Part 09

Once again, Kirika woke up with a start, panting heavily. "Are you alright, dear? You've been out for the past two days," her mother asked her and she nodded for a moment before she paused and stared at her mother for a long while.

"Wh...where am I?" she asked cautiously and her mother sighed.

"You're underneath your school right now. Your father and I were informed after that...situation by your 'teacher' and we were allowed here to look after you where you were out," she explained. "Thankfully you weren't as badly hurt as everyone thought at first and you should be discharged tomorrow."

Memories of the fight flooded Kirika's mind as she continued to stare at her mother and it was a while before she digested the situation properly. "So...you know the truth then?" she asked, retaining the cautious tone in her voice and her mother nodded.

"I can't blame you for not wanting to tell us; I didn't believe it myself when I first heard about it and quite honestly," she leaned in to whisper the next part of her sentence, "the old man who runs this entire thing doesn't look like he'll play nice if we expose the truth so..."

Kirika laughed nervously as she gripped her blanket before saying, "I...I'm sorry about hiding all this from you."

"You're forgiven...but I still don't understand why you were chosen to use those anti monster robots. You're just a normal girl," her mother said and Kirika nodded quickly in agreement.

"Maybe they thought that I had some hidden potential and was a really good pilot?" she suggested and her mother stared hard at her.

"I don't know...I got the feeling that they were still hiding a lot of things from us when they broke the news to us and now you're acting more suspicious," she said finally. After a short pause, she sighed and said, "It's not like we can do anything about it though. They've conscripted you into this matter and they're trying to blackmail us into letting you remain."

"Eh?"

"Yeah...your father and I have been receiving money from unknown sources recently and we didn't know what to make of them. Reporting them to the police resulted in nothing being done and now it seems that these people know about the money and are using it as leverage against us," she said with a disgusted look.

"Oh..." Kirika's thoughts raced back to a conversation she overheard her parents having recently and she nodded her head. "I'm sorry about all that," she mumbled and her mother sighed before hugging her.

"That's not your fault and I have to admit, the idea of having a daughter who fights monsters sounds like something out of a science fiction story. It's both terrifying and exhilarating in some ways," she said, hugging her tightly before releasing her.

"Also, your father and I had the chance to meet up with that friend of yours," she said with a slight smile.

"Er..."


"The one who had an 'accident'. I'm glad that part is somewhat true even if you couldn't tell us exactly what it was until now," she pointed out and Kirika let out a soft gasp.

"How is she right now? Is she okay?" Kirika asked hurriedly and her mother raised her hands to calm her down.

"She's as fine as someone in her current condition is. She's still in critical condition but the doctors are hoping to be able to downgrade her to intensive care by the end of the week so that's good news at least. Your other friend is also recovering and the doctors are confident that she will walking in two days time," she explained to her daughter.

Kirika closed her eyes in relief when she heard that before she swung her legs out of the bed and onto the ground. The coldness of the floor shocked her and she stumbled, making her mother rush to her side but she was able to stand up easily enough. "I'm fine, Mom. Don't worry," she said reassuringly as she wriggled her toes a little to get used to walking once more.

"Are you sure?" her parent asked, sounding extremely concerned. "At least, let me call the doctor to give you a check up first before you start walking around like that."

"Mom..." Kirika said in a petulant manner but there was no arguing with her this time around.

***

A quick consultation later and the doctor expressed his surprise after examining her. "That is one of the quickest recoveries I've ever witnessed in all of my professional experience," he declared, making her mother raise her eyebrow in surprise.

"Really? Was it that bad?" she asked the doctor who glanced at Kirika for a moment before shaking his head.

"It was enough to make us to keep her here just in case but it's not as bad as you think it was," he said carefully before excusing himself.

Kirika turned to her mother after he left the room and said, "Well, I'm fine. Can I go now?"

"I guess...I'll go look for your teacher and see if you can be discharged earlier," she said and Kirika nodded before hopping out of the room. After asking a nearby nurse a few questions, she headed over to Tsubasa's and Kanade's room. Somehow she was not too surprised that they ended up sharing a room in the aftermath of the invasion.

Once at their room, she knocked on their door and she heard Tsubasa say, "Come in." Taking a deep breath, she stepped in...and stared at the room in horror.

"What happened? Did we get attacked again?" she asked as she stared at the mess that littered the entire room. Clothes, bottles and books lie all over the room and she can barely see Kanade on the bed, her face covered with an opened book. Wait...is that someone's underwear, she thought to herself.

Tsubasa stepped out of another room at this point and she glanced at Kirika. "Oh, Akatsuki. What's the matter?" she asked and Kirika pointed at the room in shock.

"Oh...er..." Tsubasa paused to find the right words before she noticed Kanade stirring on her bed.

"Oy...Tsubasa. I don't mind sharing the room with you but can you at least clean up your mess," the older girl said grumpily. "You know I can't do that right now. What if someone came in and saw this?" she said, removing the book off her face and she noticed Kirika staring at her in surprise.

"Like right now. Our junior has just found out that you're a slob and you're never going to live it down for the rest of your life," she said wryly as Tsubasa's face flushed in embarrassment. Kirika stared about the room for a while before she took a deep breath and said, "Tsubasa-san, let's clean up the room, okay?"

It took them a little while before they finally got the room to an acceptable level of cleanliness as Kirika is the only who has fully recovered but it was done and Kirika sat down to take a break. Tsubasa sat down next to Kanade and closed her eyes as well, seemingly tired from the effort of cleaning up the room.

"So...what happens now?" Kirika asked carefully and Tsubasa looked at her.

"We recover from our injuries, we hunt down the Thieves and we bring them to justice," Tsubasa replied calmly. "There are too many dead people after this event and we cannot let them avoid the punishment they deserve from this."

Kirika frowned when she heard Tsubasa say this and she said, "I don't know...something doesn't feel right about this. I mean...how did they find our base and why were they trying to steal the Gears? They've never done something like this before right?"

Tsubasa shrugged and said, "Then we will have to ask them that when we apprehend them. It's not like I don't understand your doubts, but someone has to answer for the deaths that we just suffered and we have a very obvious target painted for us."

"I guess..." Kirika said softly but there was an itch at the back of her mind. It felt like she was missing something but she cannot quite put her finger on it for some reason. After a moment of thinking, she decided to shove it to the back of her thoughts for now.

"What's your grandfather going to do about this? I'm pretty certain he's not going to take this lying down right?" she asked and Tsubasa smirked a little.

"He's already sent out a team to search for the Thieves. Once they're located, we move in and take them into our custody," she replied and Kirika shivered at the sound of her voice.

"You don't approve?" Tsubasa asked, noticing Kirika's reluctance and the latter hesitated, thinking about her answer for a moment.

"I'm not really sure," she said after a while, wringing her hands. "I mean...I saw the dead people, I saw them kill people...but something doesn't feel right about the whole matter. I guess that's what I'm trying to say."

Tsubasa opened her mouth but Kanade reached out and took her hand, gripping it tightly, causing the former to look at her. They shared a brief look and a nod before Tsubasa turned back to Kirika and said, "I think I understand what you're trying to say and I did feel like my fight with the Thieves felt a little off somehow. But that's why we have to arrest the Thieves: we need answers from them, whether we like it or not."

"And if they're somehow innocent?" Kirika asked. Tsubasa grimaced at the thought but she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment.

"Then we have more questions to ask and I'm afraid the answers to those questions are."

They were silent for a while and Tsubasa cleared her throat, seeming to want to move on from that topic. "Akatsuki...how did you pull off that trick?" she asked in a casual manner and Kirika looked at her in confusion.

"I mean where you suddenly conjured an energy blade on your staff during the fight. I've looked through your Gear's weapon systems and there's nothing there that indicated that you could have done that," she said and Kirika laughed nervously.

"Honestly? I don't really know. I wasn't really thinking about anything and it just suddenly happened. Kinda made me feel like Requiem actually," she said.

"Requiem?"

Kirika laughed again and shook her head. "Never mind. But really, it just sort of happened. Do you think Sakurai-sensei might have an answer for that if we ask her?" she said and Tsubasa frowned.

"I guess. It would be something useful to be able to do..." she hesitated and looked at Kanade who gave her a confused look. The former sighed before turning back to Kirika and saying, "But you might be the only one who can do it though."

The younger girl was about to ask why when she noticed Tsubasa staring at her chest and she understood why. "Yeah..." she said, her fingers grazing the scar where her heart once was. "I suppose you're right about that."

***

After that, there really was not much for the three of them to talk about but Kirika felt glad that she was able to talk to her seniors and made sure that they were fine before she left the room. Outside, she spotted Genjuuro approaching the room and she bowed to him.

"Thanks for telling my parents," she said and he nodded once.

"I had to. You were hurt and needed to recover and I felt that your parents should know how it happened at least," he said with a smile.

"Was...was he angry?" Kirika asked carefully and Genjuuro stared at her for a moment before realizing who she was referring to.

"Of course he was. I didn't run the idea through him because I knew he would have vetoed it. I did managed to persuade him that it was better to have your parents in the secret on a long term basis however so he let that go, at least," he said.

"Long term?"

"It'd be easier to have you train and go on missions, I mean since there's no need to hide your activities from your parents," he explained.

"Okay...I get that," she said after a moment's thought. "But what about the blackmail stuff?" she asked. "I heard from my mom that..."

Genjuuro winced when he heard her mention that and he said, "I believe that's him trying to get a little more leverage over your parents. He wants to make sure that you are going to continue fighting the Noise, not to mention the fact that with the current situation on hand, you're the only fit operative that we have right now."

"Ouch...so what happens now?" she asked her teacher and he folds his arms for a moment.

"I've heard from the doctor; he says you're fit to be discharged right now so I'm thinking that you should go home and rest first before you go back to school tomorrow. Your classmates are getting worried because of your case earlier this year and I had to assure them that you're alright," he said thoughtfully.

"What did you tell them?" she asked and he chuckled.

"You just have a pretty nasty flu and can't take any visitors right now since you're being quarantined. Your three friends are a little suspicious about this though and they've been pestering me about you the past two days," he said with a chuckle.

Kirika laughed nervously, remembering her last conversation with Chris, Hibiki and Miku and she said, "I'm sure they are."

"Well, they are good friends so treat them well," he said before patting her head and walking away towards Tsubasa's and Kanade's room once more. She allowed herself a brief smile before turning around to go back to her room. Maybe she should return home right now. Everybody is worried about her, after all, she thought to herself.

As she was about to walk away, she heard a familiar voice calling out, "There you are, Gen-chan!" and she turned around to see who it was. Indeed, it was Ryoko, stepping up to them with a slightly annoyed grin on her face. "I forgot how big this base can be..." she said, wiping her forehead before handing an SD card to him.

"What's this?" Genjuuro asked curiously and she sighed.

"The new security plans that I proposed to your father yesterday...oh right, you weren't there at the meeting," she said and Genjuuro frowned at her words. "Yeah...your father forgot to mention it to you, didn't he?"

"Looks like it," he said with a slight snarl in his voice. "Why are you passing it to me in the first place?"

"Thought you might want to take a look at it first before I go through it with him," she said. "Four eyes are better at spotting any security flaws and your father is extremely annoying when it comes to ironing out flaws so I want this to be as well prepared as possible."

He sighed and turned to Kirika. "Time for me to do some other work. See you tomorrow at school," he said.

Ryoko glanced at Kirika, seemingly noticing her for the first time and she grinned at her. "I've got a little surprise prepared for you. Hope you like it," she said with a wink before Kirika's teachers walked away, leaving her alone and feeling a little paranoid with regards to Ryoko's surprise.

***

She was discharged later that day and she went home with her parents, who mentioned to her that Kazuma had no knowledge about the truth and that she had to act accordingly. "Why wasn't he told?" she asked curiously and they looked at each other for a moment.

"Probably the same reason why you didn't tell us," her father said finally. "He shouldn't have to be involved in this at all. So let him just enjoy his ignorance for now. We'll tell him when the time is right," he reassured her as they pulled up to their house.

"I guess," she said as she glanced out at the now setting sun. She had been gone for a while and she wondered about her classmates and her friends. Just how were they handling this, she asked herself as she got out of the car. She noticed someone walking away from her house and she turned to look at who it was.

"Shirabe?" she said aloud and the girl stopped in her footsteps before she turned around, doing her best to look calm. A smile appeared on Kirika's face and after getting permission from her parents, she skipped over to her classmate. "Hi," she said cheerfully as she came to a stop in front of the dark-haired girl.

"I stopped by to check and see if you're home and if you're coming back to school. It's my duty as the class representative after all," the latter said, doing her best to calm down. "But it's good to see that you're well once more," she said softly a moment later and Kirika nodded her head with a grin.

"And it's good to see you too," she said with a big smile. "I didn't expect to see you here in the first place...so this is a very nice surprise."

"Oh...she insisted on coming here," another voice said and Kirika turned to look in surprise. It turned out to be Maria Kovalchuk and her sister Serena, walking towards them, the former with a grin on her face. "She wanted to know when you're coming back to..."

Shirabe coughed loudly and shot a cold glare at her adopted sister who raised her hands in surrender and Serena raised her hand to her lips, possibly to hide a smile of amusement. "We heard from Shirabe that you had a very bad flu and had to be hospitalized," the latter said with some concern. "I take it that you're much better now since you've been discharged?"

Kirika nodded and gave the two high school girls an Utazukin salute: an okay sign over her right eye. "I'm definitely much better now, thank you very much, death!" she said cheerfully. Shirabe simply sighed while Maria groaned in embarrassment. Serena remained smiling and she returned the salute with ease.

"Well, I'm glad to see that a fan is doing well now," she said with polite sincerity and Kirika laughed at her actions. She really did seem a lot like the Utazukin from the anime, she thought to herself cheerfully as she felt like a burden had lifted from her shoulders.

"Oy, Kirika-chan!" she heard another person call out to her and she turned around to see Chris, Hibiki and Miku walking over to her, each of them carrying a bag in their hands. She waved at them before running over and giving them a huge hug.

"Glad to see you're out of the hospital," Chris said, patting her head. Her eyes traveled past Kirika's shoulders and she turned around to see that the Kovalchuk sisters and Shirabe are still there. "Who are they and why do you know so many high school girls?" she asked curiously.

Kirika grimaced a little before introduced the three girls to her friends, starting with Shirabe. "This is Tsukuyomi Shirabe, a friend from my class and these are her adopted sisters, Maria and Serena Kovalchuk," she said, gesturing at each girl respectively.

They greeted each other politely and Chris paused for a moment when she shook Serena's hand. "You sound...a little familiar," she said thoughtfully and Serena gave her a polite smile.

"Maybe we've walked past each other in school and that's where you've heard my voice before," she said calmly and Chris shrugged in response.

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like that though. It's kinda at the tip of my tongue though," she said, closing her eyes and folding her arms.

"Another one like you?" Shirabe whispered to Kirika and she nodded quickly.

"She's a huge Utazukin fan. As in Utazukin the main character," she whispered back and Shirabe glanced at Chris, almost like she was surprised.

Maria clapped her hand while Chris was still trying to figure out who Serena was and she said, "Well, it's getting pretty late and the three of us need to get home. Lots of work to do," she said and Shirabe stepped away from Kirika.

"See you tomorrow," she said softly and Kirika waved back cheerfully, watching as the three girls leave the area.

Chris wrapped her arm around Kirika's shoulder and grinned at her. "Looks like someone made a new friend," she said and Kirika returned the grin cheerfully. It feels good, she thought. Making friends normally without any sort of strings or super-heroics attached to it.

She cannot wait to go to school tomorrow.

***

She cannot wait for school to end today.

While her teachers were mostly sympathetic to her absence, it was a fact that she was absent again and they had all decided to pile a lot of homework onto her so that she can catch up. Even Ryoko did the same thing, despite Kirika protesting about it to her after class had ended.

"Is this the surprise that you were talking about yesterday?" she asked, remembering what Ryoko had said and her teacher winked impishly at her.

"Fair's fair, Kirika," she said, wagging her finger at her. "I've got to keep up the appearance of being a good teacher you know."

"Urgh..." Kirika complained out loud as she dug into her meal along with one of her classmates. "Why can't they just go easy on me?"

"Because you'd become dumber than you already are if you don't catch up with the rest of the class?" Minami suggested in a very dry manner.

"Haha..." Kirika said as she shoveled another onigiri into her mouth. "I'm not exactly that dumb since I got into this school didn't I?"

"That reminds me...how did you get into this school in the first place?"

Kirika shoves her playfully and the two of them laughed at that question before Minami repeated it, sounding a little more serious this time. "Er...I don't know. I just know that I passed the entrance exam," she admitted as her stomach growled again.

"You're still hungry?" Minami asked in exasperation and Kirika laughed nervously.

"I'll just go to the cafeteria and get something else to eat. Be right back," she said as she got up.

"If you run into Shirabe again, you can ask her to join us if you want," Minami said cheerfully as Kirika jogged away and the latter gave her a nod before making her way to the cafeteria.

As expected, she saw Shirabe sitting alone at her usual spot and she skipped her way to her, waving cheerfully. The dark-haired girl glanced up and nodded at her, before she stood up to put away her finished meal. "Why are you here? I saw you eating with Nakamura earlier," she said.

"I'm still hungry," she said and held out her hand to Shirabe. "Want to get something else to eat?"

She stared at the offered hand for a moment before shaking her head. "No thanks," she replied but she did follow Kirika as the blonde girl purchased a few buns. "Are you able to cope with your homework?" she asked her a moment later and Kirika closed her eyes in pain.

"Please...don't remind me about it," she said and a faint smile appeared on Shirabe's lips.

"Alright. I take it that you don't want my help with finishing it then," she said, walking away from Kirika.

"Eh...you were going to help me with it? Please! I don't want to be stuck doing it for a really long time!" she said quickly and Shirabe nodded her head.

"Alright...we could just meet up after school and get as much of it done together okay?"

"Okay! That'd be great!" she said cheerfully before a thought occurred to her. "Did...did you just volunteered to help me with my homework?"

Shirabe paused for a moment and thought about it briefly. "I guess I did. Are you complaining about it?" she asked, tilting her head at her. "I could not do it, you know."

"No...just surprised that you wanted to help. So...er...why?"

She shrugged and said, "Maybe I just wanted a little normalcy in my life. Helping out someone who isn't as good in their school work is a normal thing right? Besides, I'm the class rep. It helps everyone in the class if everyone is up to speed on the material, doesn't it?"

"Er...so you're not doing this because we're friends or anything like that?"

"Maybe," Shirabe replied and walked away, leaving Kirika to chase after her in confusion. They went back to the classroom and Minami waved at them to join her which they did. For the briefest of moment, Kirika did feel like everything was alright with the world as Minami exchanged a little small talk with Shirabe.

Is this what she really wanted to do, she asked herself as she continued to watch her friends talk to each other. The question remained in her mind even as she chatted with her friends and she thought about it even as the bell rang to indicate the end of lunch.

***

After class was over, Kirika and Shirabe went to the library together so that the former can have a better time concentrating on her homework. Or at least, that was the plan, Kirika thought to herself as she finished texting Chris to inform her what she was doing before she laid her head on the table, groaning at the sight of the books in front of her.

"Let's start with your strongest subject. That way we can get things done quicker," Shirabe said smoothly as she went through the materials that was laid out. Kirika groaned and waved her finger about before randomly landing her finger on one of the books.

"Math...which is definitely not your strongest subject," Shirabe said flatly. "Are you sure you want to start with this?"

Kirika grimaced at the sight of the numbers in front of her but she sighed and nodded her head. "Even if I suck at this, I might as well get this over with as soon as possible," she declared aloud and everyone who was within earshot turned to shush her at once.

"Sorry," she squeaked and turned to her books once more while Shirabe looked on with an amused smile on her lips. The latter then reached into her bag and took out her books before she too started working on her own homework. Every now and then, Shirabe would stop to check on Kirika to see how her progress was like and the latter would ask her for help during that time.

"Done!" Kirika announced loudly when she had finished her math homework and Shirabe responded by smacking her on the back of her head with her notepad. "Ow...what was that...oh right," she immediately lowered the volume of her voice before anyone else could comment on it.

"Sorry," she whispered to Shirabe who simply sighed and gestured at the rest of her work.

"You've got a lot more work to finish," she said softly to Kirika and the latter nodded her head sheepishly just as her phone buzzed silently in her bag. Shirabe sighed at this and Kirika raised her hand up to her face apologetically before reaching into her bag and taking out her phone.

"Trouble in the city. We've detected a Noise materializing in the subway," the message from Genjuuro read and Kirika's heart sank for a moment.

"Is my Gear fixed?" she texted back.

"We've fixed up what we can but there is still a lot that needs to be done. I don't blame you if you don't want to do this though."

"What happens if I say no?"

"Then we'll do our best to handle it without you. Hopefully the Phantom Thieves will come and fight the Noise as well as per their usual MO."

Kirika closed her eyes when she read that and considered her options for a while before she texted back a reply: "I'm going to fight."

She slipped her phone into her bag and gave Shirabe an apologetic look. "Sorry...I have to go now...er...Shirabe?" she asked cautiously when she saw that the class rep was staring blankly at her book.

Placing her hand on Shirabe's shoulder, she shook her lightly and the other girl blinked once before staring at Kirika. "Sorry...I must have...dozed off with my eyes still open," she said lamely and Kirika giggled at the awkward tone despite herself.

"Right...anyway, I have to go now, Shirabe. That was my...mom. She needed me to head to the grocery store to buy a few things for her," she said quickly and Shirabe nodded.

"Alright...I guess we'll end everything here right now," the latter said, sounding almost relieved for some reason. Kirika nodded and the two of them packed their books as quickly as they can.

"Shirabe, thanks for helping me out with my math homework," Kirika said when she was done packing and the other girl nodded her head.

"No problem. I'm glad that I could help you. See you tomorrow," she said before she quickly walked away from the library. Kirika stared at her, feeling a little surprised that the other girl had left sooner than she did. Maybe she forgot something, she told herself before she finished packing her bag and made her way out of the library.

Outside, she saw Shirabe talking to her two older sisters about something before the three of them hurried away from the library. Guess she was busy as well, she thought as she quickly ran towards the base's secret entrance.

***

When she arrived at the hangar, she saw that the mess from the fight had been mostly cleaned up and she paused for a moment to survey the scene even as people were scrambling about to prepare for the mission. A platoon of armed people were gathering here as well, she noted and she saw Tsubasa in a wheelchair, watching the scenes from the entrance.

"Tsubasa-sempai!" she called out and jogged to her team-mate. The older girl glanced at her and nodded as she approached.

"I wish I could fight as well but that's not the case today, sadly," she said to Kirika and the latter nodded at her.

"In that case, I'll do my best to fight for all three of us," Kirika said and Tsubasa smiled at this before flicking her forehead with her finger, making Kirika wince at the action.

"Don't be too rash," she said sternly. "And besides, that's not the point of today's mission."

"Eh?"

Tsubasa nodded and opened her mouth to explain the situation when she noticed something and gestured at Kirika. The latter turned and saw Fudo walking into the hangar. At his side was the brown-haired man that she had seen earlier but he was dressed up like a ninja for some reason.

"You better listen to the briefing this time," Tsubasa whispered to Kirika who nodded her head in confusion and made her way to the group of armed people where Fudo was headed to.

After coming to a stop, Fudo stared hard at everyone and Kirika flinched a little as she sneaked in from behind although she was certain that Fudo had seen her do so. "Men," he started to say. "Today another one of the Noise have emerged and is threatening to destroy our fair country. We will not allow that to happen; we will protect and we will destroy this thing before it can harm a single speck of dust that grace our great nation."

"We have but one Symphogear at our disposal right now and while she is still an amateur who is in clear need of greater training and discipline, I cannot fault her courage for wanting to help us defend our country. She will engage the Noise as per our SOP and everyone else will engage in supporting her from a distance."

"But do not forget. Today we are not here just to destroy the Noise. We are here to avenge the loss that we have suffered recently," he said with a rumbling growl and everyone murmured in agreement at his words as Kirika realized what Tsubasa meant.

"Today we hunt the Phantom Thieves when they come to attack the Noise. Blood will be the price that we ask for the blood that was spilled during their raid on our base and we will demand no less than that. We will take them in, retrieve what was stolen and then we will deliver the justice that they so rightly deserve," Fudo said, his eyes gleaming with righteous anger and the men roared their approval.

So...this is it, she thought as the men scattered and got into an armored truck that was waiting for them. We're going to be hunting the Thieves. She noticed Fudo walking towards her and she stood at attention.

"I do not like that we have to rely on you, my dear but we have no choice," he said briskly to her. "Do not disappoint us." He turned and walk away in an equally brisk manner while the brown-haired man simply nodded at Kirika and went to join the other men in the armored truck.

"Kirika!" She turned around and noticed her homeroom teacher walking towards her. Taking a deep breath, she trotted to him as quickly as she can.

"Yes, sensei?" she asked and he gestured towards their usual truck.

"It's going to be only you out in the field today but we're going to do our best, okay?" he said warmly as Tsubasa joined up with them.

"I'm coming with you," she said firmly and Genjuuro stared at his niece as if she was crazy. "I'm not going to fight," she said sternly before she fixed her gaze on Kirika. "I just think that our little junior would need all the help and support she can use especially since she's not going to get it from Grandfather today."

Genjuuro relaxed visibly after he heard her say this and he nodded at her. "Alright. Let's go and get this show on the room," he said and Kirika nodded her head, her eyes narrowed in determination. This one is for Kanade, Tsubasa and everyone else, she told herself as she helped Tsubasa get onto the truck before climbing into the back herself.