Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

Ryoko Sakurai quickly realized the impact of this incident.

"Ah, this also means that Tachibana Hibiki, this individual who has achieved fusion with the relic, has undoubtedly attracted the attention of those important figures for some reason."

Commander Fengming closed his eyes and said with some reluctance, "Wu Jiusan Er."

"You see, the most difficult part of the Symphogear system is finding a suitable user, but Tachibana Hibiki was able to use the Gear by fusing with a relic. In addition, the sudden appearance of an unknown force trying to take Tachibana Hibiki's possession further proves the feasibility of this theory..."

Thinking about the series of events that happened today, Commander Fengming felt somewhat powerless.

"Xiao Xiang, are you being completely targeted?"

Sakurai Ryoko added this with a dejected expression.

“That’s right, Hibiki Tachibana, this originally ordinary girl, has now become the center of the incident. The reason I said before that the entire Section 2 would no longer be held accountable is because we can provide the best protection for Hibiki Tachibana.”

Commander Kazunari said this, while explaining the current state of the Second Division, which had changed from fighting the noise and protecting Durandal to fighting the noise and protecting Tachibana Hibiki.

"Wait, does that mean the security level around Xiaoxiang has been raised to the highest level?"

Hearing Commander Kazunari's words, Sakurai Ryoko's expression became somewhat unnatural; she seemed to understand where her ominous feeling came from.

"Of course. You could say that Tachibana is even more important than me, the commander. Not only have we increased our manpower, but Tsubasa has also volunteered to protect Tachibana closely."

In response to Liao Zi's question, Commander Feng Ming replied in this manner as a matter of course.

"Haha, is that so, Lu Yiqi yi-》Ba Si Xia? Then it seems that Xiao Xiang will have a hard time from now on, ahahaha."

After masking her emotions with a somewhat forced smile, Sakurai Ryoko said this.

"Yes, it will definitely be tough. Fortunately, the noise has stopped appearing recently for some reason, otherwise we might have to find a way to hire more people."

Not noticing Sakurai Ryoko's reluctance, Commander Kazanari nodded and said this.

Perhaps because it was previously believed that the possible will had achieved its goal, the occurrence rate of noise disasters that had been appearing here from time to time has suddenly become 0 in the last half month.

“Oh, that’s wonderful! (reads aloud)”

Sakurai Ryoko smiled and took a tactical sip of black tea, then looked at the ripples in the cup, seemingly lost in thought.

"Oh, right, Liaozi, I forgot to tell you because I couldn't get in touch with you sometimes. To relieve the fatigue of the past two weeks, we've planned a company-funded trip, and it starts tomorrow."

Commander Fengming nodded, then said something as if he had suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, um, won't this cause problems? Doesn't Tachibana need someone to protect her?"

Sakurai Ryoko's smile suddenly froze, and then she said that she didn't quite understand why the other party would do such a thing.

"Of course, so in order to protect Tachibana, she will also relax with us, and this is also a good opportunity for Tachibana to recover her spirits."

Commander Fengming said in a serious tone that if he could, he would not want to relax at this time, but two consecutive weeks of high-intensity work had already pushed all the members of Section Two to their limits.

"If you're worried about Tachibana's safety, there's no need to worry. Ogawa, Tsubasa, and I will protect Tachibana both openly and secretly, hahaha."

Kazanari Genjuro said with a loud laugh.

"I see. With Genjuro protecting me, I can rest assured."

Looking at the burly man in red laughing in front of her, Sakurai Ryoko forced a smile and reluctantly agreed.

"Well, it's almost time. Now that I've informed you, I'll be going. I still need to arrange Tachibana's next move, so I won't disturb your rest any longer."

After saying this, Commander Fengming left Zi's office with steady steps.

"Take care, Genjuro-kun... Tch."

The moment Commander Kazaki left, Sakurai Ryoko's expression turned ugly.

Then, she took out a black communicator from her handbag, looked at the words "Mission Failed" on it, and sighed helplessly.

Ah—it turns out that, apart from Rei, everyone else is useless and can't act as I expected.

Sakurai Ryoko, or rather, Finney, thought to herself.

Finnie is a witch from a prehistoric civilization. To achieve a certain goal, she engraved her soul into her DNA. As long as a descendant with her DNA comes into contact with the awakening waveform of a sacred relic, she can be resurrected in that descendant's body and take their place.

This time, she is occupying the body of a woman named Sakurai Ryoko and using this identity to move about in the present.

[The practice of not putting all your eggs in one basket should reduce risk, so why does it always backfire when I do it?]

After silently complaining about the incompetence of his other collaborator, Finney thought to himself.

After asking Rei to help her capture Hibiki Tachibana, she made the same request to another of her collaborators—the U.S. military.

And now, it's clear that those incompetent and misguided individuals have botched her request.

[Honestly, did I unknowingly make things harder for Zero again?]

The thought unconsciously popped into Finney's mind.

Heaven help her, she is genuinely striving for her goals, but for some reason, her efforts often backfire.

Wait a minute, Genjuro just said he's going on a paid trip tomorrow. Come to think of it, what was it that I paid a hefty price to get Rei to do?

As she pondered this, Finney suddenly had this worry again.

【…】

Finney's expression shifted several times before settling on a half-smile.

[Forget it, it's time to fully trust Lingyi's power this time. Although she might have a headache for a while, she'll definitely find a solution in the end, just like before.]

Since that's the case, then I'll just do nothing from now on.

Shaking her head, Finney thought to herself, and then happily decided on her next course of action: do nothing, trust Zero, and wait for the food to arrive.

Okay, it's decided then. I'm really looking forward to the trip tomorrow!

After sipping a mouthful of black tea, Finnie—no, Sakurai Ryoko—thought with anticipation.

At the same time, in a room at the Second Division headquarters, Tachibana Hibiki sat dejectedly on the sofa. Beside her stood two men in black suits, one on each side, and in front of her stood Kazanari Tsubasa, dressed in her school uniform.

She was simply walking down the street as usual, just to buy lunch.

However, for some reason, the street suddenly became very quiet, as if a mute button had been pressed.

Then, just as she thought it was noise and transformed, to her surprise, it wasn't noise but several cars that appeared from all sides and surrounded her.

Soon after, a group of men got out of the cars, carrying guns and clearly not good people. They pointed their guns at her and, speaking in strange Japanese accents, tried to force her to go with them.

Subsequently, in order to escape their pursuit, she had to use the gear to attack their vehicles, thus finally managing to escape.

Finally, when she returned to the private Lydian Conservatory of Music, she was led back to Class Two by a group of familiar men in black suits, and has been waiting in her room ever since.

"Those strange people, they were definitely after me, weren't they?"

Unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere in the room, Tachibana Hibiki whispered to Kazunari Tsubasa.

"As far as I know, their goal is to capture you as Case No. 1 of the Fusion Syndrome."

Kazanari Tsubasa, who was intently watching Tachibana Hibiki beside her, said this.

Upon hearing Kazanari Tsubasa's reply, Tachibana Hibiki's expression became even more dejected.

"This is so strange. We're all human, so why are we fighting each other like this?"

After a moment of silence, Tachibana Hibiki said, clearly puzzled.

Since joining Section 2, due to the inexplicable reduction in noise disasters, she has hardly fought any noise, and she originally thought that life would continue peacefully like this.

However, what she didn't expect was that after noise became rare, ordinary humans would appear among her opponents.

She can fight with great determination when facing monsters that have no blood, no tears, and no sense of pain, but she can never bring herself to attack when her opponent is an ordinary human.

"These hands, this strength, are clearly meant to protect everyone."

Looking at her own hands, Hibiki Tachibana fell into deep confusion, unsure of the meaning of her fight.

"...In short, Tachibana, as someone who defends, the only advice I can give is to always remember the will to be on the battlefield."

Kazanari Tsubasa remained silent. Having always trained as a defensive person, she didn't know what advice to give Tachibana Hibiki, so she spoke according to her own thoughts.

"Yi, you'd better not say anything."

Behind the wing, Shinji Ogawa, who was also there to protect Hibiki Tachibana, said this.

"In that case, Tachibana, why don't you come with us on a hot spring trip tomorrow?"

Just as Tachibana Hibiki was lost in her own emo and Kazanari Tsubasa remained silent, offering no advice, Commander Kazanari, wearing a red shirt, walked into the room and loudly proclaimed this.

"Ah, Mr. Kazunari, um, what is a hot spring trip?"

Upon seeing Commander Kazunari enter, Hibiki Tachibana immediately stood up, greeted him politely, and then asked this question.

"To allow everyone who has been working continuously to get a good rest, our Second Section previously planned a company-funded trip."

Shinji Ogawa explained to Hibiki Tachibana, who was still out of sorts.

"So, Tachibana, I think instead of staying here feeling lost, you should get a good night's sleep and then go on a hot spring trip with us tomorrow. After soaking in the hot spring, you might be able to figure things out."

Commander Fengming continued.

Although he wasn't very good at dealing with psychological issues, he understood one thing: continuing to let Tachibana Hibiki stay there in seclusion wouldn't be effective.

"Ah, okay, alright, I understand."

Distracted by Commander Kazunari, Tachibana Hibiki, who had completely forgotten her previous thoughts, agreed to this inexplicable hot spring trip in a daze.

P.S. Haha, it's 4 PM, I'm not crazy.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Beginning of Day Two (4k)

In a brightly lit office, a girl dressed in black, with gray-white hair and red eyes, had just finished a negotiation with a woman in a suit sitting opposite her.

"Then, I sincerely hope that you can give me a result that satisfies me."

The girl in black, sitting on the sofa, looked at the tablet in her hand and spoke expressionlessly.

"Please rest assured, with your support, I will definitely make Miss Christina the number one idol singer in Japan, no, the number one idol singer in the universe!"

The woman in the suit and leather shoes was deeply moved and smiled broadly, as if the person sitting in front of her was her second parents.

"..."

Ignoring the other party's behavior, the girl in black with gray hair simply shifted her gaze to the girl in red with white hair beside her and said, "Well then, that's all for today, Miss Christina. What do you think?"

".....ah?"

The white-haired girl in red was stunned for a moment before realizing that the other person was calling her.

"Oh, well, I have no objection."

The girl with white hair and red clothes somewhat awkwardly agreed.

"Well then, that's settled. From now on, we'll come here every weekday morning for training or recording. As for today, that's all for now. Let's go, Christina."

The girl in black with gray hair said this to the woman, then stood up, picked up a guitar case, and gestured to the white-haired girl beside her.

"Of course, it's my honor. I guarantee, in my name as the company president, that I will absolutely..."

The woman in the suit and tie went to great lengths to praise the other person, continuing even after the person she was praising left the room.

"Um, Zero... um."

After leaving the room, the girl in red with white hair was about to say something, but before she could utter a few words, her lips were pressed down by fingers wearing black gloves.

"What's wrong, Christina? Is there something you want to say to Ruyo?"

The girl in black with gray hair tilted her head and asked the question, emphasizing the names Christina and Lucy in her answer.

"Ahem, I understand, Rokuyo. Actually, what I wanted to ask was, is it really necessary for us to do this? Isn't it a bit too expensive?"

Looking at the white-haired, red-clad girl with somewhat terrifying red pupils staring at him, he finally thought for a moment and immediately changed his question.

"...You don't need to worry about these things, Christina. You just need to do your own thing."

The girl in black with gray hair responded in this way.

"Okay, okay."

The girl in red with white hair fell silent, looking rather dejected.

Seeing that the other party no longer asked questions, the girl in black with gray hair turned her head, carrying her guitar case, and walked slowly towards the elevator at the end of the corridor.

[But I'm still super curious, what kind of disguise technique could achieve this effect?]

Looking at the black-clad girl in front of her, whose demeanor was completely different from her usual impression, the girl in red couldn't help but think of the question she hadn't asked earlier.

[If I hadn't witnessed Lingyi transforming into this form right in front of me, and if she hadn't possessed that same icy demeanor, I would never have recognized this person as Lingyi.]