Swordmaster Princess, but Symphogear Princess

"Yes."

Faced with such an unfamiliar aura, Chris cautiously responded, adhering to the principle that the more one said, the more likely one was to be wrong, wanting to see what she actually intended to say.

Yumi paid no attention to Chris's stiffness. With golden light flickering in her eyes, she had completely entered her own world.

Join our club! Join our "Shining Super Ultimate Ultimate Cheer Squad"! If you join now, you'll even receive a doujin artbook of "the Shining"... uh, Shining-sama, and you might even get a rare figurine!

As Yumi spoke, she pulled out her phone like a fanatical missionary and showed Chris a website whose main colors were platinum, black, and red.

"Ah, um, I'll consider it."

Faced with the other girl's enthusiasm, Chris somewhat awkwardly noted down the website address.

"Mhm, Chris-chan, take your time. But I'm sure that after experiencing that light yourself, you'll definitely... Huh? Don't pull me! I haven't finished yet..."

Just as Yumi was preparing to press her advantage, her body was lifted free of the earth's pull by forces tugging from both sides.

"All right, all right, Yumi. We know you worship her, but whatever it is, talk about it after class."

Sousei Ando said this while supporting Yumi's left arm.

"Anyway, that's enough for now. Class is about to start, Yumi-chan."

Saori Terashima said this with a smile while supporting Yumi's right arm.

"Guh... Anyway, Chris-chan, we're looking forward to having you join us."

With that final call, Yumi, the short girl with twin tails, was carried back to her seat by her two friends.

Ding-ding-ding—

The class bell rang at just the right moment after Yumi was carried back, announcing the end of the break.

Chris also noticed that Raye had somehow returned to the raised platform at the back of the classroom and was continuing to swipe at her tablet.

[Whew.]

Chris breathed a long sigh of relief inwardly. To be honest, talking to other people was truly exhausting, especially when she had to hide something.

[But I still haven't figured out what happened to Raye. I clearly decided earlier that I would investigate it myself.]

Chris had initially thought she had found a clue, but in the end, instead of gaining anything, she had only acquired more questions.

[No. I can't give up yet. The clues are scarce, but I'll definitely find the cause through my own efforts.]

Chris thought.

[Find the cause of what?]

Just as Chris was full of determination, Raye's crisp voice rang out in her mind like a ghost.

P.S. Good night.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Information Exchange

Gasp—

Chris was startled by the voice coming from inside her mind and nearly fell out of her chair.

[Raye? How did you know what I was thinking?]

After calming herself and steadying her body, Chris asked reflexively. To be suddenly attacked like this while thinking things over was honestly rather frightening.

[You never turned off Telepathic Communication. Why wouldn't I know?]

In response to Chris's question, Raye explained that the reason was simply that Chris had never disconnected the communication.

[Oh, I see... Wait, no! You never told me how to turn off Telepathic Communication.]

At first, Chris did not think there was anything wrong with Raye's explanation, but after thinking about it, she suddenly remembered that Raye had never told her how to turn it off from beginning to end.

When she thought of the fact that Raye had been able to eavesdrop on her thoughts the whole time, Chris's face flushed involuntarily, and she hurriedly reflected on whether she had thought about anything private earlier.

[Um... sorry. I thought you could understand, Chris. Since activating it requires silently thinking "dial," it naturally follows that ending it requires silently thinking "hang up."]

After being questioned by Chris, Raye paused for a moment, apologized to her in her mind, and then explained.

[You should have said that first! Who would know how you had set it up?!]

Chris, thoroughly embarrassed and annoyed, said this inwardly.

[You're right. In this matter, I made the subjective assumption that you understood. I'm sorry, Chris. After this experience, I'll prepare a complete instruction manual in advance next time.]

Raye sincerely apologized again and proposed a solution for the future.

[Ah... um, Raye, you don't have to go that far. When all is said and done, it's just a minor issue, and it didn't have much impact. Now that you've told me, it's fine.]

Feeling the genuine apology transmitted through Telepathic Communication, Chris instead found herself somewhat at a loss for words.

[No, this really was a problem caused by my failure to promptly synchronize the information about Telepathic Communication with you, Chris. And don't underestimate minor issues like this. Under certain extreme conditions, they can develop into major problems that are difficult to resolve. So I'm sorry. I'll organize a detailed manual and send it to you shortly.]

Facing Chris, who seemed to think it was no big deal, Raye spoke with great seriousness.

Raye should not have made this kind of mistake originally. Her subjective assumption had probably come from the fact that the communication system had been created somewhat hastily.

[Ah, o-okay. I understand.]

Chris had originally been embarrassed and annoyed at having her thoughts overheard, but after a few words from Raye, that feeling gradually faded.

[By the way, after working on things for this period, I've basically completed my initial work objectives in Lydian. So after class from now on, we won't need to stay here. We can go straight back to the base.]

Raye said inwardly.

[Is that so? All right, I understand.]

Listening to the emotionless voice in her mind, Chris responded in kind.

[All right, then. If you don't have anything else, Chris, we'll contact each other after class. I'll use this time to think about what parts of the base's defenses still need reinforcement.]

Seeing that Chris had no questions, Raye prepared to end Telepathic Communication and stop talking with her.

[Wait, Raye. I have a question. What do you think of the phrase, "the golden flash that appears in the night and shatters the darkness with a scarlet blade"?]

Having finally found an opportunity to speak, Chris hurriedly asked this.

Although she wanted to use this information to investigate Raye's past, considering that she and Raye were teammates now, she decided it would be better to share the information.

After Chris transmitted her earlier words through Telepathic Communication, Raye seemed to have crashed and did not respond for a long time.

[...Raye?]

When she received no response, Chris asked again in confusion.

[I-I don't have any opinion. Also, is that the name of some anime character? Chris, you like watching anime? Ha, ha, hahaha.]

Raye's voice seemed as emotionless as before... except it was not. The feeling that she was about to lose her composure completely had already traveled through Telepathic Communication into Chris's mind.

[Stop running from reality, Raye... Can you really convince yourself when you say that?]

Chris understood that Raye, who had always acted extremely intelligent, could not possibly have failed to realize exactly whom those words referred to.

[Or are you hiding something, Raye?]

Having realized this, Chris asked.

[I'm not hiding anything. By the way, Chris, where did you hear such a... um, such a strange description?]

In response to Chris's question, Raye merely said this before turning around and asking where Chris had obtained the information.

[...All right. Actually, I heard it from a student. According to her, she seems to have been saved by the person she called that. Do you have any idea, Raye?]

Although Raye was obviously changing the subject, Chris thought for a moment and decided not to press further for now. Even if she obtained information from Raye at this point, it might not be true.

[That? Let me think. It might be related to a commission I accepted in the past. You know, Chris, I took on all kinds of commissions to obtain heretical technology. Some of them involved kidnapping rescues.]

After hearing Chris's answer, Raye thought for a moment before replying. She also tossed into the trash the script she had originally prepared for how to respond if Chris pressed her further.

[I'll assume that's true for the time being.]

In response to Raye's answer, Chris merely indicated that she would reserve judgment. She trusted Raye's abilities, but she did not believe Raye's account of her own past.

[...Suit yourself.]

Raye's voice came from within Chris's mind.

[Also, that student gave me an exchange website. It seems to be a place where many people who were saved by that "whatever-whatever golden flash" have gathered. I haven't looked at it yet, but I'll send you the address first, Raye.]

Ignoring the voice in her mind, Chris continued inwardly. She then copied the address with her phone and sent it to Raye, with whom she had already exchanged contact information.

To be honest, Chris felt that this sensation of explaining things and transmitting information to someone else was rather nice. She felt that this was probably what Raye had felt when dealing with her earlier.

[The address... All right. I'll check it immediately.]

Raye's voice sounded in Chris's mind, and Chris sensed a trace of urgency in it.

[Yes. I'll look at it too. I'm a little curious about what you did in the past to make those people create an entire website for you.]

After sending the address to Raye, Chris shifted her attention to her phone as well, intending to see what valuable information she had obtained through a channel other than Raye.

P.S. I'm a little stuck.

P.S. If someone found out I was writing a yuri novel, I probably wouldn't be able to live on this planet anymore. (Looks up at the sky.)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Website

[Hang up. There. According to what Raye said, she shouldn't be able to hear my thoughts now.]

Before browsing the website, Chris first turned off Telepathic Communication. She did not want Raye to hear her thoughts while she browsed.

[Now, let's see what this website has...]

Having prepared herself, Chris hid her phone in the drawer, copied Yumi's website address into the address bar, and quickly saw the site in its entirety.

[Eek, what is this?]

Chris exclaimed inwardly the moment she saw the website.

What had caused her such astonishment was the splash screen displayed when the website opened.

To put it simply, the splash screen showed an anime-style illustration of a girl wearing underwear even more embarrassing than the outfit Chris herself was wearing, and who looked extremely similar to Raye.

[Is this really a respectable website? Can I really find useful information on a site that uses such an embarrassing image?]

Looking at the animated illustration, Chris rubbed her nose and pondered this inwardly.

Before she could ponder for long, the website's splash screen ended, and the display on Chris's phone switched to another page.

[Whatever. I've already seen it, and I can't judge a book by its cover. Maybe only the splash screen is like this, while the content inside is perfectly respectable.]

After hesitating for about three seconds, Chris made this decision and began carefully browsing the website's homepage.

[There are even sections. Let's see what they have: public chat, doujin novels, game downloads, videos and animation, and illustrations and comics... Whew, the inside really is quite respectable. But with so many sections, are they all related to Raye?]

After looking through the homepage and discovering that it resembled an ordinary anime video website, Chris breathed a sigh of relief, while once again wondering whether she could find information related to Raye.

[I'll browse around randomly first.]

Having reached this decision, Chris stopped hesitating and prepared to search around.

However, just as she thought this and placed her finger on the screen, a pop-up window interrupted her.

[What's this? "Have you reached the legal age of adulthood in your country? If yes, please continue. If no, please leave voluntarily." Why has it suddenly become indecent again?!]

Looking at the words in the pop-up window, Chris once again felt uneasy. Would a respectable website really display such a strange pop-up?

[I remember the legal age of adulthood is sixteen. I just turned sixteen this year, which means I'm allowed to look, right?]

After thinking about her age, Chris naturally clicked "Yes." The pop-up vanished, and the page returned to the homepage without any further verification process.

[This is far too perfunctory. Whatever. I'm an adult anyway. I didn't lie.]

Chris inwardly condemned the perfunctory verification for several seconds.

[Now then, register an account. Um, I remember the personal information Raye prepared for me under this identity... Good, the registration is complete. That was not easy.]

After several minutes of work, Chris finally obtained her ticket into the website.

[Now, where should I start? Let's look at the novel section first... There are this many?!]

Chris thought this as she opened the doujin novel section, only to be slightly shocked by the amount of content inside.

The doujin novel section mainly serialized stories in the form of posts. Each page contained twenty posts, and the highest page number Chris saw was fifty-three. In other words, the website had collected more than a thousand novels alone.

[Unable to understand. Anyway, let's look at the content. All right, maybe I don't need to read it. No, why won't my hand obey me? I'm so curious. No, Chris, you can read this after going back tonight. Gather information first.]

Looking at the various strange tags attached to those novels, Chris summoned tremendous willpower and escaped from the black hole constructed out of words.