Part 08

After she finished her conversation with Genjuuro, Kirika returned back to the others where they continued to help Ryoko. By the time they were done, it was past five pm and the girls decided that it would be best to go home.

"Too bad we can't visit Kaede-sempai, huh?" Hibiki said ruefully as the four of them left the school and Kirika nodded her head, not wanting to ruin the mood. "What about we visit her tomorrow? By the way, which hospital was she taken to?" she asked.

"Eh? Kirika stopped in her tracks for a moment.

"You know, the place where people are taken to after an accident," Hibiki said as she continued to walk, her hand entwined with Miku's.

"Oh...er...I need to check..." Kirika said weakly and Chris turned around, shooting her a curious stare.

"You went there two nights ago right? I don't think you're that dense as to forget which hospital she was sent to," Chris said, glaring hard at Kirika and making the latter feel uncomfortable.

"Sorry...it was late...and I was getting tired and everything was like a bad rush..." she replied hastily, shuffling her feet and hoping desperately that Chris would forget what she just said or at least ignore it.

Thankfully, Chris decided not to say anything and instead, cast a wary, disbelieving glance at her. Kirika continued to walk, keeping her gaze fixed on her feet and not saying anything to her friends even as they got on the bus back home.

"You are telling us the truth, aren't you Kirika?" Chris asked as they sat down and Kirika hesitated briefly.

"Kaede-sempai is injured because she took the hit for me and she was in surgery," she said, taking a deep breath after she was done. That is the truth, she told herself. Nothing about that statement was a lie.

"Chris, there's no need to think that Kirika is lying. If she was, we'll be able to find out tomorrow when we ask around the school," Miku said in a gentle manner and Chris sighed, folding her arms.

"I guess. You better not be hiding anything from us," she said, pointing at Kirika and the latter nodded quickly. The older girl relaxed a little after this but she cast a doubting eye on Kirika all throughout the ride and back to her front door.

***

Everything proceeded normally like nothing had happened and after dinner, Kirika excused herself to go to her room. "Homework," she told her parents before she ran upstairs. Once in her room, she quickly set up her books so that it looked like she was studying and she set her phone on silent mode.

As expected, her father came in to check on her thirty minutes later and an hour after that, so did her mother. By that point, Kirika was getting rather drowsing and had nearly fallen asleep and it was her mother who shook her up. "Have you finished?" she asked sternly and Kirika shook her head quickly.

"Do you want something to drink?" her mother asked, this time in a softer tone and Kirika hesitated for a moment before shaking her head again.

"I'm fine," she said with a reassuring smile and she turned her gaze back to her books before waiting for her mother to leave. Once her footsteps have faded into the distance, she took out her phone and checked to see if there was any messages.

Nothing yet, she noted and sigh, sinking her head onto her desk. This was getting really boring, she thought to herself. If she had known, she would have asked...

Her phone buzzed silently in her phone in her hand and she let out a loud "DEATH!", nearly dropping her phone from the surprise. Moments later, her mother opened the door and peered inside. "What's wrong?" she asked, her eyes darting about the room fearfully.

"Nothing! I thought I saw a cockroach and it scared me," Kirika said hastily. "Guess I was wrong though. See! No cockroaches and everything is fine," she spread her arms wide to show that she was okay.

After a momentary glance around the room, her mother sighed and stepped out, closing the door behind her as she left. Kirika waited again before looking down at her phone. She frowned however when she saw that the message was from an unknown deliverer and she hesitated before opening the message to read it.

"Meet me at your usual pick up spot," the message read and she frowned for a moment before texting back a reply, asking who the messenger was.

"Silly me," the reply came back. "It's me, Sakurai-sensei. I forgot that I never gave you my number in the first place."

Oh, Kirika thought absently before she texted her reply to her teacher: "Give me twenty minutes. I need to make sure that my parents won't catch me in the act."

"No problem. I've got some work to catch up on as well," she replied a moment later. Kirika took a deep and got up to change her clothes.

***

It took her thirty minutes before she could make her way to the convenience store instead of twenty; her parents were still up and doing some last minute chores as far as she could tell. Once the lights were off, she quietly crept out of her house and raced to the convenience store as fast as she can.

After five minutes of sprinting, she arrived at the store and took a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow before she looked around for Ryoko. A short search later and she spotted a pink car with the silhouette of a woman with a large beehive hairdo in the car. Is that Sakurai-sensei, she wondered as she walked over to the car and peered inside.

Indeed, it was Ryoko who was staring intently at her laptop. Or maybe not, Kirika thought as she tapped on the car's window. She looked like she was not quite there, with her stare seeming to be more like a thousand yard stare. Come to think of it, her eyes looked like they were a different color for a second there, she thought and squinted at her teacher. It seemed to be its usual shade of dark pink though, she decided after a second.

A minute of tapping passed by and finally, Ryoko glanced up at Kirika. She seemed surprised to see Kirika there and she opened the door. "Sorry, honey!" she said apologetically. "Spaced out there for a moment while I was working on a new Gear design."

"Is it for the new boy?" Kirika asked curiously as she got into the car and Ryoko shook her head.

"Oh no. Ydalir is being put together in the base right now. The idea behind this one is to link the Gear's weaponry directly to the Resonant crystal and so we can use it to fire particle beams instead," she said excitedly as she turned her laptop around to show Kirika.

"It looks like a mech with a giant ring attached to its back," Kirika noted out loud and Ryoko rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's still in the planning stage but the idea is sound and I think that Shenshoujing will be a good addition to the team if we can ever get it made and find a user for it," she said with a huff and Kirika nodded her head silently.

"Why Shenshoujing though?" she asked a moment later as Ryoko started the car.

"Eh, since I went with a mirror motive for the Gear's design and I picked the name of a mirror relic for it," Ryoko explained, causing Kirika to look back at the Gear design.

"Oh, is that what that ring supposed to be? A mirror?"

"Right!" Ryoko said enthusiastically before she drove away from the store. "But that's just the design stage right now though. I need to run a few tests and see if the Resonant crystal's output is capable to handling a particle beam before we start working on the mech. Might be years before we even set the skeleton up."

"Uh huh...oh and where's Tsubasa?" Kirika asked curiously. "I texted her this afternoon and asked her to help me with sneaking out of my house. What happened?"

"I did, obviously. She was going to come and get you but her grandfather wanted to have a meeting with her and she asked me to pick you up instead," Ryoko said with a grin.

"Is it serious? I mean, Tsubasa meeting with her grandfather. She's not in trouble or anything like that is she?" Kirika asked cautiously and Ryoko chuckled.

"I can't say but knowing old man Fudo, he's probably get his panties in a twist over the fact that she's spending way too much time nursing Kanade and not enough time training. Either that or he wants to grill her over the last mission's outing," he said.

"Oh...that's my fault in that case..." she said softly and Ryoko gave her a sidelong glance.

"He probably thinks so too but don't you worry too much. You won't be kicked out of the team soon; you're too valuable for that end," she said in an attempt to cheer Kirika up.

"Isn't it though? I collapsed in the middle of the mission and Kanade came up to protect me and..." Kirika started to say but Ryoko laid a finger on her lips before wagging it at her.

"I know. I've read the report and checked your Gear's readouts about the mission. It just looks like you need a bit more R and R between each mission and not as much training as Fudo wants to inflict on you," she said before patting Kirika's head.

"That bad huh?" Kirika said and puffed her cheeks in annoyance, causing Ryoko to laugh at her reaction.

"You're just new to the whole 'schoolgirl by day and superhero by night' shtick. Give it a while and you'll get used to it, just like your two seniors."

***

They arrive at the school after a short drive and after parking the car in a secluded spot, they took the secret elevator down to the base. Kirika's eyes flitted out to the elevator shaft once more, studying the colorful murals that decorated the wall.

"Why?" she asked suddenly, causing Ryoko to look at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Why the murals? It's something that I've wondered about and Tsubasa told me that you were the one who suggested that the walls should be decorated like this. So...since we're here in the elevator together, I thought, why not ask you about them?"

Ryoko smiled and looked at the murals for a moment. "Well...what if I told you that the murals tell a story? A story of love from ancient times. A story of a woman who fell in love with God and wished to tell him as such. Gathering an army of people, she built a tower to reach Him so that she can confess her feelings to Him," she said in a wistful manner.

"What happen? Did God say yes?" Kirika asked curiously and the wistful look on Ryoko's face twisted itself into a bitter sneer.

"Of course not. Angered that a mere mortal would dare reach the heights of godhood, He struck down the tower and placed a curse on humanity. As long as the eye in the sky keep watch, men and women would not be able to truly communicate with each other, their true language lost and scattered to the winds. Without true understanding, humanity became fraught with mistrust and started fighting with each other and she who loved God, was cursed by all people."

"That sounds terrible..." the girl said softly and the woman's sneer became more pronounced.

"It is terrible and the woman swore that she would do everything in her power to try and restore what humanity had lost. But alas. She was only mortal and she grew old and died, failing to undo her mistake and all suffered because of what she did," Ryoko closed her eyes after that, breathing in deeply and calming herself down.

"Wow...is that really what those murals mean?"

The woman turned towards the young girl and her sneer immediately turned into a cheerful laugh. "You actually thought I was telling you the truth?" she asked and Kirika blinked in surprise.

"Eh?"

"No! I just had the murals painted like this because I thought it would make the long trip down to the base much more bearable," she said cheerfully and reached out to pat Kirika's head.

"Oh..." Kirika said and looked a little deflated at the thought. "It was a beautiful story though. Kinda makes me feel sad for the poor woman who just wanted to share her feelings with the one that she loved."

"Thank you. I'm glad you liked it," Ryoko said with a smile. "I kinda liked it too."

***

Once they reached the base, Kirika excused herself to head to the medical facility and she ran there as quickly as she could. After getting lost and getting directions from a staff member, she finally managed to locate the critical care unit just as Tsubasa was making her way there as well, carrying a bag of fruit in her hand.

"Oh...er...hi?" Kirika said awkwardly when the two of them bumped into each other. Tsubasa looked at her sternly for a moment before she nodded her head once.

"I'm glad to see that Dr Sakurai managed to get you here without harm," she said before gesturing at her to enter the room. Kirika glanced at her hesitantly and Tsubasa sighed. "Kanade wants to see you too," she said and the younger girl nodded, stepping into the room before Tsubasa.

The first thing that Kirika noticed was there was a lot of machinery in the room, focused in the middle of the room where a single bed was placed. Someone was lying on the bed and Kirika's heart skipped a beat when she saw a familiar flame-haired girl, dressed in a hospital gown and looking a lot smaller than she does in real life.

"Kanade-san?" she squeaked and a hand raised up, waving in her general.

"Yo. I heard from Tsubasa that you wanted to come and visit. I'd stand up but...well, you know," she said, doing her best to sound as cheerful and upbeat as she normally would be but Kirika noticed that there was a slight slur in her voice. She stepped forward, wanting to run up to Kanade and hug her but Tsubasa laid a hand on her and shook her head.

Together, the two of them walked over to Kanade's side, Kirika dreading the moment. As they got closer, she saw that Kanade looked rather pale and breathing shallowly, with an IV drip feeding into her vein. The older girl gave her a wane grin and said, "Painkiller." She gestured at the bag that fed the IV drip. "Otherwise my back would hurt like crazy."

"I..." Kirika started to say before she burst into tears, unable to contain herself.

"Hey...it's alright. I wanted to do that so don't blame yourself, okay? Same goes to you, Tsubasa," Kanade said, patting Kirika on her head lightly. The latter sobbed for a little while longer before nodding and sitting down by the bed, holding Kanade's hand tightly.

Tsubasa sat down next to the bed and took out an apple, peeling it with a knife as Kanade and Kirika watched. "Hey...do those little bunnies for me, will ya?" Kanade asked and Tsubasa narrowed her eyes at her.

"Why?"

"Because I know you want to and I know Kirika wants to see you do it now that I've mentioned it," Kanade said with a grin and Kirika looked up, nodding her head slightly, both out of curiosity and out of a desire to please Kanade.

The other girl sighed and said, "You're just doing this to embarrass me in front of Kirika." Even so, she did as Kanade asked, leaving behind some apple skin before she cut it into slices and turned the skin on each slice into rabbit ears. After arranging them on a plate, she held it in front of Kirika, offering one to her which she accepted.

She watched as Kanade gestured at Tsubasa to feed her and the latter did so with a crimson flush on her face. "I swear, you're just as mean as you normally are," she muttered as she fed her bedridden friend. Despite that, there was a faint smile on her lips and Kirika started to feel better as she watched the two of them.

Then Kirika remembered something and mentioned about her friends wanting to visit Kaede in the hospital, making Kanade chuckle softly. "Man...you sure know how to get yourself into all sorts of weird trouble. Still, it's nice to have people think of me as a hero," she said in a teasing manner and Kirika pouted in response.

"Maybe I should handle it," Tsubasa volunteered softly as she popped another apple slice into Kanade's mouth and the latter grinned in response.

"You sure you can live a day without me?" she asked teasingly and Tsubasa responded by pinching her cheek.

"I'll manage," she said dryly before she turned to Kirika. "Besides, I doubt I'll be able to get away from school for another day. So maybe we can arrange for your friends to bump into me?"

The three of them discussed with each other about this for a while and Kirika felt a tension raising from her shoulders and it looked like Tsubasa was feeling the same as well, laughing and smiling a lot more than she did the last time Kirika saw her.

After a while, she got up and said, "I'm going to get some drinks. You want any?" She took their orders and trotted out, heading for a nearby vending machine. "Why is there a vending machine in the secret base anyways?" she asked herself as she inserted a few coins into the machine.

"So that we can buy drinks without sneaking around the school," Tsubasa suddenly said behind her and Kirika jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Death!" she said instinctively and Tsubasa gave her a confused stare.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked as she inserted a coin into the machine.

"Er...nothing...why are you here?" Kirika asked hastily in an attempt to change the subject.

"I can't let my junior pay for me, especially when I'm actually earning a paycheck," she said simply. "Also...I...I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day. I was wrong to lash at you like that," she said after a momentary pause.

"But..."

"But nothing. Kanade is alive, the doctors are doing their best to make sure that she gets back to fighting fitness, we get back together as a team. End of story," Tsubasa said a little curtly. Then she exhaled once before turning to her. "Besides, it's nice having you around and Kanade thinks so too. So don't disappoint her and become a gloomy girl who blames herself for everything, okay?"

She reached out, patting Kirika's head fondly and the latter flushed under her touch. "You know...this is weird, coming from you," she said a moment later and Tsubasa nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes, Kanade is usually the touchy feel-ey one, not me," she said and the two of them laughed softly. "Come on. Let's go back..."

The sound of an alarm interrupted her and they looked at each other in confusion. "Is that a Noise alert?" Kirika asked and Tsubasa shook her head.

"That sounds more like an intruder alarm..." the older girl said, sounding worried and Kirika glanced at her before nodding her head.

"Go look after Kanade. I'll find out what's wrong," she said, doing her best to sound brave and Tsubasa stared at her as if she was crazy. She's probably right, Kirika thought to herself before she puffed out her chest and tapped her heart.

"Hey, I've got a super-powered crystal heart. I can look after myself," she said and Tsubasa rolled her eyes.

"And you barely know how to fight," she pointed out before she sighed. "Fine...but don't get into a fight unless you have to. If you run into the intruder, run away as fast as you can."

"Yes, ma'am," Kirika said solemnly before the two of them ran off in different directions.

***

Kirika took out her phone and made a call to Genjuuro who answered a moment later. "What's going on?" she shouted over the blaring alarm.

"You're in the base? Why? Never mind! Looks like we've got three intruders in the main lab where we're implementing the final touches on Ydalir," he shouted back and Kirika paused in her tracks.

"Three intruders?" she repeated, feeling a little stunned by this Was it really them, she wondered to herself.

"We're trying to verify the situation but we're having communication trouble in the lab right now. Get into your Gear and head to the lab as quickly as you can! Hopefully Tsubasa will join you in the fight as well."

Kirika slipped her phone back into her pocket and raced towards the hangar as quickly as she could. It didn't take her long to do so and when she reached there, the crew had gotten her Gear out and ready for her. She shouted her thanks and slipped into her Gear, sealing herself in as fast as she could.

"Log in. Confirming user Akatsuki Kirika, death!" her Gear's AI chimed in before she sang it into activation. It hummed into life and she picked up her staff before racing towards the lab, following the map that appeared on her Gear's UI.

When she got to the lab, she saw several people lying on the ground, bleeding from injuries and she stopped to stare at everything in horror. Is it really the Phantom Thieves, she wondered to herself. Are they really doing this?

A small explosion erupted in the lab, sending the lab's door towards her. She jumped up instinctively, smashing the door aside with her staff. Steeling herself for whatever that was waiting for her inside the lab, she raced inside, leaping past the flames that blocked the entrance.

Even then she was horrified by the sight of dead people lying on the ground, their bodies burnt and horribly maimed most probably by the explosion. Yes, that's what happened, she told herself as she did her best to avoid retching in her Gear. Her eyes scanned the area until she spotted them; three silhouettes amidst the flames and seemingly doing something to a mech suit.

Is that Ydalir, she asked herself as she cautiously approached them. Her Gear's air-conditioning was set to the highest at this point but she can still feel the heat of the flames through her Gear; she did not want to stay too long in the fire.

One of the silhouettes noticed her and stepped forward to face her. It was the black-white Phantom Thief, Kirika noted with disappointment; she did not want to believe that this was true. "One of the enemy has arrived to face us," she said with a drawl as she lifted up her knife.

Kirika raised her staff carefully and said, "I don't want to do this," before remembering that they cannot hear her. She shook her head a second before the Thief rushed forward to attack her, swinging her knife at her which she barely blocked.

"Why are you doing this?" she shouted to no one in particular as she blocked another knife strike with her staff. The knife made a crackling sound like that of a taser and Kirika felt a surge of electricity zap through her body, causing her knees to buckle. She barely managed to remain standing even as the Phantom Thief raised her knife to strike Kirika down...

Several knives shot past Kirika and the Phantom Thief blocked each attack before leaping back. "Kirika!" Tsubasa shouted at her through her radio as she ran up to her side. She nodded in response and slowly got up while Tsubasa engaged the Phantom Thief in combat. "Get to the Ydalir unit, Kirika! I'll handle this Thief here!" she shouted again as she slashed at the Thief.

Kirika nodded and jumped through the flames again, stumbling as she landed as her knees buckled from the shock that she had just recently received. The other two Thieves turn to look at her and the black-pink Thief lashed out at her with her yo-yo while the white-pink appeared to be interfacing with Ydalir through wires that sprouted from her rod.

Desperately, Kirika managed to raise her staff in time, entangling the yo-yo with her weapon before pulling on her staff and yanking the Phantom Thief towards her. "Stop it," she shouted again, ignoring the fact that the Thief cannot hear her. She grabbed the Thief's arms, doing her best to pin her to the ground but the Thief flailed around and Kirika was forced back in the process, even if she did maintained her grip on the smaller girl.

Wow, she's a lot heavier than I remember her, Kirika thought as she struggled with the Thief. After a difficult struggle, she managed to pin the Thief to the ground but the Thief placed her foot against Kirika's stomach and her wheels starts spinning at an incredibly high speed.

The heat generated from the wheels was incredible and Kirika was forced to release the Thief who roller-bladed away from her as quickly as she can. "Die," the Thief said in a disquieting manner before she flung two yo-yos at Kirika. She quickly knocked the yo-yos aside before springing forward, hoping to be able to pin the Thief down instead.

She dodged a second attack from the Thief and reached out, grabbing her arms once more. "Stop it!" she shouted again as she managed to pin the Thief to the ground. "Why are you doing this?"

There was no answer; instead, Kirika heard a familiar sound coming from the other Gear and she looked at it as the third Thief stood triumphantly over the Gear, waving her rod and getting Ydalir to move. "How is she doing that?" Kirika asked in surprise as the Gear pointed its arm at her.

Her eyes widened in shock as two small chain-guns emerged from the arm and she grabbed the Thief, leaping out of the way as Ydalir opened fire on her. The Thief struggled in her arms as Kirika did her best to shield her from the other Gear's gunfire and she failed to notice the white-pink Thief aiming at her with her own rod.

A power beam fired from the rod and knocked her away, releasing the black-pink Thief in the process. Ydalir opened fire on Kirika, causing her to cry out in pain as a hail of bullets struck her and she dashed away before more bullets can hit her. "Warning," her AI said once she had hidden from the other Gear. "Unit has lost thirty percent of structural integrity. Caution is required to avoid Death."

"Gotcha," Kirika muttered to herself as she tapped the side of her head. "Kazanari-sensei?" she said aloud and after a brief static, he said, "I read you but we don't have visual from the room. What's going on?"

She relayed the situation to him while Ydalir opened fire on her again, forcing her to duck out of cover. Even Tsubasa, who was still battling the black-white Thief was forced to move away and the three Thieves regroup while having Ydalir take the lead.

"Damn it," he growled when she told him that they had taken control of Ydalir. "I thought Ryoko said that the Gears couldn't be tampered with or controlled by an outside source."

"Well, she's wrong about that," Tsubasa said pointedly as she dodged another hail of bullets. "Any suggestions?"

After ducking another round of gunfire herself, Kirika peered out and watched the Thieves as they started moving out of the lab. "We can try to stop her," she said, gesturing at the white-pink Thief who appeared to be concentrating hard. "She's the one who got the Gear moving on its own."

"On it," Tsubasa replied and darted out. Knives appeared in her hand and she flung them at the white-pink Thief. She stared at the knives and raised her rod, projecting a force-field that stopped the knives from hitting her while the other two Thieves rushed forward to attack both Gears.

"Keep them there," Genjuuro said over the radio as the Thieves attacked them with a vicious ferocity that Kirika had never experienced before. "Reinforcements should be coming to help you in two minutes."

"Roger that," Tsubasa responded immediately and slashed at the black-white Thief, forcing her to jump back. Once she was free, she turned and slashed at the black-pink Thief, who dodged out of the way and hurled another yo-yo at Kirika. At the last moment, the latter managed to knock the yo-yo out of the way once more and staggered back towards Tsubasa.

"That's a lot easier said than done," she complained, causing Tsubasa to chuckle in amusement. "What?" she asked her senior who chuckled again.

"Watch and learn," Tsubasa said before darting forward, slashing at the black-white Thief. She raised her knife to parry the blow but Tsubasa pulled back at the last moment and a knife slipped out of her other hand and she slashed at the Thief with the knife. Kirika winced when she saw the knife cut into the Thief's arm but the Thief ignored the injury, kicking hard at Tsubasa but the latter danced back, using her momentum to attack the black-pink Thief.

"Akatsuki!" Tsubasa shouted at her and Kirika noticed that her senior had cleared a path for her to charge to the remaining Thief. She sprinted towards the Thief, rushing towards her and slamming into the Thief before she can react.

Even so, the Thief is still able to move and Kirika felt something against her stomach seconds before she is sent flying back. Her UI began to glitch crazily as her AI announced that her suit has sustained critical damage. Despite the pain and her suit's protest, Kirika stood up, noting that the Thief was also having trouble standing up.

"Please...stand down," she pleaded but the Thief raised her rod again and fired a beam from her rod, forcing Kirika to dodge. Ydalir opened fire again, filling the room with lead and the two Gears quickly retreated from the lab to avoid damage.

"Are you alright?" Tsubasa asked in concern and Kirika shook her head in pain. "Hold on for just a little longer," she said as Kirika's suit picked up their reinforcements arriving; men and women dressed in body armor and armed with guns and grenades.

Two grenades are flung into the lab and Kirika looked away as a bright flash of light flared within. Once the flash had died down, the reinforcements opened fire into the lab but they quickly retreated as the lab's occupants returned fire. Ydalir stepped out of the lab, followed by the three Thieves who attacked the men and women in a vicious manner.

Forcing herself up, Kirika charged at the Thieves again, getting in the way of the black-pink Thief before she could slam her yo-yo into a man's head. "Stop it!" she shouted at the Thief before she shoved the other girl back. The Thief roller-bladed towards her again and launched herself into Kirika, lashing out with a fierce kick that knocked Kirika down in a single blow.

She lay down there for a moment, seeing stars before she forced herself up, groaning in pain. There is something in her mouth that tastes like iron and she feels something trickling down her head. She shook her head once, pain shooting throughout her body as she tried to get a sense of what was going on.

Several people were lying on the ground, some still and others moaning in pain. Tsubasa was chasing after the Thieves while dodging gunfire from the Ydalir unit. "I'm coming," she whispered softly and forced herself to run after Tsubasa and the Thieves.

***

She had trouble chasing after them but her UI opened a window, showing her where Tsubasa and the Thieves are headed to: the hangar. "Is there a shortcut?" she asked her Gear and the map showed a line from her current location to the hangar that would allow her to move ahead of the Thieves.

It did not take her long before she arrived at the hangar and she sucked in breath through her teeth as she focused her mind past the pain that she was currently feeling. The hangar itself was a chaotic mess as people were getting into position and preparing for the Thieves to arrive at this location.

A certain flash of black and orange caught her eye and she turned towards it. She watched as the maintenance crew struggled to move Kanade's Gear into a more secure location. It looked like they were in the midst of making some extensive repairs to it, she thought to herself, feeling a little relieved by the thought of it somehow.

"Kirika?" her radio suddenly flared up. "Do you read?"

"Yes...and I'm at the hangar," she said slowly, breathing deeply from the pain that was racking through her body.

"Are you okay?" Genjuuro asked. "Vitals show that you're not in a very good state right now."

"I'm fine...and we need to stop the Thieves right?" she said, her eyes darting about the hangar as she looked for a position where she could ambush the Thieves herself. She spotted a ledge above the entrance and she began climbing up towards it.

Genjuuro was silent for a moment before he said, "Fine. But if things get worse for you, I'm shutting down your Gear whether you like it or not. I'm not going to let you die on my watch, you hear me."

"You can shut down the Gear anytime you like?" she asked just before a loud crashing sound reached her ears and she turned around, watching in surprise as Tsubasa crashes into the hangar, landing in a crumpled heap. Oh that is not good, Kirika thought as Ydalir walked into the hangar and opened fire.

Everyone in the hangar scattered to avoid gunfire and Kirika spared a glance towards the maintenance workers, feeling relieved when she saw that they had managed to escape harm as well, though they were forced to abandoned Kanade's Gear before they can move it to safety.

At that moment, the three Thieves entered the hangar and the two black clad Thieves started attacking indiscriminatedly, cutting down people where they stood while the last Thief dashed off to the side. Tsubasa staggered up but Kirika could see that her Gear had taken a lot of beating and she would not be able to handle more punishment as well.

Here goes nothing, she thought before launching herself off the ledge and onto the Ydalir. Both Gears were knocked to the ground from the impact and Kirika rolled several times before crashing into a pile of crates that halted her roll.

Groaning, she got up at the same time the Ydalir got up but Tsubasa was able to use the distraction that she had provided and slashed at the Gear's legs, causing it to fall down once more. "Good work," Tsubasa said to her as Kirika flashed a V-sign to her.

Unfortunately, the two black-clad Thieves slammed into them and Kirika struggled to push the black-pink Thief off her but the Thief turned out to be much stronger than she had previously thought and pinned her Gear to the ground. "What..." Kirika managed to say in shock before the Thief slammed her yo-yos into her head.

The impact knocked Kirika unconscious for a brief moment and when she woke up, the black-pink Thief had left and was about the attack Tsubasa. "No..." Kirika whispered and staggered up once more, ignoring the protests that her Gear's AI was making. She raised her staff, ready to take on the Thief again and her heart pounded heavily, causing her head to throb in pain.

A surge of energy flowed from her hand and into her staff, gathering at the tip and expanding into an energy blade that stretched out from her staff like a scythe. She stared at the blade for a moment before whispering, "Cool," and rushing towards the Thief.

She let out an angry shout as she drew closer to the Thief but at the last moment, the Thief turned around and dodged out of the way, lashing out with her yo-yos again. Calmly, Kirika swung her scythe and her new blade sliced through the yo-yo strings before she batted them away.

The Thief roller-bladed back and pulled out more yo-yos from her wrists. This time, blades sprouted from them, spinning about viciously like they were buzz-saws and the Thief flung them at Kirika. Once again, her mind was calm despite the pain she was feeling and she swung her scythe once, slicing through both yo-yos at once.

For a moment, the two of them stared at each other before Kirika stepped forward and dashed towards the Thief. She made as if she was going to swing her scythe at the Thief but at the last moment, she thrust her staff forward instead, catching the Thief in her midriff. The latter rolled back on her roller blades, seeming not to feel any pain from the blow and Kirika was about to dash forward when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and threw herself to the side instead.

To her horror, it was Kanade's Gear that was attacking her and it lashed out with its fists and feet, lacking its signature lance. What's happening, Kirika thought to herself as her eyes darted about. She saw the white-pink Thief standing near the Gear's holding station, focusing her hand on Kanade's Gear. Was she using the others as a distraction so that she could hack into Kanade's Gear, Kirika asked before the Gear attacked her once more.

Her energy blade fizzled out as she started to panic and she was forced to defend herself with just her staff instead. The steel fists and feet struck her several times and she was forced away from the black-pink Thief, who took her chance and headed over to the control panel instead. She did something to the panel which Kirika could not see and the elevator ramp leading out to the surface lowered itself, allowing the Thieves to climb onboard.

Kirika tried to make her way to the ramp but Kanade's Gear slammed its foot into her stomach, making her crumple to the ground. "No..." she said weakly as the two Gears joined up with the three Thieves on the ramp and it began to move back up to the surface.

Her eyes darted over to Tsubasa but she saw that the older girl was lying still on the ground and she tried to force herself up one more time to stop the Thieves from leaving. The pain proved too much for her however and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.