Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

Since that operation ended, aside from the work she had already agreed to do, Chris had spent most of her spare time trying to investigate Raye's past from every possible angle.

This was no easy task. She had to extract and organize information from countless redundant, false, useless, and duplicate sources, then make conjectures and deductions based on what she had gathered.

And among all those difficulties, the greatest was the interference caused by certain particularly distinctive pieces of useless information she encountered while collecting data.

Those especially distinctive useless pieces of information would use all kinds of shamelessly eye-catching text and images to launch fierce attacks on Chris's physical indicators and mental state, greatly affecting the progress of her investigation.

Although Chris had used tremendous willpower to lock that useless information away in a hidden partition on her computer to prevent it from interfering with her, one person's strength was ultimately just a drop in the bucket. Throughout the investigation, brand-new useless information kept appearing and disrupting her, delaying her work again and again.

As a result, a whole week passed before she finally finished gathering most of the information available on the surface, by which point she had become increasingly experienced at appreciating useless information.

"Ahem. So, now that I've looked into it, what I know is that most of those creations are completely baseless trash fantasies. The real Raye's figure isn't like that at all... Ah, no, ugh."

Looking at the image open on the screen, Chris shook her flushed face, trying to fling the inexplicable garbage information that had surfaced in her mind off to who knew where and get her thoughts back on track.

"Chris, are you awake...? Um, what are you doing, Chris? Training your neck muscles, or relaxing your nerves?"

Just as Chris was pulling herself together, Raye happened to push open the door. Looking at the white-haired girl with a bright red face, she asked in confusion.

"N-Nothing. Nothing happened. It has absolutely nothing to do with you, Raye. And isn't it still too early for breakfast? Why did you come in without knocking?"

The moment she heard Raye's voice, Chris immediately stopped all unnecessary movements and hurriedly stood up between the doorway and her computer screen.

"...I need something from you. I have some work that I need you to do, Chris."

Seeing Chris's unnatural expression, Raye fell silent for a moment before finally stating her purpose, just before Chris could no longer hold out.

"Work? New work? Now?"

Chris asked, nervously shifting her body to make sure no one could peek at her personal privacy.

"Mm. It's urgent work, so you don't need to do any other work today. Finish the task I give you shortly first."

Ignoring Chris's strange behavior, Raye looked at the flickering screen and spoke calmly.

"Ah, I understand. Just give me the assignment and I'll do it. So, um... if you don't have anything else, Raye, you can leave first."

Chris immediately accepted and promised as much. Refusing any work Raye assigned would be useless anyway. Rather than keep asking questions and increase the risk, she might as well agree directly and get the other girl to leave as soon as possible.

"Is that so? All right. I've saved the contents of the job on a USB drive. The suitcase contains the tools you'll need, and the instructions are on the drive. You should know how to use them once you look at them."

At Chris's slightly flustered request, Raye directly took out a USB drive and a large suitcase, handing them to her.

"Okay, okay, I understand. I understand."

Chris Yukine snatched the USB drive and suitcase from Raye's hands with great speed and spoke in a breathless voice.

"..."

Seeing Chris in such a flustered state, Raye fell silent for a moment.

"What is it, Raye? Do you have something else?"

Chris said, forcing herself to appear calm.

"Chris, you know that I handle the defenses of this base, right?"

In response, Raye merely pressed a hand to her forehead and spoke to Chris in a helpless tone.

"Yeah. What about it?"

Chris did not understand why Raye would bring that up now.

"Then why would you think online security isn't included in the defenses I'm responsible for? You do know that information security is important, don't you?"

Seeing that Chris still seemed not to understand, Raye emphasized the point.

"..."

For a moment, the atmosphere between them froze. Prompted by Raye's words, Chris suddenly realized a fact she had never considered before—a fact that could be very bad for her.

"Wait, it's not what you think. I was only gathering information. It's not what you think. I would never do something so awful."

Either erupt in silence or perish in silence. Even though her reputation in Raye's eyes might already have gone completely off the rails, Chris still wanted to do her best to keep it from getting any worse.

"Chris, you don't need to explain. I only wanted to remind you to take care of yourself and show some restraint. I don't want you to lose a battle because of your health when I need you to fight. Other than that, you don't need to promise me anything."

Raye merely shook her head without any visible emotional fluctuation and said this.

"Mm, that's all?"

Seeing that Raye truly did not seem to care, Chris gradually calmed down.

"That's all. Ultimately, Chris, you don't need to be responsible to me for anything. I'm only reminding you out of concern for work."

"So, Chris, get to work quickly. And after you're done, don't do anything that harms your body again."

Raye said this, then turned around and prepared to leave.

"I told you, I wasn't doing that!"

Chris replied to Raye's insistence with a face burning red.

"Mm, I understand. And hurry up and get to work."

Raye replied, then left Chris's room and casually closed the door behind her.

P.S. Good night.

Preparations on Both Sides

"Why exactly has she become like this? I still don't understand."

Looking at the closed door, Chris could not help thinking.

Although she had investigated, she could only look into surface-level phenomena in the end. She always felt that she had missed some crucial information, leaving her completely unable to infer the truth.

"Whew. Still, thanks to her, I was a little sleepy before, but now I'm completely awake."

Chris rubbed her eyes, thoroughly dispelling the last traces of drowsiness and waking herself up.

"Then let's see what kind of work Raye assigned me first. Since she said it needed to be finished early, I need to get moving."

Once she was awake, Chris shifted her attention to work.

On one hand, Raye had emphasized that it was urgent. On the other, Chris wanted to stop thinking about that embarrassing matter from earlier.

"Let's see what kind of work needs me to handle it..."

Chris casually sat down in her chair, crossed her legs, inserted the USB drive Raye had given her into her computer, and opened the files inside.

Her sitting posture was far from proper, but Chris was not worried about discomfort. The restraint suit Raye had made for her not only kept her warm in winter and cool in summer, but also came with massage and body-support functions.

Whenever Chris felt sore somewhere, faint vibrations would ease her fatigue, while the suit would support her body in just the right places according to her posture.

That was why, even after sleeping in a chair all night, Chris could still wake up full of energy without feeling sleepy.

"Mm. Mm-hm. Mm. Oh, I see. So she wants me to do this."

After spending several minutes roughly going through the basic contents of the files, Chris found that the actual operation was not difficult. She simply had to place red-crystal-wrapped objects in certain marked locations.

"This doesn't look hard at all. But does something like this really need me? I could clearly do more impressive work."

Chris thought somewhat unhappily, feeling as though Raye had underestimated her.

According to the files, the overall process was merely a little tedious at most. There was no difficulty to it at all. Even an idiot could do this job.

"Forget it. Let's see where I need to set everything up. If I finish such simple work, maybe I can do something else afterward."

Chris thought. As for what that something else was, it was naturally the date she had made Raye promise her before—a date that would satisfy her.

With that thought in mind, Chris opened the other file Raye had given her.

"...?"

Then Chris understood that Raye had not treated her as an idiot who could do nothing.

But at that moment, Chris would have preferred Raye really did think she was an idiot.

After all, being treated like an idiot was still better than being treated like manual labor.

"Th-There are this many places?!"

As countless dizzying 3D models filled her view, Chris's previously confident expression was instantly replaced by one of utter shock.

Chris finally understood that if someone wanted to make a simple job terrifying, all they had to do was repeat that simple job an absolutely horrifying number of times.

"D-Don't underestimate me. Such a simple job definitely won't be too hard for me. And Raye... she probably wouldn't give me a task I can't complete."

Looking at the nearly impossible targets displayed on the screen, Chris's hand holding the mouse trembled slightly, but she still stubbornly refused to shed a tear.

"Let's go. I'll definitely make that girl see me in a new light."

After muttering this to herself, Chris transferred the files to her phone, picked up the somewhat heavy suitcase, walked out of her room, and set foot on a hell called work.

So why did Fine have to be busy and unable to come back at a time like this? Damn it, I really want someone to help share this workload.

However, unlike what she had said aloud, Chris's heart did not seem to agree.

"Achoo!"

At the same time, in the underground headquarters of the Second Division, Ryouko Sakurai, who was organizing Hibiki Tachibana's physical data, let out a small sneeze.

"What is it, Ryouko? Did you catch a cold?"

Beside Ryouko Sakurai, Genjuro Kazanari asked with concern. He was waiting for her report on Hibiki Tachibana's physical condition so that he could train Hibiki more scientifically.

"It's nothing. Maybe I've been a little unaccustomed to the living environment these past few days. By the way, Genjuro, can we still not go home?"

Ryouko Sakurai replied and asked this question.

Since the battle with Raye, the entire Second Division had entered a state of heightened alert. Entry and exit inspections had become extremely strict, and in order to reduce the risk of infiltration and intelligence leaks, everyone had resolved to handle all their food, clothing, housing, and transportation needs within headquarters. In other words, people could enter, but not leave.

Naturally, Ryouko Sakurai's movements had also been restricted. It had been more than a week since she last returned to her own home.

"Sorry. Before we can achieve results that satisfy those above us, we need to show a sufficiently serious attitude. Only then can we silence the government's objections."

Genjuro Kazanari said helplessly.

"Also, in every action Raye has taken against us, including the previous operation, she has demonstrated an abnormal understanding of our intelligence. Though I don't want to suspect anyone, I cannot rule out the possibility that there is a mole among us."

Genjuro Kazanari continued.

"So this strict lockdown is also meant to verify exactly how Raye has been obtaining our intelligence? If the other side fails to obtain information, it means there is a mole among us. If they still obtain information, it means they have some other means of spying on us."

Listening to Genjuro Kazanari's explanation, Ryouko Sakurai pinched the bridge of her nose and added wearily.

"That is roughly it. So, sorry, Ryouko. Please endure a few more days."

Genjuro Kazanari nodded, confirming Ryouko Sakurai's assessment.

"I don't really mind. The living conditions here are absurdly bad, though I can still tolerate them. Here, this is Little Hibiki's physical report for today. Take your time reading it. I need to go get some proper sleep now. Yawn—"

Ryouko Sakurai replied while handing the report in her hand to Genjuro Kazanari, then left the room with a yawn.

"Thanks for the effort, Ryouko. Now then, Tachibana's physical report... Mm, basically normal. Improving steadily, huh? Then I'll formulate her training regimen on that basis."

After receiving Ryouko Sakurai's report, Genjuro Kazanari spoke to her as she left, then began devising a training plan to make Hibiki Tachibana stronger based on the physical report Ryouko had prepared.

P.S. Good night.

A Short Rest After Work

Work was always both long and fleeting. In the blink of an eye, another entire day had passed.

"Phew... I'm exhausted. It feels like my mouth is full of mud."

Late at night, when all was quiet, Chris, dressed in the full set of cheap blue work clothes Raye had given her before she left, collapsed onto the sofa with a face covered in dust and exhaustion, complaining in an ungraceful pose.

"That's only your imagination. The equipment I gave you includes an oxygen tank. If you operated it correctly, soil would not have entered your mouth."

On the other side, Raye wore clothes identical to Chris's. As she let down the hair she had tied up for convenience while working and smoothed it out, she gave this reply.

"It's just an expression, an expression. By the way, Raye, does doing this really have any meaning?"

Chris lazily turned over on the sofa, half-squinted at Raye, and asked.

"I don't know. It definitely has meaning, but whether that meaning can actually be realized depends on the circumstances at the time. I merely selected a plan with a relatively high chance of success."

Raye replied, then casually undid the cheap work clothes she had bought beforehand, revealing the underlayer beneath.

"Ah, is that so...? Forget it. You probably know what you're doing, Raye, so I won't worry about it."

Faced with Raye's lengthy explanation, Chris selectively ignored it. Raye always found a way to solve problems anyway. Offering her own opinions on such matters would only waste time.

"More importantly, Raye, can I take a day off tomorrow? After working all day today, I feel like my legs are about to give out."

Chris propped herself up and sat upright, setting her legs on the floor, gripping them, and asking Raye.

"Of course. Today's unusual workload was already an unavoidable measure under urgent circumstances. Forcing someone to resume their normal work after severe overtime would be unreasonable."