Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

"Yes."

Faced with this aura she had never encountered before, Chris replied somewhat stiffly, following the principle that the more one said, the more mistakes one made, and wanting to see what exactly Yumi wanted to say.

Yumi did not mind Chris's stiffness. With golden light flickering in her eyes, she had already 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 figure!"

As she spoke, Yumi took out her phone like a fanatical missionary and showed Chris a website mainly colored platinum, black, and red.

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

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

"Mm-hmm, Chris-chan, take your time. But I believe that after experiencing that radiance, you must already... Hey, don't pull me! I haven't finished yet..."

Just as Yumi was about to press her advantage, her body broke free of the earth's pull under the force of two people tugging at her from either side.

"All right, all right, Yumi. We already know how much you worship her, but whatever you have to say can wait until class is over."

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 look forward to your joining us."

With that final cry, the petite twin-tailed Yumi was escorted back to her seat by her two friends.

Ding-a-ling-ling—

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

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

[Whew.]

Chris let out a long sigh in her heart. To be honest, talking with other people was really 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 thought she had found a clue, but in the end, instead of gaining anything, she had only added more questions.

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

Chris thought.

[Find the reason for what?]

Just as Chris was brimming with determination, Raye's crisp voice rang out in her heart like a ghost.

P.S. Good night.

Information Exchange

"Eek—"

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

[Raye? How do you know what I'm thinking?]

After calming herself and steadying her body, Chris asked reflexively. To be suddenly ambushed while she was thinking 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 turned off the connection.

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

At first, Chris did not notice 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.

The moment she thought about how Raye had been able to eavesdrop on her thoughts the whole time, Chris's face flushed red. She hurriedly began reflecting on whether she had thought about anything private before.

[Um... sorry. I thought you could understand, Chris. Since turning it on naturally meant silently thinking "dial," it was only logical that ending it meant silently thinking "hang up."]

On the other side, after receiving Chris's questioning, Raye paused for a moment before apologizing to her telepathically and saying this.

[You should have told me beforehand! How would I know how you set it up?!]

Chris, thoroughly embarrassed and annoyed, thought this angrily.

[You're right. In this matter, I made the subjective assumption that I knew better. 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 next time.

[Ah... um, Raye, you don't have to go that far. Ultimately, it's only a minor issue, and it didn't have much impact. Now that you've told me, it's fine.]

Feeling the genuine apology coming through Telepathic Communication, Chris instead found herself unsure how to respond.

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

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

Originally, this kind of problem should not have occurred. The reason she had made such a subjective mistake might have been that the communication system had been created somewhat hastily.

[Ah, all right. 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 disappeared.

[By the way, after this period of work, I've already basically completed my objective at Lydian. So from now on, we won't need to stay here after class. We can go straight back to the base.]

Raye spoke in Chris's heart.

[Is that so? All right, got it.]

Hearing the emotionless voice in her mind, Chris responded in kind.

[All right, then. If you don't have anything else, we'll contact each other after class. I'll use this time to think about what else needs to be reinforced in the base's defenses.]

Seeing that Chris had no further questions, Raye intended to hang up Telepathic Communication and end their conversation.

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

Finally finding a chance 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 the 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 thoughts on it. Also, is that some anime character's title? Chris, do you actually 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 break down completely had already traveled through Telepathic Communication into Chris's heart.

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

Chris understood that Raye, who had always acted so clever, could not possibly have failed to hear who that phrase referred to.

[Or are you hiding something, Raye?]

Having realized this, Chris questioned her.

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

Raye merely said this in response to Chris's question, then shifted the subject to ask where Chris had gotten the information.

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

Since Raye was clearly trying to change the subject, Chris thought for a moment and decided not to press her further for now. Even if she obtained information from Raye now, it might not be true.

[That? Let me think. It might have been influenced by a commission I accepted in the past. You know, Chris, I took all sorts of commissions to acquire Heresy Technology, including some involving kidnapping rescues.]

After hearing Chris's answer, Raye thought for a moment before replying. At the same time, she threw the script she had prepared for responding to Chris's questions into the trash.

[I'll take that as the truth for now.]

Regarding Raye's answer, Chris merely indicated that she reserved 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 heart.

[Also, that student gave me a communication website. It seems to be a place where many people who were saved by that "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 heart, Chris continued speaking inwardly. She copied the address on her phone and sent it to Raye, with whom she had already exchanged contact information.

To be fair, Chris felt that explaining things and passing information on to someone else was surprisingly enjoyable. She felt that this was probably what Raye had felt when dealing with her before.

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

Raye's voice rang out in Chris's heart, and Chris sensed a trace of urgency in it.

[Mm. I'll take a look too. I'm a little curious about what you did before to make those people build an entire website for you.]

After sending the address to Raye, Chris shifted her attention to her phone and prepared to examine the valuable information she had obtained through a channel other than Raye.

P.S. I'm a little stuck.

P.S. If someone finds out I'm writing a yuri novel, I won't be able to live on this planet anymore, will I? (stares at the sky)

Website

[Hang up. There, just as Raye said, she can't hear my thoughts anymore.]

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

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

After making her preparations, Chris hid her phone in the drawer, copied Yumi's website address into the address bar, and soon saw the website in its entirety.

[Eek, what is this?]

The moment she saw the website, Chris exclaimed inwardly.

What startled her so much was the splash screen displayed when the website opened.

In simple terms, 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 remarkably similar to Raye.

[Is this really a proper 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.

[Well, I've already seen it. Besides, I can't be misled by appearances. Maybe only the splash screen is like this, while the content inside is perfectly respectable.]

After hesitating for about three seconds, Chris reached this decision and began carefully browsing the website's home page.

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

After looking through the home page and discovering that it resembled an ordinary anime video site, Chris breathed a sigh of relief, while once again wondering whether she would actually be able to find any information related to Raye.

[I'll look around randomly first.]

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

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

[What's this? "Have you reached the legal age of majority in your country? If yes, please continue. If not, please leave voluntarily." Why has this suddenly become improper again?!]

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

[I remember the legal age of majority is sixteen. I'm exactly sixteen this year, so that means I can look, right?]

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

[That verification was way too perfunctory. Well, I'm an adult anyway. It's not like I lied.]

Chris condemned the perfunctory verification inwardly for several seconds.

[Now then, register an account. Um, I remember the personal information Raye arranged for this identity... All right, that registers it. That wasn't easy.]

After several minutes of operations, Chris finally obtained her pass to the website.

[Where should I start? I'll look at the fiction section first... There are this many?!]

Thinking this, Chris opened the doujin fiction section and was slightly shocked by the amount of content.

The doujin fiction section was mainly serialized in the form of posts, with twenty posts per page. Chris saw that there were as many as fifty-three pages, meaning that this website had collected more than a thousand pieces of fiction alone.

[I don't understand. I'll look at the content first. All right, I probably don't need to look. No, why won't my hand obey me? I'm so curious. No, Chris, you can read this kind of thing when you go back tonight. Gather information first.]

Looking at the various bizarre tags attached to the stories, Chris summoned enormous willpower and escaped from the black hole constructed out of words.