Part 11

"Akatsuki!" Tsubasa shouted into Kirika's radio as she ran desperately away from the second team. "What are you doing? They're saying that you're running away with one of the Phantom Thieves!"

She ignored her senior as she ducked into an alley to try and avoid the men but they turned into the alley as well, firing at her and forcing her to continue running. How do they keep finding me, she asked herself as she jumped over a fence and landed on the ground with a loud crash.

"Kirika! You know that we can track you if you have the Gear on, right?" Genjuuro suddenly said and she stopped in her tracks, realizing her mistake. Carefully, she placed Shirabe down on the ground and got out of her Gear as quickly as she can. The sounds of footsteps drew closer as she knelt down and picked Shirabe up, carrying her on her back before she started running once more.

The sounds of the people chasing her start to die down but Kirika can still hear a few of them chasing after her. Maybe she can find a place to hide right now, she thought to herself. She came to a halt and looked around for a while before noticing a nearby door that was open and she darted that way.

It turned out that the door lead to an empty kitchen; no one was around at this point and there were no piles of black ashes. Maybe the people in here ran off before the Noise attack, she thought. Her eyes darted around for a moment before she noticed a cupboard that might be big enough to hide the both of them and she climbed inside with Shirabe.

She remained quiet, holding Shirabe close to her as she listened for any signs of their pursuers. A minute passed by and she heard loud footsteps running into the kitchen. She nearly let out a gasp of fright but she managed to cover her own mouth. After she had calmed herself down, she pressed her ear to the cupboard door to listen.

There was deliberate movement around the kitchen, like the people inside were searching for something. Kirika shivered softly, wondering how long it would be before they opened the cupboard and what she should do.

"Let go of me," she heard Shirabe say softly and she look down at the other girl who was staring at her.

"Ssh..." she said, gesturing outside of the cupboard even as she did let Shirabe go. The other girl nodded once and reached into her shirt, pulling out a pendant. She closed her eyes and hummed under her breath as the cupboard door shimmered softly for a brief moment.

A second later, the door swung open and Kirika stared at Ogawa's face as he peered into the cupboard. She almost let out a startled yelp but Shirabe placed her hand over Kirika's mouth and shook her head, indicating that she should be calm and remain silent.

Kirika nodded her head and watched as Ogawa opened the second cupboard doors. His eyes darted around inside for a bit, lingering on Kirika and Shirabe for a while before he closed both doors, apparently not noticing that the girls were right in front of him.

"What did you do?" she whispered to Shirabe who shook her head and placed her finger on her own lips. The footsteps continued on in the kitchen for a little while longer until they walked out of the room and there was silence. Kirika sighed in relief and was about to step out when Shirabe shook her head again.

"Let's wait for a little while more before we head out. Just in case they decided to lay a trap for us," she said softly and Kirika nodded her head. The two of them remained in the cupboard for a while, Kirika twitching about inside as the air inside grew hot and stale while Shirabe seemed perfectly calm and at ease.

After waiting inside for five minutes, Shirabe nodded her head and the two of them slipped out of the cupboard, looking about the kitchen cautiously. It appeared to be empty once more and there did not seem to be any sign of people trying to capture them.

Kirika let out a sigh of relief and turned to Shirabe. "I think we're safe for now," she said with a slight smile. "You were great back there by the way."

Shirabe nodded before she staggered and nearly collapsed to the ground, stopped at the last moment by Kirika catching her. "What's wrong?" she asked before she noticed that Shirabe was breathing shallowly and sweating profusely. She touched her forehead and winced a little; she was definitely burning up at this point.

She hopped about on her feet for a moment, wondering what she should do. Going back to her family would probably be a bad idea, she thought. That'd probably be the first place where they'd look. And where does Shirabe stay in the first place? She didn't think that they have seen her face yet so they might be able to stay there for a little while at least.

"Shirabe...Shirabe..." she said softly and the other girl opened her eyes. "Where do you stay? Let's get you there so that you can get some rest."

The dark-haired girl reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her phone. After unlocking it and tapping a few times on the screen, she handed it to Kirika who took note of the address. "Hang on," she said before picking Shirabe up and carrying her on her back.


"Here goes nothing," Kirika said to herself before she crept out of the kitchen and the restaurant. "Oh...this is Flowers," she noted to herself as she exited through the restaurant's entrance. "Maybe I can bring Shirabe and Minami here another time."

It took her a while before she located Shirabe's house, which turned out to be a fancy apartment in the city's upper class district. Just how much did the three of them earn from Utazukin, Kirika asked herself as she approached the apartment's main entrance.

Shirabe tapped her shoulder and she glanced at her. "Put me down," she whispered and Kirika did so in order for Shirabe to open the door with a touch card. She helped Shirabe into the apartment and they went up to the seventh floor. "Here," she lead her to apartment number 7 and after a moment, fumbling for a bit, she unlocked the door and they stepped in.

The apartment itself looked remarkably normal; there was a living room with several couches and a large television set, a remarkably messy kitchen and four other doors which Kirika assumed led to the girls' room. "This looks normal," she said and Shirabe simply nodded her head. Cautiously, Kirika touched her forehead and yelped her a little; she was still burning up.

Quickly, she led Shirabe to one of the rooms and pushed the door open before leading her to the bed. "Wait...I don't think this is your room," Kirika said as she said at the dolls, plush pudding toys and posters of Utazukin all over the room. The other girl did not reply however as she had already fallen asleep.

The bed did look rather inviting to Kirika as well and she let out a yawn as she exited the room and opened another door. This particular room was considerably more spartan compared to the other room, consisting of a bed, a desk and a single rabbit doll lying on the bed. Yawning once, she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

***

She woke up hours later to the smell of food being cooked and she stretched her arms, heading out of the room. It turned out to be Shirabe in the kitchen and cooking a meal. "You're up," she said calmly.

"Er...yeah. Are you feeling better? You seemed pretty sick back there and I was worried..." Kirika started to say and Shirabe nodded her head quickly.

"I'm better now but now there's the problem of having to rescue my sisters," she replied calmly and Kirika twiddled her thumbs for a moment.

"So...that means that the other two Phantom Thieves are Maria and Serena?" she asked cautiously and Shirabe flashed a look at her.

"It took you that long to realize that?" she asked dryly as she poured the food that she was cooking into a bowl and set it on the table. "Eat up. I'm going to need your help in order to break into the base," she said and handled Kirika a pair of chopsticks.

"Oh...ramen," the blonde girl noted before she gave Shirabe a sidelong glance. "You need my help to get into the base?"

"Yeah. You're the one in the green mech suit aren't you? It stands to reason that you'd know how to get in," Shirabe said, digging into her noodles and Kirika nodded her head.

"How did you figure it out?"

"Er...because whenever you touch me when I'm using my power, you drain my crystal of its energy," she explained to her before she carefully ate some noodles. "The green mech suit did the same thing and thus there are only two conclusions: either those guys have managed to devise a counter to our abilities or you joined up with them. Since you're the one who helped me get away, it's not a very difficult conclusion to come to."

"Oh. That was kinda easy," Kirika managed to say after a while and Shirabe sighed.

"Only because I knew what to look for," she said as she got up to clear her bowl, only for her knees to buckle and Kirika let out a panicked cry before rushing forward to catch her.

"Doesn't look like you've completely recovered though," she said worriedly as she helped Shirabe up. "Where's the cold medicine? I think you need a lot more rest."

Shirabe shook her head and pushed her hand away. "We can't. I don't know what they're going to do Maria and Serena and there's no telling how long it would take for them to find us here. We have to get out of here and rescue my sisters now," she argued back before she stumbled and nearly fell down again.

Kirika hesitated for a moment, knowing that Shirabe was at least right about staying here for too long at least. But she was also not at full fitness at this point and she thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, you need at least a night's rest. We'll move out tomorrow but before that you need to sleep."

"I'm fine. It's not a cold, it's just me being tired from using too much power," Shirabe insisted before Kirika picked her up in a bridal carry and Shirabe stared at her in shock and embarrassment.

"And I'm telling you that you need to rest some more. You just said that you're tired and that's why you're going to rest properly," she said sternly before carrying her back to the bed she had left her on earlier. "Besides, I'm sure that Kazanari-sensei and Sakurai-sensei will make sure that they'll be fine."

"Kazanari-sensei and Sakurai-sensei are a part of this too?" Shirabe asked, although she did not sound too surprised at the revelation. "Oh and this is Serena's room. That's my room," she said, pointing at the room where Kirika had crashed in earlier.

"Yeah..." Kirika paused for a moment, thinking about whether she should explain the situation to Shirabe before she decided to do so and she gave her a quick lowdown about the 2nd Division, the people she knew who are in it and about her involvement in it as well as the attack on the base that the Phantom Thieves had committed. Shirabe listened to her story in its entirety without raising a question once and when Kirika had finished, she was silent for a while.

"Well, I can tell you one thing. We didn't do that attack on your base," she said at last and Kirika glanced at her. "We don't know how to get into your base since we can't find your entrance and we had a meeting with the director for the second season of Utazukin."

"Really?" Kirika asked, sounding excited at the news and Shirabe stared at her. "Right...sorry."

Shirabe folded her arms as she sat on her bed for a moment, tapping her fingers for a moment before she nodded her head. "Well, I guess that means I owe you an explanation about who we are in return," she said and Kirika nodded.

"So...why are you the Phantom Thieves?" she asked curiously and Shirabe took a deep breath before she began her story.

***

"For me, it started two and a half years ago. My family were the caretakers of the Tsuki shrine and we were happy together. Me, my parents, my grandfather and my little sister. It was a good life...until one day, a Noise appeared and attacked the shrine," she said, shivering in anger. "My family was killed in front of me and I was almost killed myself but the Noise was killed and I was rescued."

"Tsubasa-san and Kanade-san right? No, wait...they said that the Symphogear was developed only last year," Kirika said in confusion and Shirabe nodded her head.

"No. It was Maria, Serena and...the spirit of a woman who lived a long time ago. An ancient priest who fought the Noise once upon a time and she still exists, empowering a few select people to fight the Noise. I was the third one; Maria and Serena were already chosen at this point and like I said, they were the ones who killed the Noise and I was chosen to help them with the Noise problem," she said as a slight smile appeared on her face and she took it out from under her shirt.

Kirika stared at the rainbow-colored crystal for a moment. "That's a Dissonant crystal you're wearing...I thought you have to refine them into Resonant crystal in order to use them," she said.

"Maybe for you, but if you have enough training and enough focus, you can definitely use them without processing them. It does take a lot of effort and energy though and you guys don't seem to have that problem. Well at least not with your mech suits as far as I can tell," she said with a shrug before she slipped her crystal back underneath her shirt.

"Alright...so you use the crystal to pull off your special tricks and all that right?" Kirika asked before the realization dawned on her. "So...you're actual magical girls?"

Shirabe blinked as if the concept had never occurred to her before. "Oh...so that's why Maria and Serena did all of those weird poses and speeches," she murmured to herself and Kirika giggled at that. The dark haired girl flushed a little and folded her arms, pouting a little.

"Sorry."

She took a deep breath before continuing on with her story. "The spirit saw that I had the potential to use the crystal and that's why I was given the crystal that day. She took me into her care and trained me on how to use the crystal. Maria and Serena took me into their lives and we became a family after that," she said softly.

Kirika allowed Shirabe a moment of silence before she asked, "What about Maria and Serena? Did they mention how they became part of the whole fighting a Noise gig? How did the three of you became voice actors as well? Why?"

Shirabe held up her hand and Kirika shut up immediately. "I know that Fine took them in a short while before they found..."

"Fine?"

"That's the name of the spirit who rescued me. She calls herself Fine. Anyways, about Maria and Serena. All they told me was that they were from Ukraine, their family immigrated here for work related stuff and their parents were killed by a Noise as well. As to why we became voice actors, we needed money and the spirit led us to that audition for Utazukin. I think it amused her that we became minor celebrities for some reason," she explained.

"Whoa...she's a right weirdo, that Fine of yours. Kind of like Sakurai-sensei even," Kirika said and the two of them laughed at the idea. "So...have you tried to contact your spirit friend yet?"

"I did but she hasn't been answering at all. She usually does this sometimes, going off for periods of time without communication and most of the time, she usually contacts us to inform us of Noise activity," she said, rubbing her temples in annoyance.

"Alright...that's some questions answered. Oh right. What about the Dissonant crystals? Why were you collecting them?" Kirika asked, leaning her head forward. "Did you need to recharge or replace your crystals regularly because you could only use them a certain number of times?"

"Actually, they were for Fine. She wanted to collect as many of them as possible so that she could..." Shirabe paused for a moment and frowned. "That's weird. I don't think she ever did explain why she wanted the crystals. I always assumed it was because she wanted to use them for something but she never said why."

Kirika shrugged, uncertain about what to do or say about that. "Maybe she had her reasons for doing that, I guess?" she said weakly.

"Of course she has her reasons for doing that. We all have our reasons for doing things but now I'm just thinking about it a lot more, which I should have done that in the first place," Shirabe said before lying down on her bed.

There was a brief moment of silence before Kirika cleared her throat and asked, "Okay...I have to repeat something that I asked earlier but did you really attend a meeting with the Utazukin director about the second season?"

Shirabe stared at her before she said, "I can't tell you anything about the show other than the fact that they had given us an outline of the script and were checking our schedules so that we can arrange a recording session."

"No, I really wasn't asking about that but...does that mean we'll be having the new season next year?"

"Akatsuki-san..."

Kirika laughed apologetically before saying, "Sorry. I just wanted to make sure that you really were doing that because..." She swallowed hard and paused before she continued, "Because if you really didn't do that, it means that someone else attacked and killed all those people in the base and..."

"And that means that there's someone else who stole the two mech suits and have their own agenda with your 2nd Division group," Shirabe said solemnly. Kirika nodded and let out a frustrated scream.

"I know...this is getting way too complicated for me. Why can't this just be about us fighting monsters and doing stuffs like that?"

There was a brief moment of silence as they contemplated the issue at hand before Shirabe nodded her head. "Alright. I guess I should take a proper rest before we rescue Maria and Serena. Akatsuki, I'd like you to sleep with me," she announced and Kirika stared at her in surprise.

"Eh?"

***

Several hours later, Kirika woke up to the sound of something outside her room. Yawning softly, she slowly got up and took out her smart-phone to look at the time. Five-fifty two in the morning, she thought idly. The sound repeated again and she stared blearily at the door. Is that someone's footsteps, she thought to herself as Shirabe sat up on the other side of the bed.

She opened her mouth to say something but Shirabe covered her mouth and shook her head. After pulling her hand back, she pulled out her crystal and focused her thoughts before a shimmer appear around them.

"Stay silent," she whispered before the door swung open and Ogawa stepped into the room, dressed this time in a black suit and black tie. Kirika nearly gasped but she managed to hold back her surprise and watched as he walked around, as if searching for them again and once more, he does not find them.

He does search around the room however, rifling through Shirabe's desk and cupboard before he takes a file of documents out with him. As he stepped out, he notices something on the bed and Kirika gasped softly as he drew closer. Did he notice them, she wondered as he reached forward...and took her smart-phone instead.

Kirika let out a startled cry despite herself and Ogawa stopped, looking about curiously. He peered in Kirika's general direction and reached out with his hand. Kirika moved back desperately and Ogawa's eyes darted down to the bed as if he had noticed something. He remained still for a moment before he stepped back and away from the room, her smart-phone in his possession.

There were some more footsteps outside of the room for a while before Ogawa ordered the people outside to leave the apartment. Shirabe released her effect and Kirika let out a sigh of relief. "At least they didn't catch us," she said softly and Shirabe nodded as she got up and headed to her cupboard.

"We have to leave now," she said as she opened the cupboard and quickly undressed in front of Kirika, changing into a fresh set of clothes. Kirika yelped and averted her gaze, only for Shirabe to toss a set of clothes at her. "Get changed now. You don't want to smell or anything like that."

Kirika nodded and did as she was told on the opposite side of the room. Once they had changed, the two of them slipped out of the room and heard the cocking of a gun as soon as they stepped out.

"You're both under arrest," Ogawa said calmly as he pointed his pistol at them, along with several other similarly dressed men and women. "Come peacefully or we will open fire."

Shirabe glanced at him coldly as she raised her hands as did Kirika, although the latter did so more hesitantly. "How did you noticed us? I thought my invisibility was perfect," she said, her voice still as calm as it usually was.

"You forgot that your bodies have weight and that you were still sitting on your bed," he said softly and Shirabe smiled.

"Thanks for the tip," she said before her crystal flared up in a bright light, blinding everyone in the room. Kirika stumbled about for a while until someone grabbed her hand and pulled her, forcing her to run as fast as she can.

"Shirabe?" she asked in confusion.

"Just run!" the other girl shouted and Kirika did so, grateful for the escape as she followed her blindly. Her vision returned after a short while and she saw that they were running along the apartment building's corridor. Looking behind her, she could see several men in black chasing after her but Ogawa was nowhere to be seen.

"Hold on!" Shirabe said before taking a sudden right turn and leaping over the railing and into open air. Kirika let out a loud yelp as she was pulled along and Shirabe seemed to focus for a moment, causing Kirika's heart to pound wildly as the wind shrieked around them.

At the last moment before they struck the ground, Shirabe managed to transform into her Phantom Thief outfit and she held Kirika in a bridal carry this time, landing gracefully on the ground. Her outfit disappeared quickly however and she frowned. "You are too much of an energy drain," she complained before the two of them resumed running once more.

"Sorry!" Kirika shouted back and this time, she picked up Kirika, carrying her as she sprinted along the road, running faster than she normally would thanks to the energy absorbed. After five minutes of running, she had left the apartment building far behind and she ducked into an alleyway, her strength slowly draining and the familiar sense of fatigue coursing through her body.

"You can't last very long at all," Shirabe noted and Kirika looked up at her in an apologetic manner. "No, it's fine. We've managed to get away from them for now. I think we can..." she stopped and stared up in surprise. Kirika turned around and looked at what she was looking at: a hovering drone that was staring at them.

Without another word, Shirabe summoned one of her yo-yos and swung it into the drone, smashing it into tiny bits. "Guess we can't stay here for long," she said before the two of them resumed running away from the alley as quickly as they could.

Indeed, after a short run, they heard the sounds of screeching tires behind them and when Kirika looked behind her shoulders, she spotted a black SUV driving towards them as if intent on running them down. "Can't you do your invisibility trick again?" she asked and Shirabe shook her head.

"I could but I need some time to recharge first," she explained as they ducked several shots fired at them. "Are those actual bullets?" she asked indignantly. Kirika glanced at where the shots struck the wall and sidewalk and noticed that they were large and heavy darts that crackled with electrical power.

"Taser darts!" she shouted at Shirabe as the two of them ducked into a different alley so that the SUV would stop chasing after them. It stopped in front of the alleyway and its occupants exited the vehicle instead. Kirika counted at least three of them chasing after them from behind.

Her eyes flit to the front and she noticed several crates lined up next to a fence. She pushed forward despite her fatigue and she grabbed Shirabe's hand, pulling her along with her. "What..." Shirabe started to say before Kirika scooped her up again and jumped onto the crates.

Shirabe held onto Kirika tightly as the latter jumped over the fence using the crates and once she landed, she kicked at the crates, knocking them away in order to slow down the agents. "Let's go!" she said to Shirabe with a grin and the two girls ran as quickly as they can.

After running and making several turns, the two girls managed to evade the agents and to make certain, they ran across into an empty building, hiding inside as the agents ran past and split up to search for them. Two of them enter the building and instead of confronting them, they jumped out of the building, avoiding them as they ran away from the building.

"What's the plan now?" Kirika asked the other girl, who hesitate for a moment.

"I want to break into the school and rescue Maria and Serena right now..."

"But?"

Shirabe stopped running for a moment, catching her breath before turning to Kirika and saying, "No buts...well, actually there is a problem..." she said, gesturing at the sky. Kirika was about to look up but she can see that it was getting brighter with each passing second.

"Time to go to school huh?" she said with a slight grin and Shirabe shook her head.

"I don't want to do that right now. It might end up in a brawl that could hurt a lot of people," she said and Kirika looked at her for a moment. Shirabe glared at her and said, "What?"

"Nothing. I'm...I'm just glad that I believe you," she said. An SUV drove past them and the two of them walked quickly, doing their best to avoid notice. The car drove past them, seemingly not noticing them and Kirika let out a sigh of relief. "So...what do you want to do now?" she asked and Shirabe chewed on her lower lip.

"We need to hide for a little while longer so that I can get a chance to contact Fine. She might be able to help us to do something about this problem," she said after a moment's consideration and Kirika thought about it herself.

"But what if it takes a long time to reach her?" she asked cautiously and Shirabe grimaced.

"Then we try to break in tonight," she said determinedly as she took out her smart-phone to check the time. Fourteen minutes past six, Kirika thought to herself as she also peered at the screen.

"Alright. Let's give it a try right now," she said after a moment and she walked further into the alley. Kirika followed her, keeping an eye out for any agents who might be following them and once she was certain that they were hidden from outside view, she gave a thumbs up to Shirabe who had already closed her eyes.

For a while, Kirika waited, leaning against the wall as she twiddled her thumbs. Maybe they can get some good news from this Fine person, she thought to herself as Shirabe stood silently in the middle of the alleyway. After what seemed like an eternity, a smile appeared on Shirabe's lips and Kirika's shoulders slumped in relief.

To her surprise however, a shimmer appeared next to Shirabe and begin to solidify, taking on the shape of a tall regal woman with pale blonde hair, strange golden eyes and dressed in a pure white robe. Her eyes flicker down at Kirika and she stiffened, a little unnerved by how strange they appear to her.

"So this is the girl who rescued you, I take it," the woman said and Shirabe opened her eyes, nodding in response as she stood next to Kirika.

"Yes, this is Akatsuki Kirika," Shirabe said, gesturing at the girl next to her. "Kirika, this is Fine."

"Nice to meet you," Kirika said and bowed quickly, uncertain of how to act in front of an ancient spirit.

"And it's nice to meet the girl who helped Shirabe. I have heard much about you," Fine said, her voice sounding deeply regal. Something prickled at the back of Kirika's mind; she is not quite sure why but she could swear that she had heard Fine talk before.

"Er...sorry to ask...but have we met before?" Kirika asked cautiously, glancing up at the spirit. Shirabe sighed and facepalmed herself while Fine chuckled and shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. This is my first time meeting with you so it's unlikely that we have met. So tell me, why are your people hunting my three wards?" she asked, her eyes narrowing a little. Kirika gulped once before explaining the situation to Fine as well as her reasons why she believed that the Phantom Thieves are innocent.

After she had finished telling her tale again, Fine was deep in thought for a while, as if thinking about what to do. Then she nodded once and glanced at Shirabe, ready to deliver her verdict. "If that is the case, would it not be preferable for try and clear your name instead? It seems to me that there is a third party out there that is trying to drive a wedge between ourselves and this 2nd Division in our fight against the Noise," she suggested to them.

"Wouldn't it be better to try that with Maria and Serena to help us?" Shirabe said instead and Fine shook her head.

"But in order to do that, you would need to break into their base, rescue the two of them and break out again. I am certain that the 2nd Division will treat this as an admission of guilt and will go to greater lengths to hunt you down instead," she pointed out and Shirabe frowned at that notion.

"It's going to be hard though. That third party managed to defeat the 2nd Division's people and mech suits and according to Akatsuki, they also managed to duplicate our appearance and abilities up to a certain extent. I would like to have some extra help to bring them down..." she said hesitantly.

"Of course you would. It is going to be a hard battle but I will do my best to support you and don't forget. You're not alone in this matter," Fine said, glancing meaningfully at Kirika who nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah! I want to see all of us fighting together against the Noise," she said in agreement. "Don't worry. I'll do my best to help you!"

Shirabe sighed at her enthusiasm before she turned back to Fine. "Are you sure about this idea? I really don't want Maria and Serena to be stuck in there for who knows how long," she said cautiously and Fine nodded her head.

"If you pull this off, we will have gained an ally in the war against the Noise and we will be one step closer to ridding them once and for all. Antagonizing this 2nd Division group is something that we do not want especially if they are as powerful as Kirika makes them out to be," Fine pointed out.

There was still a sense of reluctance on Shirabe's face but she finally agreed to Fine's suggestion. "Alright, I guess. But where do we start?" she asked softly and there is silence for a moment as the three of them consider their next step.

"Search for clues near the school. Avoid notice from the 2nd Division agents and I believe you will be able to gain the success that you need. I will have to go now however. There are duties that I need to attend to but I will be back with something that might be able to help you," Fine said and her form shimmers before disappearing into nothingness.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment before Kirika sighed and sat down, leaning against the wall. "That...was not what I expected to happen," she said with a sigh and Shirabe nodded her head as she sat down as well. "I expected her to be more worried and flustered...but she seemed rather calm and calculative."

"She's always like that. I think it's part of her living for a really long time," Shirabe said, sitting down next to Kirika. "She might be right about this though. If there is someone else out there, taking them out would help make peace between the two of us, I think."

"Maybe," Kirika said, thinking of Fudo and whether he would allow peace to happen. It might not be possible if he was still in charge, she noted to herself before she got up once more. "Wait...how do we get started on this quest?" she asked, staring down at Shirabe.

"Kirika?" A sudden voice called out to her, startling Kirika and she looked around wildly. It turned out to be Chris, dressed in her school uniform. "What are you doing here? Your mom told me last night that you had a relapse and they had to take you to the hospital. And why is your classmate here?"

"W...why are you here?" Kirika asked Chris, both surprised and relieved by her childhood friend's appearance.

"I've got some class duties to do so I woke up earlier than usual," she said, folding her arms and glaring at the both of them. "I just want to know why your mom said one thing and you're suddenly here in the middle of the city with her."

Shirabe stood up, glancing at Kirika for a moment and she almost took out her crystal pendant but an idea entered Kirika's mind and she shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to Chris and said, "I've got a little secret to tell you and we need your help to pull it off."

Chris rolled her eyes and folded her arms as Shirabe leaned in to Kirika. "What are you doing?" she whispered just before Kirika told Chris the truth of the situation.