Part 10

Inside the truck, Kirika stared at the single Gear inside and she reached out, touching its battered shell gently. "Poor Igalima," she whispered. "All alone and without anyone else to fight side by side with." After caressing the helmet lightly, she climbed into the Gear before sealing herself inside and singing the Gear's activation song.

The Gear shuddered to life and the cracked UI flickered into life before she heard Requiem's voice saying, "Welcome back, Death." She smiled and flexed her fingers for a bit before she had the AI bring up the Gear's current condition window.

"Armor durability currently rated at approximately sixty three percent. Joint mobility remains at eighty one percent. You might experience some difficulty in moving around, Death," the AI explained to her.

Still, it was a pretty good job they did, she thought to herself as she started moving around for a bit. The truck rumbled to life and she felt it moving onto the elevator ramp before the ramp itself began to move up, signifying the start of their mission.

"Akatsuki?" she heard Tsubasa calling to her and she responded in the affirmative as she anchored herself into the truck's holding base. "Good. It's strange though, talking to you like this. Usually it's Uncle Gen who does it and not me."

"Uncle Gen?" Kirika said with a slight smile; this was the first time she heard Tsubasa call Genjuuro that.

"She did that a lot when she was younger but she usually limits herself these days because of base activities and school circumstances," Genjuuro said in a slightly rueful tone. Kirika laughed as Tsubasa began to scold her uncle, telling him that work is work and her calling him that was just a slip of her tongue.

Whatever tension she felt slipped away at the sound of Tsubasa's and Genjuuro's arguing and she closed her eyes, using the sound of the voices to further calm herself down. The sound of their voices drifted away and she could hear her own heart beating within her chest.

That's strange, she thought to herself. It doesn't sound like a heart at all. But then again, her original heart had been destroyed and replaced by one made out of crystal. Maybe that's why it sounds like a bell's chime instead. Whatever the reason, there was a soothing quality to the sound and all of her worries seem to wash away with each beat of...

"Akatsuki!"

Kirika's eyes flew open and she said, "Sorry, Tsubasa-san. What's going on?"

"You really were asleep in there, weren't you? I said, we're at the site already. Time to step out and do your job," she said sternly.

"G...got it," she said hastily and began the unanchoring process as Genjuuro started explaining the situation to her.

"Our drones have picked up the Noise at this particular location," he said as a map appeared on Kirika's UI and a dot pointed out its location. "The problem right now is that the Noise has appeared in a densely populated location and while it has not started attacking yet, the police is still halfway through the relocation efforts at this point."

"And that means..."

"We have to wait until the police gives us the go ahead before you can step out. The others have already started the hunt for the Noise and we're hoping that it would remain still for now until the people have been safely relocated."

"What about the Phantom Thieves?" Kirika asked cautiously.

"No sign of them yet. They might also be waiting for us to clear out the populace or they might be waiting for the Noise to make a move. Anything I say right now is just speculation however so we have to keep an eye out for them," Genjuuro said.

"Okay...guess we're going to have to wait, huh?" Kirika said and closed her eyes once more. She tried to focus her mind once more, wanting to return to that wellspring of calm that she had entered earlier and it did not take long for her to return.

Once inside the calm of her chiming heart, Kirika relaxed herself for a moment but there were several other sounds that were distracting her and she started to have trouble focusing. Three warbling sounds closing in, she thought to herself and in the distance, a frightful static noise. It was not moving but it was growing, like it was gathering strength for something big, she noted.

The three warbling sounds grew louder until it felt like they were right next to her and Kirika reached out with her hand, wanting to touch it. Something about these sounds made her feel hungry, like she could just eat them up and use it for her own self. She just wanted to...

The static noise erupted, overwhelming her senses and she screamed in pain as the noise forced her to retreat back to her normal state of being. As she returned, she could hear both Tsubasa and Genjuuro calling out to her, both sounding extremely worried.

"What's going on, Kirika?" Genjuuro asked, shushing his niece in order to get some calm.

"The...Noise..." Kirika murmured, feeling like several cars have smashed into her.

"What about it?" Genjuuro asked just before their radios hissed and he became silent as it was a report from the other team.

"We've found the secondary objective and are waiting for the go ahead from the police. Once we have secured that, we will strike," the report said and Kirika shook her head, remembering the Noise that she head.

"No. You have to get out of there," she said in a panicked tone. "It's waiting for you to take it on!"

"What are you talking about, kid? It's just a big cocoon right now. It's easy pickings for us and..." At the point the radio went static and Genjuuro uttered a loud curse.

"Kirika, get over to their location now! I don't care if the population catch sight of you. Just get over there and rescue as many of them as you can!" he shouted and the truck's door burst open at that point. Kirika let out a scream and charged out of the truck, racing towards the dot on her map.

Several people stared at her in surprise as she ran past them and she did her best to ignore their gasps and camera flashes as she ran towards her destination. In the distance, she saw two police officers staring at her and she recognized them as officers Tomosato and Fujitaka.

"Wait...what's going on?" Fujitaka asked Kirika as she approached them and she gestured at them to go now. They stared at her for a while and Kirika sighed before she radioed her request to Genjuuro, telling him who she had just met. While she was doing this, she heard a loud scream coming for a short distance away and she darted towards the source, with Tomosato and Fujitaka following closely behind her.

It turned out to be a young couple who had ran into one of the second team members. The man had just fallen onto the ground, his body covered in black ash and Kirika could see that half of his right arm was gone. What happened to it, she thought as she ran over to him and looked around frantically.

"Hang in there!" Fujitaka said as he ran over to the man's side while Tomosato radioed for an ambulance. "Big guy! What's going on here?" he shouted at Kirika and it took her a moment to realize that he was addressing her. She responded with a shrug as her eyes darted about.

A second scream from the female half of the couple made Kirika look at her and she was pointing at something. Kirika stared in the direction that she was pointing and she gasped in surprise as a two meter tall bipedal creature with four segmented arms stepped out from an underground train entrance. Moth-like wings unfurled from its back and it even had a proboscis and compound eyes on its face, completing its strange, insect-like look.

"I found the Noise," Kirika said, pulling out her staff and readying it in front of her. Gun fire interrupted her next words and Kirika saw that several members of the second team were attacking the Noise from behind, making it turn away from the couple and towards them instead.

A song burst from her lips as she charged towards the Noise and as soon as she was in range, she slammed her staff into the Noise, knocking it away from the second team. "Get away from here!" she shouted at them. "I'll cover you!"

"Have you seen the Phantom Thieves yet?" one of the second team member asked and she shook her head.

"Who cares? We need to stop the Noise before it can do more harm!" she shouted just as the Noise stretched out its limbs at breakneck speed, sending them at the team members behind Kirika. Most of them dodged the attack save for the one who asked her about the Thieves. He screamed in pain as his body was penetrated by the limb and his body turned into a pile of ash right in front of Kirika, his screaming face etched in the ashes before her.

She let out an angry scream at the sight and charged at the Noise, swinging her staff at it but it unfurled its wings and flew away, jumping towards a small crowd that had gathered at the chaotic sounds of screaming and gunfire. It turned around and for a moment, Kirika could almost swear that it was gleeful at the sight of so many potential victims before it.

Before she could make another move, the Noise let out a piercing scream, causing everyone in the area to fall to the ground, clutching their heads in pain. Only Kirika was spared this, possibly due to being in her Gear and she rushed towards the Noise, leaping up in the air to attack it but her jump fell short of the creature and as she fell, she saw it hugging its limbs close to its body, seemingly curled up in a fetal position.

It threw its limbs out and spikes flew out of its body, heading towards the unprotected people on the ground and Kirika froze for a moment, unable to decide on what to do. At this point, she saw three figures appear, one in front of the second team and two in front of the crowd.

"Go!" one of them shouted and each figure held out their hands, creating an energy barrier that stopped the spikes from hitting the people. Kirika let out a sigh of relief before her eyes focused on who the figures were and her heart skipped a beat.

"The Phantom Thieves are here, ready to steal your hearts with a smile!" the white-pink Thief shouted as she twirled her rod and pointed at the Noise with a huge grin on her face.

***

"Withdraw!" Kirika heard as the second team backed away from the fight as quickly as they could. But she did not move, watching as the two black-clad Thieves attacked the Noise while the last Thief shielded the retreating civilians.

"Something's not right," she murmured to herself as she watched the Thieves. "Something doesn't feel right."

"Kirika? Aren't you withdrawing?" Genjuuro said suddenly and she let out a startled squeak. She looked once at the fight and then at the people as they retreated before spotting that one of them, a young boy had tripped and that the white-pink Thief had gone to help the boy up, failing to notice that the Noise was about to attack them.

She darted forward as the Noise stretched its limb out, ready to strike the Thief and with a single bat of her staff, she parried the blow before it could land.

"Nice!" the Thief said with a smile as she helped the boy away and the other two Thieves went to Kirika's side, giving her a nod. Inside her Gear, Kirika closed her eyes, listening to the chime of her heartbeat before she made her decision.

"Kazanari-sensei. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to stay and fight. There are still people around and we need to protect them!" she declared loudly and to her surprise, she heard Genjuuro chuckle in response.

"Alright. Keep a cool head, Kirika and take out the Noise before it kills more people," he said and she grinned as she felt a little more confident than she had previously. She took on a simple fighting stance before she charged at the Noise at the same time as the two Thieves by her side.

The Noise was still flying however and it easily avoided Kirika's initial charge but the black-pink Thief hurled her yo-yo at it and Kirika watched as the yo-yo hummed with energy and snaked around the Noise, entangling it and causing it to fall instead. The black-white Thief jumped towards the Noise and slashed at it with her knife before punching it to the ground and towards Kirika.

"Catch!" she yelled and Kirika swung her staff like a bat, striking the Noise in the back as hard as she could. It flew several meters before it crashed to the ground and several energy butterflies appear around it, exploding one by one as they touched the Noise.

"Did we win, !@#$%?" the white-pink Thief asked as she trotted up to the black-white Thief and the latter shook her head, holding her knife up just as the Noise stood up once more. It glared at them angrily, its compound eyes flickering in the afternoon sunlight.

Kirika tensed for a moment, wondering what she should do before Tsubasa said to her, "Akatsuki, focus! Remember what happened in the last fight!"

"Which one?" Kirika shouted back as the Noise raised its limbs and lashed out with them, forcing her to defend herself against the attacks. Several of the limb strikes struck at her Gear, creating loud scrapping sounds that made her heart jump each time and she can feel it pounding further.

"Akatsuki!" Tsubasa shouted again and the younger girl jumped back, panting heavily as the Phantom Thieves continued to fight the Noise on their own.

"What?" she snapped back, feeling a little annoyed at this point.

"What were you thinking about during the fight with the Phantom Thieves?"

"Nothing. I..." she blinked as she recalled the fight and how she had blanked out during that one moment. She nodded and closed her eyes, focusing herself on emptying out her mind. Despite the chaos of the fight, she found that it was easy to do so, especially if she focused on the chiming of her heartbeat and it did not take her long before she felt the spark in her hands.

It flared out, forming a scythe blade at the tip of her staff and she spun it around with a grin. "Thanks!" she shouted at Tsubasa through the radio before she rushed at the Noise, slashing at it with her newly formed scythe. The Thieves darted out of the way and Kirika could see the surprise on their faces, almost as if they had never seen her do this before.

Pushing that surprise to that back of her mind, she stepped forward and swung her scythe at the advancing limbs, slicing one of them off at the wrist. The Noise snarled in pain and flew up and away from Kirika, its eyes twitching about wildly. Then it turned around and started to fly away from the four of them.

"Uh oh..." Kirika said softly as she watched it fly away.

"What happened?" Genjuuro asked and she quickly explained the situation as the Phantom Thieves start to run after the Noise to chase it down. He was silent for a moment before saying, "I've got an idea," and he quickly explained it to her.

***

"Ready?" Genjuuro asked as Kirika flexed her arms and legs. In the distance, she can see the Noise flying away while the Phantom Thieves chase after it. By this point, she had let the energy blade on her staff die down and she had slipped the staff back into its arm holster.

"No...but I don't think I'll ever be ready for something like that," she replied.

"Alright then. Let's get the show on the road then. Start running on my signal," he said and Kirika waited patiently even as a small crowd of people start to gather around her and start taking pictures of her Gear.

In the distance, she can see the Thieves jumping and trying to force the Noise down but it flits about and attacks them with stretched limbs and flying spikes. She spotted several flying objects glinting in the distance that were approaching the Noise and she asked, "Is that the signal?"

"Go!" Genjuuro shouted and she dashed forward, startling the people around her as they scrambled to make way for her. Ignoring them, she instead focused on the map that appeared on her UI. One dot indicated the Noise's location and a second dot indicated where she was supposed to be headed. Every ten seconds, the second dot's location would be changed depending on the Noise's current location but for now, the Noise is headed for the second dot.

As she drew closer, she could see the Noise being harried by several drones that were attacking it with gunfire and mini rockets. The three Phantom Thieves were still chasing it as far as she could tell but it did not really matter to her whether they were or not. All that mattered was that she got to her destination at the right time...

A screeching sound reached her ears and she saw that the transport truck had arrived at the location as per Genjuuro's plan and she heard him yell, "Now!" Bracing herself, she sprinted towards the truck and jumped onto it just as the drones swoop down towards the Noise in a suicide attack.

The truck screeched to a halt and hurled Kirika off it, flinging her towards the Noise as the drones exploded around it, distracting it from her approach. Her mind was clear as she pulled her staff from its arm holster and the energy scythe flared into being once more.

It was then that the Noise noticed Kirika flying towards her but it was too late; she swung her scythe in an upward motion, cleaving through its midriff in a single stroke. It let out a single, pained cry as its two halves fall to the ground and Kirika grinned at the sound...only to remember that she was now falling to the ground as well...

"We totally forgot about this!" she screamed into the radio as she started to plummet to the ground but a flash of black and pink emerged in front of her and she saw the twin-tailed Phantom Thief in front of her.

"Show off," the girl said but there was an amused tone in her voice as she grabbed Kirika by the waist before twisting about and tossing one of her yo-yos at a nearly lamp post. Upon touching Kirika's gear, she felt her heart pound rapidly and there was a painful sensation coursing through her body as the two of them swung down to the ground.

The Thief felt it as well, it seemed and Kirika could see her costume flashing in and out as she struggled to hold on to her. Indeed she was forced to release Kirika before they could land on the ground but at this point, the fall was short enough for her Gear to cushion the impact and the other two Thieves jumped to the black-pink Thief's aid, helping her to the ground.

Panting, Kirika looked up and waved her thanks to the Phantom Thieves who waved back at her. A loud crashing sound reached her ears and she saw that the Noise had crashed to the ground nearby. The black-white Thief grinned and said, "Well, it's time for us to claim our prize."

"Indeed."

Kirika let out a startled cry when she heard and she looked around in surprise just in time to see the brown haired man stepped out of the shadows behind her. When did he do that, she thought as he darted towards the Thieves as quickly as he can.

Only the black-pink Thief noticed him running towards them and she let out a cry of surprise, causing the other two Thieves to turn their heads in surprise. In response, he threw something into their midst, covering them in a cloud of yellow dust and Kirika could hear the Thieves retching within the cloud.

"What's going on?" Kirika heard Genjuuro shout over the radio and she explained what was happening as she got up to her feet and the brown-haired ninja darted into the smoke cloud.

"Ogawa-san..." Tsubasa said calmly over the radio and Kirika blinked in surprise. "My grandfather's bodyguard and personal ninja although I think you must have figured that part out already." The survivors of the second team step out from the shadows as well as the sounds of desperate fighting erupt from the smoke cloud and Kirika gripped her staff, wondering what she should do.

After a while, Ogawa is sent flying out of the dust cloud which is soon dispersed by a sharp wind cloud but Kirika can see that the Phantom Thieves have taken several cuts and the three of them can barely stand on their feet. Was the yellow dust some sort of poison, she asked herself as the second team open fire on the Thieves.

She let out a startled cry but the white-pink Thief raised her hands and a giant energy butterfly appeared, folding its wings around them and protected them from the bullets. To the left, she could see Ogawa staggering back up to his feet before he ran towards the Thieves.

"No!" she shouted but he ignored her and hurled something at the Thieves, which exploded in a bright explosion of light and sound. Even her Gear struggled to compensate for the flare and boom and Kirika cried out in pain as she closed her eyes to protect herself.

When the ringing in her head had gone, she opened her eyes once more and saw that Ogawa had already knocked the white-pink Thief unconscious and was battling the black-white Thief on his own. The rest of the second team were moving in on the black-pink Thief who was struggling to get up but she seemed to be weakened from the gas and could barely do so.

As the beatings continued, Kirika caught some strange movement out of the corner of her eye and she turned to look. "No...the Noise is still alive!" she shouted into the radio. "We need to take it out now!" But her warning came too late as the bisected Noise stretched out its broken limb and grabbed the nearest member of the second team.

His piercing scream alerted everyone else to the Noise and they turned to see him crumble into a pile of black ash. To Kirika's horror, she saw that the Noise was also slowly regenerating its flesh at the same time. Was...was it using the poor man like that, she thought as she held out her staff and charged at the Noise once more.

"Secure the Thieves first," Kirika heard an unfamiliar voice say over the radio just as she slammed into the Noise, smashing it aside. "We cannot let them escape!"

"No! We can't let this thing escape and kill more people!" she shouted back desperately, her mind flashing over to the people whose deaths she had just witnessed. The voice simply sighed and Kirika returned her attention to fighting off the Noise instead as it flailed about once more.

Another limb stretched out and gutted another second team personnel, one who was trying to capture the black-pink Thief. As he turned into black ash, the Noise regenerated more of its flesh and it let out a triumphant thrill. On the other hand, Kirika noticed that this gave the black-pink Thief enough breathing space that she was able knock the personnel back and she moved to help the black-white Thief fight off Ogawa.

Kirika moved back and tried to summon the necessary calm and focus needed to conjure the energy blade on her staff but the Noise seemed to have recognized what she was trying to do and it lashed out at her, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking away some of her Gear's armor plates as well as drawing blood in the process.

She let out a hiss of pain but she stood firmly and charged at the Noise, forcing it back. It tried to fly away but its wings still appeared to be badly damaged thankfully and it only hopped several meters away instead. Behind her, Kirika can hear the two black-clad Thieves arguing with each other over something; it seemed like the older Thief wants her younger compatriot to escape now before she gets caught.

Good luck, she thought as she dodged a blow from the Noise and jumped forward, hitting it hard in the head. It stumbles back and Kirika jumped forward again, thrusting her staff into its midsection and hefting it up before slamming it onto the ground.

She grinned, as a fresh burst of energy coursed through her body and she moved forward, striking the Noise as hard as she could. Even the pain in the shoulder was mild compared to the surge of power she felt right now and she was wondering why she even needed the scythe blade in the first place...

Until, the Noise made a desperate sweep with one of its arm, hitting her in the wrist and making her lose her grip on her staff. As she stepped back, the Noise ducked low instead and stretched out, wrapping its pincer-like hand around her ankle and crushing it. A cry of pain escaped her lips and the Noise pulled hard, causing her to fall to the ground.

The pain in her ankle faded away quickly though and she felt like she could move but the Noise jumped onto her and began pummeling hard. "Warning! Gear structural integrity rated at twenty eight percent. Please avoid more damage to escape Death!" her AI warned Kirika as she desperately flailed about to protect herself. The impact of the blows cracked her Gear's armor and pain shot through her body as the Noise continued to pound hard on her.

Even the surge of energy that she was feeling was fading away although it seemed to take away most of the pain that she was feeling but that was being replaced by a creeping exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm her instead. Is this it, she thought to herself even as she tried desperately to shove the Noise away from her.

Unfortunately the Noise proved too much for her and it struck her hard in the head, knocking her senseless for a split-second. When she came too, she saw that it was rearing up, ready to land a killing blow...until a yo-yo slammed into it and knocked it away from her. "Deja vu," Kirika murmured in surprise and she staggered up as the black-pink Thief roller-bladed to her.

"Why do I keep rescuing you?" the Thief asked and Kirika shrugged in response as the Noise lunged at them again. The remaining second team members fired on the Noise before retreating, buying the two of them a little time to back away.

"Take my hand," the Thief said, holding out her left hand to Kirika and she stared at it in surprise. "Take my hand. You're running on fumes and you need the energy boost right?" Her right hand flared with light at this point and Kirika stared at the Thief for a moment, wondering what she was getting on about.

The Noise turned back to them and the Thief let out a sigh before grabbing Kirika's hand instead. Her hear began pounding hard and she almost collapsed from the immense pressure as the light in the Thief's hand slowly died down. The latter gritted her teeth and the light flared some more as Kirika's heart pounded harder still...

...and a song burst from her lips instead, startling her as she felt her entire body rejuvenate and her heart chimed wondrously. The Thief also sang a song as well, one that was strangely in rhythm with Kirika's and the two of them looked at each other in surprise. A glow around the Thief's chest seemed to thump in beat with the song that they were singing and Kirika grinned at her, giving her a thumbs up while everyone else stopped to stare at the duo as they sang their duet.

Don't let go, she thought and the Thief's hand gripped her Gear tighter still as Kirika lifted her staff into the air. Energy gathered at the tip of her staff, forming a giant scythe blade and she shook her head. That didn't work the last time, she thought. I need more. The blade shimmered and split into three equally massive blades while the light in the Thief's hand turned into a large buzz-saw made of pink and black energy.

A glimmer of fear seemed to appear in the Noise's eyes and it turned around, trying to desperately flee the scene but Kirika shook her head and charged at the Noise, with the Thief alongside her. She swung the Thief who let go of her and flew ahead. With a shout, the latter made a horizontal slash, ripping through the Noise body before Kirika jumped up and swung her blade down, cleaving the Noise into six parts.

From there, she could see the Noise's dissonant crystal and the Thief swung her yo-yo, grabbing it as the rest of the Noise disintegrated into dust. As Kirika landed, the Thief gave her a smile before collapsing into her arms and Kirika stared at her, just realizing how small and frail the girl looked in her arms.

"Good job, Ms Akatsuki," the unknown voice said to her and she turned around, noticing that Ogawa had finally subdued the black-white Thief although he looked rather bloodied and beaten up from the fight. The white-pink Thief was already secured in hand-cuffs and forced to stand up despite clearly struggling to do so.

Kirika hesitated for a moment before looking down at the black-pink Thief. To her surprise, the girl's mask and clothes were fading away in her grasp and she could get a clear glimpse of her face now. "S...Shirabe?" she said in surprise and the girl's eyes flickered open.

"Hand her over now so that we may detain the Thieves and hand them over for proper interrogation," the voice said and Kirika finally pinned it as Ogawa's voice as he walked over to her, a polite smile on his face and handcuffs in his hand. Her eyes flitted down to Shirabe as she held on to the girl before she nodded her head.

"Catch," she said before turning around to run as fast as she could, carrying Shirabe in a princess carry and leaving everyone else to stare at her in surprise.