Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

Raye, fully switched into her serious mode, pointed the Sky Striker at Chris before saying this to her.

Before long, time flew by, and night fell.

By then, Chris had returned to her room. Wrapped head to toe in a blanket under the bright lights, she glared at the blonde girl standing before her in shame and indignation.

"What the hell did you do to me?!"

Chris demanded of Raye. Heaven knew what inhumane treatment she had just endured.

"I merely carried out threat-reduction measures on you. I understand that my actions may have caused some misunderstanding, but this was necessary preparation to prevent my instincts from killing you."

Raye gave Chris a very serious explanation.

As she had said before, she did not like threatening things getting too close to her. If Chris got too close without having her threat removed, there was a good chance she would turn into an inorganic object once known as Chris.

"...Is that really true?"

Hearing Raye's explanation, the girl wrapped in the blanket lowered her head.

"It is. So you do not need to take it too seriously. If possible, I hope you can regard what I just did as a doctor examining your body."

Raye also understood that her actions could be misunderstood, so she tried to give Chris a reason that would make them easier to accept.

"So, you took my Demon Bow to reduce the threat?"

Chris asked.

"That is correct. You are unquestionably quite dangerous when equipped with Symphogear."

Raye answered calmly.

An item that granted tremendous power with nothing more than a sung chant was the main source of Chris's danger. Naturally, it could not be left on her.

"And treating the clothes I was wearing like that was also to reduce the threat?"

Chris continued, and her expression seemed to change slightly.

"That is correct. It was a necessary examination to confirm that you were not carrying any other dangerous items."

Raye continued explaining in the same calm tone.

The Demon Bow was only the weapon Chris carried openly. Raye could not ignore the possibility that Chris had hidden weapons, so it was necessary to search and inspect her body.

"...And moving into my room with a pile of stuff without asking for my permission was also to reduce the threat?"

There was a trace of displeasure in Chris's voice.

"That is correct. I need to keep you within my sight to ensure your threat level does not rise."

Raye continued.

Although the previous two steps had allowed her to confirm that Chris herself posed no threat, she still had to consider the possibility that Chris might do something outside her sight that would raise her threat level.

"Fine. Fine. Fine."

Listening to Raye's utterly unchanged tone, a string called reason snapped in Chris's mind.

"Then forcing me to wear this embarrassing outfit and putting this weird collar on me was also for your so-called threat reduction?!"

Having lost her mind, Chris threw off the blanket, rose to her feet, and shouted at the still expressionless girl in shame and fury.

What Chris wore was no longer her usual red dress, but a strange outfit that might excite people with certain preferences.

The Ceiling and the Window

"This outfit can forcibly restrain you when your body makes intense movements. The collar monitors your physical condition and can cut off your consciousness at critical moments. They are excellent threat-reduction methods."

Although Chris displayed her anger with exaggerated movements, Raye still maintained her usual tone as she explained.

"You... you... You really are a BAKA. A complete BAKA."

Chris no longer knew what to say. Just when she thought she had gained some understanding of the current Raye, Raye came up with another bizarre new stunt.

"Hmph. So you expect me to walk down the street in this outfit?"

After calming herself down a little, Chris asked in embarrassment and annoyance.

"No, of course not. Unless you have some special fetish, you would definitely need to put another layer of clothing over it before going outside."

Raye denied it as if it were only natural.

"Who has a special fetish?! More importantly, you're the one who forced this outfit onto me! Where are my old clothes? Give them back already!"

Chris vehemently denied it before asking where Raye had put her original clothes.

"Wait, let me look."

After hearing Chris ask, Raye opened the Warblade Mecha and began rummaging through it for the clothes she had no idea where she had tossed.

Chris had resisted too fiercely at the time, so after taking off her clothes, Raye had casually thrown them into the Warblade Mecha. Later, when retrieving daily necessities, she had changed the portal's destination, and now she did not know where Chris's clothes had ended up.

"Ah... Good, I found them."

Fortunately, after repeatedly switching the Warblade Mecha's connection to her base, Raye found the red dress lying on the floor where she had previously placed the Threat Removal Suit Type 001 and handed it to Chris.

"Whew, at least I won't feel so uncomfortable anymore."

Taking her clothes, Chris immediately put them back on, covering the embarrassing strange outfit beneath them.

"Uncomfortable? That should not be the case. When I made this suit last night, I tailored it according to your measurements. To make it as comfortable as possible, I used materials as close to underwear fabric as possible. I also used Heresy Technology to equip it with cooling, heating, and cleaning functions to prevent discomfort from prolonged wear. Does it still feel uncomfortable even so?"

Seeing Chris complain, Raye asked with slight confusion.

"...Seriously, what kind of functions did you add to this embarrassing outfit?"

Chris felt she no longer had the strength to complain. Its overall design was terrible in every sense, yet it was strangely considerate in certain areas.

"So, is there anywhere else you feel uncomfortable, Chris? If necessary, I can make further improvements. After all, we are trying to solve your psychological issues. If something feels uncomfortable, you can mention it as long as it does not affect the plan."

Raye asked seriously.

"No, forget it. Let's leave it as it is. I don't want to go through that forced stripping-and-dressing routine again."

Chris hurriedly refused. She had figured it out by now: although Raye usually seemed fairly normal, she became inexplicably serious whenever her own safety was involved.

If Chris asked for a replacement, Raye would absolutely do something like personally take it off and put on the new one herself to ensure that so-called safety.

"Is that so? Since you have no issue with it, Chris, hurry up and get some sleep after dinner. There is still a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Once Chris had gotten dressed and raised no further questions, Raye said this and casually took Chris's hand.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're just going to hold my hand like this? Don't forget, we're still enemies."

Feeling the sudden soft touch in her hand, Chris said helplessly.

"What is wrong? Since I need to keep your threat level low, I naturally have to remain within a certain distance of you at all times."

Seeing Chris's flustered expression, Raye explained as if it were obvious.

"Is... is that so?"

Hearing Raye's answer, Chris wondered whether she had been overthinking things.

"What else could it be? Though, if you do not want me to hold your hand, Chris, I can attach a leash to the collar around your neck..."

"That won't be necessary at all! Holding hands is perfectly fine!"

Hearing Raye's increasingly dangerous words, Chris immediately decided that holding hands was not something she could not accept.

"Is that so? Actually, you do not need to force yourself, Chris."

Raye said, then opened the Warblade Mecha in front of Chris.

"I'm not forcing myself at all, Raye! Aren't we going to eat dinner? Let's hurry up, or we'll be too late!"

Before Raye could take any further action, Chris quickly interrupted her, then proactively took Raye's hand and left the room.

"All right. Since you insist, Chris, then forget it. Let's go to the kitchen first."

After Chris pulled her out of the room, Raye said this and proposed their next course of action: going to the kitchen.

"Ah, the kitchen? Why?"

Chris asked.

"To make you dinner, obviously. What else would it be?"

As she said this, Raye took Chris by the hand and led her toward the kitchen of the mansion.

About an hour and a half later.

"...Hmm, it looks pretty good?"

Looking at the rather exquisite spread of three dishes and a soup, with both meat and vegetables, Chris was somewhat surprised.

She knew Raye had studied cooking before, but after not seeing her for so many years, Chris felt that Raye's culinary skills had become even more refined.

"Yes. For personal reasons, I worked as a cook for a while when I was in the United States, so I studied it a little."

Raye said.

"A cook? Raye, you worked in a restaurant?"

Chris was confused. She could hardly imagine someone like Raye working as a cook for others.

"No, I worked at a research institute in the United States that studied Relics. I merely moonlighted as a cook from time to time."

Raye explained. Her vision had to endure immense strain, she had no hearing, and she did not trust food that had passed through someone else's hands. Naturally, making meals that suited her own tastes was one of the few forms of entertainment she could enjoy.

"I see. Well then, thanks for the food."

Although Chris remained curious about Raye's past, the food in front of her would not taste good cold. Food had to be respected.

"Huh? Raye, you're not eating?"

Just as Chris was about to pick up her chopsticks, she noticed that Raye was not eating with her.

"No, I do not need to. This nutrient solution is enough for me."

Raye said, showing her a bottle filled with milky-white liquid. Beside her, a polygonal portal slowly closed.

Developments on the Other Side (4k)

While Raye and Chris were having dinner, Ryouko Sakurai had just finished her work for the day over at Second Division.

"Ahhh, work is over. Work is over."

Rubbing her sore shoulders, Ryouko Sakurai spoke the words that could bring a working person's body and mind to the height of bliss.

"Thanks for the effort, Ryouko. You have been working overtime this late every day recently."

The door opened, and Commander Kazanari entered Ryouko's workshop carrying a thermos.

"It is fine. I only did some technical work. Compared to me, Genjuro, you have it much harder dealing with the pressure from the higher-ups, don't you?"

Ryouko Sakurai took a sip of the hot black tea beside her and said this.

After Durandal was stolen by Raye, the entire upper administration held Second Division accountable. Although the Second Division staff weathered the first wave of questioning through grueling overtime work, they still occasionally faced harassment from other departments afterward.

As a technician, Ryouko did not need to deal with those people, but she also had the rather troublesome task of researching Hibiki Tachibana's body.

"Indeed, negotiating with those important people is truly a headache. However, there is no need to worry about it, Ryouko. At least for the time being, we do not need to worry about the higher-ups holding us accountable."

Hearing Ryouko's words, Commander Kazanari pressed a hand to his forehead and said this.

"Hmm... Oh my, could it be that you beat up those old bastards during the meeting, Genjuro?"

Hearing Commander Kazanari's words, Ryouko Sakurai found it hard to believe. After thinking about it, she made that guess.

After all, losing such a precious Complete Relic was a grave mistake. She could hardly imagine what Genjuro had done to make those old people stop holding him responsible.

"Of course not. How could I possibly do that? They gave up pursuing the matter because a new situation arose. In a sense, it is even more important than Durandal's loss. This situation has caused Second Division's importance to be reevaluated."

Commander Kazanari first denied Ryouko's guess, then continued with a headache-inducing expression.

"So, what exactly happened?"

Seeing Commander Kazanari's troubled expression, Ryouko Sakurai asked curiously. For some reason, though, she had an inexplicably bad feeling in her heart.

"At noon today, Hibiki Tachibana, Biological Relic Fusion Case No. 1, was attacked by terrorists while on her way to buy lunch."

Commander Kazanari revealed this information with a solemn expression.

"Hibiki Tachibana was attacked by terrorists... Wait, that means?"