Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

To better distinguish who was saying what, the device she had made separated different voices and marked them with different colors.

She remembered that the orange-yellow voice represented...

"Ugh, I really can't handle Miss Sakurai. I'd better come out and hide for a while. Gulp, gulp."

Just as Raye was thinking, a flaxen-haired girl with an exhausted look walked into the changing room. While grumbling about something, she casually found a place to sit and took out a carton of milk to drink.

[Hibiki Tachibana? Why is she here!?]

In an instant, alarm bells rang in Raye's mind, and every warning indicator shot straight to maximum. At that moment, she thought of countless possibilities that could have led to the current situation, then immediately rejected them one by one.

Hibiki Tachibana's protection level had clearly been raised. If she had appeared here, it meant that those government personnel were very likely nearby as well.

But that didn't make sense. Both she and Chris had disguised themselves, and they had come here solely because of Chris's spur-of-the-moment decision. Logically, their whereabouts shouldn't have been predictable.

[Stay calm. For now, it looks like there's only Hibiki Tachibana here—at least in this changing room. And Hibiki Tachibana hasn't discovered my identity yet. There's no need to overreact.]

Before long, Raye managed to calm her mind again and began trying to understand the situation.

[In any case, I'll first call in a few reconnaissance Drone Units and conduct a thorough scan of the area...]

With that thought, Raye operated the screen in her hand with a solemn expression. She began calling in the reserve Drone Units, intending to use them to scout the area first.

Earlier, she hadn't thought soaking in a hot spring would involve any major danger, so she hadn't set up a particularly detailed field of vision here.

[It shouldn't be a major problem. As long as we haven't attracted attention, we're just ordinary tourists for now, so they shouldn't notice anything amiss. Still, to be safe, I should find a way to leave this dangerous place first. Once we're gone, I'll have much more room to maneuver no matter what I do.]

While operating the tablet, Raye began considering how to secure the greatest advantage for herself while ensuring her safety.

[As long as we haven't attracted attention.]

Raye thought.

"What's wrong, Ruse? Why do you look so serious?"

At that moment, Chris had finally adjusted her state of mind. Seeing that Raye's expression had suddenly become serious for some reason, she asked naturally.

"Huh? There's someone else here?"

Her words also drew Hibiki Tachibana's attention to the fact that a new guest had arrived in the women's changing room of the hot spring.

"Hello! Are you here to enjoy the hot springs too? My name is Hibiki Tachibana. What about you?"

Perhaps out of instinct, or perhaps simply because of her personality, the flaxen-haired girl naturally greeted them.

"Tachibana... Hibiki? Wait, isn't that..."

After hearing the girl's introduction, Chris paused. She instantly connected it with the target Raye had told her about earlier, then reflexively started to say something.

Bang—

In the blink of an eye, Raye used her body to block Chris from view, pressing Chris's face into her chest and stopping her from saying what she had intended to say.

[Calm down, Chris. We absolutely can't reveal our identities here.]

Raye activated Telepathic Communication and began explaining the situation to Chris. Fortunately, despite what had happened earlier, Chris hadn't removed the Telepathic Communication device.

[What the hell is going on, Raye? Why did our target spawn right in front of us like some kind of event boss?]

Although Raye's action had been somewhat... intimate, Chris understood the urgency of the situation and didn't mind it. Instead, she asked Raye what was going on.

[I don't know. I have no idea why Hibiki Tachibana would appear here.]

Raye spoke inwardly, and her voice revealed a hint of nervousness.

[Then what do we do now, Raye? Do we abduct her right now, right here?]

Chris asked nervously, yet excitedly.

If she could bring Fine's target back now, then her and Fine's dream would definitely take a huge step forward.

[No. Not now—at least not now. It's too dangerous.]

Raye quickly rejected Chris's reckless plan.

[The situation is unclear. We don't know how much combat power the other side has deployed here. It would be better to conduct a small probe first, using methods that won't cost us much.]

Raye explained.

Since Hibiki Tachibana had appeared here, then under the worst-case assumption, there might already be four or five mid- to high-level combatants and more than a hundred cannon fodder units hidden around her.

Moreover, Hibiki Tachibana wasn't a lifeless object like Durandal. She was an individual capable of drawing on the Relic fused within her body to unleash an unknown level of power at any time, with an unknown ability to resist.

In a hot spring district with a complicated environment and unknown intelligence, capturing an individual with unknown protection and unknown resistance would be absurdly risky. Raye would have to have lost her mind to agree to such a plan.

[In any case, I'll first find a way to deal with Hibiki Tachibana here. Chris, you can go do something else for now.]

While explaining the plan to Chris through Telepathic Communication, Raye released the embrace she had used to stop Chris from blurting everything out.

[Fine, I understand. Oh, right, Raye—this absolutely does not count as a date. Don't forget to make it up to me next time.]

Chris agreed to Raye's request, then emphasized this through Telepathic Communication.

[Don't worry. I won't let you lose out, Chris.]

Raye gave the same assurance through Telepathic Communication. Then she turned around, hugged the tablet to her chest, and faced Hibiki Tachibana.

"Um, what were you doing just now?"

Seeing the black-clad, gray-haired girl turn around, Hibiki Tachibana asked in confusion. She didn't understand why they had reacted so strangely when she had merely greeted them.

"Just now? Ah, that. She was feeling a little unwell, so I gave her a little massage to ease it."

Raye pressed her lips together and calmly gave the fresh excuse she had just made up.

"Really? Was she sick, or was she injured? Do you need my help?"

Seeing that Raye's expression didn't resemble someone lying, Hibiki Tachibana accepted her explanation without suspicion. As the warmhearted person she was, she immediately began asking whether Raye needed her help, as though some switch had been flipped.

"No, thank you for your concern. It's just a minor physical issue, nothing serious. I'm enough to look after her by myself."

Faced with Hibiki Tachibana's enthusiasm, Raye glanced at the tablet she was holding like a drawing board, then calmly declined.

"Oh, I see. That's good, then."

Hearing Raye say that, Hibiki Tachibana relaxed and put the little incident out of her mind.

"Phew... Come to think of it, you're Hibiki Tachibana, right? You came over to us just now. Was there something you wanted?"

After dealing with Hibiki Tachibana's question, Raye breathed a sigh of relief and steered the conversation in another direction.

Thanks to Raye's timely cover-up, the crisis of their identities being exposed had basically been resolved. As long as they continued pretending to be ordinary tourists, there was little risk of their identities being exposed. Even if there was some risk, it was minimal.

[Thank goodness. If we'd been exposed, the cost of the subsequent reconnaissance and the intensity of the battles we'd have to face might have risen by an entire tier.]

Raye thought with lingering fear.

If the connection between the identity of Ruse and Raye were exposed here, not only would the risk of the monitoring units she had set up that afternoon being discovered rise sharply, but they might also deduce that she was targeting Hibiki Tachibana for capture.

If that happened, Raye might have no choice but to wage an all-out battle against them, fighting to the death through the defenses of the Second Division.

Even if she had to fight such an all-out battle, Raye didn't believe she would be the one to lose. But since she could complete the mission more easily, she didn't want to make things harder for herself.

"Oh, I just saw that you were here to enjoy the hot springs too and wanted to say hello. Hehe."

Completely unaware of Raye's thoughts, Hibiki Tachibana continued chatting cheerfully with Raye, who was, in a certain sense, coveting her body.

"Oh, I see. Since you've told us your name, we should introduce ourselves too. I'm Ruse, and she's Christina."

Raye politely introduced their false identities to Hibiki Tachibana.

"Ohh, so you're Ruse-chan and Christina-chan!"

After hearing Raye's false name, Hibiki Tachibana instinctively used an affectionate form of address.

"Wait, why did you suddenly jump straight to Christina-chan?"

Raye didn't react much to Hibiki Tachibana's words, but Chris nearly lost her composure. Calling someone this or that -chan right off the bat was far too familiar.

"Hmm, because Christina felt a little long, so I shortened it a bit. Oh, so you don't like it, Christina-chan?"

Hibiki Tachibana explained with an innocent grin.

"Of course I mind, you BAKA..."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, Tachibana. That's just one of Christina's habits."

[Chris, there's no need to argue with her over something this trivial. What you need to do now is reduce your presence as much as possible and make sure those people don't notice you.]

Just as Chris was about to say something else, Raye stepped forward and blocked her from view. She said this to Hibiki Tachibana while simultaneously soothing Chris through Telepathic Communication.

Although Raye didn't think they would be exposed, she was worried that saying too much could lead to mistakes. If Chris was allowed to speak freely, who knew what trouble she might cause? The best choice was for Raye to handle all outside communication and keep Chris quiet.

[Ugh, fine. I understand. I'll endure it.]

Understanding that this wasn't the time to throw a tantrum, Chris held back her resentment toward Hibiki Tachibana under Raye's reassurance.

[If you really feel uncomfortable, Chris, you can change clothes first and go soak in the hot spring for a while.]

[If you're worried that the underlayer is too embarrassing, find a cubicle and change out of it. I've unlocked that restraint suit for you, so you can take it off easily.]

[Also, pay attention to the procedures and taboos when soaking in the hot spring. Don't cause any unpleasant incidents that draw attention.]

[If you don't want to soak in the hot spring, you can go to the shops outside and buy some snacks. I put the credit card in your clothes. Feel around and you'll find it.]

[There's enough money on the card to buy out the entire shop, so don't worry about spending. Just buy whatever you like.]

[And if you go outside, remember to act naturally. Don't talk too much with other people. If all else fails, say nothing and pretend to be aloof.]

Before Hibiki Tachibana had time to respond, Raye rapidly finished giving Chris every instruction she needed, hoping to reduce the chance of anything going wrong as much as possible.

[All right, all right, Raye. I understand.]

Listening to the endless stream of instructions in her mind, Chris felt the hard rectangular card in her pocket and replied with a headache.

"Forget it. I'll go buy some things outside. See you later."

In the end, Chris decided not to soak in the hot spring. She would take the credit card and buy some snacks at a nearby shop first.

After this incident, Chris had completely lost interest in soaking in the hot spring. She didn't want the memory of her first hot spring trip to be one of soaking alone in an empty bath.

"Christina-chan?"

Watching the red-clad, white-haired girl's retreating figure, which looked almost as though she were fleeing, Hibiki Tachibana didn't understand why she had suddenly left.

"Don't worry about it. She's just not good at dealing with someone with a personality like yours, Hibiki. It doesn't mean she dislikes you."

Raye explained Chris's behavior.

"Is that so?"

"It is. By the way, judging from your age, Tachibana, you should still be in school, right? I remember today isn't a school holiday either. Why did you come here to soak in the hot springs?"

After sending Chris away, Raye began multitasking. While using her equipment to scan the entire hot spring district, she tried to investigate why Hibiki Tachibana had come here through their conversation.

"Hmm, there are all sorts of reasons. If I had to put it into words, I guess the place where I work held a group outing, and they brought me along. Something like that."

Hibiki Tachibana explained somewhat nervously after hearing Raye's question.

"Oh, I see. It sounds like the owner of the place where you work is pretty nice. By the way, what kind of work do you do, Tachibana? Are you a cashier or a sales clerk?"

[In other words, she was brought here by the Second Division. Whether or not this group outing story is true, it means this area is probably already filled with Second Division members. No wonder my operation at Lydian went so smoothly earlier. Most of the Second Division had probably already evacuated the place when I deployed the monitoring units there.]

While dealing with Hibiki Tachibana, Raye made this deduction inwardly.

At that moment, the autonomous Drone Units she had sent out to scout had already transmitted the images they had gathered from the surrounding area to her tablet.

After quickly scanning the images, Raye spotted many familiar faces among them, further confirming her guess.

"Um, I guess you could say it's cleaning work... probably?"

On the other side, Hibiki Tachibana stopped to think for more than ten seconds before answering Raye's question uneasily.

"I see. So it's like being a cleaner? I didn't expect someone your age to already be working, Tachibana. That's really impressive."

Apparently not minding Hibiki Tachibana's unusually long pause, the black-clad, gray-haired girl smiled and praised her.

"Ahaha, it's really nothing impressive. I mean, um... my abilities at the company aren't particularly strong, and there are seniors who are much better than me."

Hibiki Tachibana scratched the back of her head and spoke with an awkward laugh. She didn't want to continue the conversation. Because of the confidentiality agreement, she had no choice but to lie, but she really wasn't good at lying.

[If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have said I had a part-time job. Making up lies is exhausting.]

Hibiki Tachibana regretted it.