Part 07

"Kirika! Tsubasa! Kanade! What's going on?" she heard Genjuuro shout over the radio as the three Noise towered over the Phantom Thieves and the Gears. It took her a moment to get her wits back and she quickly explained to Genjuuro what happened before.

"That thing's a hydra?" he said in disbelief and she was about to reply when she heard the Noises begin to attack the others. "Damn it! Kirika, help the others engage the Noises! We definitely cannot let that thing out from this site!" he shouted and she quickly raced into the fray, wondering what she can do to fight the thing.

Upon reaching the nearest Noise, she swung her staff at the monster as hard as she could, striking it in the neck and causing it to step back from her. It snarled angrily and its serpentine neck lashed out, trying to strike her but Kanade jumped out in front of her, taking the full brunt of the blow on her lance. Even so, she is forced back several steps from the force of the blow, catching herself at the last moment.

"Watch out," Kanade said in a dryly confident tone as she stood between the Noise and Kirika. "You don't want to get hurt and die a second time, do you?" There was a nervousness in Kanade's voice however and Kirika could see it in the way Kanade's fingers flexed while gripping the haft of her lance. The lance itself looked slightly bent out of shape, no thanks to the sheer impact of the blow that she just parried.

With a loud cry, Kanade rushed forward, striking hard at the Noise and knocking it aside. Taking a moment to collect herself, Kirika noticed that Tsubasa and the black-white Thief were engaged with another one of the Noise, slicing and cutting into it as best as they can together. Her eyes flit around and she saw the third Noise, snapping away at the black-pink Thief.

Her eyes flit between Kanade and the Thief as she tried to decide on who to help before she saw that the latter had just stumbled and collapsed to the ground with the Noise looming over her. "Sorry, Kanade!" she shouted over the radio before she charged forward and slammed into the third Noise, knocking it away from the Thief as hard as she could.

It worked and the Noise shook its head, seemingly stunned by the full weight of Kirika's Gear. This allowed Kirika to move away and she scooped the Thief up in her arms, away from the Noise's reach. "Put me down!" she heard the Thief say to her and she looked down at the girl in her arms, surprised at how small she looked in her grasp. A dull ache appeared in her heart and she realized that the Thief's clothes was slowly fading in and out.

"Sorry," she said, forgetting that the Thief cannot hear her and she placed her down. The Thief's legs wobbled a little and she let out a wince of pain. Kirika was about to ask what was wrong when she noticed that the Noise was about to attack them again and she charged at it, thrusting her staff at the monster.

A song burst from Kirika's lips and her heart hummed with power as the staff struck the Noise in the base of its neck, stopping it in its tracks. She followed the blow with a spinning strike that would have snapped its neck; indeed, its head was struck such that it snapped away in a ninety degrees angle.

Kirika jumped at the Noise again, ready to clobber it with her staff but its head snapped back and it swung its neck, catching her in her midriff and knocking her back to the ground. With a shrill cry, it unfurled its wings and took to the air. "No fair!" Kirika shouted at the Noise as she tried to remember if her Gear was equipped with any kind of ranged weapons.

Before she could do anything else, the Noise turned and flicked its tail at her, releasing several spikes that hurtled towards her. She tried to dodge out of the way but two yo-yos zoomed past her, smashing several spikes aside in their first arcing swing before knocking away the others in a second arc.

The black-pink Thief roller-bladed to Kirika's side and looked at her intently for a moment. "Thank you," she said after a moment before the two of them turned to the Noise. A quick scan of the area revealed that Tsubasa and the black-white Thief were slowly triumphing over their Noise while the white-pink Thief had joined the fray and was helping Kanade out with her Noise.

"Guess it's the two of us together, huh?" Kirika said to the black-pink Thief. She did not respond and simply swung her yo-yos at the Noise. It dodged her attacks but Kirika saw that the yo-yos arced and wrapped around the Noise's wings, entangling them and forcing it to land on the ground once more.

The black-pink Thief quickly twisted her yo-yo strings together and tapped them once, creating a spark of electricity that zipped along the line and into the Noise, shocking it in the process. It screeched in pain and Kirika grinned before rushing at the Noise, hitting it as hard as she could with her staff.

It snarled and tried to spin around to strike at her with its tail but she blocked it with her staff and with a shout, she spun around and drove the tip of her staff through the base of its tail, causing the Noise to screech and struggle wildly. It was pinned and entangled however and Kirika jumped onto its back, using the weight of her Gear to crush it further.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kirika noticed that the black-pink Thief had created several energy discs around her hands. There was a look in the Thief's eyes and instinctively, Kirika dove out of the way just before the Thief launched the discs at the Noise.

She watched as the discs embedded themselves in the Noise's flesh and with a snap from the Thief, they exploded, leaving gaping holes where they once more. Kirika turned and flashed the Thief a quick V-sign before she pounced towards her staff. Ripping it from the ground, she slammed it into the Noise's head several times until it collapsed to the ground and disappeared in a cloud of red carbon smoke.

Adrenaline still coursing through her body, Kirika turned around and examined the battlefield. Tsubasa and the black-white Thief looked like they were going to finish their Noise without too much difficulty and it looked like Kanade and the white-pink Thief were having a tougher time with their opponent.

Confident in herself after the victory that she had just achieved, Kirika sprinted towards Kanade's opponent. "Charge!" she shouted in a delirious manner and Kanade dove out of the way, allowing her to slam into the Noise and knock it to the ground.

It got up quickly though and swung its tail at Kirika but a swarm of purple and pink energy butterflies shot from behind her, exploding around the Noise's head. The Noise let out an angry snarl and pulled its head back, giving Kirika a chance to strike at it.

At this point however, a sudden rush of exhaustion struck Kirika and she collapsed to her feet, blinking in surprise. Her mind raced as she tried to get back up onto her feet once more but the exhaustion was more than she could handle and she remained on the ground as the Noise loomed over her.

"Wait..." she whispered tiredly as the Noise reared its head to strike at her but before it could do so, Kanade's silhouette jumped in the way. There was a loud clang of Noise flesh against steel and Kirika watched, as if in slow motion, as Kanade's lance is snapped into two, knocked away and sent spinning in the air...

She tried to force herself up as the Noise lashed out at Kanade who simply stood firm and took the blows, unflinching in her defense. "KANADE!" Kirika heard Tsubasa scream through the radio but she could only stare as Kanade turned around and flashed a shaking thumbs up to her before the Noise slammed its tail into her Gear, knocking her away and into a nearly metal tower with a loud, sickening crunch.

Kirika tried to crawl towards Kanade but the sound of singing reached her ears instead. Turning to look, she saw that the three Thieves have come together to hold their hands. A swirl of power danced around them, causing their clothes and hair to billow and buffet about and the Noise is caught in this energy tornado.

The black-white Thief stepped forward, gathering the power around them into her left fist before she jumped towards the Noise. With a shout, she rammed her fist into the Noise's head, pulverizing it in an instant and causing it to disintegrate, leaving behind a crystal that floated in the air.

Once again, Kirika tried to stand but she was too tired to do so and she watched helplessly as the Thieves took the crystal for themselves. She glanced towards Tsubasa and saw that she was holding Kanade's broken Gear, cradling it while sobbing and pleading at Kanade to get up.

A soft presence landed next to Kirika and she turned her head to see the black-pink Phantom Thief looking down at her while the other two Thieves stood by her side. There was a sense of regret and remorse in each of their faces as the former leaned down and said, "Sorry about that...and thank you again."

She opened her mouth to say something but the exhaustion overwhelmed her at long last and she collapsed to the ground as darkness consumed her vision.

***

Kirika woke up with a start and let out a loud 'No!' before she felt someone reaching out to take her hand. "Calm down," she heard Genjuuro say and she blinked for a moment before turning in his direction.

"What..." she started to say and he shook his head.

"You're at the 2nd Division's medical facility right now. We recovered both yourself and Kanade after the fight and brought the two of you here after the fight," he explained to her in a soothing manner. Indeed, she was on a bed right now inside a clinically white room, hooked up to a scanner and an IV drip.

Kirika let out a soft whimper as she recalled what happened during the fight and she turned to Genjuuro again. "What about Kanade? Is she alright?" she asked fearfully.

Genjuuro's face darkened a little and he sighed. "She's in critical care right now. The fight did a number to her rib-cage and back and we've got our best surgeons to work on her right now," he told her before Kirika struggled to get out of her bed.

"You need to rest," he told her firmly and she shook her head.

"Let me go...I need to see if Kanade is fine..." she insisted weakly and he stared intently at her for a while before he sighed and nodded his head.

"Alright. But I'm coming with you to make sure you'll be fine," he said sternly before helping her out of the bed. Her knees wobbled a little as soon as her feet touched the cold floor but she managed to steady herself with her help and after removing her from the scanner, they made their way out of the room.

It turned out that the critical care unit was a short walk away from her room and as they drew closer, Kirika could see that Tsubasa was sitting across the door from the unit, her arms folded across her chest and her lower lip being chewed on intensely.

The younger girl glanced up at Genjuuro who gave her a reassuring nod and Kirika took a deep breath before the two of them approached Tsubasa. "Tsubasa-san?" she said in a timid manner.

She looked up in surprise at the sight of Kirika and Genjuuro approaching and for a moment, Kirika saw several conflicting emotions on her face before a look of tiredness won out. "Akatsuki-san. It's good to see that you are well," she said finally.

Immediately, Kirika bowed her head as low as possible. "I'm sorry for what I did. I got too excited and Kanade got hurt because of me! I..."

"Stop it," Tsubasa snapped irritably and Kirika flinched at the harsh tone in Tsubasa's normally calm and collected voice. She closed her eyes, blinking away the tears that sprung to her eyes and waited for something to happen.

A hand rested on Kirika's shoulder instead and she looked up at Tsubasa in surprise. "Kanade's going to be fine, okay?" Tsubasa whispered in a harsh manner. "Stop talking like she's already dead."

Kirika nodded once and Tsubasa returned the nod with one of her own. "Besides, you saw a chance to attack and took it. I'd have done the same if I were in your place and Kanade would have defended me if I failed the attack like you did," she said softly.

The younger girl looked down, feeling the sting behind Tsubasa's words and she felt another hand rest on her shoulder. "Tsubasa..." she heard Genjuuro say in a reprimanding manner. "I know you're worried for Kanade and Kirika is just as worried too."

"Sorry," Tsubasa said bluntly a moment later before she stepped away from them and leaned against the wall, folding her arms angrily. Genjuuro gave Kirika a reassuring look before inviting her to sit on a nearby bench, which Kirika accepted.

Two hours of awkward and intense silence passed before the door to the critical care unit opened and a doctor stepped out. Genjuuro and Tsubasa rushed to him and Kirika watched nervously as he spoke to them, presumably about Kanade's condition.

After a short talk, Tsubasa fell to the ground, bursting into tears as Genjuuro walked over to Kirika who was now fearing the worst. "What happened?" she asked apprehensively and Genjuuro simply shook his head.

"Kanade is still in critical condition but the surgery is a success for now. The only worry is whether there will be any complications because of the injury's severe nature," he explained to her and Kirika glanced at Tsubasa, uncertain whether she should be relieved or otherwise.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her gently and she shook her head, still feeling numb after hearing the news about Kanade. "In any case, let's get you home first," he said to her and she nodded simply as he led her away from the area and from the still sobbing Tsubasa.

***

It was nearly five when Kirika got home and her parents were already awake and aware of her disappearance. She listened numbly to their angry scoldings, her mind still thinking about what happened to Kanade and when they told her to go to her room, she did so without any complaints.

"What's wrong with you?" her father asked as he accompanied her to her room. "You were taken from us only a month ago and now you're going out of the house in the middle of the night? It's like you want to be kidnapped again."

She nodded her head quietly and he paused, kneeling down to look at her. "What happened last night?" he asked quietly and Kirika looked at him for a moment, wondering what she should tell him.

Finally, she said, "My friend...got into an accident last night. There was...a car and she pushed me out of the way but she got hit instead and now she's in a pretty bad shape. I..." She wiped a tear that was about to roll out and looked at her feet instead.

He sighed and patted her head. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Is that why you came back so late?" he asked and she nodded her head. He stared at her for a while before saying, "Fine. I'll mention this to your mother but you're still in trouble for sneaking out of the house. Was it..."

"No, it was Ka..ede who got hit. She came to our house yesterday, remember?"

Her father nodded his head before opening the door to her room and gently pushing her inside. "Stay here today, okay?" he told her softly and she nodded before lying down on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

After a while, her mother stepped into the room and sat down on the bed besides her. "Your father told me what you told him and...I'm sorry to hear about your friend," she said softly.

Kirika sat up on her bed and stared at her for a moment before she broke down and started crying bitterly, prompting her mother to reach out and hug her. Eventually, her fatigue and sadness overwhelmed her and she fell asleep in her mother's arms.

***

She woke up hours later to the sound of her phone buzzing and she sat up on her bed once more. Judging from the orange light shining into her room, it was past six in the evening at this point.

Sighing, she reached out for her phone and pulled it out. There were several text messages from Hibiki, Miku and Chris and she read them, smiling a little when she read about them asking about her and what happened to her. They had apparently dropped by earlier in the day, it seems and her mother had explained the situation to them.

After texting a reply to each of them, she looked at the final message in her phone; it was from Genjuuro, asking her if she was alright. She replied to him and a minute later, he replied to her.

"Kanade woke up an hour ago and is fine for now. Tsubasa is with her right now," the message read and Kirika let out a sigh of relief. She still felt guilty and upset but it was good to know that she was awake.

"Can I see her tomorrow after school?" she texted to him and he responded in the affirmative. A small smile of relief appeared on her lips and she closed her eyes as she lay down on her bed once more.

She can apologize to Kanade tomorrow, she told herself with a smile. Everything will be better tomorrow, she thought as she drifted off to sleep again.

A minute later, she got up with a yelp and ran to her desk to finish the remainder of her homework.

***

The next day started as normally as it would: Kirika woke up late, Chris went into her room to wake her up and the two of them rushed to the bus stop to meet with Hibiki and Miku.

Once the four girls were on the bus, Hibiki turned to Kirika and said, "So...how did you get to know Kaede?" Miku glared at her friend and poked her in the ribs, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"It's okay...I don't mind and I just got news that she's doing better now," Kirika said. Thinking as quickly as she could and remembering the excuse she gave to Shirabe, she said, "Remedial lessons?"

"Eh?" the other three girls stared at her.

"Er...both her and Kanzaki-senpai help me with my remedial classes because Kazanari-sensei asked them to?" she said weakly and the other girls thought about it for a moment.

"I guess...Kazanari-sensei is pretty close to those two for some reason," Chris said after a moment's thought. "I remember how he always got them to help out with some of his work after school. You'd think they're related or something like that."

Kirika laughed nervously as the other girls began to talk about 'Tsukasa' and 'Kaede' although it seemed to her that they also refrained from saying a few things about the latter. She listened to them quietly, talking only when they asked about what happened.

"Damn hit and run driver," Chris said after Kirika had finished telling them the 'story' of what happened. "Still, I didn't expect that of Amano-sempai. She's got more guts than I thought."

"Yeah...I think we should visit her and thank her for saving Kirika-chan," Hibiki said thoughtfully. Kirika's eyes widened at the suggestion as her other friends agree to the proposal.

"Looks like even you can come up with a good idea once in a while, huh?" Chris said with a grin as she slapped Hibiki's back hard, eliciting a protest from the younger girl. Miku laughed softly at their antics before she noticed Kirika's stunned reaction.

"What's the matter?" she asked Kirika who shook her head and laughed nervously.

The 2nd Division is supposed to be a secret right? What am I going to do? The thoughts raced through her mind all throughout their ride to school and she did not have an idea even when they arrived at their school.

She quickly went to her classroom and texted a message to Genjuuro, explaining the situation to him and he replied almost immediately, telling her that he will think of a way to distract them from the idea.

Kirika closed her eyes in relief as she set her phone aside and allowed herself a moment to relax. The sound of someone's chair being pulled made her open her eyes and she glanced in the direction.

It turned out to be Shirabe, setting her bag down and taking out a book to read. For a moment, Kirika considered waving to her but she paused for a moment when she noticed that the other girl's eyes are a little red and puffy.

Taking a deep breath, she got up and walked over to Shirabe. "Hi," she said as kindly as she could and the dark-haired girl glanced up, looking a little surprised by her greeting.

"Hello," she said briskly and turned her eyes back to her reading. Kirika sat down next to Shirabe and glanced at the book she was reading; it was some sort of light novel, she figured.

After a moment, Shirabe set her book down and turn to look at Kirika. The latter shook her head and gestured at the book. "I want to see how the story continues," she said to her.

Shirabe gave Kirika a long stare before she shrugged and resume reading her book and Kirika continued to read over her shoulder quietly. After a while, Shirabe seemed to relax, reading the book peacefully and this made Kirika feel better herself.

They continued reading until the bell rang and Kirika got up. "Are you okay?" she asked after a moment's pause and Shirabe stared at her for a moment before giving her a brief smile.

"A little. Thanks for not saying anything," she replied as a teacher entered the room, prompting everyone in the class to return to their seats.

***

At the end of the school day, Chris popped her head into Kirika's class and gestured at her. "Come on!" she said to her as Kirika walked over somewhat reluctantly. "Let's go meet up with your new friend so that we can all thank her properly."

Hibiki and Miku were there as well and the former waved at her cheerfully as Kirika let out an internal sigh. Guess Kazanari-sensei couldn't fix this problem, she thought to herself despondent.

As they started to walk away, Kirika tried to think about what she can do and what she should say to her friends about the whole Kaede situation but could not come up with anything.

Just as they arrived at the school entrance, someone called out to them and the four of them turned to take a look. It turned out to be Ryoko carrying a stack of boxes and looking a little harried. "Girls, would you mind helping me out with a little mess?" she asked and the four of them looked at each other for a moment.

"I'll give you a little extra credit on your next test," she said with a slight plead. "I know at least two of you are going to need it."

"Let's go!" Hibiki said quickly before the others can protest and she marched away, with Chris and Miku follow after her in protest.  Ryoko glanced at Kirika who was a little dumbfounded by the event and she gave her a little wink.

"Made you worried, didn't we?" she said to her in a conspiratorial tone. Kirika relaxed a little before she followed Ryoko to settle the 'mess' that she had created for them to handle.

As it turned out, she needed them to help move several boxes for her. "Why didn't you ask some of the boys to do this?" Chris asked indignantly as she tried to pick up a particularly heavy box up and failed.

"Because they ran away from me as soon as I approached them?" Ryoko replied with a smile as Hibiki gently pushed Chris aside to pick up the box. "My...you're a lot stronger than you look," she said in surprise.

"Oh this? Yeah, I decided that I wanted to be try out that wrestling stuff one day so I started working out," Hibiki replied with a proud grin and Chris stared at her in disbelief.

"Since when? Or is that your idiocy somehow translated into strength?" their senior asked and Hibiki laughed awkwardly. "Is it true, Miku?" she asked, turning to her dark-haired friend.

"Well...she has been started attending the track and field club to do some running exercises with us," she replied hesitantly. "I'm not sure about whether she actually did some muscle training though. Maybe I can check right now."

"No. Do that at home...wait...don't do that at all," Chris said hastily as Miku started pinching Hibiki's bicep, making the latter squeal. This caused the older girl to groan before she turn to Kirika and said, "Make sure you're nowhere as shameless as these two, okay?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Chris said as Ryoko watched the entire exchange in amusement. "What are inside these boxes, if I may ask, sensei?"

"Student files," Ryoko said absently. "I was going to through them for a bit and making sure that everything is in order."

"Why would you want to do that?" Chris asked, narrowing her eyes at Ryoko, who laughed and waved her hand dismissively.

"Because I'm a good teacher who wants to know more about her students? Or would you rather that I'm a mad scientist who is secretly experimenting on her students and planning to use them as soldiers in a war against an alien enemy?" she said, leaning forward and staring hard at Chris.

Chris simply rolled her eyes and stepped back from Ryoko while Kirika laughed nervously at Ryoko's words. "That's kind of a weird thing for you to do, Sakurai-sensei. It's not like you're even teaching most of the students," she said.

Ryoko chuckled at that and said, "I'd like to know any potential student regardless of whether I'm going to teach them. Like for instance, your file states that you were in the archery club during your first year before you quit halfway through despite being one of the club's better marksman. May I ask why?"

This elicited a cough from Chris who looked away in embarrassment while Kirika stared at her in surprise. "I didn't know you joined the archery club either. What happened?" she asked.

"I ran into an unexpected development and archery became too hard for me to handle," Chris replied hastily and Kirika stared at her in confusion.

"She means that her chest got in the way of her drawing her bow," Hibiki said with an evil grin at Chris who responded by kicking her in the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Because you really are as dumb as I thought you are," Chris said, her cheeks puffed out in anger as Ryoko chuckled at their actions.

"Well, if that's the case, you could probably find another way to get back into archery. If not, why not go into something similar instead?" Ryoko suggested.

"Like? Anyway, it's fine. I've got other things to do and people to worry about right now. I don't really have the time to worry about getting back into archery again," Chris said dismissively as she gave Kirika a sideways glance. "By the way, how much more work do you have for us?"

Before Ryoko can answer, Genjuuro walked into the room that they were in, looking as if he was searching for something or someone. "There you are, Akatsuki. Someone told me that you were here," he said and she glanced at him curiously.

"Is she needed for another class, sensei?" Chris asked, giving Kirika a sideways glance which she ignored.

Genjuuro chuckled and shook his head. "No, I just need to borrow her for a minute," he said and gestured to her. She nodded and followed him out of the room into a different one that is both nearby and empty.

"How's Tsubasa and Kanade?" she asked when Genjuuro closed the door.

"Tsubasa is with Kanade right now and they're both doing better," he said simply. "Kanade will simply need a lot of time to recover and probably two more surgeries to fix her back. Hopefully we can get her as close to a hundred percent but it will take a while."

"Oh..." she said, sounding a little despondent this time; she was hoping everything will be good within days.

"But that's not why I'm talking to you right now. It's regarding your status as a Gear user," he said, sounding a little serious and Kirika glanced up at him in surprise.

"Am I...fired?" she asked cautiously and he shook his head.

"No. But now we're down to two users, one of whom is inexperienced, there's the issue of the Phantom Thieves and the Noise are probably not going to stop any time soon. So my father is going to be making some changes to the 2nd Division and that includes you as well," he said, looking apologetically at her.

"Meaning?" Kirika asked cautiously. She had an idea about what the changes are but she wanted to hear it from Genjuuro's own lips to be certain.

"On your part, he is setting up a plan to ensure that you spend more time training. The second part...you know that he has an original candidate before you entered the picture, right?" he said, glancing meaningfully at her.

"Right...so we're getting another Symphogear user soon?" she asked.

"In a week's time, if everything goes according to his wishes," Genjuuro replied with a slight look of distaste on his face. "I don't think you know him though. He's a second year high-school student."

"You don't have to train today though. We're in the midst of rushing the development of the third Gear so no one will be available to help you train," he said to her with a forced smile on her lips.

"Wait...I remember something about the crystal not being ready yet. Isn't that dangerous?" she asked and Genjuuro chuckled.

"How in the world do you remember that and not your own school work?" he asked before he closed his eyes and sighed. "I did warn my father that it would be unwise to rush the Resonant crystal's creation but he was adamant about this and threatened to put Kanade back into the Gear if we do not comply to his wishes," he explained to her.

"That's...that's all sorts of wrong, isn't it?" she asked softly and he nodded, slamming his fist into a nearby wall.

"I know...but I want to believe that he has the people's safety in his mind. Even if he has to do all this to ensure the country's well-being," he said bitterly.

Kirika nodded once and a question popped into her mind. "Sensei...if you don't mind me asking...why are you allowing Tsubasa and Kanade to fight? I know why they are fighting but why aren't you fighting yourself? Why can't you get into a Gear and fight?" she asked timidly.

He sighed and glanced down at her. "You know how when you get into the Gear, you have to sing an activation song to power it up?" he asked her after a while. She nodded her head and looked at him blankly.

"I can't do that. The song simply refuses to come to me. It's like the Resonant crystals that we've made so far has rejected me. Ryoko has no idea why it is doing so but it doesn't work for me. If I could have done so, I would have fought in Kanade's, Tsubasa's and your place. But I cannot and the best I can do is offer tactical commands," he replied bitterly.

There was a moment of silence where the two of them looked away from each other before Kirika said, "Maybe it thinks that you're a really bad singer?"

"Kirika, now is not the time for jokes. Also, I do a pretty mean impression of Jackie Chan's singing voice," Genjuuro said as he shot a glare at her.

"Wait...Jackie Chan can sing?" Kirika asked in surprise and this caused him to crack a smile at last.

"I'll lend you a copy of that movie one day if you like," he said before he turned and started to walk out of the room.

"Kazanari-sensei..." He stopped at the entrance to the room and turned around to look at her curiously. "Is it possible for me to visit Kanade tonight? I just want to see her and make sure she's alright."

"If you want to...but I would think that you're in a lot of trouble with your parents right now," he pointed out to her.

"Maybe I can sneak out at night..." she started suggested and he glared at her.

"I'm still your teacher, you know. I can't really condone you sneaking out at night when you don't have a mission to attend to," he said sternly before he closed his eyes and sighed.

"But she is your friend, so if you can persuade your parents to let you visit her, I'll allow it," he said before stepping out of the room.

Kirika thought for a moment about the situation before she sighed and took out her phone. There really is only one person she can call to help her out with this matter.