Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear Chapter 22

Though the reason sounded a little far-fetched, Miku did not think too much about it.

"Ahem—speaking of which, the Raye you mentioned... do you mean that Golden Flash or whatever?"

Clearing her throat, Chris spoke as Raye had instructed, still somewhat shaken.

"Ah... I forgot. Raye probably never said much when she rescued people. Right, that's right. The person who saved us was named Raye."

Chris's question made Miku freeze for a moment before she spoke as if she had only just realized it.

"I-I see. So her name was Raye. I never knew that before. Hahaha."

Chris forced out a laugh, then silently raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat beading on her forehead.

[That was way too close. I almost gave myself away.]

As she wiped away her sweat, Chris roared inwardly. Who would have thought that right after surviving the most nerve-racking moment, she would walk straight into a verbal trap?

[It would not have been that serious. Even if you made a mistake, Chris, it would merely mean I would need to spend more effort later making your identity seem plausible.]

As Chris screamed inwardly, Raye replied through Telepathic Communication.

[Still, to keep my workload from growing endlessly, I suggest you remain vigilant from here on.]

[Of course, I will keep watching and remind you what to say when necessary.]

Raye added through Telepathic Communication.

[...All right.]

"By the way, Miku, why did you know her name was Raye?"

While replying to Raye in her mind, Chris naturally asked Kohinata Miku. Honestly, she felt she had more or less gotten used to multitasking like this.

"Well... just as you thought, after Raye saved me, I saw her again somewhere else."

Miku spoke with a somewhat lonely expression.

"...Huh?"

Chris's surprise was completely genuine.

She had thought it was already impressive enough to dig up some of Raye's past through shady websites. She had never expected that, less than a meter away from her, there would be someone who had actually met the Raye from the past.

"So how did you meet?"

Chris asked reflexively.

"..."

For some reason, after Chris asked that question, the black-haired girl before her seemed to grow conflicted.

"Miku?"

Chris was puzzled as she watched Miku press her lips together and frown.

"Sorry, Christina. I promised I would not tell anyone. I know that might be rude, since you told me about yourself too, Christina, but... I'm sorry."

After struggling with herself for a while, Miku said this.

"I see. Then all right."

Though Chris wanted to keep probing, she worried that saying too much would arouse suspicion, so she did not press any further.

"Thank you. By the way, we were talking about the game just now, right? I can't talk much about the related matters, but I can still give you some tips for clearing it."

After ending the previous topic, Miku took the initiative to help Chris get started with the mobile game, hoping to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"Sure. It's almost finished downloading anyway. Miku, tell me how to play this game."

No longer needing to rack her brains disguising her investigation, Chris relaxed and let the previous topic pass with an easy tone.

[Looks like I do not need to pay much attention here for now. Then I should devote some effort to my own matters. First, this website...]

Raye likewise let out a slight sigh of relief, then shifted some of her attention away from Chris and resumed working on her own matters.

P.S. Getting back into the swing of things.

P.S. Good night. I'll get up early tomorrow and keep writing.

Leaving

"Then we have other matters to attend to, so we'll be leaving first."

"All right. Take care."

After that exchange, Raye and Chris began making their way out of Lydian Music Academy.

The equipment that needed installing had already been installed while Chris was in class, so there was no need to remain in the other side's relatively dangerous base any longer.

Thus, after the previous class ended, Raye brought Chris—who had spent the entire lesson chatting enthusiastically with her deskmate and completely ignoring the teacher's rising blood pressure—out of Lydian Music Academy.

[Next, I will choose a plan depending on the situation. Tomorrow... no, the day after tomorrow would be better. I should leave some time in between so they do not grow suspicious.]

After leaving Lydian and largely completing the work of setting up surveillance, Raye began considering her schedule for the next two days.

Although she had encountered a few unexpected incidents at Lydian that left her in a rather unpleasant mood, business was business. The most important thing now was still fulfilling her agreement with Fine.

So Raye temporarily buried those unpleasant feelings in her heart, intending to eliminate their source later, whether through physical means or online ones.

[The day after tomorrow, I need to create a few attack incidents to test the Second Division's sensitivity and see roughly what it takes to draw their attention.]

Raye thought.

Though she had already deployed enough equipment near the other side's headquarters, those devices alone could not gather information in certain other areas. She needed to combine them with other plans to probe for sufficiently comprehensive intelligence.

[If they are overly sensitive, I can try using a certain number of feints to draw their attention and drain their energy. If they are not very sensitive, I can see whether I can find gaps in their deployment through those blind spots.]

Raye continued thinking, habitually devising contingency plans from both angles.

[All right, that settles the work for the day after tomorrow... But if so, what should I do with tomorrow's free time? Is there anything else that needs to be done?]

[Right. I should study how to use the Staff of Solomon. If I can become proficient with this Relic, it should make later operations much more convenient.]

With that thought, Raye ended the planning phase and entered the action phase.

No matter how much she thought in her mind, it still needed to be put into action in the end. Neither aspect could be neglected.

"Whew. Anyway, let's head back first. There's still plenty of work to do. I can't rest yet."

Having entered action mode, the first thing Raye intended to do was hurry back to their home base and complete the trap setup work she had planned earlier.

"Mm, wait. Where did Christina go?!"

But just then, Raye noticed a small problem. Chris, who had been following beside her all this time, had mysteriously disappeared while Raye was thinking.

"..."

Without any unnecessary movement, Raye brought up the Airspace Zero system installed on her tablet and quickly located Chris.

"Christina, don't play with your phone while walking."

Raye immediately strode over and grabbed the shoulder of the white-haired girl, who had wandered off course while focusing on her phone and was about to walk into a utility pole by the roadside.

"Eek—"

When Raye touched Chris's shoulder, Chris suddenly panicked and hurriedly tried to turn off her phone screen.

"Christina, what are you doing?"

Seeing Chris's flustered movements, Raye asked.

"Uh, n-no, it's nothing. I just got too absorbed in reading comics. It's no big deal."

After recovering from her inexplicable fright, Chris answered with shifty eyes.

"Is that so? All right, Christina. Pay more attention to the road next time. Comics may have the power to make people happy, but if they lead to a tragedy, it would be unfortunate to turn joy into sorrow."

Raye pointed at the utility pole in front of Chris and spoke calmly.

"Th-that's... Don't worry, I'll be more careful from now on. It won't happen again."

Looking at the white pole standing before her, Chris was still shaken, but she also sighed with relief. Thankfully, Raye had not pursued the matter. What Chris had been looking at was definitely not something she could show Raye.

[Also, I understand that, since you have never encountered any art related to human aesthetics before, when you first encounter audio and visual works radiating hormones, it is inevitable that you may develop a vague curiosity about the aesthetics of the human body.]

[However, I still hope you can control your desires as soon as possible and not let this state affect later operations.]

At that moment, Raye's voice rang out in Chris's mind, giving her this explanation.

"...Huh?"

Hearing the voice in her mind, Chris's expression froze.

[Wait, wait, wait, wait—Raye, how did you know what I was looking at just now?!]

The next moment, Chris's face turned as red as a boiled crab, practically steaming.

Yes, the thing that had completely captured Chris's attention just now was the shady website she had always looked down on—at least outwardly.

Taking on the appearance of Ruse, a gray-haired woman in black, Raye replied matter-of-factly in Chris's mind.

[So, were my doujin books good, Chris...?]

Then Raye added in her mind with a slightly resentful tone.

[Well, I would be lying if I said they were not good... But don't worry, Raye. I can tell fan creations from reality. I will not have any weird ideas about you!]

Hearing the tone in Raye's voice, Chris made that promise. Although Raye did not show it on the surface, Chris could sense that Raye was not in a good mood when discussing this matter.

[You do not need to be so nervous. I am not targeting you. I am merely a little unaccustomed to having this happen to me.]

In response to Chris's promise, Raye immediately explained with a calm expression, making Chris feel as if the emotional fluctuation she had sensed just now had been an illusion.

[Besides, Chris, you do not need to make such a pointless promise.]

[I understand very well that for someone encountering these things for the first time, having some strange thoughts is perfectly normal. So I will not get angry over something like this. Right. That's right. I will not.]

Raye said this with a calm expression. Only her expression was calm.

[Mm, I understand. I get it.]

Chris obediently nodded inwardly. At the same time, she understood that her earlier feeling had absolutely not been an illusion. Raye definitely cared a lot about this.

P.S. Writer's block. Good night.

Heartfelt Thoughts

[As long as you understand.]

Hearing Chris's response in her mind, Raye ended the subject.

[Whew—then, Raye, if there's nothing else, I'll turn off the communication first.]

Once Raye stopped talking about that embarrassing subject, Chris sighed inwardly with relief and prepared to shut down Telepathic Communication herself.

She was afraid that the uncontrollable stray thoughts stirred up after reading that heart-racing material would reach Raye through Telepathic Communication.

[If you want to, you can turn it off. We are about to head back anyway, and there are no situations today that require Telepathic Communication.]

Raye thought it over, considered what she needed to do afterward, and indicated that she had no objections.

[Oh, okay—wait, Raye, what did you say? Head back? But isn't there still plenty of time? Are we really just going back without doing anything else?]

Hearing Raye's words, Chris, who had just been about to turn off Telepathic Communication, asked in confusion.

[It's only four o'clock. Didn't you say this afternoon was supposed to be a "date"? There's still a long time before the afternoon is over.]

Chris continued.

[As for that, I will not explain the specific reason. I have my own arrangements, and they have nothing to do with you, Chris. You do not need to worry too much about it.]

Facing Chris's confusion, Raye did not directly explain the specific reason and instead said this.

[Why? Is there something you cannot tell me?]

Faced with Raye's evasive answer, Chris asked directly.

[It is not that I cannot tell you. I am heading back early only because there was a minor accident with work, one that will not have much impact. Explaining it would be troublesome. If you are curious, Chris, I can send you my operation log afterward.]

Seeing the puzzled expression on the white-haired girl's face, Raye thought for a moment before finally saying this.

[Besides, going back early means ending this meaningless task early. For you, it means escaping these restraints sooner and getting some rest. For me, it means having more time to arrange other work.]

Raye added, hoping to persuade Chris.

[All right, I understand.]