Part 04

"Wake up, Kirika! You're going to be late for school!"

At least that's what she thought her mother said before she heard her door flung open and someone stomped into the room. "Get up or you're making all of us late for school!" she heard Chris yell at her before she felt her body being shaken roughly.

Kirika groaned and staggered up from her bed. It had been a month since that the Noise attack that had claimed her life and somehow resurrected her as well. She had undergone a fair amount of training thanks to Kazanari Fudo's insistence and while her physical fitness has improved considerably, she was both tired from the training and behind in both school work and training expectations.

There had been three Noise attacks in the past month as well but she had not been sent out to deal with them. "One, you don't have a Symphogear yet and secondly, your training is not complete yet," Genjuuro told her when she asked him if she was ever going to be sent out into the field.

He did however make her watch recordings of their fights with the Noise so that she could learn from watching Tsubasa and Kanade in action. "The Gears work like an armored suit. Move your arm and the suit will move its arm as well. So the faster you react, the faster the suit reacts and the stronger you are, the stronger the suit," he explained.

That explained the physical training, Kirika thought sorely as she washed herself and got dressed for school. But Kazanari-sensei wasn't kidding about how tough everything was, she thought as she rubbed her bruised limbs and did her best to cover them up. At least it was spring and she could wear long sleeves, she noted.

It was training every day after school and on weekends as well. Three hours of solid exercise and combat training and while she felt like she had become fitter than she ever had in her life, Kazanari Fudo was displeased with her results and it took everything from Genjuuro to persuade him otherwise.

The one thing that surprised her however was singing lessons. "Eh? Why do I have to do this?" she asked as she, Tsubasa and Kanade were sent to a studio with microphones prepared.

"Vocal training and testing," Ryoko replied to her as she sat at a control panel outside the studio. A transparent wall let her watch the girls inside prepare themselves while Kirika asked her as many questions as she can about the sudden change in training.

"Remember how you had to sing in order to get the Resonant crystal in your chest to power up the Symphogear?" Ryoko asked and Kirika nodded her head. "As it turned out, if you keep singing to the crystal, it will provide a boost to the Gears' power output. We're not sure why but a fifty percent power boost is nothing to laugh at," she explained.

"Then why aren't they singing while using the Gears?" Kirika asked, pointing at both Tsubasa and Kanade.

"We are. It's just that the Gears also have sound-proofing to stop others from hearing our voices and figuring out who we are," Tsubasa explained to her. "If you managed to get our audio records, you'd hear us singing all the time."

"Okay...so what are we doing now?" Kirika asked and Kanade grinned wickedly at her, making Kirika take a step back.

"The three of us are going to do a little song together. Hey, want to try Gyakkou no Flugel?" Kanade suggested as she handed Kirika a mic.

"But...that's your duet..." Kirika protested and Tsubasa laughed softly at her protest.

"Don't worry. We worked out a way for the three of us to do the song together," she said before handing Kirika a song-sheet. "Just follow the green highlights. I'll take the blue ones and Kanade has the orange highlights," she explains to her.

They spent an hour working on several different songs and if Kirika was to be honest, she did have quite a lot of fun singing along with Kanade and Tsubasa in their improvised group song and to her surprise, the song actually did manage to work well as a group song.

"Kirika, are you done in there?" her mother called out to her, shaking her out of her reverie while she was putting on her uniform and Kirika hastily ran downstairs. Chris was there, looking rather impatient and annoyed by her behavior.

"You're always going to be stuck in this pattern, aren't you?" Kirika's friend said to her and she laughed nervously as she grabbed a slice of bread and hastily wolfed it down.

"Come on! We'd better go now before Hibiki gets bored waiting for us," Chris said and the two of them ran off to the bus stop together, at least until Chris became tired from running and they were forced to walk instead.

***

"Seriously though, Kirika. When did you get so fit?" Chris asked when they were on the bus to school. She was exhausted and panting heavily while Kirika was just lightly winded. "I've never seen you exercise a day in your life!"

Kirika laughed nervously as a glint appeared in Miku's eyes. The four of them were on the bus to school as per their daily routine though as usual, only Chris went to pick Kirika up. Possibly because Hibiki was as bad as she was when it comes to waking up, Kirika thought to herself.

"She's good at running?" Miku turned to Kirika and the latter moved away worriedly. "Why don't you give the track and field team a try out? I'd love to see if what Chris said is true," she said, becoming more excited than Kirika had ever heard her.

"Er...sorry. I'm pretty busy again today," she said hastily and Hibiki let out a moan of disappointment.

"Again? This is like when all four of us were separated again. What's so important that you can't hang out with your friends once in a while, huh?" she asked and Kirika laughed nervously.

An angry old man who wants me to train so that I can use a robot suit to fight alien monsters in a secret war, she said mentally but she just said, "You know...stuff. So many things to do around school."

Chris folded her arms and said, "I can't believe I'm going to say this but I'm going to have to agree with Hibiki. You're spending too much time outside and your mom keeps asking me about you and why you aren't coming home early. She's still worried about what happened last month, you know."

"Sorry..." Kirika said, giving everyone an apologetic look. Even so, she did not think that she would be able to go back home like her friends wanted her to. She had a feeling that the old man would try and do something to force her to stay. While she knew that he did not like her, she also got the feeling that he viewed her as a valuable asset that should never be released.

Chris looked at Kirika for a moment before throwing up her hands in a frustrated manner. "You're not coming back early are you? Fine, I'm staying as well. Someone's got to keep an eye on you," she said.

"Eh? I thought we were going to have that after school okonomiyaki date?" Hibiki said and Chris glared at her.

"Ask your other friends then. I think those three wouldn't mind hanging out with you," the latter replied and Hibiki grumbled for a moment before relenting.

On the other hand, Kirika was staring at Chris in disbelief. If this were an anime, this was the hi-jinks episode, she thought to herself as she tried to think about what she can do in order to dissuade Chris from staying with her.

***

Despite her best efforts, Kirika was unable to dissuade Chris from joining her after school and she went to class trying to think about what to do. She finally sent a message to Genjuuro and he replied, telling her that he will think of a way to deal with her friend.

She let out a sigh of relief and she set her phone aside when she noticed that Shirabe was walking into the class carrying a large stack of books. She looked at her for a moment to see if any of the boys would step up before hopping up to her feet and walking over to Shirabe. "Need a hand?" she asked with a slight smile.

Shirabe glanced at her over the stack of books before sighing and saying, "Fine." Kirika took half the books from Shirabe as the latter distributed the books to the other students who were present in the class. "Thanks," she said after they had finished giving the books.

"No problem. Too bad none of the boys tried to help you," Kirika said in a loud voice. This earned her a paper wad to the head and she yelped indignantly, looking around to see who tossed the paper wad at her.

The other girl glanced at Kirika before turning around and walking off, as the other students in the class ignored what happened. Kirika looked at around for a moment before skipping over to Shirabe and saying, "Hey. Don't worry about it. They're just being jerks, that's all."

"I'm not," Shirabe said. "Especially since they're being jerks to you since you tried to help me. So I think you should be the one who should be worried," she continued and sat down, taking out a book to read. Kirika let out a sigh and head back to her seat, wondering if she was wrong to help Shirabe in the first place.

Nope, she decided. It's nice to help Requiem out when she's in trouble like this, she told herself. That makes me sort of like Requiem's new friend, she thought with a slight, goofy grin and she giggled loudly, causing everyone to stare at her. Shirabe simply ignored her, her eyes focused on her book instead.

Kirika flushed in embarrassment and looked down at her desk for a moment. Need to stop being a nerd, she told herself as the school bell rang, signifying the start of the first class. A few seconds later, the teacher walked in and everything was forgotten as they started their lesson.

***

The day passed by quickly enough and soon it was lunch break once more. Kirika watched as Shirabe walked out of the class on her own once more. She was about to follow her when one of her classmates called out to her. "Kirika! Do you want to have lunch together?" she asked.

Not wanting to seem unfriendly, Kirika smiled and nodded. "Sure, sounds great!" she said and went to her bag to take out her lunch. Her face fell when she realized that she had forgotten to bring any food since she had woken up late tonight.

"You woke up late again today, Kirika?" her classmate asked in concern and she nodded.

"Sorry, Minami. Guess I'm going to have to go to the cafeteria to buy some food today," she said sheepishly and the girl nodded.

"It's okay. We'll eat together tomorrow then," the girl said and Kirika nodded as she waved to her and made her way to the cafeteria. By the time she got there, several lines had already formed and she had to line up for a while before she managed to get some ramen for herself.

She looked around for a place to seat and she spotted Shirabe having her meal by herself in a secluded spot near the north-eastern corner. Might as well give it a try, she thought to herself and she headed all the way to Shirabe who did not seem to notice her.

"Mind if I sit here with you?" she asked.

Shirabe did not reply and continued to eat her meal in silence. On her part, Kirika simply stood there, waiting for an answer until after a while, the dark-haired girl looked up and sighed. "If you like," she said at last."

Kirika grinned and sat down across from Shirabe. "So, did you forget to bring lunch again today?" she asked as she started to eat, earning a stare from Shirabe.

"Excuse me?" she asked, a tinge of irritation finally forming on her face and Kirika wondered if she had said something that made Shirabe really upset.

"Sorry. I usually see you eating here at the cafeteria and I thought that meant that you usually wake up late and forget to take the lunch that your mom made for you," she said hastily.

"You got something in your mouth," Shirabe said coolly and Kirika blinked before she started feeling around with her tongue.

"It's your foot. No, I don't wake up late. I'm usually here early but you don't realize that because you're the one who's almost late most of the time," she said and Kirika laughed feebly at her words. "That wasn't a joke, by the way."

"Sorry again," Kirika said, looking down at her ramen and there was a moment of silence before she asked, "So...why don't you bring any lunch from home?"

Shirabe looked up at Kirika and there was a moment of silence before she sighed and said, "Because Maria can't cook to save her own life and when Serena cooks, she makes a huge mess in the kitchen. I can cook but I don't want to wake up that early just to prepare food so we agreed that it'd be easier for us to just buy food from school."

"Eh? You live with Maria and Serena? What about your own family?" Kirika asked in confusion and a look of consternation appeared on Shirabe's face.

"You're not going to be satisfied with just sitting there and eating in silence, are you?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed before she sighed. "Fine. If you really want to know, I'll tell you. My family died in a car accident when I was three years old and I grew up in foster care until Maria's and Serena's guardian took me in and raised the three of us as family," she explained briefly.

"Oh..." Kirika said, flushing red in embarrassment at her previous questions and she stared at her food for a while before she got up and down onto her knees, bowing her head to the ground. This act surprised Shirabe but not as much as when Kirika shouted, "I'm really sorry!" at the top of her voice, drawing the attention of the entire cafeteria onto them.

"What are you doing?" Shirabe asked, sounding both embarrassed and angry at the same time as more of her cool facade seemed to have cracked. She reached out and pulled Kirika to her feet in a rough and hasty manner.

"Apologizing to you because I'm an insensitive idiot who asked questions that she shouldn't have asked?" Kirika said as she gave Shirabe a puppy dog look.

The latter simply stared at her for a while before she said, "You're forgiven. Now sit down and eat your ramen and please don't bother me about this again."

Kirika sat at the table once more and after a little while, everything in the cafeteria went back to normal. "Er...do you mind if I ask you about..." she started to say but Shirabe shot a glare at her.

"Yes, I do. And it's not because I'm going to feel bad and cry but because I do find it annoying that people suddenly take pity on me when they find out I'm an orphan. Yes, they're dead but I don't miss them. I was three year old when they died. I can barely remember them in the first place," she said in a slightly angry matter-of-fact manner.

"Okay...but I actually wanted to talk about the homework that Sakurai-sensei gave us today and if you knew how to do it," Kirika said, a little surprised by the vehemence in Shirabe's voice.

"Then in that case, you can ask me about it," Shirabe continued without missing a beat. For a moment, the two of them looked at each other before Kirika burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Shirabe demanded as Kirika continued to laugh and brought the cafeteria's attention onto them once more.

"The two of us, that's what. You being so serious and me being so silly. We'd make a perfect comedy duo," Kirika said and laughed some more. Shirabe stared at her for a little while before Kirika noticed a slight smile breaking on her face before it quickly disappeared.

This caused a large smile to appear on Kirika's face and she said, "Do that again."

"Do what?"

"Smile again. You never smile in class at all," she said, resting her chin on her hands. "Do it again."

"Why?"

"Because you look really pretty when you smile."

That caught Shirabe off-guard and she stared at Kirika for a while, her mouth slightly open before her cheeks flushed red and she looked away. "No," she said a moment later, sounding a little strangled and embarrassed this time.

Kirika sighed and said, "Fine. But I'm going to make you smile again even if it kills me." Shirabe rolled her eyes at that before she resumed eating and Kirika did the same. Still, there was less tension between the both of them right now than there previously was, Kirika thought to herself idly.

***

The rest of the day passed by and the final bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. As Kirika packed her belongings, her phone buzzed and she picked it up. "Go now. Your friend is being distracted in class," the message read and she grinned to herself before leaving the classroom as quickly as she can.

She took a different route from the one that she normally took to head to the school's gate and once there, she looked around to see if Chris, Hibiki and Miku were in sight. They were not and she dashed out before making her way to the secret entrance outside the school.

Tsubasa and Kanade were already there by the time she arrived and she waved cheerfully at them as they triggered the elevator to appear. "Sorry I took so long," she said and explained what Genjuuro had to do.

"That's good to hear," Tsubasa said thoughtfully and Kirika glanced at her. "I mean, that's good to hear that you have friends who care about you."

"Ah. Well, yeah. Chris and I have been tight since we were young and Hibiki and Miku joined the club when we were in kindergarten," Kirika explained while Tsubasa listened with a slight smile, nodding patiently as Kanade leaned back.

"I don't think I know any of them," Kanade said and Tsubasa nodded.

"They enrolled in Lydian when you were already in high school. I've met Yukine a few times during music club practice and if memory serves, Hibiki and Miku sometimes went to the club to meet with her after track and field practice," Tsubasa explained to her.

"Ooh..does that mean that Chris knows who you are?" Kirika asked and Tsubasa shook her head.

"No. She only knows me as Kanzaki Tsukasa. Our idol debut was two years ago and we transferred to Lydian as part of the program," Tsubasa explained to her. Kirika nodded her head a little before letting out a loud sigh.

"What is up with this place and celebrities?" she said and Kanade shrugged.

"Who knows...and who's the other celebrity that you've mentioned? I thought Ryoko said that the only famous people here in Lydian are me and Tsubasa," Kanade said, looking intently at Kirika.

"Eh? Voice actors don't count as celebrities?" Kirika blurted out and Tsubasa glanced at Kanade who chuckled loudly.

"Only if you're a geek. Guess we know what you are then," the latter said and pulled Kirika close, messing up her hair. Kirika let out a surprised yelp and pulled back, looking away in a huff as Tsubasa tried to calm her down.

After they had arrived at their base, a speaker buzzed and Ryoko's voice said, "Kirika, I need you here in the hangar. We're running a new test today." Kirika glanced at her seniors who shrugged and gestured at her to go. She did so, making her way to the hangar as she thought about what could be awaiting her.

When she got there, she saw that the hangar had been cleared for the most part, save for the prototype suit albeit fitted with some armor plating and Ryoko tinkering on it. "So...I'm getting my own Symphogear?" Kirika asked jokingly as she approached her math teacher.

"Yup. I did some quick fixes to the suit in order to make it usable in the field. Some armor plates, a basic AI that helps with the calculations needed to tune the Resonant crystal into a Noise's energy field and we can have you borrowing some of Tsubasa's and Kanade's weapons," Ryoko said, stepping back and wiping her brow.

"So...I'm just getting hand me downs?" Kirika said in disappointment and Ryoko shrugged.

"Sorry. Best that I can do on such short notice. The boss didn't want to spend any more money than he deems necessary and I think he still wants his original choice in the team so the current third gear that is being made is going to be used for him when he makes his appearance," Ryoko explained.

"Cheapskates," Kirika muttered under her breath and Ryoko raised an eyebrow, peering at her over her glasses.

"Time to see how effective this cheapskate is at jury-rigging then," her math teacher said and pushed Kirika to get into the gear. The latter did so reluctantly and after she had slipped her arms and legs into the gear's limbs, it started to seal shut around her.

Ooh..leather padding, Kirika noted in surprised at how comfortable the suit was to wear this time around. She closed her eyes once more and sang the activation song, powering up the suit once more. As screen lit up in front of her, a digital voice said, "Symphogear program version Igalima initiated. Username, please."

"Er...Akatsuki Kirika?" she said hesitantly and several lines flashed across her face, too fast for her to notice but it did resemble commands from a computer's startup sequence as far as she could tell.

"Igalima online," the digital voice proclaimed and Kirika took a step forward. This time, the Gear's movement was much smoother compared to before and at Ryoko's instruction, Kirika started to jump around, marveling at how agile her movements are in the suit.

"What's next, Sakurai-sensei?" she said and Ryoko ignored her for a moment. Kirika stopped and started waving her hands at Ryoko, who looked at her curiously. She repeated her question and Ryoko frowned for a moment before gesturing at her to come over to her.

As she drew closer, Ryoko flipped a panel on the gear's surface and did something to it. "Sounds like the communicator wasn't working properly. Try again," she said to Kirika, who repeated her question. Ryoko pointed at a stack of weapons and told her to try them out.

She picked up a sword first and swung it around in a clumsy manner before deciding that it was not for her and she tried out one of Kanade's lances. It was a little more comfortable for her to wield but eventually she ditched it in favor of a pole that was lying in the stack.

"Hmm..you prefer staffs?" Ryoko asked as Kirika swung the pole around for a bite.

"It feels better but I think it needs something on the end of it. I don't want to share the same weapon type with Tsubasa and Kirika," she admitted to Ryoko.

"Have you tried punching and kicking," Ryoko asked dryly but she did make a note of Kirika's requests as the latter made a few test swings with the pole in her hands. At this point, Tsubasa and Kanade made an appearance in the hangar and they stood by, watching Kirika practice in the gear for a little while.

"Alright...you want to do a test run in that suit, Kirika?" Kanade said as Kirika came to a stop but before the latter can answer, a siren started blaring throughout the base. It took Kirika a moment to recognize what the siren signified and she shivered a little.

"Noise appearance detected," the digital voice in her gear said, confirming her thoughts.

***

Tsubasa and Kanade went off to suit up and Kirika was about to do the same when Fudo's voice rang out over her suit's communicator. "Akatsuki. Stay in the suit and prepare for deployment," he told her her calmly.

"Eh?" Both Ryoko and Kirika were taken by surprise over this and the scientist began to protest. "The suit is not fully optimized yet, Kazanari. There are several bugs that need to be ironed out in Igalima's programming and..." she started to say.

"I said prepare for deployment. We can give the suit the full testing we need now rather than later and besides, aren't you excited to see the results of your jury rigging? Don't you want to see if the merest of your works is capable of besting a Noise? Is that not a testament to your brilliance?" Fudo said calmly.

"Oh...well played, sir. Well played," Ryoko said as she folded her arms and considered his words for a while. Kirika stared at her for a moment before the scientist turned to her and said, "Kirika, get in the trailer. I'll let Gen-chan know what's going on and relay some instructions to him."

"Er...shouldn't you be trying to stop him from sending me into battle?" Kirika asked cautiously and Ryoko laughed softly at her words.

"That's not possible. The old man's as stubborn as a donkey and if he wants something done a certain way, it's done that way no matter what. The best we can do is mitigate the amount of damage done and the good thing about Fudo is if his way goes south, he'll own up to the mistake immediately," Ryoko said to her.

"You know that doesn't make me feel better, right?" Kirika said with a pout and the older woman nodded.

"No, it doesn't. But have a little faith in us, Kirika. The rest of us don't want to see you die," Ryoko said, flashing a wink at Kirika.

Kirika grumbled but she allowed herself to be loaded up into the truck. Tsubasa and Kanade were surprised to see that Kirika was in the truck with them when they were loaded into the trailer and Kanade asked, "Did the old man force you into this?"

"Pretty much...but is there anything that we can do about it?" Kirika asked with a sigh and Kanade reached out to pat her.

"Then leave it to us. We'll do our best to keep you safe. In the meantime, here's a little trick that would let you have fun with your Gear," Kanade told her. "Open up your AI settings and you'll see a personality matrix menu. You can tweak it out so that the personality and voice is something that you'd like. Mine's Tsubasa," she said to her and Kirika noticed that she had secretly flipped the channel so that Tsubasa was listening to her talk.

"Kanade!" Tsubasa shouted, sounding extremely embarrassed. "Why did you do that?"

As the two of them continued to banter with her, Kirika smiled and ignored them, checking the system setting as Kanade had mentioned to her. Indeed, there was an option for changing the AI's personality and voice and Kirika scrolled through the options, before noticing the 'Custom Personality' option.

She selected it and a window opened up. "Please state a custom personality that you'd like us to search for," it read. Kirika thought about it for a while before an idea popped into her head and she made her selection. It took a minute for the personality matrix to download the necessary information and the Gear shut down for a moment before rebooting itself.

"Igalima is now online, death!" Requiem's voice filled her ears as the Gear started up, causing Kirika to grin to herself.

"Roger that, death!" she said aloud, forgetting that her communicator was online and she realized it when Kanade started laughing out loud.

"What in the world was that, Kirika? Was that a catchphrase from a show that you were watching?" she asked as Kirika began laughing nervously.

"Something like that," she admitted nervously, as Kanade continued to laugh. "You know...it's not really nice to laugh at me like that."

"Sorry about that. But I am going to point this out: our conversation is being recorded and I'm sure Fudo's going to have heard what you just said. Is that something you want him to hear you say?" Kanade asked.

Kirika thought about this for a moment before she got an idea and a grin appeared on her face. "Why not, death?" she said in a chirpy voice and Kanade laughed again.

"Oh. You're an evil one, kid. Keep up the good work," she said and Kirika noticed Kanade's Gear flashing a thumbs up at her. She returned the thumbs up as Tsubasa sighed and shook her head, though it seemed that she was just as amused by their conversation as Kanade was.

Maybe this was not going to be such a bad thing after all.

***

Genjuuro got into the truck ten minutes later, based on the sound of the truck being started up. When it started to move, their communicators flared up and Genjuuro said, "Alright. Time for a quick briefing on the Noise situation. We've picked up readings of the Noise seven clicks from our current location, in the city's suburbs. Judging from the readings, there's only one Noise at the moment so we're lucky in that sense."

"What's the problem?" Kirika asked curiously and Tsubasa hushed her.

Her teacher continued on as if she had not spoken: "The biggest issue right now is that the Noise materialized in a civilian area and the police have been dispatched to do some level of cover up on the Noise. So we'll have to be extremely careful not to be caught by the public eye on this mission."

"Tsubasa, Kanade. You'll head out and scout the area for the Noise. Engage it once you find it and destroy it ASAP. Kirika, you're back-up. Stay here in the truck and don't head out at all. Understand?" Genjuuro said and Kirika let out a sigh of relief.

"Roger!" Tsubasa and Kanade said, before the latter let out a cheeky, "Death!" This earned a laugh from Kirika who also repeated the word as she imagined the look of confusion on Genjuuro's face.

"Okay...whatever you said," Genjuuro said a moment later as he drove the truck towards the scene of the Noise's appearance. Kanade started chatting inanely with Tsubasa and Kirika, generally asking questions about how their school day was. Kirika was more than happy to talk with Kanade, especially of her lunch with Shirabe.

"This person sounds like a very difficult person to talk to," Tsubasa said as Kirika told her about the incident where she knelt down in front of Shirabe at the cafeteria. "Also...you're quite the extreme person, aren't you Akatsuki?"

"Really? I think Shirabe is a much nicer person than she lets on," Kirika said with some conviction. "She did let me sit and talk with her and she looks very pretty when she smiles, you know."

"Sounds like someone's got a crush," Kanade said in a teasing manner and Kirika laughed at her words.

"No, I don't think so. I don't get that butterfly feeling that people are supposed to get when they look at someone that they like," she said and Kanade let out a loud sigh.

"You know, you don't have to feel the whole butterfly in your stomach thing in order to like someone. I mean, you should have seen Tsubasa when she was crushing on someone," Kanade said and Kirika turned to her, feeling rather excited.

"Kanade, shut up," Tsubasa said in a waspish manner and Genjuuro chuckled, reminding them that he was listening to them.

"Maybe I should turn off my end of the radio if you want to gossip like this," he said a moment before he actually did so. Kanade grinned and shook her head as she glanced at Kirika.

"Eh, he already knows who Tsubasa was crushing on. I think the whole world knew, judging on how clingy she was and still is to her crush," she said, turning back to Tsubasa and once again, Kirika's mental image of Tsubasa as the cool one from Zwei Wing was shredded in pieces.

***

After fifteen minutes of driving, the truck stopped and Genjuuro turned his communicator back on. "Alright, we're here. Kanade, Tsubasa. Get ready to move out," he said as the trailer started to unfold. Tsubasa and Kanade stepped out and Kirika blinked as her eyes adjusted to the brightness.

It was evening right now, she noted and as far as she can tell, she was in a part of the city that she was unfamiliar with. Genjuuro stepped out of the truck and spoke to two police officers who were at the scene while Tsubasa and Kanade prepared to move out.

"We've cleared out the civilians from within a kilometer radius and set up barricades. Whatever this thing is, it better be worth the trouble of having you people here," the female officer said and Kirika recognized the two police as Officer Tomosato and her partner, Fujitaka.

She gave them a friendly wave and they waved back in a hesitating manner. "Do we know that one and why do you have a third mech suit?" Fujitaka asked and Kirika remembered that they can't see her.

"I don't know and that one is a new user. We're giving them a little field training right now so that they can take over in case of an emergency with the other users," Genjuuro explained.

"Uh huh..." Tomosato said and stared hard at Kirika who started to rub her head sheepishly. She turned turned back to Genjuuro and they discussed the matter at hand for a little while longer.

After a while, the two police officers excused themselves as they left the area and Kirika hopped off the trailer. "I'm bored!" she said and Genjuuro tapped his earpiece.

"That's being on standby for you. Still, it's better than having an untrained civilian rushing in to fight a Noise," he said.

"I know but how are you going to deal with the boss?" she asked curiously and Genjuuro smirked.

"I'm field commander. My decisions on the field are based on what I think is necessary for the success of the operation. The boss might not like it but he will accept my decision as a tactically sound decision," he said confidently.

"Command, this is G. We've found the target. A single Noise just like the scans said," Kanade said at this point and a window flashed in front of Kirika's face. She realized that it was a perspective shot of Kanade's view and indeed, she saw a Noise in the window.

Unlike the other Noises that she saw previously, this one was small, round and crawled on a large number of legs, looking very much like an over-sized insect. It had two mandibles that snapped close silently every so often and Kirika watched wide-eyed as the Noise cut through a tree, turning it into gray dust in the process.

"Roger that. Is A with you?" Genjuuro asked, assuming a more command-like tone.

"Negative. We split up to look for the target but A is on the way. Gungnir is running the calculations right now and it's on 43% completed at this time. Permission to engage once it reaches 100%?" Kanade asked.

"Granted," Genjuuro replied and hopped back into the truck. Kirika stood there for a moment before she noticed something and she turned in its direction. She squinted to take a closer look and to her amazement, her Gear's camera zoomed in on what she was looking at.

"Kazanari-sensei, the Phantom Thieves are here," she said to him and he hopped out of the truck.

"Where?" he asked and she pointed to them to him as they zipped from roof to roof. There was something indistinct about their forms but she was certain it was them as they made their way towards where she assumed the Noise was.

"I don't see them," Genjuuro said and stared at her. "Are you sure it was them?" he asked and Kirika nodded her head vigorously. He looked at her for a moment before nodding his head and he contacted the others, informing them to expect company from the Phantom Thieves.

Then he turned to Kirika and stared at her for a moment before he let out a resigned sigh and said, "I'm sending I to help the both of you. Prepare for backup."

"Eh?" Kirika, Kanade and Tsubasa said at the same time.

***

Kirika looked nervously as Genjuuro explained the plan to her. "Are you sure I'm needed for this?" she asked and he nodded.

"Just a hunch but you saw the Phantom Thieves and I did not. We are usually unable to detect them until the last moment but you managed to spot them so whatever it is that they use to cloak themselves don't seem to effect you as much. At least, that's my theory. Don't worry, you don't have to fight. You just have to watch out for the Thieves and alert A and G to their presence," Genjuuro said to her.

"So I'm just a watchdog?"

"If you want to put it that way, then yes. Watch out for the thieves and let A and G know about them. Stay out of the fight, I."

"Question. Why are you calling me I?"

Genjuuro sighed loudly and said, "Just go. I'll explain it to you later."

Kirika nodded and headed out. Her suit opened a window on the screen in front of her, showing her a map of the area as well as three blinking dots. A blue one was approaching an orange and gray one that appeared to be close to each other. She quickly made her way to the orange and gray dots, guessing that those represented Kanade and the Noise.

Along the way, she kept an eye out for the Phantom Thieves but did not see them as she drew closer to Kanade. Did she imagine what she saw, she wondered to herself. She swallowed once as the sounds of fighting grew louder and her window indicated that Tsubasa was already in the fray.

She ducked down behind a house and she peered around the corner to see how the fight was taking place. Kanade and Tsubasa were both slowly chipping away at the Noise, making small cuts and slashes in its body while avoiding the large buzz-saws that sprouted from its back. The fight was slow going but she could see that they had an edge thanks to their numerical advantage.

As Kanade lunged at the Noise, Tsubasa stayed back, apparently bidding her time. The Noise slashed at Kanade but she blocked its blows with her lance before pushing it back and slashing through the appendages that held the buzz-saws up. As the limbs fell, Tsubasa darted forward and drove her sword into the Noise's body. A second sword extended from her wrist and she slashed through its body, cleaving it in two.

At this point, Kirika saw the three Phantom Thieves appearing on a nearby roof and it seems that no one else have noticed them. "Kanade! Tsubasa! The Thieves are here!" she warned them quickly before she indicated by capturing a picture on her Gear and sending the picture to the two of them.

With that, Kanade turned around and launched her lance at the three Thieves, taking them by surprise. They dodged out of the way as Kanade leapt up on the roof while Tsubasa remained on the ground, watching over the slowly disintegrating Noise. Kirika shouted several warnings to Kanade who did her best to fight off against the Thieves despite her inability to see them.

"Tsubasa! To your left!" Kirika shouted a warning at her and she dive away, avoiding a flung knife that the black-white one had thrown at her. At the same time, Kirika saw the black-pink Thief making a dash for the disintegrating Noise and she ran out herself, pulling out her pole and swinging it at the Phantom Thief.

The Thief responded by jumping into the air and landing on her pole, balancing perfectly despite the roller blades that she was wearing and she stared at Kirika for a moment. "$%r&*! )(r&^%! They've got a third suit now!" she shouted at the others and Kirika watched as the three Thieves jumped towards a different roof, their image wavering a little.

"Well now, looks like we can see them now," Kanade said with a satisfied grunt as she hopped down to rejoin Tsubasa and Kirika.

"Cool, does that mean I don't have to fight?" Kirika asked just before the three Phantom thieves darted forward at them.

"Kirika! Get behind us and watch over the Noise!" Tsubasa shouted at her as she stepped forward and slashed at the black-white Thief, forcing the latter back. Kirika did her best and stood watch over the Noise's corpse while trying to look as menacing as possible.

The Phantom Thieves seem to have seen through her ruse however as they tried to break free of Tsubasa's and Kanade's reach and make a break against her instead. Or maybe they were just trying to steal the corpse, Kirika thought as she swung her pole like a baseball bat at the Thieves.

The white-pink one dodged the pole easily enough and waved her rod, in an arc, spraying Kirika's helmet with a thick white foam that blocked her Gear's sensors. She let out a yelp of surprise and tried to wipe off the foam but she felt something wrap itself around her knees and she fell to the ground.

"Kirika, swing your pole above your head!" she heard Kanade shout at her and in a panic, she swung it multiple times until she felt the pole slam into something meaty. Oh no, she thought as she hastily wiped off the foam and saw that she had knocked the black-white Thief into a nearby house. The latter looked slightly hurt by the impact but was otherwise still able to move and Kirika let out a sigh of relief.

It was Tsubasa's turn to shout out a warning and Kirika turned to see the black-pink Thief roller-blading towards the Noise as its corpse finally dissolved and turned into a crystal. Kirika jumped at the Thief, knocking her out of balance before she jumped a second time and scooped out the crystal.

At the moment her finger closed around the crystal, her heart exploded in pain as the crystal started to release shafts of light from its core. Kirika let out a cry of pain and fell to her knees as she tried to release the crystal in her hand but her hand refused to budge.

Her Gear's screen went crazy at this point, opening and closing all sorts of windows at this point and she barely noticed it when the black-pink Thief went to her side and knelt in front of her. "Akatsuki?" the Thief seem to have said before taking out her yo-yo and smashing it into Kirika's hand.

That did the trick and Kirika released the crystal with a cry of pain as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. "I'm on my way right now!" she heard Genjuuro say as the black-pink Thief picked up the crystal and stared at it. Through her pain, Kirika could see that the crystal's tip was gleaming brightly while the rest of it was dull and unfocused.

Before the Thief could leave, Tsubasa rushed forward, slashing at her and forcing her to drop the crystal. "Akatsuki!" Tsubasa shouted at her. "Pull yourself together!"

The other Thieves tried to rush in and steal the crystal but Kanade leapt in front of them, forcing them back with a single swing of her lance. The three Thieves glanced at each other for a moment before they retreated from the area as hastily as they could.

It was at that moment that Kirika finally gave in to the pain and blacked out.