Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

[All right, Chris. You don't know anything about defeat CGs, bondage and sadistic tentacles, or pure-love and NTR content. Now go check out the other sections, and don't forget why you came to this site.]

After hypnotizing herself for a moment, Chris turned her attention to the other sections. After being tormented by all those bizarre texts, she felt she was ready to challenge the illustration and video sections.

[Now, let's see the illustration section... Pfft, whew. As expected, it's quite a trial, but there's no way something of this level can make me back down.]

Rubbing the tip of her adorable nose, the white-haired girl watched the content on her phone with a flushed face.

And so, an unknown amount of time passed.

"Um, excuse me, do you have any tissues? My nose seems to have started bleeding."

After finishing the illustration and video sections, Chris, her face as red as a boiled crab, covered her nose and asked the black-haired girl beside her for help.

"Hm?"

Hearing the voice from beside her, Kohinata Miku turned to look at the girl next to her and immediately understood what had happened.

"All right, wait a moment. Here you go, Christina. You can use these."

Then, with a calm expression, she took a pack of tissues from the drawer and handed it to Chris.

"Thanks. Whew, I finally got it under control. Seriously, what are these things? What were the people who created them thinking?"

After plugging the bleeding spot with tissue and throwing what she had just seen into a corner of her mind, Chris seemed to have fully recovered.

"Um, Christina, I understand that you've reached the age where you're interested in that sort of thing, but it would be better to do something like that back in your room."

Miku quietly reminded Chris.

"Wait, wait, you've misunderstood! I didn't go out of my way to look at that stuff. I was simply trying to find information about my, uh, 'benefactor.' I absolutely wasn't looking at those things because I wanted to!"

Hearing Miku's gentle yet concerned reminder, Chris, who had only just calmed down, became agitated again and hurriedly tried to justify her actions.

"Is that so? I'm sorry, I misunderstood. You aren't that kind of person, Christina."

Seeing Chris so flustered, Miku smiled understandingly and said that.

"Y-you, you understand, then."

Hearing Miku say that, Chris finally managed to straighten out her tongue and breathed a sigh of relief.

P.S. The new Sky Striker card is unexpectedly useful.

P.S. How can one deck celebrate New Year's every single day?

Chapter Thirty-Eight: As Tight-Lipped as a Clam

"But, Chris, you said you wanted to find information about your 'benefactor.' If that's the case, I have a suggestion. You should have noticed that there's a place on the website where you can download a game, right?"

After Chris had calmed down, Kohinata Miku said this.

"Ah, there really is a game download."

Prompted by Miku's reminder, Chris quickly noticed an icon on the webpage labeled "Game Download."

Because of her preconceived impression of the site, Chris had assumed that whatever could be downloaded there might contain a virus. She had planned to check the other sections first before downloading the game, but the content in those sections had shocked her so much that she had temporarily forgotten about it.

"But why are you recommending that I play it? Judging by the content in the other sections, this should just be another ordinary adult game, shouldn't it?"

Chris asked Miku in a somewhat puzzled tone.

"That's not the case, Christina. In reality, this game is the core product of the entire website. The other sections are merely derivative creations based on it."

Miku shook her head and explained this to Chris.

"Ah, is that so? So I was actually taking the long way around just now!"

This was the first time Chris had heard such a thing.

"Mm... I wouldn't put it that way. It's just that you got the order slightly wrong. No one said you couldn't discover the original work through fan creations."

After thinking about it, Miku quietly said this to Chris.

"Whatever. As long as I play this game, right?"

No longer dwelling on the matter, Chris clicked the game download button. Soon, a download progress bar appeared on her phone.

"So slow. No, wait, it must be huge. How can this game be so big? What's even in it?"

Although a progress bar had appeared, it moved far more slowly than Chris had imagined. Only then did she realize that the thing she had once thought was merely a small game was unexpectedly massive when downloaded.

"Actually, everyone only wanted to make a small game at first. After people heard about it, more and more participants came rushing in, like a snowball gathering size. In the end, the project kept growing until it became this."

Miku smiled as she explained it to Chris.

"...So what exactly did she do?"

Listening to Miku's explanation and looking at the game, which would take a full half-hour to download, Chris couldn't help asking in confusion.

The more she learned, the more Chris realized that Raye seemed to be far more popular than she had expected.

"You don't know, Chris? That's strange. Didn't you have the same 'being rescued' experience as us? If so, you shouldn't be unaware of that incident. It caused quite a stir at the time."

Hearing Chris's question, Miku asked in confusion.

"Well, um... I'm sorry, but I only happened to see her once. I actually know very little about her."

Seeing the suspicion on Miku's face, Chris grew nervous and tried to cover for herself. If she had known what had happened before, she wouldn't have needed to visit this indecent website.

"You only happened to see her once, and you still know very little?"

Miku tilted her head and looked at Chris with a puzzled expression.

"I-I really only saw her once, so I truly don't know what she did."

Under Miku's gaze, Chris grew even more nervous, a trace of panic entering her voice. At the same time, she prepared herself to ask Raye for help.

"..."

Hearing Chris's answer, Miku fell silent, seemingly deep in thought as she calmly watched Chris.

"Chris, when did you meet her?"

Before Chris's mental state reached its breaking point, Kohinata Miku asked her seriously, posing a question that made Chris feel even more overwhelmed.

[How am I supposed to know when I should have met her?]

Chris's thoughts were a complete mess. With the information gap so enormous, she had no idea how to answer.

[For now, I'll ask Raye and tell her what's going on. Then I'll see what I should say. Raye, are you listening?]

Faced with this situation that had overloaded her brain, Chris decided to seek help from her external brain. Pretending to be deep in thought, she mentally opened a Telepathic Communication with Raye.

[...Huh? You use someone else's image to create this kind of embarrassing stuff, and you don't feel even the slightest bit uneasy about it?]

[Have you ever thought about how the original creator would feel if she saw this unspeakable material? No, of course you haven't. All you care about is your own enjoyment!!!]

[What do you mean, do I understand? How could I not understand what she thinks? I—I—I!!!]

The moment Chris connected to Raye's Telepathic Communication, she heard long streams of furious words coming through it, packed with emotions like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

To be honest, since they had met this time, Chris had never once seen Raye display emotions as intense as these. It completely overturned Chris's longstanding impression of Raye as quiet and composed.

[Um, Raye, what are you doing? Do you have a moment?]

Although her impression of Raye had been completely overturned, Chris felt that if Raye didn't give her some advice soon, she was going to be overturned as well.

[...]

As if she had heard Chris's voice, the irritable sounds that had been coming through the communication abruptly vanished.

[Raye?]

After a stretch of indescribable silence, Chris called out again.

[Ah, Chris. Sorry. I saw some filthy things and had a little friendly discussion with some people, so I got a bit carried away. What is it?]

Not long after Chris asked, Raye's voice came through the communication. She sounded as calm and steady as usual again.

[Well, here's what happened.]

Chris then recounted the predicament she was currently facing.

[I see. Why does everyone keep finding ways to cause me trouble?]

After hearing Chris's explanation, Raye understood the predicament she was in. She couldn't help rubbing her forehead to ease her headache.

[Anyway, just muddle through with some ambiguous answers. As far as I remember, what I did was limited to Japan. Just say that I rescued you overseas and that you don't know anything about what happened here. As for the time, give some year from 2035 onward.]

Although she was under a great deal of pressure, Raye still offered Chris advice that shouldn't cause any major problems. Work couldn't be delayed, after all.

[All right, I understand.]

After receiving Raye's advice, Chris felt confident again.

P.S. Good night.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Confusing and Unclear

[It's been a little long. Christina has been thinking for ages. Does recalling something really take this long?]

While Chris was frantically discussing countermeasures with Raye, Miku had already begun to grow suspicious.

"Um, if my question is making things difficult for you, Christina, you don't have to answer."

Miku thought for a moment before speaking in a slightly apologetic tone.

"After all, it isn't a particularly important question. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can just forget about it."

Miku added this considerately.

"Hm? Oh, no, it isn't that difficult. It's just that it happened a long time ago, so it took me a while to recall the details."

Hearing Miku's words, Chris froze for a moment before hurriedly replying, as though something were forcing her to speak.

"Is that so? I thought my question had been too difficult. So when did you meet her?"

Seeing Chris say that, Miku relaxed and asked again. She had thought Chris's silence meant that her question had touched on something uncomfortable.

"Well, probably six years ago. I was still very young then. Honestly, if I hadn't seen a familiar photograph here, I might have already forgotten about it."

After being asked again, Chris was no longer as flustered as before.

"Ahem, basically, something bad happened to me overseas because of certain circumstances, and she rescued me from that place. Honestly, I was surprised to see things related to her here, too."

Chris did her best to naturally explain how she had come to know Raye, following the information Raye had given her.

"Six years ago?"

After understanding Chris's explanation, Miku looked thoughtful, as though considering whether the story was plausible.

"Um, what? Is there a problem?"

Chris spoke while trying to reduce the tension in her heart. She had no idea whether there were any contradictions in her story.

"No, it's nothing. I just didn't realize until now that Raye had left the country after that."

Miku gently shook her head in response to Chris's question.

"Mm, that's right. Raye—"

Feeling that she had gotten through it, Chris nodded and prepared to say something random.

"Ugh, ahem."

At that moment, she suddenly felt something strange in her throat. Then, unable to control herself, she coughed twice, interrupting what she had been about to say.

[Chris, don't relax yet. Also, listen carefully to what I'm about to say.]

That familiar voice then rang out in Chris's mind.

[Raye, why are you suddenly doing this?]

The sudden telepathic message left Chris feeling dizzy, and she asked this inwardly.

[Don't worry about that. Time is short. Just do as I say for now.]

Raye did not explain herself, instead rapidly and precisely giving Chris brief instructions on how to act next.

"What is it, Chris? Are you feeling unwell?"

On the other side, seeing that something was suddenly wrong with Chris, Miku asked with concern.

"N-no, it's nothing. I just choked on my saliva."

Chris shook her head, calming the warning from Raye still echoing in her mind, and gave this explanation.

"Mm, you choked on your saliva...? Be more careful, Christina."