Part 03

The next day, Kirika's parents insisted that she take the day off from school and so that was what she did. Her parents took the day off as well, wanting to spend time with their family and her mother made a call to her school to inform her about what was happening.

"Your homeroom teacher is a very nice man," her mother said after hanging up the phone. "Promised to visit after school along with the class rep."

"Daf's nais," Kirika said through a mouth full of food and her father tapped her head.

"Chew first, talk later," he said and she nodded, finishing her bite first before she repeated what she said to her mom.

Her older brother Kazuma arrived at the table as Kirika was finishing her meal and she gave him a friendly wave. He was of average height, with blonde hair and a pretty boy look to him which had earned him quite a few admirers over the years as evidenced by the number of Valentine chocolate she helped finished for him.

"Yo," Kazuma said as he walked over and tapped her shoulder. "Er...sorry about the other day when I left you alone in the house," he said in a sheepish manner under the watchful gaze of their parents and Kirika nodded her head once.

"It's okay..." she started to say when her mother slammed her hand against the wall in a loud manner.

"No, it's not okay," the latter said, struggling a little to contain her voice as everyone falls silent. "You could have been killed by whoever it was that kidnapped you and we would never have seen you again. So Kazuma, you need to take better care of your sister and Kirika, you need to be a little more careful in the future."

Kirika nodded, scratching her chest idly where her scar was located, thinking that it was a good thing that they did not know that she had already been killed and brought back to life. Her brother sat down at the table and she gave him an apologetic look which he gratefully accepted.

The rest of their breakfast went by smoothly, only interrupted when her younger brother came downstairs to ask for some food. After the initial awkwardness, Kazuma glanced at Kirika and said, "So, how's your new school so far? I mean, I know you've only been there for only a day but I heard that Zwei Wings is attending Lydian's high school side. Have you seen them?"

Kirika paused and closed her eyes, wondering how she was supposed to handle it and this earned a chuckle from her older brother. "Oh, so that means you have already seen them?" he said and her eyes open in alarm.

"Eh? N-n-no...I haven't met them at all. Definitely not. I don't even know what they look like in school?" she protested quickly and he grinned at her response.

"Yeah, you've definitely met them already. Do they go as they are or are they incognito?" he asked and Kirika started to feel a little more flustered with each passing question until their mother interceded on her behalf. With that, the atmosphere lost its awkwardness and the family was talking normally to each other once more.

***

The rest of the day passed in relative bliss for Kirika as she spent time with most of her family; Kazuma still went to school as normal but he promised to be back once it was over. Her mom cooked her favorite dishes, she played video games with her father while her little brother watched in awe and it made her almost forget about what she had gone through recently.

An hour after school was supposed to have ended, Kirika was lounging around in the living room when she heard the doorbell ring. "Coming!" she called out lazily and walked over to the front door. Upon opening it, she was startled to hear several loud popping sounds and she jumped back.

"Happy birthday!" she heard three familiar voices say to her and she blinked when she say Chris, Hibiki and Miku in front of her, each holding a party popper in their hands while looking like they came here directly from school.

"Wait...it's not my birthday yet..." she said just before she felt two warm bodies tackle her and hug her tightly, knocking her to the ground in the process as Hibiki started crying out loud and Chris gave her an angry look.

"Idiot..." the latter managed to say a moment later before she got up to her feet while Miku helped Hibiki up, looking a little red-eyed herself. "You made us worry about you for no reason at all."

Kirika laughed nervously at Chris' not-quite admonition before she noticed that Miku was carrying a package in her hands and she hopped up to her feet. "We know it's not your birthday until next week but we thought that celebrating it early this year would be appropriate," Miku said with a smile and Kirika beamed in excitement.

"Is that cake? Yes! More cake!" she said happily and the other three girls look at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean by more cake?" Hibiki asked as Kirika realized that she had made a slip-up.

"Er...I meant that I like birthday cakes and more of them is good," she said hastily and Hibiki laughed as she nodded in agreement.

"Okay, now that is something that I can get behind," Hibiki said happily as Kirika lead them to the dining table. While her family prepared the cake, Kirika rounded up the rest of her family and everyone sang a song for Kirika who beamed in delight as she cut the cake and served it to everyone after blowing out the candles.

She was sitting and chatting with her friends when the doorbell rang again and her mother said, "I'll get it." Kirika wondered who it could be for a moment and she excused herself, making her way to the entrance and taking a peek out of curiosity

Right, she thought to herself. Kazanari-sensei said he was coming today and he brought the class-rep along. Speaking of which, who was selected? He did not select one on the first day as far as she could recall and that made her curious, so she went out to take a look.

"Akatsuki, you're looking well," Genjuuro said as she approached the door, his voice warm and pleased to see her. Wow, he's a good actor, she thought as she returned the greeting and noted that he was acting surprised and relieved to see her. All part of the job, she told herself.

Someone stepped out from behind him and Kirika's eyes widened a little. "Oh! Shirabe! You're the class rep, huh? Nice!" she said and hopped forward, reaching out to take the girl's hand to congratulate her.

There was a wide-eyed look on Shirabe's face and she stepped back from Kirika, as if disbelieving of what she just saw. Kirika stared at her in confusion before Shirabe took a deep breath and seemed to compose herself once more.

"Please, just call me Tsukuyomi-san. I'm here to bring you the notes and hand-outs that you've missed because of your accident. Also, on behalf of the rest of our class, I am glad that you are safe and sound," the black-hair girl said in a slightly cold manner and handed Kirika a stack of notes.

"Thanks...Tsukuyomi..." Kirika said, sounding and feeling a little deflated by the way Shirabe was acting towards her. Just because she knew her secret did not mean that she had to like this, she thought to herself and puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

Shirabe looked at Kirika for a moment before holding her hand out to her. "We hope to see you back in class tomorrow. How are you feeling right now?" she asked, her voice taking on a more practised tone, as if she had been practising this part for a while.

Kirika reached out, grasping her hand with a slight smile on her face. Before she can say anything, her heart started to beat rapidly and her knees buckled a little. She blinked in surprise as her mother caught her before she could fall and Shirabe looked at her hand, looking slightly surprised by what happened as well.

"Are you alright, Akatsuki?" Genjuuro stepped forward to help steady her as well as her mother began to fuss over her. Kirika nodded her head and stared at her hand for a moment before glancing at Shirabe in curiosity.

"I think you're more stressed by your disappearance than you let on. I should go now and let you rest," Shirabe said calmly and turned around quickly, walking away as fast as she can before anyone can stop her. Genjuuro looked between the two of them for a moment before patting Kirika and shaking her hand. He turned around and ran after his other student, calling out after her.

"You should take a rest," Kirika's mother said and Kirika simply nodded, allowing her to lead her to her room so that she can have a look at the piece of paper that Genjuuro had slipped to her while he was shaking her hand. There was a number on it, presumably Genjuuro's contact. Maybe he wanted to discuss the 2nd Division stuff with her, she thought as she dialed the number on her phone and waited.

After a while, she got a text message back from Genjuuro, telling her to contact him in an hour's time because he was sending Shirabe to the train station and that she should enjoy herself first before he delivered the news to her. That sounds pretty bad, she thought and shivered involuntarily.

***

After a short rest, Kirika returned join the rest of her friends and family and Chris was the first to her feet. "Are you okay? Your mom said you had a bit of a dizzy spell," she asked in concern and Kirika grinned at her, flexing her arm in order to show her that she was fine.

"I'm fine. Totally fine!" she said reassuringly to Chris who did not look convinced but Hibiki hopped over to them and wrapped her arms around Kirika instead.

"That's good to hear!" she said, hugging Kirika tightly. "We were all really worried about you and even though your mom said that you just needed some rest, Chris wanted to go up to your room to check on you," she said, earning a glare from Chris.

Miku walked over them, bringing with her another slice of cake. "Here you go, Kirika. We saved you the last slice of cake since you were so happy to have more cake again this year," she said and Kirika let out a whoop of delight.

"Oh sweet delicious chocolate strawberry cake with vanilla cream filling," she said and grabbed the plate, happily eating the entire slice in four bites. Chris let out a loud sigh at the way Kirika ate the cake and she handed a tissue to her.

"What happened to your manners?" she said softly as Kirika cleaned herself before she let out a sigh and asked, "Well...what do you want to do now?"

***

Two hours later, Kirika bid her friends farewell and promised to be in school tomorrow. As she watched them leave, she remembered her promise to Genjuuro and ran upstairs to call her teacher. "Sorry!" she nearly shouted when he answered her call. "I completely forgot about you!"

"It's okay. You were with your friends and they wanted to spend time with you. The only one who is not pleased is my boss and frankly, I don't mind," he said in an amused tone. "I take it that you are alone right now?"

Kirika nodded before remembering that she was on the phone and telling him that she was. "Good. I've managed to convince my boss that you need time with your family but he insisted on having you in the facility tonight. Can you come out tonight without being caught by your parents?" he asked.

"I can try..." she replied and he chuckled to himself.

"As your teacher, I will have to punish myself later for telling you to sneak out of your house nor can I condone this act. I'll arrange for a pick up near your house at ten tonight. Spend a little more time with your family and get a good rest before what happens after wards," he told her before hanging up.

***

Half an hour before the appointed time, Kirika quietly snuck out of her room. Her parents were in their bedrooms and knowing Kazuma, he was probably on his computer working on his social media. She crept downstairs without any issue and made it out of her house without alerting anyone.

Once outside, she walked briskly for a short while before contacting Genjuuro. He texted her back, telling her to go the 24-hour convenience store near her house and she did so. She entered and browsed around for a little while before her phone rang again, this time displaying an unknown number.

"Yo!" Kanade's voice reached her ears. "I'm here for you." Kirika glanced around and saw a person on a motorcycle waving at her. She ran out as Kanade tossed a spare helmet to her and she put it on.

"Hop on," she said and Kirika got on behind Kanade, wrapping her arms around her waist before the two sped off.

"Is this yours?" Kirika shouted and Kanade shook her head.

"Nah! It's actually Tsubasa's! She's got five of these babies parked in her house and I borrowed one of them to come pick you up," she replied and Kirika's eyes widened a little.

"Really? On the other hand, it does kinda fit her image a little," she said thoughtfully, making Kanade burst out laughing.

"You have no idea how ridiculous that statement is if you really know her like I do," she said to Kirika who stared at Kanade for a moment. When pressed for an answer, Kanade simply shook her head and said, "Just pay attention to her, kiddo."

Kirika grumbled a little but did not press the issue further as Kanade rode towards the school. While fast, she handled the bike smoothly albeit a little recklessly, like she was trying to show off to Kirika but the latter did not mind; it made for a fun ride like when Kanade steered the bike extremely close to a railing, nearly scrapping the bike.

"Is Tsubasa going to kill you if you scratched her bike?" Kirika asked as Kanade straightened the vehicle and the latter nodded her head.

"Definitely. But she's cute when she gets mad and I like to see that side of her more often," she replied. "Oh and you can tell her that I said that too. It'll drive her up the wall."

The younger girl stared at her as if she were mad and Kanade was about to say something when her head tilted slightly and she slammed on the brakes. Kirika bumped against her back, stunning her momentarily as Kanade brought the bike to a halt.

"Call Genjuuro and tell him to send help," Kanade said as she got off the bike. Kirika was about to ask what was going on when she saw the trio from the other night standing on the electric posts above them and she let out a startled yelp.

"The Phantom thieves at your service," the black-white one said with a bow and smile, holding her knife up high.

"Ready to steal your heart with a smile," the white-pink girl continued, drawing an illusory heart with her butterfly rod.

The third one did not say anything and just shook her head, as if she was embarrassed by their antics. "Awww..." the white-pink girl said in a disappointed manner. "You ruined the fun, !@#$%^&."

Kirika blinked in surprise at the girl's words. She was pretty certain that a name was just mentioned but for some reason, it felt like it had been censored from her mind. Just who are these Phantom thieves, she thought to herself nervously.

Kanade folded her arms and looked up at them, not appearing to be intimidated by their appearance. "So...what's your story this time ladies? There's no Noise here and you're the moralistic type who'd only fight for a reason," she said calmly and without the slightest hint of fear.

"Which one are you?" the black-white one said staring at Kanade. "Are you one of those armored fighters or a backup staff?"

"Backup staff," Kanade replied rapidly. "And I've definitely read about you three, at least enough to know that you're not going to attack me without reason. So answer me."

The silent one jumped down to the ground and pulled a yo-yo from her dress. "That's none of your business. We're going to take what we want as we always do," she said before swinging the yo-yo at Kanade who dodged out of the way. Instead, the yo-yo slammed into the bike, smashing it into bits.

"Oy! That's not my bike!" Kanade shouted in annoyance just before the black-white girl jumped towards her. Her knife had disappeared and instead, she was punching and kicking away at Kanade who did her best to defend herself against the attacks.

"Kirika!" she shouted at the young girl who finally remembered what she was supposed to do and quickly dialed Genjuuro. There was a brief second of a dial tone before the black-pink girl hurled her yo-yo at Kirika, knocking the phone from her hand with deadly precision.

"#$%^&*!" the girl shouted and the white-pink girl waved her rod around before shooting a white cloth-like material from its tip. The cloth wrapped itself around Kirika's body, trapping her arms and legs and she fell to the ground with a startled cry.

Kanade let out an angry shout when she noticed what was happening and she tried to rush to Kirika's aid but the girl whom she was fighting jumped in her way, knocking her back with a fierce kick to the head. "Sorry about that," she said before waving her hand and creating several globes in her hand which she hurled to the ground.

A huge burst of cloud exploded in front of her, obscuring Kirika's view of Kanade and the black-pink girl scooped Kirika up, carrying her over her shoulder. "Kanade!" she called out to her just before she let out a shriek of surprise as she started to fly through the air.

Or rather, the black-pink girl have leapt up and away from the area as the other girls followed her, jumping to a nearby building before moving from rooftop to rooftop as they quickly leapt Kanade behind. This was way too much excitement in one day, Kirika thought as she was being carried away.

***

After about ten minutes of running on the rooftops, the Phantom thieves come to a stop on a building's roof and Kirika was placed down on the roof. She stared at the three girls as they stood in front of her, their strangely indistinct faces creeping her out a little.

"Sorry about that scare," the white-pink girl said apologetically as she waved a rod and the cloth binding Kirika disappeared. "But we wanted to talk to you and when we got to your house, you weren't there."

"You know where my house is?" Kirika said in surprise and she nodded.

"We were doing a little bit of hunting around after we heard that you were alive. Again, we're really sorry about all this but we really just want to talk to you," she said in as reassuring a manner as she can.

The black-white one stepped forward and helped Kirika to her feet. "What did they tell you about us exactly? she asked and Kirika looked at her for a moment, wondering what she should tell them.

Finally, she decide to tell them the truth. "Well...they think that you do want to fight the Noise but they can't trust you because you steal stuff from them. So, they can't really trust you because of all that," she said, massaging her arms a little to rub some feeling into them.

"Fair enough," the black-white said and glanced down at her. "I won't deny that. We do steal their resources to take for our own use against the Noise but on the other hand, do you know why they built the their secret base underneath your school?"

"Because something about the students being capable of using the Symphogears and they wanted to have candidates at hand? I think that's their reason for it?" she said and there is a brief moment of silence as the three Phantom Thieves look at each other in surprise.

"They told you about this?" the black-pink one asked and Kirika nodded.

"Well...I'll give this to them. At least they told you half of the reason why they're doing what they're doing?" the black-white one said with a shrug before growing a little serious. "But I bet they didn't tell you that the school is also a part of a secret experiment to determine why the students can use the Symphogears and how to make others be able to use them?"

"Er...no. And is that true?" Kirika asked and the three girls nod solemnly. "How do you know that?"

"Phantom Thieves, remember?" The black-white girl pointed out with a slight grin.

"Doesn't that mean that you steal things like a ghost?" Kirika asked and this earned a reaction from the three girls: the black-white girl slaps her own forehead, the white-pink laughs nervously and the black-pink girl sighed in annoyance.

"You really are as dumb as I thought you are," the latter said and slides forward to Kirika. "None of what they said matters. Just tell us how you were brought back to life and what those people did to you. We saw you die in front of us!"

Kirika blinked in surprise at the question and stared at the girl for a while before she finally said, "I...I don't really know. They said that there's a crystal in my chest now and that's how I'm alive."

The three stare at each other in shock and surprise before the white-pink one turned back to Kirika and asked, "How did they do that?"

"It wasn't them...it was an accident or something like that because I picked up a crystal and had it with me when the Noise attacked," she said hastily and the black-pink girl stepped back in surprise.

"The crystals can do that?" she said in surprise and the other two girls look at each other, seeming to be just as surprised as well. "She didn't say that the Dissonant crystals can be used in that way."

"Huh? You know about the Dissonant crystals?" Kirika asked and the Phantom Thieves fall silent at this point. Before they can do anything however, a bright light fell on them and everyone looked up in surprise. They looked up and saw what appeared to be a heavy transport helicopter shining its lights down on them and two bulky figures standing by its door.

"Release your hostage at once," a voice said from the helicopter's speakers and the black-pink girl grabbed Kirika's hand, pulling her close as the other two girls stood in front of them.

"That was your only warning," the voice said as the two figures jumped down from the helicopter and landed with a bone-crunching thud on the building's surface, making the entire roof shudder on their impact. Kirika's eyes widened as they stepped forward, revealing themselves to be the Symphogears.

"Wait!" she shouted as she tried to twist free from the black-pink girl's grasp. "They were only trying to talk to me! I promise they meant nothing by what they did!" The blue-white gear hesitated a little and glanced at the black-orange one which remained still for a moment before she appeared to have received an order and she raised her lance.

The black-white thief leapt forward, charging at the blue-white gear while the white-pink girl waved her rod, fire energy butterflies at the black-orange girl while the remaining Phantom Thief turned to Kirika and said, "Who do you trust more? Them or us?"

"You haven't given me a reason to trust you more than they haven't," Kirika pointed out as the fight raged about them and there appeared to be a smile on the other girl's face; it was hard to tell thanks to whatever obfuscating trick the Thieves used to disguise themselves.

"First smart thing you ever said to me," she remarked before lifting Kirika up in a bridal carry and running away with her. With a slight hop, the Thief jumped up and clicked her heels, creating a pair of roller blades on her feet which she used to dash away.

"Wait, what are you..." Kirika started to say before she started to scream in shock as the Thief jumped off the edge of the roof and began to roller blade down the wall. The helicopter started to chase after them and the Thief clucked her tongue in annoyance.

Before Kirika can do anything, the black-pink thief tossed Kirika into the air, letting her free-fall as she turned around and hurled her yo-yo at the helicopter. Even as she fell to the ground, Kirika watched in awe as the yo-yo wrapped around the helicopter's blade, jamming the rotor up and stalling the helicopter.

Then she remembered that she was falling and she let out a frightened cry as she continued to fall to the ground. The black-pink thief continued to roller blade down the wall of the building until she had caught up to Kirika and she sprang off the wall, catching the falling girl with ease.

"Stay calm," she warned her, carrying her like a bride once more before she hurled another yo-yo at another building. It anchored itself to the roof and Kirika let out another frightened scream as they hurtled towards the building, only for the Phantom Thief to land on it perfectly and she reeled both of them up to the roof.

There was a loud crash as the helicopter hit the ground but Kirika could see two people parachuting to the ground and she let out a sigh of relief. Her heart was beating rapidly at this point and she started to hyperventilate from the excitement.

"What's wrong?" the Thief asked and Kirika grabbed onto her tightly as her heart continued to pound, feeling like it was going to burst. A startled cry of alarm left the Thief's lips as her own clothes started to fade and she dropped Kirika onto the roof, backing away from her. When she had done that, her clothes became solid once more but Kirika was still panting heavily.

"We have to get out of here," the Thief said but as she approached Kirika, her clothes and mask started to fade again and she quickly backed away from the girl. She gritted her teeth in anger but it was clear that she could not come any closer to Kirika who was still in pain from her rapidly beating heart.

To Kirika's surprise, she remained as close as she could however, drawing ever so closer whenever she could summon up the courage and after a while, when Kirika's pain began to lessen, she was able to approach her without fear. "What's wrong?" she repeated her question, kneeling down and touching Kirika's shoulder.

"I...I don't really know...my heart just started hurting all of a sudden..." she said, wiping the sweat from her forehead and looking up at the Phantom Thief's dark pink eyes. Eh...I could see a bit of her face now? Kirika blinked in surprise at the revelation.

The Thief did not seem to realize what was going on as she prepared to pick Kirika up again. "Er...could you not do that? It feels embarrassing for you to carry me like that?" the latter mumbled to her.

"But there's no way that you can keep up with my speed unless I'm carrying you like this," the Thief said and Kirika was about to answer when something slammed into the roof next to them. The two of them jumped back and Kirika looked around in surprise. The dust cleared, revealing itself to be a lance as the orange-black Gear landed on the roof a second later.

It swung its leg at the Thief, forcing her to jump away as the Gear quickly positioned herself next to Kirika in a protective manner. The blonde girl looked up at the Gear as it brandished a rod that unfolded into a smaller version of the lance that she just hurled and she prepared to attack the Thief.

Instead, the Thief clucked her tongue in annoyance and said, "Remember, don't trust them fully. You don't know what they have in stall for you and not everyone of their crew is a good guy." With that, she turned around and bladed off the edge of the building, fleeing before the Gear can attack her.

The Gear turned and pointed at Kirika, holding up a thumbs up sign to Kirika who returned the gesture in confusion. It seemed like whoever is inside is unable to communicate with her properly and she was unable to tell if it was Kanade or Tsubasa inside the Gear. Instead, she scooped her up gently and held her hand up to her head as if to communicate to someone.

Despite what Kirika had told the Thief earlier, her heart was still beating rapidly and there were moments of pain that made her wince a little. What was all that about, she thought as she rested against the Gear.

***

After a while, the blue-white Gear joined them as a small crowd gathered below to look at the crashed helicopter. The two Gears stared at each other and Kirika wondered what was going on for a while before the orange one picked her up and jumped over to the nearest building, repeating the process until they were a fair distance away from the scene of destruction.

They arrived at a construction site where a truck was waiting for them, the same truck that had housed the Gears when she first saw them. Genjuuro was in the driver's seat and as the Gears entered the trailer, she was deposited next to him as he said, "Good to see that you're safe."

"Thank you," she said and there was a brief moment of silence while Genjuuro finished sorting out the Gears before Kirika looked at him and said, "The Phantom Thieves told me that you were experimenting on the Lydian students in order to find out if they are compatible with the Gears. Is that true?"

There was a brief look of alarm on Genjuuro's face and he considered her words for a moment, as if he was trying to decide what he should do. Finally, he let out a loud sigh and said, "You know what? There's no real point in lying to you about this. Yes, we are conducting experiments on the students to see how they can be recruited for the Symphogear project."

"Why?"

"Kazanari Fudo. That's why. Our family descended from an old line of warriors and sentinels and he wants to continue that legacy by creating a group that would protect the country even after his death," he said with a sigh. "At least, that's what I think my father is trying to do. He's never been the type to try and take over the world as far as I can tell."

Kirika laughed nervously at what she assumed was a joke but Genjuuro seemed to be serious when he said that. "You're not serious, are you?" she asked finally and he shrugged.

"For now, he seems to be fully intent on being a sentinel and nothing more. I'm keeping an eye on him as is Ryoko and if he were to ever try to take a step beyond, we will do our best to relief him of his duties," he said calmly and turned to Kirika. "Don't worry. I'll make sure that you'll be safe from him. I promise."

She was silent for a moment, not sure what to feel about this sudden revelation from him and he sighed. "I'm sorry. You asked and I thought that it would be better to tell you the truth since the Phantom Thieves told you about this. I don't know how they learned about this but what they told you is true and denying it would be a horrible thing to do and an insult to your intelligence," he said.

Before Kirika can respond, a radio crackled and Tsubasa started talking. "We're both secured in the trailer, Uncle. We should go now," she said.

"Roger that," he replied and started the truck, causing it to rumble to life and he started to drive off.

"Can I really trust you on what you promised?" Kirika asked softly and Genjuuro is silent for a moment.

"If you feel that you can't trust me, then put your trust in Tsubasa and Kanade. They've been experimented on more so than any other student in the school and they're still here, doing this thankless job that no one knows of," he replied and she nodded as they drove off towards the school a second time.

***

Upon arriving at the school, Genjuuro drove around to the back where there was an unmarked building. He tapped a button on the truck's dashboard and the side of the building pulled up, allowing the truck to drive in and onto a platform that began to move down.

"Everything from the third floor doubles as an office lot so the 2nd Division earns a little extra money in addition to the government funding that they already receive," Genjuuro informed Kirika who nodded her head, not quite understanding what he was talking about.

As the elevator descended, a thought occurred to Kirika and she asked, "Just how are the students being experimented on?"

"Dietary supplements to see how they react to certain properties of the Resonant crystals and tests and quizzes to check mental aptitude. If a student is promising, we start to push their academic results in a particular direction so that they end up undergoing involuntary training for the Symphogear program. One boy is currently undergoing the program right now although he is unaware of it," Genjuuro replied.

"That sounds like something a bad guy would do," she said and Genjuuro nodded in agreement.

"I did mention this to my father and how there are going to be a lot of legal and civil problems for us if word of this ever came to light but he has ignored me thus far and there's only so much I can do at this point without going into open revolt," he said.

"Why don't you? This sounds like the kind of thing that people will fight against right?" she asked, looking intently at him.

"Because I don't have the support and resources to do it. My older brother and Tsubasa's father tried to get my father to stop and he was shipped away to serve as ambassador to Val Verde. We've never even had a diplomatic attache to that country before that move," Genjuuro said with a bitter sneer.

"Not only that, there are a lot of people in our government who wants to see where this program is headed thanks to the issue that is brewing between the North Koreans and the Americans. While we aren't directly involved, that issue might boil down to the North Koreans trying to launch a nuke at us and they want something that can be used to force the North Koreans back. The Symphogear program is a possible tool for them to use."

Kirika made a face after he had said all this. "This is way too complicated for a program that was supposed to be about fighting monsters that we couldn't kill," she said and Genjuuro chuckled.

"Agreed. Sometimes, I'm jealous of the Phantom Thieves because of this. They see something that they feel is wrong and they act against it. It's so much simpler that way when you are free of the complications of the world," he said with a wistful grin.

"So...they're the real good guys?" Kirika asked, making Genjuuro consider the question.

"It's hard to say. They talk a fine talk but they are stealing important resources from us that we need to protect civilians from the Noise and we have been hampered by having only two Symphogears on occasion. The other questions are why do they need our resources and what are they doing with the resources that they stole from us."

A thought occurred to Kirika and she asked, "What did they steal from you?"

"The Dissonant crystals. They rush to fight the Noise before we get to the scene and if they win, they claim the crystals for themselves. We have no idea what they are using the crystals for and that's the thing that puzzles us. No one has the technology to refine Dissonant crystals into Resonant crystals besides us and Dissonant crystals cannot be used as they are. So why take the crystals?" he explained.

"This isn't going to get any easier is it?" Kirika asked despondently and Genjuuro nodded.

"As long as that crystal remains in your chest, there's going to be a lot of trouble that you are going to run into and for what it's worth, I'll be there to help you and I'm certain Kanade and Tsubasa will do the same for you," he said, patting her head.

"Why?"

"Because you're my student and I want you to live so that you can graduate from school and live a happy life."

***

After a while, the platform stopped at a hangar and Genjuuro drove into it as several people ran towards the trailer and helped to unload the Symphogear. Kirika watched with some interest as the gears were unsealed and its users stepped out. As it turned out, Tsubasa was the one on the blue-white gear while Kanade was using the orange-black one.

"I thought so," she said to herself as they walked over to her. Kanade was clinging onto Tsubasa who looked a little upset over something and Kirika wondered if the loss of her bike really made her that upset.

"Oy, Kirika! Tell her that it wasn't my fault that the bike was smashed! It was that Phantom Thief girl who crushed it with her yo-yo!" Kanade said in a pleading manner. She was dressed in the clothes that she wore when she picked up Kirika but Tsubasa was wearing a suit reminiscent of a pilot uniform.

"One, that was my favorite bike. Two, you didn't ask for my permission before you borrowed it and now I have to replace it," Tsubasa said, sounding quite upset and a little whiny and for a moment, Kirika thought that the whole 'Tsubasa is cool' image was shattered.

Kanade looked a little taken aback as Kirika gave her a disapproving look and she sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry, Tsubasa. I did borrow it without asking for permission but tell you what. I'll buy you a new bike, Tsubasa. How's that?" she said, putting her arms around her friend and pulling her close.

"It's not the same bike," she muttered but she did seem a little mollified by Kanade's offer. The latter grinned a little and squeezed her some more before glancing at Kirika, flashing a slightly dirty look.

"Alright. We'd better get to work on what we actually came here for or else the old man will get really angry with us," she said, patting Kirika's head.

"Oh. I'm already extremely displeased with the three of you. Getting captured by the Phantom Thieves wasted a lot of our precious time. It was already bad enough that we had to bow to the whims of civilians in order to keep our secret but now this?"

The four of them froze briefly as Kazanari Fudo stepped into the hangar, inspecting the Symphogears with a look of irritation on his face. "The media is having a field day, you realize? A crashed transport helicopter in the middle of the city? Witnesses claiming that they saw what appeared to be a battle between robots and magical girls? Utter disgrace the lot of you," he said in disgust.

Kirika gritted her teeth in annoyance as she listened to the old man continue to berate them. Just why is he always so angry with them? She felt like wanting to shout at him but a sidelong glance from Genjuuro told her that she should not do that and she bit back her words.

Fudo stopped in front of her and glared at her for a moment. "If I were to have my way, you'd be here already, training to see what your true capabilities are like. You are fortunate that my son considers himself more a teacher than a 2nd Division overseer and that you should be placed under his care. This will be your final chance however. If something else goes wrong, I will oversee your training and incorporation into our unit," he said.

"As for the rest of you, I want a report about what happened on my desk within the hour. Genjuuro, run this girl through the opening gauntlet and submit her results in your report as well. I want to see what is it that we got in exchange of the candidate that I selected," Fudo said, calming down a little before walking out of the hangar.

There was a momentary silence before Tsubasa gestured to Kanade and the two walked out of the hangar silently. Genjuuro let out a loud sigh before glancing down at Kirika. "Sorry that you had to witness that. And now you have to go through the gauntlet as well. I wanted to ease you in on our training facility first but it appears that my father is getting impatient," he said to her.

"Er...how bad is this training gauntlet?" she asked cautiously. He grimaced at her question and said, "You'd better go get changed first. If you don't clear this, you won't have enough rest for school tomorrow."