Sky Striker Ace, but Symphogear

Chapter 16: Stranger

"Wait, hold on, Chris. You don't need to tell me so much. Your past and all that isn't important right now."

Seeing that Chris was about to launch into a lengthy explanation, Fine immediately stopped her from wasting time.

"Ah, sorry, Fine. I guess I've been thinking too much these past few days."

Chris realized that she had apparently just fallen into a daze of memories.

"So, the problem now is that you encountered Raye in the past, and now you've encountered Raye again. But because she's changed so much from before, you don't know whether she's the same Raye you knew. Is that right?"

Seeing that Chris wasn't in the best mental state, Fine simply helped her sort out the reason for her recent daze.

"Actually, maybe I did mistake her for someone else. After all, the Raye I knew had something wrong with her left eye, and she doesn't really look like her either. Yeah, I must have mistaken her."

Chris said this as though she were trying to convince herself.

"...Chris, you must understand that our most important task right now is activating Durandal. If you stay in this state, I'll be troubled. So, Chris, don't make things difficult for me. Don't forget our dream."

Seeing Chris acting so awkwardly, Fine spoke with some impatience. Then she turned around, walked out through the glass door, and picked up a landline phone resting on the table.

"Yeah, that's right. I must have mistaken her for someone else. Fine, I've pulled myself together. Um, Fine, what are you doing?"

Just as Chris was trying to use self-suggestion to escape her current state, she noticed what Fine was doing.

"I'm calling over the person responsible for putting you in this state. Whatever your problem is, you can just tell her directly."

Fine said this through the glass partition. She then stopped paying attention to the confused Chris and dialed the number.

[Hello, Fine. What is it?]

The phone carried the sound of noisy wind mixed with Raye's voice. It sounded as though she was somewhere windy.

"It's something important. Chris seems to have run into some kind of problem, and I need you to come help deal with it."

Fine spoke slowly.

[All right, I understand. I'll be there right away.]

Raye said this over the phone, then hung up on Fine.

Beep, beep.

"Wait, Fine. I already said that I might have mistaken her for someone else. I'll properly activate the Relic, and besides, she's always so busy. There's no need to bother her like this."

Yukine Chris lowered her head as she spoke, hoping Fine wouldn't do this.

"All right, Chris. Stop deceiving yourself. Only by facing the truth can you work better, don't you think?"

Clearly, Fine had no intention of listening to Chris's suggestion.

Besides, she was somewhat curious about the relationship between Raye and Chris, and what the current Raye would think of Chris.

"..."

Seeing that Fine had already made up her mind, Chris opened and closed her mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

At that moment, her heart was conflicted. She hoped that Raye was the Raye she knew, but she also hoped she wasn't the Raye she knew.

Just as she was struggling with this conflict, the door opened. Raye appeared before her, covered in dust, as though she had just come from a construction site.

"So, Fine, what exactly happened?"

After entering, Raye didn't even glance at Chris beside her. She simply asked Fine directly why she had called her over.

"Hmm..."

Faced with Raye's question, Fine said nothing. She merely scrutinized Raye, as though she wanted to see some change on her face.

"...Fine, what are you doing? If it's nothing serious, I'm going back to work."

After a while, faced with Fine's inexplicable behavior, the blonde girl spoke.

"Not a single change. All right, Chris, it seems you were right. She probably isn't the Raye you know, and has nothing to do with you."

Seeing that Raye's expression remained as calm as it had been when Fine first met her, as impassive as an iceberg, Fine said this.

She had deliberately mentioned that Chris was having problems, but after Raye entered, she had shown no surprising reaction at all. It was as though Chris beside her were a complete stranger.

"Ah... haha, so I really did mistake her for someone else? I knew it. How could something so coincidental happen? It seems I really was overthinking things."

After hearing Fine's conclusion, Chris felt a jumble of emotions, but in the end, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, that's that. The matter's settled. Raye, you can go back."

Fine said this. She had originally thought that if Chris held some special significance for Raye, she might be able to use that to threaten and restrain her "partner." But now it seemed she had simply been overthinking it.

Still, it wasn't a bad outcome. At least now Chris could safely activate the Durandal in her hands and, through it, complete Kadingir and achieve her ultimate goal...

"Fine, I need to correct something you said."

Just as Fine thought the matter was over, Raye, who had been listening to their conversation, suddenly spoke.

"What? Is there a problem?"

Hearing Raye's words, Fine mentally reviewed what she had just said, but couldn't find anything that needed correcting. So she asked this.

"I am not unrelated to Yukine Chris. For a period of time several years ago, we did live together."

Raye said this as casually as though she were stating an ordinary fact.

"..."

Fine fell silent. Only then did she remember the mistake she had made: she had determined the truth based solely on her own judgment without asking the person involved.

"...Ha, um, Miss Raye, you're joking, right?"

Chris, standing nearby, was stunned by Raye's statement.

"I don't like joking. I'm merely stating a fact. If you don't believe me, that has nothing to do with me."

Raye's expression remained calm as she spoke to the two of them, and her tone still showed no emotional fluctuation.

"That really is a very characteristic way of putting it."

Looking at Raye like this, Fine couldn't help feeling helpless.

From the moment she met this partner, she had never once seen the slightest change in her expression or tone.

At this time, Chris finally recovered from her shock. Then, instinctively, she wanted to grab Raye and demand to know why she was pretending not to recognize her.

The instant she moved, a sound tore through the air. A blazing blade, just as it had been during their first meeting, pressed against Chris's throat.

"If you do not wish to fight me, please don't make such misleading movements."

Under the combination of the emotionless tone and scorching blade, Yukine Chris fell into utter confusion.

P.S. I don't understand why people have recently started discussing Sky Striker versus Tearlaments. I don't understand why they would make Raye face an enemy she has no chance of defeating.

Chapter 17: Argument

"Why did it turn out like this?"

The scorching sensation at her neck, along with the terrifying killing intent that seemed no different from someone who had personally executed countless lives without restraint, stimulated Chris's nerves and plunged her into panic.

"Wait, Raye. Chris simply doesn't know your rules. Since it's her first offense, let her off this once."

Seeing this scene, Fine awkwardly began trying to mediate between them.

"..."

After Fine did this, Raye tilted her head slightly and glanced at Fine, then moved the Sky Striker away from Chris's neck.

"All right, Chris, go find some medicine and apply it first. Her weapon is extremely hot. If you don't treat it promptly, it could affect your condition later."

Seeing that Raye had finally spared Chris, Fine breathed a sigh of relief. She hurriedly found an excuse to send Chris away, lest she do something else to provoke Raye.

Hearing Fine's words, Chris finally recovered from her panic.

"...Yes, Fine. I understand. I'm sorry."

Then, looking dejected, Chris followed Fine's instructions and left the room. Before leaving, she glanced at Raye. She seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

"So, why exactly did you call me here, and what do you need me to do?"

Without concerning herself with Chris's departure, Raye asked Fine directly.

In response to Raye's question, Fine didn't answer immediately. She first glanced at Durandal nearby, then at the door through which Chris had left, and then at Raye, who was waiting for her reply. Finally, she let out a deeply helpless sigh.

"Actually, this is what happened..."

Although she felt utterly exhausted by the situation, Fine still composed herself and explained to Raye what had caused the situation just now.

A few minutes later...

"So, because Yukine was concerned about my affairs, her String Gain output dropped. You called me over to clear up her doubts so that she could work better?"

After listening to Fine's explanation, Raye summarized it this way. There was now one more person in the room with a headache.

"Yes, exactly. But it's too late to talk about that now. After what you just did to Chris, I don't know how to soothe her and restore her String Gain release level."

Fine said this with a headache.

"This is not my area of expertise. Fine, figure it out yourself. I still have twelve alarm devices to install today, so I'm leaving."

Regarding Fine's trouble, Raye expressed that she was powerless to help. She then turned and prepared to leave.

"Wait. Didn't this situation become like this because of you? You should at least help a little. Since you said you knew Chris in the past, you should also know how to solve her current problem."

Seeing that Raye intended to dump the matter on her, Fine immediately spoke up. Now that her goal was within reach, she didn't want to wait too long.

"...Huh?"

Looking at the words displayed on the screen, Raye turned around and looked at Fine with a gaze that was no different from usual, yet somehow carried an inexplicably deep resentment.

"If that's the case, my suggestion is that you tell me directly what result you ultimately want, Fine. Then we can discuss what to do next."

In response to Fine's request, Raye solemnly offered this suggestion.

"Hmm... Do you want to investigate my secrets, Raye? You only need to help solve Chris's problem."

After hearing Raye's suggestion, Fine looked at her suspiciously and explained herself.

"So... what then? After I figure out how to solve this problem, will you create a new one for me to deal with, Fine?"

Looking at Fine, who still appeared completely unruffled, a faint vein gradually appeared on Raye's forehead.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Fine didn't understand what Raye was talking about.

"What do I mean? Who was it that released the noise without informing me, blocking the evacuation route I had planned and nearly making me take a Swan Song at point-blank range?"

"And who was it that told me to guard the base, only to leave the base full of holes and make me investigate the terrain and structure myself before setting up the defenses from scratch?"

"And who was it that called me over without explaining the situation, then, after something went wrong and the whole affair was botched, still made me come help clean it up?"

Looking at Fine's confused expression, Raye smiled and proceeded to list every problem Fine had caused her during this period.

"Uh, well..."

Listening to Raye, Fine realized that she had unexpectedly felt guilty for the first time in a long while.

"I know you don't trust me, but you should at least put some thought into handling your own affairs! You don't share information with your teammates in time, you don't care about defending your base, and you can't even figure out the psychological problems of your own subordinate. Fine, I really don't understand what you're thinking!"

The more Raye thought about it, the more resentment built up inside her. She had already been suffering from frayed nerves because she had slept only four hours a day for the past two weeks, and now Fine was giving her even more problems to deal with.

"Huff... huff."

After venting the pressure in her heart at Fine, Raye gradually calmed down and let reason return to her mind.

"Am I really that terrible?"

Fine pulled her leg back from where she had previously placed it on the table and unconsciously adjusted her sitting position.

"Terrible is too strong a word. If we're only talking about your good points, Fine, you do have some merit in your use of Heresy Technology. But only in Heresy Technology."

After calming down, Raye gave Fine this assessment in response to her question.

"Hmm... Then what about the bad points?"

Hearing Raye's words, Fine reflexively asked.

"Arrogant and conceited, rigid in thought, unable to judge the importance of things. You have a brain, but not much of one. It makes people wonder why no one has killed you yet."

Raye gave Fine a long look. Although she couldn't understand why anyone would willingly seek out trouble, she still delivered this evaluation with a touch of personal resentment.

"But considering how generously you pay, all of that can be forgiven."