Chapter Text
This is the story of two people, a girl and a boy, who could not be further apart from each other:
One is a seemingly ordinary high schooler, born with a power to nullify the supernatural, be it magical or scientific. Due to its nature his luck also gets nullified, leading to him always getting caught up in things too big for him, though he nonetheless persists in the end.
The other, a young girl, who has been given the power to reach out with her hands and create miracles unlike any other, granted to her by the noble sacrifice to one she looked up to. With said power she reached out, to friend and foe alike, in hopes that the wounds of the heart can be mended by the gentle touch of hands.
And yet, they couldn't be more similar: Their desire to help others, to make the world a better place and…
“I’m cursed, aren’t?”
“Such misfortune!”
Having just missed the bus right as it closed its doors and rolled off. After realizing their common fate, the girl asked the boy: “Should we run after it? Perhaps the driver…”
“No, use… They do not have any human drivers here in Academy City and the AI is programmed to keep the schedule, even if we chased after it.”
“Bummer…” The girl looked behind her to see her friend run after her.
“Hibiki… It is fine… We will just take…” She had to catch her breath, chasing after the girl called Hibiki before Asking at the boy: “Excuse me? When does the next bus…”
“TOUMA!” A voice, somewhat similar but very different in intonation, grumbled behind the boy. “This was the last bus before the concert!”
“Oh no…” The boy named Touma sighed at the strange sight of a very, angry foreign girl in a white nun dress. What would came next was inevitable.
CHOMP!
“Young lady…” Hibiki’s companion chastised the nun who bit into the scalp of the boy, who took it with surprising grace. “This will not make the bus appear earlier.”
“Don’t worry, Miku, I got this.” Hibiki moved to tickle the girl in every possible place, until she finally loosened her grip while laughing. “There you go… eh…”
“Kamijou Touma…” The boy sighed reaching out with his right hand.
“Tachibana Hibiki…” She helped him up, only noticing a bit afterwards the strange sensation coming from this boy’s right hand. “And this is my sunshine, Kohinata Miku.”
Miku made a short bow, quite the opposite to the nun who bawled her eyes out.
“NOW I AM NEVER GOING TO SEE TSUBASA AND MARIA ON STAGE!”
“And this…” Touma nodded. “Is Index…”
“What kind of name is that? She does remind me of Maria a bit in the way she speaks Japanese.”
“M…maria…” Index stopped crying and grabbed Hibiki by the collar. “Do you know them, Tsubasa and Maria? Could you help us get in. I need to see them!”
“Did you not buy any tickets online?”
“I did try but…” Touma grimaced.
“Misfortune?” Hibiki hit the nail on the head. “We might be able to pull some strings for you… Wait, where is my necklace?” Hibiki looked around in a slowly rising panic, checking her bags and surroundings.
“Here! Wait I will pick it up! If you could help us get in that would be very gracious… of… you…” Index went from excited to completely focused on what fell on ground just moments ago: A necklace with a long, bloodred gem.
“Oh that? It is just some… matching jewelry we two wear, nothing valuable beyond memories.” The girl laughed, hiding the truth, as the nun inspected the jewelry as if in trance.
“Mazzard theorem on phonic resonance energy… chapter 14… Capturing phonic energy requires a container of stable, yet able to resonate with the wielder’s mana… A relic fragment… But how could they have been made into be such a pure crystal?”
“Index, could you please give her necklace ba…” Touma was reaching out to snatch the jewel and give it back. Index, however, clung even tighter to it and looked at him with a cold, warning gaze, to which he sighed. “Index… Please…”
“Sorry…” Index handed the necklace back, with Miku helping Hibiki attach it to her neck again. She herself was wearing one exactly like it.
“As I said, we can pull some strings… One moment…”
“Hibiki, you can’t be…”
But Hibiki was already calling someone. “Ogawa… Yes… We missed the bus to the concert… Could you please be so kind as to send someone to pick us up? Ehm, also we kinda bumped into two other friends who want to go there too, would it be fine if they came with us?... PLEASE! …Thank you so much! See ya!”
"You know the car service is for emergencies only!" Miku whispered to Hibiki.
"It will be fine!" Hibiki calmed Miku down, gleaming at the two new friends she just made: “Don't worry! We will be picked up in a few minutes.”
Touma was surprised at having luck for once. Perhaps his and that girl’s misfortune canceled each other out. He wasn’t going to question it, not with Index running his ear off at wanting to go there ever since she discovered those two idols: Tsubasa Kazanari and Maria Cadenzavna Eve.
*
The two idols grit their teeth while trying to keep composure as the woman in front of them went through security measures, again.
“Look, I know this is awkward.” The long-tenured teacher and Anti-Skill member lectured them on their attitude. “But your concerts have a… reputation. We are here to keep these kinds of things from happening.”
“We know Miss Yomikawa…” The blue haired idol sighed, bad memories bubbling up. “We know too well.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Kazanari. With Judgement vetting the attendees and Anti-Skill at the ready there will be nothing to worry about. Just focus on what you do best…”
“Thank you very much. I do hope you will enjoy our show as well.” Maria got up and bowed towards the one who would oversee the concert’s security.
“Good luck on the stage, you two.” Yomikawa bowed back and took her leave. It was ridiculous to her to have to take such matters for a simple concert, yet the city council, while open to the idea of having those two perform, did not want to have it end in a tragedy.
How young must Kazanari have been, Yomikawa pondered looking up at the sundered moon, when she had to witness the death of her stage partner.
So much had happened last year, even on the very borders of Academy City: A giant building destroying large parts of Tokyo, terrorists causing havoc inside and outside the city, wars which could have brought the world to ruin and strange structures popping up all over the world, even in Academy City itself.
Right now, what people truly needed was something to get their mind off the craziness in the world for the Spring Break. At least that was what Yomikawa hoped, thinking about how her students had been winded up in the recent months from having to endure all this and the tests at the end of the semester.
*
“Woah! This place is packed!” Saten Ruiko’s eyes were wide open as she marveled at the concert hall, the seats filled, with some students even having to stand, but luckily for her and Mikoto they had connections to Judgement, the student police keeping order in the city, mostly dealing with minor crime.
It took them not long to find their seats, right next to Uiharu and Kuroko who were currently talking to a trio of older girls in an unfamiliar uniform, their hair color being white, blonde and black respectively.
“Ah, Lydian students… Forgot the exchange is starting next week.” Mikoto commented.
“Exchange?” Saten raised an eyebrow as they walked down to meet their friends.
“Tokiwadai and Lydian are partnered schools, with some of the students even going to study there later. The whole thing is meant to have us learn a proper lady’s grace, while they get to learn about the scientific advancements here.” Mikoto rolled her eyes as they finally reached their seats.
“And no ulterior motives, like interest in music and phonic energy?”
“What are you…”
“ONEE-SAMA!” Kuroko fell into the Railguns arms. “I am so glad you could come. I know you are not big into idols, but Maria and Tsubasa are so good you will not forget it.”
Of course she invited Mikoto to sit right next to her.
“Sure… Who are our new friends over there?” Mikoto tried to change topic. While she wasn’t one to throw around accusations of being obsessed about something, especially considering her large Gekota collection, Kuroko was an avid fan of these two, and from what Kuroko had told her even more so of the original ZweiWing, Kanade Amou and Tsubasa Kazanari. She even had acquired tickets to their final concert, but was unable to attend due to her parents not allowing her to go. A cruel luck.
“I am Tsukoyomi Shirabe and this is Kiri-chan…”
“Akatsuki Kirika, dess!” The blonde girl jumped up, accidentally spreading the crumbs of a sandwich on her chest.
“You got all dirty Kiri-chan… Hold still.” Shirabe patiently took out a handkerchief and wiped the crumbs away. It also did not escape Mikoto’s attention to the daydreaming way Kuroko was looking at them.
“Ah if only…” She muttered.
“And I am Yukine…” The white-haired girl began until interrupted by a shriek from Uiharu.
“Saten!”
“Oh, red striped ones… Don’t think I have seen this one…”
WOMP!
Without warning the girl who was about to introduce herself had rammed down her fist on Saten, who dropped Uiharu’s skirt and messaged the emerging bulge on her head.
“DO YOU NOT HAVE ANY SHAME!?” She was boiling and red faced.
“It is fine…” Saten tried to excuse her behavior. “It is like… a tradition… We do it all the time…”
“You do it all the time…” Uiharu muttered.
“Ugh… Even the idiot and her sunshine are not this perverted! If I catch you again, you are dead meat!”
“Alright, alright… I am sorry… eh…” Saten apologized before sitting down.
“Chris. Yukine Chris.” Chris gasped out, trying to calm down.
“Saten Ruiko…” She was still rubbing the sore spot on her head with a whimper.
“Mikoto Misaka.” Meanwhile the auburn-haired girl was looking around the hall and to the stage.
“You two are not from Tokiwadai?” Chris had noticed the differing uniforms.
“No.” Uiharu smiled at her savior. “Shirai and I know each other from serving in Judgement together, with Saten and Mikoto being respective friends beforehand.”
“And you are friends with such an obvious weirdo...?” Chris eyed Saten with suspicion.
“Yes.”
“What powers do you have?” Kirika barged into the conversation.
“Kirika…” Chris chastised her junior.
“I would like to know, too.” Shirabe raised her hand. “If that isn’t an uncomfortable question.”
Kuroko got up, and disappeared without a trace, only to reappear moments later with lightsticks.
“Teleportion…” She answered, teleporting a couple of light sticks just above the hands of the three Lydian students, with them catching them, Kirika’s eyes wide from wonder.
“And you, Kazari?” Kiraka greedily eyed Uiharu, wo eventually relented. “Thermal Hand… But it is not that powerful. I can just keep the temperature of something I touch at the current degree.”
“At least your tea never gets cold…” Shirabe commented. “What about you, Misaka-san. Shirai has been talking a lot about you.”
Misaka pouted. To reveal one’s power was quite an ask, especially to stranger. Though considering they were just students from a music-focussed school. “Do you know what a Railgun is?”
“Eh… A gun on rails?” Kirika guessed.
A smirk escaped Mikoto who subtlety raised her hand and let a few sparks fly out.
“Just a bunch of sparks?” Kirika was disappointed.
“This is just child’s play. But here is not the place to go all out right now.”
“What about you then Ruiko?” Chris scoffed. Judging from her character, Chris surmised it must have been some lecherous power like see-through vision, invisibility or phasing through walls.
“I am glad you asked.” Saten stood up triumphantly and bumped into her chest. “Nothing.”
“Nothing… Like no power at all?” Chris was taken aback. She had read a bit about the power curriculum system of this city. All this work only to end up a Level 0.
“Yes.”
“Must be a bummer.” Shirabe’s words cut into Saten like a razor.
“Yeah…” Saten sighed, but took it rather lightly.
“Silence…” They got cussed from a row before them. “They are starting.”
*
“I am so jealous of you! You got to be in the same school as Tsubasa!” Index gushed after Hibiki had let that slip. Touma sighed. It had been a few months since Index became an avid fan of hers after catching a concert on TV by chance. At first, he jokingly chastised her for praying to false Idols, but he stopped after Index bared her teeth a few times.
So, to avoid misfortune, he switched the topic. “Lydian… That isn’t part of Acedemy City… Why come to visit here? Or are you just here for your former schoolmate and idol? Why do people worship them like gods anyway?”
“Touma…” Index growled, and he could already feel the wrath of the nun coming. If it weren’t for Hibiki putting her hand on Index shoulder while talking to him.
“We are here on an exchange trip at Tokiwadai.”
“Tokiwadai, huh?”
“Do you know someone from there?” Miku leaned over, as the lights started to dim.
“Well…” The image of a middle schooler with lightning whistling around her came to his mind. “There would be Biri-Biri…”
“Pffff… Biri-Biri… Why call someone that?” Hibiki giggled.
“How would you call a girl throwing electric bolts at you?”
“Fair enough, Kami-kun… Ah I cannot wait to stay with them and be like the big sister that can teach them a thing or two.”
“Hibiki… You do know Tokiwadai’s lectures are on a university level…” Miku tried to give Hibiki the bad news lightly.
“I mean it can’t be that hard. I am already in third year after all.”
“From what I heard their school does dip into stuff like Complex and Imaginary Numbers…" Touma shared his thoughts. "We just got there this year... Don’t know if…”
“Complex numbers? IMAGINARY Numbers?” Hibiki was dumbfounded, her head swirling. She had problems with math as is. “How can numbers be imaginary?”
“Grrrr…” A very angry Index stared bullets at an increasingly more panicked Hibiki.
“Eh… Is something?”
“Stop being so loud…” Miku with the help of Touma, and the stares of the surrounding crowd, managed to reign the nun in, preventing Hibiki from getting a bite mark.
“What misfortune…” Touma sighed exhausted.
“Who is she anyway?” Miku whispered to him.
“Roommate…”
“Really?” Miku furrowed her eyebrows.
“A boy’s dream, I know. If it weren’t for her constantly getting into trouble. Not to mention her appetite.”
“Huh… If that doesn’t remind me of someone who likes to eat her rice with a side of rice…”
The room grew quiet, until the stage light pierced the dark to reveal the stars of tonight: Tsubasa Kazanari and Maria Cadenzavna Eve.
"Good evening Academy City!"
Rumors had been floating around of them making an official group, perhaps even reforming Zwei Wing, though both had been constantly denied by the two, especially the latter part by Kazanari herself. The memory of her late partner still lingering on.
Touma had never been into idols, even from before his amnesia. He had neither any knowledge of a specific idol, group or person, nor of any songs, both of which were knowledge rather than memories. He also never bought the kind of paraphernalia which would gather dust, until the day Index pressured him to buy some rare merch of Tsubasa Kazanari for... way too much that it was likely worth.
However, the song they performed was rather pleasant on the ears, not to mention the dance performance and the special effects, making him wonder if they hired some local company from Academy City.
“Phew…” He could not restrain himself at some point when they seemed to have flown into the sky on wings from their shoes, all while keeping the beat.
It was however at that point when he finally noticed something: There had been a single constant… droning in the background. At first, he rightfully assumed it to be part of the song, but while the rest of it was in flux, this background noise never changed, remaining exactly the same dissonant tones.
And as the idols had ascended the lights also shone on the source of that noise:
Three girls, blonde, white and redhaired, wearing what he could ascertain as bathing suits mixed with mechanical parts from afar, two of them wielding long pronged weapons, while the third carried a round black, ball in her left hand.
“Those are…” Hibiki sprung up next to him, as the red-maned girl in the futuristic armor raised her spear… and flung it into the crowd.
Moments later, strange creatures appeared amid the halls now echoing with the screams of the attendees.
He never had the misfortune to face one of these things until now, nor had he memories of seeing them. But he knew exactly what Noise was and what they could do if they so much as touched you.
“NOISE!”
*
“Status report!” Genjuro Kazanari rushed onto the bridge as the rest of the crew was already in their position to coordinate the Symphogears for a rapid response.
“3 of the 6 users are active… We could not reach Tachibana or Kohinata yet… And Akatsuki and Tsukoyomi are currently held up.”
“We also have Yomikawa from Anti-Skill on the line. She is together with Ogawa…”
“Very well, put her through…” He sat down, with a SOUND ONLY image appearing. “How is the situation on your end?”
“Judgement is evacuating the building, and our reinforcements should arrive in 5 minutes… Can your girls hold out until then?” Due to her leading the security detail, Yomikawa had been given a number to reach S.O.N.G. with, just in case.
On the screens were many examples of members of the student police force escorting people out barricading door behind them and, in cases where students were the city’s signature espers, wielding strange powers, going as far as saving people from the active battlefield, which the concert hall had become, with one notable example being a female student with twin tails teleporting in and out of view, preventing people at multiple turns from certain death, by noise or gear.
“This is not the first time we have faced a situation like this.” Ogawa could be heard through the line.
“I don’t know the kind of things you have faced before, but this…” An explosion and screams could be heard. “Shit… I know noise… These are different… Hardier… Oh shi…”
Bullets could be heard.
“I will get back to you. Don’t worry, we Anti-Skills are no chumps.”
“Very well. Good luck out there. We will do our part to keep the situation under control until your force arrives.” Genjuro tried to remain calm as he saw the camera footage.
“What… what did I miss?” The door opened as a the petite Elfnein came in coughing from the run. “I was at a scientific conference and was on my way back when I heard… we got caught off-guard…”
No one at S.O.N.G. could deny that part. There was no imminent threat on their radar and no important events planned for today, leading to the Rookie B-Team being assigned to the bridge, the newest, Sakagami, joined just a few months ago, with Tomosato and Fujitaka having a rare day off and being at least an hour drive away. An hour which the people in the hall did not have.
The enemy had caught them with their pants down.
“We have registered three enemy Symphogear waveforms of unknown origin.”
“No match from our databanks?”
“No… Nothing…”
“Tsk… We can hit the books later… For now…”
On screen were Maria, Tsubasa and Chris facing engaging with the enemy, though their attention is split between the enemy Symphogears and the noise which have been summoned alongside them.
“They are willing to cause human collateral…” Genjuro grimaced.
“Not willing, they are aiming for it…” Elfnein still could keep some calm, despite the images of noise. “And these noise… They are different.”
“Indeed.” One of the bridge crew agreed, pulling up footage of Chris, singing her heart out just like Maria and Tsubasa, keeping the amount of them in check. Yet instead of turning into carbon dust like the original Noise or their alchemical cousins did, they splintered into crystalline fragments, while their touch, though not instantly lethal, slowly turned the victims skin into a crystal surface, not unsimilar to that of a diamond.
Elfnein had a bad feeling about today from the very start. Normally she was not a very superstitious person but having caught the moldy toast before she ate it for breakfast was just the beginning. The bigger part in that feeling was the presentation concluding collaborative research with some of Academy City’s brightest minds to expand the usage of phonic gain, with the pilot project having been finished a few weeks ago.
Yet when she had held her presentation, with someone comparing her short stature to an acquaintance teaching in a certain high school, there was an uneasy dread filling her lungs, and many eyes gazed at her with an insatiable greed, and not the good kind.
She had heard the rumors about the darker side of this city. Much like the experiments done by FISS and Ryoko Sakurai, these kinds of experiments were performed here, allegedly. And afterwards they all told her how they were ‘saddened’ to hear of Sakurai’s passing, though Ogawa told her that they previously shunned her as an irrational madwoman. Only after the Symphogears had become public knowledge did they suddenly show interest in Sakurai’s theories again, years after she had passed in soul and then in body.
“No wonder Fine could take hold of her… With people like these, peace could only be ever forced…” Elfnein shook her head, as she opened her terminal and began analyzing the combat data, of both their own and the enemy gears. And quickly she found something.
“All of our users synch rates are at significantly lowered!” She announced, while seeking the deeper cause.
The enemy’s song… No, it was not a song, not a melody. Just one singular, continuous disharmony they sang, with perfectly inhuman pitch. Isolating the pattern further and overlaying it with the sound pattern of the song their current three gears sang made it clear what the cause of Tsubasa, Maria and Chris’ struggle was.
“The enemy’s droning is suppressing the rate of our team.”
“Then we must simply overpower it.” Genjuro announced.
“Easier said than done…” One of the rookies responded. “The users are already singing in unison and it is just enough to keep phonic gain stable.”
Usually, the gain of a song could power them through a fight for a bit until they needed to recharge it with their song again, with the ultimate song breaking the limits of the amount a body could absorb without tearing at the seams. But now they had to do their best to keep their gears operational, while the enemies, though clearly controlled by an outside force, were firing from all cylinders with explosives, staff and spear and shield respectively.
“Classified the enemy gears as EG-Black, White and Gray for now.”
“I got a call through to Akatsuki and Tsukiyomi. Still no answer from Tachibana and Kohinata.”
“Great, patch me through.” Genjuro sighed, while glancing at his niece fighting… Although something seemed to be off about her stance. A slight shaking in her sword hand.
*
“Yes, we are out of danger…”
“Who is calling you?” Kuroko collapsed next to her friends, noticing Tsukoyomi and Akatsuki were on a phone, or something looking like one.
“Well, it is…”
“Mom. Just asking if we are fine” Shirabe barged into Kirika’s mumbling.
“Great… Oh thank you…” She was handed a water bottle which she finished in one gulp. “Your white-haired friend isn’t here.”
“She is still inside. Said she wanted to help people, dess.” Kirika did not tell a lie, but not the complete truth.
“Then we should find her too.” Mikoto was about to stand up, until Kuroko pushed her down.
“This is not something civilians should get involved in! You best stay put.” This was Kuroko’s final order when she left, leaving them as well as Saten and Uiharu in the crowded space in front of the music hall, filled with people in shock or being given first-aid.
“So…” Saten dusted herself off and started getting up. “Where have you seen your senpai last?”
“Saten!” Uiharu reprimanded her friend.
“We can’t just sit here on our butts doing nothing, Uiharu! And I don’t think anything can harm us with a Level 5 keeping watch over us. Although…”
“Although what?” Uiharu crossed her arms.
“Could you keep a watch of the CCTV in there? Just so we know where to go…” Saten gazed at her with puppy eyes.
“Sigh. As long as you stay with Mikoto you should be fine.” Uiharu pulled the laptop out of her bag.
“Great! Let’s go!” Saten stormed back in, followed closely by Mikoto and their two new friends.
The two things they noticed as they came back was the mixture of combat noises, so far so normal, but mixed with… music.
The other was that their two older companions had lost them.
“Where are Tsukoyomi and Akatsuki?” Saten looked back for just a second. A moment in which one of these strange beasts lunged at her.
“SATEN!” Mikoto screamed at the top of her lungs, while taking out one of her coins, fumbling it by letting it fall to the ground.
All Saten could do was close her eyes and wait for the inevitable. However, as she did one of the sources of the music drew closer.
WHAM!
A blue blur rammed into the crystalline beast shattering it into pieces.
“You!” Mikoto could barely see through the smoke, though the voice seemed familiar… “You need to leave now?”
“We are looking for someone… Yukine Chris… I think was her name.” Saten replied, her heart reeling from the near-death experience.
“Don’t worry… We got her. She is going to be…” A pair of indigo eyes pierced through the smoke. Only to be interrupted by a blazing flash going right past her.
Its source, the hand of the Tokiwadai student, had picked up her coin and fired it, not at her, but the Noise behind her.
“We will handle it from here.” Tsubasa reiterated them having to leave, before stabbing the stunned Noise, quickly glancing back at the two young girls. “This must be Tokiwadai’s ace: The Railgun.”
“Tsubasa, watch out!” Maria shouted, as the gray enemy gear, wielding a spear and shield, rammed her weapon right where she was a fraction of a second ago, deflecting Tsubasa’s counterblow with her round shield.
As Tsubasa began to sing again, facing this foe with Maria by her side, she could overhear the status reports of her comrades:
“Yukine here… This stupid bitch and her bombs, if this keeps going…”
“Tsukomyomi and Akatsuki, facing the white enemy gear!”
“Watch out Shirabe… That stick of hers… It is dangerous…” Kirika could be heard saying after what Tsubasa could eyes from afar as a but a simple tab of a staff, though it sent Kirka flying back, only to be caught by Shirabe.
But where was Hibiki?
*
This misfortune came in disguise of luck, Touma thought as they ran across the hall for their life, Judgement members were still out there to get people to safety, including one he knew too well, who teleported in front of them.
“Shortest way out is right there!” She pointed them to one of the emergency exits. “Are you fine?”
“Yes…” Hibiki nodded, clenching Miku’s hand, as did Touma with Index’s arm.
He could see her frown, but also the fact that right now there was no time for such childishness, with them running for the exit.
“Gah!” Miku stumbled and fell, Hibiki turning around to see Miku only a few steps away from her, with one of the strange mutations of Noise behind her.
“MIKU!” Hibiki’s heart was filled with the terror of losing her. Her sunshine. Her Miku. She walked a step and began, on instinct, to sing: “Balwisyall nescell …”
But it was too late. The noise had already raised its arm to strike her down. This couldn’t be happening, this…
“Kyah!” The guy they had only got to know a few hours ago rushed past him, putting himself between Miku and the Noise and raised his right hand against that of the Noise, seemingly ready to sacrifice himself.
“No!” Yet it was over before she could utter another syllable. Only, the boy did not perish, but the beast did. Not by turning into carbon dust or by cracking like glass, but by disappearing like a smoke cloud, as if had never been there in the first place.
“We better go!” Touma looked at the girl who was two years his major, looking at him picking Miku up and putting their hands back together. She blinked in disbelief but then followed him and Index. He could feel the grip of Hibiki Tachibana around his arm, a desperate grip.
Only after they passed the exit of the hall did they lessen their speed to a more leisurely pace.
“Kami-kun…” Hibiki glanced back from where they had just escaped, grabbing him by his arm. “Thank you.”
“Worth no thing…”
“No, I mean it! If it weren’t for you and… Whatever you just did.” Hibiki clutched his arm even tighter, the same arm that had just dissolved a Noise like it was nothing. “But… I need to go back and get others out.”
“Hibiki!” Miku protested.
“I will be fine. But Kami-kun… Would you keep her safe for me?”
“Of course…” He responded, his arm twitching. He himself wasn’t sure what these things were, but his gamble of them being supernatural had paid off, though he could still feel the adrenaline rushing through him. Anywhere else and he would have been a pile of dust right now.
“Great! And thank you...”
“Take care, Hibiki!” Miku shouted after her, only for the Lydian student to rush back into the fray.
“Now then… Crap. Where is Index?” Touma had made a promise to protect a girl, only to lose another one.
*
“Damnit!” Chris cursed between her lines while trying to get a shot on the black Symphogear with blonde hair chugging bombs everywhere. Well, she didn’t just throw them, instead she loaded them into a sling and lobbed them around.
BOOM!
“Gyah!” The dangerous ones were not even the ones that exploded on impact, but the ones which took a second to blow up, though she couldn’t figure out if they were on a timer or a remote trigger.
Meanwhile she could see from the periphery how Tsubasa and Maria struggled against the spearwoman, while Shirabe and Kirika couldn’t beat the white-haired girl with her staff.
“Where is that idiot when you need her?” Chris was thrown back by one blast, knocked back and right into the grasp of one of these white Noise, moving unlike any they faced before. She raised one of her pistols, ready to fire in its face. She needed to keep singing. It was like something was draining the phonic gain they generated, leaving them without the usual pauses. Yet before she could pull the trigger…
“Balwisyall nescell Gungnir trooooooooooooon…”
A golden lightning bolt rammed into the Noise, smashing it into a thousand pieces.
“What took you so long?”
“Had to get Miku out…” Hibiki smiled, before taking on one noise after the other wasting no time to get into the rhythm of the fight and song.
Then the bomb carpet knocked her off her feet. It's source, the black-clad enemy gear with the blind hair, was already summoning another volley of bombs to carpet the floor with.
“This isn’t going to work…” Hibiki muttered looking at Kirika and Shirabe, struggling against the white Symphogear with the staff. “Shirabe. Let’s switch up opponents!”
Shirabe slowed down, looked at Kirika who was deflecting the enemy’s blows and nodded. “Okay”
“What are you…” Chris stammered, already feeling the energy being drained out of her, even though she had only fired a few bullets, trying to contain the noise and the bomber.
Within moments notice, Shirabe rolled up using her Forbidden Full Moon Wheel. “Jump in and hold tight.”
The chariot-esque combination of Shirabe’s speed and Chris firepower proved just the thing the needed to thin out the Noise, all while avoiding the carpeting, with Chris even able to snipe a few bombs midair, even with them having to try and sing together.
“Hibiki don’t rush her she...” Genjuro warned over the comms. But Hibiki was never the once to prance about. All she needed to do was to hold down that staff of this white gear to disarm…
Crack! Her hand joint bent backwards.
“AAARGH!”
Kirika covered her, while Hibiki caught her breath. She could still feel her hand so maybe it was just sprained. She took a deep breath and used her left hand to put her broken right into its right place.
Crack! Hibiki gritted her teeth as the pain spiked and subsided, allowing her a brief moment to get a good look at the enemy Symphogears.
They didn’t sing, so much as drone on a single note. Their eyes were covered with visors, akin the the Direct Feedback System Miku wore with Shenshoujing a year ago. But even Miku sang, about love. They didn’t sing; they were like dolls with no strings. Or at least not visible ones.
“Tachibana.” Genjuro called her out though the comms. “Remember our Bagua lessons.”
“Yes, master!” Hibiki got up and took up stance. What was needed against this one was a more reactive and evasive. She had just touched the staff and got a sprain. A direct hit would be closer to lethal.
“Looks like your crew is all together…” Hibiki looked at the woman sitting behind cover, who had her weapon drawn.
“She is part of Anti-Skill. They will reinforce you shortly.”
“But you can’t… fight… the Noise.” Hibiki dodged and weaved the staff wielder’s perilous attacks, one of them landing into a pillar, twisting and breaking it. And while the Gungnir-wielder was able to dodge the flurry, she walked right into the swing range of the Noise still swarming the hall.
PENG! The arm of the noise shattered, with the woman reloading her gun.
“Academy City’s newest in Anti-Noise weapons. There will be more coming in two minutes.”
Hibiki grinned. “Easy enough!” And reengaged into the fight.
The bridge crew meanwhile noticed something else.
“There are unknown signals coming from the basement of the building.”
“More Symphogears?” Genjuro rubbed his temples.
“No…” Elfnein tried to analyze it. “It seems to be the source of the drain… And not just of phonic gain.” As an alchemist she had a few insights into the arcane, as well as the scientific method. From what she could interpret from the results the computer churned through, this looked like… sorcery. Dark sorcery.
*
Index could sense it, beneath the magical waves caused by whatever was fighting just above her, there was some darker power. Magic comes in many forms, as is the usual case with idol theory. What she felt coming from the stairs she was walking down was like a void sucking in more and more power, like an insatiable beast. The grimoires she was forced to memorize were abundant with this kind of dark sorcery. The kind that was banned not just by the church, but by anyone with common sense.
Books of things unmentionable in the human tongue, which even its utterance would drive mortals to pierce their eardrums. Particularly the writings of one Abdul Alhazred, the Kitab al-Azif.
A twisted mirror of idol theory, for while the book speaks of its own idols, it also has passages of twisting idols to its own design, mirroring the Christian history adoption of many Pagan traditions, weaving them into its own being. As such was the power of God to bring the old pagan Gods to heel.
A power which vile things naturally desire for its own and twist good to evil, turn light to dark and heaven to hell, until none could differentiate the two. Just like the woman Index was now spying at from a corner.
She was garbed in black, a pointed hat adoring her head, her face beneath it veiled. She was magically interacting with some kind of dark-glowing machine, Index couldn’t really figure out what it was… but it could have something to do with phonic energy judging from the energy emanating from it.
The woman’s mumblings were barely audible, but they were… in an inhuman tongue. She repeatedly also knocked on the machine with what looked like a tuning fork. With the other hand she periodically snapped her fingers, the energy roaring from it freezing her blood.
She needed to leave! Whoever this woman was and whatever dark heretical ritual she was performing, it had to do with the chaos above. Perhaps Touma…
Clang! She knocked over some lost boxes filled with a bunch of random things as she tried to sneak away.
SNAP! The woman was gone from the machine.
SNAP! A hand grabbed Index’s throat, a soft, yet deeply harrowing voice crept into her ear. “Sieh an! After all this time the church has sent one of their lapdogs to spy on me…”
*
The hall rang with the sound of music and the clashing of weapons. Symphogear against Symphogear. Yet even though they outnumbered the enemy two to one they would not budge.
While Hibiki and Kirika handled the white staff wielder and Chris and Shirabe drew the bombs of the black Symphogear, Maria and Tsubasa faced the grey one, wielding both spear and shield, with exceptional skill.
Her thrust only missed them by a hair’s breadth, and her shield always seemed to be just where they were targeting her.
Tsubasa bit her lip, something felt off. The stance her enemy was taking and the voice… A thought entered her mind for just a moment. A terrible one at that. An impossibility which she pushed aside the moment it entered. Yet still.
After the spearwoman nearly skewered Maria, the duo took defensive stance and took a moment to rest, but not to stop singing. The two, once enemies, had by now come to know each other very well, be they on stage or in combat, though the difference was minimal. One was to bedazzle the audience, the other to overwhelm the opponent.
In either case they were one wavelength, already knowing what the other’s steps would be, though the bridge did help to coordinate with each other.
Maria would faint a frontal assault so Tsubasa could take advantage of the opportunity.
CLANG! Maria’s blade clashed with the shield, all the while grabbing the spear of her enemy, allowing Tsubasa to take the initiative and finally land a blow.
Splinters of the grey Symphogears helmet scattered through the air, revealing a single eye. One very familiar to Tsubasa and for a moment, she stopped singing.
“Thi is… impossible…”
“Phonic gain levels dropping at an alarming rate…” The drain on their energy ate itself through the already thin reserves Tsubasa managed to build up over the fight. “Kazanari…”
“This can’t be!” Tsubasa gazed into the eyes she had last seen many years ago. Eyes of a girl she had seen turning to ash right in front of her. Eyes now gazing at her, lifeless, bereft of emotion and the beauty they once held. “THIS CANNOT BE!!!”
All caution was thrown in the wind, as Tsubasa charged at her, her song echoing grief, shock and disbelief. “You cannot be Kanade! You just…”
“Energy rising again but…”
“But?” Maria asked.
“It is unstable, not to mention…”
Maria saw the tears rolling down the bluehaired idols cheeks as she pummeled on the redmaned wielder with the eyes of a dead woman. “I get it.”
It took Maria a while to posture herself and backup Tsubasa, both in combat and melodically, though she was merely the backdrop, to her wrath, her grief, her sorrow, barely able to keep up with her.
The song of anguish roared across the hall, reaching even Hibiki.
The gungnir wielder looked over to Tsubasa, only for her to barely dodge an attack from the white enemy Symphogear.
If nothing would change they would not be able to contain both the Noise and the enemy fighters.
“Hey, yellow!” She heard the Anti-Skill agent, peeking out from her cover, taking potshots at the noise. “Go help your friend, we’ll cover you!”
“I don’t want to get you hurt… Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’?”
Hibiki’s question was answered by explosions from the roof, followed by two dozen personnel dropping from the ceiling by the cable: They were clad in tactical gear, each carrying assault weapons, except one who was holding two.
“Yomikawa-Senpai!” She tossed the weapon to the Anti-Skill agent, who checked and cocked it.
“Don’t worry, girls! The adults got your back now!”
Hibiki felt relieved. The noise at least would be contained now. As half a dozen was now engaging the white enemy, Hibiki ran over to the grey Symphogear clashing with Maria and Tsubasa.
“Tsubasa, it is all…”
“YOUCANNOTBEHERIWATCHEDHERFADEWITHINMYARMS” Tsubasa’s song was guttural, it’s lyrics more screamed than sung. And Maria could barely keep up with both Tsubasa or the redmaned Symphogear.
“I will not stand by while you make Senpai…. mad…” As Hibiki tackled her, she could see her revealed eye for but a second.
This was undoubtedly the eyes of the girl who had given her life that day to save her. Whose shards had been lodged in her chest for years after that. Whose Symphogear she had inherited and was now wearing.
This was Kanada Amou. But it could not be. There had not been so much as a scrap to bury. Yet here she was, attempting to kill innocents.
The same thoughts that had taken ahold of Tsubasa were now boiling up in Hibiki. Denial. Anger. Anguish. Rage. It could not be it…
At that moment, Hibiki felt more than heard, a soothing melody.
“Rei Shénshòujìng rei zizzl”
It was her sunshine, driving away the darkness engulfing her heart.
“We have located the Aufwachen Signal coming from the basement: It is Shenshoujing!” The bridge was worried, naturally. Miku, after being freed from Shem-Ha’s grasp, had never activated her gear outside of training scenarios. But Hibiki trusted that she would be fine. Not to mention that guy with the noise-cancelling hand was with her, who had promised to keep her safe. She had that feeling in her gut that he was someone that could be trusted.
“Miku…” She began to sing a melody. Tsubasa knew it. It was the same Kanade sung, though the text was different. Soon enough her tears started to dry as they engaged the grey Symphogear as a trio, though the grip on her sword was still uneasy, her voice wavering.
*
“Let Index go!” Index heard Touma shout as he charged the witch who held her in a demonic grasp, fist balled.
The witch managed to dodge his attack, but he opened the fist to touch the grasping shadowy hand around Index neck, making it disappear the moment he touched it.
“Well, well… Don’t you have a fascinating power… And Index…” The witch eyed the nun. “The Index… After all those years, it was a human they used as a repository…”
“What are you doing!? Why are you attacking us?” Miku, for now standing back, shouted at her, her voice charged with pure wrath only a soul like hers could have. “They have done nothing to you!”
“Such is the way of the world. ‘The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must’”
Neither of the teenagers was visibly taken by her words.
“I will punch that delusion out of your…”
SNAP!
A golem appeared on Touma’s left side. Before he could destroy it, it grabbed him by his left arm and flung him into the corner.
“I like the power in your right arm…” The witch, calm and collected, walked up to the groaning Touma, grabbed his right shoulder and with a snap of her fingers, conjured a knife. “I think I will take it!”
“Rei Shénshòujìng rei zizzl” The voice was soft, but the impact was enough to knock her away and when the golem she conjured rushed in front of her to shield her, it was pierced by a ray of light.
Touma squinted his eyes at the bright light, taking a moment to see…
Miku, in the same kind of skintight, yet mechanical outfit he saw from the three girls who had attacked the concert.
The girl did not speak to the witch who was now getting up, snapping twice to summon one golem each, instead she sang.
“(Burnin') The fist you clench to fight (Burnin') and the pain in your heart…”
“Stealing my work? Finé… You bitch…” The witch uttered, her cool demeanor having melted away. With two snaps flames formed in her hands. Purple in color, cloaking a darkness beneath.
Miku in contrast did not break eye contact with her whatsoever, except once, when she nudged Touma toward the machine behind the witch.
With no words from the witch and Miku continuing to sing, the two women clashed. Rays of light entangling dark fire. Rays of justice against infernal flames. All the while Touma ran towards Index trying his best to avoid the golem set upon him, the other aiding its mistress in the clash against the musical heroine.
“Soulash…” Index mumbled as Touma helped her up.
“What?”
“She is using… Christ…” This was the first time he had heard her speaking her Lord’s name in vain. “We need to shut it down!”
Crack! The golem’s fist shattered the wall where Index had been lying against a second ago. Shielded by Touma’s Imagine breaker she ran to the machine, humming deeply, glowing in a sickly green light.
“The source must be…” The nun was inspecting the machine, lacking controls. “There is magic… but there seems to be no…”
“No what?” Touma swerved another one of the golems attack, the music Miku was singing roaring in the background.
“No way for it to be controlled with a spell. It is more like…”
“Is there some sort of wire or chord we could pull?”
“Wire? Chord? Those things don’t conduct magic…” Of course, Index was a tech-illiterate beyond imagination. “No, the souls are contained in there with…”
“Souls?”
“That woman is using human souls to power her magic!”
Touma held in, as did Miku who heard ‘human souls’, and redoubled her attacks on the witch. Whatever the two were trying to do, she had to keep the witch’s attention.
Said witch also finally noticed them tinkering around with her machine. “Do not dare…!”
Her dark fire was blocked by another of Miku’s attacks of pure light. The song, sickly sweet, causing a rage in the witch. “Dir werde ich als erstes die Zunge rausschneiden!”
“If souls are trapped in there… Is there some kind of lock?”
“Lock… Lock… I think…” Index touched the machine, her hands shaking as she tried to decipher the magical lines on the machine, the combat noise and music intensifying. “There is a rune here…”
“Move out of the way!” Touma ordered her, wasting no time in touching the rune with his right hand.
“Du Kleiner…” The witch finally made a mad dash, only to be tackled by Miku.
Imagine Breaker made short work of the rune. The machine roared, and surge of power escaped it, along with human-sounding screams.
“So much for this harvest…” The witch though visibly angry, composed herself quickly and, before she could be apprehended, tapped the tuning fork on a bracelet on her opposite arm. “I will come back for that hand.”
The next second, she disappeared.
As did the three Symphogears of hers above, along with all the Noise, leaving everyone baffled.
They had won, but without knowing just who attacked them and barely why.
*
She had been so excited to see her favorite Idols perform, only for the concert to be crashed by noise of all things. She shook her head. This is not how she should be thinking about this. She got away with only a few minor injuries besides her leg getting broken by the debris from one of the attacks.
“How are you holding up?” She could not believe it, rubbing her eyes. It were indeed Tsubasa and Maria standing right in front of her hospital bed.
“OHMYGOOOOOOUCH!” She wanted to get up and shake her hands, only to be reminded of her leg. “What are you doing here?”
“Just checking up on our fans…” Maria responded, a wide motherly smile on her face.
“T..hank you… eh…” The fan stuttered for a moment, thinking about if she really should ask her idols a trifling question. “C…could I have your autograph?”
“Sure…” Tsubasa sighed relieved and unbothered, pulling out a pen she had gotten from a nurse many, many rooms ago after the first time someone asked for their signatures. “Where do you want it?”
The girl looked around, and without any proper paper or even merch to sign, pointed to the cask around her leg.
The idols were a bit shocked, but still put down their signatures, Tsubasa a bit perturbed by how the fangirl was stroking the hard shell keeping her leg safe.
While they kept up appearances throughout this post-concert publicity event, Maria noticed Tsubasa dropping the smile as soon as she saw it.
“Should we take a break?” Maria asked her in between hospital rooms.
“No, it is…” Tsuabasa bit her lip, when Maria pulled up a couple of chairs in a visitor waiting area, waiting for her to sit down. “I am glad… There were no deaths this time.”
“I couldn’t believe it myself when that Dr. Heavencanceller told us that. Certainly did his name justice today.”
There had been close calls according to him, including amputations, with the staff at multiple hospitals having to do overtime, but in the end, when the good, though froglike doctor was sharing the casualties with S.O.N.G., having done the adaptors checkups as well, after being asked if there had been any deaths, he could not find reports of any.
“You didn’t have to hug him for it though.” Maria joked, though Tsubasa just smiled grimly. “I am more worried what he said about you having to rest your vocal cords.”
During Tsubasa’s checkup he noted that while she was physically fit, she ought to give her vocal cords some rest, as they had been ‘under tension and slightly swelled’, advising tea and a rest from singing, “unless it could not be avoided at any cost”. The way he said it made Maria think that he likely knew about their status as Symphogear wielders, though she was not sure.
“How would you react if you saw someone dear you thought died?” Tsubasa mumbled into her knees, clenching her hands around her clothes. “And worse, to fight them.”
Maria just put her hand over Tsubasa’s shoulder, unable to find the words to describe the exact feeling she would have if she saw Serena being puppeteer like the grey Symphogear with a red mane. Rage, confusion, panic, despair.
It took a while for Tsubasa to calm down, rubbing out her eyes only to see Genjuro in front of them.
“Sorry, uncle… I just…”
“You have all right to be upset.” He stated simply, though not as grandiose as she would have expected. “I have spoken with Miss Yomikawa. About the attack…”
“Did they discover something?”
“Little. Someone disrupted CCTV systems of the stadium, meaning some evidence can’t be collected. However, she has gotten me into communication with her superiors who have agreed to extend our stay beyond the usual period agreed with the city board. While the noise could be dispatched with the weapons Anti-Skill have, the enemy Symphogears are only matched by their own. ”
“Fighting fire with fire…” Maria chuckled, knowing full well she had been once on the other side as well. “I certainly would not have expected Academy City to allow a UN organization to operate on their turf.”
“It just shows how desperate the situation is.” Genjuro sighed in exhaustion, a rare sight indeed.
“I guess we can rearrange our usual schedule to be on standby, but what about the others?” Tsubasa got up and dusted her dress off. The other wielders would still have to attend school.
“Luckily they will be in town for the time being: You know that Tokiwadai and Lydian had a long partnership.”
“Right…” Tsubasa smiled. She had fond memories of visiting the Middle school with Kanade during their time together at Lydian. Especially the private concerts in the dorm for the younger students getting them into constant trouble with dorm supervisor, a woman who she was sure at the time would even make her grandfather tremble. “I wonder how it is nowadays. I do hope they will enjoy their time there.”
*
“And now to commemorate this exchange of elegance and knowledge, one of each of our students will play in a duet. Please welcome, Miku Kohinata…” The teacher of Lydian who had accompanied her student gestured towards the demure girl on stage and toward the piano provided by Tokiwadai.
“And Mikoto Misaka.” Tokiwadai’s Ace, announced by her homeroom teacher walked onto the stage with her violin.
It had been a tradition since the first time, when two of their students accidentally chosen the same song to perform and decided to play as a duet, that one of each school would learn one part of a song and join on the day of the exchange into a duet, to show just how well entuned the two schools were, despite their very different dispositions. One a highschool focused on musical education, the other a middle school with advanced, university-level curriculum.
“This year’s piece and fitting for the end of this season: Vivaldi’s Winter Movement 1” The Tokiwadai teacher announced, and the two began playing, making it clear what these two schools had in common: The refinement of their student body, as well as the skill in their respective fields, with both having much to learn from each other.
“You were so great, Miku!” Hibiki practically bulldozed the poor piano player as soon as she walked off stage. “I do have to say, the building does remind me of the new Lydian building a lot.”
“Probably because Tokiwadai helped in the reconstruction of our school.” Miku clarified. “Not to mention them helping Lydian with temporary dorms and classrooms.”
It was usually a rarity that any institution in Academy City would go this far for anyone outside the city’s perimeter. But the two had a tight bond since Lydian’s founding, and some of the destruction of various events hitting them as well, solidarity in such times was a thing to be cherished.
“By the way.” Hibiki pulled out one of the various snacks she had gotten from Tokiwadai’s cafeteria. “The commander asked me if you could contact the guy who helped you down there… I would like to talk with him too…”
“Never heard you show interest in a boy.” Miku feigned jealousy, making Hibiki swallow the bean bun in one go.
“I… I just want to thank him… He saved you… and… ”
“And.”
“I can’t even think what I would do without my sunshine…” Hibiki pouted. “Also, what his strange power is. It takes real courage to face noise head on even with it…”
“Maybe…”
“Maybe we can be friends.” Hibiki couldn’t put her finger on it, but she kind of got along very well with him. She could respect someone who put himself above others.
“What did Commander Kazanari want from him anyway?” Miku and Hibiki were sitting with the other students to be called by their number to be paired with a host in the school’s dorm where they would stay.
“Eh… Mostly him signing an NDA… You know… Usual procedure… He was pretty annoyed when you told him that he just walked off. Also, a more detailed report about what happened down there. They didn’t have cameras there. And from what you told me some crazy stuff went on down there.”
“’I got into enough crazy events for my liking recently…’ That’s what he said.” Miku still remembered how exhausted he looked after she de-transformed. He didn’t even ask her about the Symphogear or what it was. What kind of things did he go through on a regular basis, that her Shenshoujing was just another Tuesday for him? The nun on the other hand… Index went along with Kamijou, but she gave Miku a peculiar look as they went their separate ways, like she was analyzing her, or her relic to be precise. “How would I even find him in the city? I don’t even have his contacts.”
“Relax…” Hibiki giggled as she threw another bun from their packed snacks down her gullet. “Can’t be so many Kamijou Toumas, can there?”
“I’d like to have your optimism. You think Shirabe and Kirika have been assigned to their roommates yet?
“47” The announcement came from the speaker.
“Ah… that’s us!” Hibiki got up, still chewing.
Miku was surprised when they met their roommates, one of them she had just performed with.
“Oh, isn’t that the girl you just went on stage with, Onee-sama?” The younger of them, wearing twintails eyed them… with suspicion?
“I guess we can spare half of the introduction then, Kohinata?” Mikoto looked at them, not overly too friendly, but not closed off, kinda cool, Hibiki thought.
“I am Tachibana Hibiki!” Hibiki burst out, hugging Miku from behind. “And this is my sunshine!”
“Oh, I see. We are going to get along swimmingly.” Shirai, previously pretty cordial, suddenly beamed with joy, attempting to hug Mikoto from behind as well. “My name is Shirai Kuroko. You already know who Onee-sama is by now.”
“Onee-sama?” Hibiki looked puzzled at them. “You got different names… And you don’t really look like you are related.”
“Because…” Mikoto let a tiny bolt of electricity fly towards Kuroko’s feet making her jolt, trying her best to keep a straight face. “We. Are. Not. Related.”
*
Having parked their new second base, situated in a large aircraft large enough to house their own local servers,in one of Anti-Skill bases meant for their choppers, Genjuro and the rest of S.O.N.G. got to work to find out what they could about the recent attack.
Yomikawa had helped them quite a bit by giving them supervised access to the city’s databanks of potential suspects, but nothing quite matched up. None of the potential perpetrators around could possibly have access to relic related technology, and the one that did had alibis.
Most of all there was no clear motive or group claiming responsibility. FIS had come out during their attack on the concert; Carol had also been up and front. Only the Illuminati and Nobel Red had been somewhat cryptic.
But there was no point of entry here. Nothing tangible to get hold of except…
“That boy and the mysterious nun…” Miku had briefly described what had gone down there. She had fought together with two civilians against a witch of sorts and destroyed a machine. A machine which even Elfnein could not make sense of. ‘Strange runework, and power sources I do not really comprehend.’ It was also pretty badly damaged, making any further research impossible.
But the nun might know how it worked. And the boy. In any case, a hand which could simply make Noise disappear was very useful in any case.
“Ogawa?” He called over one of his subordinates, who was Tsubasa’s manager by day and a ninja by night. “Could you track down they boy Kohinata and Tachibana met? I think his name was Kamijou Touma.”
“No problem…” Ogawa nodded, immediately pulling up various school yearbooks to filter through.
*
“Yo, Zakky! Wassup!” Tsuchimikado greeted her as she walked into the arrival hall of Academy City’s airport. “Do you know why the Necessarius called us to pick Orsola up?”
“Not really… But it likely must have to do something with the attack on the concert.”
“Are you a fan of that idol? I know Tsubasa is quite popular. Everyone in school talked about nothing else but her and Maria for the last few weeks.”
“No, it is not like that.” Kanzaki Kaori, wearing her usual asymmetric outfit of top and torn jeans looked around to find the recent arrival from London. “It is a long story…”
“Do tell me. I still can’t seem to find it. Oh!”
In the distance they saw a European woman wearing a nun’s habit walking towards them. She didn’t look like her usual chipper and airheaded self. In fact, she was rather dour.
“When did you start flying here anyway? You must have left London only an hour after the attack here.”
“Well, I did plan to come here anyway. But that attack only made my research more urgent…”
“Why is that?” Kanzaki was curious at the nun’s grim haste.
“I don’t want to rush things until I am absolutely certain… I have discovered leads in some cold cases from World War 2 of all things… But also…”
Orsola looked around, then gestured them to come close so she could whisper to them.
The blood in their veins froze as they heard the name of a book, which at this point had been banned or at least highly restricted in most countries on this planet, written over a millenia ago by a madman under the title Kitab al-Azif.
*
“Ugh, I am home!” Yomikawa shuffled through the doorway
“YAAAY, you are back, says Misaka as Misaka runs towards Yomi-san to give her a big hug!” Last order rammed into her ward to give her a hug, just like she said. Right now, it felt really nice, even if it was bothersome to slip out of her shoes with Last Order wanting her attention.
From the living room she could hear the television blaring. It sounded like some kind of action movie. Yomikawa finally managed to move closer, with Last Order still tailing her.
“How was your day?” She surprised the couple sitting there. Well, they would obviously deny it, being teenagers. Very unusual teenagers. “Is that something Last Order should watch?”
“SHE wanted to watch it.” Accelerator glared at her, without changing his posture. “It is really boring…”
“Says the one who moments ago could not take his eyes of it!” Misaka Worst, who while she looked older than the original Misaka Mikoto, was as a clone naturally younger than her, jabbed Accelerator in his sides.
“Stop. It.”
“Give me one good reason with you making such funny noises. Hahaha…”
“Say, didn’t you tell me you wanted to go to the cinema today?” Yomikawa remembered them talking about that yesterday, with Last Order pestering them until her bedtime.
‘Misaka wants to go to the cinema and see Oni Slayer, says Misaka while angrily slamming her fists on the table to threaten you.’ Her speech pattern could be quite comedic at times.
“That was the plan, but you and your dipshits locked down the entire 6th district! So no movie and Last Order bawling her eyes out.”
“It was fun rewatching the last movie though, Misaka gushes while Misaka remembers the one moment where…”
“Yeah, there was a situation… Can’t say more right now.”
“Confidentiality?” Worst chuckled. “We’ll get it from the Misaka Network soon enough.”
“Speaking of the devil. Has Kikyo been able to help them and their unusual problem.”
“Nope, still feel the confusion from them.” Worst answered her.
For months now, the Misaka clones had been plagued by a strange conundrum: When they did their usual headcount, they came up short by about a dozen clones. And no matter what they did, the number they came up with always ended up short with what it should be.
Yoshikawa Kikyou, a former researcher on the Level 6 Shift and her fellow ward of this trio, eventually was asked to dig out the inventory of the clones and look up what happened to each of the remaining ones. It was only less than half of the original 20000 clones produced, but a massive undertaking which took her entire day. Yomikawa Aiho hoped she would be at least home by dinner.
“Did you make something to eat already?”
“Eh, we could just order takeout…” Accelerator scratched the little device on his choker.
“Last time we did, it nearly gave me food poisoning!” Worst complained. “Gah, I am starving though.”
“No problem says Misaka while Misaka runs to the kitchen and tries to take out random pots she sees. I and Yomi-san, will create a meal that will water your mouth, Misaka brags, even though she is kind of afraid of burning herself on the stove.”
“Very well…” Yomikawa sighed. She already had to deal with kids at both of her workplaces, rowdy students and criminal students, and at home with her wards. “What do you say about pancakes?”
“Oh yes, Misaka shouts, Misaka already thinking about all the kinds of things she wants in her pancakes.”
As the two cooked, the pair on the couch switched to a news report of the attack in the concert hall in district 6. It was the stuff Yomikawa already knew: Hundreds of Injured, but no casualties. Perpetrators are suspected terrorists but no clear motive. S.O.N.G. involvement due to noise.
As the newscaster talked with various guests about what UN involvement would mean for Academy City’s independence and whether to involve the local Japanese forces, the memory of battle resurfaced into Aiho’s mind, while flipping the pancakes.
Of a white Symphogear, a sort of mobile battle suit powered by music, from what she understood and her ability to reflect all attacks: Projectiles, Weapons, Punches like the one of… what was her name… Tachibana.
There was only one person who had an ability just like her and he sat motionless on the couch while complaining about the ‘eggheads who need a beating’ on screen.
But it was impossible that he could be related to the incident. His was an esper ability, not whatever these Symphogears were drawing from, not to mention the adaptors all being female, which he very much wasn’t and him having a solid alibi of having to babysit Last Order. But still, she denied the truth which she had seen with her very own eyes when that white-haired Symphogear had reflected all attacks fired on her with a nigh proficiency of the red-eyed boy currently sitting on the couch.
*
Their master’s orders had been precise:
“Disengage, detransform and disperse. There are still things I need in the city. If you find any S.O.N.G. adaptors engage with prejudice. Do the same if you find the boy carrying the Imagine Breaker.”
The trio, now in civilian disguises, didn’t question these orders. It was their mistress, their creator, after all and they were just her humble instruments.
Silent and with dead eyes they walked through the thinning crowds of the city as day became night. Mindless, thoughtless, awaiting nothing more than either a sighting of an enemy or a new order from their mistress.
The white-haired doll, for what else would you call a girl with dead eyes and no thoughts of her own, walked into an old railyard of the city. She did not know why, but this place drew her with an invisible force from the depths of her brain.
The orange-maned doll staid in the 5th district, her eyes often drawn to the storefronts where merchandise of the concert held today had been sold. She recognized the blue haired girl as an enemy adaptor… But there was also something more… Something which she did not investigate further as no order had been given.
The blond doll, wearing a black dress and hat walked by a restaurant. The smell was enticing her, but it would have been against her orders and so she just passed by the window.
She also did not notice the woman form inside the restaurant, sitting with 2 other girls and a guy, staring at her with disbelief, and shortly after running out of the building and a bit further.
“Hey, Mugino. What is the hangup!?” The guy in her group ran after her.
“Nothing, Hamazura…” She growled, trying to overplay her shock of seeing a dead girl walking. “I just thought I saw a ghost.”