a grenade bounced into the piece of ground she had just been laying on. Catapulting herself off the ground, Maria spun around towards the direction the grenade had come from and, seeing Caprice stand there, lashed out with Airgetlamh once more, the whip-sword fully extending out in a fury of striking blows as elegant yet direct as an EMPRESS†REBELLION .
To Maria's astonishment, Caprice swung her grenade launcher around defensively as she backed away, using it like a bow-staff to block each of the blows from Maria's attack. And by the end of it, the launcher was still perfectly intact.
Still keeping an eye on Caprice, Maria examined the launcher more thoroughly. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about it: it looked like a standard semi-automatic grenade launcher with an eight round cylinder to hold its ammo. Airgetlamh should have bisected it with ease. Then again, all of White Noise's weapons were unusually powerful. "How did you-?"
Before Maria could even finish the question, Caprice gave a flirtatious wink, flipped the launcher around right ways, and fired it in one seamless move. Airgatlemh lashed out, the chainsword leaping away to detonate the round a good distance away. But through the smoke and detritus came a large number of small black balls that landed at her feet. Maria started to leap away just a moment too late and the surprisingly powerful micro-explosives turned what should have been a smooth jump into a flailing launch away, the pinkette barely managing to recover in time to land on her feet.
"We're definitely detecting phonic gain off of them!" Fujitaka's voice buzzed in the adaptor's ears. "But we can't find any signs of them actually generating it! No Aufwachen Waveform, no Alchemical signatures, no outer physics… nothing!"
'Well,' Maria absently thought, 'that at least explained the unexpected resiliency and power of their weapons.' Caprice jauntily stepped out of the dust and debris of the last explosion towards the pinkette, idly slotting in another grenade to the empty revolving chambers as she did. "You know you're a replacement, right?"
Maria blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Come now. You know what I mean." Caprice tilted her head meaningfully in the direction she had sent Tsubasa flying off. "Tall, reddish-hair, big chest. She's got a type, and you fit it like a glove."
'She's comparing me to Kanade.' Maria abruptly realized and snorted. Really? The Four Horsemen thought they could rile her up with that? There was no way she'd think so little of Tsubasa as to believe something so shallow of her.
Caprice seemed to recognize that but instead of looking dismayed, her smile instead seemed even more sly than before. "Oh, well. If your love life isn't interesting enough, then I guess we could talk about your little white lie involving the Frontier Incident?"
Maria's brief amusement died a swift death. "Did you also learn that from Sefer HaChaim?"
Caprice blinked in surprise for a moment and then threw her head back and laughed long and hard. "Oh, man, that was rich. Us, using a relic. It's as if you haven't been paying attention." She sobered up… mostly. "Sefer HaChaim was destroyed along with Balal's Curse."
Maria didn't buy that for a moment. "Then how…" She pointed Airgetlamh at Caprice. "Could you possibly know that? How could you know about any of this?"
"Fuck you, that's how," Caprice said with casual dismissal. Maria simply gave her a flat look in response, but the Italian simply shrugged then brought up and aimed her launcher at the pinkette. "But enough about my secrets, let's talk about yours!"
Another grenade coughed in Maria's direction. Again, Maria lashed out with Airgetlamh, but this time she followed up by charging forward through the dust kicked up by its mid-air explosion. She broke through the debris and was immediately flung back as a swiftly planted claymore charge detonated practically in her face.
After a moment being stunned on the ground, Maria began to sit back up only for a solid boot to plant itself on her stomach. She glared past the barrel of the grenade launcher up at the smiling Caprice.
"Do you think you can hide your involvement with FIS forever?" Caprice casually droned on, as if she wasn't shoving a giant weapon in Maria's face. "Stuff like that's going to come out eventually. I mean, when we hacked your database, we gained access to all of your secrets." She then smiled in a coquettish way. "Hey, what do you think would happen if I were to tell everyone? Do you think they'd forgive you, or would they string you up like a common criminal?" Caprice leaned forward, her cheery smile gaining a slightly manic edge to it as she flipped a switch on the side of her launcher with her thumb. "On second thought, don't bother answering. You won't have to worry about a thing once your head's been blow off!"
"Maria!" Kirika shouted, breaking away from supporting Shirabe against Darmawan to lunge forward with Igalima. At her shout, Caprice turned and fired a round at the approaching scythe wielder.
"Voronin." Caprice muttered into her comms. "Blow it."
Kirika lashed out at the round, but the moment before the scythe made contact, a bullet hit the grenade in mid-air, causing it to detonate earlier than expected and with rather more power than the last several grenades. The blonde was thrown back by the explosion.
Taking advantage of Caprice's distraction, Maria lunged forward with a surge of strength, tossing the Italian woman off of her. Caprice barely had enough time to bring her launcher around to block Maria's follow-up with Airgetlamh. With her free hand, Maria slugged Caprice across the face in a perfect boxer's jab.
Caprice let the blow drive her back and leapt away, tossing down more of those black micro-explosive balls as she did. Maria also leapt back in response, clearing the blast just in time. The two stared at each other from across the distance they had opened up for a moment.
Caprice lifted her free hand and wiped away a hint of blood at the corner of her mouth. "Feisty. I like it."
Then the launcher came up again as Maria moved and the two engaged once more.
—
"VORONIN!" Chris shouted angrily, glancing around the burnt out landscape, the sniper nowhere in sight. "Where are you, you coward?!"
She scowled around at the desolate surroundings. She hadn't chased him that far from the others, so where the hell did he-
Acting on instinct, she ducked aside. It wasn't fast enough to avoid the bullet completely, but it did mean it struck her shoulder rather than the center of her chest. Chris staggered at the force of the shot. Voronin was definitely enhancing the power of his shots with phonic gain, but she had caught sight of the muzzle flash from that bastard's rifle. At first glance, it seemed to have come from the ground itself, but looking closely she could just make out the presence of one of those slit trenches the soldiers earlier had been using.
Her crossbows shot up, the energy bolts leaping away to blast into the trench, kicking up dirt and dust. Following hard in their wake, Chris shifted back to Billion Maiden as she stormed up and aimed directly down into the trench… the very empty trench.
"Nice try." The sniper's voice echoed off the landscape, full of mirth. Damn, he could project his voice too?! "But I wasn't anywhere near that spot. You really thought I would make that rookie mistake?" The next shot struck her square in the back, sending her tumbling forward straight down into the trench.
Chris winced as she pushed herself up. That one hit was hard enough that she was probably going to bruise. Her first instinct was to spring back up and lay waste to everything in the direction the shot had come with Mega Deth Party, but Voronin was probably counting on that. Instead, she pushed herself into a sitting position, Billion Maiden folding back up and combining into the distinctive sniper-crossbow of Red Hot Blaze .
"You know…" The cockiness in the Russian's voice made her blood boil. "Are those gatling guns really necessary? You don't really have anything to be compensating for."
Chris blinked. He was taunting her? He was taunting her ?! Oh yeah, she was definitely taking this fucker down. She sucked in a deep breath to try and calm herself a bit. ' Don't let your temper cloud your judgement, Chris. '
"Yeah, well…" She called back, inching her way up towards the lip of the trench, trying to peer out without exposing herself. "I never figured someone with a nickname like the 'Raven of Death' would be so eager to run away from a fight!"
When he replied, his voice sounded more amused than anything. "I'm a sniper, suka. I like to reach out from a good distance. And here I thought you would be the one amidst your little gang of oh-so-vaunted-heroes to understand that." There was a moment's pause. "Although maybe not. You're still using that thing? Please, stick with the rockets. I'm sure Caprice would appreciate it."
Alerted by the comment, Chris jerked herself back down just in time. The bullet came within a millimeter of grazing her head, solidly embedding itself in the far trench wall. She had seen the foxhole he fired from, though, and shot back up the moment she felt the round clear her head, her right eye glued to Red Hot Blaze's scope, scanning to try and catch him moving between firing positions.
"Why'd you chase me all the way back here anyways?" Voronin was actually starting to sound bored. "Is it about old man Kazanari? I mean Genjuro, not the one Jwa stabbed."
Chris forced herself to ignore that one. 'Come on, come on, where the fuck are you?' If only it was day, then at least she would have a chance of catching the sun's glint off his scope or something.
"You're not that torn up about him, are you?" Voronin continued. "And here I figured I was doing you a favor! He was your pimp , after all, right?"
'Hmph. So you were going to be my pimp, too.' The memory of her own words echoed unbidden through Chris's head. If she was angry before, now she was furious . And at that moment, she caught a sliver of movement from a trench, this one already exposed, to the right of the foxhole Voronin had last fired from.
Without thinking, Chris swung her crosshairs onto the trench, the picture resolving into the outline of a person. Without any hesitation, she aimed at the center mass and fired. The crossbow's energy bolt leaped across the distance, throwing the figure into the trench wall. With a triumphant grin, Chris rose and charged across the landscape, shifting Ichaival back to her pistols. Without any sense of deja-vu, she charged up to the trench and aimed down at the prone figure.
The goggles and gas mask of one of those soldiers stared blankly back up at her, the enormous gash Red Hot Blaze had torn in his chest joined the innumerable fragmentation wounds that had actually killed him.
A bullet from the trench to her left struck her in the side of her head, throwing her down. Pain lanced through her head and she felt something wet dripping down the side of her head, over the caked blood of the soldiers from earlier. In a moment of panic, Chris reached up with her fingers and probed at where the round had struck. She sighed in relief when the fingers came back with only a little bit of bright red on them. Looked like it only just broke the skin.
Then she heard Voronin laugh. "Fuck, that was hilarious. You really think you can beat me in a sniper duel? You Symphogears are so full of yourselves." He paused for a moment. "Hey, how's Sonya and her brat? You keep in touch?" A bit of menace started to creep into his normally cocky tone. "Do you think you can protect them from all the way over here?"
She was fighting the bastard who killed Genjuro and losing. The same bastard was now threatening two of her friends. And to top it off, she had a nasty headache. Now, Chris saw red. Turning in the direction she had been shot from, she made a snap decision to take Voronin's earlier advice. If he thought she should stick with explosives, she'd give him fucking explosives! Ichaival swung back to crossbows, which then narrowed and elongated as Chris aimed them up at a point just over where she thought Voronin was.
In each crossbow two enormous bolts sizzled into existence with a burst of energy, solidifying before firing off into the air. Quickly shedding speed, they broke apart into a large number of smaller bolts, which broke apart into even more smaller bolts that abruptly reversed momentum and plunged back down to the ground.
As it impacted, the Giga Zeppelin carpeted the whole area in a torrent of fire. Explosions went off all over the place, turning the battlefield into a bunch of smoldering craters, looking as though a plane had come overhead and carpet-bombed the entire battlefield.
Unfortunately, Chris had not been paying attention to who else might have moved into the area by Voronin.
"Ah!" Shirabe and Kirka cried out, one of the explosions clipping them. The Zababa duo was sent flying through the air. Distracted as they were by their fight, they had never expected friendly fire.
The silver-haired Symphogear gunner felt her heart stop. "NO!" Chris screamed. She started towards where the two were located, only to be clipped by a gunshot, this one smashing into her leg. As she fell down, she felt another bullet hit her stomach like one of Hibiki's punches, causing waves of nauseating pain.
Dimly, she was aware that someone was running towards her. She lifted her armed gear towards the assailant and fire, only for him to dodge the attack and kick her with superhuman speed and strength. She almost vomited from the blow.
"Shluha vokzal'naja. You're just a stupid little kid after all." Voronin said, the jovial tone in his voice replaced with disappointment. "Oh well. You wouldn't be the first brat I've had to put down." He pointed his rifle at the downed Symphogear user, placing the barrel right against her heart. "Comes with the job, I suppose."
Before he could fire, however, Chris kicked his feet and stumbled to hers. Voronin's shot went wild, and she was in retreat. She hurt all over, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. As quickly as she could, she beelined for a trench before Voronin could draw another bead on her.
Voronin grinned. Here he was, lecturing her as the experienced adult, yet he let himself get overconfident. He shrugged. Oh well. Guess it was his turn to find her now. Shouldn't be too hard; he wasn't the one wearing so much bright red...
—
"Urgh…" Kirika muttered as she pushed herself up. "Anybody catch that truck's number."
Shaking the fog from her head, she quickly tried to gain her bearings. There was a big muscle man, they were brawling, there was suddenly a lot of explosions… Shirabe! Her head whirled around to see the pig-tailed girl starting to pick herself up. But looming over her, his foot lifted to deliver a curbstomp, was the great mass of Darmawan.
"Get away from Shirabe!" Kirika screamed, charging towards Darmawan. Holding Igalima horizontally, the blonde began to spin around, firing the rockets on her pauldrons until she was little more than a whirling, cutting blur of green-and-black. Acting quickly, Darmawan turned from Shirabe to face the threat of Calamity Ring: Tinkerbell , raising his armored fists to block.
The collision provoked a shower of sparks as Igalima repeatedly impacted the gauntlets and with each impact, Darmawan was forced to take a step back. Yet the Indonesian man did not seem worried at all. "You care for her." He stated, loudly. "Yet you haven't told her."
"I tell Shirabe everything!" Kirika angrily retorted.
"I know that isn't true." He replied confidently. "After all, you haven't told her about the suicide letter you still have."
Kirika abruptly froze, breaking her attack, eyes wide in shock. From where she had pulled herself up to her feet, Shirabe's head twisted around in alarm. 'Suicide letter?!'
"How-" Was all Kirika managed before Darmawan's fist slammed into her face. The massive Indonesian immediately followed up with a devastating torrent of endless jabs to her midsection.
The sight of her girlfriend getting absolutely pummelled broke Shirabe out of her shock. She could worry about what Darmawan said later. Kirika needed her! In an instant, Shul-Shagana unfolded and hundreds of small saw blades shot away from her twintail compartments in Alpha Style: 100 Samsara .
They smashed into Darmawan from the side, who jerked back at the sudden impacts as much in surprise as in pain. Trying to expand the momentary reprieve, Kirika quickly struck out with Igalima's base. She felt it impact Darmawan and heard the man grunt but it didn't seem to actually move him. Still, it bought her enough time to leap back, landing by Shirabe and holding out Igalima defensively.
Kirika thought quickly, pushing through the remaining haze from the recent punches she had received. Even accounting for his build, the resiliency and reflexes he was showing wasn't just above normal human levels, but even their own. Which meant...
"How is your phonic gain so high?!" Kirika couldn't keep the incredulity out of her voice.
Darmawan tilted his head in the general direction where Hibiki and Samantha were fighting. "Ask her. She's the one least affected by the Anti-LiNKER after all."
'What the hell does Hibiki have anything to do with this?' Kirika wondered.
"To be honest, I'd rather be fighting the Gungnir user." Darmawan glanced over at Shirabe. "Hmm, fighting… I do wonder… what would your grandfather say if he knew that's what you were doing these days?" The Indonesian's gaze shifted over to Kirika. "I'd ask the same of your family, but I already know the answer to that."
Shirabe blinked in confusion but it was Kirika who caught the implication of the statement. "You… you know about our pasts?"
The corners of Darmawan's lips quirked upwards in a small smirk. "Of course. You are our main enemy. We would be remiss not to know you better than you know yourselves!"
Before either of them could reply to that, he charged and the battle was joined once more.
—
Tsubasa had a lot of pride in her swordsmanship, but not so much that she couldn't admit when she was being outmatched. And at the moment, she could definitely say she was being outmatched. Jwa's sword was in constant motion, always probing her defenses or trying for a strike. It was so different to Tsubasa's own dueling style. Rather than focusing on the principles of detail and one-strike-one-kill, Jwa's style was built on raw speed and constant momentum. Between the unfamiliarity with the style being used against her and the Korean's higher phonic gain granting her better reflexes, it took almost everything Tsubasa had just to prevent her opponent from landing a blow.
If she was going to seize back momentum in this fight, Tsubasa quickly realized she was going to have to do more than just swing her armed gear. To that end, a storm of blue energy blades fell from the sky towards the two swordswomen like a Thousand Falling Tears . Forced to choose between taking the blow or avoiding the attack, Jwa chose the latter option, terminating her next strike to jump away. As Tsubasa also leapt away, Ame no Habakiri quickly shifted and grew before she swung it in a Blue Flash , releasing a burst of ball lightning towards Jwa.
The moment she touched down, the Korean immediately leapt again out of the way of the oncoming attack which tore into the ground, kicking up dust and dirt. Tsubasa's first instinct was to press the attack but she held back, her guard up for a counterattack from Jwa and waited for the dust to clear. Sure enough, when it did the Korean was nowhere to be seen.
Another explosion from the place where Caprice and Maria were fighting drew her attention. Tsubasa turned, intending to assist the Pinkette, until her instincts screamed at her and she ducked instead. Jwa's swing had been so close to where Tsubasa had been standing that it managed to take the tip off of one of her strands of blue hair.
Tsubasa slashed at Jwa's legs, but the Korean woman was already falling back. Tsubasa swung around to keep Jwa in her sights, standing back up with Ame no Habakiri held up en-guard. The two women paused for a moment, measuring each other up.
"Why do you want Ogawa dead?" Tsubasa demanded. "What was Sinwon-Up?"
"Ask the fucking coward yourself!" Jwa sneered back. "He'll give you the answer if his clan's pride will let him!" She raised her sword to point it at Tsubasa. "His time will come. For now, I'll happily do to you what I did to your father."
Tsubasa took a quick moment to examine Jwa's sword. She recognized it as a double-edged Chilseonggeom, a 'Seven-Star Sword'. Straight-edged, usually used by Buddhist practitioners in ceremonies. She noticed the engravings: on one side, constellation patterns on one side alternating between the Seven Stars, the Black Tortoise of the North, and the Vermillion Bird of the South. On the other side was engraved… well, it must be some kind of statement, but Tsubasa couldn't read Hanja.
"You did not kill my father." Tsubasa finally replied.
Jwa smirked. "I mean your biological father." Crossing the distance between herself and Tsubasa in an instant, she swung her sword and locked blades with the blue-haired adaptor. "You should just let me kill you." Jwa whispered. "It'd be doing you a favor. You'd end up just like him, after all."
Bullshit. "Never." Tsubasa hissed. "I'll never be like him." She jumped back from the blade lock and repositioned herself, ready for the next attack. But Jwa just stood there, looking at Tsubasa with a steely gaze.
"That's what all the Kazanari heirs have said, when they first inherit their family's fortune." Jwa's glower intensified as she spoke. "It all ends the same way."
"Is that how you feel?" Tsubasa asked, intending for the question to be rhetorical.
To her surprise, Jwa snorted. "I don't have room for feelings. I am my family's vengeance, thus I am nothing but their sword."
That statement took Tsubasa by surprise, her mind racing back to words she herself spoke two years ago. 'I never shed tears. I am a warrior, thus I am nothing but a sword.'
Sensing that she had brought herself a window of opportunity, Jwa abruptly charged. Tsubasa responded quickly, a compartment in her boot opening and ejecting a single lone knife which she caught and threw with unerring accuracy. Jwa abruptly jerked to a halt as the knife crashed down on her moon-casted shadow, entrapping it in a Shadow Weaving.
"You think you can beat me with such an old trick?!" Jwa growled. Her suit promptly lit up, glowing with an intensity bright enough to burn away her shadow. With nothing to pin, the Shadow Weave dissolved in time for the Korean to twist out of the way of Tsubasa's follow-up blow. Tsubasa tried to turn and swing again, but she only just managed to bring up her sword in time to block another strike from Jwa and once again she found herself being pressed back by an endless continuity of strikes.
—
Miku swerved, dodged, and weaved the best she could. The maneuver training with her gear was paying off; Gowon was having difficulty tracking her. Now if only she had more practice firing while moving at this speed. She found that keeping the speed necessary to stay ahead of the machine gun fire was making it difficult for her to accurately fire back.
Worse, the African gunner had positioned himself so that she'd have to expose herself to significant fire if she wanted to help Hibiki against Samantha. He was clearly trying to keep her away. Miku quickly ran through her options: switching over to Liuxing form to use Purgatory would slow her down, so that was out. Accurately shooting lasers at this speed was difficult enough, so throwing attacks like Reminiscence would just be even worse.
There was only one thing for it. She unfolded her armed gear and turned directly for Gowon, holding the metal in front of her as an impromptu shield. The first couple of rounds just pinged off like any other bullets but then it seemed like instead the strength of impacts from the successive fire seemed to be building as she heard actual dents start to form on the Shenshoujing's front. Was this some kind of phonic gain trick? Still, if she moved quickly enough, she could close the distance and…
It was just a moment too late that Miku realized the flaw in her plan: with the Shenshoujing blocking her from seeing Gowon, she couldn't gauge precisely how close she had gotten to him. On the other hand, the Congolese man could gauge his distance from her just fine. No sooner had this occurred to her did the gunfire stop, and the next instant she felt something impact the ersatz-shield hard enough to toss her onto her back.
Miku pushed herself back up as Gowon loomed above her, his machine gun raised like an enormous club. She rolled away just as he brought it down, smashing into the ground with enough force to partly embed it in the ground and sending small cracks radiating a short distance out. With a heave, he pulled it right back out, the weapon's stock visibly dented.
Miku shot back up with her Ionocraft and lashed out with the Shenshoujing's cable, wailing at Gowon continuously in a Reverberation . To her surprise, Gowon effortlessly powered through the lashing cables, even though some of them tore at his face and even broke through his strangely resilient armored suit to draw some blood. The calm look he had in his eyes earlier was replaced with something that seemed more wild and haunting as he swung his machine gun around to strike Miku from the side. The blow interrupted her attacks and threw her away from him a little bit but this time she was able to right herself and speed away, beelining for the nearby wreckage of one of the attack VTOLs.
Gowon's machine gun resumed its chattering a few moments later and again Miku unfolded and held her armed gear back as a shield as she covered the last few meters to swing around the nose of the crashed machine. The gunfire continued for a few more moments, smacking off the remains of the armored hull behind her before petering out.
Miku paused to catch her breath only to realize she had just put them in something of a stalemate. She couldn't pop out or Gowon would shoot her. Equally, he couldn't come around or she'd shoot him. She could unfold Liuxing, release Purgatory's mirrors. But without line of sight she'd be firing blindly. Flying away while keeping the wreckage behind her would just leave the battle. And she couldn't help the others from here.
No wait, she realized, there was one more option. She only had practiced with it a little, but on open terrain like this it shouldn't be a problem Particularly if she gave it some assistance by getting him distracted a little. And hey, it's something Hibiki would do. She could hear Gowon approaching the wreckage, the gunner didn't walk very softly, but he stopped a fair distance away. Presumably keeping any escape routes in sight.
"Why do you think the Symphogears are evil?" She called out.
There was a moment's pause.
"The Custodian's were false gods, and like all false gods, they created idols as symbols of their power." He said. "That is the true nature of the Symphogear. At the same time, heretical technology elevated individuals like yourself into new false gods. The one true God cannot abide by that. It is a gross injustice."
As he talked, Miku activated the Shenshoujing's most notable feature. To any outside observer, it was as if she simply vanished from sight with a Wizard's Stealth . But that was not to say she wasn't paying attention to what he was saying.
Slowly, so as to keep the noise from her Ionocraft below hearing range, Miku drifted back out around the wreckage and carefully approached Gowon. The man was slowly scanning the edges of the wreckage, his gun drifting with his view. Modulating her voice so as to sound like she was still calling out from the other side of the wreckage, Miku replied. "And you believe that to kill me and my friends, who have committed no crimes, is justice?"
"I would be careful before claiming you have committed no crimes." Gowon calmly stated back. It was strange how calm he seemed when not in a melee. "But even if man's law refuses to try you, you cannot escape God's law."
Miku raised her fan as she drifted closer, recalling how he had resisted Reverberation. Get as close as she can, deliver as big a blast as she can. Maybe Lamentation at close range would be enough to bring him down.
But Gowon continued. "Human notions of good and evil do not apply to God. I am merely an instrument of Divine Providence."
Miku paused. That… that sounded far too familiar for comfort. "Shem-Ha also justified herself that way." Her free hand tightened into a fist. "Proclaiming your actions are 'God's will' doesn't make them right!"
"Shem-Ha was nothing more than a false God. Our ultimate triumph will prove God is on my side." Gowon said, his machine gun's barrel drifting to a halt to point right at Miku as he spoke. "As does the folly of His enemies in the face of His beneficence."
Miku's eyes widened as she realized that in her anger she had forgotten to modulate her voice with that last sentence. She snapped her armed gear up, unfolding it as Gowon opened fire. As before, the first few rounds simply bounced off but then the next rounds tore into the fan with increasing force. It was only a matter of time before it tore through completely and then, quite probably, through her.
"LEAVE. HER. ALONE!" Hibiki screamed, lunging forward with Gungnir pulled back, both her arm and armor rockets firing. And as she powered towards Gowon, she sang.
"It's fine, totally fine (Fine, totally fine)
Our hearts echo together
Even the courage not to cry or the [courage] to stand
Can become love worth crying over."
Ceasing fire, Gowon spun around to meet the new incoming threat. Flipping the machine gun around he again swung it like a club. It smashed into Hibiki's fist… and Gungnir just kept going, tearing through the gun like it wasn't there and smashing square into the man's chest, catapulting him away.
"Hibiki..." Miku sighed with relief. Hibiki smiled back at her… and then staggered forward as a trio of rounds stitched their way across her back. Chasing after the Gungnir girl, Samantha advanced on them, her automatic rifle raised. With a quick adjustment, she fired another round from her underbarrel grenade launcher.
Pushing more power than usual into her Ionocraft modules, Miku grabbed Hibiki and shot upward, leaving the grenade to detonate behind them. Samantha's gunfire chased upward after them, but only one round managed to graze one of the modules.
Hibiki tapped Miku's arm. The black haired girl looked down at the gesture, her eyes filled with a moment's uncertainty, but Hibiki just smiled back. Miku nodded, returning the smile and ended the unspoken exchange by placing a kiss on her girlfriend's forehead before letting Hibiki go.
Pointing herself straight down, Hibiki fired the Gungnir gauntlet's rocket as shot towards the ground at Samantha again, from an even greater height then with her attack at the start of the battle. Realizing what was coming, the Lieutenant began to run and as Hibiki smashed into the ground with Earth Penetrating Power . The White Noise leader jumped, just barely avoiding the ground surrounding the landing site rising up from the force of the landing.
Samantha twirled around in mid-air, landing to face Hibiki who stood up and adopted a fighting stance, ready to block the next attack. As Samantha levelled her rifle, Hibiki sang the next line in her song.
"When was it given to me? (When was it given to me?)
This warm and precious thing (This warm and important thing)
It told me not to lose, it told me it had received it
This most loved love call which burns my chest"
Samantha abruptly stiffened at those lyrics. Another moment later her pupils shrank into pinpricks and pure rage overtook a face that up until now had been a mask of steady professionalism.
"SHUT-UP! " She roared, dropping her rifle to let it hang limply from its sling as she charged forward. Hibiki blinked in surprise at the unexpected move but her face shifted into astonishment as the Lieutenant tore a grenade off her belt when she closed to within just a few feet, immediately ejecting the pin and handle. Hibiki jabbed at her, but in one smooth motion, Samantha jerked aside past the punch and shoved the hand holding the grenade straight into Hibiki's face just in time for it to detonate, abruptly cutting the song short.
"Hibiki!" Miku shouted in horror from her position in the sky, rushing to now descend back down towards the dust kicked up by the explosion. Her heart caught in her throat as the smoke cleared and she saw Hibiki laying on her back, gazing up stunned, her hair a complete mess… and with a trickle of blood streaming down her face.
Standing over her, Samantha was still in the position she was in when the grenade detonated, her hand thrust out and bleeding. "Don't you fucking dare sing about 'warm and precious things'!" She snarled. "Not after you all took that from me! "
Her foot lashed out to kick Hibiki, but the Gungnir wielder recovered just in time to roll back onto her feet and swing at Samantha, who ducked away.
"It's fine!" Hibiki shouted up at Miku, although she didn't take her eyes off of her opponent when she was this close to her. "It's only a scratch!"
Her outburst done, Samantha's mask of professionalism reasserted itself. Ignoring her bleeding hand, she gripped her rifle again. "Come on then." She growled. "I don't have all day."
—
With a hiss, the transport doors sealed. Their engines whining, the VTOL transports hauled themselves into the air and climbed away from the crater occupied by the Château de Tiffauges. Their path traced first northeast and then circled out to sea, staying well away from the fight between the White Noise Squad and Symphogear adaptors.
Between their stealth capabilities and the fact the JASDF was still reorganizing from the initial mauling when their air patrols were attacked by unknown fighters, the transports were left wholly unmolested as they travelled out over the Pacific Ocean. A mere two black dots against the night sky.
"This is Red Unit. Objective Set Alpha-Sierra-Papa is secure and egressing from the AO. All White Units, egress to Objective Charlie-Delta-Tango and hold."
—
"This is Red Unit. Objective Set Alpha-Sierra-Papa is secure and egressing from the AO. Whisky-November One, you are ordered to egress your squad from the AO. Confirm."
Samantha scowled at the mechanical voice in her ear as she ducked under the swing from Hibiki and drove an elbow into the chestnut haired girl's back before spinning around to fire a burst from her rifle. "We can still do this! We can still take one of them down!"
Hibiki backhanded all three rounds away as she spun about and then launched herself forward, Gungnir's pistons drawing it back.
"Negative." Red Unit's dispassionate voice reiterated. "Withdraw your squad from the AO. This is a direct order. Disciplinary action will be taken should you not comply."
"Fine! Whiskey-November Confirms!" Samantha bit out leaping clean over Hibiki at the very last moment, firing another burst at Miku to drive her back. She chimed into her comms. "SQUAD, WE'RE WITHDRAWING! CAPRICE, SMOKE 'EM!"
"Oh no you don't!" Maria shouted. But Caprice tossed out another series of small black balls toward the charging pinkette. Expecting more mico-explosives, Maria threw herself aside. But instead of exploding, thick smoke boiled out of them, mixing with the Anti-LiNKER gas to produce a seemingly impenetrable red mist. Turning, Caprice detached canisters from her waist and tossed them about. These produced even more smoke until the whole battlefield was blanketed and the adaptors could barely even see their own hands.
Deprived of any vision, most of the adaptors froze, their guard still up and their other senses and instincts scanning for any sign of another attack. Hibiki, not willing to wait, primed Gungnir and punched up, creating a blast of wind that dispersed the smoke in every direction and instantly cleared their view.
The White Noise Squad was gone.
"Is everyone okay?" Maria called out as she lowered Airgetlamh. The adaptors all chorused back their affirmatives. All of them except for Chris that is.
"Dammit!" The gunner shouted instead as she pulled herself out of one of the craters she had been ducking between in her running battle with Voronin, tears stinging the corner of her eyes as she punched at the ground in frustration. "That fucker! Who the hell does he think he is?!"
"Kiri-chan…." Shirabe glanced over at the blonde. "Are… are you sure you're fine."
Kirika stared off in the direction of the Château for a few moments before she finally replied. "I… don't know."
"Hibiki! Are you alright?!" Miku flew down over next to her girlfriend, her face a mask of worry.
"It's fine. It's totally fine!" Hibiki insisted, smiling reassuringly and with a slight blush as Miku closed in to examine the bleeding on her face. "It's just a scratch."
"It's not!" Miku voice became one of matronly concern. "You're all cut up!"
"Ah, Miku! That stings!"
Maria just looked quietly at the spot Caprice last stood at, lost in thought.
Shaking her head, Tsubasa called up headquarters. "HQ, this is Tsubasa… the enemy has retreated."
"We read you Tsubasa. It's not just that 'White Noise Squad'." Ogawa said. "The entire enemy perimeter is contracting. Their soldiers are falling back into the Château. The Self-Defense Force intends to tighten their own perimeter as well and move up to the crater lip."
"Does that mean we should continue with our current mission?" Hibiki asked as Miku gently wiped some of the blood away.
There was a few moments pause, then Ogawa replied. "No. Fall back out of the Anti-LiNKER cloud. We'll send a team out with some neutralizer, get you patched up, and make a new plan with the Self-Defence Force from there."
As the White Noise's leader raised her rifle, Miku managed to rearrange something in the internal combinations of her modules to cause them to sputter back to life. Shooting forward, Miku unfolded the Shenshoujing's fan and interposed herself between Hibiki and Samantha just as the latter fired her rifle's underbarrel grenade launcher, which detonated harmlessly upon the impromptu shield. In a Flash , a series of rapid fire beams burst from the Shenshoujing's fan towards White Noise's position. But they were already moving in anticipation of the counterattack, scattering away from the shots.
Immediately Chris's eyes locked on to the retreating form of Voronin, who had leapt back away from the adaptors. She scowled at the coward and took off after him, Billion Maiden shifting back to her crossbows. "Get back here!"
"Yukine!" Tsubasa shouted, moving to impede the Ichaival user. "Don't get-"
She was interrupted as Jwa darted towards her with astonishing speed, her own sword already swinging for a strike. Tsubasa brought Ame no Habakiri around just in time to block the blow, but Jwa didn't waste any time trying to force her way through the block. Instead, she brought her sword down at another angle, forcing Tsubasa to retreat.
Samantha circled around the two engaged swordswomen to get a clear shot of Tsubasa, popping another grenade into her underbarrelled launcher and levelling it. She paused, cocked her head, and ducked down just in time for Hibiki's fist to pass through where her back cavity would have been. Samantha's leg kicked out in response, trying to sweep Hibiki off her feet.
Hibiki leapt into the sky and pulled Gungnir back, the gauntlets shifting to add rockets on the back of her arms. The rockets blazing away, she plunged back down with a Spear's Violent Destruction . Samantha tried to roll away, but the impact was still close enough to send her sprawling forward onto her face.
Pushing herself up, Samantha looked up only to find herself staring straight into the folded fan of the Shenshoujing, Miku already prepared to deliver a point-blank laser blast. Their eyes locked…
Samantha smirked.
Alerted by the simple expression, Miku shot backwards just in time for a hail of machine gun bullets to tear through the space she was occupying. Gowon quickly shifted his fire to follow, his tracers chasing the black haired girl as she tried to swerve and dodge away from the incessant gunfire.
With Miku and Hibiki engaged, Maria leapt forward to assist Tsubasa, Airgetlamh extending out. With no other choice, Jwa disengaged and seemed to practically dance away from the whip-sword as she fell back from Maria, blocking any strike that looked like it would actually connect. Sensing they had the Korean on the backfoot, both Maria and Tsubasa pursued.
"Any time, Caprice." Jwa muttered into her suit's commlink.
"It's a question of place, not time." The Italian's voice echoed in her ear. "Speaking of which, you'll want to jump… now ."
At the cue, Jwa leapt well into the air, far further than any regular human could. Tsubasa and Maria primed themselves to follow… only for the ground itself to explode out from under them as Caprice detonated the hastily placed charges Jwa had lured them over. The two young women were flung apart, both too stunned to recover before they hit the ground. Tsubasa barely managed to roll back onto her feet before Jwa was on her again, the Korean's Chilseongem a constant blur of motion.
Maria, for her part, rolled aside on instinct. A solid decision, as a grenade bounced into the piece of ground she had just been laying on. Catapulting herself off the ground, Maria spun around towards the direction the grenade had come from and, seeing Caprice stand there, lashed out with Airgetlamh once more, the whip-sword fully extending out in a fury of striking blows as elegant yet direct as an EMPRESS†REBELLION .
To Maria's astonishment, Caprice swung her grenade launcher around defensively as she backed away, using it like a bow-staff to block each of the blows from Maria's attack. And by the end of it, the launcher was still perfectly intact.
Still keeping an eye on Caprice, Maria examined the launcher more thoroughly. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about it: it looked like a standard semi-automatic grenade launcher with an eight round cylinder to hold its ammo. Airgetlamh should have bisected it with ease. Then again, all of White Noise's weapons were unusually powerful. "How did you-?"
Before Maria could even finish the question, Caprice gave a flirtatious wink, flipped the launcher around right ways, and fired it in one seamless move. Airgatlemh lashed out, the chainsword leaping away to detonate the round a good distance away. But through the smoke and detritus came a large number of small black balls that landed at her feet. Maria started to leap away just a moment too late and the surprisingly powerful micro-explosives turned what should have been a smooth jump into a flailing launch away, the pinkette barely managing to recover in time to land on her feet.
"We're definitely detecting phonic gain off of them!" Fujitaka's voice buzzed in the adaptor's ears. "But we can't find any signs of them actually generating it! No Aufwachen Waveform, no Alchemical signatures, no outer physics… nothing!"
'Well,' Maria absently thought, 'that at least explained the unexpected resiliency and power of their weapons.' Caprice jauntily stepped out of the dust and debris of the last explosion towards the pinkette, idly slotting in another grenade to the empty revolving chambers as she did. "You know you're a replacement, right?"
Maria blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Come now. You know what I mean." Caprice tilted her head meaningfully in the direction she had sent Tsubasa flying off. "Tall, reddish-hair, big chest. She's got a type, and you fit it like a glove."
'She's comparing me to Kanade.' Maria abruptly realized and snorted. Really? The Four Horsemen thought they could rile her up with that? There was no way she'd think so little of Tsubasa as to believe something so shallow of her.
Caprice seemed to recognize that but instead of looking dismayed, her smile instead seemed even more sly than before. "Oh, well. If your love life isn't interesting enough, then I guess we could talk about your little white lie involving the Frontier Incident?"
Maria's brief amusement died a swift death. "Did you also learn that from Sefer HaChaim?"
Caprice blinked in surprise for a moment and then threw her head back and laughed long and hard. "Oh, man, that was rich. Us, using a relic. It's as if you haven't been paying attention." She sobered up… mostly. "Sefer HaChaim was destroyed along with Balal's Curse."
Maria didn't buy that for a moment. "Then how…" She pointed Airgetlamh at Caprice. "Could you possibly know that? How could you know about any of this?"
"Fuck you, that's how," Caprice said with casual dismissal. Maria simply gave her a flat look in response, but the Italian simply shrugged then brought up and aimed her launcher at the pinkette. "But enough about my secrets, let's talk about yours!"
Another grenade coughed in Maria's direction. Again, Maria lashed out with Airgetlamh, but this time she followed up by charging forward through the dust kicked up by its mid-air explosion. She broke through the debris and was immediately flung back as a swiftly planted claymore charge detonated practically in her face.
After a moment being stunned on the ground, Maria began to sit back up only for a solid boot to plant itself on her stomach. She glared past the barrel of the grenade launcher up at the smiling Caprice.
"Do you think you can hide your involvement with FIS forever?" Caprice casually droned on, as if she wasn't shoving a giant weapon in Maria's face. "Stuff like that's going to come out eventually. I mean, when we hacked your database, we gained access to all of your secrets." She then smiled in a coquettish way. "Hey, what do you think would happen if I were to tell everyone? Do you think they'd forgive you, or would they string you up like a common criminal?" Caprice leaned forward, her cheery smile gaining a slightly manic edge to it as she flipped a switch on the side of her launcher with her thumb. "On second thought, don't bother answering. You won't have to worry about a thing once your head's been blow off!"
"Maria!" Kirika shouted, breaking away from supporting Shirabe against Darmawan to lunge forward with Igalima. At her shout, Caprice turned and fired a round at the approaching scythe wielder.
"Voronin." Caprice muttered into her comms. "Blow it."
Kirika lashed out at the round, but the moment before the scythe made contact, a bullet hit the grenade in mid-air, causing it to detonate earlier than expected and with rather more power than the last several grenades. The blonde was thrown back by the explosion.
Taking advantage of Caprice's distraction, Maria lunged forward with a surge of strength, tossing the Italian woman off of her. Caprice barely had enough time to bring her launcher around to block Maria's follow-up with Airgetlamh. With her free hand, Maria slugged Caprice across the face in a perfect boxer's jab.
Caprice let the blow drive her back and leapt away, tossing down more of those black micro-explosive balls as she did. Maria also leapt back in response, clearing the blast just in time. The two stared at each other from across the distance they had opened up for a moment.
Caprice lifted her free hand and wiped away a hint of blood at the corner of her mouth. "Feisty. I like it."
Then the launcher came up again as Maria moved and the two engaged once more.
—
"VORONIN!" Chris shouted angrily, glancing around the burnt out landscape, the sniper nowhere in sight. "Where are you, you coward?!"
She scowled around at the desolate surroundings. She hadn't chased him that far from the others, so where the hell did he-
Acting on instinct, she ducked aside. It wasn't fast enough to avoid the bullet completely, but it did mean it struck her shoulder rather than the center of her chest. Chris staggered at the force of the shot. Voronin was definitely enhancing the power of his shots with phonic gain, but she had caught sight of the muzzle flash from that bastard's rifle. At first glance, it seemed to have come from the ground itself, but looking closely she could just make out the presence of one of those slit trenches the soldiers earlier had been using.
Her crossbows shot up, the energy bolts leaping away to blast into the trench, kicking up dirt and dust. Following hard in their wake, Chris shifted back to Billion Maiden as she stormed up and aimed directly down into the trench… the very empty trench.
"Nice try." The sniper's voice echoed off the landscape, full of mirth. Damn, he could project his voice too?! "But I wasn't anywhere near that spot. You really thought I would make that rookie mistake?" The next shot struck her square in the back, sending her tumbling forward straight down into the trench.
Chris winced as she pushed herself up. That one hit was hard enough that she was probably going to bruise. Her first instinct was to spring back up and lay waste to everything in the direction the shot had come with Mega Deth Party, but Voronin was probably counting on that. Instead, she pushed herself into a sitting position, Billion Maiden folding back up and combining into the distinctive sniper-crossbow of Red Hot Blaze .
"You know…" The cockiness in the Russian's voice made her blood boil. "Are those gatling guns really necessary? You don't really have anything to be compensating for."
Chris blinked. He was taunting her? He was taunting her ?! Oh yeah, she was definitely taking this fucker down. She sucked in a deep breath to try and calm herself a bit. ' Don't let your temper cloud your judgement, Chris. '
"Yeah, well…" She called back, inching her way up towards the lip of the trench, trying to peer out without exposing herself. "I never figured someone with a nickname like the 'Raven of Death' would be so eager to run away from a fight!"
When he replied, his voice sounded more amused than anything. "I'm a sniper, suka. I like to reach out from a good distance. And here I thought you would be the one amidst your little gang of oh-so-vaunted-heroes to understand that." There was a moment's pause. "Although maybe not. You're still using that thing? Please, stick with the rockets. I'm sure Caprice would appreciate it."
Alerted by the comment, Chris jerked herself back down just in time. The bullet came within a millimeter of grazing her head, solidly embedding itself in the far trench wall. She had seen the foxhole he fired from, though, and shot back up the moment she felt the round clear her head, her right eye glued to Red Hot Blaze's scope, scanning to try and catch him moving between firing positions.
"Why'd you chase me all the way back here anyways?" Voronin was actually starting to sound bored. "Is it about old man Kazanari? I mean Genjuro, not the one Jwa stabbed."
Chris forced herself to ignore that one. 'Come on, come on, where the fuck are you?' If only it was day, then at least she would have a chance of catching the sun's glint off his scope or something.
"You're not that torn up about him, are you?" Voronin continued. "And here I figured I was doing you a favor! He was your pimp , after all, right?"
'Hmph. So you were going to be my pimp, too.' The memory of her own words echoed unbidden through Chris's head. If she was angry before, now she was furious . And at that moment, she caught a sliver of movement from a trench, this one already exposed, to the right of the foxhole Voronin had last fired from.
Without thinking, Chris swung her crosshairs onto the trench, the picture resolving into the outline of a person. Without any hesitation, she aimed at the center mass and fired. The crossbow's energy bolt leaped across the distance, throwing the figure into the trench wall. With a triumphant grin, Chris rose and charged across the landscape, shifting Ichaival back to her pistols. Without any sense of deja-vu, she charged up to the trench and aimed down at the prone figure.
The goggles and gas mask of one of those soldiers stared blankly back up at her, the enormous gash Red Hot Blaze had torn in his chest joined the innumerable fragmentation wounds that had actually killed him.
A bullet from the trench to her left struck her in the side of her head, throwing her down. Pain lanced through her head and she felt something wet dripping down the side of her head, over the caked blood of the soldiers from earlier. In a moment of panic, Chris reached up with her fingers and probed at where the round had struck. She sighed in relief when the fingers came back with only a little bit of bright red on them. Looked like it only just broke the skin.
Then she heard Voronin laugh. "Fuck, that was hilarious. You really think you can beat me in a sniper duel? You Symphogears are so full of yourselves." He paused for a moment. "Hey, how's Sonya and her brat? You keep in touch?" A bit of menace started to creep into his normally cocky tone. "Do you think you can protect them from all the way over here?"
She was fighting the bastard who killed Genjuro and losing. The same bastard was now threatening two of her friends. And to top it off, she had a nasty headache. Now, Chris saw red. Turning in the direction she had been shot from, she made a snap decision to take Voronin's earlier advice. If he thought she should stick with explosives, she'd give him fucking explosives! Ichaival swung back to crossbows, which then narrowed and elongated as Chris aimed them up at a point just over where she thought Voronin was.
In each crossbow two enormous bolts sizzled into existence with a burst of energy, solidifying before firing off into the air. Quickly shedding speed, they broke apart into a large number of smaller bolts, which broke apart into even more smaller bolts that abruptly reversed momentum and plunged back down to the ground.
As it impacted, the Giga Zeppelin carpeted the whole area in a torrent of fire. Explosions went off all over the place, turning the battlefield into a bunch of smoldering craters, looking as though a plane had come overhead and carpet-bombed the entire battlefield.
Unfortunately, Chris had not been paying attention to who else might have moved into the area by Voronin.
"Ah!" Shirabe and Kirka cried out, one of the explosions clipping them. The Zababa duo was sent flying through the air. Distracted as they were by their fight, they had never expected friendly fire.
The silver-haired Symphogear gunner felt her heart stop. "NO!" Chris screamed. She started towards where the two were located, only to be clipped by a gunshot, this one smashing into her leg. As she fell down, she felt another bullet hit her stomach like one of Hibiki's punches, causing waves of nauseating pain.
Dimly, she was aware that someone was running towards her. She lifted her armed gear towards the assailant and fire, only for him to dodge the attack and kick her with superhuman speed and strength. She almost vomited from the blow.
"Shluha vokzal'naja. You're just a stupid little kid after all." Voronin said, the jovial tone in his voice replaced with disappointment. "Oh well. You wouldn't be the first brat I've had to put down." He pointed his rifle at the downed Symphogear user, placing the barrel right against her heart. "Comes with the job, I suppose."
Before he could fire, however, Chris kicked his feet and stumbled to hers. Voronin's shot went wild, and she was in retreat. She hurt all over, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. As quickly as she could, she beelined for a trench before Voronin could draw another bead on her.
Voronin grinned. Here he was, lecturing her as the experienced adult, yet he let himself get overconfident. He shrugged. Oh well. Guess it was his turn to find her now. Shouldn't be too hard; he wasn't the one wearing so much bright red...
—
"Urgh…" Kirika muttered as she pushed herself up. "Anybody catch that truck's number."
Shaking the fog from her head, she quickly tried to gain her bearings. There was a big muscle man, they were brawling, there was suddenly a lot of explosions… Shirabe! Her head whirled around to see the pig-tailed girl starting to pick herself up. But looming over her, his foot lifted to deliver a curbstomp, was the great mass of Darmawan.
"Get away from Shirabe!" Kirika screamed, charging towards Darmawan. Holding Igalima horizontally, the blonde began to spin around, firing the rockets on her pauldrons until she was little more than a whirling, cutting blur of green-and-black. Acting quickly, Darmawan turned from Shirabe to face the threat of Calamity Ring: Tinkerbell , raising his armored fists to block.
The collision provoked a shower of sparks as Igalima repeatedly impacted the gauntlets and with each impact, Darmawan was forced to take a step back. Yet the Indonesian man did not seem worried at all. "You care for her." He stated, loudly. "Yet you haven't told her."
"I tell Shirabe everything!" Kirika angrily retorted.
"I know that isn't true." He replied confidently. "After all, you haven't told her about the suicide letter you still have."
Kirika abruptly froze, breaking her attack, eyes wide in shock. From where she had pulled herself up to her feet, Shirabe's head twisted around in alarm. 'Suicide letter?!'
"How-" Was all Kirika managed before Darmawan's fist slammed into her face. The massive Indonesian immediately followed up with a devastating torrent of endless jabs to her midsection.
The sight of her girlfriend getting absolutely pummelled broke Shirabe out of her shock. She could worry about what Darmawan said later. Kirika needed her! In an instant, Shul-Shagana unfolded and hundreds of small saw blades shot away from her twintail compartments in Alpha Style: 100 Samsara .
They smashed into Darmawan from the side, who jerked back at the sudden impacts as much in surprise as in pain. Trying to expand the momentary reprieve, Kirika quickly struck out with Igalima's base. She felt it impact Darmawan and heard the man grunt but it didn't seem to actually move him. Still, it bought her enough time to leap back, landing by Shirabe and holding out Igalima defensively.
Kirika thought quickly, pushing through the remaining haze from the recent punches she had received. Even accounting for his build, the resiliency and reflexes he was showing wasn't just above normal human levels, but even their own. Which meant...
"How is your phonic gain so high?!" Kirika couldn't keep the incredulity out of her voice.
Darmawan tilted his head in the general direction where Hibiki and Samantha were fighting. "Ask her. She's the one least affected by the Anti-LiNKER after all."
'What the hell does Hibiki have anything to do with this?' Kirika wondered.
"To be honest, I'd rather be fighting the Gungnir user." Darmawan glanced over at Shirabe. "Hmm, fighting… I do wonder… what would your grandfather say if he knew that's what you were doing these days?" The Indonesian's gaze shifted over to Kirika. "I'd ask the same of your family, but I already know the answer to that."
Shirabe blinked in confusion but it was Kirika who caught the implication of the statement. "You… you know about our pasts?"
The corners of Darmawan's lips quirked upwards in a small smirk. "Of course. You are our main enemy. We would be remiss not to know you better than you know yourselves!"
Before either of them could reply to that, he charged and the battle was joined once more.
—
Tsubasa had a lot of pride in her swordsmanship, but not so much that she couldn't admit when she was being outmatched. And at the moment, she could definitely say she was being outmatched. Jwa's sword was in constant motion, always probing her defenses or trying for a strike. It was so different to Tsubasa's own dueling style. Rather than focusing on the principles of detail and one-strike-one-kill, Jwa's style was built on raw speed and constant momentum. Between the unfamiliarity with the style being used against her and the Korean's higher phonic gain granting her better reflexes, it took almost everything Tsubasa had just to prevent her opponent from landing a blow.
If she was going to seize back momentum in this fight, Tsubasa quickly realized she was going to have to do more than just swing her armed gear. To that end, a storm of blue energy blades fell from the sky towards the two swordswomen like a Thousand Falling Tears . Forced to choose between taking the blow or avoiding the attack, Jwa chose the latter option, terminating her next strike to jump away. As Tsubasa also leapt away, Ame no Habakiri quickly shifted and grew before she swung it in a Blue Flash , releasing a burst of ball lightning towards Jwa.
The moment she touched down, the Korean immediately leapt again out of the way of the oncoming attack which tore into the ground, kicking up dust and dirt. Tsubasa's first instinct was to press the attack but she held back, her guard up for a counterattack from Jwa and waited for the dust to clear. Sure enough, when it did the Korean was nowhere to be seen.
Another explosion from the place where Caprice and Maria were fighting drew her attention. Tsubasa turned, intending to assist the Pinkette, until her instincts screamed at her and she ducked instead. Jwa's swing had been so close to where Tsubasa had been standing that it managed to take the tip off of one of her strands of blue hair.
Tsubasa slashed at Jwa's legs, but the Korean woman was already falling back. Tsubasa swung around to keep Jwa in her sights, standing back up with Ame no Habakiri held up en-guard. The two women paused for a moment, measuring each other up.
"Why do you want Ogawa dead?" Tsubasa demanded. "What was Sinwon-Up?"
"Ask the fucking coward yourself!" Jwa sneered back. "He'll give you the answer if his clan's pride will let him!" She raised her sword to point it at Tsubasa. "His time will come. For now, I'll happily do to you what I did to your father."
Tsubasa took a quick moment to examine Jwa's sword. She recognized it as a double-edged Chilseonggeom, a 'Seven-Star Sword'. Straight-edged, usually used by Buddhist practitioners in ceremonies. She noticed the engravings: on one side, constellation patterns on one side alternating between the Seven Stars, the Black Tortoise of the North, and the Vermillion Bird of the South. On the other side was engraved… well, it must be some kind of statement, but Tsubasa couldn't read Hanja.
"You did not kill my father." Tsubasa finally replied.
Jwa smirked. "I mean your biological father." Crossing the distance between herself and Tsubasa in an instant, she swung her sword and locked blades with the blue-haired adaptor. "You should just let me kill you." Jwa whispered. "It'd be doing you a favor. You'd end up just like him, after all."
Bullshit. "Never." Tsubasa hissed. "I'll never be like him." She jumped back from the blade lock and repositioned herself, ready for the next attack. But Jwa just stood there, looking at Tsubasa with a steely gaze.
"That's what all the Kazanari heirs have said, when they first inherit their family's fortune." Jwa's glower intensified as she spoke. "It all ends the same way."
"Is that how you feel?" Tsubasa asked, intending for the question to be rhetorical.
To her surprise, Jwa snorted. "I don't have room for feelings. I am my family's vengeance, thus I am nothing but their sword."
That statement took Tsubasa by surprise, her mind racing back to words she herself spoke two years ago. 'I never shed tears. I am a warrior, thus I am nothing but a sword.'
Sensing that she had brought herself a window of opportunity, Jwa abruptly charged. Tsubasa responded quickly, a compartment in her boot opening and ejecting a single lone knife which she caught and threw with unerring accuracy. Jwa abruptly jerked to a halt as the knife crashed down on her moon-casted shadow, entrapping it in a Shadow Weaving.
"You think you can beat me with such an old trick?!" Jwa growled. Her suit promptly lit up, glowing with an intensity bright enough to burn away her shadow. With nothing to pin, the Shadow Weave dissolved in time for the Korean to twist out of the way of Tsubasa's follow-up blow. Tsubasa tried to turn and swing again, but she only just managed to bring up her sword in time to block another strike from Jwa and once again she found herself being pressed back by an endless continuity of strikes.
—
Miku swerved, dodged, and weaved the best she could. The maneuver training with her gear was paying off; Gowon was having difficulty tracking her. Now if only she had more practice firing while moving at this speed. She found that keeping the speed necessary to stay ahead of the machine gun fire was making it difficult for her to accurately fire back.
Worse, the African gunner had positioned himself so that she'd have to expose herself to significant fire if she wanted to help Hibiki against Samantha. He was clearly trying to keep her away. Miku quickly ran through her options: switching over to Liuxing form to use Purgatory would slow her down, so that was out. Accurately shooting lasers at this speed was difficult enough, so throwing attacks like Reminiscence would just be even worse.
There was only one thing for it. She unfolded her armed gear and turned directly for Gowon, holding the metal in front of her as an impromptu shield. The first couple of rounds just pinged off like any other bullets but then it seemed like instead the strength of impacts from the successive fire seemed to be building as she heard actual dents start to form on the Shenshoujing's front. Was this some kind of phonic gain trick? Still, if she moved quickly enough, she could close the distance and…
It was just a moment too late that Miku realized the flaw in her plan: with the Shenshoujing blocking her from seeing Gowon, she couldn't gauge precisely how close she had gotten to him. On the other hand, the Congolese man could gauge his distance from her just fine. No sooner had this occurred to her did the gunfire stop, and the next instant she felt something impact the ersatz-shield hard enough to toss her onto her back.
Miku pushed herself back up as Gowon loomed above her, his machine gun raised like an enormous club. She rolled away just as he brought it down, smashing into the ground with enough force to partly embed it in the ground and sending small cracks radiating a short distance out. With a heave, he pulled it right back out, the weapon's stock visibly dented.
Miku shot back up with her Ionocraft and lashed out with the Shenshoujing's cable, wailing at Gowon continuously in a Reverberation . To her surprise, Gowon effortlessly powered through the lashing cables, even though some of them tore at his face and even broke through his strangely resilient armored suit to draw some blood. The calm look he had in his eyes earlier was replaced with something that seemed more wild and haunting as he swung his machine gun around to strike Miku from the side. The blow interrupted her attacks and threw her away from him a little bit but this time she was able to right herself and speed away, beelining for the nearby wreckage of one of the attack VTOLs.
Gowon's machine gun resumed its chattering a few moments later and again Miku unfolded and held her armed gear back as a shield as she covered the last few meters to swing around the nose of the crashed machine. The gunfire continued for a few more moments, smacking off the remains of the armored hull behind her before petering out.
Miku paused to catch her breath only to realize she had just put them in something of a stalemate. She couldn't pop out or Gowon would shoot her. Equally, he couldn't come around or she'd shoot him. She could unfold Liuxing, release Purgatory's mirrors. But without line of sight she'd be firing blindly. Flying away while keeping the wreckage behind her would just leave the battle. And she couldn't help the others from here.
No wait, she realized, there was one more option. She only had practiced with it a little, but on open terrain like this it shouldn't be a problem Particularly if she gave it some assistance by getting him distracted a little. And hey, it's something Hibiki would do. She could hear Gowon approaching the wreckage, the gunner didn't walk very softly, but he stopped a fair distance away. Presumably keeping any escape routes in sight.
"Why do you think the Symphogears are evil?" She called out.
There was a moment's pause.
"The Custodian's were false gods, and like all false gods, they created idols as symbols of their power." He said. "That is the true nature of the Symphogear. At the same time, heretical technology elevated individuals like yourself into new false gods. The one true God cannot abide by that. It is a gross injustice."
As he talked, Miku activated the Shenshoujing's most notable feature. To any outside observer, it was as if she simply vanished from sight with a Wizard's Stealth . But that was not to say she wasn't paying attention to what he was saying.
Slowly, so as to keep the noise from her Ionocraft below hearing range, Miku drifted back out around the wreckage and carefully approached Gowon. The man was slowly scanning the edges of the wreckage, his gun drifting with his view. Modulating her voice so as to sound like she was still calling out from the other side of the wreckage, Miku replied. "And you believe that to kill me and my friends, who have committed no crimes, is justice?"
"I would be careful before claiming you have committed no crimes." Gowon calmly stated back. It was strange how calm he seemed when not in a melee. "But even if man's law refuses to try you, you cannot escape God's law."
Miku raised her fan as she drifted closer, recalling how he had resisted Reverberation. Get as close as she can, deliver as big a blast as she can. Maybe Lamentation at close range would be enough to bring him down.
But Gowon continued. "Human notions of good and evil do not apply to God. I am merely an instrument of Divine Providence."
Miku paused. That… that sounded far too familiar for comfort. "Shem-Ha also justified herself that way." Her free hand tightened into a fist. "Proclaiming your actions are 'God's will' doesn't make them right!"
"Shem-Ha was nothing more than a false God. Our ultimate triumph will prove God is on my side." Gowon said, his machine gun's barrel drifting to a halt to point right at Miku as he spoke. "As does the folly of His enemies in the face of His beneficence."
Miku's eyes widened as she realized that in her anger she had forgotten to modulate her voice with that last sentence. She snapped her armed gear up, unfolding it as Gowon opened fire. As before, the first few rounds simply bounced off but then the next rounds tore into the fan with increasing force. It was only a matter of time before it tore through completely and then, quite probably, through her.
"LEAVE. HER. ALONE!" Hibiki screamed, lunging forward with Gungnir pulled back, both her arm and armor rockets firing. And as she powered towards Gowon, she sang.
"It's fine, totally fine (Fine, totally fine)
Our hearts echo together
Even the courage not to cry or the [courage] to stand
Can become love worth crying over."
Ceasing fire, Gowon spun around to meet the new incoming threat. Flipping the machine gun around he again swung it like a club. It smashed into Hibiki's fist… and Gungnir just kept going, tearing through the gun like it wasn't there and smashing square into the man's chest, catapulting him away.
"Hibiki..." Miku sighed with relief. Hibiki smiled back at her… and then staggered forward as a trio of rounds stitched their way across her back. Chasing after the Gungnir girl, Samantha advanced on them, her automatic rifle raised. With a quick adjustment, she fired another round from her underbarrel grenade launcher.
Pushing more power than usual into her Ionocraft modules, Miku grabbed Hibiki and shot upward, leaving the grenade to detonate behind them. Samantha's gunfire chased upward after them, but only one round managed to graze one of the modules.
Hibiki tapped Miku's arm. The black haired girl looked down at the gesture, her eyes filled with a moment's uncertainty, but Hibiki just smiled back. Miku nodded, returning the smile and ended the unspoken exchange by placing a kiss on her girlfriend's forehead before letting Hibiki go.
Pointing herself straight down, Hibiki fired the Gungnir gauntlet's rocket as shot towards the ground at Samantha again, from an even greater height then with her attack at the start of the battle. Realizing what was coming, the Lieutenant began to run and as Hibiki smashed into the ground with Earth Penetrating Power . The White Noise leader jumped, just barely avoiding the ground surrounding the landing site rising up from the force of the landing.
Samantha twirled around in mid-air, landing to face Hibiki who stood up and adopted a fighting stance, ready to block the next attack. As Samantha levelled her rifle, Hibiki sang the next line in her song.
"When was it given to me? (When was it given to me?)
This warm and precious thing (This warm and important thing)
It told me not to lose, it told me it had received it
This most loved love call which burns my chest"
Samantha abruptly stiffened at those lyrics. Another moment later her pupils shrank into pinpricks and pure rage overtook a face that up until now had been a mask of steady professionalism.
"SHUT-UP! " She roared, dropping her rifle to let it hang limply from its sling as she charged forward. Hibiki blinked in surprise at the unexpected move but her face shifted into astonishment as the Lieutenant tore a grenade off her belt when she closed to within just a few feet, immediately ejecting the pin and handle. Hibiki jabbed at her, but in one smooth motion, Samantha jerked aside past the punch and shoved the hand holding the grenade straight into Hibiki's face just in time for it to detonate, abruptly cutting the song short.
"Hibiki!" Miku shouted in horror from her position in the sky, rushing to now descend back down towards the dust kicked up by the explosion. Her heart caught in her throat as the smoke cleared and she saw Hibiki laying on her back, gazing up stunned, her hair a complete mess… and with a trickle of blood streaming down her face.
Standing over her, Samantha was still in the position she was in when the grenade detonated, her hand thrust out and bleeding. "Don't you fucking dare sing about 'warm and precious things'!" She snarled. "Not after you all took that from me! "
Her foot lashed out to kick Hibiki, but the Gungnir wielder recovered just in time to roll back onto her feet and swing at Samantha, who ducked away.
"It's fine!" Hibiki shouted up at Miku, although she didn't take her eyes off of her opponent when she was this close to her. "It's only a scratch!"
Her outburst done, Samantha's mask of professionalism reasserted itself. Ignoring her bleeding hand, she gripped her rifle again. "Come on then." She growled. "I don't have all day."
—
With a hiss, the transport doors sealed. Their engines whining, the VTOL transports hauled themselves into the air and climbed away from the crater occupied by the Château de Tiffauges. Their path traced first northeast and then circled out to sea, staying well away from the fight between the White Noise Squad and Symphogear adaptors.
Between their stealth capabilities and the fact the JASDF was still reorganizing from the initial mauling when their air patrols were attacked by unknown fighters, the transports were left wholly unmolested as they travelled out over the Pacific Ocean. A mere two black dots against the night sky.
"This is Red Unit. Objective Set Alpha-Sierra-Papa is secure and egressing from the AO. All White Units, egress to Objective Charlie-Delta-Tango and hold."
—
"This is Red Unit. Objective Set Alpha-Sierra-Papa is secure and egressing from the AO. Whisky-November One, you are ordered to egress your squad from the AO. Confirm."
Samantha scowled at the mechanical voice in her ear as she ducked under the swing from Hibiki and drove an elbow into the chestnut haired girl's back before spinning around to fire a burst from her rifle. "We can still do this! We can still take one of them down!"
Hibiki backhanded all three rounds away as she spun about and then launched herself forward, Gungnir's pistons drawing it back.
"Negative." Red Unit's dispassionate voice reiterated. "Withdraw your squad from the AO. This is a direct order. Disciplinary action will be taken should you not comply."
"Fine! Whiskey-November Confirms!" Samantha bit out leaping clean over Hibiki at the very last moment, firing another burst at Miku to drive her back. She chimed into her comms. "SQUAD, WE'RE WITHDRAWING! CAPRICE, SMOKE 'EM!"
"Oh no you don't!" Maria shouted. But Caprice tossed out another series of small black balls toward the charging pinkette. Expecting more mico-explosives, Maria threw herself aside. But instead of exploding, thick smoke boiled out of them, mixing with the Anti-LiNKER gas to produce a seemingly impenetrable red mist. Turning, Caprice detached canisters from her waist and tossed them about. These produced even more smoke until the whole battlefield was blanketed and the adaptors could barely even see their own hands.
Deprived of any vision, most of the adaptors froze, their guard still up and their other senses and instincts scanning for any sign of another attack. Hibiki, not willing to wait, primed Gungnir and punched up, creating a blast of wind that dispersed the smoke in every direction and instantly cleared their view.
The White Noise Squad was gone.
"Is everyone okay?" Maria called out as she lowered Airgetlamh. The adaptors all chorused back their affirmatives. All of them except for Chris that is.
"Dammit!" The gunner shouted instead as she pulled herself out of one of the craters she had been ducking between in her running battle with Voronin, tears stinging the corner of her eyes as she punched at the ground in frustration. "That fucker! Who the hell does he think he is?!"
"Kiri-chan…." Shirabe glanced over at the blonde. "Are… are you sure you're fine."
Kirika stared off in the direction of the Château for a few moments before she finally replied. "I… don't know."
"Hibiki! Are you alright?!" Miku flew down over next to her girlfriend, her face a mask of worry.
"It's fine. It's totally fine!" Hibiki insisted, smiling reassuringly and with a slight blush as Miku closed in to examine the bleeding on her face. "It's just a scratch."
"It's not!" Miku voice became one of matronly concern. "You're all cut up!"
"Ah, Miku! That stings!"
Maria just looked quietly at the spot Caprice last stood at, lost in thought.
Shaking her head, Tsubasa called up headquarters. "HQ, this is Tsubasa… the enemy has retreated."
"We read you Tsubasa. It's not just that 'White Noise Squad'." Ogawa said. "The entire enemy perimeter is contracting. Their soldiers are falling back into the Château. The Self-Defense Force intends to tighten their own perimeter as well and move up to the crater lip."
"Does that mean we should continue with our current mission?" Hibiki asked as Miku gently wiped some of the blood away.
There was a few moments pause, then Ogawa replied. "No. Fall back out of the Anti-LiNKER cloud. We'll send a team out with some neutralizer, get you patched up, and make a new plan with the Self-Defence Force from there."
—
Samantha was able to feel when she crossed beyond the proximity threshold from the Symphogear adaptors. It was a new experience for her, feeling all that power leave her like someone deflating a balloon. If she were in poorer shape, she'd probably feel absolutely exhausted right now. As it was, she felt mildly winded.
Sliding around the field of view of a street camera, she slipped into an alleyway. If the street plan she memorized was correct the fire escape ladder she was supposed to use was… there.
Clambering up the ladder, she was unsurprised to find Jwa and Voronin waiting for her on the building roof, the former guarding the top of the ladder, the latter keeping a surreptitious look-out. The person she was surprised to see already there was Caprice. The Italian was sitting somewhat carelessly on the edge of the roof closest to the Château de Tiffauges.
"Someone is going to see you there, corporal." Samantha said as she pulled herself up to the roof and moved to lean against an air vent. She began to examine her wounded hand.
Caprice waved her hand in Voronin's direction. "The Sergeant says the streets are clear and I'm sure he'll be able to alert me if anyone else shows." She gave the Lieutenant an eager look. "So? Can I blow 'em?"
"Not until I give the order." Samantha said, paying no mind to the subsequent pout. Even through the additional resilience of her suit, the grenade had still managed to cut her hand up. It was nothing serious, but she had some bandages in a stash she had prepared for more serious wounds then this that would do the trick.
"Gowon's turned into the alley." Voronin commented. Indeed, a few seconds later the ladder reverberated again with the clanking of combat boots. The Congolese man hauled himself into view a dozen seconds later. He quickly glanced around at everyone else before before moving to sit against the same air vent Samantha was leaning on.
She nudged him with her foot to get his attention. "You alright? I saw the Tachibana bitch break through your gun with that blow. Sent you flying."
"It hurt." His voice was calm. "But it isn't anything I haven't experienced before. Now please, I want to pray."
They fell silent for a few more minutes, just resting. After a while, Samantha frowned. Darmawan was the slowest and least agile of them, but even he should have been here by now.
"Darmawan is in the alley." Voronin finally said, but the sniper frowned. "He seems a bit worse for the wear then he should be."
Indeed, it sounded like Darmawan had some unusual difficulty getting up the ladder.
"You alright?" Jwa asked, eyeing the man with some concern as he appeared over the top.
"Got a nasty fucking headache about a minute ago." The Indonesian muscle builder muttered, pulling himself up to the rooftop before massaging his temples. "Don't know why."
Samantha frowned. "Were you releasing all your stored phonic gain?"
Damawan shook his head. "No."
"Then that's why. It's backlash from phonic gain build-up." Samantha concluded.
The Indonesian glanced up. "I thought the Apegears eliminated the stress from phonic gain?"
"You skimmed the manual, didn't you?" She glanced around. "Does anyone here want to explain to Darmawan how the Apegears actually function?"
Caprice's hand shot up like she was in a school yard, but Gowon just went ahead and reeled it off from memory. "'Users should be aware that while the APGED does eliminate the need to synchronize with a relic and the strain of using phonic gain absorbed from a Symphogear adaptor, it does not eliminate the strain from excess amounts of phonic gain. Though the physical strain for an APGED user to achieve a given level of phonic gain may be less than that for a Symphogear adaptor, the stress problem is not eliminated entirely. Pale Unit simulations suggests the effects will be most notable in the early encounters between a APGED user and an active Symphogear user, before the body of the APGED is able to physically adjust. Additionally, the greatest backlash is likely to be experienced when the APGED loses a Symphogear's Aufwachen Waveform without the user dispensing with any phonic gain above ordinary background levels, regardless of whether the loss of the waveform is because of the adaptor deactivating their symphogear or the symphogear passing beyond the APGED's effective proximity. Care should be taken to reduce phonic gain levels when retaining current level poses undo risk of self-harm.'" He paused and glanced at Darmawan. "It was on page twelve."
"There you go." Samantha said, ignoring Caprice's huff at being upstaged. "Your Apegear implant reduces the strain from phonic gain compared to a Symphogear, but you still gotta deal with strain. Especially if you don't get rid of your excess phonic gain when leaving the AO."
Samantha's nanosuit link crackled. "This is Red Unit. Whiskey-November-One, all capable White Unit battlegroups have fallen back on Charlie-Delta-Tango. Liquidate the objective. Confirm."
"Whisky-November-One Actual confirms. Liquidating Charlie-Delta-Tango." Samantha replied. "Caprice, time to end the Château's song."
With a whoop of excitement, Caprice shot to her feet and began to tap at the control pad on her arm. She paused after a few seconds and glanced over her shoulder with a wicked grin. "Ready?"
She gave them another moment to brace themselves then pressed one last button.
The question of why the dismantlement of the Château de Tiffauges was so slow was a recurring one in the Japanese media. The reply was always the same: the network of heretical and alchemical technology made it too dangerous. Demolition had to be done manually, piece-by-piece, and only after a given piece had been determined to be safe for destruction. Obviously, this made the process painfully slow.
Thanks to the information provided by Professor-108, this was not an issue for the Four Horsemen. They knew precisely where they should place satchel charges for the desired effect without causing too much excess damage.
The Château vanished in a fireball, the entire night sky momentarily lighting up. Even at this distance, the ground shock was the equivalent of a modest tremor and when the shockwave hit, the noise was deafening. The debris cloud mushroomed skyward, quickly distorting itself. Samantha knew that beneath it, all that remained of the Château de Tiffauges would be an enormous pile of twisted metal and rubble. There would be nothing left of either the staples that had retreated inside of it nor of what they were doing there.
And as a bonus, all of the remaining alchemical technology within was reduced to crushed, melted slag.
"Disperse." Samantha ordered her squad. "Lie low for the standard security period and rendezvous at the safehouse in twenty-four hours."
Sliding around the field of view of a street camera, she slipped into an alleyway. If the street plan she memorized was correct the fire escape ladder she was supposed to use was… there.
Clambering up the ladder, she was unsurprised to find Jwa and Voronin waiting for her on the building roof, the former guarding the top of the ladder, the latter keeping a surreptitious look-out. The person she was surprised to see already there was Caprice. The Italian was sitting somewhat carelessly on the edge of the roof closest to the Château de Tiffauges.
"Someone is going to see you there, corporal." Samantha said as she pulled herself up to the roof and moved to lean against an air vent. She began to examine her wounded hand.
Caprice waved her hand in Voronin's direction. "The Sergeant says the streets are clear and I'm sure he'll be able to alert me if anyone else shows." She gave the Lieutenant an eager look. "So? Can I blow 'em?"
"Not until I give the order." Samantha said, paying no mind to the subsequent pout. Even through the additional resilience of her suit, the grenade had still managed to cut her hand up. It was nothing serious, but she had some bandages in a stash she had prepared for more serious wounds then this that would do the trick.
"Gowon's turned into the alley." Voronin commented. Indeed, a few seconds later the ladder reverberated again with the clanking of combat boots. The Congolese man hauled himself into view a dozen seconds later. He quickly glanced around at everyone else before before moving to sit against the same air vent Samantha was leaning on.
She nudged him with her foot to get his attention. "You alright? I saw the Tachibana bitch break through your gun with that blow. Sent you flying."
"It hurt." His voice was calm. "But it isn't anything I haven't experienced before. Now please, I want to pray."
They fell silent for a few more minutes, just resting. After a while, Samantha frowned. Darmawan was the slowest and least agile of them, but even he should have been here by now.
"Darmawan is in the alley." Voronin finally said, but the sniper frowned. "He seems a bit worse for the wear then he should be."
Indeed, it sounded like Darmawan had some unusual difficulty getting up the ladder.
"You alright?" Jwa asked, eyeing the man with some concern as he appeared over the top.
"Got a nasty fucking headache about a minute ago." The Indonesian muscle builder muttered, pulling himself up to the rooftop before massaging his temples. "Don't know why."
Samantha frowned. "Were you releasing all your stored phonic gain?"
Damawan shook his head. "No."
"Then that's why. It's backlash from phonic gain build-up." Samantha concluded.
The Indonesian glanced up. "I thought the Apegears eliminated the stress from phonic gain?"
"You skimmed the manual, didn't you?" She glanced around. "Does anyone here want to explain to Darmawan how the Apegears actually function?"
Caprice's hand shot up like she was in a school yard, but Gowon just went ahead and reeled it off from memory. "'Users should be aware that while the APGED does eliminate the need to synchronize with a relic and the strain of using phonic gain absorbed from a Symphogear adaptor, it does not eliminate the strain from excess amounts of phonic gain. Though the physical strain for an APGED user to achieve a given level of phonic gain may be less than that for a Symphogear adaptor, the stress problem is not eliminated entirely. Pale Unit simulations suggests the effects will be most notable in the early encounters between a APGED user and an active Symphogear user, before the body of the APGED is able to physically adjust. Additionally, the greatest backlash is likely to be experienced when the APGED loses a Symphogear's Aufwachen Waveform without the user dispensing with any phonic gain above ordinary background levels, regardless of whether the loss of the waveform is because of the adaptor deactivating their symphogear or the symphogear passing beyond the APGED's effective proximity. Care should be taken to reduce phonic gain levels when retaining current level poses undo risk of self-harm.'" He paused and glanced at Darmawan. "It was on page twelve."
"There you go." Samantha said, ignoring Caprice's huff at being upstaged. "Your Apegear implant reduces the strain from phonic gain compared to a Symphogear, but you still gotta deal with strain. Especially if you don't get rid of your excess phonic gain when leaving the AO."
Samantha's nanosuit link crackled. "This is Red Unit. Whiskey-November-One, all capable White Unit battlegroups have fallen back on Charlie-Delta-Tango. Liquidate the objective. Confirm."
"Whisky-November-One Actual confirms. Liquidating Charlie-Delta-Tango." Samantha replied. "Caprice, time to end the Château's song."
With a whoop of excitement, Caprice shot to her feet and began to tap at the control pad on her arm. She paused after a few seconds and glanced over her shoulder with a wicked grin. "Ready?"
She gave them another moment to brace themselves then pressed one last button.
The question of why the dismantlement of the Château de Tiffauges was so slow was a recurring one in the Japanese media. The reply was always the same: the network of heretical and alchemical technology made it too dangerous. Demolition had to be done manually, piece-by-piece, and only after a given piece had been determined to be safe for destruction. Obviously, this made the process painfully slow.
Thanks to the information provided by Professor-108, this was not an issue for the Four Horsemen. They knew precisely where they should place satchel charges for the desired effect without causing too much excess damage.
The Château vanished in a fireball, the entire night sky momentarily lighting up. Even at this distance, the ground shock was the equivalent of a modest tremor and when the shockwave hit, the noise was deafening. The debris cloud mushroomed skyward, quickly distorting itself. Samantha knew that beneath it, all that remained of the Château de Tiffauges would be an enormous pile of twisted metal and rubble. There would be nothing left of either the staples that had retreated inside of it nor of what they were doing there.
And as a bonus, all of the remaining alchemical technology within was reduced to crushed, melted slag.
"Disperse." Samantha ordered her squad. "Lie low for the standard security period and rendezvous at the safehouse in twenty-four hours."
----
The adaptors had been a fair bit closer to the Château, awaiting the JSDF and SONG team, when it exploded. At that distance the shockwave had practically bowled them over. When they joined with the JSDF a few hours later to assault the, now somewhat enlarged, Château crater the result had been anticlimactic. All of the enemy soldiers that had not managed to retreat within the Château before it exploded had taken their own lives.
In the end, all the adaptors had to show for their first real fight with the Four Horsemen was an annihilated relic and a pile of dead bodies. The only comfort they could take was that none of the deaths were their own fault: all of the soldiers had been killed by their own side. And they might not even have been as human as their biological appearance suggested based on their behavior during the fight.
On the helicopter back to headquarters, Maria slept with only minimal trouble. The same couldn't be said for Kirika. The blonde was absently staring out the window, Shirabe resting her head in slumber against her shoulder. Her thoughts turning over what the Indonesian man had said.
"Kiri-chan?" Shirabe asked suddenly.
"Hm?"
"Can you sleep?"
Kirika sighed. "No."
"Me neither." Shirabe's eyes slid open, but she did not move from her position. "I keep thinking about what he said. About my grandfather."
"Do you really think what he said was true?" Kirika wondered. "Do they really know about our past?"
Shirabe was silent for a few moments. "I don't know." She finally replied. "They seemed to know a lot about us, and Ogawa told us they think they have the relic of Sefer HaChaim, which is supposed to have a record of everything. But from what they say, they seem to dislike relics and want them all destroyed. So why would they use one?"
The conversation lapsed at that as both adaptors continued to mull over the issue. For awhile, the only sound was the steady drone of the helicopter engines.
"Kiri-chan?" Shirabe finally asked.
"Hm?" Kirika felt Shirabe's left hand lay on her own right one and moved to hold it.
When Shirabe spoke again, her voice was filled with a level of distress Kirika hadn't heard since the Frontier Incident. "W-when he asked you whether you had told me about a suicide note, what did he mean?"
Kirika's blood froze. She had almost forgotten the man they fought had mentioned that.
"Shirabe, I-" She couldn't figure out what to say next. Words failed her, an unusual situation for someone as talkative as Kirika. How was she supposed to explain the suicide note she had written back when she thought Finé was going to obliterate her soul? How was she supposed to explain why she still kept it around? How was she supposed to explain those moments when she felt so worthless compared to everyone else that she would contemplate whether it would be better if she was dead? How was she supposed to explain the reason for that feeling when Shirabe seemed so untroubled by her own lack of a past?
After a long silence where Kirika just sat there, staring at the floor, feeling unable to meet the eyes of her girlfriend in shame, Shirabe finally sighed. Gently, she sat up and turned to Kirika, although she didn't break their handhold as she did so. "Okay, Kiri-chan, it's okay. I can wait until you find the words to tell me. But until then..."
With her free hand Shirabe reached up and cupped Kirika's chin, gently turning her girlfriend's head so their eyes had to meet. "... please promise me that you won't leave me. Please promise me that you won't do something… something that rash. And please promise me that you will tell me when you're ready."
Kirika couldn't remember the last time she had seen Shirabe so close to tears before. How else could she respond to that? Reaching up, she took Shirabe's free hand and then clasped both of them together. "I promise. From the bottom of my heart."
Then she leaned in and sealed her promise with a kiss. It held for a moment, two moments, thre-
The abrupt rocking of the helicopter as it began to descend for landing broke them apart. It also roused Maria from her slumber. Stretching her arms, the redhead lolled her head side-side as she sat up, trying to work out the knots in her neck. "These seats… aren't very good for sleeping in." She looked over at Kirika and Shirabe. They were still sitting side-by-side but were facing forward again and returned to only holding a single hand, a light blush on their faces. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes!" Kirika said quickly. "Everything is fine!" She hoped the strain in her smile wasn't too obvious.
In the end, all the adaptors had to show for their first real fight with the Four Horsemen was an annihilated relic and a pile of dead bodies. The only comfort they could take was that none of the deaths were their own fault: all of the soldiers had been killed by their own side. And they might not even have been as human as their biological appearance suggested based on their behavior during the fight.
On the helicopter back to headquarters, Maria slept with only minimal trouble. The same couldn't be said for Kirika. The blonde was absently staring out the window, Shirabe resting her head in slumber against her shoulder. Her thoughts turning over what the Indonesian man had said.
"Kiri-chan?" Shirabe asked suddenly.
"Hm?"
"Can you sleep?"
Kirika sighed. "No."
"Me neither." Shirabe's eyes slid open, but she did not move from her position. "I keep thinking about what he said. About my grandfather."
"Do you really think what he said was true?" Kirika wondered. "Do they really know about our past?"
Shirabe was silent for a few moments. "I don't know." She finally replied. "They seemed to know a lot about us, and Ogawa told us they think they have the relic of Sefer HaChaim, which is supposed to have a record of everything. But from what they say, they seem to dislike relics and want them all destroyed. So why would they use one?"
The conversation lapsed at that as both adaptors continued to mull over the issue. For awhile, the only sound was the steady drone of the helicopter engines.
"Kiri-chan?" Shirabe finally asked.
"Hm?" Kirika felt Shirabe's left hand lay on her own right one and moved to hold it.
When Shirabe spoke again, her voice was filled with a level of distress Kirika hadn't heard since the Frontier Incident. "W-when he asked you whether you had told me about a suicide note, what did he mean?"
Kirika's blood froze. She had almost forgotten the man they fought had mentioned that.
"Shirabe, I-" She couldn't figure out what to say next. Words failed her, an unusual situation for someone as talkative as Kirika. How was she supposed to explain the suicide note she had written back when she thought Finé was going to obliterate her soul? How was she supposed to explain why she still kept it around? How was she supposed to explain those moments when she felt so worthless compared to everyone else that she would contemplate whether it would be better if she was dead? How was she supposed to explain the reason for that feeling when Shirabe seemed so untroubled by her own lack of a past?
After a long silence where Kirika just sat there, staring at the floor, feeling unable to meet the eyes of her girlfriend in shame, Shirabe finally sighed. Gently, she sat up and turned to Kirika, although she didn't break their handhold as she did so. "Okay, Kiri-chan, it's okay. I can wait until you find the words to tell me. But until then..."
With her free hand Shirabe reached up and cupped Kirika's chin, gently turning her girlfriend's head so their eyes had to meet. "... please promise me that you won't leave me. Please promise me that you won't do something… something that rash. And please promise me that you will tell me when you're ready."
Kirika couldn't remember the last time she had seen Shirabe so close to tears before. How else could she respond to that? Reaching up, she took Shirabe's free hand and then clasped both of them together. "I promise. From the bottom of my heart."
Then she leaned in and sealed her promise with a kiss. It held for a moment, two moments, thre-
The abrupt rocking of the helicopter as it began to descend for landing broke them apart. It also roused Maria from her slumber. Stretching her arms, the redhead lolled her head side-side as she sat up, trying to work out the knots in her neck. "These seats… aren't very good for sleeping in." She looked over at Kirika and Shirabe. They were still sitting side-by-side but were facing forward again and returned to only holding a single hand, a light blush on their faces. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes!" Kirika said quickly. "Everything is fine!" She hoped the strain in her smile wasn't too obvious.
—
"The Self-Defense Forces have recovered the wreckage of both the attack VTOLs and a few air superiority fighters they managed to shoot down during the air battle. As they have only just been recovered, all they have confirmed so far is that the aircraft were indeed unmanned and their designs do not match any known aircraft either in service or development." Tomasoto concluded her part of the debrief. "They have agreed to keep us apprised of what they learn."
"What about those soldiers?" Shirabe asked.
"Yeah!" Chris jumped in. "There's no way those guys were human!"
"The initial autopsies from the Self-Defence Forces say otherwise, but there hasn't been time for more detailed testing on the bodies they managed to recover." Tomasoto admitted. "Again, the Self-Defence Force has agreed to inform us when they learn more."
She nodded to Fujitaka, who cleared away the images of aircraft wreckage and recovered corpses of the Four Horsemen's soldiers.
"We have identified all the members of the so-called 'White Noise Squad'." He began.
First, the photographs of Samantha and Voronin the adaptors had already seen appeared on the screen.
"You are already familiar with Lieutenant Samantha Acampora and Sargent Kir Voronin." Fujitaka quickly noted. Their images shrunk down and folded into a row at the top of the screen. Replacing it was an image of Caprice. Whereas Samantha and Voronin's pictures had them appearing at least reasonably professional, the blonde wasn't making any effort to do so in her own image. Instead she was giving the camera a wide grin with a flirtatious wink.
"Corporal Caprice Calcaterra." Fujitaka said. "A former bomb maker for the FAI, an Italian anarchist terrorist group. Her skills with explosives were described as 'immaculate' by Italian reports. She was arrested a year ago and was granted a plea deal in which she testified against other members of her cell in exchange for being forced to serve in the army as a demolitions expert, mainly working in bomb defusal, instead of prison. She was reportedly disgruntled with the work, saying it was boring. She disappeared around two months ago." His voice became dry. "The Italian Government already has a warrant out for her arrest for violation of parole."
Caprice's image shrunk, slid up, and slotted into the row up top after Voronin. It was replaced by Darmawan.
"Timoty Darmawan." Fujitaka continued. "A Indonesian bodyguard-for-hire. Reportedly obsessed with strength training and building muscle. He has been missing for three months. In terms of raw physical power, he is considered the world's strongest man, but he never showed much aptitude for combat." Fujitaka frowned. "Until today, that is."
Darmawan's image slid upwards to join the other three of the White Noise Squad. Gowon's took its place. Unlike the others, Gowon was visibly younger in his picture and seemed to blankly stare into the camera.
"Mwikiza Gowon." Fujitaka identified. "A former child soldier from the Congo who appears to have earned quite a reputation. Opponents of the militia he was in referred to him as 'the Monster' and were uniformly quite terrified of him. About two years ago, he fell in with an American Evangelical Christian mission and appeared to have abandoned combat for a life of religious devotion. According to the missionaries, they said there were clear indications he had suffered considerable abuse during his time in the militia."
At that, Chris pulled her attention away from giving Voronin's image the evil eye. She examined the younger Gowon's face closely. There was something oddly familiar about his gaze. Then it clicked: she had looked like that once, when the UN rescue team had found her in the hands of people who didn't even pretend to care like Finé did.
Except Gowon's thousand yard stare looked worse, so much worse.
Unaware of Chris's epiphany, Fujitaka carried on. "He disappeared about a month ago. Unlike the others, he appears to have discussed his reasons for leaving. The missionaries that had been taking care of him say he came to them before he left. He claimed to have received an epiphany from God, that he had something to do, and that he wouldn't be coming back."
Gowon's image slid away to the top and the last member of the White Noise Squad appeared in its place. Jwa Ji-Eun's image looked just as professional as Darmawan, Voronin, and Samantha's.
"Jwa Ji-Eun." Fujitaka said. "A Korean spy-for-hire with a reputation for ruthlessness. She's worked as an assassin and double-agent on both sides of the thirty-eighth parallel." He gave a side glance at Ogawa. "Otherwise, we don't have much information about her."
Tsubasa also glanced over at Ogawa. The acting-commander of SONG had adopted an extremely inscrutable expression. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Alright." Chris said. "So that's who these guys are. Now what I want to know is how the hell were they able to use phonic gain?"
Elfnein spoke up at that. "We don't know for sure, but I have an idea."
The pictures vanished and in their place appeared two sets of bar graphs. The one on the left was labelled "adaptors" and the one on the right was labelled "WNS", the names of each individual in the two groups immediately under their respective bar. The bars for the adaptors varied considerably from each name, with Hibiki's as the highest and Kirika and Shirabe as the lowest. The bars for the White Noise Squad members, on the other hand, were each the same size.
"These were the maximum levels of phonic gain we tracked during the battle on both sides." Elfnein continued.
Hibiki immediately identified the most obvious. "All of the White Noise are identical."
Elfnein nodded. "Yes. I noticed it immediately, but by itself that didn't tell me much. What else?"
The adaptors continued to scrutinize the two graphs for a little while. "They're higher than us." Miku finally said. "No… wait, the graph for Hibiki is a perfect match."
"Good insight." Elfnein replied. "But I think it's less that Hibiki managed to match them, and more of them managing to match her. The biggest clue for me, however, is that matching her was the most they ever managed. They never exceeded Hibiki's phonic gain levels."
"So…" Kirika was scratching her head. "That means what, exactly?" She paused for a moment. "I mean, besides that they can never outdo Hibiki."
"It's speculative, but I think that's because it's as much as they could get." Elfnein elaborated. "I mean, if you had the choice between taking 200 yen or 2000 yen, it's not really a choice is it?"
"You're saying they were stealing the phonic gain Tachibana was emitting and using it themselves, not generating it." Tsubasa said in realization. "That would explain why you didn't detect any signal that would indicate something generating phonic gain generation. The thing generating the phonic gain was us."
The other adaptors eyes all widened. "You can do that?" Maria asked.
"Apparently so." Elfnein nodded. "The parts of the Symphogear that deal with transmitting phonic gain to the armor are purely high technological and are quite replicable. Ordinarily, such components would be useless without a relic to synchronize with and generate the phonic gain but, if I'm right, this new device basically side steps that issue so long as its user is close enough to an active symphogear adaptor."
"Do you think you could create such a device?" Ogawa asked.
"Well, there are two challenges." Elfnein furrowed her brow in thought. "First, I'd have to figure out how they capture ambient phonic gain. The second is how they bypass the need for relic armor and transmit it directly to the body. The lack of any relic, alchemical, or outer physics signatures suggests it's likely high technology in both cases, so we shouldn't have much problems replicating it if we figure that out. Perhaps the capture parts are based on similar technology to what we use to detect phonic gain? If I had the parts from the device to study, or better yet a blueprint, I could say for sure rather quickly. Otherwise, it may take months of research and reviewing our equipment before I could even give you an estimate on production time. Of course, if I'm right, the resulting device would still be unable to do things like produce an armed gear or use special abilities. We'd just be looking at improvements in the body of a user's physical capabilities."
"Well, we've seen the Four Horsemen's solution to that problem." Fujitaka noted. "They have recruited some of the most capable human beings on the planet. I'd hate to face any one of these people even if they didn't have the same level of physical capabilities as a Symphogear adaptor with an activated gear. If the data we gathered from the battle is correct, they can even channel their phonic gain into the mundane weapons they used, which is why they were so much more effective and durable than the same weapons used by the regular soldiers."
"I wouldn't characterize that sword Jwa used as a mundane weapon." Tsubasa observed. "At least no more so than my grandfather's Ame no Murakumo. Speaking of Jwa..." She turned sharply to look at Ogawa. "Ogawa, what else do you know about her?"
Ogawa blinked then gave a sad smile that didn't seem to reach his tired eyes. "So you noticed, huh?"
"That, and she outright told me." Tsubasa added, remembering what she said. "She mentioned something called Sinwon-Up. What is that?"
"My clan's greatest shame." Ogawa sighed. "We… don't like to talk about it with outsiders. It isn't something we take pride in."
"To hell with pride, we're apparently having to deal with this bitch because of it!" Chris snapped. "Come on, spill it."
Ogawa sighed again, rubbing his temple. "I suppose so. I was hoping to hear from my brother that he got approval from the elders to cooperate, but according to him, they've been dragging their feet. With this confirmation that it is the Jwa, I'm sure even they will come around."
The adaptors wanted to almost lean forward in anticipation. Even the bridge staff stopped working at their computers and turned to listen.
"Today, Sinwon-Up is a small town in Korea, lying just north of the Thirty-Eighth Parallel." Ogawa began. "Back then, it wasn't a town or even a village. More like a hamlet. The Jwa family lived there. The family considered themselves scholars in the Confucian tradition, and they used their knowledge to serve the locals as teachers and doctors and to dispense advice on all sorts of matters. They weren't politicians or anything like that, but they were held in high esteem by the community."
"One day, in nineteen-thirty-four, some Korean nationalists who opposed the Japanese control over their country came to the head of the Jwa family and asked for refuge. We don't know whether the Jwa family's head was actually sympathetic to the Korean independence movement or whether he allowed them to stay out of pity for the condition they were in. We don't even know whether he was even aware that they were Korean nationalists when he first took them in."
Ogawa sighed sadly. "An Imperial Army unit assigned to hunt down the nationalists found out. The commander of the unit was my great-great-great-uncle." Ogawa suddenly looked down. The adaptors abruptly realized that he couldn't me their eyes. "When the Jwa family head tried to plead for mercy on behalf of the nationalists, he ordered the entire family massacred."
Maria and Miku gasped. Kirika and Shirabe's mouths fell open in surprise. Even Tsubasa looked taken aback for a moment. She had never considered that the Ogawa family might have had someone like that. But then, her own family had her grandfather after all...
'According to Jwa, you'll wind up exactly the same.' A nasty little voice whispered at her. She wanted to scowl at it. 'Never.' Tsubasa thought back. She'd rather die than wind up like that old monster.
"Only two of the Jwa's family children managed to escape the massacre." Ogawa continued. "And they managed to do so with the family treasure: the Yeonggwangchamsageum or Evil-Slicing Blade of the Dragon's Light. It was a gift to the family by Buddhist monks whom they had assisted in medieval times."
Tsubasa thought of the sword Ji-Eun had used.
"What happened next is less clear but it appears that the two children swore some sort of oath of vengeance upon the Ogawa family." Ogawa concluded. "They have passed down this vendetta through the generations and have sought work as assassins and spies in order to obtain the skills to carry it out. Our clan has been effectively at war with them ever since."
"So, Ji-Eun's personal reason is to fulfill her family's vendetta against Ogawa." Hibiki muttered.
Ogawa nodded. "Though they try to kill us whenever we meet, Jwa family members have only ever used the Yeonggwanggeum when specifically on missions that they know will see them encounter at least one of my clan. What's more, for a family member to carry the Yeonggwanggeum, they must have permission from both the northern and southern branches of the Jwa family. If Ji-Eun is wielding it, then the Jwa family have likely allied themselves with the Four Horsemen to enact their vendetta against my family."
"Allied?" Kirika sounded sick. "You mean like, they help the Four Horsemen kill us, and in return the Four Horsemen help the Jwa kill your family."
Ogawa just nodded.
"Oh, great." Chris groaned. "So in addition to freaky fanatical military types, we also have to fight… Korean ninjas? Is there a specific term for a Korean ninja?"
Tsubasa remained silent, simply recalling the words Jwa said to her that sounded so similar to what she had once said to Ogawa over two years ago.
"Regardless, it is simply another challenge we will have to deal with." Ogawa said. "And we won't be alone in it. Like I said, this news should convince my clan to offer active support. And speaking of challenges," He looked at Elfnein. "What can you tell us about the new formula of Anti-LiNKER they used?"
"From the samples I extracted during the medical exam, it's superior to Dr Ver's formula in practically every way." Elfnein said, bringing up comparative pictures of each variant of the chemical compound. Even with no knowledge of chemistry, the difference in complexity and sophistication between the more and less potent formulas was quite stark. "It's more potent, longer lasting, faster acting, and heavier than air, so it is more persistent in a given region. Our current formula of neutralizer is barely able to flush it from your bodies."
"I was wondering why the gas didn't seem to be rising." Maria observed.
"It was a big hindrance, having to drop combinations." Tsubasa ainoted. "The loss of Amalgam in particular cost us what was probably a key advantage. It seems like it would work best based on what you said about the White Noise's own… copy-gear, maybe?" She frowned. "We need a good name for it."
Chris waved her hand dismissively. "We can figure that out later. Better question is what can we do to get it back."
"It won't be easy." Elfnein admitted. "Dealing with the Anti-LiNKER somehow is the only viable option. There isn't much point administering neutralizer if you're in the gas cloud, since you'd just be immediately exposed again and the quantities of LiNKER, at least of the sort we have, we would need to inject to counteract the effects would probably kill you. What we need isn't a chemical agonist, which is what LiNKER and Anti-LiNKER are, but a chemical antagonist. Something which blocks Anti-LiNKER from working altogether." She sighed. "That will… be difficult, particularly against something this potent."
"Well, with this attack we should be able to free some resources up to work on it, so we should get started on it." Ogawa said. He knew that such an overt and powerful attack by a hostile, regiment-sized military force in the heart of Japan would spur the Japanese Government to throw the full weight of its own intelligence apparatus behind helping SONG investigate the Four Horsemen. Enlisting American support was also a definite possibility. And if they were real lucky, other countries would join in as well.
Elfnein nodded, already starting to rise to her feet. "Alright, I'll go over to the lab to-"
She interrupted herself with a massive yawn, reminding everyone as to how late it was.
"Maybe in the morning." Ogawa revised. "We need to get some sleep. Fujitaka, you still have the night shift?" God knows, he'd have to get some rest before discussing this with the Security Council representatives.
He shrugged. "I was the one scheduled for it."
Ogawa looked over at the girls. "We'll arrange some cars to take you home. Get some rest for the weekend, we'll handle things here."
"What about those soldiers?" Shirabe asked.
"Yeah!" Chris jumped in. "There's no way those guys were human!"
"The initial autopsies from the Self-Defence Forces say otherwise, but there hasn't been time for more detailed testing on the bodies they managed to recover." Tomasoto admitted. "Again, the Self-Defence Force has agreed to inform us when they learn more."
She nodded to Fujitaka, who cleared away the images of aircraft wreckage and recovered corpses of the Four Horsemen's soldiers.
"We have identified all the members of the so-called 'White Noise Squad'." He began.
First, the photographs of Samantha and Voronin the adaptors had already seen appeared on the screen.
"You are already familiar with Lieutenant Samantha Acampora and Sargent Kir Voronin." Fujitaka quickly noted. Their images shrunk down and folded into a row at the top of the screen. Replacing it was an image of Caprice. Whereas Samantha and Voronin's pictures had them appearing at least reasonably professional, the blonde wasn't making any effort to do so in her own image. Instead she was giving the camera a wide grin with a flirtatious wink.
"Corporal Caprice Calcaterra." Fujitaka said. "A former bomb maker for the FAI, an Italian anarchist terrorist group. Her skills with explosives were described as 'immaculate' by Italian reports. She was arrested a year ago and was granted a plea deal in which she testified against other members of her cell in exchange for being forced to serve in the army as a demolitions expert, mainly working in bomb defusal, instead of prison. She was reportedly disgruntled with the work, saying it was boring. She disappeared around two months ago." His voice became dry. "The Italian Government already has a warrant out for her arrest for violation of parole."
Caprice's image shrunk, slid up, and slotted into the row up top after Voronin. It was replaced by Darmawan.
"Timoty Darmawan." Fujitaka continued. "A Indonesian bodyguard-for-hire. Reportedly obsessed with strength training and building muscle. He has been missing for three months. In terms of raw physical power, he is considered the world's strongest man, but he never showed much aptitude for combat." Fujitaka frowned. "Until today, that is."
Darmawan's image slid upwards to join the other three of the White Noise Squad. Gowon's took its place. Unlike the others, Gowon was visibly younger in his picture and seemed to blankly stare into the camera.
"Mwikiza Gowon." Fujitaka identified. "A former child soldier from the Congo who appears to have earned quite a reputation. Opponents of the militia he was in referred to him as 'the Monster' and were uniformly quite terrified of him. About two years ago, he fell in with an American Evangelical Christian mission and appeared to have abandoned combat for a life of religious devotion. According to the missionaries, they said there were clear indications he had suffered considerable abuse during his time in the militia."
At that, Chris pulled her attention away from giving Voronin's image the evil eye. She examined the younger Gowon's face closely. There was something oddly familiar about his gaze. Then it clicked: she had looked like that once, when the UN rescue team had found her in the hands of people who didn't even pretend to care like Finé did.
Except Gowon's thousand yard stare looked worse, so much worse.
Unaware of Chris's epiphany, Fujitaka carried on. "He disappeared about a month ago. Unlike the others, he appears to have discussed his reasons for leaving. The missionaries that had been taking care of him say he came to them before he left. He claimed to have received an epiphany from God, that he had something to do, and that he wouldn't be coming back."
Gowon's image slid away to the top and the last member of the White Noise Squad appeared in its place. Jwa Ji-Eun's image looked just as professional as Darmawan, Voronin, and Samantha's.
"Jwa Ji-Eun." Fujitaka said. "A Korean spy-for-hire with a reputation for ruthlessness. She's worked as an assassin and double-agent on both sides of the thirty-eighth parallel." He gave a side glance at Ogawa. "Otherwise, we don't have much information about her."
Tsubasa also glanced over at Ogawa. The acting-commander of SONG had adopted an extremely inscrutable expression. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Alright." Chris said. "So that's who these guys are. Now what I want to know is how the hell were they able to use phonic gain?"
Elfnein spoke up at that. "We don't know for sure, but I have an idea."
The pictures vanished and in their place appeared two sets of bar graphs. The one on the left was labelled "adaptors" and the one on the right was labelled "WNS", the names of each individual in the two groups immediately under their respective bar. The bars for the adaptors varied considerably from each name, with Hibiki's as the highest and Kirika and Shirabe as the lowest. The bars for the White Noise Squad members, on the other hand, were each the same size.
"These were the maximum levels of phonic gain we tracked during the battle on both sides." Elfnein continued.
Hibiki immediately identified the most obvious. "All of the White Noise are identical."
Elfnein nodded. "Yes. I noticed it immediately, but by itself that didn't tell me much. What else?"
The adaptors continued to scrutinize the two graphs for a little while. "They're higher than us." Miku finally said. "No… wait, the graph for Hibiki is a perfect match."
"Good insight." Elfnein replied. "But I think it's less that Hibiki managed to match them, and more of them managing to match her. The biggest clue for me, however, is that matching her was the most they ever managed. They never exceeded Hibiki's phonic gain levels."
"So…" Kirika was scratching her head. "That means what, exactly?" She paused for a moment. "I mean, besides that they can never outdo Hibiki."
"It's speculative, but I think that's because it's as much as they could get." Elfnein elaborated. "I mean, if you had the choice between taking 200 yen or 2000 yen, it's not really a choice is it?"
"You're saying they were stealing the phonic gain Tachibana was emitting and using it themselves, not generating it." Tsubasa said in realization. "That would explain why you didn't detect any signal that would indicate something generating phonic gain generation. The thing generating the phonic gain was us."
The other adaptors eyes all widened. "You can do that?" Maria asked.
"Apparently so." Elfnein nodded. "The parts of the Symphogear that deal with transmitting phonic gain to the armor are purely high technological and are quite replicable. Ordinarily, such components would be useless without a relic to synchronize with and generate the phonic gain but, if I'm right, this new device basically side steps that issue so long as its user is close enough to an active symphogear adaptor."
"Do you think you could create such a device?" Ogawa asked.
"Well, there are two challenges." Elfnein furrowed her brow in thought. "First, I'd have to figure out how they capture ambient phonic gain. The second is how they bypass the need for relic armor and transmit it directly to the body. The lack of any relic, alchemical, or outer physics signatures suggests it's likely high technology in both cases, so we shouldn't have much problems replicating it if we figure that out. Perhaps the capture parts are based on similar technology to what we use to detect phonic gain? If I had the parts from the device to study, or better yet a blueprint, I could say for sure rather quickly. Otherwise, it may take months of research and reviewing our equipment before I could even give you an estimate on production time. Of course, if I'm right, the resulting device would still be unable to do things like produce an armed gear or use special abilities. We'd just be looking at improvements in the body of a user's physical capabilities."
"Well, we've seen the Four Horsemen's solution to that problem." Fujitaka noted. "They have recruited some of the most capable human beings on the planet. I'd hate to face any one of these people even if they didn't have the same level of physical capabilities as a Symphogear adaptor with an activated gear. If the data we gathered from the battle is correct, they can even channel their phonic gain into the mundane weapons they used, which is why they were so much more effective and durable than the same weapons used by the regular soldiers."
"I wouldn't characterize that sword Jwa used as a mundane weapon." Tsubasa observed. "At least no more so than my grandfather's Ame no Murakumo. Speaking of Jwa..." She turned sharply to look at Ogawa. "Ogawa, what else do you know about her?"
Ogawa blinked then gave a sad smile that didn't seem to reach his tired eyes. "So you noticed, huh?"
"That, and she outright told me." Tsubasa added, remembering what she said. "She mentioned something called Sinwon-Up. What is that?"
"My clan's greatest shame." Ogawa sighed. "We… don't like to talk about it with outsiders. It isn't something we take pride in."
"To hell with pride, we're apparently having to deal with this bitch because of it!" Chris snapped. "Come on, spill it."
Ogawa sighed again, rubbing his temple. "I suppose so. I was hoping to hear from my brother that he got approval from the elders to cooperate, but according to him, they've been dragging their feet. With this confirmation that it is the Jwa, I'm sure even they will come around."
The adaptors wanted to almost lean forward in anticipation. Even the bridge staff stopped working at their computers and turned to listen.
"Today, Sinwon-Up is a small town in Korea, lying just north of the Thirty-Eighth Parallel." Ogawa began. "Back then, it wasn't a town or even a village. More like a hamlet. The Jwa family lived there. The family considered themselves scholars in the Confucian tradition, and they used their knowledge to serve the locals as teachers and doctors and to dispense advice on all sorts of matters. They weren't politicians or anything like that, but they were held in high esteem by the community."
"One day, in nineteen-thirty-four, some Korean nationalists who opposed the Japanese control over their country came to the head of the Jwa family and asked for refuge. We don't know whether the Jwa family's head was actually sympathetic to the Korean independence movement or whether he allowed them to stay out of pity for the condition they were in. We don't even know whether he was even aware that they were Korean nationalists when he first took them in."
Ogawa sighed sadly. "An Imperial Army unit assigned to hunt down the nationalists found out. The commander of the unit was my great-great-great-uncle." Ogawa suddenly looked down. The adaptors abruptly realized that he couldn't me their eyes. "When the Jwa family head tried to plead for mercy on behalf of the nationalists, he ordered the entire family massacred."
Maria and Miku gasped. Kirika and Shirabe's mouths fell open in surprise. Even Tsubasa looked taken aback for a moment. She had never considered that the Ogawa family might have had someone like that. But then, her own family had her grandfather after all...
'According to Jwa, you'll wind up exactly the same.' A nasty little voice whispered at her. She wanted to scowl at it. 'Never.' Tsubasa thought back. She'd rather die than wind up like that old monster.
"Only two of the Jwa's family children managed to escape the massacre." Ogawa continued. "And they managed to do so with the family treasure: the Yeonggwangchamsageum or Evil-Slicing Blade of the Dragon's Light. It was a gift to the family by Buddhist monks whom they had assisted in medieval times."
Tsubasa thought of the sword Ji-Eun had used.
"What happened next is less clear but it appears that the two children swore some sort of oath of vengeance upon the Ogawa family." Ogawa concluded. "They have passed down this vendetta through the generations and have sought work as assassins and spies in order to obtain the skills to carry it out. Our clan has been effectively at war with them ever since."
"So, Ji-Eun's personal reason is to fulfill her family's vendetta against Ogawa." Hibiki muttered.
Ogawa nodded. "Though they try to kill us whenever we meet, Jwa family members have only ever used the Yeonggwanggeum when specifically on missions that they know will see them encounter at least one of my clan. What's more, for a family member to carry the Yeonggwanggeum, they must have permission from both the northern and southern branches of the Jwa family. If Ji-Eun is wielding it, then the Jwa family have likely allied themselves with the Four Horsemen to enact their vendetta against my family."
"Allied?" Kirika sounded sick. "You mean like, they help the Four Horsemen kill us, and in return the Four Horsemen help the Jwa kill your family."
Ogawa just nodded.
"Oh, great." Chris groaned. "So in addition to freaky fanatical military types, we also have to fight… Korean ninjas? Is there a specific term for a Korean ninja?"
Tsubasa remained silent, simply recalling the words Jwa said to her that sounded so similar to what she had once said to Ogawa over two years ago.
"Regardless, it is simply another challenge we will have to deal with." Ogawa said. "And we won't be alone in it. Like I said, this news should convince my clan to offer active support. And speaking of challenges," He looked at Elfnein. "What can you tell us about the new formula of Anti-LiNKER they used?"
"From the samples I extracted during the medical exam, it's superior to Dr Ver's formula in practically every way." Elfnein said, bringing up comparative pictures of each variant of the chemical compound. Even with no knowledge of chemistry, the difference in complexity and sophistication between the more and less potent formulas was quite stark. "It's more potent, longer lasting, faster acting, and heavier than air, so it is more persistent in a given region. Our current formula of neutralizer is barely able to flush it from your bodies."
"I was wondering why the gas didn't seem to be rising." Maria observed.
"It was a big hindrance, having to drop combinations." Tsubasa ainoted. "The loss of Amalgam in particular cost us what was probably a key advantage. It seems like it would work best based on what you said about the White Noise's own… copy-gear, maybe?" She frowned. "We need a good name for it."
Chris waved her hand dismissively. "We can figure that out later. Better question is what can we do to get it back."
"It won't be easy." Elfnein admitted. "Dealing with the Anti-LiNKER somehow is the only viable option. There isn't much point administering neutralizer if you're in the gas cloud, since you'd just be immediately exposed again and the quantities of LiNKER, at least of the sort we have, we would need to inject to counteract the effects would probably kill you. What we need isn't a chemical agonist, which is what LiNKER and Anti-LiNKER are, but a chemical antagonist. Something which blocks Anti-LiNKER from working altogether." She sighed. "That will… be difficult, particularly against something this potent."
"Well, with this attack we should be able to free some resources up to work on it, so we should get started on it." Ogawa said. He knew that such an overt and powerful attack by a hostile, regiment-sized military force in the heart of Japan would spur the Japanese Government to throw the full weight of its own intelligence apparatus behind helping SONG investigate the Four Horsemen. Enlisting American support was also a definite possibility. And if they were real lucky, other countries would join in as well.
Elfnein nodded, already starting to rise to her feet. "Alright, I'll go over to the lab to-"
She interrupted herself with a massive yawn, reminding everyone as to how late it was.
"Maybe in the morning." Ogawa revised. "We need to get some sleep. Fujitaka, you still have the night shift?" God knows, he'd have to get some rest before discussing this with the Security Council representatives.
He shrugged. "I was the one scheduled for it."
Ogawa looked over at the girls. "We'll arrange some cars to take you home. Get some rest for the weekend, we'll handle things here."
—
Ogawa turned in just thirty minutes later, determined to get some sleep. It seemed like he had only just drifted off when he was abruptly awoken again by the intercom to his room from the bridge ringing. The abrupt awakening left him uncharacteristically disoriented at first until he squinted over at the clock and groaned. He had barely begun to enter deep sleep. Swinging around, he managed to find the reply button.
"Acting-Commander Ogawa." He managed to blurble out. Being interrupted in the middle of the REM cycle was doing him no favors at all. If not for his ninja training, he'd probably have been even more incoherent for longer.
"Ogawa." Fujitaka's voice spilled back out quickly. "I'm sorry to call you again so soon but… well… it's the news. They're reporting… well, they're reporting on everything."
"Everything?" In his sleep deprived state, Ogawa didn't quite exactly grasp the implications of the statement at first.
"Yes sir, I mean everything." Fujitaki said, as panic crept into his voice. "Detailed reports on all major incidents, SONG's connection to the Kazanari Foundation, and even all of the girls' identities and backgrounds have been leaked to the press. It's international news at this point!"
That woke Ogawa up. 'We've been exposed.' He realized. Then he did something really uncharacteristic, even if it wasn't out loud. 'Oh… oh shit.'
"Acting-Commander Ogawa." He managed to blurble out. Being interrupted in the middle of the REM cycle was doing him no favors at all. If not for his ninja training, he'd probably have been even more incoherent for longer.
"Ogawa." Fujitaka's voice spilled back out quickly. "I'm sorry to call you again so soon but… well… it's the news. They're reporting… well, they're reporting on everything."
"Everything?" In his sleep deprived state, Ogawa didn't quite exactly grasp the implications of the statement at first.
"Yes sir, I mean everything." Fujitaki said, as panic crept into his voice. "Detailed reports on all major incidents, SONG's connection to the Kazanari Foundation, and even all of the girls' identities and backgrounds have been leaked to the press. It's international news at this point!"
That woke Ogawa up. 'We've been exposed.' He realized. Then he did something really uncharacteristic, even if it wasn't out loud. 'Oh… oh shit.'
----
Next Chapter: Shattered Dreamland
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Distortion Key Notes, Chapter 6:
Ambient Phonic Gain Equalization Device (APGED/"Apegear"):
A purely high technology device which utilizes a number of similar components to a Symphogear, with the most glaring difference being the absence of any relic, created by the Four Horsemen's Research and Development Section ("Pale Unit"). The nicknamed "Apegears" are implanted directly into the user's brain in the same region influenced by LiNKER/Anti-LiNKER chemicals. When the Apegear user comes in sufficiently close proximity of an active Symphogear adaptor, the implant absorbs the same phonic gain generated by the Symphogear adaptor and grants the same gains in physical strength, durability, agility, and likewise improvements to its own user.
Apegears have many advantages compared to a Symphogear. First, Apegeasr are always activated, gaining phonic gain and empowering their users without the need for a transformation sequence. Second, Apegears do not stress the users body out as much as Symphogears because all of the stress from the need to synchronize with a relic and generate phonic gain is done by the Symphogear adaptor, leaving only the stress from phonic gain build-up to worry about. Lastly, Apegear users can theoretically match the Symphogear adaptor in phonic gain no matter the level, nullifying any advantages the Symphogear adaptors may make in activating their X-Drives, Superb Songs, and/or Ignite mode. In practice, however, there are few individuals whose body are able to handle the levels of phonic gain build-up these functions use, and most individuals capable of handling such high levels of phonic gain are already Symphogear adaptors. As such, few Apegear users can handle the strain of something like X-Drives or Swan Songs.
Apegears have a number of potential drawbacks. The dependence on absorbing a Symphogear adaptor's emitted phonic gain means that an Apegear user can never surpass a Symphogear adaptor in terms of phonic gain, and the basic functionality of the Apegear is fundamentally dependent on the proximity of an active Symphogear adaptor. Additionally, each Apegear can only draw from a single Aufwachen Waveform at a time, meaning there are no additional gains from being in proximity to multiple Symphogear adaptors. Amalgam acts as a major counter to the Apegear, as it diverts significant amounts of power to a single special gear function with only minor phonic gains. Finally, Apegears do not grant their adaptors any form of special abilities or weaponry, requiring them to continue to rely on their mundane weaponry and learned skills. As a partial recompense, Apegear users are often trained to channel phonic gain through their weapons to enhance their durability and power.
Symphogear Identification Codes:
The official UN identification codes for each of the individual Symphogears are as follows:
SG-r01 Ame No Habakiri (Adaptor: Tsubasa)
SG-r02 Ichaival (Adaptor: Chris)
SG-r03' Gungnir (Adaptor: Hibiki)
SG-x00 Airgetlamh (Adaptor: Maria)
SG-i01 Shul-Shagana (Adaptor: Shirabe)
SG-i02 Igalima (Adaptor: Kirika)
SG-i03 Shenshoujing (Adaptor: Miku)
By comparison, the Four Horsemen have their own set of identification codes for the Symphogears and their adaptors:
HVT Sierra-1 Actual (Tsubasa/Ame No Habakiri)
HVI Sierra-2 Retired (Kanade/Gungnir)
HVT Sierra-2 Actual (Hibiki/Gungnir)
HVI Sierra-3 Retired (Serena/Airgetlamh)
HVT Sierra-3 Actual (Chris/Ichaival)
HVT Sierra-4 Actual (Maria/Airgetlamh)
HVT Sierra-5 Actual (Shirabe/Shul Shagana)
HVT Sierra-6 Actual (Kirika/Igalima)
HVT Sierra-7 Actual (Miku/Shenshoujing)
The significant difference between these sets of ID codes is twofold. First, the UN codes are descriptive purely of the relics whereas the Four Horsemen codes do not differentiate between the relics and their adaptors. Secondly, the UN codes assist in identifying the facts and circumstances of the Symphogears development whereas the Four Horsemen codes are purely to assist in target identification and liquidation.
General Public Knowledge of the Symphogear System:
Despite Japan's publication of the existence of the Symphogear system following the Lunar Incident, there are a few details available to the general public. The amount of information available to the average "man on the street" can be summarized as follows:
First, there is a unique weapons system known as "Symphogears" that are able to combat various supernatural threats that have arisen over the past decade, most notably the Noise.
Secondly, the Symphogears can only be wielded by a select group of users who have been assembled into the UN organization known as SONG.
Thirdly, these Symphogear users are responsible for vanquishing the five major supernatural incidents that threatened mankind's existence over the past two years.
Fourthly, only one of the Symphogear users' identities is known: Maria Cadenzavna Eve. Her most notable, and public, exploit is her infiltrating and destroying the supernatural terrorist organization Finé in the Frontier Incident, preventing them from wiping out much of humanity by crashing the moon into the earth. Another Symphogear user, a girl with chestnut hair, briefly appeared on television during the same incident, but she has not been identified, and no official statement has ever been made about her.
Beyond the above information, everything else about SONG and the Symphogear system in the general public amounts to little more than baseless speculation. With the cooperation of the major powers of the UN security council, SONG has been able to run an inordinately successful cover-up and misinformation campaign. Significant details that could prove politically problematic for SONG were successfully concealed even from major governments. Given the lapse in supernatural incidents following the Shem-Ha Incident, it seemed like the identities of most of the Symphogear users and the details of most of their exploits would remain hidden for well after they passed from living memory.
That is, until the Four Horsemen decided otherwise...
----
Authors Notes: That Kirika still has the death/suicide letter she drafted off-screen during the latter part of G is something that is mentioned in XDU. I'm usually ignoring XDU as non-canon for this fic, but there are some elements I will be pulling in if I think they fit. Like the letter.
Sinwon-Up is a real location. The Jwa family are… well, Jwa is an actual Korean surname but this Jwa family is fictional. I hope.
The UN ID codes are canon. The Four Horsemen ID codes obviously not so much.
Shluha vokzal'naja = Literally translates as "Night Butterfly", but really it means something like "Hooker" or "Whore". Or so the internet says.
I discovered something rather important in writing this chapter: I have a hard time writing fights on a scale of ~half-dozen participants each. One on one? Sure. Massed mooks vs massed mooks? Yep. A handful of actual characters against massed mooks (like last chapter)? No problem. A handful against a handful, though? My mind promptly slapped to a halt trying to put it together at first. I tried breaking it into a series of one vs ones, but that made each fight feel too isolated from each other. Thankfully, with the support and input of my beta's (for whom I am immensely grateful), I think I was able to put something together that is reasonably entertaining, manages to balance 1vs1 with handful vs handful, and fulfills all the objectives I wanted this fight to do in terms of both "social combat" and showing off how each member of the White Noise fights.
Finally, I believe this is the first chapter with no appearance by the Pale Man. I wonder what that rascal is up too...
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Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Well, that's one way to give information on the technology being used to the readers.
Kirika is going to do something even more stupid then what her actions where during the tail-end of G, isn't she?
This is troubling, yet it feels like it should make the enemy's task of dealing with SONG harder, not easier. I'm probably missing something.
- Location
- in between
They're probably hoping that someone will be too moronic to realise that Chris, Maria and Miku's pasts don't have much bearing on who they are today. And also just ruining the girl's lives in general.
- Location
- College Station, Texas
Well there's that. But keep in mind two things:
1) The Four Horsemen are highly ideological and pro-human. Even if releasing the information may make their task harder in some ways, they want to release this information to expose the good guys as a "triumph of humanity over the Custodians."
2) They released information that was kept secret not just from the public, but from governments. Think of the possible political ramifications of several UN members learning that SONG has been keeping secrets from them.
- Location
- Around here
Look at modern day "cancel culture" where people too "woke" for their own good go digging decades back to find incriminating things about a person they don't like in order to ruin them in the court of public opinion. I think it's fair to say that there are many people for whom Chris, Maria, and Miku's pasts absolutely do still define who they are now, especially since we're only digging back a year or two, at most. Also, if someone you love was killed by a Noise attack that Chris or Maria were responsible for, or, like Emily and Samantha, someone they love was killed when Miku Did The Bad Things, it's not going to matter what they've done for the world since then, because no matter what they do that's not going to bring their loved one back from the dead.
Also what Love said. Doxxing the Geahs is going to be The Bad News from here on out.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Not all bad, but usually bad, yeah. And even the positive reactions might have their dark sides to them. Someone you know is an incredible hero can feel hard to approach and interact with. Holding a certain position and/or having a pattern of behavior can also create expectations among the greater public that can become social traps, as breaking from that pattern it can create a senses of confusion, bewilderment, and betrayal even if done for a good reason. Some Geah's are definitely affected worse by both these various negative and positive aspects then others.
That said, I'm still entertaining that maybe-fic-canon omake scene for chapter 7 where a girl from Hibiki's home town who was one of the bullying ringleaders see's the news broadcasts unveiling their identities, has a major "oh shit! That's the girl I bullied and now she's a global superhero" moment, and subsequently has a guilt-driven break down over that.
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Probably counting on fallout from certain inconvenient truths. The fact that Maria didn't actually infiltrate the organization Fine but was actually a founding member, Chris being complicit in certain Noise attacks before she broke away from the actual Fine, all the stuff Miku did while mind controlled/possessed.... Not to mention the fact that Tsubasa's
Yeah, the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. Some dumbasses are not going to be able to understand the subtle nuances of motivation/coercion and they will blast their illogical opinions worldwide via the Internet, repeatedly.
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
Also Tsubasa's perennial concerts-attacked-by-Noise issues, which might look a lot worse when she's a known Gear.
- Location
- in between
That does not disprove my point; it merely means the world is infested with morons. I'm actually thinking of writing an Omake myself, seeing as my muse has latched onto an idea- PHO interlude, except in this universe. Basically a random SONG mook goes onto a Gear related forum at the point shit goes haywire to set the record straight. Sound interesting?
Edit: @obssesednuker please do. I want to see Japan realise how badly it f***ed up.
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obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Someone else writing an omake for one of my fics? A dream come true! Go for it. Although maybe make it "a few hours after" because I imagine that is something someone would need approval for first. Also, pass the draft by me in a convo first.
Well, it isn't Japan but just this one person. I'll give it some more thought once I finish the main part of chapter 7.
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- Location
- in between
Rightio, I'll PM you soon.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Chapter 6 updated a bit with some additional beta corrections.
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Chapter 7: Shattered Dreamland
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Distortions
Chapter 7:
Shattered Dreamland
----
Chapter 7:
Shattered Dreamland
----
Chris awoke to the incessant ringing of her doorbell. With a groan, she swung herself around to check the time, then glared at her bedroom door when the bell rang again. Chris flung herself out of bed in a huff, wanting nothing more than to storm through her apartment; but in the end her tiredness won out. The unpleasantly short sleep she had gotten made her slouch and shuffle slowly down the hall towards the living area. 'Whoever the hell thinks it's a good idea to hammer at my door just after eight on a Saturday morning, I'm going to kick their ass.'
She paused as she stepped into her living room to glance down at Kirika and Shirabe. Chris had prepared two Tatami mats for them when they had gotten in last night, but the two had completely ignored one of them in favor of sharing. She debated waking them up for a moment but decided to let the matter drop. The two had seemed especially clingy with each other on the way home last night, and Chris briefly felt some guilt over having been so pissed over Voronin beating her that she hadn't asked them how they were doing. She had forgotten to apologize to them for letting them get caught in her explosive barrage.
Then the doorbell rang again, prompting the two to shift in their mutual embrace and the anger was promptly back. Chris gingerly stepped around the two before resuming her lumbering towards the front door. Nevermind herself, whoever dared disturb Chris's kouhais' slumber after last night's events was due for one hell of a ass-kicking.
Heading down the entrance hall, she finally reached the front door and swung it open, ready to give whoever was on the other side a piece of her mind...
… And was almost blinded by the mass of camera flashes.
"Chris Yukine! Chris Yukine!" A torrent of voices shouted at her as an enormous crowd of reporters pushed their way up around her, shoving what seemed like hundreds of microphones in her face.
"Is it true that you were responsible for activating the Staff of Solomon?!"
"What was your exact relationship with the woman known as 'Finé?!"
"Given your family history, what are your thoughts regarding the current state of affairs in Val Verde?!"
"Are you in a three-way relationship with Hibiki Tachibana and Miku Kohinata?!"
"Isn't Ichaival not actually a thing?"
"Where does the ammunition for your guns come from?! In fact, are you licensed to carry firearms at all?!"
"What is your response to accusations of murder from the family members of Noise attack victims?!"
"Is it true that you are, in fact, a 'buster'?!"
Stunned by the sensory overload, Chris couldn't do anything for a few moments except stand there looking dumb. Finally, she regained enough whits to slam the door shut in their faces. She backed up, staring at the door as if she expected the army of reporters to smash it down, a single question ringing repeatedly through her mind: 'The fuck was that?!'
"What was that, senpai?"
Chris whirled around at Shirabe's voice. The pigtailed girl was standing at the end of the entrance hall, rubbing her sleep out of her eyes. Chris froze like a deer in a headlight, not sure how to explain the inexplicable gaggle of reporters at her front door shouting questions that, she was only just starting to realize, they really shouldn't have had the information to even ask.
Fortunately for her dignity, Chris was saved by a shout from Kirika. "Wooooaaaah! Chris, you're on TV!"
Chris quickly moved back into the living room as Shirabe turned. Sure enough, there on the big-screen was footage of her and Maria fighting Vanessa on the highway when she was chasing Ogawa. Footage she was pretty sure SONG had secured and classified. Footage that a quick glance at the channel icon told Chris was now being broadcasted on national television.
Chris glanced down at the headline. It read Symphogear Incident Details, Identities Leaked.
"WOOOOAAAAH!" Kirika's shout was even louder this time. "Shirabe! That's us!"
Chris glanced back up. Sure enough, the footage had changed to that of Kirika and Shirabe fighting against Elsa on the USS Whitemore.
"Turn it up." Chris finally asked.
Kirika nodded, unmuting the television.
"-ust joining us, our station and many other stations around the world have received detailed information on the backgrounds and events surrounding the famous yet poorly known 'Symphogears'. We will be presenting a special, detailed exposé on the subject at noon, but for now, we are covering the most important and shocking information. Of greatest note, the identities of the other six Symphogears besides Maria Cadenzavna Eve have been revealed. The most startling of the reveals was idol singer Tsubasa Kazanari, who was apparently the very first Symphogear. Tsubasa has done many collaborations with Maria in the past, and the two are known to be close friends. Also of note, the second-ever identified Symphogear is Hibiki Tachibana, better known as the mysterious adaptor who appeared during the Frontier-"
Chris was already dialling Hibiki and Miku's number as she waved at Kirika to mute the television again. She was desperately hoping that the dummy wasn't stupid enough to talk to any of them or, god forbid, let them in. At least she knew they were in a high-rise that would force reporters to camp at the lobby entrance. Why, oh why, did Chris agree to live in a ground floor apartment?
"Chris!" Hibiki's voice was running at the same tilt as one of her punches. "Help! There'salotofreportersrightoutsidewaitingtomobusifweleave-"
"SLOW DOWN!" Chris shouted back. "I've got the same problem! Are they on your floor?"
"Eh? Oh, no," Hibiki replied after a moment, this time at an actually understandable rate. "Our landlord has managed to keep them out by threatening to call the cops. They just about charged us when we tried to go outside though… wait, you mean you're besieged too?"
"That's what I said! There's a mess of them right outside my door, they've trapped me and our juniors in." Her eyes narrowed. "You have seen the news, right?"
"The news? What does-" Hibiki paused and Chris was pretty sure she heard Miku in the background. "Ah, hold on. I'm putting you on speaker."
There was a moment's pause, then Miku's voice came over. "Chris? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Chris said flatly. "But I think we've got a bigger problem. Turn on the news."
"What? How does that-WOAH!" Hibiki basically interrupted herself. "That's us! Fighting! How did they get that?!"
"At a guess, the Four Horsemen." Chris growled.
"From that security breach, right?" Miku was quick on the uptake.
"Yeah. At least they aren't right at your front door. Can't you get out the back?"
"We checked. There's a bunch waiting at the end of the alley as well." Miku replied. "We called SONG and they said they would send people to get us but…" She trailed off for a moment. "Chris, did you really go out to them in your pajamas?"
"Eh?" Chris said, turning to the television. Sure enough, it was currently showing those few seconds when she had opened the door and was staring in dumb confusion at all the reporters shouting at her. She felt her cheeks burn. Oh so the entire country, if not the world, had now seen her in her pajamas. Wonderful. "I-I just woke up and didn't know it was them! And they were hammering away at the doorbell! It was annoying!"
"Should we call Tsubasa and Maria?" Hibiki asked after a moment, apparently deciding to concentrate on the more immediate concern for once.
Chris considered it for a moment, then snorted briefly. "If there's anyone of us who know how to handle a horde of reporters, it's those two. Just stay inside, stay safe, and wait for the guys from SONG, okay?"
"We will." Miku reassured her.
Chris hung up. In spite of her earlier advice she was tempted to try to call Tsubasa and even went as far as to begin scrolling through her contacts. But she stopped short when she stumbled upon a rather different name first.
Komichi Ayano.
'Oh god,' Chris thought, 'Komichi is going to know now.' Would she be upset that Chris never told her? Saddened? Disappointed? Chris shut her eyes for a moment in an unspoken apology in lieu of being able to give an actual one.
She glanced back over towards Shirabe and Kirika. The two had turned on closed captions so as not to disrupt Chris's phone call. The news had gone back to showing battle footage and Chris winced as she realized they were now showing the fight between Kirika and Tsubasa on that carrier back during the Frontier Incident. Fortunately, it seemed the two had decided to focus more on what the news was saying then what they were showing.
"SONG's coming to pick us up." She announced. "Get dressed and make sure to grab your things. I think we'll be spending the weekend at HQ. Again."
She paused as she stepped into her living room to glance down at Kirika and Shirabe. Chris had prepared two Tatami mats for them when they had gotten in last night, but the two had completely ignored one of them in favor of sharing. She debated waking them up for a moment but decided to let the matter drop. The two had seemed especially clingy with each other on the way home last night, and Chris briefly felt some guilt over having been so pissed over Voronin beating her that she hadn't asked them how they were doing. She had forgotten to apologize to them for letting them get caught in her explosive barrage.
Then the doorbell rang again, prompting the two to shift in their mutual embrace and the anger was promptly back. Chris gingerly stepped around the two before resuming her lumbering towards the front door. Nevermind herself, whoever dared disturb Chris's kouhais' slumber after last night's events was due for one hell of a ass-kicking.
Heading down the entrance hall, she finally reached the front door and swung it open, ready to give whoever was on the other side a piece of her mind...
… And was almost blinded by the mass of camera flashes.
"Chris Yukine! Chris Yukine!" A torrent of voices shouted at her as an enormous crowd of reporters pushed their way up around her, shoving what seemed like hundreds of microphones in her face.
"Is it true that you were responsible for activating the Staff of Solomon?!"
"What was your exact relationship with the woman known as 'Finé?!"
"Given your family history, what are your thoughts regarding the current state of affairs in Val Verde?!"
"Are you in a three-way relationship with Hibiki Tachibana and Miku Kohinata?!"
"Isn't Ichaival not actually a thing?"
"Where does the ammunition for your guns come from?! In fact, are you licensed to carry firearms at all?!"
"What is your response to accusations of murder from the family members of Noise attack victims?!"
"Is it true that you are, in fact, a 'buster'?!"
Stunned by the sensory overload, Chris couldn't do anything for a few moments except stand there looking dumb. Finally, she regained enough whits to slam the door shut in their faces. She backed up, staring at the door as if she expected the army of reporters to smash it down, a single question ringing repeatedly through her mind: 'The fuck was that?!'
"What was that, senpai?"
Chris whirled around at Shirabe's voice. The pigtailed girl was standing at the end of the entrance hall, rubbing her sleep out of her eyes. Chris froze like a deer in a headlight, not sure how to explain the inexplicable gaggle of reporters at her front door shouting questions that, she was only just starting to realize, they really shouldn't have had the information to even ask.
Fortunately for her dignity, Chris was saved by a shout from Kirika. "Wooooaaaah! Chris, you're on TV!"
Chris quickly moved back into the living room as Shirabe turned. Sure enough, there on the big-screen was footage of her and Maria fighting Vanessa on the highway when she was chasing Ogawa. Footage she was pretty sure SONG had secured and classified. Footage that a quick glance at the channel icon told Chris was now being broadcasted on national television.
Chris glanced down at the headline. It read Symphogear Incident Details, Identities Leaked.
"WOOOOAAAAH!" Kirika's shout was even louder this time. "Shirabe! That's us!"
Chris glanced back up. Sure enough, the footage had changed to that of Kirika and Shirabe fighting against Elsa on the USS Whitemore.
"Turn it up." Chris finally asked.
Kirika nodded, unmuting the television.
"-ust joining us, our station and many other stations around the world have received detailed information on the backgrounds and events surrounding the famous yet poorly known 'Symphogears'. We will be presenting a special, detailed exposé on the subject at noon, but for now, we are covering the most important and shocking information. Of greatest note, the identities of the other six Symphogears besides Maria Cadenzavna Eve have been revealed. The most startling of the reveals was idol singer Tsubasa Kazanari, who was apparently the very first Symphogear. Tsubasa has done many collaborations with Maria in the past, and the two are known to be close friends. Also of note, the second-ever identified Symphogear is Hibiki Tachibana, better known as the mysterious adaptor who appeared during the Frontier-"
Chris was already dialling Hibiki and Miku's number as she waved at Kirika to mute the television again. She was desperately hoping that the dummy wasn't stupid enough to talk to any of them or, god forbid, let them in. At least she knew they were in a high-rise that would force reporters to camp at the lobby entrance. Why, oh why, did Chris agree to live in a ground floor apartment?
"Chris!" Hibiki's voice was running at the same tilt as one of her punches. "Help! There'salotofreportersrightoutsidewaitingtomobusifweleave-"
"SLOW DOWN!" Chris shouted back. "I've got the same problem! Are they on your floor?"
"Eh? Oh, no," Hibiki replied after a moment, this time at an actually understandable rate. "Our landlord has managed to keep them out by threatening to call the cops. They just about charged us when we tried to go outside though… wait, you mean you're besieged too?"
"That's what I said! There's a mess of them right outside my door, they've trapped me and our juniors in." Her eyes narrowed. "You have seen the news, right?"
"The news? What does-" Hibiki paused and Chris was pretty sure she heard Miku in the background. "Ah, hold on. I'm putting you on speaker."
There was a moment's pause, then Miku's voice came over. "Chris? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Chris said flatly. "But I think we've got a bigger problem. Turn on the news."
"What? How does that-WOAH!" Hibiki basically interrupted herself. "That's us! Fighting! How did they get that?!"
"At a guess, the Four Horsemen." Chris growled.
"From that security breach, right?" Miku was quick on the uptake.
"Yeah. At least they aren't right at your front door. Can't you get out the back?"
"We checked. There's a bunch waiting at the end of the alley as well." Miku replied. "We called SONG and they said they would send people to get us but…" She trailed off for a moment. "Chris, did you really go out to them in your pajamas?"
"Eh?" Chris said, turning to the television. Sure enough, it was currently showing those few seconds when she had opened the door and was staring in dumb confusion at all the reporters shouting at her. She felt her cheeks burn. Oh so the entire country, if not the world, had now seen her in her pajamas. Wonderful. "I-I just woke up and didn't know it was them! And they were hammering away at the doorbell! It was annoying!"
"Should we call Tsubasa and Maria?" Hibiki asked after a moment, apparently deciding to concentrate on the more immediate concern for once.
Chris considered it for a moment, then snorted briefly. "If there's anyone of us who know how to handle a horde of reporters, it's those two. Just stay inside, stay safe, and wait for the guys from SONG, okay?"
"We will." Miku reassured her.
Chris hung up. In spite of her earlier advice she was tempted to try to call Tsubasa and even went as far as to begin scrolling through her contacts. But she stopped short when she stumbled upon a rather different name first.
Komichi Ayano.
'Oh god,' Chris thought, 'Komichi is going to know now.' Would she be upset that Chris never told her? Saddened? Disappointed? Chris shut her eyes for a moment in an unspoken apology in lieu of being able to give an actual one.
She glanced back over towards Shirabe and Kirika. The two had turned on closed captions so as not to disrupt Chris's phone call. The news had gone back to showing battle footage and Chris winced as she realized they were now showing the fight between Kirika and Tsubasa on that carrier back during the Frontier Incident. Fortunately, it seemed the two had decided to focus more on what the news was saying then what they were showing.
"SONG's coming to pick us up." She announced. "Get dressed and make sure to grab your things. I think we'll be spending the weekend at HQ. Again."
----
"Mr. Ogawa." Aaron Fechter, the German representative to the UN Security Council's SONG Oversight Committee, said. "I do hope you understand the enormity of what happened last night."
Genjuro, Ogawa reflected, would have probably responded to that by stating "enormity is an understatement." Ogawa, on the other hand, simply settled for a polite "I do."
After all, what adjective could one use when an unprecedentedly successful cover-up and misinformation campaign stretching over years was effectively obliterated in a single night?
The first exposé wouldn't air for another hour, but they already had a fair idea of what would be in it. Not only were the more cooperative news agencies willing to forward copies of the information they received, but a number of hacktivist "freedom of information" groups had been the first to break the story by outright releasing the documents onto the internet. And when Fujitaka had said they covered everything, he was almost entirely on the ball. Pretty much the only details left out were scientific-technical ones.
After action reports, debriefing minutes, psychological and physical evaluations, personnel files, more general histories, reports on the relics' combat capabilities, video and audio recordings… nothing was left out. Copies of almost every scrap of classified information SONG, the Japanese Government, the American Government, and the UN had assembled on the adaptors and the incidents they had been involved in had been dispatched globally. Not just to television stations and hacktivist groups, but also to tabloids, magazines, newspapers, radio stations, and even several respected internet news bloggers had all received copies both physical and digital with neatly attached summaries. All in anonymously dropped off packages. If they were an even remotely noteworthy news source internationally or nationally, they received copies.
With that level of dispersal of the information, the resulting breach was unavoidable. Those who initially held back, whether out of worry of prosecution or of jumping the gun on what could be a prank, soon changed their tune once their less cautious competitors went full speed ahead with publication. And as details were verified and it came to light that the information was legitimate… well, what reason was there to hold back when so many others were already reporting it? The twenty-four hour news cycle had sustained itself on far less before.
It galled him. As he had explained to Hibiki way back when she first joined Section 2, ensuring information about the Symphogears was controlled had been his job. It was one he took quiet pride in, and not just for professional reasons. That information control had allowed for Tsubasa to pursue her dream, had ensured Miku and Hibiki could live ordinary lives free from public scrutiny, and that Chris, Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika could successfully reintegrate into society.
On the other hand, there were some rather hilarious moments that came out of this fiasco. That the Illuminati was really controlling European politics from behind the scenes and had been destroyed by SONG was sending conspiracy nuts into absolute conniptions, which was enough to give Ogawa a chuckle. It was less funny when they turned around and claimed the Symphogear adaptors were really the new Illuminati. But Ogawa supposed that was just his relationship with them making him feel insulted on their behalf.
The meeting with the UN committee was supposed to have been about the Four Horsemen's attack the previous night, but the current publicity fiasco had swiftly overshadowed that.
Publicity fiasco… great, he was going to have to hire a PR agent for SONG.
The Russian, German, French, American, Japanese, and British representatives were all here, each in varying states of "haggard", but the screen for the Chinese representative was ominously dark. Of the ones who were here, Anthony Becker, the American representative, was the least happy of them. "If that is the case," he began angrily. "Perhaps you can explain why the bulk of documents are straight from SONG's database!"
Ogawa couldn't exactly find it in himself to blame the American. Undoubtedly, he was under a lot of pressure from his own administration. The revelations about the FIS and America's exact involvement in some prior incidents was going to spell the end of more than a few careers. "Political shitstorm" didn't even begin to cover it. Still, he had to defend his organization.
"It is true the majority of documents are either from SONG or the now-defunct Section 2." Concede first, then counterpoint. "However, almost as many of the leaked documents are from the UN classifieds as well as both Japanese and American government archives. The Four Horsemen have exhibited significant cyber-espionage and counter-espionage capabilities. Even ECHELON has been unable to track their digital footprint."
Ogawa tactfully refrained from mentioning that such a fact was also absolutely terrifying. In spite of the American ECHELON project being the most sophisticated electronic intelligence program in the whole world, it had failed as comprehensively as any of SONG's own efforts at even detecting the Four Horsemen's wireless communications. Everyone in the room knew from this that the Four Horsemen had access to technology and resources beyond what the world's most powerful military possessed, but nobody wanted to say so out loud.
Becker grimaced at the counterpoint but kept his mouth shut. After all, he had been the one to let slip that tidbit during an earlier meeting, after Emily's botched attempt on Miku.
"Perhaps letting the adaptors talk to the press should help ameliorate some of the blowback?" Keegan Hunter, the British representative, suggested. "Under controlled conditions, of course. It would be better if the public got some sense of the adaptors as people instead of as distant heroes. A press conference seems ideal."
"Yes." Fechter quickly latched onto the idea. "The sooner the better. This week, at the latest."
Ogawa thought of someone like Chris being subjected to the sort of probing questions about her past that would inevitably come up and carefully refrained from cringing.
"It's exams week." Ogawa said quickly, seeking an excuse for why this shouldn't happen. "We don't want this to impact the girls' lives any more than it already has."
He could tell they weren't buying it even before he finished the sentence.
"Ogawa," Furuse Kazushige, Yatsushiro's replacement for the Japanese representative. "I understand you share your predecessor's concern about the impact upon the adaptors' morale. But it's too late now. Whether they like it or not, they are now global celebrities, and the best we can do is make sure they come out as famous and not infamous. The longer we prohibit them from speaking with the press, the more frenzied and hostile the media wolves will get."
"If I might suggest a compromise?" The French representative, Vincent Beaufils, quickly said. "Tsubasa Kazanari and Maria Candezevna are already used to dealing with publicity and have no school commitments. Perhaps having them undertake a press conference this week would be most suitable. The rest can give a separate conference next week, after their exams have passed." He gave a significant glance to Ogawa. "There would be additional time to coach them as well."
Ogawa paused, acting as if he was considering the action when he was really gauging the others disposition towards the idea. It was a useful skill to have in intelligence, but ever since he wound up as acting-commander, he had found it equally invaluable in the political juggling act. And he could tell that this was the best he was going to get. If the entire available committee agreed, they could overrule him after all. "That sounds reasonable."
"Speaking of Miss Candezevna." Chernykh Luka Svyatoslavovich, the Russian representative, finally spoke up. "There is the rather significant issue of her past actions…" The man shot a particularly pointed glance at Becker. "And how they have been concealed from a number of the members of this committee."
"Surely your government is not agreeing with those in the media saying she should be tried?" Beaufil's voice was appropriately incredulous. "My government is also unhappy about being lied too, but wasn't risking life and limb repeatedly for our sake sufficient to atone for their past crimes? To say nothing about the practical consequences of removing one of only seven Symphogear adaptors on the planet from duty?"
"I'm not arguing for that," Chernykh quickly said. "My government's complaint is more about the concealment of this information."
Ogawa was expecting this to come up. "Had we not concealed it, would you have even given her the chance?"
"A fair point." Chernykh acknowledged. "Nonetheless, I have been instructed to make the complaint clear and warn that if we discover the concealment of further crucial information, the Russian Federation may be forced to revise its support for SONG."
"That shouldn't be much of an issue in the future." Becker said. "With these leaks, all the cards have been laid on the table. There's just the Four Horsemen to take care of."
"I wish that was the case, Mr. Becker." The Chinese representative Zhong Guanting said as his face joined those on the screen at long last. Alarm bells went off in Ogawa's head as he noticed just how sullen the man looked. "Unfortunately, my government disagrees."
"Mr. Guanting?" Ogawa queried.
"Gentlemen, I am not here to converse for long." Guanting replied. "I am simply here to announce my reassignment and pass on a statement from my government." The man took a deep breath and then began reading out loud a prepared, a gloomy expression on his face.
"The Central Committee has decided that the People's Republic of China simply cannot support, much less be a part of, an organization with such thorough ties to the old Imperial Japanese Army. Until these recent revelations, we have barely been able to tolerate the effective Japanese monopolization of heretical technology that SONG has brought about. Considering SONG is a direct descendent of the regime which inflicted such cruelties upon the Chinese people, supporting it would be an insult to all those patriots that were murdered by the Japanese Empire. Compounding this insult, SONG has concealed this information about its origins from us, among other things." He railed off the statement robotically and by rote. "As such, my government is officially withdrawing all support for SONG, effective immediately, and will shortly introduce a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for its disbandment and replacement with a truly international organization."
Internally, Ogawa winced. He had been expecting this from the moment Guanting had appeared, but that didn't make the news any less of a blow. As the other effective military and economic superpower in the world, loss of Chinese support would represent a serious drop in funding unless the other member states could be convinced to increase their contributions.
"You can't be serious?!" Hunter gasped. Kazushige and Becker also looked appropriately horrified. But Ogawa couldn't help but notice the rather inscrutable looks Fechter, Chernykh, and Beaufils adopted. Of course, their countries wouldn't dare anger the Chinese with what was at stake in Europe.
Guanting simply spread his hands apologetically. "For what it is worth, I protested this decision. But it's out of my hands now. I sincerely hope that we will be able to come to an agreement that benefits the entire world and be able to work in harmony in the future." He bowed before his face vanished from the screen, leaving a black void in its place.
Genjuro, Ogawa reflected, would have probably responded to that by stating "enormity is an understatement." Ogawa, on the other hand, simply settled for a polite "I do."
After all, what adjective could one use when an unprecedentedly successful cover-up and misinformation campaign stretching over years was effectively obliterated in a single night?
The first exposé wouldn't air for another hour, but they already had a fair idea of what would be in it. Not only were the more cooperative news agencies willing to forward copies of the information they received, but a number of hacktivist "freedom of information" groups had been the first to break the story by outright releasing the documents onto the internet. And when Fujitaka had said they covered everything, he was almost entirely on the ball. Pretty much the only details left out were scientific-technical ones.
After action reports, debriefing minutes, psychological and physical evaluations, personnel files, more general histories, reports on the relics' combat capabilities, video and audio recordings… nothing was left out. Copies of almost every scrap of classified information SONG, the Japanese Government, the American Government, and the UN had assembled on the adaptors and the incidents they had been involved in had been dispatched globally. Not just to television stations and hacktivist groups, but also to tabloids, magazines, newspapers, radio stations, and even several respected internet news bloggers had all received copies both physical and digital with neatly attached summaries. All in anonymously dropped off packages. If they were an even remotely noteworthy news source internationally or nationally, they received copies.
With that level of dispersal of the information, the resulting breach was unavoidable. Those who initially held back, whether out of worry of prosecution or of jumping the gun on what could be a prank, soon changed their tune once their less cautious competitors went full speed ahead with publication. And as details were verified and it came to light that the information was legitimate… well, what reason was there to hold back when so many others were already reporting it? The twenty-four hour news cycle had sustained itself on far less before.
It galled him. As he had explained to Hibiki way back when she first joined Section 2, ensuring information about the Symphogears was controlled had been his job. It was one he took quiet pride in, and not just for professional reasons. That information control had allowed for Tsubasa to pursue her dream, had ensured Miku and Hibiki could live ordinary lives free from public scrutiny, and that Chris, Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika could successfully reintegrate into society.
On the other hand, there were some rather hilarious moments that came out of this fiasco. That the Illuminati was really controlling European politics from behind the scenes and had been destroyed by SONG was sending conspiracy nuts into absolute conniptions, which was enough to give Ogawa a chuckle. It was less funny when they turned around and claimed the Symphogear adaptors were really the new Illuminati. But Ogawa supposed that was just his relationship with them making him feel insulted on their behalf.
The meeting with the UN committee was supposed to have been about the Four Horsemen's attack the previous night, but the current publicity fiasco had swiftly overshadowed that.
Publicity fiasco… great, he was going to have to hire a PR agent for SONG.
The Russian, German, French, American, Japanese, and British representatives were all here, each in varying states of "haggard", but the screen for the Chinese representative was ominously dark. Of the ones who were here, Anthony Becker, the American representative, was the least happy of them. "If that is the case," he began angrily. "Perhaps you can explain why the bulk of documents are straight from SONG's database!"
Ogawa couldn't exactly find it in himself to blame the American. Undoubtedly, he was under a lot of pressure from his own administration. The revelations about the FIS and America's exact involvement in some prior incidents was going to spell the end of more than a few careers. "Political shitstorm" didn't even begin to cover it. Still, he had to defend his organization.
"It is true the majority of documents are either from SONG or the now-defunct Section 2." Concede first, then counterpoint. "However, almost as many of the leaked documents are from the UN classifieds as well as both Japanese and American government archives. The Four Horsemen have exhibited significant cyber-espionage and counter-espionage capabilities. Even ECHELON has been unable to track their digital footprint."
Ogawa tactfully refrained from mentioning that such a fact was also absolutely terrifying. In spite of the American ECHELON project being the most sophisticated electronic intelligence program in the whole world, it had failed as comprehensively as any of SONG's own efforts at even detecting the Four Horsemen's wireless communications. Everyone in the room knew from this that the Four Horsemen had access to technology and resources beyond what the world's most powerful military possessed, but nobody wanted to say so out loud.
Becker grimaced at the counterpoint but kept his mouth shut. After all, he had been the one to let slip that tidbit during an earlier meeting, after Emily's botched attempt on Miku.
"Perhaps letting the adaptors talk to the press should help ameliorate some of the blowback?" Keegan Hunter, the British representative, suggested. "Under controlled conditions, of course. It would be better if the public got some sense of the adaptors as people instead of as distant heroes. A press conference seems ideal."
"Yes." Fechter quickly latched onto the idea. "The sooner the better. This week, at the latest."
Ogawa thought of someone like Chris being subjected to the sort of probing questions about her past that would inevitably come up and carefully refrained from cringing.
"It's exams week." Ogawa said quickly, seeking an excuse for why this shouldn't happen. "We don't want this to impact the girls' lives any more than it already has."
He could tell they weren't buying it even before he finished the sentence.
"Ogawa," Furuse Kazushige, Yatsushiro's replacement for the Japanese representative. "I understand you share your predecessor's concern about the impact upon the adaptors' morale. But it's too late now. Whether they like it or not, they are now global celebrities, and the best we can do is make sure they come out as famous and not infamous. The longer we prohibit them from speaking with the press, the more frenzied and hostile the media wolves will get."
"If I might suggest a compromise?" The French representative, Vincent Beaufils, quickly said. "Tsubasa Kazanari and Maria Candezevna are already used to dealing with publicity and have no school commitments. Perhaps having them undertake a press conference this week would be most suitable. The rest can give a separate conference next week, after their exams have passed." He gave a significant glance to Ogawa. "There would be additional time to coach them as well."
Ogawa paused, acting as if he was considering the action when he was really gauging the others disposition towards the idea. It was a useful skill to have in intelligence, but ever since he wound up as acting-commander, he had found it equally invaluable in the political juggling act. And he could tell that this was the best he was going to get. If the entire available committee agreed, they could overrule him after all. "That sounds reasonable."
"Speaking of Miss Candezevna." Chernykh Luka Svyatoslavovich, the Russian representative, finally spoke up. "There is the rather significant issue of her past actions…" The man shot a particularly pointed glance at Becker. "And how they have been concealed from a number of the members of this committee."
"Surely your government is not agreeing with those in the media saying she should be tried?" Beaufil's voice was appropriately incredulous. "My government is also unhappy about being lied too, but wasn't risking life and limb repeatedly for our sake sufficient to atone for their past crimes? To say nothing about the practical consequences of removing one of only seven Symphogear adaptors on the planet from duty?"
"I'm not arguing for that," Chernykh quickly said. "My government's complaint is more about the concealment of this information."
Ogawa was expecting this to come up. "Had we not concealed it, would you have even given her the chance?"
"A fair point." Chernykh acknowledged. "Nonetheless, I have been instructed to make the complaint clear and warn that if we discover the concealment of further crucial information, the Russian Federation may be forced to revise its support for SONG."
"That shouldn't be much of an issue in the future." Becker said. "With these leaks, all the cards have been laid on the table. There's just the Four Horsemen to take care of."
"I wish that was the case, Mr. Becker." The Chinese representative Zhong Guanting said as his face joined those on the screen at long last. Alarm bells went off in Ogawa's head as he noticed just how sullen the man looked. "Unfortunately, my government disagrees."
"Mr. Guanting?" Ogawa queried.
"Gentlemen, I am not here to converse for long." Guanting replied. "I am simply here to announce my reassignment and pass on a statement from my government." The man took a deep breath and then began reading out loud a prepared, a gloomy expression on his face.
"The Central Committee has decided that the People's Republic of China simply cannot support, much less be a part of, an organization with such thorough ties to the old Imperial Japanese Army. Until these recent revelations, we have barely been able to tolerate the effective Japanese monopolization of heretical technology that SONG has brought about. Considering SONG is a direct descendent of the regime which inflicted such cruelties upon the Chinese people, supporting it would be an insult to all those patriots that were murdered by the Japanese Empire. Compounding this insult, SONG has concealed this information about its origins from us, among other things." He railed off the statement robotically and by rote. "As such, my government is officially withdrawing all support for SONG, effective immediately, and will shortly introduce a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for its disbandment and replacement with a truly international organization."
Internally, Ogawa winced. He had been expecting this from the moment Guanting had appeared, but that didn't make the news any less of a blow. As the other effective military and economic superpower in the world, loss of Chinese support would represent a serious drop in funding unless the other member states could be convinced to increase their contributions.
"You can't be serious?!" Hunter gasped. Kazushige and Becker also looked appropriately horrified. But Ogawa couldn't help but notice the rather inscrutable looks Fechter, Chernykh, and Beaufils adopted. Of course, their countries wouldn't dare anger the Chinese with what was at stake in Europe.
Guanting simply spread his hands apologetically. "For what it is worth, I protested this decision. But it's out of my hands now. I sincerely hope that we will be able to come to an agreement that benefits the entire world and be able to work in harmony in the future." He bowed before his face vanished from the screen, leaving a black void in its place.
----
Click.
"-death of Kanade Amou negligence or-"
Click.
"-what do you think this means for Tsubasa Kazanari's rec-"
Click.
"-think the relationship between Miku Kohinata and Hibiki Tachibana is-"
Click.
"-denzavna Eve, Kirika Akatsuki, and Shirabe Tsukuyomi should stand trial immediately for their-"
Click.
"-no comment from the Vatican as to the theological implications of the revelations surrounding the Symphog-"
Click.
"-SYMPHONIC LESBIAN AGENDA-"
Click.
"-at do you think the Four Horsemen's message reveals?"
Tsubasa paused at that, simply because that was the first channel she had found all morning which referred to their current enemy. More to the point, it clued her into that the Four Horsemen had released a message. Most of the news she had seen so far was so focused on SONG, the incidents, or the adaptors that the undoubted source of the leaks had never once been mentioned.
Then again, maybe that had to do with the fact the incident the previous night was still being successfully sold as a military exercise so the fact the Four Horsemen had launched an outright attack on Japanese soil wasn't there. The irony was not lost on Tsubasa, but that still didn't mean she found it funny. She hoped the Government reversed course on that deception soon, but she had some experience with the inertia of Government bureaucracy when it came to lies.
The man the interviewer had asked the question seemed relaxed enough. Short, slick, orange hair with early signs of greying and a formal suit appropriate for a television interview. The text at the bottom of the screen identified him as Professor Morioka Makoto.
"Well, I feel as if I should get this out of the way: the Four Horsemen do have a point, at least when it comes to the Custodians." He began. "The records of this leak pretty clearly shows that the Custodians were short-sighted, selfish, incompetent, and, in one particular case, outright malevolent. I cannot help but agree with the Four Horsemen that mankind would have been better off developing naturally."
"But doesn't the documentation also show that the Custodians were responsible for the creation of humanity? Of life on the planet?" The interviewer challenged. "How could the lack of the Custodians be a good thing for humanity if it means they don't exist in the first place?"
"The documents do identify the Custodians as the ones who seeded life on Earth, true." The Professor conceded. "But to begin with, there is no scientific evidence to corroborate this claim. The documents make clear that those claims are derived, either directly or indirectly, from the Custodians themselves. And even if we accept their claim at face value, the fact they chose Earth indicates that the potential for life already existed on this planet. So it is far from certain that life would not have formed and evolved as it did without their interference. Additionally, even if one accepts their responsibility for our creation, then one also has to acknowledge they had a responsibility towards their creations, a responsibility they neglected."
"Such as?" The interviewer prompted. Tsubasa also couldn't help but wonder what example he was going to give.
"Well, consider the issue of Adam Weishaupt, the Bavarian Illuminati's leader." The Professor sat straighter in his seat, as if he wanted to stand up and give a lecture. "Supposedly the first prototype for humanity, the Custodians supposedly discarded him for 'being too perfect.' However, they gave no thought to the consequences of just tossing aside Adam, either to him or to mankind. Instead of trying to find him a purpose or give his existence meaning, they abandoned him as if he were some house pet. Given that context, is it any wonder he turned out the way he did? Worse, it had a grossly negative effect on us, as Adam essentially became an enemy of humanity. If they were so much more advanced than us, then they sure didn't act like it."
"A fascinating example, to be sure." The interviewer allowed, before turning to the camera. "We'll be right back with our interview with Morioka Makoto, Professor of Molecular Biology from the University of Tokyo after these messages."
Chris had only been half paying attention to the television from the other couch, more focused on helping Kirika with her studies, but at the mention of the Professor's name, her head came around. "Wait, that was Makoto-sensei?"
"You know him?" Tsubasa asked, muting the commercial.
"Yeah, he has an office on my college campus." Chris replied. "He even teaches one of the classes I'm taking this term. What was he talking about again? Something about the Custodians?"
"He thought the Four Horsemen's attitude towards the Custodians had a lot of validity." Tsubasa said.
Chris's expression darkened. "Oh, really?"
"Yukine," Tsubasa arched an eyebrow. "He just talked about the Custodians. He didn't talk about us at all." That was why she bothered to watch in the first place. She was used to being mentioned in the media but the current frenzy was… rather a bit much.
She was not looking forward to the press conference, currently scheduled for Wednesday. Particularly since she was worried about Maria.
"Hmph." Chris grumbled, eyeing the television. "Well, Shem-Ha was an ass, and the Professor seemed decent enough in class. I guess I'll see Monday." She glanced around. "Where's the dummy, her girlfriend, and Maria?"
"Tachibana and Kohinata are using the simulator for training." Tsubasa replied. "I think Kohinata wanted to work on moving without her Ionocraft modules and firing at high speeds." The bluenette figured she'd use them herself later. She needed to get used to fighting someone like Jwa or the other White Noise.
"Good idea." Chris muttered. "That Congolese guy did manage to knock those out briefly." Given the new threat posed by the Four Horsemen, she couldn't fault them. She just hoped the two didn't wind up neglecting their studies. Although now that she thought about it, maybe she'd take some time in the sims to try and figure out how she might get Voronin. "And Maria?"
"She's actually watching the news."
Chris balked. "What?! Why? It's just a bunch of blowhards who think they know everything about us because now all of this information is out there."
"I don't know." Tsubasa shrugged. "Maybe she wants to keep track of how everyone reacts."
There was nothing but silence for a few moments, the only sound being the hum of the muted television.
"Anyways, all three of you will need training tomorrow." Tsubasa suddenly said in a clear effort to change the subject.
"Against the Four Horsemen?" Shirabe asked as she looked up from next to Kirika.
"No." Tsubasa clarified. "Against the media." Everyone looked at her in confusion, prompting her to sigh and rub at her temples. "You are going to have to learn how to disguise yourselves in public. You're as much celebrities now as I am."
Herself a celebrity? Chris contemplated that for a few moments. She didn't know what to think of it.
—
Miku shot through the simulated air, the Shenshoujing's Ionocraft modules going full blast as she swerved and jinked like she had against Gowon. With each maneuver, she turned and fired at the target, a stationary computerized Noise. The blasts that actually connected didn't do anything to the simulated creature, but that was how the exercise had been programmed. This exercise was about hitting the target, after all, not destroying it.
Hibiki, untransformed, simply stood a fair bit off to the side and watched, throwing out words of encouragement whenever Miku landed a good shot, which fortunately was increasingly the case. As much as she didn't like to admit it, the Gungnir user was quite aware how limited her ranged repertoire was, so this exercise was relatively out of her depth. When she did use ranged attacks, she was used to moving straight towards her target, not parallel or perpendicular to it.
With a loud buzz, the scenario timer rang out across the room and Miku came to a halt. The entire simulation, that of a relatively empty field, faded away to be replaced by the delineated confines of the sim room.
"How did I do?" Miku asked as she drifted over to Hibiki before dispelling her gear.
Hibiki looked down at the tablet. "One-hundred eighty-three direct hits, two-hundred thirty-four grazes, one-hundred seventy-three misses."
The two exchanged smiles. It was the first time Miku's misses had been below her direct hits in this scenario. A massive improvement over the previous several tries.
"Want to try it against a moving target next?" Hibiki asked.
"How about a break first, then you help me with the footbound training." Miku offered. "I don't like you just standing around."
"Okay!" Hibiki said eagerly as she grabbed both of their bags from by the door. "Let's go to the cafeteria!"
"Hibiki." Miku softly chided as they stepped into the hallway. "You just ate lunch two hours ago."
Hibiki laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Miku simply sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "What am I going to do with you?"
The two looked at each other and giggled.
Miku's phone rang. She was always amazed by how good the cell reception on SONG's headquarters was, with it being a submarine and all. She pulled her phone out, checking the caller ID. The smile fell from her face.
It was her parents.
Hibiki noticed her girlfriend's mood change immediately. "Miku?"
"It's mom. Or dad." The Shenshoujing user replied. "I… I never told them about any of this."
She should have seen this coming the moment she saw the news broadcasts. Hibiki's parents knew, at least about the Symphogear. They kind of had to after everything that happened with her father. Hibiki's mother didn't exactly approve of the Symphogear stuff, but they understood.
But Miku had simply never thought to tell her own parents. SONG had never seen any reason to bring them in.
"Do you want to…" Hibiki trailed off, not sure precisely what to suggest in this situation.
"I can't." Miku said. "They already know. I can't shut them out forever."
Hibiki let out a big breath. "Okay." She finally said, taking Miku's free hand. "I'll be right here."
Miku nodded. She looked at the ringing cell phone again. Swallowing, she pressed the answer button and brought it up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Miku." The voice of first Matsuura and then Okamura Kohinata, Miku's father and mother respectively, said.
"Mother, father." Miku hoped she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.
"You know why we are calling?" Matsuura asked.
"Yes." Miku paused, then tentatively added. "Are… are you mad?"
"Are we mad?" Matsuura wondered aloud. "Miku, let us assume you had a daughter. Your only daughter. You love her dearly. When she turns fifteen, you agree to send her off to a distant school with her best friend. For the next two years, you hear back nothing but 'everything's just fine, no need to worry!' Then, one day, you wake up to find out that your daughter has been recruited into a United Nations superhero organization for several months now after obtaining an immense artifact of power. And during the two year interval she's been gone, she had repeatedly risked her life assisting that organization as a regular person, including being kidnapped and brainwashed on two separate occasions. How mad do you think you would be?"
There was only one thing Miku could think to say to that. "I'm sorry," It came out in a very small voice.
"Matsuura." Okamura chided her husband. "Miku, yes, we're mad. But we're also worried. Why didn't you tell us?"
Miku began. "For most of the time… it was too dangerous-"
"Too dangerous?!" Matsuura interrupted. "Too dangerous for two adults but not dangerous enough for their own teenage daughter?!"
Miku winced at the shout. Hibiki immediately started to hug her but Miku quickly shook her head. 'It's fine. I can handle this.'
"Matsuura!" Okamura's voice was quite sharp at this point. Miku could hear the deep breath her father took trying to calm himself down.
"I'm sorry Miku." He finally said. "But we love you, and to find out you went through all of this…" He trailed off for a few moments. "Yes, we're mad at you. But it's because we're also afraid for you."
"I understand." Miku said.
"But you'll have to come home during summer break." Okamura replied. "So we can talk about this more thoroughly. Not just about what happened, but also about SONG… and about your relationship with Tachibana."
Miku's heart sank.
"And be sure to bring Tachibana with you." Matsuura added. "So we can give her our blessing."
Miku blinked in surprise. After a few moments, she finally managed to work up a response. "Y-you don't disapprove?"
"How could we disapprove of someone who loves our little girl so much that she was willing to fight an insane goddess to save her?" Okamura said softly. "Besides, given the way you two acted around each other, I thought you were already dating when you left for Lydian."
"Well, it took me by surprise." Matsuura muttered. "Just don't forget to invite us to the wedding when you two get engaged."
In spite of how happy she felt at that moment, Miku couldn't help but blush, much to Hibiki's confusion.
"-death of Kanade Amou negligence or-"
Click.
"-what do you think this means for Tsubasa Kazanari's rec-"
Click.
"-think the relationship between Miku Kohinata and Hibiki Tachibana is-"
Click.
"-denzavna Eve, Kirika Akatsuki, and Shirabe Tsukuyomi should stand trial immediately for their-"
Click.
"-no comment from the Vatican as to the theological implications of the revelations surrounding the Symphog-"
Click.
"-SYMPHONIC LESBIAN AGENDA-"
Click.
"-at do you think the Four Horsemen's message reveals?"
Tsubasa paused at that, simply because that was the first channel she had found all morning which referred to their current enemy. More to the point, it clued her into that the Four Horsemen had released a message. Most of the news she had seen so far was so focused on SONG, the incidents, or the adaptors that the undoubted source of the leaks had never once been mentioned.
Then again, maybe that had to do with the fact the incident the previous night was still being successfully sold as a military exercise so the fact the Four Horsemen had launched an outright attack on Japanese soil wasn't there. The irony was not lost on Tsubasa, but that still didn't mean she found it funny. She hoped the Government reversed course on that deception soon, but she had some experience with the inertia of Government bureaucracy when it came to lies.
The man the interviewer had asked the question seemed relaxed enough. Short, slick, orange hair with early signs of greying and a formal suit appropriate for a television interview. The text at the bottom of the screen identified him as Professor Morioka Makoto.
"Well, I feel as if I should get this out of the way: the Four Horsemen do have a point, at least when it comes to the Custodians." He began. "The records of this leak pretty clearly shows that the Custodians were short-sighted, selfish, incompetent, and, in one particular case, outright malevolent. I cannot help but agree with the Four Horsemen that mankind would have been better off developing naturally."
"But doesn't the documentation also show that the Custodians were responsible for the creation of humanity? Of life on the planet?" The interviewer challenged. "How could the lack of the Custodians be a good thing for humanity if it means they don't exist in the first place?"
"The documents do identify the Custodians as the ones who seeded life on Earth, true." The Professor conceded. "But to begin with, there is no scientific evidence to corroborate this claim. The documents make clear that those claims are derived, either directly or indirectly, from the Custodians themselves. And even if we accept their claim at face value, the fact they chose Earth indicates that the potential for life already existed on this planet. So it is far from certain that life would not have formed and evolved as it did without their interference. Additionally, even if one accepts their responsibility for our creation, then one also has to acknowledge they had a responsibility towards their creations, a responsibility they neglected."
"Such as?" The interviewer prompted. Tsubasa also couldn't help but wonder what example he was going to give.
"Well, consider the issue of Adam Weishaupt, the Bavarian Illuminati's leader." The Professor sat straighter in his seat, as if he wanted to stand up and give a lecture. "Supposedly the first prototype for humanity, the Custodians supposedly discarded him for 'being too perfect.' However, they gave no thought to the consequences of just tossing aside Adam, either to him or to mankind. Instead of trying to find him a purpose or give his existence meaning, they abandoned him as if he were some house pet. Given that context, is it any wonder he turned out the way he did? Worse, it had a grossly negative effect on us, as Adam essentially became an enemy of humanity. If they were so much more advanced than us, then they sure didn't act like it."
"A fascinating example, to be sure." The interviewer allowed, before turning to the camera. "We'll be right back with our interview with Morioka Makoto, Professor of Molecular Biology from the University of Tokyo after these messages."
Chris had only been half paying attention to the television from the other couch, more focused on helping Kirika with her studies, but at the mention of the Professor's name, her head came around. "Wait, that was Makoto-sensei?"
"You know him?" Tsubasa asked, muting the commercial.
"Yeah, he has an office on my college campus." Chris replied. "He even teaches one of the classes I'm taking this term. What was he talking about again? Something about the Custodians?"
"He thought the Four Horsemen's attitude towards the Custodians had a lot of validity." Tsubasa said.
Chris's expression darkened. "Oh, really?"
"Yukine," Tsubasa arched an eyebrow. "He just talked about the Custodians. He didn't talk about us at all." That was why she bothered to watch in the first place. She was used to being mentioned in the media but the current frenzy was… rather a bit much.
She was not looking forward to the press conference, currently scheduled for Wednesday. Particularly since she was worried about Maria.
"Hmph." Chris grumbled, eyeing the television. "Well, Shem-Ha was an ass, and the Professor seemed decent enough in class. I guess I'll see Monday." She glanced around. "Where's the dummy, her girlfriend, and Maria?"
"Tachibana and Kohinata are using the simulator for training." Tsubasa replied. "I think Kohinata wanted to work on moving without her Ionocraft modules and firing at high speeds." The bluenette figured she'd use them herself later. She needed to get used to fighting someone like Jwa or the other White Noise.
"Good idea." Chris muttered. "That Congolese guy did manage to knock those out briefly." Given the new threat posed by the Four Horsemen, she couldn't fault them. She just hoped the two didn't wind up neglecting their studies. Although now that she thought about it, maybe she'd take some time in the sims to try and figure out how she might get Voronin. "And Maria?"
"She's actually watching the news."
Chris balked. "What?! Why? It's just a bunch of blowhards who think they know everything about us because now all of this information is out there."
"I don't know." Tsubasa shrugged. "Maybe she wants to keep track of how everyone reacts."
There was nothing but silence for a few moments, the only sound being the hum of the muted television.
"Anyways, all three of you will need training tomorrow." Tsubasa suddenly said in a clear effort to change the subject.
"Against the Four Horsemen?" Shirabe asked as she looked up from next to Kirika.
"No." Tsubasa clarified. "Against the media." Everyone looked at her in confusion, prompting her to sigh and rub at her temples. "You are going to have to learn how to disguise yourselves in public. You're as much celebrities now as I am."
Herself a celebrity? Chris contemplated that for a few moments. She didn't know what to think of it.
—
Miku shot through the simulated air, the Shenshoujing's Ionocraft modules going full blast as she swerved and jinked like she had against Gowon. With each maneuver, she turned and fired at the target, a stationary computerized Noise. The blasts that actually connected didn't do anything to the simulated creature, but that was how the exercise had been programmed. This exercise was about hitting the target, after all, not destroying it.
Hibiki, untransformed, simply stood a fair bit off to the side and watched, throwing out words of encouragement whenever Miku landed a good shot, which fortunately was increasingly the case. As much as she didn't like to admit it, the Gungnir user was quite aware how limited her ranged repertoire was, so this exercise was relatively out of her depth. When she did use ranged attacks, she was used to moving straight towards her target, not parallel or perpendicular to it.
With a loud buzz, the scenario timer rang out across the room and Miku came to a halt. The entire simulation, that of a relatively empty field, faded away to be replaced by the delineated confines of the sim room.
"How did I do?" Miku asked as she drifted over to Hibiki before dispelling her gear.
Hibiki looked down at the tablet. "One-hundred eighty-three direct hits, two-hundred thirty-four grazes, one-hundred seventy-three misses."
The two exchanged smiles. It was the first time Miku's misses had been below her direct hits in this scenario. A massive improvement over the previous several tries.
"Want to try it against a moving target next?" Hibiki asked.
"How about a break first, then you help me with the footbound training." Miku offered. "I don't like you just standing around."
"Okay!" Hibiki said eagerly as she grabbed both of their bags from by the door. "Let's go to the cafeteria!"
"Hibiki." Miku softly chided as they stepped into the hallway. "You just ate lunch two hours ago."
Hibiki laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Miku simply sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "What am I going to do with you?"
The two looked at each other and giggled.
Miku's phone rang. She was always amazed by how good the cell reception on SONG's headquarters was, with it being a submarine and all. She pulled her phone out, checking the caller ID. The smile fell from her face.
It was her parents.
Hibiki noticed her girlfriend's mood change immediately. "Miku?"
"It's mom. Or dad." The Shenshoujing user replied. "I… I never told them about any of this."
She should have seen this coming the moment she saw the news broadcasts. Hibiki's parents knew, at least about the Symphogear. They kind of had to after everything that happened with her father. Hibiki's mother didn't exactly approve of the Symphogear stuff, but they understood.
But Miku had simply never thought to tell her own parents. SONG had never seen any reason to bring them in.
"Do you want to…" Hibiki trailed off, not sure precisely what to suggest in this situation.
"I can't." Miku said. "They already know. I can't shut them out forever."
Hibiki let out a big breath. "Okay." She finally said, taking Miku's free hand. "I'll be right here."
Miku nodded. She looked at the ringing cell phone again. Swallowing, she pressed the answer button and brought it up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Miku." The voice of first Matsuura and then Okamura Kohinata, Miku's father and mother respectively, said.
"Mother, father." Miku hoped she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.
"You know why we are calling?" Matsuura asked.
"Yes." Miku paused, then tentatively added. "Are… are you mad?"
"Are we mad?" Matsuura wondered aloud. "Miku, let us assume you had a daughter. Your only daughter. You love her dearly. When she turns fifteen, you agree to send her off to a distant school with her best friend. For the next two years, you hear back nothing but 'everything's just fine, no need to worry!' Then, one day, you wake up to find out that your daughter has been recruited into a United Nations superhero organization for several months now after obtaining an immense artifact of power. And during the two year interval she's been gone, she had repeatedly risked her life assisting that organization as a regular person, including being kidnapped and brainwashed on two separate occasions. How mad do you think you would be?"
There was only one thing Miku could think to say to that. "I'm sorry," It came out in a very small voice.
"Matsuura." Okamura chided her husband. "Miku, yes, we're mad. But we're also worried. Why didn't you tell us?"
Miku began. "For most of the time… it was too dangerous-"
"Too dangerous?!" Matsuura interrupted. "Too dangerous for two adults but not dangerous enough for their own teenage daughter?!"
Miku winced at the shout. Hibiki immediately started to hug her but Miku quickly shook her head. 'It's fine. I can handle this.'
"Matsuura!" Okamura's voice was quite sharp at this point. Miku could hear the deep breath her father took trying to calm himself down.
"I'm sorry Miku." He finally said. "But we love you, and to find out you went through all of this…" He trailed off for a few moments. "Yes, we're mad at you. But it's because we're also afraid for you."
"I understand." Miku said.
"But you'll have to come home during summer break." Okamura replied. "So we can talk about this more thoroughly. Not just about what happened, but also about SONG… and about your relationship with Tachibana."
Miku's heart sank.
"And be sure to bring Tachibana with you." Matsuura added. "So we can give her our blessing."
Miku blinked in surprise. After a few moments, she finally managed to work up a response. "Y-you don't disapprove?"
"How could we disapprove of someone who loves our little girl so much that she was willing to fight an insane goddess to save her?" Okamura said softly. "Besides, given the way you two acted around each other, I thought you were already dating when you left for Lydian."
"Well, it took me by surprise." Matsuura muttered. "Just don't forget to invite us to the wedding when you two get engaged."
In spite of how happy she felt at that moment, Miku couldn't help but blush, much to Hibiki's confusion.
----
[15Z601 Secure Access. Please Enter Authentication: ******* ]
[Authentication Verified]
[BRAVO-ROMEO-DELTA Clearance Verified]
[Archival Request Granted]
[15Z601 Audio Log #55881-J-4676. Date: 07/09/2045 0623 GMT]
[NOTE: Log Classified BRAVO-ROMEO-DELTA. Per Red Unit COMSEC Protocols, TFH-WU Callsigns Are Used For Speakers.]
[15Z601 Link Established. Log Begins.]
The Lamb: "Red Unit's secured the line. So, Lieutenant, how do you feel about your first clash?"
WN-1-A: "Inconclusive."
The Lamb: "That's what it was, not how you feel."
WN-1-A: "I don't like that it was inconclusive, sir."
The Lamb: "It was not a liquidation mission. It was not supposed to be conclusive in that sense."
WN-1-A: "I want them dead."
The Lamb: "And they will die, Lieutenant. I am as committed to that cause as you are. But until the new equipment finishes testing, and especially until Sabin rolls out, your odds of that are low. You'll just have to be patient. Do you understand?"
[Significant Pause Recorded]
WN-1-A: "Yes, sir."
The Lamb: "Good. Now, you've received your new orders?"
WN-1-A: "Yes, sir. Three in particular is happy about it. It's… a little bit annoying, actually. Four's getting a bit agitated though. She wants an Oscar dead."
The Lamb: "Tell her that if she behaves, she'll get one by the end of the month. We already have his location."
WN-1-A: "I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that, sir."
The Lamb: "And Two?"
WN-1-A: "Just said he did plenty of that in Poland."
The Lamb: "So he did. Anything else?"
WN-1-A: "Did you receive Two's proposal?"
The Lamb: "Yes, and it's a good idea, both in terms of dealing with Sierra-3 and furthering our interests. I've already put the relevant battlegroups on standby."
WN-1-A: "He'll be satisfied to hear that, sir. One last thing: Sierra-2 tried to talk us down."
The Lamb: "Of course she did. It's consistent with her record. You should expect further attempts in the future."
WN-1-A: "It pisses me off, sir."
The Lamb: "Look at it this way, Lieutenant: if your enemy extends their hand to you, then that's a perfect opportunity to tear their arm off."
[Significant Pause Recorded]
WN-1-A: "I like it. I'll keep it in mind, sir."
[15Z601 Link Terminated. Log Ends]
----
The four black cars, their windows tinted, pulled up to the front of Lydian as girls streamed into the gate, drawing a few curious glances from passersby. Two days had passed, and the announcement that there would be two press conferences, one this week and another the next, had caused the media circus to lose some steam. Yet there were still a number of reporters present, mainly photographers. They wouldn't dare enter the property for fear of ending up in a jail cell for trespassing, but if they hung around the entrance, they could probably catch one of the adaptors coming to school.
And a quartet of obviously official-looking cars drew their attention immediately. They then drew the attention of almost everyone else on the sidewalks when the cars at the front and back each disgorged four classic looking Men in Black. Two more got out of the drivers and passengers seat of the middle two, the driver of each vehicle moving around to the rear right door.
"Ready?" Miku asked Hibiki from the backseat of the second car.
"Sure! Why not?" Hibiki's smile seemed genuine enough, but Miku could detect the undercurrent of unease beneath it. She reached out, took Hibiki's hand, and squeezed reassuringly.
Miku nodded out to the agent, who swung the door open, and she stepped out of the vehicle, Hibiki climbing out immediately behind her. Kirika and Shirabe likewise emerged from the third car.
The photographers' cameras shot up and began clicking away almost immediately as the four were escorted down the path by the cordon of agents. The few reporters who were there to actually try and ask questions thought better of it and instead chose to begin writing out the scene for their report instead.
Hibiki glanced around, looking not at the reporters but at the other Lydian girls who had stopped to watch the unusual scene. She had dreaded this part. They would stare at her. Judge her. Whisper and mock her. It would be middle school all over again. Miku had confided in her over breakfast that she was scared of that too.
Now, facing it, Hibiki realized that it was and it wasn't like middle school. There were stares and whispers, but they were different stares and whispers. There was no mocking or judgement in them. Instead, there was mostly curiosity, awe, and something that almost bordered on reverence. Hibiki did notice a few hostile gazes, but none were directed at her. Most were actually directed at Kirika and Shirabe. And the few that weren't…
Hibiki had an intake of breath as she realized that one or two of the glares were directed at Miku. The black-haired girl didn't seem to notice them: her attention was more on how Hibiki was feeling. Hibiki wasn't one to normally get angry, but the thought of Miku going through what the Gungnir user had in middle school was enough to do the job. Hibiki's own gaze hardened as she glared back at those glaring at Miku, who quickly flinched and averted their eyes. For her part, Miku just blinked in confusion at Hibiki's momentary anger.
Kirika and Shirabe also noticed the gazes, both hostile and not, directed at them. They had come without any expectations, but that had given rise to its own fears. Kirika had swung between wondering about a ticker tape parade and dreading a lynch mob. Shirabe was simply afraid of the unknown. Now, confronted with nothing but the stares of all their peers, they unconsciously huddled closer to each to try and stave off the discomfort of the gazes.
As they reached the gates and their escorts peeled away, the four adaptors couldn't help but come to one overriding conclusion: this wasn't what coming to Lydian was supposed to be like.
—
Hibiki quickly found herself missing the days when they still had their anonymity. Most of her classmates seemed so distant with them now. There were a few exceptions: Yumi, Shiori, Kuriyo, and a handful of others who had been there back at Kadingir and known all this time weren't treating them any differently. But everyone else? They all seemed to be afraid of them now.
No, 'afraid' wasn't right. It was more like… how the students were with Tsubasa, back when Hibiki had first started at Lydian.
Even the teachers were treating her differently. Nakane-sensei had almost worked herself up in the usual manner when she caught Hibiki beginning to nod off.
"TACHI-" Nakane had begun before seeming to catch herself. "Ba… na…" She paused for a few moments before gently chiding, "Please do try to stay awake."
In fact, Hibiki hadn't been yelled at by a faculty member once all day so far. Once, she would have celebrated that fact.
Now? She didn't like it. It felt wrong.
It was morning break at the moment and she had run outside to grab a drink for Miku and herself. She was busy mulling over the day as she returned back down the hallway to the classroom. She was approaching an intersection in the hall when someone's voice made her pause.
"I still can't believe there were superheroes coming here all this time!"
Carefully, she leaned forward to glance around the corner. A trio of girls she recognized from some of her classes were hanging out in the hallway, idly chatting among themselves. She couldn't remember their names. At first she was tempted to just continue on and ignore them. But then it occurred to her that listening in might be a good idea. Maybe she could figure out how to become approachable again, in spite of everything.
"I know. It seems so surreal that we even have classes with them. It does explain some things now. Particularly what happened to the old buildings and some of the stuff Tachibana got up too."
"She's amazing, isn't she? Everything she went through in middle school, after that concert… and yet she still was so willing to fight for everyone's sake."
"Well, Tachibana was always pretty awesome. Not to mention hot. You ever get a glimpse of her abs in the changing room for PE? Yum. If it weren't for how blatant she and Kohinata are with each other, she'd probably have to beat the girls off with her powers."
Hibiki blushed at that. She had never been one to put much thought into her own appearance, save when she wanted to look nice for Miku. To hear that other people beyond her friends had thought she was attractive all this time felt a little embarrassing but also rather nice.
Maybe she should eavesdrop more often.
"It's too bad it feels so hard to approach her now."
"Kohinata is so lucky."
"Luckier than she deserves…"
The sourness in that last sentence burned away the modicum of good feelings Hibiki had accumulated listening in away.
"What do you mean?"
"You did read the news, right? She let herself be brainwashed, twice. The first time she almost killed her own friends. The second time she almost killed the world. Don't you remember Shem-Ha? Don't you remember how terrified everyone was when she tried to overtake us? That's all because Kohinata let her in. I don't care how attractive or amazing Tachibana is, what kind of person almost dooms humanity because they don't know how to approach a single girl?"
"I suppose you have a point."
"I'm not done: she does all of this and yet what happens? She gets rewarded for it. She gets Tachibana. She gets to be a Symphogear adaptor. Does someone like that really deserve to be so great? I would have locked her up."
"You know, now that you mentioned it, she did always come off as a bit… stuck-up to me, I guess."
That was it. Hibiki had heard enough. She went around the corner, making sure quite loudly to put her foot down with the last step. The three girls turned towards her at the sound and the color drained out of their faces.
"T-Tachibana…-sama." The one who had just been talking about Miku stuttered, hastily tacking on the honorific after a moment's pause as if it would in some way ameliorate the situation.
"Don't talk that way about Miku." Hibiki growled, causing the girls to flinch. "You have no idea what she went through. You have no right to judge her." She took another step towards them, to which the girls responded by backing away in fear. "So don't you dare talk like that about her!"
"Hibiki!"
Hibiki looked up at the familiar voice, beyond the three girls who also turned at the interruption. Miku stood in the hallway, her face a mask of worry. If the three girls looked afraid when Hibiki confronted them, upon seeing Miku they promptly upgraded to terrified.
"K-Kohinata." One of them said, fear apparent in her voice. "How much… how much did you-"
"Enough." Miku replied, not even glancing at them as she started to walk forward. The three girls scrambled to get out of her way, pressing their backs against the wall as she simply walked right by them and up to Hibiki, wrapping her girlfriend in a hug. She took a moment to glance over her shoulder at them. "It would probably be best if you three didn't stay."
The three girls took the hint and quickly scrambled away down the hall, disappearing into their next class.
"That wasn't like you, Hibiki." Miku muttered softly, stroking the Gungnir user's hair.
"I know." Hibiki's voice hitched as she returned the hug. "I know. But the way they were talking about you… I couldn't let them say those things. That's how it started in middle school, even before the concert, and the thought of that happening to you, of you having to go through what I did-"
"I understand." Miku cut her off. "I know you're worried, and I'm grateful. But you can't take this all on yourself." After another moment, she added softly. "And besides, it's not like they were wrong."
Miku had meant that more for herself then Hibiki, but it caused the chestnut haired girl to stiffen and she pulled back from the hug, gripping Miku on either side in alarm. "Don't say that! Of course they're wrong! There's no way they are right!"
"I know you believe that." Miku replied. "And… I would like to believe it too. But I can't."
"No… Miku..." The pain in Hibiki's voice made Miku's heartache.
"I'm sorry, Hibiki." Miku continued. "But I can't deny it. I did agree to wear the Shenshoujing for Dr Ver. I did let Shem-Ha in because of my worries over my feelings for you. Those were my choices. And because of them, I hurt people. I killed people. Since the day Emily forced me to realize it, I've been trying and trying to forgive myself like you have forgiven me. But so far, I can't."
Tears welled up at the corners of Hibiki's eyes. She wanted to reiterate her earlier denials. She wanted to say to Miku that she was wrong, that there was no way Hibiki's sunshine could be a bad person. But again confronted with Miku's words, even after the last time, how could she possibly convince her?
"But…" Miku added. "I'll keep trying. I'll keep fighting with you to save others, to make up for what I did. So I can finally feel that I deserve this happiness with you again..." Then, to Hibiki's surprise, Miku leaned in and kissed her. She held it longer for any kiss they had shared to date and when the two finally broke it, Miku made one last addendum. "For our sake."
"Miku…" Hibiki breathed, her mind a turmoil of emotions.
Miku reached up and wiped Hibiki's tears away. Then, taking her hands, she gently pulled her along back towards the classroom she had come from. "Come on. Break's almost over… we're going to be late for our next class."
"Okay…" Hibiki finally said, finally coming to terms with what is happening. "Okay." She said again. "But…"
Miku cocked her head curiously.
"I'm still not going to let anyone here talk about you like that. You might think you deserve it, but I don't."
Miku sighed. "Okay… just… don't go overboard with it. We're under enough scrutiny as it is."
Hibiki gave what felt like her first genuine smile all day. "It's a promise."
—
It was lunch time. Kirika and Shirabe had joined their upperclassmen in their own effort to get away from the awed isolation coming from their peers. For most of it, there was an unspoken consensus to avoid discussing Symphogear matters. Yumi had blabbed on about some of the latest anime episodes and enthused about the imminent arrival of her NERV set. Shiori had chastised her to concentrate more on the upcoming exams. Kirika and Hibiki joined with Yumi in her anime discussion. Miku and Shirabe just let themselves enjoy the atmosphere. For most of the lunch period, it felt like nothing had changed.
Then Kuriyo made her announcement.
"WHAT?!" Six voices chorused back at her in shock. Yumi adding. "You're leaving?!"
"My parents… they were unhappy when they found out that Lydian was used as a gathering place for Symphogear candidates. Really unhappy." The beige haired girl elaborated, a sad smile on her face. "They're letting me finish this term, but I'll be transferring to another school to finish the year next term."
"That's not fair!" Yumi replied. "I mean, my parents were a bit upset about that too, but to pull you out?!. We won't be able to see each other ever again!"
"Hey now," Kuriyo hastily added. "They didn't go that far! We still have our contact information. I can still come to hang out with you guys outside of school."
"That's true." Shiori said. "But… it just won't be the same without you here, Kuriyo."
"I'm sorry." Kuriyo looked down. "I didn't want to ruin the mood, but I couldn't think of any other time to bring it up."
Hibiki didn't say anything, simply opting to stare at Kuriyo in quiet disbelief. Another friend torn away from her.
This, she abruptly realized, was probably what the Four Horsemen wanted. Genjuro's death. Emily's attempt on Miku's life. The publication of practically everything about them. Bit by bit, they were deliberately and steadily tearing away at the simple, everyday life with Miku and their friends that Hibiki had fought so long and so hard to protect. And in doing so, they tore at the adaptors themselves.
And worst of all, there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.
—
Today, Kirika decided, was one of the worst days she had ever had at Lydian. Not the worst day in her life, thankfully, but it was up there. The glances and whispers of her classmates, both the hostile and not, were wearing at her. Kuriyo's announcement at lunch that she was being pulled from the school had only made things seem even worse.
But still, she decided as she flushed the toilet after attending to her business, she had to keep a bright attitude. For her friends in general and for Shirabe in particular. She reached for the stall door and undid the lock…
And froze as she heard the bathroom door bang open and what sounded like two different pairs of feet enter.
"-ink Akatsuki and Tsukuyomi are heroes?"
Kirika knew that voice. It was one of the other second years at the school. What was her name again? Kabara? Kabata? Kavata? Something like that. Still, they were talking about her and Shirabe? Kirika found herself paralyzed by indecision. Stepping out now would be super-awkward.
The other voice was completely unfamiliar to her. "I mean, they've got those superpowers, and they've saved the world several times over. That seems pretty heroic to me."
"Only after working as members of a terrorist group that used the Noise." Was the flat response as Kirika heard the water in the sinks be turned on.
"Oh... " The other voice replied, suddenly full of realization and regret. "Kawada… I'm sorry… I didn't mean too…" The voice trailed off, not knowing how to continue.
Kirika's eyes widened in recognition... Kawada Iwa, that was her name. She had a few classes with Kirika, but they had never particularly interacted. She always seemed rather withdrawn from everyone else, save one or two classmates.
"Akatsuki in particular." Kawada was continuing. "I mean, I thought she always seemed so bright and cheerful. I was a bit jealous of her then. But now? It's like she was mocking us. She helps kill all those people, gets away scot free, and she smiles about it?"
Is that what everyone thought of her now? That wasn't right. She didn't smile and laugh because of that. Kirika wiped at her eyes. When… when did she start crying?
"At least Tsukuyomi had the good graces to figure out which side was awful on her own." Kawada sniffed. The water stopped running.
Kirika audibly sobbed as her legs gave way and she slid down to the floor.
"Hm? Hello? Is someone there?" The other girl called out. Kirika suddenly held her breath as she heard the pair of footsteps approach the door.
"That sounded like someone was crying." She heard Kawada mutter lowly just outside, the tinge of concern in her voice just made Kirika feel even worse. "Hello? Are you okay?"
Kirika didn't reply, desperately wishing they'd go away. It was only a moment too late that she realized she had already undone the lock. There was the sound of a fist knocking against the stall door and it swung open at the impact to reveal Kawada Iwa standing before it.
Her gaze fell immediately onto Kirika and Kawada's face quickly cycled from concerned to surprised to angry. She hissed. "Akatsuki… were you spying on us?"
"N-no!" Kirika said quickly. "I was already here and I thought-"
"Thought what?!" Kawada interrupted, already working herself up into a furor. "That if you cry some crocodile tears, I'd just forgive you like that?! The world would have been better off if you had died!"
Something in Kirika broke and the tears well and truly flowed now. "I'm sorry…" Was all she could manage. "I'm sorry…"
"Kawada!" Kawada's friend said in horror. Kawada stepped back, looking taken aback for a moment by both Kirika's breakdown and her friend's reaction. For a moment, she looked like she had found a kicked puppy before regaining her earlier outrage.
"S-stop trying to trick us! I'm not buying it!" Kawada yelled, trying to muster up anger at the murderer in front of her.
Kirika couldn't take any more. Sobbing, the blonde shot to her feet, an action which caused Kawada to flinch back in sudden fear that Kirika was about to use her powers on her. Instead, the Symphogear adaptor ran from the room, leaving a stunned Kawada and her friend behind.
And a quartet of obviously official-looking cars drew their attention immediately. They then drew the attention of almost everyone else on the sidewalks when the cars at the front and back each disgorged four classic looking Men in Black. Two more got out of the drivers and passengers seat of the middle two, the driver of each vehicle moving around to the rear right door.
"Ready?" Miku asked Hibiki from the backseat of the second car.
"Sure! Why not?" Hibiki's smile seemed genuine enough, but Miku could detect the undercurrent of unease beneath it. She reached out, took Hibiki's hand, and squeezed reassuringly.
Miku nodded out to the agent, who swung the door open, and she stepped out of the vehicle, Hibiki climbing out immediately behind her. Kirika and Shirabe likewise emerged from the third car.
The photographers' cameras shot up and began clicking away almost immediately as the four were escorted down the path by the cordon of agents. The few reporters who were there to actually try and ask questions thought better of it and instead chose to begin writing out the scene for their report instead.
Hibiki glanced around, looking not at the reporters but at the other Lydian girls who had stopped to watch the unusual scene. She had dreaded this part. They would stare at her. Judge her. Whisper and mock her. It would be middle school all over again. Miku had confided in her over breakfast that she was scared of that too.
Now, facing it, Hibiki realized that it was and it wasn't like middle school. There were stares and whispers, but they were different stares and whispers. There was no mocking or judgement in them. Instead, there was mostly curiosity, awe, and something that almost bordered on reverence. Hibiki did notice a few hostile gazes, but none were directed at her. Most were actually directed at Kirika and Shirabe. And the few that weren't…
Hibiki had an intake of breath as she realized that one or two of the glares were directed at Miku. The black-haired girl didn't seem to notice them: her attention was more on how Hibiki was feeling. Hibiki wasn't one to normally get angry, but the thought of Miku going through what the Gungnir user had in middle school was enough to do the job. Hibiki's own gaze hardened as she glared back at those glaring at Miku, who quickly flinched and averted their eyes. For her part, Miku just blinked in confusion at Hibiki's momentary anger.
Kirika and Shirabe also noticed the gazes, both hostile and not, directed at them. They had come without any expectations, but that had given rise to its own fears. Kirika had swung between wondering about a ticker tape parade and dreading a lynch mob. Shirabe was simply afraid of the unknown. Now, confronted with nothing but the stares of all their peers, they unconsciously huddled closer to each to try and stave off the discomfort of the gazes.
As they reached the gates and their escorts peeled away, the four adaptors couldn't help but come to one overriding conclusion: this wasn't what coming to Lydian was supposed to be like.
—
Hibiki quickly found herself missing the days when they still had their anonymity. Most of her classmates seemed so distant with them now. There were a few exceptions: Yumi, Shiori, Kuriyo, and a handful of others who had been there back at Kadingir and known all this time weren't treating them any differently. But everyone else? They all seemed to be afraid of them now.
No, 'afraid' wasn't right. It was more like… how the students were with Tsubasa, back when Hibiki had first started at Lydian.
Even the teachers were treating her differently. Nakane-sensei had almost worked herself up in the usual manner when she caught Hibiki beginning to nod off.
"TACHI-" Nakane had begun before seeming to catch herself. "Ba… na…" She paused for a few moments before gently chiding, "Please do try to stay awake."
In fact, Hibiki hadn't been yelled at by a faculty member once all day so far. Once, she would have celebrated that fact.
Now? She didn't like it. It felt wrong.
It was morning break at the moment and she had run outside to grab a drink for Miku and herself. She was busy mulling over the day as she returned back down the hallway to the classroom. She was approaching an intersection in the hall when someone's voice made her pause.
"I still can't believe there were superheroes coming here all this time!"
Carefully, she leaned forward to glance around the corner. A trio of girls she recognized from some of her classes were hanging out in the hallway, idly chatting among themselves. She couldn't remember their names. At first she was tempted to just continue on and ignore them. But then it occurred to her that listening in might be a good idea. Maybe she could figure out how to become approachable again, in spite of everything.
"I know. It seems so surreal that we even have classes with them. It does explain some things now. Particularly what happened to the old buildings and some of the stuff Tachibana got up too."
"She's amazing, isn't she? Everything she went through in middle school, after that concert… and yet she still was so willing to fight for everyone's sake."
"Well, Tachibana was always pretty awesome. Not to mention hot. You ever get a glimpse of her abs in the changing room for PE? Yum. If it weren't for how blatant she and Kohinata are with each other, she'd probably have to beat the girls off with her powers."
Hibiki blushed at that. She had never been one to put much thought into her own appearance, save when she wanted to look nice for Miku. To hear that other people beyond her friends had thought she was attractive all this time felt a little embarrassing but also rather nice.
Maybe she should eavesdrop more often.
"It's too bad it feels so hard to approach her now."
"Kohinata is so lucky."
"Luckier than she deserves…"
The sourness in that last sentence burned away the modicum of good feelings Hibiki had accumulated listening in away.
"What do you mean?"
"You did read the news, right? She let herself be brainwashed, twice. The first time she almost killed her own friends. The second time she almost killed the world. Don't you remember Shem-Ha? Don't you remember how terrified everyone was when she tried to overtake us? That's all because Kohinata let her in. I don't care how attractive or amazing Tachibana is, what kind of person almost dooms humanity because they don't know how to approach a single girl?"
"I suppose you have a point."
"I'm not done: she does all of this and yet what happens? She gets rewarded for it. She gets Tachibana. She gets to be a Symphogear adaptor. Does someone like that really deserve to be so great? I would have locked her up."
"You know, now that you mentioned it, she did always come off as a bit… stuck-up to me, I guess."
That was it. Hibiki had heard enough. She went around the corner, making sure quite loudly to put her foot down with the last step. The three girls turned towards her at the sound and the color drained out of their faces.
"T-Tachibana…-sama." The one who had just been talking about Miku stuttered, hastily tacking on the honorific after a moment's pause as if it would in some way ameliorate the situation.
"Don't talk that way about Miku." Hibiki growled, causing the girls to flinch. "You have no idea what she went through. You have no right to judge her." She took another step towards them, to which the girls responded by backing away in fear. "So don't you dare talk like that about her!"
"Hibiki!"
Hibiki looked up at the familiar voice, beyond the three girls who also turned at the interruption. Miku stood in the hallway, her face a mask of worry. If the three girls looked afraid when Hibiki confronted them, upon seeing Miku they promptly upgraded to terrified.
"K-Kohinata." One of them said, fear apparent in her voice. "How much… how much did you-"
"Enough." Miku replied, not even glancing at them as she started to walk forward. The three girls scrambled to get out of her way, pressing their backs against the wall as she simply walked right by them and up to Hibiki, wrapping her girlfriend in a hug. She took a moment to glance over her shoulder at them. "It would probably be best if you three didn't stay."
The three girls took the hint and quickly scrambled away down the hall, disappearing into their next class.
"That wasn't like you, Hibiki." Miku muttered softly, stroking the Gungnir user's hair.
"I know." Hibiki's voice hitched as she returned the hug. "I know. But the way they were talking about you… I couldn't let them say those things. That's how it started in middle school, even before the concert, and the thought of that happening to you, of you having to go through what I did-"
"I understand." Miku cut her off. "I know you're worried, and I'm grateful. But you can't take this all on yourself." After another moment, she added softly. "And besides, it's not like they were wrong."
Miku had meant that more for herself then Hibiki, but it caused the chestnut haired girl to stiffen and she pulled back from the hug, gripping Miku on either side in alarm. "Don't say that! Of course they're wrong! There's no way they are right!"
"I know you believe that." Miku replied. "And… I would like to believe it too. But I can't."
"No… Miku..." The pain in Hibiki's voice made Miku's heartache.
"I'm sorry, Hibiki." Miku continued. "But I can't deny it. I did agree to wear the Shenshoujing for Dr Ver. I did let Shem-Ha in because of my worries over my feelings for you. Those were my choices. And because of them, I hurt people. I killed people. Since the day Emily forced me to realize it, I've been trying and trying to forgive myself like you have forgiven me. But so far, I can't."
Tears welled up at the corners of Hibiki's eyes. She wanted to reiterate her earlier denials. She wanted to say to Miku that she was wrong, that there was no way Hibiki's sunshine could be a bad person. But again confronted with Miku's words, even after the last time, how could she possibly convince her?
"But…" Miku added. "I'll keep trying. I'll keep fighting with you to save others, to make up for what I did. So I can finally feel that I deserve this happiness with you again..." Then, to Hibiki's surprise, Miku leaned in and kissed her. She held it longer for any kiss they had shared to date and when the two finally broke it, Miku made one last addendum. "For our sake."
"Miku…" Hibiki breathed, her mind a turmoil of emotions.
Miku reached up and wiped Hibiki's tears away. Then, taking her hands, she gently pulled her along back towards the classroom she had come from. "Come on. Break's almost over… we're going to be late for our next class."
"Okay…" Hibiki finally said, finally coming to terms with what is happening. "Okay." She said again. "But…"
Miku cocked her head curiously.
"I'm still not going to let anyone here talk about you like that. You might think you deserve it, but I don't."
Miku sighed. "Okay… just… don't go overboard with it. We're under enough scrutiny as it is."
Hibiki gave what felt like her first genuine smile all day. "It's a promise."
—
It was lunch time. Kirika and Shirabe had joined their upperclassmen in their own effort to get away from the awed isolation coming from their peers. For most of it, there was an unspoken consensus to avoid discussing Symphogear matters. Yumi had blabbed on about some of the latest anime episodes and enthused about the imminent arrival of her NERV set. Shiori had chastised her to concentrate more on the upcoming exams. Kirika and Hibiki joined with Yumi in her anime discussion. Miku and Shirabe just let themselves enjoy the atmosphere. For most of the lunch period, it felt like nothing had changed.
Then Kuriyo made her announcement.
"WHAT?!" Six voices chorused back at her in shock. Yumi adding. "You're leaving?!"
"My parents… they were unhappy when they found out that Lydian was used as a gathering place for Symphogear candidates. Really unhappy." The beige haired girl elaborated, a sad smile on her face. "They're letting me finish this term, but I'll be transferring to another school to finish the year next term."
"That's not fair!" Yumi replied. "I mean, my parents were a bit upset about that too, but to pull you out?!. We won't be able to see each other ever again!"
"Hey now," Kuriyo hastily added. "They didn't go that far! We still have our contact information. I can still come to hang out with you guys outside of school."
"That's true." Shiori said. "But… it just won't be the same without you here, Kuriyo."
"I'm sorry." Kuriyo looked down. "I didn't want to ruin the mood, but I couldn't think of any other time to bring it up."
Hibiki didn't say anything, simply opting to stare at Kuriyo in quiet disbelief. Another friend torn away from her.
This, she abruptly realized, was probably what the Four Horsemen wanted. Genjuro's death. Emily's attempt on Miku's life. The publication of practically everything about them. Bit by bit, they were deliberately and steadily tearing away at the simple, everyday life with Miku and their friends that Hibiki had fought so long and so hard to protect. And in doing so, they tore at the adaptors themselves.
And worst of all, there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.
—
Today, Kirika decided, was one of the worst days she had ever had at Lydian. Not the worst day in her life, thankfully, but it was up there. The glances and whispers of her classmates, both the hostile and not, were wearing at her. Kuriyo's announcement at lunch that she was being pulled from the school had only made things seem even worse.
But still, she decided as she flushed the toilet after attending to her business, she had to keep a bright attitude. For her friends in general and for Shirabe in particular. She reached for the stall door and undid the lock…
And froze as she heard the bathroom door bang open and what sounded like two different pairs of feet enter.
"-ink Akatsuki and Tsukuyomi are heroes?"
Kirika knew that voice. It was one of the other second years at the school. What was her name again? Kabara? Kabata? Kavata? Something like that. Still, they were talking about her and Shirabe? Kirika found herself paralyzed by indecision. Stepping out now would be super-awkward.
The other voice was completely unfamiliar to her. "I mean, they've got those superpowers, and they've saved the world several times over. That seems pretty heroic to me."
"Only after working as members of a terrorist group that used the Noise." Was the flat response as Kirika heard the water in the sinks be turned on.
"Oh... " The other voice replied, suddenly full of realization and regret. "Kawada… I'm sorry… I didn't mean too…" The voice trailed off, not knowing how to continue.
Kirika's eyes widened in recognition... Kawada Iwa, that was her name. She had a few classes with Kirika, but they had never particularly interacted. She always seemed rather withdrawn from everyone else, save one or two classmates.
"Akatsuki in particular." Kawada was continuing. "I mean, I thought she always seemed so bright and cheerful. I was a bit jealous of her then. But now? It's like she was mocking us. She helps kill all those people, gets away scot free, and she smiles about it?"
Is that what everyone thought of her now? That wasn't right. She didn't smile and laugh because of that. Kirika wiped at her eyes. When… when did she start crying?
"At least Tsukuyomi had the good graces to figure out which side was awful on her own." Kawada sniffed. The water stopped running.
Kirika audibly sobbed as her legs gave way and she slid down to the floor.
"Hm? Hello? Is someone there?" The other girl called out. Kirika suddenly held her breath as she heard the pair of footsteps approach the door.
"That sounded like someone was crying." She heard Kawada mutter lowly just outside, the tinge of concern in her voice just made Kirika feel even worse. "Hello? Are you okay?"
Kirika didn't reply, desperately wishing they'd go away. It was only a moment too late that she realized she had already undone the lock. There was the sound of a fist knocking against the stall door and it swung open at the impact to reveal Kawada Iwa standing before it.
Her gaze fell immediately onto Kirika and Kawada's face quickly cycled from concerned to surprised to angry. She hissed. "Akatsuki… were you spying on us?"
"N-no!" Kirika said quickly. "I was already here and I thought-"
"Thought what?!" Kawada interrupted, already working herself up into a furor. "That if you cry some crocodile tears, I'd just forgive you like that?! The world would have been better off if you had died!"
Something in Kirika broke and the tears well and truly flowed now. "I'm sorry…" Was all she could manage. "I'm sorry…"
"Kawada!" Kawada's friend said in horror. Kawada stepped back, looking taken aback for a moment by both Kirika's breakdown and her friend's reaction. For a moment, she looked like she had found a kicked puppy before regaining her earlier outrage.
"S-stop trying to trick us! I'm not buying it!" Kawada yelled, trying to muster up anger at the murderer in front of her.
Kirika couldn't take any more. Sobbing, the blonde shot to her feet, an action which caused Kawada to flinch back in sudden fear that Kirika was about to use her powers on her. Instead, the Symphogear adaptor ran from the room, leaving a stunned Kawada and her friend behind.
----
Chris was not proud to say that she now knew what being a celebrity was like. In her august and most eloquent opinion, it sucked giant donkey balls. Not as much as, for example, being kidnapped and trafficked or getting beaten by the man you hate until you ache all over, but it still managed to be… oh, probably somewhere in the lower part of the top ten worst experience in her life so far. She didn't understand how Tsubasa or Maria could have handled it all this time.
Dodging the reporters had been easy enough with the tricks Tsubasa had taught her yesterday. Unlike Lydian, with its lone main entrance, the college she attended had a wide open campus with plenty of ways to get in and out. It was simply impossible for them to adequately monitor everyone, and with a wig, a cap, and some sunglasses, she had managed to slip right by them.
But once on campus, she had made the mistake of shrugging out of the wig and cap. Now, wherever Chris went, people would turn and stare with surprise, awe, or, on occasion, a bit of anger. Whenever she approached someone, even some students she had thought of as… not friends, but rather close acquaintances, they'd get all stiff and super-formal with her in a manner that was just as super-uncomfortable for her. Not to mention all the people who thought it would be a good idea to yank out their phones to snap a photo of her, probably to post it on social media or something. 'Why does the news industry still bother with photographers when the person on the street could do the job just as well?' She wondered.
Even the professors would pause noticeably when they first saw her in the room. They tended to avoid calling on her if there were multiple hands up to a question and were noticeably more gentle in correcting if she gave a wrong answer. Chris even worried that she was distracting some of her fellow students, given the way they kept glancing at her even in class.
And worst of all, Komichi was nowhere to be found. Chris texted her after she failed to appear at the first class they had together, and she hadn't replied during the entire thing. Only after class had already ended did she finally got a response.
I'm still trying to process it all. I'm sorry. If I can, I'll try to see you later this week once I've figured things out.
It was an amazingly properly written text for Komichi, who, like most college students, tended to be a bit lazy and neglectful when it came to things like proper grammar in text messaging. That in itself only made Chris worry more.
She sighed as she tapped her pencil at her notes. The period for the current class was finally tying up and this one she was actually looking forward to. Not because she was particularly fascinated by biology but because of who was teaching it.
"And do remember the test is Friday." Professor Makoto finished, turning to begin erasing what he had written on the board. "Class dismissed."
Chris immediately leaped up and began to approach the teacher.
"Sensei!" She called out.
At her voice, the professor didn't suddenly freeze like some others she had called out to ask a question. Instead, he calmly turned and removed his reading glasses. "Yukine. How can I help you?"
Yukine. No 'Sama' or 'Dono' or any other crap like that, Just Yukine. And he didn't start adopting some grovelling tone with her either. It was like she was still just another student. A few of the other students who were filtering out turned their heads at this but he didn't pay them any mind.
"I saw your interview on Saturday." Chris said. "You know, about the Custodians. And I was curious… well..."
"You wanted to know what I think about SONG?" Makoto caught on quick. He glanced towards the door where a few more students had stopped and very pointedly not turned around to listen. "Perhaps you would like to talk more about this in my office?"
Chris glanced at the same students, noting how quickly they resumed moving when she did. "Yeah, that would probably be for the best."
Professor Makoto's office on the college wasn't his main one, and it was certainly on the smaller side, but there was easily enough room for the two of them to fit in it. It actually seemed kind of cozy, despite the single window positioned right behind the professor's desk looking kinda small. Chris grabbed the only other chair in the room as the professor sat down at his desk.
"So, what do you want to ask first?" Makoto asked once they were seated in his office.
"Well, I know what you think of the Custodians." Chris began. "But what do you think of the Symphogears?"
"That depends on what you mean?" Makoto asked. "The Symphogears… or the Symphogear adaptors?"
Chris paused to consider the question. She was actually surprised that he even asked it: most of the news she saw weren't doing a good job at making the distinction. "Let's start with the Symphogears."
"Well, and forgive me for answering a question with a question once again, but what do you think of this pencil?" The Professor indicated the pencil holder on his desk, although he didn't actually specify a pencil.
"Ah well…" Chris bumbled about for moment. "It's just a pencil, isn't it?"
"Precisely, just a pencil." The Professor said. "And best I can tell, your Symphogears are just Symphogears. Tools whose use depends on the user."
"Okay, fair enough." Chris said. "And the adaptors?"
"You're great heroes who deserve far better lives then what fate has given you." The Professor said instantly.
Chris startled, rather flummoxed by the blunt reply for a moment. Her mind immediately latched onto the solution of just asking the next question before she said something really embarrassing. "And what do you think of the Four Horsemen?"
"Well, that's the question, isn't it?" Makoto said. "What have the Four Horsemen done? Well, they've released all this information. That's regrettable, since it has probably done you and the other girls an injustice, depriving you of peaceful lives you have fought so hard for. Their antipathy towards you is puzzling to me. But I understand their antipathy towards the custodians and their products."
Chris looked at him long and carefully. "You… you share some of that anger, don't you? Not just intellectually like you said at the interview, but personally."
The Professor looked at her expressionlessly and Chris winced. "I'm sorry, it's not my place to pry-"
"No, that's not it." He said, a sad smile crossing his face. "You of all people deserve to know. It's… my granddaughter. She was at the Zwei Wing concert. Their last concert. She didn't make it."
Chris's mouth fell open and then shut again.
"When I heard that the Symphogear adaptors had managed to destroy the Noise," Makoto continued. "First, I went to my granddaughter's grave and told her. Then, I went to the nearest shrine and prayed to all the Kami I could think of in thanks that what had happened to her would never happen again. And when I learned that you were one of those adaptors, I felt proud to have you as one of my students. And also happy that I can finally say: thank you."
Chris blushed, her eyes falling to the floor. The uniform praise was uncomfortable but it was also the first time today she felt genuinely happy.
"Yukine." The Professor said. "I know it must be a difficult time for you. I know there will be people who will be unfair to you, for the bad things you've done. But there will be people who are also grateful for the good you've done. I don't imagine that you have much support outside of SONG at the moment, and I don't know if what they offer suffices, so just know..." He took out his business card and offered it. "If you ever need somewhere uninvolved with all this to go, my door will always be open."
Hesitantly, Chris reached out and took the card. She wasn't sure how to reply to that verbally. One part of her wanted to accept it wholeheartedly. Another wanted to put up her usual front, insist it wasn't necessary. Finally, she decided to keep it simple and gave a noncommittal "thank you" as she stood up.
"Don't forget the test is Friday." Professor Makoto called out, "I hope to see you then and perhaps next term too if possible."
Chris waved her hand in acknowledgement. As the door closed behind her, the Professor's gaze lingered on it for a good long while. "Would never happen again." He repeated to himself.
He quickly checked the clock. He had a good thirty minutes before he had to head out, more than enough time to get some additional work done. He took a moment to turn and close the blinds on his office window before returning to his computer.
Dodging the reporters had been easy enough with the tricks Tsubasa had taught her yesterday. Unlike Lydian, with its lone main entrance, the college she attended had a wide open campus with plenty of ways to get in and out. It was simply impossible for them to adequately monitor everyone, and with a wig, a cap, and some sunglasses, she had managed to slip right by them.
But once on campus, she had made the mistake of shrugging out of the wig and cap. Now, wherever Chris went, people would turn and stare with surprise, awe, or, on occasion, a bit of anger. Whenever she approached someone, even some students she had thought of as… not friends, but rather close acquaintances, they'd get all stiff and super-formal with her in a manner that was just as super-uncomfortable for her. Not to mention all the people who thought it would be a good idea to yank out their phones to snap a photo of her, probably to post it on social media or something. 'Why does the news industry still bother with photographers when the person on the street could do the job just as well?' She wondered.
Even the professors would pause noticeably when they first saw her in the room. They tended to avoid calling on her if there were multiple hands up to a question and were noticeably more gentle in correcting if she gave a wrong answer. Chris even worried that she was distracting some of her fellow students, given the way they kept glancing at her even in class.
And worst of all, Komichi was nowhere to be found. Chris texted her after she failed to appear at the first class they had together, and she hadn't replied during the entire thing. Only after class had already ended did she finally got a response.
I'm still trying to process it all. I'm sorry. If I can, I'll try to see you later this week once I've figured things out.
It was an amazingly properly written text for Komichi, who, like most college students, tended to be a bit lazy and neglectful when it came to things like proper grammar in text messaging. That in itself only made Chris worry more.
She sighed as she tapped her pencil at her notes. The period for the current class was finally tying up and this one she was actually looking forward to. Not because she was particularly fascinated by biology but because of who was teaching it.
"And do remember the test is Friday." Professor Makoto finished, turning to begin erasing what he had written on the board. "Class dismissed."
Chris immediately leaped up and began to approach the teacher.
"Sensei!" She called out.
At her voice, the professor didn't suddenly freeze like some others she had called out to ask a question. Instead, he calmly turned and removed his reading glasses. "Yukine. How can I help you?"
Yukine. No 'Sama' or 'Dono' or any other crap like that, Just Yukine. And he didn't start adopting some grovelling tone with her either. It was like she was still just another student. A few of the other students who were filtering out turned their heads at this but he didn't pay them any mind.
"I saw your interview on Saturday." Chris said. "You know, about the Custodians. And I was curious… well..."
"You wanted to know what I think about SONG?" Makoto caught on quick. He glanced towards the door where a few more students had stopped and very pointedly not turned around to listen. "Perhaps you would like to talk more about this in my office?"
Chris glanced at the same students, noting how quickly they resumed moving when she did. "Yeah, that would probably be for the best."
Professor Makoto's office on the college wasn't his main one, and it was certainly on the smaller side, but there was easily enough room for the two of them to fit in it. It actually seemed kind of cozy, despite the single window positioned right behind the professor's desk looking kinda small. Chris grabbed the only other chair in the room as the professor sat down at his desk.
"So, what do you want to ask first?" Makoto asked once they were seated in his office.
"Well, I know what you think of the Custodians." Chris began. "But what do you think of the Symphogears?"
"That depends on what you mean?" Makoto asked. "The Symphogears… or the Symphogear adaptors?"
Chris paused to consider the question. She was actually surprised that he even asked it: most of the news she saw weren't doing a good job at making the distinction. "Let's start with the Symphogears."
"Well, and forgive me for answering a question with a question once again, but what do you think of this pencil?" The Professor indicated the pencil holder on his desk, although he didn't actually specify a pencil.
"Ah well…" Chris bumbled about for moment. "It's just a pencil, isn't it?"
"Precisely, just a pencil." The Professor said. "And best I can tell, your Symphogears are just Symphogears. Tools whose use depends on the user."
"Okay, fair enough." Chris said. "And the adaptors?"
"You're great heroes who deserve far better lives then what fate has given you." The Professor said instantly.
Chris startled, rather flummoxed by the blunt reply for a moment. Her mind immediately latched onto the solution of just asking the next question before she said something really embarrassing. "And what do you think of the Four Horsemen?"
"Well, that's the question, isn't it?" Makoto said. "What have the Four Horsemen done? Well, they've released all this information. That's regrettable, since it has probably done you and the other girls an injustice, depriving you of peaceful lives you have fought so hard for. Their antipathy towards you is puzzling to me. But I understand their antipathy towards the custodians and their products."
Chris looked at him long and carefully. "You… you share some of that anger, don't you? Not just intellectually like you said at the interview, but personally."
The Professor looked at her expressionlessly and Chris winced. "I'm sorry, it's not my place to pry-"
"No, that's not it." He said, a sad smile crossing his face. "You of all people deserve to know. It's… my granddaughter. She was at the Zwei Wing concert. Their last concert. She didn't make it."
Chris's mouth fell open and then shut again.
"When I heard that the Symphogear adaptors had managed to destroy the Noise," Makoto continued. "First, I went to my granddaughter's grave and told her. Then, I went to the nearest shrine and prayed to all the Kami I could think of in thanks that what had happened to her would never happen again. And when I learned that you were one of those adaptors, I felt proud to have you as one of my students. And also happy that I can finally say: thank you."
Chris blushed, her eyes falling to the floor. The uniform praise was uncomfortable but it was also the first time today she felt genuinely happy.
"Yukine." The Professor said. "I know it must be a difficult time for you. I know there will be people who will be unfair to you, for the bad things you've done. But there will be people who are also grateful for the good you've done. I don't imagine that you have much support outside of SONG at the moment, and I don't know if what they offer suffices, so just know..." He took out his business card and offered it. "If you ever need somewhere uninvolved with all this to go, my door will always be open."
Hesitantly, Chris reached out and took the card. She wasn't sure how to reply to that verbally. One part of her wanted to accept it wholeheartedly. Another wanted to put up her usual front, insist it wasn't necessary. Finally, she decided to keep it simple and gave a noncommittal "thank you" as she stood up.
"Don't forget the test is Friday." Professor Makoto called out, "I hope to see you then and perhaps next term too if possible."
Chris waved her hand in acknowledgement. As the door closed behind her, the Professor's gaze lingered on it for a good long while. "Would never happen again." He repeated to himself.
He quickly checked the clock. He had a good thirty minutes before he had to head out, more than enough time to get some additional work done. He took a moment to turn and close the blinds on his office window before returning to his computer.
----
"Hello, Emily." Maria said as she sat down next to the figure lying on the hospital bed, strapped down in case she woke up and tried to escape or hurt herself. "We met your aunt this weekend, just like you said we would. She was… intense."
Maria wasn't entirely sure herself why she had taken it upon herself to be the one to visit Miku's would-be-assassin. Sure, there was some resemblance to Serena there, but it was only passing. Then again, she had been the one to initially talk with Miku back when she had captured her in FIS. Maybe looking after prisoners was just something in her nature?
She wasn't even sure if Emily could even hear her. The girl's eyes were open and her chest rose and fell regularly, but those were the only signs of life from her. According to the medical staff, there was nothing biologically wrong with her, and yet she might as well have effectively been dead. Emily would just stare listlessly at the ceiling all day, fall asleep whenever exhaustion overtook her, and then woke up just to do it again.
She wouldn't eat food that was brought to her but neither did she resist when they had to use a feeding tube. And the less said about when she had to… relieve herself, the better. Suffice to say, the bed sheets had to be frequently changed. It made for an utterly pitiful sight.
"Did your aunt put you up to this? Did she even know you tried?" Maria muttered, wishing it had occurred to one of them to ask that night. "She cared for you. She still cares for you. I could tell that. So why would she permit this?"
Emily did not answer. She didn't even give any indication she had even heard. Maria sighed, and closed her eyes. On a whim she decided that since she sang for Miku all that time ago, she might as well sing for Emily too.
"The apple floated in the sky.
The apple fell down to the ground."
As Maria sang, she thought back to what Caprice had said that night. She had to have known this was coming, Maria knew, to taunt her that way. Unlike the others, Maria had sat down to actually watch the news, she had seen the footage of pundits and protests calling for her to be tried and jailed. She had seen interviews where the sobbing families of those killed in the Frontier Incident now blamed her. She had seen them scream in rage at the lie she herself had agreed to perpetuate.
But even that didn't tear at Maria as badly as when many of those same pundits, protestors, and families did the same to Kirika and Shirabe. She had only agreed to lie to the public for their sake, after all. They were the only family she had now, and no matter how scary facing the repercussions for her actions, the thought of anything happening to those two absolutely terrified her. She silently prayed to any deity she could to protect her girls whenever she wasn't around to do so.
Maybe that was why she decided to watch over Emily. A good distraction from her fears. Another way to atone.
"The stars were born, the songs were born.
The Lulu Amel-"
Emily did not let her finish the line. No sooner had the words "Lulu Amel" drifted out of Maria's mouth then did Emily come awake and howl.
—
Fujitaka lifted the coffee cup to take one, long, slurp. Ogawa had tasked him to look over prospective applicants for a public relations position, since the recent events clearly meant that SONG couldn't just lean on the UN's own PR teams for that. Fujitaka had managed to talk Tomosato into letting him finish this one last profile then he'd finally go to take a break.
The sudden wail of the alarm systems caused him to jerk back, splashing coffee all over his shirt. He barely avoided choking. Up on the main screen, angry red letters glared down at the bridge crew: [UNKNOWN OUTER PHYSICS SIGNATURE DETECTED]
Fujitaka suddenly desperately wished Elfnein hadn't gone to the lab.
Ogawa raced into the bridge, took one glance at the screen, and his eyes went wide. "Location?!"
"Location is…" Tomosato's eyes widened in shock. "The medical bay?!"
The floor beneath them briefly shook.
—
At the sound of Emily's scream, the two SONG agents posted at her hospital door turned in surprise. Then the alarms started ringing. The two men exchanged a glance, drew their sidearms, and turned to the door just in time for it to be smashed across the room by Maria, already clad in Airgetlamh's armor, being flung into it. So violent was her passage that the two agents were thrown away.
A blur of white followed Maria out, striking directly after her. She rolled out of the way just in time for it to smash into the opposite wall, driving an enormous dent into. Springing to her feet, the Airgetlamh user turned and held out her armed gear defensively.
Emily rose to her feet and turned, still clad in her white hospital gown. Save for the fact she was up and mobile, she seemed the exact same as when comatose with one extremely obvious exception: her eyes had been replaced by a pitch blackness that appeared to ooze and tremble as if it was tar being sloshed around in a bucket.
"Kill the custodian. Kill the custodian." It was still Emily's voice that uttered those words, if raspily from dehydration, but she didn't so much speak the line as she seemed to breathe it with each exhale. "Kill the custodian. Kill the cust-"
Maria tensed, expecting her to suddenly strike again. Instead the blackness seemed to abruptly boil away, revealing Emily's normal blue-green eyes. She blinked, a look of confusion passing across her face before her eyes rolled away into her head as she collapsed to the ground.
"Maria!" Maria turned at the shout to see Tsubasa storming towards her already transformed. "What's going on?!" She said as she ran up. "The bridge said they detected Outer Physics here! What happened?!"
"Emily." Maria finally found her voice, turning back to where the girl lay on floor. "I was… I was singing Apple to Emily. And then it was like she was suddenly possessed by a demon or something. She tore out of her restraints and attacked me so fast… I barely had time to transform."
The two agents who had been by the door had picked themselves up and had their guns aimed down at the unconscious girl. One nudged her with his foot, but the collapsed body didn't respond. Tsubasa's gaze drifted across the hall, from the doorway, sans door, to the dented wall and then down to Emily herself. "Did you defeat her?"
"I didn't have to." Maria said. "The… whatever it was seemed to burn out on its own suddenly and she collapsed." She glanced up. "An extended fight against that could have been really bad."
"Yes." Tsubasa said, releasing her transformation now that the danger was past. "But what was it in the first place?"
—
A lone figure stood on a pier across the harbor from where SONG's headquarters was docked. An uncommon frown drawn across his face as he stared at the submarine. For the trillionth time he cycled through a memory vaster than any human could comprehend in an instant and came up with nothing. That had not been in The Record. But then again, he himself had also not been in The Record.
The frown vanished, replaced by his usual inexpressiveness. That meant this was something new… something new! From this? Like himself? An interaction? Yes. An interaction! It must be. That made sense. Just like before, with himself. But what were the two elements? There was that, of course. But what was the second part? The song? It couldn't be. Mere singing wouldn't produce such an interaction. But wait… no, it wasn't just any song. It was that song. The one that contained…
Ah. That would be why.
He understood now. So long as he understood, it was something he could factor in. The Pale Man turned and walked away, vanishing down the pier.
Maria wasn't entirely sure herself why she had taken it upon herself to be the one to visit Miku's would-be-assassin. Sure, there was some resemblance to Serena there, but it was only passing. Then again, she had been the one to initially talk with Miku back when she had captured her in FIS. Maybe looking after prisoners was just something in her nature?
She wasn't even sure if Emily could even hear her. The girl's eyes were open and her chest rose and fell regularly, but those were the only signs of life from her. According to the medical staff, there was nothing biologically wrong with her, and yet she might as well have effectively been dead. Emily would just stare listlessly at the ceiling all day, fall asleep whenever exhaustion overtook her, and then woke up just to do it again.
She wouldn't eat food that was brought to her but neither did she resist when they had to use a feeding tube. And the less said about when she had to… relieve herself, the better. Suffice to say, the bed sheets had to be frequently changed. It made for an utterly pitiful sight.
"Did your aunt put you up to this? Did she even know you tried?" Maria muttered, wishing it had occurred to one of them to ask that night. "She cared for you. She still cares for you. I could tell that. So why would she permit this?"
Emily did not answer. She didn't even give any indication she had even heard. Maria sighed, and closed her eyes. On a whim she decided that since she sang for Miku all that time ago, she might as well sing for Emily too.
"The apple floated in the sky.
The apple fell down to the ground."
As Maria sang, she thought back to what Caprice had said that night. She had to have known this was coming, Maria knew, to taunt her that way. Unlike the others, Maria had sat down to actually watch the news, she had seen the footage of pundits and protests calling for her to be tried and jailed. She had seen interviews where the sobbing families of those killed in the Frontier Incident now blamed her. She had seen them scream in rage at the lie she herself had agreed to perpetuate.
But even that didn't tear at Maria as badly as when many of those same pundits, protestors, and families did the same to Kirika and Shirabe. She had only agreed to lie to the public for their sake, after all. They were the only family she had now, and no matter how scary facing the repercussions for her actions, the thought of anything happening to those two absolutely terrified her. She silently prayed to any deity she could to protect her girls whenever she wasn't around to do so.
Maybe that was why she decided to watch over Emily. A good distraction from her fears. Another way to atone.
"The stars were born, the songs were born.
The Lulu Amel-"
Emily did not let her finish the line. No sooner had the words "Lulu Amel" drifted out of Maria's mouth then did Emily come awake and howl.
—
Fujitaka lifted the coffee cup to take one, long, slurp. Ogawa had tasked him to look over prospective applicants for a public relations position, since the recent events clearly meant that SONG couldn't just lean on the UN's own PR teams for that. Fujitaka had managed to talk Tomosato into letting him finish this one last profile then he'd finally go to take a break.
The sudden wail of the alarm systems caused him to jerk back, splashing coffee all over his shirt. He barely avoided choking. Up on the main screen, angry red letters glared down at the bridge crew: [UNKNOWN OUTER PHYSICS SIGNATURE DETECTED]
Fujitaka suddenly desperately wished Elfnein hadn't gone to the lab.
Ogawa raced into the bridge, took one glance at the screen, and his eyes went wide. "Location?!"
"Location is…" Tomosato's eyes widened in shock. "The medical bay?!"
The floor beneath them briefly shook.
—
At the sound of Emily's scream, the two SONG agents posted at her hospital door turned in surprise. Then the alarms started ringing. The two men exchanged a glance, drew their sidearms, and turned to the door just in time for it to be smashed across the room by Maria, already clad in Airgetlamh's armor, being flung into it. So violent was her passage that the two agents were thrown away.
A blur of white followed Maria out, striking directly after her. She rolled out of the way just in time for it to smash into the opposite wall, driving an enormous dent into. Springing to her feet, the Airgetlamh user turned and held out her armed gear defensively.
Emily rose to her feet and turned, still clad in her white hospital gown. Save for the fact she was up and mobile, she seemed the exact same as when comatose with one extremely obvious exception: her eyes had been replaced by a pitch blackness that appeared to ooze and tremble as if it was tar being sloshed around in a bucket.
"Kill the custodian. Kill the custodian." It was still Emily's voice that uttered those words, if raspily from dehydration, but she didn't so much speak the line as she seemed to breathe it with each exhale. "Kill the custodian. Kill the cust-"
Maria tensed, expecting her to suddenly strike again. Instead the blackness seemed to abruptly boil away, revealing Emily's normal blue-green eyes. She blinked, a look of confusion passing across her face before her eyes rolled away into her head as she collapsed to the ground.
"Maria!" Maria turned at the shout to see Tsubasa storming towards her already transformed. "What's going on?!" She said as she ran up. "The bridge said they detected Outer Physics here! What happened?!"
"Emily." Maria finally found her voice, turning back to where the girl lay on floor. "I was… I was singing Apple to Emily. And then it was like she was suddenly possessed by a demon or something. She tore out of her restraints and attacked me so fast… I barely had time to transform."
The two agents who had been by the door had picked themselves up and had their guns aimed down at the unconscious girl. One nudged her with his foot, but the collapsed body didn't respond. Tsubasa's gaze drifted across the hall, from the doorway, sans door, to the dented wall and then down to Emily herself. "Did you defeat her?"
"I didn't have to." Maria said. "The… whatever it was seemed to burn out on its own suddenly and she collapsed." She glanced up. "An extended fight against that could have been really bad."
"Yes." Tsubasa said, releasing her transformation now that the danger was past. "But what was it in the first place?"
—
A lone figure stood on a pier across the harbor from where SONG's headquarters was docked. An uncommon frown drawn across his face as he stared at the submarine. For the trillionth time he cycled through a memory vaster than any human could comprehend in an instant and came up with nothing. That had not been in The Record. But then again, he himself had also not been in The Record.
The frown vanished, replaced by his usual inexpressiveness. That meant this was something new… something new! From this? Like himself? An interaction? Yes. An interaction! It must be. That made sense. Just like before, with himself. But what were the two elements? There was that, of course. But what was the second part? The song? It couldn't be. Mere singing wouldn't produce such an interaction. But wait… no, it wasn't just any song. It was that song. The one that contained…
Ah. That would be why.
He understood now. So long as he understood, it was something he could factor in. The Pale Man turned and walked away, vanishing down the pier.
----
Next Chapter: Sky of Fiction
----
Distortions, Chapter 7 Key Notes:
Political Situation in Europe:
As a result of the actions of the Bavarian Illuminati in 2043-44, the countries of continental Europe suffered tremendous blows to their economic and political stability. The major powers were crippled and many of the minor powers, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe, disintegrated outright, as did a number of supranational organizations like the EU and NATO. The violence of the resulting conflicts led Europe to be briefly dubbed as "the New Dark Continent". This power vacuum represented the perfect opportunity for Russia to re-achieve a large degree of its former Soviet influence through military "stabilization campaigns" throughout Eastern Europe.
However, the steady recovery of Western and Central Europe has resulted in a France and Germany understandably leery about the spread of Russian military power as far west as the Oder and as far south as the Ionian Sea. The military stand-off between Russia and the resulting Western European Alliance, with the latter receiving significant support from the US and Britain, only avoided turning into an outright Cold War due to the general euphoria and sense of human unity following the Shem-Ha incident. However, the feelings have noticeably started to fade in recent weeks and the usual power-games have begun to assert themselves.
As the world's widely acknowledged second superpower since the arms race of the 2020s, China has emerged as a potentially decisive player in the new European conflict. Russia has sought China's support to avoid having to extend its already-stretched military resources to cover its Siberian flank while selling oil and natural gas to the Chinese to bolster the Russian economy. The Western European Alliance, on the other hand, has sought Chinese support for the exact opposite reasons: to exert further pressure on Russia's eastern fringes and deny it crucial economic links. So far, the Chinese have remained ambivalent and largely focused on playing both sides. However, recent revelations regarding the supernatural incidents of the past two years and resulting revision of Chinese policy towards SONG could have important consequences on the state of affairs in the Pacific whose echoes could impact the brewing Cold War in Europe.
----
Author's Notes:
The genesis of this fic is fundamentally rooted in several questions I asked myself when I first marathoned the series back at the start of October. One of those questions was "what would happen if everything the girls did during the series became public knowledge?" This chapter is the start of my attempt at answering that question.
The idea of Hibiki actually being something of an unknowing chick magnet at Lydian is shamelessly stolen from the 2014 Super Heroine Chronicles crossover game, where apparently she manages to accidentally seduce a large portion of the female cast of Infinite Stratos. Or at least that's what the internet tells me. I can't find any english translations of the games to confirm it. Probably a good thing Miku apparently isn't in that game. She'd probably go a bit yandere.
This chapter also brought out a line ("Symphonic lesbian agenda") I've been waiting to use for awhile. Because I found it to be an inherently funny line, conceptually speaking. Plus, you just know it's something that'd be thrown out there unironically by certain elements if this actually happened.
I believe it was @Baughn who wondered if Hibiki's gonna manage to get through to any of the opposition in this fic. I kinda want to know if they still think that, based on what's happened.
And for those who started reading before I posted the omake, be sure to hit the refresh button!
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Omake: Living Well
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
OMAKE: Living Well
Her name was Matsuoka Yasu. She was almost eighteen years old, her blood type was AB, her height was 162 centimeters, and her hobby was watching trashy soap operas to make fun of them. She'd likely tell you her birth date if you asked. She wouldn't mention that she's had three boyfriends and she'd never tell you her weight even if you were her best friend.
Apparently, there had been a lot of talk about the Symphogears today, but Matsuoka hadn't paid much attention to that. She was more focused on finishing her studies with term finals coming up and getting accepted into that awesome university. She didn't have much time to pay attention to the news right now. Life was going great: she was the star student of her high school, she had all the boys salivating over her, and she had a clear idea of what she wanted to do. She couldn't afford to let things get derailed.
But it was nighttime now, and Matsuoka had finished all the studying she figured that she needed to do for today. So there she was, lying on her bed and flipping through her phone. She had gone through all the mobile games already, but none were really holding her attention. All of her friends were busy with their own studying. So, with nothing better to do, she flipped to a random news site.
The first article, emblazoned in big headlines was "The Symphogears: Their Identities, Their Lives". Well, Matsuoka supposed she might as well see what the fuss was all about and tapped it.
Maria Candezevna Eve? Wasn't she kinda old news? Oh, wait… apparently the whole thing about being a spy against that terrorist group was a lie. Damn, she was going to have a tough time with that.
Tsubasa Kazanari? That was a surprise, Matsuoka supposed. She had heard a couple of her songs and thought they were good. One friend of hers was a bigger fan and said she was "like the reincarnation of Nana Mizuki", whoever that was.
Hibiki Tachibana? Huh, that name sounded kinda familiar, why is-HIBIKI TACHIBANA?!
Matsuoka shot straight up in shock. Sure enough, it was her. Sure, she was taller and better… developed, but there was no mistaking her. She had forgotten about Hibiki Tachibana. Had you asked Matsuoka, she would have thought about it for a while before recalling Hibiki as that weirdo back in middle school nobody liked. But now, reading that news article, Matsuoka remembered...
There hadn't been any particular reason they had picked on her at first. She was just the sort of awkward goofball young girls loved to tease and mistreat at the time. It wasn't really anything serious at first: tacks on the chair, mean letters in the locker, chasing her away with snide comments… that sort of thing.
Then the Zwei Wing concert happened. That was when things really kicked into high gear. Whereas before she was just a passerby, now she was a pariah. There were plenty of people who had lost their family and friends at the Zwei Wing concert at that time, and they hated Tachibana for it. The pranks became crueler, the insults became personal and full of vitriol, and physical altercations became increasingly more common. Yet in spite of this escalation, it seemed as though none of the grown-ups cared. They could openly pick on her in the middle of class, and the teachers would just look the other way.
Matsuoka never really understood why everyone started picking on Tachibana, and in a way, she didn't really care. Tormenting the little weirdo went from being a fun pastime to a daily hobby. When it came to the bullying campaign, she had been one of the ring leaders. Recruiting people angry at Hibiki, riling them up, and setting them loose. Helping to get adults in on it. Organizing the groups that would go and throw rocks at her house. Matsuoka had done it all to Hibiki for no reason other than sheer sadism.
And Hibiki had gone on to save the world. To save millions, no billions of lives. A group that would have invariably included Matsuoka. Not just once, but five times.
Matsuoka didn't get any sleep that night, the night after, or really for almost an entire week. The thought that Hibiki Tachibana, the girl whose life she made a living hell, was the world's savior wouldn't stop haunting her for a long, long time.
Hibiki never knew it, but it turned out the best revenge is living well.
Apparently, there had been a lot of talk about the Symphogears today, but Matsuoka hadn't paid much attention to that. She was more focused on finishing her studies with term finals coming up and getting accepted into that awesome university. She didn't have much time to pay attention to the news right now. Life was going great: she was the star student of her high school, she had all the boys salivating over her, and she had a clear idea of what she wanted to do. She couldn't afford to let things get derailed.
But it was nighttime now, and Matsuoka had finished all the studying she figured that she needed to do for today. So there she was, lying on her bed and flipping through her phone. She had gone through all the mobile games already, but none were really holding her attention. All of her friends were busy with their own studying. So, with nothing better to do, she flipped to a random news site.
The first article, emblazoned in big headlines was "The Symphogears: Their Identities, Their Lives". Well, Matsuoka supposed she might as well see what the fuss was all about and tapped it.
Maria Candezevna Eve? Wasn't she kinda old news? Oh, wait… apparently the whole thing about being a spy against that terrorist group was a lie. Damn, she was going to have a tough time with that.
Tsubasa Kazanari? That was a surprise, Matsuoka supposed. She had heard a couple of her songs and thought they were good. One friend of hers was a bigger fan and said she was "like the reincarnation of Nana Mizuki", whoever that was.
Hibiki Tachibana? Huh, that name sounded kinda familiar, why is-HIBIKI TACHIBANA?!
Matsuoka shot straight up in shock. Sure enough, it was her. Sure, she was taller and better… developed, but there was no mistaking her. She had forgotten about Hibiki Tachibana. Had you asked Matsuoka, she would have thought about it for a while before recalling Hibiki as that weirdo back in middle school nobody liked. But now, reading that news article, Matsuoka remembered...
There hadn't been any particular reason they had picked on her at first. She was just the sort of awkward goofball young girls loved to tease and mistreat at the time. It wasn't really anything serious at first: tacks on the chair, mean letters in the locker, chasing her away with snide comments… that sort of thing.
Then the Zwei Wing concert happened. That was when things really kicked into high gear. Whereas before she was just a passerby, now she was a pariah. There were plenty of people who had lost their family and friends at the Zwei Wing concert at that time, and they hated Tachibana for it. The pranks became crueler, the insults became personal and full of vitriol, and physical altercations became increasingly more common. Yet in spite of this escalation, it seemed as though none of the grown-ups cared. They could openly pick on her in the middle of class, and the teachers would just look the other way.
Matsuoka never really understood why everyone started picking on Tachibana, and in a way, she didn't really care. Tormenting the little weirdo went from being a fun pastime to a daily hobby. When it came to the bullying campaign, she had been one of the ring leaders. Recruiting people angry at Hibiki, riling them up, and setting them loose. Helping to get adults in on it. Organizing the groups that would go and throw rocks at her house. Matsuoka had done it all to Hibiki for no reason other than sheer sadism.
And Hibiki had gone on to save the world. To save millions, no billions of lives. A group that would have invariably included Matsuoka. Not just once, but five times.
Matsuoka didn't get any sleep that night, the night after, or really for almost an entire week. The thought that Hibiki Tachibana, the girl whose life she made a living hell, was the world's savior wouldn't stop haunting her for a long, long time.
Hibiki never knew it, but it turned out the best revenge is living well.
----
Authors Notes: I don't know if you guys have noticed or not, but the issue of "revenge" is kind of one of the themes in this story. Surprising, I know. Special shout-out to @The Name of Love , who I'm pretty sure rewrote something like half of this. Your awesome.
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Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Typo: Should be Chris
Interesting, this does show that there is some helpful/grateful souls around. Yet the inner-cynic is thinking he will be shown to be a member of the Four Horsemen.
Well that's something interesting, makes me wonder how that was done.
Great, the whole events are just entertainment to him, though I'm still not sure what he is.
Entertainment, or maybe just a fascinating example of SCIENCE!!! in action? Could be the pale man is completely unrelated to the Four Horsemen and is an observer sent by the Custodians now that Shem-Ha is kaput. He's fascinated by the seven who destroyed the enemy that the Custodians could only quarantine and wrested control of the planet's fate from Shem-Ha. He may even be trying to subtly help them, like making Miku confront the results of her actions in a safe environment rather than letting the Four Horsemen spring it on her during battle
- Location
- College Station, Texas
Do you think a Custodian would consider himself "something new?"
Hmm. Good point. Maybe when the whatchamacallit got destroyed, or rather when the Four Horsemen thought it was destroyed, it actually merged with some random guy who became the Pale Man?
- Location
- College Station, Texas
You mean the Book of Life? I mean...
From these lines, we know that the Pale Man has "a memory vaster than any human could comprehend" that he could cycle through in "an instant"; he refers to "the Record"; and considers himself an "interaction" between two different things.
These are hints to his true nature.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Hehe, the Pale Man's gonna be a mystery for quite awhile even as I slowly drop hints about what he is and what he values.
No comments on anything else though?
No comments on anything else though?
Sheeple being idiots, with only a select few able to see beyond the hype and their own prejudices. That line about Miku ALLOWING herself to be brainwashed pissed me off about as much as it did Hibiki. Miku would not have done what she did if she was in control. The mind-control rig/Shem-Ha was beyond a human's ability to resist. It wasn't Miku's fault. I am looking forward to Tsubasa and Maria's interview(s) as they try to put things in perspective for the public. I'm sure Maria will make a point of noting how Shirabe and Kirkia were and still are underage and had pretty much spent years being conditioned to obey orders at the F.I.S. as well as all three of them thinking they were trying to save the world by stopping the moon from falling out of orbit. Dr. Ver was a skilled trickster, that's how he got Solomon's Cane from the government in the first place.