Part 12

"So...let me get this straight. I'm supposed to believe that the two of you are magical girls who need to search for evidence that would clear our seniors' innocence so that you can get them back?" Chris said in a disbelieving tone as she stood with her arms folded and glaring at Kirika angrily.

"Er...yes?" Kirika said in a timid manner and Chris promptly responded by smacking the back of her head.

"What kind of an idiot do you take me for? Next time, you should just come up with a more believable story than that. Now, come on. Let's get you home," she said and reached out to take Kirika's hand.

"Wait," Shirabe said and stepped in front of Chris. "She is telling the truth, you know," she said and took out the crystal pendant to show it to Chris. The latter leaned forward and stared at the crystal for a moment, frowning at the sight of the gem.

"What exactly is this thing supposed to be?" Chris asked a second before Shirabe sang softly. The former's eyes widened at the sight of Shirabe's body glowing and changing into her Phantom Thief outfit and Kirika grinned widely as she stepped to the side and pointed at Chris triumphantly.

"Now do you believe me?" she asked and Chris grabbed her finger, pulling on it in annoyance.

"A little...but the whole secret organization underneath the school is a little dumb. Why is there one in the first place and does that mean that we shouldn't trust any of the teachers?" she asked and Kirika hesitated; she had not told Chris this and she wondered if she should in the first place.

In the end, she decided to keep that little secret as she shook her head and said, "Who cares? That's not the important thing right now." She placed her hands on Chris' shoulders and gave her a solemn look. "The important thing is...will you help us out?" she asked in a grave manner.

As Shirabe switched back to her normal clothes, Chris hesitated before saying, "I don't know...this sounds like a lot of trouble and..."

"If you do that, we can get you a personalized autograph from Serena Cadenzavna Eve," Kirika said slyly even as Shirabe gave her a fierce look and a painful pinch on her arm.

"Eh?"

"I'm saying that we can get you something from Serena if you help us out. She will be extremely grateful to you and we can get something as simple as an autograph from her..." Kirika said, egging Chris on as best as she can. She could tell it was working too; the conflicted look on Chris' face told her all she needed to know.

"Argh!" the older girl suddenly shouted out before glaring at her. "Fine! I can help you out a bit. Or at least, I can hide the two of you," she said before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her wallet. After a quick rummage, she took out a key and a card before handing them to Kirika.

The younger girl stared at the key for a moment before a grin appeared on her face. "Wait, is this what I think it is?" she asked and Chris nodded.

"Yeah. It's the key to the my family's vacation house. No one should be there now and it's pretty secluded so those agents should have a hard time looking for you. Use it like a secret base or something like that. I'll call you later to check on you," Chris said.

"Er..." Kirika said, remembering something and she explained to her childhood friend that the agents had taken her phone from her. Sighing, Chris exchanged numbers with Shirabe before she turned around and walk away.

"Stay safe, okay?" Chris said to the two of them and Kirika nodded, waving goodbye to her friend. Shirabe stared at Chris as she walked away before turning to Kirika.

"She has a vacation house?"

"Yup. C'mon! Let's get out of here before we get caught," Kirika said with a grin and Shirabe nodded, letting Kirika lead the way this time. As they ran, Kirika paused and asked Shirabe, "Hey...do you think Serena minds if we use her like this?"

"She'll be fine with it. She likes giving out stuffs to her fans so she'll probably even toss in an extra bonus for Chris after this is done."

"Sweet! Can I get one from you?"

Shirabe rolled her eyes and gestured at Kirika to continue running instead, prompting the latter to complain even as they ran to Chris' house.

***

"Wow..." Shirabe said in awe when they arrived at Chris' vacation house and Kirika grinned as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. It had taken them nearly two hours to reach here through a combination of taking the bus and running here but they finally made it.

The house itself is located in the northern section of the city, up on a hill and surrounded by a glade. According to Chris, her parents bought this house a while back and use it as a place to relax after they would finish a major tour. Kirika recalled coming here twice before and both times were on Christmas so that they could do a double celebration.

"Just how rich is your friend?" Shirabe asked as they approached the door and Kirika unlocked it with the card first followed by the key.

"I don't know. Her parents are world famous though so...probably really rich I guess?" she said with a shrug and the two of them entered the building. A rush of stale air hit them and Shirabe waved away the dust that flew out to greet her.

"They could use someone to clean this place up a little more regularly," she said with a cough before the two of them entered the building and Kirika locked the door behind them.

"This is a nice place...but what do we do now? We can't exactly search for clues about the third party while we're waiting here," Shirabe said and Kirika nodded her head.

"Guess we're going to have to come up with a plan first then and think about things," Kirika said, causing Shirabe to groan in pain. "What? Just because I'm not that good with thinking doesn't mean I can't be smart," she said defensively and this made Shirabe smirk.

"Well...you did figure out who I was on our first day at school so I'll give you that," she said. "I guess we can go with making plans for now." She sat down on the ground before Kirika pulled her up and dragged her to the living room and onto a couch.

"Better," she said cheerfully before looking at Shirabe. "I think we might need to think about who would want to harm both the 2nd Division and the Phantom Thieves," she said seriously.

"That's a good start. Any ideas?" Shirabe asked as she took out her phone, ready to take notes on the situation.

"Well...maybe it's the Noise?" Kirika suggested. "We've been killing them and they want us fighting each other so that they can do their stuff?"

"Only if you want to suggest the idea that there is an intelligent force that is controlling the Noise," Shirabe said. "The Noise are just monsters wrecking havoc with no rhyme or reason. As far as I can tell, they don't really have any kind of intelligence and they don't usually try any kind of complex tactics when fighting us."

"Well, yeah. I am suggesting that. I mean...it is the obvious reason that I can think of," Kirika said. "Otherwise, the other options are other people who want to use the Gears for their own purposes."

"Like who?" Shirabe asked and Kirika scratched her head.

"I...I don't really know. I spend most of my time with Tsubasa and Kanade so I didn't really get a chance to get to know the other people in the base. I'd suggest Fudo but it doesn't make sense for him to sabotage his own organization..." she said after a while.

"Unless he thought that everything wasn't going his way?" Shirabe suggested and Kirika closed her eyes.

"Well...he did try to get some high school kid into Ydalir before it was stolen but why would he steal it though? We were short-handed and he was getting what he wanted," she said after a while and Shirabe sighed.

"Maybe it was Kazanari-sensei or Sakurai-sensei instead?" the latter suggested after a moment.

"Why though? I mean, no one likes the old boss but they also wanted to have as many people fighting the Noise as well. Even Kazanari-sensei wants to fight the Noise himself but he can't because the crystals won't respond to him for some reason," Kirika said.

"I guess," Shirabe folded her arms and leaned back against the couch. "This is difficult..." she said and Kirika nodded her head as she rambled off a few ideas.

"Maybe...maybe it was a foreign country that did that. Like the Americans," she suggested and Shirabe glanced at her.

"That might be possible...but how are they able to go toe to toe with the mech suits? It's not like the Americans have the technology or resources to pull that off," she said and Kirika gave her a curious look. "Have you ever heard of other countries with mech suits?"

"No...not really..." Kirika said with a loud sigh before closing her eyes. After a short while, an idea popped into her mind and she mulled it over before deciding to just say it.

"What if, it was Fine who stole the Gears?" she said aloud and Shirabe immediately punched her in the side. "Ow...I'm just saying. I mean, I can't think of a reason why she did it though so I'm just tossing ideas around right now."

Shirabe rolled her eyes and said, "Well, saying that is like saying Utahime is the villain of the show, you know. I mean, it might work in a different show but..."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Kirika said and looked up at the ceiling. "Unless she happens to be a priestess from the ancient past who fell in love with God or something like that..."

The other girl gave her a dirty look. "Will you stop with the idea that Fine is the mastermind behind this mess please?" she said, her voice raising in volume and Kirika nodded quickly before looking away. After a moment's pause, Shirabe sighed and said, "Where did you hear that story from anyway?"

"Oh. Sakurai-sensei actually. I asked her the story about the murals on the elevator going down to the base and she told me that it was the story of a priestess who built a tower so that she can confess her love to God or something like that. She said it was just a joke or something like that."

"Really?" Shirabe looked to be deep in thought before she said, "I heard something like that from Fine. She said she was a priestess from ancient times until an incident happened that stripped her of her rank and she was forced to lay low. I always assumed that it was the Noise but now that you told that story..."

Kirika laughed nervously. "Don't think too much about it. Sakurai-sensei said it was just a joke and besides, how would she know about that story in the first place? It might just be a coincidence that their stories are pretty similar to each other's," she said.

"Hmm..." Shirabe pursed her lips together and closed her eyes. "Maybe. I'll try asking Fine about it the next time we talk." The two girls are silent for a moment until Shirabe's phone buzzed suddenly and Kirika let out a loud 'Death' from the surprise.

"Oy...that's my catchphrase, not yours," Shirabe said, sounding both amused and annoyed at the same time as she took the phone out. It turned out to be a text message from Chris, saying that they will be there after school is over.

"They?" she said aloud and Kirika grinned in response to her question.

***

Several more hours passed and Kirika had dozed off during this time. She woke up to Shirabe shaking her shoulder and she got up, rubbing her eyes blearily. "What is it..." she said before Shirabe pushed the phone in front of her face.

"Wait for our signal," it read and Kirika nodded in understanding. "I think they're on their way here," she said, rubbing her shoulders and glancing at the time on the phone. Nearly five in the evening, she thought to herself.

Suddenly a knock sounded on the front door and the two girls jumped up, startled by the noise. A second knock followed soon and two more knocks appeared in rapid succession. Wait...is that the signal, Kirika wondered to herself. She did not think that they had established one before that.

A short while later, Shirabe received another text which read, "Open up, you idiot. We're at the door." Kirika got up and hastily trotted to the front door, opening it to allow Chris in, as well as Hibiki and Miku, the former who rushed in and hugged Kirika tightly.

"Hibiki, stop crowding the hallway," Chris grumbled as she pushed the two girls into the hallway. Miku smiled patiently as she help to separate the two of them before handing Shirabe a bag of food.

"Here you go. I take it that the two of you haven't eaten yet right?" she said with a smile and Shirabe nodded. Kirika glanced up, her stomach growling at the scent of cooked food and headed over to Shirabe's side.

"Thanks for the food!" she said cheerfully as Chris sighed and held up another bag, this one containing groceries.

"Here's some extra supplies for when Kirika gets extra hungry," she said. "You can cook right, Tsukuyomi?"

She nodded her head as she accepted the groceries from Chris. "How often will I have to cook for Akatsuki?" she asked cautiously as she turn to watch Kirika tear ravenously into the meal that she was just served.

Hibiki grinned and stepped back before saluting Shirabe. "Anyways, it's good to meet a real life hero," she said and Shirabe returned the salute a little awkwardly. "We kept an eye out around the school and we saw something a little interesting."

"Oh?" Both Kirika and Shirabe looked at her curiously.

"Right. There's a lot of people in black suits waiting outside the school. They didn't enter but they do seem to be driving around before they disappear somewhere around the back of the school," she said.

"Ah, that's probably the vehicle entrance," Kirika said absently. "We don't normally use the personnel entrance during school since that one is located..." she felt Chris', Hibiki's and Miku's eyes on her and she started to laugh nervously.

"How do you know all that? Explain everything properly," Chris said, folding her arms and glaring at her. Kirika closed her eyes fearfully before she felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes once more to see Shirabe nodding at her.

"If they're going to help us, we might as well tell them everything," she said softly and Kirika sighed in agreement before she lifted her top to show them the scar on her chest and explained everything to the three of them. When she was done, the three older girls stared at her in disbelief for a while.

"So...you're a zombie now?" Hibiki asked cautiously and Kirika shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure I'm alive since I've got a beating heart and all. It's just...more like I've got a heart transplant," she said after a moment's thought.

"Yeah, one that brought you back from the dead and gave you superpowers," Chris retorted before sighing. "Okay...so the men in black aren't the people we're looking for but we still need to watch out for them because they're out to arrest you," she said and Kirika nodded her head.

"Did you see anything else?" Shirabe asked softly and Chris thought about it for a moment.

"Well, if we're going to have to be honest, then no. There didn't seem to be anywhere that they could be hiding two robot suits in the school," she said with a rueful look on her face. "Kinda makes me feel like this is all just a wild goose chase."

"Maybe it's just that you were looking for the wrong thing," Shirabe said in a calm manner. "We didn't tell you the entire truth to begin with in the first place."

Chris shrugged once and looked at Hibiki and Miku. "Did you guys see anything else that might help them?"

They shook their heads and Miku turned to give Kirika and Shirabe an apologetic look. "We'll continue looking again tomorrow now that we have a better idea of what's going on," Miku said. "It'll be difficult but if it means that you can come back to us, we're happy to do it."

Kirika nodded and gave her a thankful smile. "Thanks...we'll do our best to search on our own as well. Maybe...you can search in the day while we search at night?" she suggested to everyone and Chris frowned at the thought.

"I don't know...isn't it dangerous for you since you don't have a robot suit now?" she asked.

"Hey. I already died once. It won't get any worse than that," Kirika said and Chris immediately smacked her head in response.

"Oy! Don't jinx yourself," she snapped before letting out a sigh and calming down a little. "Fine. We'll do a search in the day and meet up with you at this time. You better keep yourselves safe while you're trying to clear your name okay?" Chris said in a waspish manner.

"Got it," Kirika said before leaning forward to hug her friend. Hibiki and Miku followed suit as Shirabe watched the four of them with a somewhat conflicted look on her face.

***

Three days passed by in a similar manner; Kirika and Shirabe would go out into the city at night to find out about the identity of the possible third party and return to Chris' vacation house before dawn. Chris, Hibiki and Miku would then drop by the evening to report their findings to them while delivering a few groceries for them.

On the first evening like this, Kirika also asked about her family and Chris told her that they appeared to be fine but she did notice a few men in black around the area; it seemed that they were stationed there just in case.

"What about you?" Shirabe asked immediately. "Were you followed here?"

Chris shook her head and said, "At least, not that we noticed. If we were, I think you two would be the first to notice." True to her word, they were not ambushed by any 2nd Division agents over the next few nights although Shirabe remained cautious at all times after that.

As their search dragged on, Kirika noticed that Shirabe was getting more irritable with each passing night. "What's wrong?" she asked her on the third night while they were out in the city searching for clues but Shirabe simply shook her head and walked away.

"Hey!" Kirika shouted, feeling a little annoyed by Shirabe's behavior and she reached out to grab her shoulder. "What's wrong?" she repeated her question as she made sure to get a tight grip on the other girl so that she could not escape.

"Let's go," she replied. "We don't want to be caught by the agents while we're still out here."

"Not until I get an explanation from you," Kirika said and Shirabe responded by slapping her hand away and glaring at her coldly.

"I don't want to talk about it right now so let's just go," she said, her voice just as cold as her glare and Kirika let go, stepping back and allowing Shirabe to walk away. A light drizzle started to fall at this point and she ran after Shirabe before the two of them continued to search for anything that would be useful to their search.

On the morning of the fourth day, Shirabe collapsed onto the floor as soon as she returned from their search and Kirika picked her up in a panic. She was burning up again and this time, Kirika was certain that she was having a cold at the very least. She used Shirabe's phone to text Chris, asking her to bring some medicine before picking Shirabe up and carrying her into one of the beds upstairs.

She did her best to look after the other girl and by the time it was noon, Shirabe was sleeping off the fever, allowing Kirika a moment to relax. After a meal that consisted of a cup noodle mixed with an egg, she fell asleep in Shirabe's room, tired after spending the previous night looking for clues.

A sudden buzzing sound woke her up and she looked around for a moment before she realized that it was Shirabe's phone that was making the noise. Looking at it, she realized that it was almost five thirty in the evening and that Chris was the one who texted them, informing her that they had arrived.

Quickly Kirika ran downstairs to open the door and waved at her three friends as they entered the house again. "Did you bring the medicine?" she asked worriedly and Chris gave her a crooked grin as she handed her their daily supplies.

"Everything's in there. We'll go and make some food for the two of you. I'm pretty certain you forgot to make something for her to eat, didn't you?" she said and Kirika flushed in embarrassment before running upstairs once more to check on Shirabe. The fever had abated a little, thankfully and she wondered if she should wake her classmate up or not.

While she considered that, Shirabe stirred and sat up on her own, her long dark hair hanging loosely and Kirika gave her a relieved smile. "How are you feeling?" she asked and Shirabe nodded her head.

"A little better...but I'm hungry," she whispered and the other girl nodded her head this time.

"Just wait for a bit. Chris, Hibiki and Miku are making something for you to eat and once that's done, you can take some medicine too."

"Okay," she said softly before she tried to get out of her bed. Kirika darted over to help her out before the two of them headed downstairs together. As they entered the kitchen, Hibiki gave them a friendly wave and invited them to sit down as the other two girls were preparing some food for them.

"How are you feeling, Shirabe-chan?" Hibiki said to the dark-haired girl who simply glared at her and looked away. Hibiki laughed nervously before saying, "You look different with your hair down like that."

She was silent again and Kirika hurriedly got up to fetch her a glass of water before Shirabe or Hibiki could do anything else. "Here you go," she said, handing the glass to Shirabe who took it and gulped the water down thirstily.

"Better?" Kirika asked cautiously and Shirabe nodded once before feeling her hair and saying, "Where's my..."

"I'll go get them," Kirika said and ran up before anyone can say anything. She found what she was looking for and came back down, helping Shirabe to tie up her hair in her preferred hair style.

"Thank you," Shirabe whispered before lying her head on the table. Kirika pressed her hand against her forehead to check her temperature. She did feel a little cooler compared to before, she thought to herself.

"Don't worry. Once you get something to eat, we'll make sure that you rest up properly and we'll continue our search tomorrow okay?" Kirika said in a reassuring manner and Shirabe's eyes flew wide open once more.

"No...we have to get out there. Maria and Serena are still in there..." she whispered urgently as she tried to get up once more. Hibiki sighed and stood up, placing a firm hand on Shirabe's shoulder in order to keep her down.

"We get it. You're worried for your friends. But you're not well right now and you need to rest so that you can be at your best when you have to rescue them. Okay?" she said in a gentle manner. Shirabe looked up at Hibiki for a moment before sighing and sitting down once more.

"Nice job, Hibiki," Chris called out to her and Hibiki flashed her a V-sign. "Too bad you can't do that more often."

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly at her while Miku laughed politely, holding her hand over her lips as she walked over to Shirabe with a bowl of soup in her hand.

"It's instant soup so it's nothing special but at least it's something," she said and placed the bowl down for her. The ill girl sighed and slowly ate, watching as everyone else busied themselves about the kitchen and Kirika noticed that there was a slight smile on her lips for a brief moment.

***

After finishing their meal and making sure that Shirabe had taken some medicine, Kirika helped her upstairs to her bed before she went down to talk to her friends some more. She watched as they packed up their belongings and gave each of them a hug as they were getting ready to leave.

"Thanks for coming again," she said and Chris grinned at her.

"Did you expect anything less from us?" she said as she stepped out of the front door. Hibiki stepped out as well and Miku was about to do so when she thought about something.

"Wait. I left something in the kitchen. I'll be right back," she promised them as she turned around and headed back into the house. Kirika watched her for a moment before she turned back to her friends but before she could say anything, she thought she saw something creeping about in the evening shadows.

"Look out!" she shouted a moment before several men in black stood out of the shadows and open fire on them.

"Huh?" Chris said in a surprised tone before she was struck and she fell down, convulsing heavily. Kirika noticed the dart sticking out of her arm and she yanked it out, wincing at the sudden jolt that rushed through her arm briefly. Hibiki herself also fell down when a dart struck her, her limbs flailing about.

Kirika tried to reach out for her but the agents opened fire on her once again and she was forced to move into the house, slamming the door shut. Miku ran over to her, her face wrought in fear as she noticed Kirika getting up. "What happened? I heard those firecracker sounds and I came to look," she said fearfully.

Before Kirika can answer her, several gunshots rang out and Miku ducked down into a ball, crying out in shock as several windows shattered. Kirika yelped as well before crawling to the window and peering out. Several agents are carefully moving up to the house while Chris and Hibiki lie on the ground, seemingly unconscious.

She glanced back at Miku who was still crouched in a ball and she said, "Go get Shirabe. I'll try to get Chris and Hibiki before we escape." Miku nodded once, still shivering as she got up and dashed to the stairs. Several more shots are fired but Kirika grabbed a nearby table and tossed it at the window in order to block the shots, grunting with the immense effort.

As the table fell to the ground, she picked it up again, marveling briefly at her increased strength. While she still struggled to carry the table, she knew that there was no way she could do this previously. She carefully opened the door, moving out and towards Chris who was closer to the door.

"You can do this," she said to herself as she reached out to Chris but when she did so, one of the agents landed a shot on her exposed arm, shocking her and her heart started pounding like crazy. She barely managed to hold on to the table but the shock was nearly too much for her to handle and she almost lost consciousness before she pulled the dart out.

Panting heavily, she tried to reach out for Chris again but several more shots landed close to her and fear forced her back into the house for cover. She can see Miku and Shirabe walking down the stairs, the latter in a dazed state at this point of time.

"Where's Hibiki and Chris?" Miku asked, ducking for cover as a stray dart nearly hit her.

Kirika tried to shout a reply but a garbled cry escaped her lips instead. Peering from the cover of the table, she could see that the agents are almost upon the door at this time, two of them reaching out to climb into the house. Miku noticed this as well and Kirika could see the torn look on her face before she shouted, "We have to leave now!"

"But..."

Miku glared at Kirika, who nodded in defeat and she tried to run towards the two dark-haired girls who were trying to make it to the back entrance. Her legs felt like lead after the shock that she had just received and her crystal heart was beating rapidly inside of her but she managed to push past the pain and she shoved another table at the agents as they entered the house, knocking them over in the process.

They quickly moved to the back of the house so that they could get to the back entrance but several agents rush in to greet them, having apparently anticipated this. Shirabe appeared to have anticipated this as well, having conjured up her yo-yos and she tossed them at the agents, entangling them before they can open fire on the three girls. She seemed drained by this act however and Kirika suspected that she would not be changing into her Phantom Thief outfit anytime soon.

One agent managed to escape the yo-yos and Kirika lunged at him, knocking him against the wall. As he slumped to the ground, she turned and ran after Shirabe and Miku who managed to run out of the house at this point. We can make it, she thought to herself excitedly, just as yellow smoke exploded around the two girls ahead of her, engulfing them in it.

She screeched to a halt even as Miku and Shirabe started coughing and retching inside the cloud, keeping an eye out for Ogawa. An idea popped into her head and she ran back inside, reaching the agents who were tangled up and she reached down, touching the yo-yos. As she had hoped, she drained and absorbed them, her heart pounding quickly before a burst of energy flowed through her body.

The agents stared at her as if she were crazy and she responded by punching each of them, knocking them unconscious before she ran back outside. Inside the cloud, she can see a man standing over Shirabe and Miku, both of whom were on the ground right now, unable to get up. Please be Ogawa, she prayed before she started to hold her breath.

Kirika charged forward, moving as quickly as she can into the cloud. The man glanced up as she ran in and Kirika could see his eyes widening in surprise at her speed. He was unable to dodge out of the way and Kirika tackled him, knocking him out of the cloud before kneeling down to pick Miku and Shirabe up.

With the burst of energy still coursing through her body, she ran as fast as she can, dashing away from the building as quickly as she can and into the surrounding glade. Thanks to her enhanced speed, she managed to put up a fair distance between herself and the agents but she can feel her body began to tire out just as they are reaching the edge of the glade.

"No..." she murmured just before she stumbled, nearly dropping her friends in the process.

"Are you okay?" Miku asked, getting off and helping both Kirika and Shirabe to stand, despite her own obvious pain from being exposed to the yellow cloud. The other girl was breathing hard as well, sweat drenching her entire body; it seemed like the cloud had aggravated her fever.

"We...we need to get out of her," Kirika whispered and Miku hesitated for a moment before she nodded her head firmly and helped to support both girls before moving out of the glade. They had only gone a short distance when a black SUV with tinted windows raced up to them however, screeching to a halt in front of them.

The three girls stared at the SUV in horror as the door opened...and Tsubasa reached out from inside. "Get inside now if you don't want to get caught!" she said in a stern and commanding manner.