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. But seriously, Raye, you really do like looking at computers. Whenever I saw you talking to people before, you were always staring at your tablet.]

Chris agreed absentmindedly, while also taking the opportunity to comment on how Raye had been clutching her tablet all day.

It wasn't that she couldn't understand modern people's heavy reliance on electronic devices, but Raye's habit of glancing at a screen every so often even while talking to someone felt a little excessive.

[This? Mainly because I need to check some instrument data from time to time... All right, I'll see if there are any good places nearby to relax.]

After briefly explaining herself in response to Chris's remark, Raye turned her attention to the electronic 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 so.

It was rare for her to have a chance to take the initiative in front of Raye. She had no intention of letting such a good opportunity slip away. Of course she had to make the decision herself.

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

Raye wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, she decided there was no need to fight Chris for control over such a trivial matter. She fell silent and let Chris do as she pleased.

"Heh heh heh, let's see what good places there are around here..."

With no objections, Chris was delighted and eagerly began looking for a destination according to her own preferences.

Does she really have the ability to make plans?

Watching the excited Chris, Raye couldn't help feeling a little concerned. 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 destination with remarkable decisiveness.

It appeared to be a hot spring town, a tourist attraction that had formed around a hot spring that had inexplicably begun gushing out 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 slightly troubled expression, she chose not to offer any further opinion.

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

Though Raye hadn't objected, Chris understood exactly what she wanted to say from the look on her face.

As far as Chris was concerned, everything in this city was equally unfamiliar to her. Faced with tourist spots covered in dazzling promotional slogans, it was naturally difficult for her to make a choice.

At times like this, the only things that could influence her decision were whether a place caught her eye or whether it had something she cared about.

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

There really was!

"I have to remind you, Christina, that the things you're familiar with disappeared completely long ago because of what I did."

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

Raye spoke to Chris in a cautionary tone.

That was right. The place Chris had chosen was where Raye and Chris had once lived together. The two of them had spent a fairly pleasant period of time there.

Perhaps that was why, combined with the hot spring town apparently holding a promotional event recently and the overwhelmingly positive reviews on its website, Chris had made this choice.

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

Chris said, her face slightly red.

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

Raye replied indifferently.

That place had been almost completely destroyed by her back then anyway. On top of that, with the development around the gushing hot spring over the past few years, it was unlikely Chris would find any clues there.

"Hmph, it's still too early if you want to satisfy me. My standards are high. All right, let's head for the hot springs. This'll be my first time soaking in one, so I wonder what it's like."

With some anticipation, Chris headed toward the hot spring town.

"Mm, all right. But... hot springs."

Looking at the introduction to the hot spring on the map, as well as the date it had been discovered, Raye fell into brief contemplation.

P.S. Good night.

The Progress on the Other Side

"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.

Because she had somehow agreed to this so-called hot spring trip, after lunch break, Hibiki Tachibana had asked for leave from school and followed the Second Division members, who had also come here for a team-building event, 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 no impression of it at all. I've seen similar posters in some places, and my classmates have discussed it too. I just didn't expect it to be so close."

After getting over her initial surprise, Hibiki Tachibana quickly dug up some related information from her memories.

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

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

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

Standing nearby, Shinji Ogawa smiled as he explained things to the somewhat puzzled Hibiki Tachibana.

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

After hearing the explanation, Hibiki Tachibana folded her arms and nodded adorably.

Compared to hot spring inns that had been around for a century or more, this hot spring town, which had been built less than ten years ago, was indeed very young.

"Oh, right, Hibiki. Speaking of the hot springs here, Miss Sakurai happens to know a secret but very interesting story about how this hot spring came to be. So, 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 movements and expression, Hibiki Tachibana couldn't help becoming a little curious. What kind of story could such a young hot spring possibly have?

"Curious, are you? Want big sis to tell you about it? Want big sis to explain why a place where no hot springs had ever been found suddenly discovered one a few years ago?"

Ryouko Sakurai's tone became coaxing.

"Mm... It should have formed suddenly because of volcanic or tectonic activity, like teachers and geography textbooks say."

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

"Completely wrong. The birth of this hot spring wasn't something so simple, Hibiki. There was a much deeper reason behind it."

Ryouko Sakurai directly rejected the standard answer Hibiki Tachibana had learned from textbooks.

"A deeper reason? Does that mean there was some special factor behind the formation of this hot spring?"

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

"If you're curious about it, Hibiki, 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 brochure?"

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

"A brochure?"

Drawn by Shinji Ogawa's voice, Hibiki Tachibana immediately noticed the booklet he had somehow obtained.

"This was a free gift from the inn when we booked it. The commander didn't want to waste them, so he handed one out to most of us. He might not have mentioned it to you, Tachibana."

Ogawa explained, handing the booklet to Hibiki Tachibana under Ryouko Sakurai's resentful gaze.

After taking the booklet and flipping through it, Hibiki Tachibana quickly found the supposedly mysterious little story Ryouko Sakurai had mentioned.

"It was probably a very traditional mythological legend. Something about humanity's sins angering the gods, the enraged gods sending down a divine messenger, the messenger using divine power to cleanse the world of evil, and then claiming this hot spring was what remained after the messenger descended. It also said bathing in the spring could wash away people's sins. That sort of story to promote the hot spring."

Ogawa briefly summarized the story for Hibiki Tachibana.

"I see. So it was that kind of story."

With Ogawa's introduction, Hibiki Tachibana quickly read through the gist of the little tale. Just as Ogawa had explained, it was a simple story.

"It was a marketing tactic. Most of those stories 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 about the origins of certain snacks."

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

For a young hot spring town, it was common to use all kinds of methods to attract customers when it lacked the weight of history.

Making up a little story was a very traditional method. It appealed to more old-fashioned people, and if written well enough, it could leave a special impression in customers' minds and make them more likely to return.

"Eh? Is that how it is, Mr. Ogawa? I always thought those stories were real!"

Hibiki Tachibana said in great surprise. She had always thought that the snacks really did have stories like those behind them. It had never occurred to her that most of them might have been made up by the shop owners.

"Haha, they're half true and half false. Some are based on real events and adapted from there, while others simply invent a background to praise their own products."

Ogawa explained with a smile.

"Like this story. Its inspiration should be obvious. It was based on those two major events from eight or nine years ago, combining them with some mythological elements to create the final product."

Ogawa added.

"Eight or nine years ago? What happened then... Ah, could it be that incident? Yeah, looking closely, you can see the parts connected to it."

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

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

Just as Ogawa and Hibiki Tachibana were getting absorbed in their conversation, the ignored Ryouko Sakurai found a chance to insert herself into it.

"Mm... Miss Sakurai, don't you remember? The incident that affected things for nearly half a year?"

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

"Honestly, did you forget, Ogawa? Eight or nine years ago was when I was on a business trip in the United States. I was away on and off for nearly two years."

In response to Ogawa's question, Ryouko Sakurai complained while explaining.

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

Ryouko Sakurai put on a sorrowful expression as she spoke sadly.

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

Faced with Ryouko Sakurai's usual antics, Ogawa reflexively tried to make a retort. Before he could finish, however, a heavy punch robbed him of the ability to speak.

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

Hibiki Tachibana looked worriedly at Shinji Ogawa, who was lying on the ground.

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

On the other side, after blowing on her fist, Ryouko Sakurai spoke with a dissatisfied expression, with none of her previous sadness remaining.

"I'm fine. I've undergone some training, so it wouldn't be enough to... all right."

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

"So then, Hibiki, could you tell big sister Sakurai what interesting things you were talking about?"

After suppressing a certain man who couldn't read the room, Ryouko Sakurai asked Hibiki Tachibana in her usual playful tone.

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

Intimidated by how quickly Ryouko Sakurai had subdued Ogawa, Hibiki Tachibana answered somewhat stiffly.

"Relax, relax. I won't do anything terrible to adorable Little Hibiki. At most, I just want to have you before anyone else does. So, what kind of major events were they?"

Ryouko Sakurai walked over to Hibiki Tachibana with a smile, placed a hand on her shoulder, and asked curiously.

"Ugh... But that already counts as something terrible, doesn't it, Miss Ryouko? Besides, I only know what is already available online. If you look it up, you'll know too."

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

"Ah, no fair, you're refusing me. I want to hear Little Hibiki tell me personally. If you don't tell me yourself, then it won't serve the purpose of helping me deepen our relationship."

Ryouko Sakurai reluctantly rejected Hibiki Tachibana's suggestion, wanting to get closer to the still rather vulnerable girl.

"Uee—"