Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

[Wuhu Banren Cunbafei on L's Flashing D Sword]

Just as the Booster on 'Raye' gradually began to activate, a greatsword suddenly descended from thin air, accompanied by singing, landing where she was.

"How could this be? How could I just let you get away!"

Tsubasa Kazanari, who had just thrown the greatsword, spoke with her emotions somewhat out of control.

Even though she knew she should remain calm, she had finally obtained what might be her last chance to wash away her humiliation. Faced with that opportunity, her emotions were still slightly out of control.

"Hey, hey, young lady, that teleportation gate was expensive."

In midair in another direction, 'Raye' floated with mechanical wings mounted on her back and called out in complaint.

"I know you're in a hurry, but calm down first. You've got a long road ahead of you in life. There's no need to keep fighting me to the death here. Maybe the truth you can't accept now will be something you can accept a few years from now."

'Raye' tried to dispel Tsubasa's hatred with her words.

"That's impossible!"

But the only response she received was dozens of blades falling from the sky.

"Ah, forget it. I can't afford to provoke you. I'm leaving."

After skillfully dodging the flying swords by controlling the Booster, 'Raye' spoke helplessly. She then changed the Booster's output and turned toward the outskirts of the city.

"Don't you dare leave!"

If her opponent's words were true, this might be Tsubasa's only chance to catch her. Once she missed this opportunity, she had no idea how long it would be before she could catch up with her again.

But what could she do? Relying only on her legs, it was impossible to catch 'Raye' flying through the air. The armor she wore gave her combat power far beyond that of an ordinary human, but it did not grant her any special ability to travel quickly.

If her short burst of speed failed to stop her, she would be left in the awkward position of being unable to catch up.

"Even so, I have to seize this chance. At the very least, I need to learn more about her."

Tsubasa gritted her teeth and decided to push her body a little further. Even if it affected her condition, she could not lose the trail of the person she had spent so long searching for.

P.S. Good night.

The Successful Deception and the Second Division Coming to Its Senses

"Miss Tsubasa!"

Just as Tsubasa was about to force her body to chase after the fleeing 'Raye', a woman's voice came from the distance, accompanied by the thunderous roar of a motorcycle.

The voice rapidly approached. Soon, Tsubasa noticed its source: a female employee wearing a Second Division uniform, awkwardly riding a modified motorcycle straight toward her.

"You are—wait, is that my motorcycle?"

As the woman drew closer, Tsubasa recognized that she was riding the modified motorcycle Tsubasa commonly used.

With a loud, ear-piercing screech of brakes, the modified motorcycle and the Second Division girl stopped in front of Tsubasa.

"Whew. Mr. Ogawa said you might need this, Miss Tsubasa, so he had me ride your motorcycle over."

Without taking even a moment to catch her breath, the girl—whom Tsubasa found somewhat familiar and seemed to have seen somewhere in the Second Division—immediately began explaining why she had come.

"You said Ogawa?"

Hearing her words, Tsubasa roughly understood. She must have been a Second Division employee whom Shinji Ogawa, who was always responsible for supporting her, had called over to help.

"Yes, Mr. Ogawa. Whew, huff... I don't know the details either. Anyway, Mr. Ogawa told me to come support you, Miss Tsubasa. Oh, and he told me to bring these too."

The uniformed girl climbed down from the motorcycle, gasping for breath as she explained, and handed Tsubasa a briefcase from the motorcycle.

"What's this?"

Tsubasa instinctively accepted the briefcase.

"There's a communicator inside, along with your spare uniform and some other tools. There's also a spare fuel tank on the rear seat of the motorcycle. Whew... haah... Anyway, Mr. Ogawa told us to prepare all this quickly and send it over."

The girl rapidly explained the contents of the briefcase while panting.

Is that so? Come to think of it, this place is indeed fairly close to the Second Division. Did she rush over as soon as she received Ogawa's request?

"Understood. Thank you for your help. I need these right now."

Seeing how exhausted the girl was, Tsubasa immediately took the briefcase from her. Without hesitation, she swung onto the motorcycle the girl had just ridden over.

"No need to thank me. Anyway, I need to rest for a bit. Ah, I'm not a combatant to begin with, and my stamina isn't anything special..."

Seeing that Tsubasa had understood everything and taken the supplies, the girl leaned against a nearby tree with a relieved sigh.

"I see. Then get some rest. Leave the rest to me."

Looking at the girl who had begun resting, Tsubasa did not disturb her companion, who had gone through so much trouble to bring her support. Instead, she turned her gaze toward the sky.

At that moment, thanks to the support girl's efficient assistance, carried out with almost no unnecessary movement, Tsubasa could still track the figure of 'Raye' fleeing through the air.

"I absolutely won't let you get away!"

Tsubasa fixed her sharp gaze on her opponent. Then her armor merged with the motorcycle.

Soon, following a thunderous roar, Tsubasa transformed into a blue-and-white blade and sped toward the direction in which 'Raye' had departed.

However, Tsubasa kept her eyes fixed on 'Raye' and failed to notice that the gaze of the 'support' girl who had brought her supplies and the crucial motorcycle seemed far less expressive than her face.

Time returned to the moment Tsubasa had just sped away.

"I really can't bring myself to point my fists at humans."

Amid the hot spring ruins ravaged by artillery fire, Hibiki Tachibana gazed at the sky and sighed helplessly, standing there completely unguarded.

Although she had wanted to equip Symphogear and help Tsubasa after witnessing Tsubasa charge without hesitation toward the device in the sky, when she realized that she would not be facing monsters like noise, but humans like herself, her will to fight unconsciously faltered.

As a result, she had failed to transform in time and keep up with Tsubasa, falling behind.

"Little Hibiki, what happened? I heard an explosion."

As Hibiki struggled with conflicting emotions, Ryouko Sakurai poked her head out from the already somewhat unstable doorway and asked, perhaps because she had heard the explosion.

"Ah, Miss Ryouko, it's like this. Miss Tsubasa seems to have discovered Raye's whereabouts, so she rushed out to fight her. I couldn't keep up."

Although she was still somewhat at a loss inside, Hibiki understood that explaining what had just happened to someone else was also important.

"Raye? Little Hibiki, are you saying Raye appeared?"

Ryouko extracted the key information from Hibiki's words and appropriately put on a surprised expression.

"...Anyway, Little Hibiki, come inside and change first. Then tell me exactly what you saw."

After a brief pause, Ryouko came to Hibiki's side. As she spoke, she pulled Hibiki by the arm into the hot spring changing room, apparently intending to help her change while asking for information.

"Ahaha, right. I'll explain everything."

Reminded by Ryouko, Hibiki realized her current state. Without suspecting anything, she followed Ryouko into the changing room.

"Miss Ryouko, Miss Ryouko, what happened? I heard an explosion coming from your hot spring."

When Hibiki entered the changing room, she heard Commander Kazanari pounding on the door and calling out in his hearty voice.

"...Wait a moment. Don't come in yet. Little Hibiki is changing. We'll have her explain everything to you in a moment."

Hearing the voice outside, Ryouko paused before shouting back.

"Miss Ryouko, I'm dressed."

The moment Ryouko finished speaking, Hibiki's voice followed.

Clearly aware of how urgent the situation was, Hibiki had thrown on a complete outfit at a speed like someone crawling out from under the covers in winter.

"Hmm... Little Hibiki, you really changed quickly. Then let's go out together and explain the situation."

Looking at the neatly dressed, flaxen-haired girl, Ryouko slightly furrowed her brow before speaking with her usual expression. She turned and opened the door from the changing room to the main hall, then walked out.

"Yes, Miss Ryouko. I'll do my best."

Hibiki spoke and followed her out.

"Tachibana, what happened in there? Why was there such a huge explosion? Did noise appear at the hot spring?"

When Hibiki came out, Commander Kazanari immediately began asking her what had happened. Beside him stood a Second Division employee who had also come to the hot spring for a vacation, now wearing casual clothes with a serious expression.

"Yes, Mr. Kazanari. This is what happened..."

Hibiki did not hesitate and immediately began explaining the situation to the people gathered in the main hall.

P.S. Good night.

The Second Division's Arrangements

Soon, Hibiki gave everyone in the Second Division a detailed account of what she had seen, from discovering the device in the sky, to being bombarded at the hot spring, and finally to Miss Tsubasa's charge toward the sky.

"So that troublesome person, who causes trouble every time she appears, has shown up for the third time?"

Rubbing his temples, Commander Kazanari spoke with an ugly expression. His words carried three parts weariness, three parts helplessness, and four parts forced composure.

"Um, are you all right, Mr. Kazanari? You don't look so good."

Seeing Commander Kazanari's state, Hibiki asked worriedly. It was the first time she had seen him show such an expression.

"Well, because of the matter concerning Durandal, Genjuro hasn't had a proper rest for more than two weeks. He had originally planned to rest properly over the next couple of days, but then something like this happened. Poor thing."

Ryouko explained the situation to Hibiki.

"I'm fine, Ryouko. Don't worry about me right now. I'm not at the point of collapsing yet... Anyway, let's contact Tsubasa first and find out how things are on her end."

After Ryouko finished speaking, Commander Kazanari waved his hand to indicate that he was fine. He then took command and began thinking of a way to resolve the situation.

"I've already tried, Commander, but I can't contact her."

After Commander Kazanari proposed the idea, Ogawa stepped out from the crowd and said this.

"Can't contact her? Didn't Tsubasa bring a communicator?"

Hearing Ogawa's explanation, Commander Kazanari instinctively guessed, since according to Hibiki, Tsubasa's equipment had seemed rather sparse when she charged into battle.

"No. Although according to Tachibana, Miss Tsubasa took nothing with her when she rushed out except her armor, if that were the only problem, I could still contact the personnel remaining at the base and use them to establish contact with Miss Tsubasa and provide support."

Shinji Ogawa merely shook his head, denying Commander Kazanari's guess.

"The reason we can't contact Miss Tsubasa is that there's powerful signal interference here."

Ogawa continued to explain.

After learning of Tsubasa's actions, he had immediately tried to contact her. That was when he discovered that full-band jamming had been deployed around them without anyone noticing, making it completely impossible to transmit a signal through electronic means.

"Signal interference... That certainly seems to be the case."

Hearing Ogawa's explanation, Commander Kazanari checked the communications device on his own body and quickly confirmed that Ogawa was telling the truth.

"In other words, the enemy doesn't want us to establish contact with Tsubasa. Perhaps they intend to accomplish something through this blockade."

Commander Kazanari drew his conclusion.

"If that's the case, we have to meet up with Tsubasa even faster."

After understanding the situation, Commander Kazanari immediately made his decision. They could not let the enemy have their way; they had to act first.

"Then, everyone who can hear me, return to headquarters as quickly as possible. Use the headquarters' equipment to restore communications with Tsubasa, retrieve your gear, and provide support. Ogawa, you and I will search for Tsubasa's trail. We can't let her fight alone."

With that, Commander Kazanari first addressed everyone around him, then spoke separately to Ogawa.

"All right, I understand, Commander."

Ogawa also understood that the only thing they could do was get the two people capable of fighting to Tsubasa first, buying the rest of the Second Division time to organize and provide support.

"Good. If no one else has any questions, then that's the decision."

After making the decision, Commander Kazanari straightened his tie and turned to search for signs of Tsubasa fighting the enemy. The others also followed his orders and left in an orderly fashion as quickly as possible.

"...Um, Mr. Kazanari, what about me? What am I supposed to do?"

While everyone around her moved about in an orderly manner, Hibiki, who had been ignored the entire time, finally found a chance to speak and asked the question that had been troubling her.

Whether intentionally or not, Commander Kazanari had not assigned a task to Hibiki, who had experienced the incident firsthand and possessed combat ability. This left Hibiki somewhat at a loss.

"Tachibana, can you fight? Right now, against Raye—and against your own kind?"

Hearing Hibiki's question, Genjuro Kazanari turned around and asked her solemnly.

"I don't know. But I can try my best. I'll fight with everything I have to help Miss Tsubasa. So if there's anything I can do, let me do it."

Under Commander Kazanari's questioning, Hibiki's eyes flickered slightly, but in the end, she spoke firmly to the person before her.