Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

Listening to the teacher's voice on the podium begin to rise and fall with emphasis, Chris thought this as she prepared to zone out at her desk and endure the somewhat lengthy class.

"Um, hello. Don't you have a textbook? Do you need to borrow mine?"

However, just as Chris was about to do that, the black-haired girl beside her quietly asked her.

"Ah, well..."

Not expecting the person beside her to suddenly offer help, Chris had no idea how to handle such enthusiasm. She had never known how an ordinary girl was supposed to respond in a situation like this.

[Chris, check the shoulder bag I gave you. I already put a textbook inside. Just take it out.]

Just as Chris was struggling, Raye's voice suddenly rang out in her heart.

[What are you talking about? Isn't this an empty bag... There really is one?]

Hearing Raye's voice, Chris replied skeptically. But when she reached inside, she actually pulled out a book.

"Ha ha... No need. Since I came here to see whether this school suits me, of course I brought one of its textbooks. It's just been so long since I last attended class that I forgot to take it out."

Taking the textbook from her desk, Chris replied with a natural smile.

"Is that so? All right."

Seeing that the other girl did have a textbook, the black-haired girl stopped insisting and focused on the lesson.

[What exactly did you do?]

After dealing with the black-haired girl's question, Chris asked Raye what she had done, why she knew what was happening on Chris's side, and how she had put a textbook into that empty bag.

[I just placed an invisible Drone Unit beneath your chair. The book was put in through a Warblade Mecha opened by that Drone Unit. Well, you probably don't understand that. Just think of it as me putting an invisible machine beside you that can open portals and send or receive messages.]

Raye explained. Of course, she could not simply leave Chris alone to hold things together. If something went wrong, Raye would be the one dealing with the trouble.

[Depending on what you need, I'll put items into that empty bag at the right time. I'll also remind you when you don't know what to do, so don't put too much pressure on yourself.]

Raye continued, trying to ease Chris's stress through this arrangement.

[All right.]

Hearing Raye's words, the pressure Chris had felt from being alone temporarily eased.

[Good. Then focus on the lesson now, Chris.]

On the raised platform at the back of the classroom, Raye said this as she frowned at the tablet in her hands.

[Image: Raye]

P.S. I've adjusted to how my body feels now. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can post more.

The Trio

Ding-ding-ding...

"All right, class is over."

As the bell rang and the teacher left, Chris realized that this perfectly ordinary lesson had come to an end—and she had actually sat through an entire class seriously.

[Who am I? I'm Chris Yukine, a student of Lydian Music Academy. Wait, no. I didn't come here to attend school. I have a mission. What mission was it again?]

Chris, completely assimilated into the atmosphere of an ordinary girls' high school classroom, thought in confusion.

"Um, your name is Christina, right? That's what I saw written in your textbook."

Just as Chris was agonizing over it, a voice suddenly came from beside her.

"Who?"

Chris snapped back to her senses and looked around, trying to find where the voice had come from.

[Wait, what is this situation?]

Then Chris discovered that things seemed to be a little bad.

While she had been thinking by herself, a group of high school girls she did not recognize had somehow appeared around her.

She immediately tried to contact Raye through telepathy, but for some reason, Raye did not reply right away.

[No reply. Did Raye run into trouble? Did something change?!]

Failing to contact Raye made the unease in Chris's heart surge sharply.

[Looks like I can only rely on myself now. One, two, three, four... This is bad. Aren't I completely surrounded?!]

With no other choice, Chris looked around to assess her situation, and then she discovered...

At her front right was a petite girl with brown twin-tails. Her lively eyes were filled with curiosity and scrutiny toward Chris. She had to be an advancing scout.

Directly to her right stood a graceful girl with long golden hair falling over her shoulders. Her calm, unflappable gaze undoubtedly belonged to an agent with professional training.

At her rear right was an energetic-looking girl with short gray hair. Her confidence and commanding bearing surely marked her as a battle-hardened commander.

Finally, on her left, her classmate—a thoughtful-looking girl with short black hair—had already firmly blocked her off. Though nothing showed on the surface, Chris always felt that she was the most terrifying presence among the four.

At this moment, the four girls had tightly surrounded every direction around her. No matter which way Chris went, she would have to face at least two of them.

[This is bad. In a situation like this, my identity must have been exposed. They're plainclothes agents hiding in this school, and they noticed something wrong and want to arrest me. No, I can't just sit here and wait.]

Chris's nerves instantly tightened to their limit. After all, even office workers brushing past her could be enemies. It was only natural for an enemy stronghold to have a few plainclothes agents.

[Behold my Demon Bow... Damn it, Raye took my Demon Bow away earlier... Fine. Even so, I won't surrender easily. Whatever humiliating interrogation methods you have, bring them on. I won't yield!]

She wanted to use the Demon Bow to escape, but then remembered that Raye had taken it away beforehand. Her expression shifted several times before finally settling into one of heroic resolve.

[Calm down, Chris. No one wants to do anything to you. This is just ordinary high school girls being curious about a newcomer. At least, they mean no harm.]

Just as Chris was thinking this, Raye's reminder, which had not answered earlier, abruptly sounded in her heart.

[Ah, is that so?]

Hearing the familiar voice in her heart, Chris's anxious state immediately calmed down.

[Probably. At least, that's the case here. Anyway, just deal with them casually. As long as you act natural, you'll be fine.]

Hiding in a toilet stall, Raye replied as she watched the girls outside the door seemingly search for something through the Wasp Unit.

She had sensed danger as soon as class ended and, to avoid being caught by these students with nowhere to vent their youthful hormones, hurriedly found somewhere to hide. That was why she had not answered Chris's message in time.

[Whew. High school girls are terrifying.]

Chris sighed. They had managed to surround her so naturally.

[They really are. Anyway, ask me if there's anything you don't understand. I'm going back to work.]

Raye agreed inwardly, then returned to working intently on her tablet.

She had already finished setting up surveillance in the teaching building and was currently arranging surveillance in the dormitory building.

"Christina, Christina, what's wrong?"

The girl who had greeted Chris earlier—the petite twin-tailed girl at Chris's front right—found it strange that Chris had not responded and asked again.

"Mm... Ah, right, that's me. So what do you want from me?"

Having settled down again, Chris heard the other girl's question and answered as naturally as possible before asking one of her own.

"Well, it's nothing much. We were just curious why you suddenly came here to sit in on class. Oh, right, you don't know our names yet, do you? My name is Yumi Itaba, and this is Shiori Terashima."

"And I'm Sousei Ando. That girl over there is Kohinata Miku."

After establishing a conversation with Chris, the trio who had come over introduced themselves, and also introduced the black-haired girl nearby.

[What's with these people? They're way too friendly. Who asked you? Don't just introduce yourselves without prompting me. Now I have to talk with them!]

Chris thought this after being forced to listen to the trio introduce themselves.

[What should I do next? How should an ordinary high school girl respond at a time like this? Damn it, I have absolutely no experience with this. First, I should think about my persona. Introduce myself...]

At this moment, Chris felt deep respect for Raye, who had escaped this vortex beforehand. Raye was amazing for quickly noticing something so troublesome and leaving at once.

"Ha ha, my name is Christina. Um, you can just call me Chris. As for why I came here, first, I need to find a school to attend, but I don't know which school is best, so I planned to experience it first before deciding. As for the other reason, a personal one, I'll keep it secret for now."

Chris smoothly explained the persona Raye had arranged for her earlier.

"I see, I see. Christina, huh? So, Chris, you're like one of those mysterious transfer student characters from anime."

Yumi Itaba nodded, thought about it, and said this. As for the secret part, she did not ask further since they were not that familiar yet.

"Come on, Yumi. Didn't Chris say she hasn't decided whether to transfer here yet?"

Sousei Ando smiled and disagreed.

"Don't worry. Following anime logic, a mysterious character who suddenly appears like little Chris will definitely become a mysterious transfer student within one episode for some reason."

Though Sousei Ando said that, Yumi Itaba still insisted on her own opinion.

"This isn't anime."

Saori Terashima, who had been silent until then, said with a smile.

"Of course that isn't my only reason. Don't forget that Lydian Music Academy has the best teaching resources, at least around here. Once Chris experiences how good Lydian is, she'll definitely choose this place."

Yumi Itaba made this judgment with great confidence.

"But although that's true of the teaching, Lydian's facilities aren't particularly good, are they?"

Hearing Yumi's words, Saori Terashima said with some hesitation.

"Yeah, yeah. Whether it's the classroom design with steep, smooth slopes, the school track with right-angle turns that makes running uncomfortable, or dorm rooms so cramped that two people already feel crowded, they're inconvenient in every possible sense."

Sousei Ando also said this very seriously.

"Come to think of it, why was the school designed like this?"

"Who knows? Maybe the designer was an architect who only considered appearance and not practicality."

Soon, as the topic shifted, their conversation moved away from Chris and onto complaints about the school's facilities.

[Yes, yes, just like that. Ignore me completely and let me escape this hellish break time.]

Watching the trio's increasingly off-topic conversation become a perpetual motion machine, completely forgetting about her, Chris practically popped champagne in her heart. She had not expected her problem to solve itself so easily.

[I'm so lucky.]

Chris's mood brightened, and she even unconsciously began swinging her legs in black stockings and little red leather shoes.

However, the facts proved that sometimes it was better not to celebrate too early.

Bang—

[Huh? What was that?]

Chris felt that when her foot swung beneath her chair, it struck something hard and made a crisp collision sound.

[Chris, sit properly. Your foot hit my Bumblebee Drone.]

Raye's voice sounded at just the right moment, answering Chris's question.

[Wah! Why did you put the Bumblebee Drone under my feet, Raye?]

Chris asked, nearly breaking down.

[That's a strange question. If it needs to open portals for the shoulder bag without anyone touching it, beneath the chair is obviously the most convenient place.]

Raye said it as though it were only natural.

But that was no longer what concerned Chris, because the strange sound she had made had drawn the attention of the trio, who had previously begun chatting among themselves, back to the Chris they had forgotten.

"Ah, sorry, Chris. We got so carried away talking that we forgot about you."

Yumi Itaba, having noticed Chris again, immediately apologized, as did the other two.

[No, you absolutely don't need to apologize. Keep talking. Don't mind me!]

At that moment, Chris Yukine, who had briefly escaped their line of sight, was once again caught by the force field known as high school girls.

"Honestly, you three. If you still hadn't noticed, I was about to remind you."

[Tch. So no matter what, I can only face this challenge?]

And unlike the force field consisting of only three people earlier, Kohinata Miku, who had remained silent on Chris's left the entire time, joined in surrounding her as well.

[This is awful—]

Chris thought.

Photos

High school girls' conversations were often wildly unpredictable. You never knew what would make the topic veer off in some entirely unexpected direction.