Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

[But to make sure you're satisfied, Chris, I might occasionally search online for better places. You don't mind that, do you, Chris?]

As she spoke, Raye took out the tablet in her hands and gestured to Chris.

[Ah, yeah, of course I don't mind. Though, Raye, you really do like looking at computers. When you talk to people, you're always staring at your tablet.]

Chris casually agreed, taking the opportunity to tease Raye about carrying her tablet around all day.

It wasn't that she didn't understand modern people's heavy dependence on electronic devices, but Raye's habit of glancing at a screen even while talking to others couldn't exactly be called bad. It just felt a little excessive.

[Oh, this? Mainly because I need to check the data from certain instruments from time to time... All right, let me first see whether there are any places nearby that would be good for relaxing.]

After briefly explaining Raye's habit in response to Chris's teasing, Raye was about to turn her attention back to the screen.

[Wait, Raye. Let me decide where we're going today, okay? That's part of making me satisfied too.]

Chris stopped Raye and said this.

It was a rare opportunity for her to take the initiative in front of Raye. She didn't want to let such a good chance slip away; of course she had to make the decision herself.

[But... fine. You decide, Chris.]

Raye had wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, she saw no need to compete with Chris for the initiative over such a trivial matter. So she fell silent and let Chris do as she pleased.

"Hehehe, let me see what good places there are nearby..."

With no opposition, Chris felt delighted and enthusiastically began searching for a destination according to her own preferences.

[Does she really know how to make plans?]

Looking at the excited Chris, Raye couldn't help worrying. She didn't know what Chris had experienced over the years, but working under Fine... Raye seriously doubted whether Chris had any experience going out for fun.

"Found it. This is the place. Um, Ruse, let's go here."

To Raye's surprise, Chris didn't take long at all to choose a place with decisive efficiency.

It appeared to be a hot spring town, a tourist destination built around a hot spring that had inexplicably erupted seven or eight years ago.

"This place... Christina, you... forget it. I have no objections."

Seeing the place Chris had pointed out, Raye fell silent for a moment. In the end, with a faintly troubled expression, she chose not to offer any more opinions.

"What? What else could I do? I'm not familiar with this city, so I could only pick somewhere I recognized. What's wrong? Is there some problem?"

Although Raye hadn't objected, Chris understood exactly what she wanted to say when she saw her expression.

As far as Chris was concerned, she knew practically nothing about anything in this city. Faced with tourist spots covered in dazzling promotional slogans, she naturally found it difficult to make a choice.

At times like this, the only factors guiding her selection were whether a place appealed to her or contained something she cared about.

So, was there anywhere in this city that she cared about?

There really was!

"I need to remind you, Christina, that everything you're familiar with was completely wiped away long ago because of what I did."

"This so-called hot spring town is merely something brand-new built amid the ruins. If you're hoping to find something there, I wouldn't advise it."

Raye spoke to Chris in a cautionary tone.

Yes, that was right. The place Chris had chosen was where Raye and Chris had once lived together, where the two of them had spent a fairly pleasant stretch of time.

Perhaps because of that, combined with the apparent recent promotion being held in the hot spring town and the overwhelmingly positive reviews beneath its website, Chris had made this choice.

"Um... we've walked so much today anyway, so we can soak in the hot springs and rest for a while. Don't fill your head with nothing but work, um, Ruse."

Chris said with a slightly flushed face.

"All right. We'll listen to you today. I hope you'll be satisfied with it."

Raye said indifferently.

After all, she had basically destroyed that place back then, and with the development around the newly erupted hot spring over the past few years, it was unlikely that Chris would find any clues there.

"Hmph, if you want to satisfy me, you've still got a long way to go. My standards are high. Now then, let's head for the hot springs. It's my first time soaking in one, so I don't even know what hot springs are like."

Chris headed toward the hot spring town with some anticipation.

"Yeah, all right. Though... hot springs."

Looking at the description of the hot spring on the map, along with the date it had been discovered, Raye fell into brief thought.

P.S. Good night.

The Other Side: The Progress of Medical 0856 (4k)

"There are hot springs here? I had no idea!"

At one end of the hot spring town, a girl with flaxen hair named Hibiki Tachibana exclaimed in surprise.

Having somehow agreed to this so-called hot spring trip, Hibiki had asked for leave from school after lunch break and followed the Second Division members, who had also come here for a group outing, to a hot spring town she had never even heard of.

"Oh my, Little Hibiki, you didn't know?"

Ryouko Sakurai, who was walking closely beside Hibiki Tachibana, asked.

"Well, it's not like I had absolutely no impression of it. I've seen similar posters in a few places, and my classmates have talked about it too. I just didn't expect it to be so close."

Once her initial surprise faded, Hibiki Tachibana quickly dug up some related information from her memories.

"Maybe it's because this place is still fairly new and not very famous."

"According to the information I collected, the hot spring here was discovered about eight years ago, and the entire hot spring town only grew to its current scale around one or two years ago."

"If you aren't someone with a habit of visiting hot springs, you might not know that a new one was developed here."

Standing nearby, Shinji Ogawa smiled and explained it to the somewhat puzzled Hibiki Tachibana.

"I see. So that's how it is."

After hearing the explanation, Hibiki Tachibana adorably nodded with her arms folded across her chest.

Compared to hot spring inns that had supposedly been around for centuries, this hot spring town, built less than ten years ago, was indeed very young.

"By the way, Hibiki, speaking of the hot springs here, Miss Sakurai knows a secret but very interesting story about how this hot spring came to be. What do you think? Are you interested?"

At that moment, Ryouko Sakurai suddenly put on a mysterious expression and spoke to Hibiki Tachibana.

"A secret, interesting story?"

Drawn in by Ryouko Sakurai's actions and demeanor, Hibiki Tachibana couldn't help becoming curious. What sort of story could such a young hot spring possibly have?

"Curious, are you? Want big sister to tell you? Let big sister tell you why a place where no hot springs had ever been found suddenly discovered one a few years ago."

Ryouko Sakurai's tone became increasingly coaxing.

"Um... it probably suddenly appeared because of volcanic activity or tectonic movement, like teachers and geography textbooks say."

Faced with Miss Sakurai's leading question, Hibiki Tachibana thought for a moment before giving that answer.

"Completely wrong. The birth of this hot spring obviously wasn't something that simple, Hibiki. There are deeper reasons behind it."

Ryouko Sakurai flatly rejected Hibiki Tachibana's textbook answer.

"Deeper reasons? Does that mean there was some special factor behind the formation of this hot spring?"

Hearing Ryouko Sakurai's words, Hibiki Tachibana became a little interested.

"If Hibiki is curious about it, then promise me that you'll come to my room late tonight and do some interesting things with me. If you do, I'll tell you that wonderful story right now..."

"Um, Miss Sakurai, is the reason you're talking about the little story in this promotional brochure?"

Just as Ryouko Sakurai was revealing her true intentions, Shinji Ogawa interrupted her attempt to coax Hibiki Tachibana in a somewhat helpless tone.

"A promotional brochure?"

Drawn by Shinji Ogawa's voice, Hibiki Tachibana immediately noticed the little booklet he was holding, though she had no idea where he had gotten it.

"This was a free gift from the inn when we reserved our rooms. Following the principle of not wasting things, the commander handed one out to most of us. The commander may not have mentioned it to you, Hibiki."

Ogawa explained as he handed the brochure to Hibiki Tachibana beneath Ryouko Sakurai's resentful gaze.

After receiving it and flipping through it, Hibiki Tachibana quickly found the so-called mysterious little story Ryouko Sakurai had mentioned.

"It is basically a traditional myth: humanity's evil deeds angered the gods, the enraged gods sent down divine messengers, the messengers used divine power to sweep away the world's sins, and then it says this hot spring is what remained when the divine messenger descended. Bathing in it supposedly cleanses people's sins—a little story to promote the hot spring."

Ogawa briefly summarized the story for Hibiki Tachibana.

"I see. So it's that sort of story."

With Ogawa's explanation, Hibiki Tachibana quickly skimmed through the general meaning of the story. Just as Ogawa had said, it was a simple tale.

"It counts as a marketing tactic. Most of these are made up by the businesses themselves. You can tell the management is trying hard to run this hot spring well. Tachibana, you've probably seen similar things before, like stories behind certain snacks."

After introducing the little story, Ogawa gave his own opinion.

For a young hot spring town, it was common to use various means of promotion to build up a customer base when it lacked the accumulation of time.

Making up little stories was a very traditional method. It appealed to more traditional people, and if it was written well enough, it could leave a distinctive impression in customers' minds and increase the odds that they would return.

"Really? Mr. Ogawa, I always thought those stories were true!"

Hibiki Tachibana said in great surprise. She had always thought the stories behind those snacks had genuinely happened and had never considered that most of them might have been invented by the shops.

"Haha, they're half true and half false. Some have real prototypes that were adapted, while others simply fabricate a background to praise their own products."

Ogawa explained with a smile.

"Like this story. Its source of inspiration should be obvious—it was based on the two major incidents from eight or nine years ago. They combined the two events, added some mythological elements, and ended up with this."

Ogawa continued.

"Eight or nine years ago? What happened back then... Ah, do you mean that incident? Yeah, looking closely, you can see the parts related to it."

Hearing Ogawa's addition, Hibiki Tachibana thought for a moment before seeming to realize something.

"What, what? What are you two talking about? What incident?"

Just as Ogawa and Hibiki Tachibana were getting into their conversation, Ryouko Sakurai, who had been ignored for a while, found an opening and inserted herself into their discussion.

"Um... Miss Sakurai, don't you remember? That incident which had an impact for nearly half a year?"

Faced with Ryouko Sakurai's question, Ogawa asked in confusion. He remembered that incident having a considerable local impact.

"Honestly, have you forgotten, Ogawa? Eight or nine years ago was exactly when I went on a business trip to the United States. I was away on and off for nearly two years."

In response to Ogawa's question, Ryouko Sakurai spoke half in complaint and half in explanation.

"You keep saying that incident, that incident. Are you trying to exclude this genius beautiful girl?"

Ryouko Sakurai put on a sad expression as she spoke mournfully.

"But Miss Sakurai, your age doesn't exactly qualify as—ah—"

Faced with Ryouko Sakurai's usual antics, Ogawa reflexively wanted to tease her, but before he could finish, a heavy punch robbed him of his right to speak.

"Ah, he got knocked down! Mr. Ogawa, are you okay?!"

Hibiki Tachibana looked worriedly at Shinji Ogawa, who had fallen to the ground.

"Honestly, don't you know that being curious about a lady's age is terribly rude?"

On the other side, after blowing on her fist, Ryouko Sakurai spoke with an unhappy expression, not looking the slightest bit sad anymore.

"I'm fine. I've undergone training, more or less, so it isn't enough to... all right."

Rubbing his slightly reddened nose, Ogawa still got back up from the ground, then gave up his right to speak under Miss Sakurai's gaze.

"So, Hibiki, can you tell big sister what interesting things you were talking about?"

After suppressing a certain tactless man, Ryouko Sakurai asked Hibiki Tachibana in her usual playful tone, looking thoroughly relaxed.

"Yes! Um, we were talking about several major events that happened eight or nine years ago."

Frightened by the force with which Ryouko Sakurai had instantly suppressed Ogawa, Hibiki Tachibana sounded a little restrained.

"Relax, relax. I won't do anything terrible to cute Little Hibiki. At most, I only want to get you before everyone else does. So, what sort of major events were they?"

Ryouko Sakurai walked over to Hibiki Tachibana with a smiling face, touched her shoulder, and asked curiously.

"Ugh... but that already sounds pretty terrible, Miss Sakurai. And I only know the information already available on the internet. Miss Sakurai, couldn't you just look it up yourself?"

Unable to cope with Ryouko Sakurai's words, Hibiki Tachibana tried hard to evade the question.

"Ah, no fair, you rejected me. I want to hear Little Hibiki tell me personally. If it isn't Little Hibiki telling me herself, it won't achieve the goal of bringing us closer together."

Ryouko Sakurai unwillingly rejected Hibiki Tachibana's suggestion, wanting to get closer to the girl who was still so vulnerable.

"Eek—"