Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I'm fine. Just waiting for the next chapter of the fic to be posted.
Distortions (Symphogear) (Spoilers for Those Who Haven't Seen XV!)
- Thread starter obssesednuker
- Start date
I'm fine. Just waiting for the next chapter of the fic to be posted.
- Location
- in between
Me too, in between quest work (I'm working on it, dammit!). As an aside: we were working on that second part of Supernatural Forums, but it, uh. Imma be blunt, I fucked up. So now we've ditched that plan, and you'll get a second part after chapter 9.
Chapter 9: A Thousand Needles
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Distortions
Chapter 9:
A Thousand Needles
----
Chapter 9:
A Thousand Needles
----
Thermite for the money packets, shaped charges for the deposit boxes, and general hi-ex for everything else. Sure it was probably excessive as all hell, but Caprice was just fine with that. It wasn't so much that she didn't understand the concept of overkill. Rather the opposite: she loved overkill.
Then an unexpected power shot through her. The Italian's head whipped around in surprise. Her Apegear was taking on phonic gain? Then that means… an active Symphogear?! Here?! One must have been nearby and seen the bombs go off! She wasn't prepared for this. She didn't have her nanosuit, she didn't have her launcher, and she was operating with only a fraction of her usual arsenal.
Okay, okay Corporal Calcaterra, don't panic. They'll probably be focused on saving the people in the upper floors, not looking in the vault of an already ruined bank. Red Unit would have already done its own part of the job. She could still wreck the assets here and sneak away under the cover of smoke.
Keeping an eye on the blown wall that served as her entryway into the bank vault, Caprice hastily went back to work, a bit more urgency in her efforts.
—
"As the flower falls countless times at night, I ask myself the question
Water flows downhill but why do people alike act… heartlessly?"
Flames licked harmlessly at her armor and smoke did not bother her. With a slash, Tsubasa carved a section of the first floor ceiling away, toppling down a piece of concrete to rest as a ramp and snuffing some flames caught in the way of the giant slab. She stormed up the ramp and repeated the process on the second floor, clearing away more fire and creating a steady path.
Running up this second ramp and into a second floor hallway, she found the first group of people who weren't a bunch of shredded corpses. They were staying low to the floor, following the usual instructions about fire but had shied away from the stairwell, from which inordinate amounts of smoke was pouring upwards. They were already turning at the sound of her singing, and when they saw her the fear in their eyes was quickly replaced with recognition, awe… and hope.
"Mama!" Tsubasa heard a child call out in excitement. "It's Symphogear Blue!"
Ignoring the comment, Tsubasa pointed the way she had come with Ame No Habakiri. "I've created a ramp to the ground level in a place where there are no flames for the moment. Go, quickly!"
The people scrambled past her at that, some nodding their appreciation as they did so.
"Tsubasa?!" Tomasoto's voice crackled in her ear as her armor's communicator came to life. "We're detecting Ame no Habakiri is active! What's going on?"
"There was an explosion in an office building I was in." Tsubasa replied calmly as she returned to the "ramp" room and carved her way up another floor. "I suspect the Four Horsemen were trying to kill me with a bomb. I am evacuating civilians trapped by the fires. I believe at least Caprice Calcaterra is in the area, and perhaps more of the White Noise Squad are nearby."
There was a few seconds pause before Tomasoto's voice came back again. "Calls of explosion and fire at the location of relic activation… emergency services en-route. Alright, we understand. Keep trying to evacuate as many civilians as you can. We'll inform the firefighters that you're there. I'll alert the others in case the White Noise show up."
Tsubasa continued to work her way up the building in search of civilians, informing anyone who she came across about the new way down, cutting an improvised staircase as she went. At last, she tore her way up to the top floor. Funny, she had just been here… what? Less than a half-hour ago?
Of course, unlike the lower floors, there was a familiar face here among the people lingering around the main stairwells.
"Kazanari?" Kohaku said, as if he was suddenly encountering Tsubasa in a cafe rather than on the top floor of a burning building. If he was worried by the ongoing situation, he didn't show it very much.
Tsubasa acknowledged him with a brief glance. "Is everyone here?" There were nods all around. "Then follow me."
She led the civilians back to the ramp room only to pause as she discovered smoke pouring up in equal measure to the actual stairwells. Clearly, the ground floor fires had spread. Tsubasa hoped the people she had already sent down that way had all managed to get out.
The swordswoman ran over the windows, gauging the distance to the adjacent office building. It looked close enough. And if it wasn't, well, she could always make her swords bigger.
"Stand back." She instructed the civilians behind her as she readied Ame no Habakiri. She gave them a moment to do as she said before she cut away the wall in four quick strokes. An instant later Heaven's Wrath embedded itself into the structure at an angle, creating a ramp down to the adjacent buildings roof. "This way!"
With only some hesitation, the civilians streamed past Tsubasa down to safety. Kohaku paused to glance at her before he headed down. "You know, seeing it on the news is one thing, but in person it is much more… inspiring."
Tsubasa didn't know how to respond to that, but the lawyer didn't seem to expect any response as he hastily departed. Another series of blasts in the center of the structure caused Tsubasa to turn in surprise. As she did so, she caught a flash of blonde hair in the street below.
Caprice. The terrorist was jogging away from the structure. Tsubasa's eyes narrowed in rage. She leapt down towards Caprice, but the Italian clearly sensed her coming and rolled away to avoid Tsubasa slamming into her. Coming to her feet, the bomber turned towards the swordswoman.
"Caprice!" Tsubasa shouted, pointing her sword at the Italian. "Surrender!"
"I'm afraid I'm not into that sort of play, dear." Caprice winked, her hand sliding down to her waist. "How about I offer a counter-proposal?"
"What could you possi-" Tsubasa was interrupted as Caprice suddenly threw a grenade at her. Naturally, Ame no Habakiri lashed out and bisected the oncoming round. But Tsubasa hadn't taken the moment to pay attention to the appearance of the grenade and so it was something of a surprise when a familiar red gas splashed out of the two sections of the canister and washed over her. Tsubasa didn't even wait to feel the first of the backlash from the Anti-LiNKER before dropping her gear combination.
But Caprice had already used the momentary distraction to sprint most of the way to an alleyway. Tsubasa charged after her, but the Italian turned to throw a handful of micro-explosives in the path of an oncoming fire truck.
Tsubasa broke towards them and with the flat of her sword batted the explosives away up into the air, where they detonated harmlessly. Caprice had already disappeared down into the alleyway. Instead of just trying to charge after her, Tsubasa instead leapt up onto an adjacent buildings rooftop. This proved to be a good move, as it turned out Caprice had also taken to the rooftops and was running away over the buildings just across from Tsubasa. With her quarry in sight again, Tsubasa leapt after her and easily crossed the alley in hot pursuit.
"HQ!" Tsubasa quickly broadcasted. "I'm in pursuit of Caprice!" She didn't even pay much attention to Tomosato's affirmation.
The Italian was spry enough but she still wasn't quite as naturally quick as Tsubasa, so even with the supernatural boosts of phonic gain, the distance between them began to slowly shrink.
"Gowon!" Caprice shouted into her commbead as she leapt across to another building. "Come on, come on, you bible thumper, pick up already! Goddamn-!"
"Don't take the Lord's name in vain." The reply finally came, as if he had been summoned by the offense.
"I'll give it some consideration if you get the fuck over here!" Caprice snapped back. "I've got Sierra-One on my ass, and I don't have any smoke!"
There was a moment's pause. "I'm on my way. Where are you?"
"Track the fucking commbead! And bring smoke!" She spat back in lieu of an actual answer, jumping down off the rooftops and onto a busy sidewalk. She didn't bother trying to weave around people too slow to get out of the way, instead opting to simply plow through them with superhuman resiliency and strength. Tsubasa followed, but unlike Caprice she did bother to weave through the crowd, requiring her to slow down ever so slightly.
A policeman appeared in Caprice's path, drawn by her bulldozing through the crowd. He drew his sidearm and shouted at her to halt. In a flash, Caprice's own hands shot up with the machine pistol she had kept hidden. The gun quickly brrped, and the officer collapsed with a burst of gunfire to the center mass. The now-screaming crowd scattered at the sound of gunshots, opening a path for both the bombmaker and swordswoman. But that favored Tsubasa.
Caprice recognized this and swiftly tossed another handful of micro-explosives towards the fleeing crowd, forcing Tsubasa to divert again to bat the explosives into the air. However, Tsubasa followed up the bat with a leap in Caprice's direction, firing her jets for additional speed, making up for lost time as the Italian approached a busy intersection.
Caprice knew she was running out of options; all she had left was one last handful of micro-explosives, a few additional grenades and charges, her knife, and her concealed machine pistol. If only she had thought to bring some smoke rounds!
Well, she'd have to make do. Yanking out one of her grenades, the bomber threw the grenade forward, straight at a car coming to a halt in the intersection ahead. The driver had just enough time to jerk in surprise when the projectile landed on his windshield before it detonated, taking the car with it. Caprice ran straight into the dust and smoke kicked up by the blasts. Tsubasa pursued.
Quickly, a stationary figure loomed into the swordswoman's vision, clearly turned in her direction. So Caprice had decided to face her at last. Tsubasa brought her sword to readiness as she charged.
The figure resolved itself into that of a terrified mid-age woman.
Tsubasa abruptly froze. She could see Caprice standing right behind the woman. The terrorist had a solid grip on her with one hand, the machine pistol shoved into the hostage's back with the other, right behind where the heart was. The color drained from Tsubasa's face. 'Oh no. Not again.'
"Well! This seems familiar, doesn't it?" Caprice asked, clearly recognizing and delighting in Tsubasa's case of deja-vu. "I mean, it's not a concert, and she's a fair bit older than the one Millaarc offed, but…"
"P-please." The woman whimpered, although whether she was talking to Caprice or Tsubasa wasn't exactly clear. "I have ch-chil-"
"Hush dear." Caprice cut her off, raising her free hand to gently caress her cheek. "Whether you get to see them again or not is in the Symphogear's hands here." She shot a lopsided grin at Tsubasa. "See, that's something else that's different here. I'm not some alchemical vampiric cyborg abomination. So in addition to not having any mind control shit to use on you when you're freaked out, I don't have any other means of escape at the moment than this cutie. So, 'protector', are you actually gonna protect her? Or are you going to let her die like so many others you've failed?"
Tsubasa glared daggers at the Italian. She already knew that appealing to the bomber's morality wouldn't work, the chase up to this point was proof enough of that. Practicality, on the other hand… "You won't kill her. Because then there would be nothing between you and me."
"Oooh! Think I'm bluffing?" Caprice grin became broad. "That's what makes this so tricky, doesn't it? Following through on the threat doesn't make as much sense as making the threat. But then, it also doesn't make much sense to make threats one isn't willing to follow through on. We can go around and around on that train of thought, so let's side step it and ask a different question. Am I willing to undertake action that puts me at an additional disadvantage?"
Her grin became a leer. "In answer, let me tell you a little story: before you found me, I came across a darling little mother and her baby. She was already walking into the blast zone back there," Caprice nodded towards the distant rising smoke of the building they had left behind. "but I figured a little extra boom was always nice. So I cooed over the baby and while the mother was distracted, I slipped in a little bomb into her child's little walker. That's one bomb less I could have used now! Wasn't even necessary: the lobby blast would've cooked them anyways." Caprice's eyes contained none of the warmth in her voice. "Does that answer the question?"
Tsubasa's fury intensified, her sword actually shaking a little in anger. The blue-haired woman suddenly realized how that was one more difference between the concert and now. Millaarc hadn't actually wanted to be a monster, even if she failed to comprehend how the monstrous acts she carried out only pointed away from that goal. But this woman… she was unbelievable. "You are a monster wearing human skin."
"And you are a human wearing a monster's skin!" Caprice's riposte was full of delight. "We're practically a match made in heaven! Or hell, if you listen to Gowon. But our compatibility aside, the question remains: will you let me go so that she lives or let her die trying to capture me?"
Tsubasa looked in the Italian's eyes, trying to see if there was any sign of, if not humanity, then at least a bluff. Finding none, her gaze drifted to the hostage's eyes.
"Please." She whispered at the swordswoman, begging to live.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, Tsubasa took a step back, only lowering her sword slightly. Caprice's grin became triumphant. She opened her mouth to usher her hostage along only to instead jerk back suddenly as the extended Airgetlamh twisted in from her left. The last movement meant that the whip-sword just missed slicing straight through her pistol hand, but the graze was still enough for her to release the gun with a hiss of pain and surprise.
Tsubasa leapt forward, swinging Ame no Habakiri at the Italian's other hand. Caprice shoved the woman forward in order to throw off Tsubasa's cut and duck out of the way in time. Tsubasa aborted her strike in favor of catching the woman and Caprice turned to run only to find herself staring into Maria's angry cyan eyes, Airgetlamh already poised at the Italian's throat.
"Well," Caprice said, slowly raising her hands. Short almost all her equipment and facing two adaptors at once? Yeah, there was no way out of this one. "It was fun while it lasted."
Tsubasa ignored her, instead patting the crying woman on her back while looking over to Maria and nodding gratefully. Maria gave a small smile back, but it was a smile that disappeared as a new figure emerged out of the smoke behind the swordswoman, the machine gun in his hands already raised.
The loss of Maria's smile and her own instincts were all the warning Tsubasa needed. Both her and Maria leapt away, the bluenette hauling the woman in her arms with her, just in time for Gowon's machine gun fire to tear through each of the spaces they had occupied. Maria landed in front of Tsubasa, Airgetlamh held out and ready to deflect another burst of fire, but instead, the African man threw a smoke grenade over to Caprice's feet and then another one at his own.
Maria hesitated as their figures rapidly vanished into the smoke, torn between resuming the pursuit and staying to make sure Tsubasa was alright in case this was some kind of fake-out. In the end, Maria decided on the latter option. She kept her guard up long enough for the smoke to start to disperse naturally and only then did she lower Airgetlamh and turn to Tsubasa. Tsubasa for her part had helped the woman they had rescued to her feet.
"Are you alright?" Maria asked the woman, who shakily nodded as she wiped at the last of her tears. Neither Maria or Tsubasa could miss the way the woman's relief and joy mixed with with awe at their presence.
"The police will be here soon." Tsubasa reassured her, leading her over to a street corner. "Please, have a seat."
She made sure the woman was seated before returning to Maria to find the pinkette staring at the burning car Caprice had blown up… and the corpses of bystanders who had been struck by shrapnel from it. They could hear approaching sirens.
"Caprice did this?" Maria asked, her voice tight.
Tsubasa nodded. "To try and get away from me. She used civilian crowds as a shield, so I couldn't hit her with any of my more advanced attacks. She even claimed that she planted a bomb on a child just for entertainment."
"What?" Maria turned, unable to believe it. Even by the standards of the enemies they had faced, she could scarcely believe anybody would sink that low. Adam, Dr. Ver, and even Shem-Ha didn't kill without some reason, however thin and screwed up that reason was.
"They're monsters." Tsubasa spat. Then she paused and thought, remembering Jwa's words to her that night at the Château and how familiar they sounded. "Or at least, Caprice is. A monster wearing human skin."
Then an unexpected power shot through her. The Italian's head whipped around in surprise. Her Apegear was taking on phonic gain? Then that means… an active Symphogear?! Here?! One must have been nearby and seen the bombs go off! She wasn't prepared for this. She didn't have her nanosuit, she didn't have her launcher, and she was operating with only a fraction of her usual arsenal.
Okay, okay Corporal Calcaterra, don't panic. They'll probably be focused on saving the people in the upper floors, not looking in the vault of an already ruined bank. Red Unit would have already done its own part of the job. She could still wreck the assets here and sneak away under the cover of smoke.
Keeping an eye on the blown wall that served as her entryway into the bank vault, Caprice hastily went back to work, a bit more urgency in her efforts.
—
"As the flower falls countless times at night, I ask myself the question
Water flows downhill but why do people alike act… heartlessly?"
Flames licked harmlessly at her armor and smoke did not bother her. With a slash, Tsubasa carved a section of the first floor ceiling away, toppling down a piece of concrete to rest as a ramp and snuffing some flames caught in the way of the giant slab. She stormed up the ramp and repeated the process on the second floor, clearing away more fire and creating a steady path.
Running up this second ramp and into a second floor hallway, she found the first group of people who weren't a bunch of shredded corpses. They were staying low to the floor, following the usual instructions about fire but had shied away from the stairwell, from which inordinate amounts of smoke was pouring upwards. They were already turning at the sound of her singing, and when they saw her the fear in their eyes was quickly replaced with recognition, awe… and hope.
"Mama!" Tsubasa heard a child call out in excitement. "It's Symphogear Blue!"
Ignoring the comment, Tsubasa pointed the way she had come with Ame No Habakiri. "I've created a ramp to the ground level in a place where there are no flames for the moment. Go, quickly!"
The people scrambled past her at that, some nodding their appreciation as they did so.
"Tsubasa?!" Tomasoto's voice crackled in her ear as her armor's communicator came to life. "We're detecting Ame no Habakiri is active! What's going on?"
"There was an explosion in an office building I was in." Tsubasa replied calmly as she returned to the "ramp" room and carved her way up another floor. "I suspect the Four Horsemen were trying to kill me with a bomb. I am evacuating civilians trapped by the fires. I believe at least Caprice Calcaterra is in the area, and perhaps more of the White Noise Squad are nearby."
There was a few seconds pause before Tomasoto's voice came back again. "Calls of explosion and fire at the location of relic activation… emergency services en-route. Alright, we understand. Keep trying to evacuate as many civilians as you can. We'll inform the firefighters that you're there. I'll alert the others in case the White Noise show up."
Tsubasa continued to work her way up the building in search of civilians, informing anyone who she came across about the new way down, cutting an improvised staircase as she went. At last, she tore her way up to the top floor. Funny, she had just been here… what? Less than a half-hour ago?
Of course, unlike the lower floors, there was a familiar face here among the people lingering around the main stairwells.
"Kazanari?" Kohaku said, as if he was suddenly encountering Tsubasa in a cafe rather than on the top floor of a burning building. If he was worried by the ongoing situation, he didn't show it very much.
Tsubasa acknowledged him with a brief glance. "Is everyone here?" There were nods all around. "Then follow me."
She led the civilians back to the ramp room only to pause as she discovered smoke pouring up in equal measure to the actual stairwells. Clearly, the ground floor fires had spread. Tsubasa hoped the people she had already sent down that way had all managed to get out.
The swordswoman ran over the windows, gauging the distance to the adjacent office building. It looked close enough. And if it wasn't, well, she could always make her swords bigger.
"Stand back." She instructed the civilians behind her as she readied Ame no Habakiri. She gave them a moment to do as she said before she cut away the wall in four quick strokes. An instant later Heaven's Wrath embedded itself into the structure at an angle, creating a ramp down to the adjacent buildings roof. "This way!"
With only some hesitation, the civilians streamed past Tsubasa down to safety. Kohaku paused to glance at her before he headed down. "You know, seeing it on the news is one thing, but in person it is much more… inspiring."
Tsubasa didn't know how to respond to that, but the lawyer didn't seem to expect any response as he hastily departed. Another series of blasts in the center of the structure caused Tsubasa to turn in surprise. As she did so, she caught a flash of blonde hair in the street below.
Caprice. The terrorist was jogging away from the structure. Tsubasa's eyes narrowed in rage. She leapt down towards Caprice, but the Italian clearly sensed her coming and rolled away to avoid Tsubasa slamming into her. Coming to her feet, the bomber turned towards the swordswoman.
"Caprice!" Tsubasa shouted, pointing her sword at the Italian. "Surrender!"
"I'm afraid I'm not into that sort of play, dear." Caprice winked, her hand sliding down to her waist. "How about I offer a counter-proposal?"
"What could you possi-" Tsubasa was interrupted as Caprice suddenly threw a grenade at her. Naturally, Ame no Habakiri lashed out and bisected the oncoming round. But Tsubasa hadn't taken the moment to pay attention to the appearance of the grenade and so it was something of a surprise when a familiar red gas splashed out of the two sections of the canister and washed over her. Tsubasa didn't even wait to feel the first of the backlash from the Anti-LiNKER before dropping her gear combination.
But Caprice had already used the momentary distraction to sprint most of the way to an alleyway. Tsubasa charged after her, but the Italian turned to throw a handful of micro-explosives in the path of an oncoming fire truck.
Tsubasa broke towards them and with the flat of her sword batted the explosives away up into the air, where they detonated harmlessly. Caprice had already disappeared down into the alleyway. Instead of just trying to charge after her, Tsubasa instead leapt up onto an adjacent buildings rooftop. This proved to be a good move, as it turned out Caprice had also taken to the rooftops and was running away over the buildings just across from Tsubasa. With her quarry in sight again, Tsubasa leapt after her and easily crossed the alley in hot pursuit.
"HQ!" Tsubasa quickly broadcasted. "I'm in pursuit of Caprice!" She didn't even pay much attention to Tomosato's affirmation.
The Italian was spry enough but she still wasn't quite as naturally quick as Tsubasa, so even with the supernatural boosts of phonic gain, the distance between them began to slowly shrink.
"Gowon!" Caprice shouted into her commbead as she leapt across to another building. "Come on, come on, you bible thumper, pick up already! Goddamn-!"
"Don't take the Lord's name in vain." The reply finally came, as if he had been summoned by the offense.
"I'll give it some consideration if you get the fuck over here!" Caprice snapped back. "I've got Sierra-One on my ass, and I don't have any smoke!"
There was a moment's pause. "I'm on my way. Where are you?"
"Track the fucking commbead! And bring smoke!" She spat back in lieu of an actual answer, jumping down off the rooftops and onto a busy sidewalk. She didn't bother trying to weave around people too slow to get out of the way, instead opting to simply plow through them with superhuman resiliency and strength. Tsubasa followed, but unlike Caprice she did bother to weave through the crowd, requiring her to slow down ever so slightly.
A policeman appeared in Caprice's path, drawn by her bulldozing through the crowd. He drew his sidearm and shouted at her to halt. In a flash, Caprice's own hands shot up with the machine pistol she had kept hidden. The gun quickly brrped, and the officer collapsed with a burst of gunfire to the center mass. The now-screaming crowd scattered at the sound of gunshots, opening a path for both the bombmaker and swordswoman. But that favored Tsubasa.
Caprice recognized this and swiftly tossed another handful of micro-explosives towards the fleeing crowd, forcing Tsubasa to divert again to bat the explosives into the air. However, Tsubasa followed up the bat with a leap in Caprice's direction, firing her jets for additional speed, making up for lost time as the Italian approached a busy intersection.
Caprice knew she was running out of options; all she had left was one last handful of micro-explosives, a few additional grenades and charges, her knife, and her concealed machine pistol. If only she had thought to bring some smoke rounds!
Well, she'd have to make do. Yanking out one of her grenades, the bomber threw the grenade forward, straight at a car coming to a halt in the intersection ahead. The driver had just enough time to jerk in surprise when the projectile landed on his windshield before it detonated, taking the car with it. Caprice ran straight into the dust and smoke kicked up by the blasts. Tsubasa pursued.
Quickly, a stationary figure loomed into the swordswoman's vision, clearly turned in her direction. So Caprice had decided to face her at last. Tsubasa brought her sword to readiness as she charged.
The figure resolved itself into that of a terrified mid-age woman.
Tsubasa abruptly froze. She could see Caprice standing right behind the woman. The terrorist had a solid grip on her with one hand, the machine pistol shoved into the hostage's back with the other, right behind where the heart was. The color drained from Tsubasa's face. 'Oh no. Not again.'
"Well! This seems familiar, doesn't it?" Caprice asked, clearly recognizing and delighting in Tsubasa's case of deja-vu. "I mean, it's not a concert, and she's a fair bit older than the one Millaarc offed, but…"
"P-please." The woman whimpered, although whether she was talking to Caprice or Tsubasa wasn't exactly clear. "I have ch-chil-"
"Hush dear." Caprice cut her off, raising her free hand to gently caress her cheek. "Whether you get to see them again or not is in the Symphogear's hands here." She shot a lopsided grin at Tsubasa. "See, that's something else that's different here. I'm not some alchemical vampiric cyborg abomination. So in addition to not having any mind control shit to use on you when you're freaked out, I don't have any other means of escape at the moment than this cutie. So, 'protector', are you actually gonna protect her? Or are you going to let her die like so many others you've failed?"
Tsubasa glared daggers at the Italian. She already knew that appealing to the bomber's morality wouldn't work, the chase up to this point was proof enough of that. Practicality, on the other hand… "You won't kill her. Because then there would be nothing between you and me."
"Oooh! Think I'm bluffing?" Caprice grin became broad. "That's what makes this so tricky, doesn't it? Following through on the threat doesn't make as much sense as making the threat. But then, it also doesn't make much sense to make threats one isn't willing to follow through on. We can go around and around on that train of thought, so let's side step it and ask a different question. Am I willing to undertake action that puts me at an additional disadvantage?"
Her grin became a leer. "In answer, let me tell you a little story: before you found me, I came across a darling little mother and her baby. She was already walking into the blast zone back there," Caprice nodded towards the distant rising smoke of the building they had left behind. "but I figured a little extra boom was always nice. So I cooed over the baby and while the mother was distracted, I slipped in a little bomb into her child's little walker. That's one bomb less I could have used now! Wasn't even necessary: the lobby blast would've cooked them anyways." Caprice's eyes contained none of the warmth in her voice. "Does that answer the question?"
Tsubasa's fury intensified, her sword actually shaking a little in anger. The blue-haired woman suddenly realized how that was one more difference between the concert and now. Millaarc hadn't actually wanted to be a monster, even if she failed to comprehend how the monstrous acts she carried out only pointed away from that goal. But this woman… she was unbelievable. "You are a monster wearing human skin."
"And you are a human wearing a monster's skin!" Caprice's riposte was full of delight. "We're practically a match made in heaven! Or hell, if you listen to Gowon. But our compatibility aside, the question remains: will you let me go so that she lives or let her die trying to capture me?"
Tsubasa looked in the Italian's eyes, trying to see if there was any sign of, if not humanity, then at least a bluff. Finding none, her gaze drifted to the hostage's eyes.
"Please." She whispered at the swordswoman, begging to live.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, Tsubasa took a step back, only lowering her sword slightly. Caprice's grin became triumphant. She opened her mouth to usher her hostage along only to instead jerk back suddenly as the extended Airgetlamh twisted in from her left. The last movement meant that the whip-sword just missed slicing straight through her pistol hand, but the graze was still enough for her to release the gun with a hiss of pain and surprise.
Tsubasa leapt forward, swinging Ame no Habakiri at the Italian's other hand. Caprice shoved the woman forward in order to throw off Tsubasa's cut and duck out of the way in time. Tsubasa aborted her strike in favor of catching the woman and Caprice turned to run only to find herself staring into Maria's angry cyan eyes, Airgetlamh already poised at the Italian's throat.
"Well," Caprice said, slowly raising her hands. Short almost all her equipment and facing two adaptors at once? Yeah, there was no way out of this one. "It was fun while it lasted."
Tsubasa ignored her, instead patting the crying woman on her back while looking over to Maria and nodding gratefully. Maria gave a small smile back, but it was a smile that disappeared as a new figure emerged out of the smoke behind the swordswoman, the machine gun in his hands already raised.
The loss of Maria's smile and her own instincts were all the warning Tsubasa needed. Both her and Maria leapt away, the bluenette hauling the woman in her arms with her, just in time for Gowon's machine gun fire to tear through each of the spaces they had occupied. Maria landed in front of Tsubasa, Airgetlamh held out and ready to deflect another burst of fire, but instead, the African man threw a smoke grenade over to Caprice's feet and then another one at his own.
Maria hesitated as their figures rapidly vanished into the smoke, torn between resuming the pursuit and staying to make sure Tsubasa was alright in case this was some kind of fake-out. In the end, Maria decided on the latter option. She kept her guard up long enough for the smoke to start to disperse naturally and only then did she lower Airgetlamh and turn to Tsubasa. Tsubasa for her part had helped the woman they had rescued to her feet.
"Are you alright?" Maria asked the woman, who shakily nodded as she wiped at the last of her tears. Neither Maria or Tsubasa could miss the way the woman's relief and joy mixed with with awe at their presence.
"The police will be here soon." Tsubasa reassured her, leading her over to a street corner. "Please, have a seat."
She made sure the woman was seated before returning to Maria to find the pinkette staring at the burning car Caprice had blown up… and the corpses of bystanders who had been struck by shrapnel from it. They could hear approaching sirens.
"Caprice did this?" Maria asked, her voice tight.
Tsubasa nodded. "To try and get away from me. She used civilian crowds as a shield, so I couldn't hit her with any of my more advanced attacks. She even claimed that she planted a bomb on a child just for entertainment."
"What?" Maria turned, unable to believe it. Even by the standards of the enemies they had faced, she could scarcely believe anybody would sink that low. Adam, Dr. Ver, and even Shem-Ha didn't kill without some reason, however thin and screwed up that reason was.
"They're monsters." Tsubasa spat. Then she paused and thought, remembering Jwa's words to her that night at the Château and how familiar they sounded. "Or at least, Caprice is. A monster wearing human skin."
----
"-asualties are believed to be in the hundreds. Officials are saying the attack was carried out by the anti-SONG terrorist group known as the Four Horsemen. The agent who planted the bombs has been identified as Caprice Calceterra, an Italian deserter and terrorist who apparently joined the organization. SONG has released a statement verifying eyewitness reports and online video uploads that the Symphogear Tsubasa Kazanari assisted in evacuating civilians and pursued Caprice when she was spotted fleeing the scene but failed to apprehend her. So far, no statement or claim of responsibility has been issued by the Four Horsemen-"
"Caprice wasn't there to kill Tsubasa." Commander Ogawa announced, closing the news report on the main screen and replacing it with the burnt out husk of the structures lower floors. Initial reports were that the building was going to have to undergo demolition, if it didn't collapse on it's own.
It was several hours later and all the adaptors had been summoned to SONG headquarters immediately after finishing their last tests.
"So why was she there?" Hibiki asked.
"The bank." Fujitaka said, bringing up an interior shot of a shattered and burnt room. So scarred was the room, that the only hint of its purpose was a shattered vault door tucked away in the corner. "We did business through the branch of Boon Financial that was destroyed. They didn't just strike the physical infrastructure either. The branches electronic accounts were cracked just minutes before the bombs went off. Everything was wiped."
"How bad were the losses?" Maria asked.
"Bad enough that they would have compromised our ability to function through the end of the year." Tomosato said. "Fortunately, finding the Four Horsemen's agent in the act means the Japanese Government has agreed to reimburse us for the losses."
"Not to mention the other attacks." Director Ogawa clarified. Three more images came up on the main screen. The first was several days old image of Minister Shibata laying slumped on his desk. The other two showed chalk police outlines, one on what appeared to be some sort of stage and the other in a living room. In both cases, the chalk outlines were marred by splashes of blood.
"Minister Shibata was found dead in his office several days ago." Fujitaka indicated each image. "The other two murders were conducted around the time of the bank attack. Both were members of the Diet." He nodded at the living room image. "That one was found stabbed to death, much like Shibata. The other was shot from long range while speaking at a political rally. We suspect the killings were carried out by Jwa and Voronin, respectively. The common thread is that all of them had voiced public support for SONG following the recent revelations."
"Finances and political supporters." Maria murmured solemnly, forcing herself to look past the human losses to understand the greater purpose. "The Four Horsemen are attacking our support base."
"That's the conclusion we've come to as well." Commander Ogawa nodded.
"And it isn't just here." Tomosato continued. "Several Congressmen in the US with ties to either SONG or the old FIS have been killed as well. Those operations were messier, though, and some of the Four Horsemen agents involved were captured."
"The Americans have insisted they handle those interrogations," Director Ogawa looked disgruntled by that, or at least the adaptors thought he did. "although they're permitting SONG personnel to sit in."
"Regardless, it may have been a miscalculation on their part." Commander Ogawa continued. "Both the US and Japan have now thrown in their full support. Tracking down the Four Horsemen just shot from rather important to very top priority. We think we'll have a facility location within a couple of days."
"Finally!" Chris grumbled. After the week she had, she felt the need to vent so badly. She hadn't exactly been happy that SONG had left her out of the loop with Caprice until her last test was over but she knew that was down to her own frustration on the matter.
"Wait…" Kirika said, her face clearly scrunched up in thought. "Even if we locate a base, if it's somewhere far away we couldn't all go there. Either the White Noise would follow us or, worse, they'd wreak absolute havoc here."
"We can't divide ourselves too much either." Miku pointed out. "Or they could gang up on us."
"We're looking into how to approach the issue the best we can." Commander Ogawa reassured them.
—
"So we didn't get the chance to ask on the way here." Miku said to Kirika and Shirabe as they sat in the living space closest to Ippei Yoshigahara's office. "But how did you think your exams went?"
Chris had been called into the PR directors office first, so it was just the four youngest adaptors.
"Better than usual!" Kirika cheered, "Kawada gave me some last minute tips that I think helped for the classes we had."
Shirabe eyed her girlfriend at the mention of their newest second-year friend. "She has been treating you alright? Even when I'm not around?"
"Nothing but helpful!" Kirika answered. Some of her genuine old cheer had come back into her smile since that Tuesday afternoon. Her grin became teasing and she latched onto Shirabe's arm to snuggle against it. "But don't be jealous Shirabe, you know you're the only one for me~."
Shirabe blushed and muttered "Idiot." but made no move to separate herself from the blonde.
"Ah, no fair snuggling with your girlfriend like that!" Hibiki said, turning to grab Miku's hand. "We can't lose to them, Miku!"
"Since when was it a competition?" Miku asked. Her voice was incredulous but her smile showed more than a little amusement. "Beside how do you think you did, Hibiki?"
The chestnut haired girl froze for an instant and she let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head with her free hand. "Well, I certainly think I could've done a lot worse. Although…" Her nervous laughter began to trail off. "I hope… I hope the teachers don't feel they have to be light on my grades because they know about, you know... I don't want that too cause them any trouble about you know."
That reminder of how cold it had felt to be at Lydian the past week, some exceptions aside, put a damper on the good mood.
"ASSHOLE!" Chris Yukine's shout jolted everyone apart. The silver haired girl stormed down the hallway from the office, her face red with rage.
Yoshigahara chased after her, disappointment written all over his own features. "Yukine, please. If you can't control your temper in the face of such-"
"FUCK OFF!" Chris snapped.
Yoshigahara chased her as far as the living space, then stopped and sighed as he watched the Ichaival user disappear around the corner.
"Yoshigahara?" He turned to face them at Hibiki's voice. "What happened with Chris?"
"Tachibana, right?" He asked back but continued without any prompting. "I was asking her some test questions about issues we could expect to come up on Monday. I tried to ease her into it. You can see how that went." He shook his head regretfully. "It's as I feared. She's too temperamental. I'd recommend to the commander that she doesn't speak Monday, but…"
"But what?" Miku prompted.
"We're under a lot of pressure from the Security Council Committee that nobody misses out." Yoshigahara admitted. "Ostensibly, they're insisting you should all be given a chance to tell your side of the story. But to be honest? I think the governments want to shove some of the political pressure over the revelations downwards."
"Onto us?" Hibiki asked in alarm.
"Not necessarily." Yoshigahara quickly clarified. "But at least somewhere into SONG."
Kirika thought about the bridge crew and everyone else in SONG. Her already solemn expression morphed into a frown. The idea almost felt like an insult to Genjuro's memory, at least to her. "That's not fair! Everyone's always helped us out so much…"
"I've heard that plenty of times." Yoshigahara said sadly. "Life's not fair. You just have to take it as it is. As her friends, could I ask you that you try to get her in a better mood by Monday? It will be a catastrophe for her if she goes to that conference like this, and not just for her image." His voice became very grim. "I've seen this happen before. It can end quite badly."
"Of course!" Kirika and Hibiki chorused instantly. Their girlfriends settled for a more sedate, but no less resolute, nod of affirmation. Chris was more than a comrade, she was their friend. They would not abandon her, either on the battlefield or off of it.
"Thank you." He looked over at Kirika. "Akatsuki, right? I'll see you next."
Shirabe spoke up quickly. "Could we… do these together?"
"I don't-" Yoshigahara cut himself off, a thoughtful look came over his face as he glanced between the two pairs of girls. "Actually, perhaps it is best if I do see you two at a time."
After all, he figured, the public did enjoy their cute couples.
"Caprice wasn't there to kill Tsubasa." Commander Ogawa announced, closing the news report on the main screen and replacing it with the burnt out husk of the structures lower floors. Initial reports were that the building was going to have to undergo demolition, if it didn't collapse on it's own.
It was several hours later and all the adaptors had been summoned to SONG headquarters immediately after finishing their last tests.
"So why was she there?" Hibiki asked.
"The bank." Fujitaka said, bringing up an interior shot of a shattered and burnt room. So scarred was the room, that the only hint of its purpose was a shattered vault door tucked away in the corner. "We did business through the branch of Boon Financial that was destroyed. They didn't just strike the physical infrastructure either. The branches electronic accounts were cracked just minutes before the bombs went off. Everything was wiped."
"How bad were the losses?" Maria asked.
"Bad enough that they would have compromised our ability to function through the end of the year." Tomosato said. "Fortunately, finding the Four Horsemen's agent in the act means the Japanese Government has agreed to reimburse us for the losses."
"Not to mention the other attacks." Director Ogawa clarified. Three more images came up on the main screen. The first was several days old image of Minister Shibata laying slumped on his desk. The other two showed chalk police outlines, one on what appeared to be some sort of stage and the other in a living room. In both cases, the chalk outlines were marred by splashes of blood.
"Minister Shibata was found dead in his office several days ago." Fujitaka indicated each image. "The other two murders were conducted around the time of the bank attack. Both were members of the Diet." He nodded at the living room image. "That one was found stabbed to death, much like Shibata. The other was shot from long range while speaking at a political rally. We suspect the killings were carried out by Jwa and Voronin, respectively. The common thread is that all of them had voiced public support for SONG following the recent revelations."
"Finances and political supporters." Maria murmured solemnly, forcing herself to look past the human losses to understand the greater purpose. "The Four Horsemen are attacking our support base."
"That's the conclusion we've come to as well." Commander Ogawa nodded.
"And it isn't just here." Tomosato continued. "Several Congressmen in the US with ties to either SONG or the old FIS have been killed as well. Those operations were messier, though, and some of the Four Horsemen agents involved were captured."
"The Americans have insisted they handle those interrogations," Director Ogawa looked disgruntled by that, or at least the adaptors thought he did. "although they're permitting SONG personnel to sit in."
"Regardless, it may have been a miscalculation on their part." Commander Ogawa continued. "Both the US and Japan have now thrown in their full support. Tracking down the Four Horsemen just shot from rather important to very top priority. We think we'll have a facility location within a couple of days."
"Finally!" Chris grumbled. After the week she had, she felt the need to vent so badly. She hadn't exactly been happy that SONG had left her out of the loop with Caprice until her last test was over but she knew that was down to her own frustration on the matter.
"Wait…" Kirika said, her face clearly scrunched up in thought. "Even if we locate a base, if it's somewhere far away we couldn't all go there. Either the White Noise would follow us or, worse, they'd wreak absolute havoc here."
"We can't divide ourselves too much either." Miku pointed out. "Or they could gang up on us."
"We're looking into how to approach the issue the best we can." Commander Ogawa reassured them.
—
"So we didn't get the chance to ask on the way here." Miku said to Kirika and Shirabe as they sat in the living space closest to Ippei Yoshigahara's office. "But how did you think your exams went?"
Chris had been called into the PR directors office first, so it was just the four youngest adaptors.
"Better than usual!" Kirika cheered, "Kawada gave me some last minute tips that I think helped for the classes we had."
Shirabe eyed her girlfriend at the mention of their newest second-year friend. "She has been treating you alright? Even when I'm not around?"
"Nothing but helpful!" Kirika answered. Some of her genuine old cheer had come back into her smile since that Tuesday afternoon. Her grin became teasing and she latched onto Shirabe's arm to snuggle against it. "But don't be jealous Shirabe, you know you're the only one for me~."
Shirabe blushed and muttered "Idiot." but made no move to separate herself from the blonde.
"Ah, no fair snuggling with your girlfriend like that!" Hibiki said, turning to grab Miku's hand. "We can't lose to them, Miku!"
"Since when was it a competition?" Miku asked. Her voice was incredulous but her smile showed more than a little amusement. "Beside how do you think you did, Hibiki?"
The chestnut haired girl froze for an instant and she let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head with her free hand. "Well, I certainly think I could've done a lot worse. Although…" Her nervous laughter began to trail off. "I hope… I hope the teachers don't feel they have to be light on my grades because they know about, you know... I don't want that too cause them any trouble about you know."
That reminder of how cold it had felt to be at Lydian the past week, some exceptions aside, put a damper on the good mood.
"ASSHOLE!" Chris Yukine's shout jolted everyone apart. The silver haired girl stormed down the hallway from the office, her face red with rage.
Yoshigahara chased after her, disappointment written all over his own features. "Yukine, please. If you can't control your temper in the face of such-"
"FUCK OFF!" Chris snapped.
Yoshigahara chased her as far as the living space, then stopped and sighed as he watched the Ichaival user disappear around the corner.
"Yoshigahara?" He turned to face them at Hibiki's voice. "What happened with Chris?"
"Tachibana, right?" He asked back but continued without any prompting. "I was asking her some test questions about issues we could expect to come up on Monday. I tried to ease her into it. You can see how that went." He shook his head regretfully. "It's as I feared. She's too temperamental. I'd recommend to the commander that she doesn't speak Monday, but…"
"But what?" Miku prompted.
"We're under a lot of pressure from the Security Council Committee that nobody misses out." Yoshigahara admitted. "Ostensibly, they're insisting you should all be given a chance to tell your side of the story. But to be honest? I think the governments want to shove some of the political pressure over the revelations downwards."
"Onto us?" Hibiki asked in alarm.
"Not necessarily." Yoshigahara quickly clarified. "But at least somewhere into SONG."
Kirika thought about the bridge crew and everyone else in SONG. Her already solemn expression morphed into a frown. The idea almost felt like an insult to Genjuro's memory, at least to her. "That's not fair! Everyone's always helped us out so much…"
"I've heard that plenty of times." Yoshigahara said sadly. "Life's not fair. You just have to take it as it is. As her friends, could I ask you that you try to get her in a better mood by Monday? It will be a catastrophe for her if she goes to that conference like this, and not just for her image." His voice became very grim. "I've seen this happen before. It can end quite badly."
"Of course!" Kirika and Hibiki chorused instantly. Their girlfriends settled for a more sedate, but no less resolute, nod of affirmation. Chris was more than a comrade, she was their friend. They would not abandon her, either on the battlefield or off of it.
"Thank you." He looked over at Kirika. "Akatsuki, right? I'll see you next."
Shirabe spoke up quickly. "Could we… do these together?"
"I don't-" Yoshigahara cut himself off, a thoughtful look came over his face as he glanced between the two pairs of girls. "Actually, perhaps it is best if I do see you two at a time."
After all, he figured, the public did enjoy their cute couples.
----
The banner read "We'll Always Be Together!" But Hibiki couldn't keep lying to herself. She knew it really should say "We'll Miss You, Kuriyo!" The only three who seemed to be entirely buying the facade were Yumi, Shiori, and Kuriyo herself. The party was being held in their room, which was only logical since they weren't the ones who had several reporters camped near their front door during all hours of the day.
Hibiki didn't want to make them worry, though, and she certainly made a good show of buying it. Of course, she didn't fool Miku for a moment. And Hibiki knew it, meaning it wasn't a surprise at all when she finished a trip to the bathroom only to find Miku waiting for her.
Miku didn't say anything. She didn't have too. They knew each other better than that.
"It's all coming apart." Hibiki began. "Lydian doesn't feel as warm as it should. Tsubasa and Maria's dreams are coming apart. Kirika is kinda getting better, but it's obviously how fragile she is. Shirabe is terrified for Kirika. Chris is in a tailspin. You're still blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault." Her eyes fell. "Master… Genjuro is dead."
"We'll help them." Miku reassured her. "For him and for us."
"I know that." Hibiki replied. "I believe that. I have to believe it. But… every time I think we have a moment's breath to try and make some progress, they stab us again. Another knife to the heart, again and again. And sometimes, I wonder… how much can we take? How much more can we take, before it's too much?"
Miku paused for a moment, considering the question. But the answer was obvious. At least, to her. She reached up to cup Hibiki's cheek. "As much as we have to." She replied. "If we have to fight some more before we can retake those happy days, then so be it."
"And yet they keep striking at us without ever giving us the opportunity to fight." Hibiki replied, getting at the heart of her concern.
"We'll get our chance." Miku reassured her. "They can't hide from us forever. Remember? Ogawa thinks they're close to finding a base. It's not just us. The rest of SONG is there too, as always. They'll support us as we support each other."
Hibiki sighed, reaching up to take Miku's hand from her cheek and brush her lips across it's back. On some level, she already knew all this. But hearing it aloud from Miku, all of the lingering doubts and worries that argued against it would wash away.
"Okay." The chestnut haired girl said, smiling. "I suppose we should take this party as an opportunity to get started with our first fight then, huh?"
"Chris?" Miku asked.
"Chris." Hibiki confirmed.
They found the silver-haired adaptor sitting by the dorm window, peering solemnly into her cup of… well, Hibiki couldn't tell whether it was juice or soda. Miku and Hibiki exchanged one last confirming glance, before the latter launched herself forward with her usual aplomb.
"Chris-chaaaan!" Hibiki whined, wrapping her arms around the shorter girls neck and rubbing her head against the nape of her neck. "You gotta have fun here!"
"Blargh!" Was Chris's reflexive response to the initial tackle. Some of her drink sloshed out of the cup, but she barely managed to avoid spilling all of it. "Oh, come on! Get offa me, you dummy!"
"Nope!" Hibiki giggled. "You're obviously down, and it is official SONG policy that I hug you until you tell me what's wrong so I can cheer yo-OW!"
Chris had managed to get her drink on the table, freeing her hands up to deliver an appropriately interrupting blow to Hibiki's head.
"Serves you right." She muttered. "You almost ruined my shirt."
"Now Hibiki, you shouldn't startle people." The laughter in Miku's voice was rather at odds with her words as she leaned forward against the back of the couch the other two girls were on.
"Yes, Miku." Hibiki replied in her best 'yes, mom' voice, smiling as well.
Chris's own lips twitched upward at that. "Alright, whaddya two want?"
"We wanted to see how you're doing." Hibiki said. "It's been a rough week, after all. We need to stick with each other in these times."
Miku nodded. "Plus, it would be good to get an update. Like…" She paused, thinking on a question. "How are things with Ayano going?"
"They aren't." Chris snapped, far more abruptly than her usual retorts.
"Oh." Hibiki said, her face falling. "She didn't take the reveal well, then?"
"Didn't take it well?" Chris growled. "Komichi only freaked out and ran from me the first time I saw her after the leaks went public. And when I caught up with her, she was acting all formal and timid and tearing into herself, saying she wasn't worth my time. You know, like she did with Maria at the concert, but way worse." Chris wiped at tears starting to form in her eyes. "And wh-when I tried to reason with her, it was like she put up this wall and wouldn't let me in like she would before." Chris shrank in on herself at the memory. "I-I really thought, you know, we might have had somethi-."
Hibiki interrupted her with another hug. It was different from the first one, a smoother hug meant more to comfort then to catch Chris's attention. As Chris spoke, Miku had come around and sat down on her other side. Now she reached out and took Chris's hand.
"Do you still want to be with Ayano?" The Shenshoujing user asked softly.
Chris didn't dare speak. She was too torn between wanting to be comforted, wanting to be embarrassed, and wanting to be angry to form a coherent sentence. She still was able to nod in response, even as she kept her eyes on the floor.
"Then what you have to do." Hibiki said, breaking the hug and placing her hands on Chris's shoulders. "Is keep punching."
"Eh?" Chris blinked.
"Keep punching!" Hibiki repeated, pumping a fist as if in demonstration. "She puts up a wall! Then punch through it and offer her your hand! She puts up another one? Do it again! Don't give up!"
In spite of herself, Chris snorted. "Relationships aren't something you can use Gungnir on, dummy."
"Oh?" Miku asked, her head tilting. The significance of the act was not lost to anyone in the room.
"Metanoia was a hug, not a punch." Chris retorted. Still, she turned the idea over in her head. Don't give up. Keep trying. It was certainly vintage Hibiki Tachibana. But then, she had a point. It wasn't like Hibiki or Genjuro had succeeded with her the first time either. So what if she had tried and failed? Like hell she would just give up on Komichi!
Hibiki took hold of Chris's hand and smiled, knowing that Chris had regained her determination by the look in her purple eyes. "You're a lot tougher than you realize. You can do this. And if things do get too hard, we're right here for you."
Chris' face turned a deep red, but that didn't detract from her gentle smile. "And you're a lot smarter than I give you credit for." She finally said.
"Eh? Really?" Hibiki grinned.
"Hey now, don't let that one comment go to your head. You still act like a doofus most of the time! You just manage to say something smart every now and again."
"Hey!"
"Now, now, Chris," Miku playfully admonished. "You can't just go around saying things like that. We all have our moments of being a doofus."
"Miku, don't make fun of me." Hibiki complained. Then she got an uncharacteristically devious grin on her face that made Miku look a bit nervous. "Sounds like you need to be punished."
"Ah," Miku took a step back. "Now, Hibiki. Let's not get too hasty…"
"Tachibana Counterattack: Tickle Torture!" Hibiki exclaimed, holding her arms up and wiggling her fingers menacingly.
"Eeep!" Miku screamed in a half-terrified, half-excited sort of way. The two love birds took off running around the room like little kids, Hibiki still wiggling her fingers in a menacing way as Miku started giggling.
Looking at the other two girls, Chris shook her head. Miku wasn't wrong when she said everyone had their doofus moments. Miku's sudden drop in maturity was a prime example of that. And if Chris had to think back, her last doofus moment was…
"Ah!" Shirabe and Kirika 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.
… Well shit. She never apologized did she? Damn, she had been acting like an idiot ever since that fight. It seemed like everything that had happened this week was just part of a concerted attempt to piss her off. And she never apologized to her kouhais for her mistake. That wasn't going to be fun.
"Hey, I'm going to go find Kirika and Shirabe." She looked over to find Hibiki pinning Miku to the floor while straddling her in a rather… compromising way. "I want to talk to them about something. See you around!"
"Okay, bye!" The two girls said in unison.
"Really, you should do that sort of thing at home." The now red-faced girl muttered as she quickly high-tailed it, not really wanting to interrupt the other girls' time together.
"So, uh…" Miku said. "Will you forgive me?" She batted her eyes in a rather flirtatious way.
Hibiki gave one of her signature goofy grins that told Miku 'where's the fun in that?' Then, she started tickling her girlfriend.
"Ahahaha! Hibiki I-fuhahahaha!" Miku was reduced to a giggling mess at the power of the Tachibana Tickle Torture. Just like she wanted.
—
"TA-DA!" Yumi said, holding up the NERV system helmet like it was a sports trophy she had won. Shiori, Kuriyo, Maria, and Tsubasa all just stared in response.
"So… where's the rest of it?" Kuriyo finally asked after a few moments of waiting for Yumi to continue.
"This is it!" Yumi insisted, pouting. "Everything you need is right in the helmet! The only other bit is the battery charger but that's not as exciting."
"Well, I imagine that saves a lot of space." Maria said from the countertop, taking a moment to pop a chip into her mouth. "But I still don't see the point of these things in the first place."
"I keep telling her that." Shiori sighed as she turned to recheck the oven. "But she never listens."
"Heathens!" Yumi protested. "I'm surrounded by heathens! Just wait until I get this baby tuned up then-"
"Wait." Tsubasa interrupted. Tuned up? Like a bike? "I thought these were plug-and-play sort of deals?"
"If you just want to stick to what's available on the commercial market, yeah." Yumi clarified, flipping the helmet casually in her hand. "But there's rumors flying around online that the devs had some incomplete features they had to patch out for time concerns. I'm a bit curious about those, so I've been doing some research on how to mod electronics since we finished our tests."
Shiori looked at Yumi sharply, concern leaking into her voice. "I hadn't heard anything about this."
"Don't worry!" Yumi quickly replied. "It's not like I'm gonna be playing around with the electrical circuits or anything. Most of it is software modding, apparently. So I've just been reading some programming info and looking at which cables I need."
Shiori didn't look quite convinced but before she could continue, Hibiki appeared drawn by the smell of food, Miku trailing in her wake. "Oh-ho! Smells good over here and-!" She glanced over at the helmet in Yumi's hands. "-Oh, so it finally arrived?"
Yumi gave a grin and opened her mouth to continue boasting but Shiori cut her off. "Yumi, this is a 'We'll Always Be Together Party' for Kuriyo, not 'Show Off The New VR Set Party' for Yumi. You know I appreciate how much you like your hobbies, but you're really overselling this. Just have it charge for now."
Yumi laughed good naturedly, "Okay, okay! Be back in a jiffy."
Headset tucked under her arms, the twin-tailed girl jogged away towards the bedroom.
"Aawww, Shiori." Hibiki whined. "I was curious!"
"I'm sure Kirika and Shirabe would be quite interested." Maria admitted. "They are rather more enthusiastic gamers then I am."
Shiori shook her head. "She's been so myopic on it. As I said, I do love Yumi's enthusiasm for her hobbies but her going on about it for almost a month now has been a bit tiring."
"That's not all you love about her." Kuriyo's tone was sing-song.
"All who loves about who?" Yumi asked as she returned.
"Nobody! Nothing!" Shiori blushed, shooting Kuriyo a warning glare. Kuriyo just gave a cheeky grin in response. Tsubasa and Maria exchanged knowing glances. Miku gave Shiori a sympathetic look. Hibiki and Yumi just blinked in confusion.
Desperate to change the subject, Shiori quickly turned to Tsubasa and Maria. "So! How are things going on stage?" She realized it was the wrong question as the two idols shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, I'm sorry-"
"No." Tsubasa shook her head. "It's not your fault. We did try again on Thursday but..."
"... It was so different from before." Maria picked up as Tsubasa trailed off. "Maybe a few people were there to hear me sing. But most seemed to be there because they knew we are Symphogear adaptors." She frowned. "It… wasn't fun."
Tsubasa noted how Maria left out any mention of the rock throwing incident or the heckling but decided not to bring it up, it wouldn't do to worry their friends with that. The conversation lapsed into solemn silence for a few moments.
"I am…" Maria suddenly spoke up again. "I am thinking about quitting."
"What?" Tsubasa said, turning in surprise. Sure, it was an option she had considered but Maria too?
"What?" Miku and Shiori asked.
"WHAT?!" Yumi and Hibiki shouted. "You can't!"
"I don't think it's our place to tell them what they can and can't do." Kuriyo replied, scratching her cheek as she poured herself another drink.
"But singing's your dream!" Hibiki protested. "You can't give it up just like that!" Yumi nodded vigorously in agreement.
"I don't like the idea either." Miku replied. "But Kuriyo's right. It is Maria and Tsubasa's decision."
Maria smiled appreciatively at the black haired girl. "Right, Tsubasa and I… our dream wasn't just to sing. It was to get people to appreciate our singing for our singing. And to help heal the people who needed it most. But now that everyone knows we're adaptors, they don't seem to hear that any more."
"But it's been our dream for so long now." Tsubasa commisserated. "What do you do if you lose a dream?"
"If you lose a dream…" Kuriyo repeated, tilting her head back in thought as she leaned against the counter. "Well, I guess the best thing to do would be to find a new dream."
"Find a-" Tsubasa began and Maria finished, "-new dream?"
Kuriyo blushed a little. She was never very comfortable with being the center of attention, which was generally why she let Shiori and Yumi do most of the talking of the trio. She had only agreed to having an entire party thrown in her honor because it would help Kirika. "Well, I mean, people are not good at just one thing, right? And I'm sure there isn't just one thing you like? Sure, it might not have been your first choice but it's better than doing nothing or something you hate, right?"
She paused for a moment, with everyone staring at her in amazement. Her blush intensified. "I-I didn't say something weird did I?"
"No." Maria reassured her quite quickly, "Not at all…"
"In fact," Tsubasa was clearly chewing it over. "We should thank you. You've been quite helpful."
"Kuriyo does always give the best advice on stuff like this." Miku smiled, recalling back when she didn't know how to help Hibiki against Carol's autoscorers. Kuriyo glanced away sheepishly at that, scratching her chin.
The buzzer on the oven went off, causing Shiori to turn again and pluck the cooking mitts off the corner. The blonde opened the oven.
"That smells really good, Terashima." Maria complimented as Shiori removed the pan.
"Let's just hope it's able to cool before Tachibana inhales it all." Tsubasa grinned.
Everyone laughed. Hibiki froze for a moment, then hurriedly wiped away the tiny bit of drools at the edge of her mouth before crossing her arms in a pout. "Jeeze, Tsubasa!"
"Let's go see how Kirika and Shirabe are doing while it cools." Maria suggested. "They brought a new friend, if I recall correctly."
—
"So that's a Symphogear?" Kawada asked, staring at the pendant held up to her face in curiosity. It also helped distract her from the wary look Shirabe was giving her.
"Yep, this is my Igalima." Kirika boasted. "The scythe that can cut through anything!"
Kawada knew this intellectually. It was remarkable what one learned if they sat down and actually leafed through the documentation instead of just going by whatever the media chose to focus on. The latter tended to talk about the very big or the utterly inane and hence skipped over some quite important details one only really found in the former. But Kawada should have figured that knowing intellectually could never make up for experiencing personally.
That little red pendant. Basically the source of all their power. If she could get it away from them somehow… Briefly Kawada wondered if she could ask to hold it but quickly discarded the thought. Yeah, no way would they trust her with that. Nor should they.
Kawada wanted to frown. Where had that last thought come from? She chose not to mull over it, instead asking "So, you could transform any time with it?"
"Well…" Kirika paused. "In theory, yeah. We're not supposed to if it isn't needed though. So we can't show off or anything like that." The blonde decided not to mention the LiNKER issue for the moment. Partially because she couldn't recall if that had been in the released files and partially since it shouldn't be an issue for much longer. Since the Curse of Balal had been destroyed, Elfnein had informed them that the former-FIS's improving ability to synch with their relics was quickly obviating any need for the drug. Maria was already beyond it and Kirika and Shirabe were estimated to be just weeks away from discarding it as well.
Miku, for her part, turned out not to need it at all since February. Apparently, her exposure to Divine Power while possessed by Shem-Ha had caused her synchronization with the Shenshoujing to go through the roof. She had gone from easily being the lowest of any of them to behind only the original Second Division trio. Kirika would call her lucky if she hadn't gotten her powers from being possessed by a murder-happy evil goddess.
"'Sup, nerds." Chris said as she suddenly plopped down next to Shirabe.
Shirabe shot the Ichaival user a look of slight disbelief. "You got better grades then we did, Senpai."
"Yes, but it is my privilege as your rough and tumble Senpai to call you nerds nonetheless." Chris nodded sagely, then she glanced at Kawada. "Iwa, right?"
"Yes." Kawada replied, bowing slightly in greeting. "Nice to meet you Yukine-senpai."
Chris eyed her for a moment. "You too. And thank you."
Kawada blinked. "Erm… for what?"
"Talking to me like a normal person." Chris sighed, "Everywhere I go these days, the only strangers who talk to me like I'm an actual human being are reporters and they try to pump me for information."
"It… really bugs you all, that much?" Kawada asked in amazement. "I mean, I knew people were acting distant at school…"
"We never wanted to be famous. Not for being Symphogears users." Shirabe answered. "Protecting the world just meant protecting what was important to us. Those we love." She looked at Kirika, who blushed a little. "Our friends." She looked at Chris, who simply nodded. Then she turned back to Kawada. "And since we know everyone else had those same things, we knew they were worth protecting too."
Kawada sat back, lost in her own thoughts. Two sentiments were warring within her. One was moved by their words and wanted to sympathize. The other screamed about Katai, was he not worth protecting?
"Anyways, you two." Chris said to Kirika and Shirabe. "I…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "I never got the chance to apologize for what happened last week." Kirika and Shirabe looked at her in confusion, so she added some clarification. "At the Château."
"Wha-" Kirika began, then she kinda remembered. "Oh! Oh! It's fine! It's okay!" She paused. "What are you apologizing for again?"
Chris wanted to facepalm in exasperation. Great, now that was going to make this even more awkward. "You guys, ah, remember that explosion that knocked you down?" Kirika and Shirabe nodded. "That was me…" Chris shifted, deeply uncomfortable. "I lost my temper against Voronin and didn't check to see if you would be caught in the attack and…" The Ichaival user looked at the floor, unable to meet her kouhai's eyes. "I'm sorry. I wanted to apologize earlier, but then we got exposed and the whole week happened and yeah..." She kicked at the floor despondently.
"It's okay." The Zababa's response echoed together. Chris looked up in surprise, not really expecting they would actually forgive that easily. Kirika smiled reassuringly. "You didn't mean it, right? And we were able to deal with it in spite of everything. So we forgive you."
Chris sagged with relief, her eyes tearing for a moment before abruptly remembering she was supposed to be the rough and tumble senpai. "W-well, I'm glad!" She added hastily. "It's good to hear you weren't hurt!"
Kirika and Shirabe exchanged a look and then rolled their eyes good naturedly.
"I'm sorry." Eyes turned back to Kawada as she spoke up again in befuddlement, pulling herself out of her reverie to review the bits of the conversation she had picked up. "I'm a bit lost. The Château? You mean the Château De Tiffauges? They said it blew up in an accident, didn't it?"
"I don't think we're supposed to talk about it." Kirika began. "It's still class-"
"To hell with it." Chris interrupted. "It's not like there's any point now. Hell, I can't believe they haven't declassified it, despite everything else." She turned to look at Kawada. "The Château was destroyed by the Four Horsemen."
"The Anti-SONG terrorists?" Kawada said in shock. "The same ones who blew up that bank yesterday and-"
"-leaked our identities. Yeah, them." Kirika finished but her voice had become melancholy. She was thinking about Darmawan's claim again. Shirabe shifted closer and reached out to take her hand.
"That's not all they've done." Chris growled. Kawada looked at her questioningly but the silver-haired girl simply shook her head. "Let's just say they've taken a good friend from us and leave it at that."
Shirabe nodded quickly, deciding to backtrack the conversation. "You might have heard about an SDF exercise at the same time? They evacuated a part of the city for it? That was actually our attempt to retake the Château before the Horsemen destroyed it. Their soldiers are…" She trailed off, not knowing precisely how to describe them.
Chris didn't have that problem. "Their soldiers are a pack of psychos." She bit out. "We still don't actually know whether they were there just to destroy the Château though. Not like an explosion that big left a lot of evidence about what they were doing in there."
"Hey!" Hibiki said as she approached to flop down on the floor, Miku following to sit next to her. There wasn't really that much furniture in the dorm room's living space. "What are we talking about?"
"The Four Horsemen." Shirabe replied.
"Ugh…" Maria muttered distastefully as she leaned against the armrest. "Those murderers?"
'You should talk.' Kawada carefully kept her face neutral as she glanced at the pinkette. So this was the infamous Maria Cadenzevna Eve. The bitch who had been right there, just standing by while Dr. Ver murdered Katai and his friends. To believe Kawada had been a fan. She had thrown out all of her memorabilia the day she learned the truth.
Forget Shirabe, she decided. If she had the chance, she'd take down Maria first.
"They may be murderers but they are also a lot more than that. We shouldn't underestimate them." Tsubasa calmly added as she stood next to Maria. "Still, they don't make for the most pleasant conversation material."
"Then how about some Karaoke instead!" Yumi said, presenting the machine as if she were offering it up for sale. She then turned to Kuriyo, "And the guest of honor should get the first pick, naturally!"
As Kuriyo laughed and tried to unsuccessfully insist someone else should pick, Chris recalled Hibiki's earlier advice and fished out her phone. No time like the present and it wouldn't take too long to send a text to Komichi.
Hibiki didn't want to make them worry, though, and she certainly made a good show of buying it. Of course, she didn't fool Miku for a moment. And Hibiki knew it, meaning it wasn't a surprise at all when she finished a trip to the bathroom only to find Miku waiting for her.
Miku didn't say anything. She didn't have too. They knew each other better than that.
"It's all coming apart." Hibiki began. "Lydian doesn't feel as warm as it should. Tsubasa and Maria's dreams are coming apart. Kirika is kinda getting better, but it's obviously how fragile she is. Shirabe is terrified for Kirika. Chris is in a tailspin. You're still blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault." Her eyes fell. "Master… Genjuro is dead."
"We'll help them." Miku reassured her. "For him and for us."
"I know that." Hibiki replied. "I believe that. I have to believe it. But… every time I think we have a moment's breath to try and make some progress, they stab us again. Another knife to the heart, again and again. And sometimes, I wonder… how much can we take? How much more can we take, before it's too much?"
Miku paused for a moment, considering the question. But the answer was obvious. At least, to her. She reached up to cup Hibiki's cheek. "As much as we have to." She replied. "If we have to fight some more before we can retake those happy days, then so be it."
"And yet they keep striking at us without ever giving us the opportunity to fight." Hibiki replied, getting at the heart of her concern.
"We'll get our chance." Miku reassured her. "They can't hide from us forever. Remember? Ogawa thinks they're close to finding a base. It's not just us. The rest of SONG is there too, as always. They'll support us as we support each other."
Hibiki sighed, reaching up to take Miku's hand from her cheek and brush her lips across it's back. On some level, she already knew all this. But hearing it aloud from Miku, all of the lingering doubts and worries that argued against it would wash away.
"Okay." The chestnut haired girl said, smiling. "I suppose we should take this party as an opportunity to get started with our first fight then, huh?"
"Chris?" Miku asked.
"Chris." Hibiki confirmed.
They found the silver-haired adaptor sitting by the dorm window, peering solemnly into her cup of… well, Hibiki couldn't tell whether it was juice or soda. Miku and Hibiki exchanged one last confirming glance, before the latter launched herself forward with her usual aplomb.
"Chris-chaaaan!" Hibiki whined, wrapping her arms around the shorter girls neck and rubbing her head against the nape of her neck. "You gotta have fun here!"
"Blargh!" Was Chris's reflexive response to the initial tackle. Some of her drink sloshed out of the cup, but she barely managed to avoid spilling all of it. "Oh, come on! Get offa me, you dummy!"
"Nope!" Hibiki giggled. "You're obviously down, and it is official SONG policy that I hug you until you tell me what's wrong so I can cheer yo-OW!"
Chris had managed to get her drink on the table, freeing her hands up to deliver an appropriately interrupting blow to Hibiki's head.
"Serves you right." She muttered. "You almost ruined my shirt."
"Now Hibiki, you shouldn't startle people." The laughter in Miku's voice was rather at odds with her words as she leaned forward against the back of the couch the other two girls were on.
"Yes, Miku." Hibiki replied in her best 'yes, mom' voice, smiling as well.
Chris's own lips twitched upward at that. "Alright, whaddya two want?"
"We wanted to see how you're doing." Hibiki said. "It's been a rough week, after all. We need to stick with each other in these times."
Miku nodded. "Plus, it would be good to get an update. Like…" She paused, thinking on a question. "How are things with Ayano going?"
"They aren't." Chris snapped, far more abruptly than her usual retorts.
"Oh." Hibiki said, her face falling. "She didn't take the reveal well, then?"
"Didn't take it well?" Chris growled. "Komichi only freaked out and ran from me the first time I saw her after the leaks went public. And when I caught up with her, she was acting all formal and timid and tearing into herself, saying she wasn't worth my time. You know, like she did with Maria at the concert, but way worse." Chris wiped at tears starting to form in her eyes. "And wh-when I tried to reason with her, it was like she put up this wall and wouldn't let me in like she would before." Chris shrank in on herself at the memory. "I-I really thought, you know, we might have had somethi-."
Hibiki interrupted her with another hug. It was different from the first one, a smoother hug meant more to comfort then to catch Chris's attention. As Chris spoke, Miku had come around and sat down on her other side. Now she reached out and took Chris's hand.
"Do you still want to be with Ayano?" The Shenshoujing user asked softly.
Chris didn't dare speak. She was too torn between wanting to be comforted, wanting to be embarrassed, and wanting to be angry to form a coherent sentence. She still was able to nod in response, even as she kept her eyes on the floor.
"Then what you have to do." Hibiki said, breaking the hug and placing her hands on Chris's shoulders. "Is keep punching."
"Eh?" Chris blinked.
"Keep punching!" Hibiki repeated, pumping a fist as if in demonstration. "She puts up a wall! Then punch through it and offer her your hand! She puts up another one? Do it again! Don't give up!"
In spite of herself, Chris snorted. "Relationships aren't something you can use Gungnir on, dummy."
"Oh?" Miku asked, her head tilting. The significance of the act was not lost to anyone in the room.
"Metanoia was a hug, not a punch." Chris retorted. Still, she turned the idea over in her head. Don't give up. Keep trying. It was certainly vintage Hibiki Tachibana. But then, she had a point. It wasn't like Hibiki or Genjuro had succeeded with her the first time either. So what if she had tried and failed? Like hell she would just give up on Komichi!
Hibiki took hold of Chris's hand and smiled, knowing that Chris had regained her determination by the look in her purple eyes. "You're a lot tougher than you realize. You can do this. And if things do get too hard, we're right here for you."
Chris' face turned a deep red, but that didn't detract from her gentle smile. "And you're a lot smarter than I give you credit for." She finally said.
"Eh? Really?" Hibiki grinned.
"Hey now, don't let that one comment go to your head. You still act like a doofus most of the time! You just manage to say something smart every now and again."
"Hey!"
"Now, now, Chris," Miku playfully admonished. "You can't just go around saying things like that. We all have our moments of being a doofus."
"Miku, don't make fun of me." Hibiki complained. Then she got an uncharacteristically devious grin on her face that made Miku look a bit nervous. "Sounds like you need to be punished."
"Ah," Miku took a step back. "Now, Hibiki. Let's not get too hasty…"
"Tachibana Counterattack: Tickle Torture!" Hibiki exclaimed, holding her arms up and wiggling her fingers menacingly.
"Eeep!" Miku screamed in a half-terrified, half-excited sort of way. The two love birds took off running around the room like little kids, Hibiki still wiggling her fingers in a menacing way as Miku started giggling.
Looking at the other two girls, Chris shook her head. Miku wasn't wrong when she said everyone had their doofus moments. Miku's sudden drop in maturity was a prime example of that. And if Chris had to think back, her last doofus moment was…
"Ah!" Shirabe and Kirika 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.
… Well shit. She never apologized did she? Damn, she had been acting like an idiot ever since that fight. It seemed like everything that had happened this week was just part of a concerted attempt to piss her off. And she never apologized to her kouhais for her mistake. That wasn't going to be fun.
"Hey, I'm going to go find Kirika and Shirabe." She looked over to find Hibiki pinning Miku to the floor while straddling her in a rather… compromising way. "I want to talk to them about something. See you around!"
"Okay, bye!" The two girls said in unison.
"Really, you should do that sort of thing at home." The now red-faced girl muttered as she quickly high-tailed it, not really wanting to interrupt the other girls' time together.
"So, uh…" Miku said. "Will you forgive me?" She batted her eyes in a rather flirtatious way.
Hibiki gave one of her signature goofy grins that told Miku 'where's the fun in that?' Then, she started tickling her girlfriend.
"Ahahaha! Hibiki I-fuhahahaha!" Miku was reduced to a giggling mess at the power of the Tachibana Tickle Torture. Just like she wanted.
—
"TA-DA!" Yumi said, holding up the NERV system helmet like it was a sports trophy she had won. Shiori, Kuriyo, Maria, and Tsubasa all just stared in response.
"So… where's the rest of it?" Kuriyo finally asked after a few moments of waiting for Yumi to continue.
"This is it!" Yumi insisted, pouting. "Everything you need is right in the helmet! The only other bit is the battery charger but that's not as exciting."
"Well, I imagine that saves a lot of space." Maria said from the countertop, taking a moment to pop a chip into her mouth. "But I still don't see the point of these things in the first place."
"I keep telling her that." Shiori sighed as she turned to recheck the oven. "But she never listens."
"Heathens!" Yumi protested. "I'm surrounded by heathens! Just wait until I get this baby tuned up then-"
"Wait." Tsubasa interrupted. Tuned up? Like a bike? "I thought these were plug-and-play sort of deals?"
"If you just want to stick to what's available on the commercial market, yeah." Yumi clarified, flipping the helmet casually in her hand. "But there's rumors flying around online that the devs had some incomplete features they had to patch out for time concerns. I'm a bit curious about those, so I've been doing some research on how to mod electronics since we finished our tests."
Shiori looked at Yumi sharply, concern leaking into her voice. "I hadn't heard anything about this."
"Don't worry!" Yumi quickly replied. "It's not like I'm gonna be playing around with the electrical circuits or anything. Most of it is software modding, apparently. So I've just been reading some programming info and looking at which cables I need."
Shiori didn't look quite convinced but before she could continue, Hibiki appeared drawn by the smell of food, Miku trailing in her wake. "Oh-ho! Smells good over here and-!" She glanced over at the helmet in Yumi's hands. "-Oh, so it finally arrived?"
Yumi gave a grin and opened her mouth to continue boasting but Shiori cut her off. "Yumi, this is a 'We'll Always Be Together Party' for Kuriyo, not 'Show Off The New VR Set Party' for Yumi. You know I appreciate how much you like your hobbies, but you're really overselling this. Just have it charge for now."
Yumi laughed good naturedly, "Okay, okay! Be back in a jiffy."
Headset tucked under her arms, the twin-tailed girl jogged away towards the bedroom.
"Aawww, Shiori." Hibiki whined. "I was curious!"
"I'm sure Kirika and Shirabe would be quite interested." Maria admitted. "They are rather more enthusiastic gamers then I am."
Shiori shook her head. "She's been so myopic on it. As I said, I do love Yumi's enthusiasm for her hobbies but her going on about it for almost a month now has been a bit tiring."
"That's not all you love about her." Kuriyo's tone was sing-song.
"All who loves about who?" Yumi asked as she returned.
"Nobody! Nothing!" Shiori blushed, shooting Kuriyo a warning glare. Kuriyo just gave a cheeky grin in response. Tsubasa and Maria exchanged knowing glances. Miku gave Shiori a sympathetic look. Hibiki and Yumi just blinked in confusion.
Desperate to change the subject, Shiori quickly turned to Tsubasa and Maria. "So! How are things going on stage?" She realized it was the wrong question as the two idols shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, I'm sorry-"
"No." Tsubasa shook her head. "It's not your fault. We did try again on Thursday but..."
"... It was so different from before." Maria picked up as Tsubasa trailed off. "Maybe a few people were there to hear me sing. But most seemed to be there because they knew we are Symphogear adaptors." She frowned. "It… wasn't fun."
Tsubasa noted how Maria left out any mention of the rock throwing incident or the heckling but decided not to bring it up, it wouldn't do to worry their friends with that. The conversation lapsed into solemn silence for a few moments.
"I am…" Maria suddenly spoke up again. "I am thinking about quitting."
"What?" Tsubasa said, turning in surprise. Sure, it was an option she had considered but Maria too?
"What?" Miku and Shiori asked.
"WHAT?!" Yumi and Hibiki shouted. "You can't!"
"I don't think it's our place to tell them what they can and can't do." Kuriyo replied, scratching her cheek as she poured herself another drink.
"But singing's your dream!" Hibiki protested. "You can't give it up just like that!" Yumi nodded vigorously in agreement.
"I don't like the idea either." Miku replied. "But Kuriyo's right. It is Maria and Tsubasa's decision."
Maria smiled appreciatively at the black haired girl. "Right, Tsubasa and I… our dream wasn't just to sing. It was to get people to appreciate our singing for our singing. And to help heal the people who needed it most. But now that everyone knows we're adaptors, they don't seem to hear that any more."
"But it's been our dream for so long now." Tsubasa commisserated. "What do you do if you lose a dream?"
"If you lose a dream…" Kuriyo repeated, tilting her head back in thought as she leaned against the counter. "Well, I guess the best thing to do would be to find a new dream."
"Find a-" Tsubasa began and Maria finished, "-new dream?"
Kuriyo blushed a little. She was never very comfortable with being the center of attention, which was generally why she let Shiori and Yumi do most of the talking of the trio. She had only agreed to having an entire party thrown in her honor because it would help Kirika. "Well, I mean, people are not good at just one thing, right? And I'm sure there isn't just one thing you like? Sure, it might not have been your first choice but it's better than doing nothing or something you hate, right?"
She paused for a moment, with everyone staring at her in amazement. Her blush intensified. "I-I didn't say something weird did I?"
"No." Maria reassured her quite quickly, "Not at all…"
"In fact," Tsubasa was clearly chewing it over. "We should thank you. You've been quite helpful."
"Kuriyo does always give the best advice on stuff like this." Miku smiled, recalling back when she didn't know how to help Hibiki against Carol's autoscorers. Kuriyo glanced away sheepishly at that, scratching her chin.
The buzzer on the oven went off, causing Shiori to turn again and pluck the cooking mitts off the corner. The blonde opened the oven.
"That smells really good, Terashima." Maria complimented as Shiori removed the pan.
"Let's just hope it's able to cool before Tachibana inhales it all." Tsubasa grinned.
Everyone laughed. Hibiki froze for a moment, then hurriedly wiped away the tiny bit of drools at the edge of her mouth before crossing her arms in a pout. "Jeeze, Tsubasa!"
"Let's go see how Kirika and Shirabe are doing while it cools." Maria suggested. "They brought a new friend, if I recall correctly."
—
"So that's a Symphogear?" Kawada asked, staring at the pendant held up to her face in curiosity. It also helped distract her from the wary look Shirabe was giving her.
"Yep, this is my Igalima." Kirika boasted. "The scythe that can cut through anything!"
Kawada knew this intellectually. It was remarkable what one learned if they sat down and actually leafed through the documentation instead of just going by whatever the media chose to focus on. The latter tended to talk about the very big or the utterly inane and hence skipped over some quite important details one only really found in the former. But Kawada should have figured that knowing intellectually could never make up for experiencing personally.
That little red pendant. Basically the source of all their power. If she could get it away from them somehow… Briefly Kawada wondered if she could ask to hold it but quickly discarded the thought. Yeah, no way would they trust her with that. Nor should they.
Kawada wanted to frown. Where had that last thought come from? She chose not to mull over it, instead asking "So, you could transform any time with it?"
"Well…" Kirika paused. "In theory, yeah. We're not supposed to if it isn't needed though. So we can't show off or anything like that." The blonde decided not to mention the LiNKER issue for the moment. Partially because she couldn't recall if that had been in the released files and partially since it shouldn't be an issue for much longer. Since the Curse of Balal had been destroyed, Elfnein had informed them that the former-FIS's improving ability to synch with their relics was quickly obviating any need for the drug. Maria was already beyond it and Kirika and Shirabe were estimated to be just weeks away from discarding it as well.
Miku, for her part, turned out not to need it at all since February. Apparently, her exposure to Divine Power while possessed by Shem-Ha had caused her synchronization with the Shenshoujing to go through the roof. She had gone from easily being the lowest of any of them to behind only the original Second Division trio. Kirika would call her lucky if she hadn't gotten her powers from being possessed by a murder-happy evil goddess.
"'Sup, nerds." Chris said as she suddenly plopped down next to Shirabe.
Shirabe shot the Ichaival user a look of slight disbelief. "You got better grades then we did, Senpai."
"Yes, but it is my privilege as your rough and tumble Senpai to call you nerds nonetheless." Chris nodded sagely, then she glanced at Kawada. "Iwa, right?"
"Yes." Kawada replied, bowing slightly in greeting. "Nice to meet you Yukine-senpai."
Chris eyed her for a moment. "You too. And thank you."
Kawada blinked. "Erm… for what?"
"Talking to me like a normal person." Chris sighed, "Everywhere I go these days, the only strangers who talk to me like I'm an actual human being are reporters and they try to pump me for information."
"It… really bugs you all, that much?" Kawada asked in amazement. "I mean, I knew people were acting distant at school…"
"We never wanted to be famous. Not for being Symphogears users." Shirabe answered. "Protecting the world just meant protecting what was important to us. Those we love." She looked at Kirika, who blushed a little. "Our friends." She looked at Chris, who simply nodded. Then she turned back to Kawada. "And since we know everyone else had those same things, we knew they were worth protecting too."
Kawada sat back, lost in her own thoughts. Two sentiments were warring within her. One was moved by their words and wanted to sympathize. The other screamed about Katai, was he not worth protecting?
"Anyways, you two." Chris said to Kirika and Shirabe. "I…" She rubbed the back of her neck. "I never got the chance to apologize for what happened last week." Kirika and Shirabe looked at her in confusion, so she added some clarification. "At the Château."
"Wha-" Kirika began, then she kinda remembered. "Oh! Oh! It's fine! It's okay!" She paused. "What are you apologizing for again?"
Chris wanted to facepalm in exasperation. Great, now that was going to make this even more awkward. "You guys, ah, remember that explosion that knocked you down?" Kirika and Shirabe nodded. "That was me…" Chris shifted, deeply uncomfortable. "I lost my temper against Voronin and didn't check to see if you would be caught in the attack and…" The Ichaival user looked at the floor, unable to meet her kouhai's eyes. "I'm sorry. I wanted to apologize earlier, but then we got exposed and the whole week happened and yeah..." She kicked at the floor despondently.
"It's okay." The Zababa's response echoed together. Chris looked up in surprise, not really expecting they would actually forgive that easily. Kirika smiled reassuringly. "You didn't mean it, right? And we were able to deal with it in spite of everything. So we forgive you."
Chris sagged with relief, her eyes tearing for a moment before abruptly remembering she was supposed to be the rough and tumble senpai. "W-well, I'm glad!" She added hastily. "It's good to hear you weren't hurt!"
Kirika and Shirabe exchanged a look and then rolled their eyes good naturedly.
"I'm sorry." Eyes turned back to Kawada as she spoke up again in befuddlement, pulling herself out of her reverie to review the bits of the conversation she had picked up. "I'm a bit lost. The Château? You mean the Château De Tiffauges? They said it blew up in an accident, didn't it?"
"I don't think we're supposed to talk about it." Kirika began. "It's still class-"
"To hell with it." Chris interrupted. "It's not like there's any point now. Hell, I can't believe they haven't declassified it, despite everything else." She turned to look at Kawada. "The Château was destroyed by the Four Horsemen."
"The Anti-SONG terrorists?" Kawada said in shock. "The same ones who blew up that bank yesterday and-"
"-leaked our identities. Yeah, them." Kirika finished but her voice had become melancholy. She was thinking about Darmawan's claim again. Shirabe shifted closer and reached out to take her hand.
"That's not all they've done." Chris growled. Kawada looked at her questioningly but the silver-haired girl simply shook her head. "Let's just say they've taken a good friend from us and leave it at that."
Shirabe nodded quickly, deciding to backtrack the conversation. "You might have heard about an SDF exercise at the same time? They evacuated a part of the city for it? That was actually our attempt to retake the Château before the Horsemen destroyed it. Their soldiers are…" She trailed off, not knowing precisely how to describe them.
Chris didn't have that problem. "Their soldiers are a pack of psychos." She bit out. "We still don't actually know whether they were there just to destroy the Château though. Not like an explosion that big left a lot of evidence about what they were doing in there."
"Hey!" Hibiki said as she approached to flop down on the floor, Miku following to sit next to her. There wasn't really that much furniture in the dorm room's living space. "What are we talking about?"
"The Four Horsemen." Shirabe replied.
"Ugh…" Maria muttered distastefully as she leaned against the armrest. "Those murderers?"
'You should talk.' Kawada carefully kept her face neutral as she glanced at the pinkette. So this was the infamous Maria Cadenzevna Eve. The bitch who had been right there, just standing by while Dr. Ver murdered Katai and his friends. To believe Kawada had been a fan. She had thrown out all of her memorabilia the day she learned the truth.
Forget Shirabe, she decided. If she had the chance, she'd take down Maria first.
"They may be murderers but they are also a lot more than that. We shouldn't underestimate them." Tsubasa calmly added as she stood next to Maria. "Still, they don't make for the most pleasant conversation material."
"Then how about some Karaoke instead!" Yumi said, presenting the machine as if she were offering it up for sale. She then turned to Kuriyo, "And the guest of honor should get the first pick, naturally!"
As Kuriyo laughed and tried to unsuccessfully insist someone else should pick, Chris recalled Hibiki's earlier advice and fished out her phone. No time like the present and it wouldn't take too long to send a text to Komichi.
----
The sky turned red as the distant sun met the horizon. The laughter of children returning to their homes after an afternoon of play cut mingled with that of the men returning from their work. The calls of housewives and other familial matriarchs calling for those who were running late in their return. The inhabitants were used to the jungle heat hanging over the modest size village of Seia. But despite the South American idyllicism, a closer glance would reveal a tension as intense as the jungle's heat.
Val Verde rested on a knife's edge. The withdrawal of the UN peacekeepers the previous month had left the new civilian government lacking in professional military muscle, forcing them to rely on civilian militias whose hatred towards supporters of the old regime often outstripped their sensibility. Those supporters, of course, had been forced to organize and arm themselves, ostensibly for their own protection, and they weren't lacking in leadership either. The Illuminati may have eradicated the senior leadership of the Junta, but a healthy minority of the middle-ranks had been able to evade both them and the UN capture missions through luck or opportunism. Some of those old Junta hands now fancied themselves candidates as new Presidente, should the opportunity present itself.
Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before civil war broke out again. There was more than enough hate and guns on both sides. The powder was well and truly piled up, all that was needed was a spark.
The fear of war was but one of the many worries that weighed on the mind of Sonya Virena. Another was the recent rumors that had cropped up in the past two months about monsters deep in the jungle, a rumor that had been reinforced by the disappearance of a party of villagers who had gone to investigate it. Sonya didn't know quite how much stock to place in the rumors, since they were so inconsistent on what the monsters looked like. The early ones had said they were about the size of men with two dull blue eyes. But some more recent ones claimed the creatures were larger, possessed a single red eye, and had smooth bodies. In either case, Sonya had forbidden all of her siblings from going into the Jungle.
The next worry was Chris. Sonya had heard about the revelations about the Symphogears along with the rest of the world. Initially, they had not affected her much although she had made sure to send off a quick letter of support to Chris. But since around the mid-week, the foreign media had apparently caught onto her association with the Yukine family and, most importantly, the young Chris. Sonya had turned down the early foreign journalists who were brave enough to fly into the powderkeg out of respect for the adaptors privacy. She knew Chris didn't want the attention and as her friend, she was determined to respect that.
Then they had started sweetening the pot and offering money in exchange for an interview. The initial sums were paltry enough for her to ignore them, but they had quickly crept up and Sonya's resolve was wavering. Her family was far from impoverished, but they were not so wealthy that money wasn't a serious temptation for them. Today, she had decided to send another letter to Chris asking what, if anything, she would be comfortable with Sonya talking about. Until then, she would continue to refuse the interviews.
Sonya's final and most immediate worry was Stephan, her youngest brother. The one Chris herself had saved and who had prompted their reconciliation. He had recently hit a snag in his hopes of becoming a football player. The leg he had received in Japan was a masterpiece of prosthetic engineering, which ironically made him too good to play professionally. It gave him an unnatural advantage against the other players. Because of his new leg, Stephan was running into regulations and policies that invalidated him from playing.
Fortunately, Sonya had wonderful news for Stephan when he got home. News that would solve it nicely. A foreign visitor from just after lunch who, for once, wasn't a journalist had given it to her.
"La Hermana! We're home!" Seven voices chorused. Sonya was infinitely amused that she was always The Sister to her family.
"Good!" She called back. "Now go wash-up! Salena has dinner ready!"
She nodded to Salena, the third eldest, the one who stayed home and helped with the housework when Sonya didn't have work and did all of it when she did. "I'll go make sure they wash-up."
Her siblings probably didn't need to be monitored but it gave her the opportunity to tell Stephan. She entered the hall to find them all nicely lined up by the bathroom, taking their turns washing their hands. Sonya tapped Stephan on the shoulder and tilted her head to the side, the classic sign of wanting that she wanted to talk to him alone. They stepped into the living room together.
"There was a man from the LifeWyze Corporation here today." She began. "He said they could recreate your leg. Not a prosthetic: an actual biological leg, just like your old one."
"What?" Stephan gaped in amazement. "They can do that?"
"Apparently it's a recent breakthrough." Sonya replied. "Finished clinical trials just a few weeks ago. They recalled your prosthetic visit to Japan and wanted to show that they could match it to an international audience."
Stephan's amazement faded away, replaced with thoughtful concern. He looked back down at his leg. "It's not because of Chris, is it?"
Sonya had wondered the same thing. Hell, since the publications she had briefly wondered if perhaps her association with Chris was why Stephan was able to get the prosthetic. Sonya understood: Stephan didn't want to be a charity case. It was the same reason she had turned down Chris's offer to just send them some money from her SONG pay, save for holiday and birthday gifts. And Chris had understood that too. "If it was, the representative who came today didn't mention it."
"I'll think about it." Stephan finally said after a few moments. Sonya nodded and indicated he should go to finish washing. She knew that as impulsive as Stephan could be, when he actually did think things through he always came to the right decision. Stepping out, she returned to the kitchen to wash her own hands and assist Salena in carrying the food to the table.
The LifeWyze man seemed so hardworking, Sonya mused as Salena began serving out the food. She hoped he had found the time to take some sort of break. A skin tone that pallid couldn't possibly be a sign of good health.
—
"This is Red Unit. All White Unit battlegroup positions verified. Commence the operation."
—
The first burst of gunfire chopped through the chatter of the dinner table like a cleaver through meat. Everyone fell silent, their heads turned in the direction it had come from. There had been one or two instances of gunfire before. A militia sentry getting spooked and firing off at a wild animal or something. Everyone silently prayed it was that again.
The prayer went unanswered. More gunfire joined the first burst, then even more. Shouts and screams quickly joined the initial cacophony of combat. The first explosions followed a few moments later. Sonya shot to her feet and rushed to the doorway, Stephan and the rest of her family following. To the north, west, and east, the village was already burning.
But not to the south.
Sonya saw one of the village militia running away from the fighting. Stephan spotted him at the same time and a scowl crossed his face. "Hey! Where are you going?!"
"The radios have stopped working! I'm a messenger!" The militiaman shouted back as he ran past.
Stephan actually had the good graces to look chastened by that. But alarm shot through Sonya. She turned and ran back into the living room, flipping on the family radio and scanning all the channels. Nothing came back but static.
"Everyone." Sonya forced herself to remain calm. Her family was looking to her. "Grab your emergency bags."
The sound of gunfire drew closer as the siblings scattered, pulling backpacks and travel bags from their selected stashes. It might not be necessary to flee the village but they had to make preparations even if they were to shelter close-by. By the time Sonya had grabbed her own travel bag and returned to the front door, the first of their neighbors were already running by, fleeing south.
"The monsters!" One man was hysterically sobbing. "It's the monsters!" He was bleeding from the shoulder as he ran.
Sonya scanned the growing crowd of refugees before spotting a familiar face. "Carlos!"
The village's most well known handyman's head whipped around at her call. His eyes were somewhat wild and in shock. Sonya wondered where his wife was. It took a few moments for recognition to register in his eyes. "Sonya! You have to leave, quickly. They're killing everyone. The militia's already been wiped out!"
"Is it really the monsters?" Salena asked, her voice weak with fear.
"Do you think monsters use guns?" Carlos asked rhetorically. "No, they're definitely soldiers. Although I don't recognize their equipment. And I've never seen men move so… mechanically before. Still, you have to hurry. They're sparing no one. Nina, she…" He trailed off, grief crossing his face.
Sonya could guess what had happened. "I'm sorry."
Carlos simply swallowed and nodded before turning and disappearing into the growing crowd. The gunfire was very close now as the family set out. Everyone was fleeing south, the only direction where there wasn't gunfire. Sonya had a suspicion it wouldn't be so simple but what other option did they have?
Her suspicion was confirmed when additional gunfire indeed erupted to the south up ahead of them. The refugee column they had fallen into was still about a block from the village outskirts and their view was blocked by houses, but the sheer volume told them everything they needed to know. The crowd staggered to a halt as the head of the column recoiled back into the forward momentum of the rest, creating gridlock. People were starting to panic. They were packed in and trapped now.
A distant rumble grew into a cacophony of whistles. Sonya had been under mortar fire before and acted on instinct. She turned and threw herself atop Stephan. The youngest Virena brother couldn't hear himself screaming as the string of cluster munitions burst over the crowd. The pressure waves knocked the breath from him and he felt something punch his left shoulder.
He didn't know how long he lay there in a daze but when he finally sat up, only then did he register the body sliding off of her. Abruptly he realized it was his eldest sister.
"Sonya? Sonya?!" Stephan moaned. His sister didn't answer, her eyes were glazed, staring blankly at the sky. Her chest didn't move. Stephan felt a growing wetness on his left shoulder and looked down. He thought distantly that perhaps he should be alarmed by the amount of blood he could see. There was also that distant ache. That was annoying.
Stephan was vaguely aware of other people around him, some wounded and some not, staggering about. He looked around, trying to find the rest of his family. "Salena? Sandro? Senano? Sen-"
He was interrupted by bursts of nearby gunfire. Some of the people he could see abruptly collapsed and tracers scythed around him. He turned to run but instead he toppled forward and could only find just enough strength to roll over. The sound of gunfire ceased. In their place he heard boots hammer on the ground and the rumble of an engine coming closer.
Stephan's last sight before he blacked out was two dull blue dots staring down at him.
Val Verde rested on a knife's edge. The withdrawal of the UN peacekeepers the previous month had left the new civilian government lacking in professional military muscle, forcing them to rely on civilian militias whose hatred towards supporters of the old regime often outstripped their sensibility. Those supporters, of course, had been forced to organize and arm themselves, ostensibly for their own protection, and they weren't lacking in leadership either. The Illuminati may have eradicated the senior leadership of the Junta, but a healthy minority of the middle-ranks had been able to evade both them and the UN capture missions through luck or opportunism. Some of those old Junta hands now fancied themselves candidates as new Presidente, should the opportunity present itself.
Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before civil war broke out again. There was more than enough hate and guns on both sides. The powder was well and truly piled up, all that was needed was a spark.
The fear of war was but one of the many worries that weighed on the mind of Sonya Virena. Another was the recent rumors that had cropped up in the past two months about monsters deep in the jungle, a rumor that had been reinforced by the disappearance of a party of villagers who had gone to investigate it. Sonya didn't know quite how much stock to place in the rumors, since they were so inconsistent on what the monsters looked like. The early ones had said they were about the size of men with two dull blue eyes. But some more recent ones claimed the creatures were larger, possessed a single red eye, and had smooth bodies. In either case, Sonya had forbidden all of her siblings from going into the Jungle.
The next worry was Chris. Sonya had heard about the revelations about the Symphogears along with the rest of the world. Initially, they had not affected her much although she had made sure to send off a quick letter of support to Chris. But since around the mid-week, the foreign media had apparently caught onto her association with the Yukine family and, most importantly, the young Chris. Sonya had turned down the early foreign journalists who were brave enough to fly into the powderkeg out of respect for the adaptors privacy. She knew Chris didn't want the attention and as her friend, she was determined to respect that.
Then they had started sweetening the pot and offering money in exchange for an interview. The initial sums were paltry enough for her to ignore them, but they had quickly crept up and Sonya's resolve was wavering. Her family was far from impoverished, but they were not so wealthy that money wasn't a serious temptation for them. Today, she had decided to send another letter to Chris asking what, if anything, she would be comfortable with Sonya talking about. Until then, she would continue to refuse the interviews.
Sonya's final and most immediate worry was Stephan, her youngest brother. The one Chris herself had saved and who had prompted their reconciliation. He had recently hit a snag in his hopes of becoming a football player. The leg he had received in Japan was a masterpiece of prosthetic engineering, which ironically made him too good to play professionally. It gave him an unnatural advantage against the other players. Because of his new leg, Stephan was running into regulations and policies that invalidated him from playing.
Fortunately, Sonya had wonderful news for Stephan when he got home. News that would solve it nicely. A foreign visitor from just after lunch who, for once, wasn't a journalist had given it to her.
"La Hermana! We're home!" Seven voices chorused. Sonya was infinitely amused that she was always The Sister to her family.
"Good!" She called back. "Now go wash-up! Salena has dinner ready!"
She nodded to Salena, the third eldest, the one who stayed home and helped with the housework when Sonya didn't have work and did all of it when she did. "I'll go make sure they wash-up."
Her siblings probably didn't need to be monitored but it gave her the opportunity to tell Stephan. She entered the hall to find them all nicely lined up by the bathroom, taking their turns washing their hands. Sonya tapped Stephan on the shoulder and tilted her head to the side, the classic sign of wanting that she wanted to talk to him alone. They stepped into the living room together.
"There was a man from the LifeWyze Corporation here today." She began. "He said they could recreate your leg. Not a prosthetic: an actual biological leg, just like your old one."
"What?" Stephan gaped in amazement. "They can do that?"
"Apparently it's a recent breakthrough." Sonya replied. "Finished clinical trials just a few weeks ago. They recalled your prosthetic visit to Japan and wanted to show that they could match it to an international audience."
Stephan's amazement faded away, replaced with thoughtful concern. He looked back down at his leg. "It's not because of Chris, is it?"
Sonya had wondered the same thing. Hell, since the publications she had briefly wondered if perhaps her association with Chris was why Stephan was able to get the prosthetic. Sonya understood: Stephan didn't want to be a charity case. It was the same reason she had turned down Chris's offer to just send them some money from her SONG pay, save for holiday and birthday gifts. And Chris had understood that too. "If it was, the representative who came today didn't mention it."
"I'll think about it." Stephan finally said after a few moments. Sonya nodded and indicated he should go to finish washing. She knew that as impulsive as Stephan could be, when he actually did think things through he always came to the right decision. Stepping out, she returned to the kitchen to wash her own hands and assist Salena in carrying the food to the table.
The LifeWyze man seemed so hardworking, Sonya mused as Salena began serving out the food. She hoped he had found the time to take some sort of break. A skin tone that pallid couldn't possibly be a sign of good health.
—
"This is Red Unit. All White Unit battlegroup positions verified. Commence the operation."
—
The first burst of gunfire chopped through the chatter of the dinner table like a cleaver through meat. Everyone fell silent, their heads turned in the direction it had come from. There had been one or two instances of gunfire before. A militia sentry getting spooked and firing off at a wild animal or something. Everyone silently prayed it was that again.
The prayer went unanswered. More gunfire joined the first burst, then even more. Shouts and screams quickly joined the initial cacophony of combat. The first explosions followed a few moments later. Sonya shot to her feet and rushed to the doorway, Stephan and the rest of her family following. To the north, west, and east, the village was already burning.
But not to the south.
Sonya saw one of the village militia running away from the fighting. Stephan spotted him at the same time and a scowl crossed his face. "Hey! Where are you going?!"
"The radios have stopped working! I'm a messenger!" The militiaman shouted back as he ran past.
Stephan actually had the good graces to look chastened by that. But alarm shot through Sonya. She turned and ran back into the living room, flipping on the family radio and scanning all the channels. Nothing came back but static.
"Everyone." Sonya forced herself to remain calm. Her family was looking to her. "Grab your emergency bags."
The sound of gunfire drew closer as the siblings scattered, pulling backpacks and travel bags from their selected stashes. It might not be necessary to flee the village but they had to make preparations even if they were to shelter close-by. By the time Sonya had grabbed her own travel bag and returned to the front door, the first of their neighbors were already running by, fleeing south.
"The monsters!" One man was hysterically sobbing. "It's the monsters!" He was bleeding from the shoulder as he ran.
Sonya scanned the growing crowd of refugees before spotting a familiar face. "Carlos!"
The village's most well known handyman's head whipped around at her call. His eyes were somewhat wild and in shock. Sonya wondered where his wife was. It took a few moments for recognition to register in his eyes. "Sonya! You have to leave, quickly. They're killing everyone. The militia's already been wiped out!"
"Is it really the monsters?" Salena asked, her voice weak with fear.
"Do you think monsters use guns?" Carlos asked rhetorically. "No, they're definitely soldiers. Although I don't recognize their equipment. And I've never seen men move so… mechanically before. Still, you have to hurry. They're sparing no one. Nina, she…" He trailed off, grief crossing his face.
Sonya could guess what had happened. "I'm sorry."
Carlos simply swallowed and nodded before turning and disappearing into the growing crowd. The gunfire was very close now as the family set out. Everyone was fleeing south, the only direction where there wasn't gunfire. Sonya had a suspicion it wouldn't be so simple but what other option did they have?
Her suspicion was confirmed when additional gunfire indeed erupted to the south up ahead of them. The refugee column they had fallen into was still about a block from the village outskirts and their view was blocked by houses, but the sheer volume told them everything they needed to know. The crowd staggered to a halt as the head of the column recoiled back into the forward momentum of the rest, creating gridlock. People were starting to panic. They were packed in and trapped now.
A distant rumble grew into a cacophony of whistles. Sonya had been under mortar fire before and acted on instinct. She turned and threw herself atop Stephan. The youngest Virena brother couldn't hear himself screaming as the string of cluster munitions burst over the crowd. The pressure waves knocked the breath from him and he felt something punch his left shoulder.
He didn't know how long he lay there in a daze but when he finally sat up, only then did he register the body sliding off of her. Abruptly he realized it was his eldest sister.
"Sonya? Sonya?!" Stephan moaned. His sister didn't answer, her eyes were glazed, staring blankly at the sky. Her chest didn't move. Stephan felt a growing wetness on his left shoulder and looked down. He thought distantly that perhaps he should be alarmed by the amount of blood he could see. There was also that distant ache. That was annoying.
Stephan was vaguely aware of other people around him, some wounded and some not, staggering about. He looked around, trying to find the rest of his family. "Salena? Sandro? Senano? Sen-"
He was interrupted by bursts of nearby gunfire. Some of the people he could see abruptly collapsed and tracers scythed around him. He turned to run but instead he toppled forward and could only find just enough strength to roll over. The sound of gunfire ceased. In their place he heard boots hammer on the ground and the rumble of an engine coming closer.
Stephan's last sight before he blacked out was two dull blue dots staring down at him.
—
"This is Red Unit. Main Objective Liquidated. Objectives HVTs liquidated. One HVI liquidated. One HVI secure. All White Unit battlegroups, liquidate remaining nonresistors and stand-by for egress rendezvous grid coordinates."
----
Next Chapter: Festival of Skewered Brains.
----
Authors Notes: Show of hands, back in chapter 6, how many of you thought Voronin was just mouthing off when he mentioned Sonya and Stephan?
Originally, chapter 9 was to cover both all of this AND the second press conference. But then the press conference started becoming so huge that I realized I'm probably going to have to make it it's own chapter. So I did. With any luck, me and my beta's will have it done by the weekend.
Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Typo: Airgetlám
I shouldn't be surprised that is Hibiki's method of getting Chris' attention.
Here is another appearance of the Pale Man, yet this is most likely the oddest appearance he has made yet. It's so odd I'm just confused on him being there than what his reason is.
WTF?!! What reason is there for them to even head there or even do this? It does answer my question on why the Pale Man was there, but still.
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
I just wonder what the forums are like in the XDU version when they're looking over random XDU events.
AgateramAirget-Lahm, Nuker's right albeit contracting the dash.
Actually, per transformation sequences it's
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
It sometimes surprises me how people can miss various threads...
Chapter 6 said:
Chapter 7 said:
I just wonder what the forums are like in the XDU version when they're looking over random XDU events.
I mean, I ain't overly familiar with XDU events, but ain't their stuff still classified up the whazoo?[/quote]
FelOnyx
Love and Peace!
- Location
- Gunsmoke
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sicilians.
It's obvious enough here that Kawada is going to try to steal a symphogear, and I'm going to take a guess based on what's being foreshadowed here about exactly how that'll go. exFIS's synch rates rising likely means that other people who used to be close to compatible with the system, like the entire student body of Lydian, might be able to squeak by using LiNKER now. I'm inclined to believe Kirika is right that LiNKER wasn't mentioned in the documents based on how she seems to think just getting the pendant will be enough. Narratively it also means for now Kawada doesn't know as much as she thinks she does, and also that learning about LiNKER would be a good trigger for her to actually go through with it. She learns about LiNKER and thinks that it means all you really need to wield a gear is drugs causing her to lose any remaining respect for the wielders. She gets overconfident because of this and steals some LiNKER and a gear and tries to use it. It goes badly, somewhere between blood smeared on the walls and just being weak and crappy in combat and needs to get saved and/or defeated by Shirabe and Kirika. This results in her being properly power of friendship'd, as the doubts and second thoughts she's displaying are setting her up to do. Sprinkle in one additional thing going horribly wrong somewhere, and possibly her managing to seriously injure Maria in a sneak attack.
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
[/QUOTE]
They, particularly anything that involves Gjallarhorn trips, are required to be closely recorded, hence why Miku's not(generally) allowed to deploy on 'Jallar trips after her event because she wasn't supposed to bring back Shenshoujin from the relevant AU. Therefore it'd likely have been leaked with everything else by the Horsemen.
Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I did not know that was a accurate way to spell Maria's gear. Never mind then.
I can say that I honest missed that exchange in Chapter 7.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
I've been informed that "Airgetlamh" is an acceptable alternative to having the accent and my attitude towards accent marks can be summed up as "aaaggghhh, why", so I avoid them whenever possible. The only reason I'm still doing it for words like "Fine" and "Chateau" is because I've been informed there is no real alternative, so I force myself through the copy and paste charade every time.
This sorta speculation is stuff I love.
Ah, I see. Well, like I said, I'm ignoring the events of XDU as non-canon for Distortions (although I'm not gonna hesitate to crib some stuff like lines and songs and revelations, such as Kirika's letter). It's funny you mention this, because one of my beta-readers floated a funny little sequel idea where the Distortions cast interact with the XDU cast post-Fic.
Not to mention what happens to the place that Gjallarhorn is canonically stored at...
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Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
Strictly speaking the correct way to spell Maria's gear is Enkiahu.
That was my assumption in the first place, hence 'XDU version'; I was largely musing on hypotheticals.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
I see...
So do you have some examples of those random events or what? 'Cause until the English version of XDU comes out, I'm kinda in the dark on the gross bulk of stuff about it. The only event I really thoroughly have background on is the Edgebikky one.
FelOnyx
Love and Peace!
- Location
- Gunsmoke
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hibiki reenacts the plot of the Endless Eight but with giant fishman warriors.
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
"Hibiki accidentally breaks Kirika's faith in Santa Claus, everyone bar Kirika proceeds to accidentally get Winter/Santa Gear configurations while assuring Kirika that they can't manage winter gear configurations" is the one that jumps to mind.
(Also the 'old Japanese' style Gears being a product of Genjuro screening appropiate movies, but that makes more sense in Symphogear.)
From the few translations/summaries we have, much like FGO there's two types of XDU events: Serious business AUs, and varying levels of silly.
- Location
- Around here
The problem here, and I've gone over this with Nuker already, is that there's so many different spellings of its name. It's the same with Shul Shagana/Sul Sagana/Sul-Sagana and Igalima/Igarima/Ig-Alima/Ig-Arima/who the fuck even knows because you're translating Mesopotamiam into English into Japanese and then back to English and expecting there to be only one way of spelling it.
Airgetlám is the correct Irish spelling, with the accent, with Airgetlamh being the accepted English equivalent. In-show, I've seen both as used as well as Airget-Lamh, depending on all of who the fuck knows what criteria, because I swear I've seen it change spellings even within the same sub group.
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obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Well, it is a Gacha game and...
I'MMA SORRY, WHAT?!
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Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
-Lahm with a dash is what's on the actual Symphogears mid-transformation and in the Keywords, so that's presumably the official one. Others are presumably used in subs because they're what jumps to mind when you're talking about the Silver Arm.
Gacha games. Either dead serious or max silly, rarely anything between.I'MMA SORRY, WHAT?!
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Gacha games. Either dead serious or max silly, rarely anything between.
I mean, my confusion is mainly how Hibiki got everyone trapped in a timeloop*. The only thing I can think of is she accidentally broke something.
Oh, and where the fishmen come from, but I'm guessing it's something inordinately silly.
*I never got quite that far in Haruhi, so all I know about Endless Eight is "it's a time loop", "we've entered an endless recursion in time", "oh god it doesn't end from the fandom", and "Kyon fixes it somehow".
Paleb05
A Believer of Optimism in the World
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Gacha games. Either dead serious or max silly, rarely anything between.
Or Crazily Insanely Awesome like this event that is now on-going: A Symphogear/Godzilla crossover with the girls cosplaying as different monsters and using their attacks
For Example:
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obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Hey, your forgetting the best ones now...
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Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
EDIT: Damn ninja managers
EDIT2: Wait is Mothra a remodelled version of said ninja manager's glider?
Unfortunately none of the three collabs are translated or even summaried, all I've been able to find is some initial stuff about the Zilla one that seems to indicate that Godzilla, at least in Kanade's AU, is just one of the large piles of movies that are canon to Symphogear.
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- Location
- Around here
I'm telling you, I've seen all three used in the show. I'd have to rewatch every episode with Maria in it to tell you when I saw each instance and which subgroup was responsible, but I swear I've seen all of them used.
I don't know how much I agree with this. Personally, I'd prefer to see Kanade as Rodan.
100% disagree with this. Hibiki only gets Ghidorah because of the shared colour scheme. I'd rather see her as either King Kong of Jet Jaguar, probably the latter.
This one is good. I approve.
The colour matching is nice, but if Maria is Kiryu, then who is Chris? A different MechaGodzilla? Or someone else? I swear, if they made Chris Rodan instead of Kanade I'll-
100% perfect, absolutely makes up for every other critique I have of the kaiju choices.
This is super cute and wholesome.Also Tsubasa and Chris, also as Godzilla and Mothra.
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- Location
- College Station, Texas
No, LiNKER was mentioned in the documents.
I don't blame you, but you have to watch for that. We put a lot of little tidbits like that in the story to foreshadow future events. Heck, even Caprice's line about following through on your threats could be seen as foreshadowing for what happened at the end of the chapter.
obssesednuker
Commander of 10 Million Men
- Location
- In the Kremlin, activating Perimtr.
Yeah, Kirika is just refraining from mentioning LiNKER at that moment because she doesn't regard it as a important detail. And she also doesn't know if LiNKER was mentioned in the documents because she doesn't pay attention to those types of details: witness that episode of XV when she announced she was trying to arrest Millaarc because she violated "a law whose name I've forgotten". Of course, that doesn't render FelOnyx's theory necessarily invalid.
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FelOnyx
Love and Peace!
- Location
- Gunsmoke
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So Chris, Hibiki, Shirabe, Kirika, and Miku are in the tropical island AU, so Chris can train the rest in unlocking their swimsuit gears. Hibiki and Miku go off on their own, and find a mysterious box in a cave which Hibiki opens. The next day the nearest town is getting attacked by fishmen, and the day after that never comes. After a few time loops of investigating Hibiki learns the box was the one from the story of Urashima Taro, and opening it unsealed the Undersea Dragon Palace and all the fish warriors in it. The legend is apparently a bit different in this universe. They fight their way back through the cave and confront the leader of the fishmen, who states that time has been sealed away in the box, and if they open it again time will be released and the palace and fishmen will return to the box. But the sealed time is the only thing preventing a great disaster from coming.
The kicker is that the solution is exactly the same as the one to the Endless Eight:
Summer homework. That's the great disaster. The box sealed away time to grant Hibiki's wish, and she has to accept her summer homework to end the loop. Hibiki, and then also Kirika, cannot open the box until they come to terms with their impending doom.
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