Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

"...Let's go to the other side first. There are other elevators in another place."

Just as Tachibana Hibiki was about to be overwhelmed by anxiety, Kazanari Tsubasa said this, and then grabbed the magnetic handcuffs on Tachibana Hibiki's body without saying another word, and walked in another direction.

"Hey, wait a minute... wait a minute."

"I'm being held by handcuffs," said Tachibana Hibiki. "I was looking at the damaged elevator door when something suddenly occurred to me."

But Kazunari Ignored her panic and simply went to the other elevator to confirm that it was still working properly.

"We'll talk about it when we get there."

As Kazunari Tsubasa said this, she pulled Tachibana Hibiki into the elevator and took out her ID card to scan it on the elevator.

"pay close attention."

After completing this action, Kazanari Tsubasa turned around and gave Tachibana Hibiki this reminder.

"Huh? What?"

At first, Hibiki Tachibana didn't understand, but the next moment, she grasped its meaning.

As soon as the wind chime wing moved, the elevator seemed to have activated some mysterious mechanism, and suddenly plummeted downwards at a speed close to free fall.

"Aaaaaaahhhhh—"

Hibiki Tachibana let out a screech like a groundhog.

"Didn't I tell you to hurry up?"

As Kazunari Tsubasa said this, she pressed down on Tachibana Hibiki's shoulder with a strong hand to prevent her from falling in the suddenly plummeting elevator.

"Waaah, I guess I'm cursed after all."

Hibiki Tachibana said somewhat dejectedly, "How was she supposed to know that the elevator would suddenly go into freefall?"

"Complaining is useless. What you're about to do is go to a place where you don't need to smile."

Kazanari Tsubasa reminded Tachibana Hibiki in a tone that sounded like a heads-up, making Tachibana Hibiki even more uneasy.

Soon, the elevator gradually came to a stop from its rapid descent, indicating that the two had successfully reached their destination.

"So I've been taken to some terrifying place."

Hibiki Tachibana thought to herself, after all, he was dressed in a black suit, driving a black luxury car, and wearing handcuffs like these.

Soon, the elevator doors opened, and Tachibana Hibiki finally saw the place she had been taken to, and what first caught her eye was...

"Welcome to the Second Team of the Special Disaster Countermeasures Mobile Division!" *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

A burly man in a red shirt said this, and then three ribbon cannons fired, the ribbons of which caught on Tachibana Hibiki.

"what?"

Looking at the room, which resembled a surprise birthday party, the girl with flaxen hair experienced a brief mental freeze, while Kazanari Tsubasa beside her sighed helplessly.

"Um, Miss Yi, is this the place you said didn't require smiling?"

Hibiki Tachibana, somewhat confused, asked the girl beside her, but only received a helpless facepalm-like expression from the other girl.

Soon, after a very enthusiastic and familiar introduction from the burly man in the red shirt, Tachibana Hibiki understood the setting of the place she had come to.

First, there exists a special calamity in the world called noise, which produces various abstract monsters named noise that are not afraid of ordinary weapon attacks, are highly aggressive towards humans, and whose direct contact with humans will cause them to carbonize.

The Second Special Disaster Countermeasures Mobile Unit, or Section 2 for short, is an organization established to handle incidents related to noise.

"So, this is the place specifically responsible for combating noise disasters?"

"I asked this question as I rubbed my wrists," said Tachibana Hibiki, whose handcuffs had just been removed with the help of a young man in a black suit.

"Yes, you can understand it that way. By the way, I am Kazanari Genjuro, and I am the person in charge here."

The tall, burly man in the red shirt, Genjuro Kazanari, said this to Hibiki Tachibana with a smile.

"And then I was called a capable woman, Ryoko Sakurai, nice to meet you."

A woman with brown hair, purple eyes, wearing a white lab coat and glasses, and a good figure said this.

"Yes, please give me your guidance."

Hibiki Tachibana returned the greeting somewhat reservedly.

"So, the reason we brought you here is to ask you for a favor."

After introducing himself, Kazanari Genjuro said this.

"Wait a minute, Commander. Before that, I'd like to ask why the elevator was damaged, what happened, and whether you're hiding anything from me?"

Just as Kazanari Genjuro was about to explain to Tachibana Hibiki why they had brought him here, Kazanari Tsubasa, who had appeared beside Tachibana Hibiki without anyone noticing, suddenly stepped forward and asked this question.

"Hmm? Well, Yi, this elevator was damaged because of a mistake in the building plan. As for keeping it from you, no, absolutely not."

Faced with Yi's sudden questioning, the commander's expression became somewhat tense for some reason.

"Commander, stop treating me like a child. I've already asked others, but all I got were vague, unfounded statements or contradictory lies. So what happened? Is there something I can't know?"

Feng Mingyi spoke with a resolute look in her eyes, clearly indicating that she hadn't come up to ask this without preparation or on a whim.

"Hmm... Ahaha, yes, really?"

The commander's eyes darted around, and his expression seemed unnatural.

"Um, are you hiding something from Miss Yi? That's not right, lying is wrong."

Even Tachibana Hibiki could see that the people here seemed to be hiding something from Kazunari Tsubasa, and that the reason for putting on such a welcoming party was probably to cover it up.

Chapter Seven: Changes That Happened Without Being Noticed

After Kazunari Tsubasa raised this question, the atmosphere in the room seemed to become a little strange, and everyone had their own odd expression on their face.

"Hey, let me do it. I said before, there's no need to keep it from Yi."

Just as the atmosphere became a bit tense, Sakurai Ryoko stepped in to smooth things over, which also attracted Kazanari Tsubasa's attention.

"So, what exactly happened, Miss Ryoko? Of course, if it's something confidential that can't be told, you don't have to tell me, I understand."

Feng Mingyi asked calmly, while also indicating that if it was really difficult, there was no need to force it, since her question only arose because their acting was so poor.

"No, no, it's not a confidential matter."

Sakurai Ryoko refuted Kazanari Tsubasa's conjecture, then found a chair and took a sip of the welcome tea that was placed on the table.

"Actually, well, while you were on a mission, Yi, we accidentally lost 'Durandar,' just like we did two years ago."

After a tactical tea session, the woman in the white coat explained to Kazami in a somewhat shy tone what they wanted to keep from her.

"Durandal?"

Hibiki Tachibana heard another unfamiliar term. Although she had heard many such unfamiliar terms since arriving here, she was somewhat used to them.

More than that, she was curious why she couldn't tell Miss Yi that she had only lost one item.

Thinking this, Tachibana Hibiki turned her gaze to Kazanari Tsubasa beside her, and then she was startled by the terrifying expression on the face of the tall, blue-haired girl.

"Two years ago... and the fact that you kept it from me means it's that guy again, the one who turned Kanade into that weak state and who still hasn't woken up!"

Ignoring Tachibana Hibiki, who seemed startled, Kazanari Tsubasa asked Sakurai Ryoko for confirmation in a voice that seemed to be suppressing a volcano-level rage.

"That guy?"

Hibiki Tachibana realized that the person who caused Tsubasa-san's expression was the 'that guy' she was talking about.

"Yes, that's right. Just like you thought, Yi, the one who stole 'Durantal' this time is the same guy who stole 'Bronze Serpent Armor' at the ZweiWing concert two years ago."

Sakurai Ryoko confirmed Tsubasa's guess, and as Sakurai Ryoko spoke, Kazanari Tsubasa covered her face with her hands in pain, trying her best to control her emotions.

"Shortly after you went to fight against the noise, we discovered her presence through our upgraded monitoring system, but we didn't notify you to avoid affecting your mission."

"Kaze no Genjuro said."

"Upon discovering them, we determined their target was the complete relic stored deep underground, 'Durandal,' and thus set up an ambush there."

Ogawa Shinji added from the side.

"Then, unfortunately, despite deploying most of our forces, we ultimately failed, and she took 'Durantal' and escaped successfully."

Sakurai Ryoko concluded.

Is that all?

While listening to the others recount the events, the blue-haired girl managed to control her emotions. Although they were still visibly unstable, she was at least able to speak in a normal tone.

"Yes, I'm sorry for keeping it from you."

The commander said somewhat apologetically.

"I am the one who should apologize. As a sword, I failed to control my emotions... I'm sorry, I think I need to be alone for a while."

As she spoke, the blue-haired girl's expression became somewhat distorted, so she said this and left the room.

"Miss Yi..."

Hibiki Tachibana, who had been completely oblivious to the situation, felt uneasy. It was the first time she had ever seen Tsubasa with such an expression. In the past, when she saw Tsubasa at albums and concerts, she had always been cool, beautiful, and radiant.

"Don't worry, Yi is much stronger than you think, so let's talk about your situation first, hmm~"

Just as Tachibana Hibiki was worried about Kazunari Tsubasa, she suddenly heard a mature female voice in her ear, and then felt a strange sensation in her ear.

"Oh dear, Miss, what are you doing!"

Provoked by this, Tachibana Hibiki immediately pushed away the woman next to her and quickly took several steps back.

"Oh my, what an adorable reaction! I'm growing to like you more and more, Hibiki."

Sakurai Ryoko said this with a sly smile on her face.

"Alright, Ryoko, stop teasing Tachibana. Now that Tsubasa's gone to rest, let's get back to our previous topic."

Kazanari Genjuro stopped Sakurai Ryoko from teasing Tachibana Hibiki, and then turned to Tachibana Hibiki.

"Tachibana, we asked you to come here so we could give you a physical examination. You must be curious about the origin of the armor you're wearing."

"Indeed, I'm very curious to know what that is..."

Hibiki Tachibana asked with some concern.

Although the armor allowed him to escape danger, the sudden appearance of such a thing inside his body was still somewhat worrying.

"Hmm, then let me, the genius Sakurai, give you a physical examination. First, take off your clothes."

Having found an opportunity, Sakurai Ryoko appeared behind Tachibana Hibiki and tried to pull her to get a medical check-up.

"Haha, okay, I'll cooperate with the medical examination..."

Hibiki Tachibana had developed some resistance to the kind of behavior that Ryoko Sakurai exhibited, and since physical examinations usually involve undressing, she didn't react much.

"Wait, a physical exam?"

But at that moment, something seemed to be grasped in Tachibana Hibiki's mind; something she had been ignoring was awakened by the word 'physical examination'.

So she stopped and began to ponder deeply.

"Hmm, what's wrong, Tachibana? Is there a problem?"

Seeing that Tachibana Hibiki had stopped, Kazanari Genjuro asked this question.

"I feel like there's something very important I've forgotten..."

Hibiki Tachibana said with some distress, "The key point is right in my mind, but I just can't remember it."

"A physical exam...a physical exam, I think someone mentioned it before...I need to get a physical exam, oh, I remember!"

After thinking for a while, Hibiki Tachibana finally grasped a flash of inspiration from her chaotic thoughts.

"Um, Tachibana, what did you remember?"

Seeing the girl's startled reaction, Kazanari Genjuro couldn't help but consider the feasibility of adding a brain scan to the physical examination.

"Hi, it's like this, I suddenly remembered that I met someone this afternoon who said that I have some kind of sacred relic in my body, and then recommended that I get a physical examination."

"I remember the last name she left behind was... Lingyi. Was she also from this place?"

[Image: Zero Clothes]

Chapter Eight: Surprise and Gains

"Um, Tachibana, I wanted to ask, did you encounter that Zero, the blonde, blue-eyed Zero who was carrying a long black sword?"

After Tachibana Hibiki uttered that name, Commander Kazanari immediately asked this question.