Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

"It will be a long time coming," he said.

"As long as I keep moving forward, try again and again, accumulate experience and skills, and maintain my style."

Hibiki Tachibana clenched her fists, muttering to herself as she looked towards the hospital where Tsubasa Kazunari was recuperating. At that moment, her thoughts became clear, and she knew what she had to do.

"Thank you, Future. I feel like I can cheer up now."

Then, Tachibana Hibiki's face regained its determined smile.

"Really? That's good. Speaking of which, Hibiki, why is there chocolate and some strange snacks in your bento box today?"

Seeing her best friend's smile return, Mirai breathed a sigh of relief, then turned her gaze to Tachibana Hibiki's lunchbox and asked this question.

She didn't remember Hibiki Tachibana eating this kind of thing for lunch.

"Oh, well, I've suddenly been craving chocolate lately."

In response, Hibiki Tachibana gave a somewhat awkward reply.

Yesterday, a large box of snacks left by Lingyi was sampled and confirmed to be non-toxic. It was then distributed to the members of Section 2 by Commander Fengming. What we will see in the future is the portion given to Tachibana Hibiki.

"Oh, I see. Well, it's nothing. Let's have lunch together, Hibiki."

Kohinata Mirai thought for a moment, then carefully examined the chocolate's appearance before finally sitting down and opening her bento box, as if relieved.

"Okay, let's go together."

Hibiki Tachibana responded and began putting the food from her bento box into her mouth.

P.S. Continue coding.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: A Sweating-Induced Mission

"Excuse me, where is Genjuro-san? Oh, I understand, thank you!"

As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the school term at Lydian Music Academy, Hibiki Tachibana, amidst doubtful eyes and the pressured gazes of her teachers, rushed into the main campus of the second division to find out where Kazanari Genjuro was.

Now that I've decided to move forward in my own style, the first problem to solve is how to enhance my strength without ArmedGear.

Generally speaking, the wearers have Armed Gears corresponding to the artifacts as their weapons. For example, Kazanari's Ame no Habakiri is a sword, and Ame no Kanade's Gungnir is a spear.

However, for some reason, Hibiki Tachibana, who was using the Gungnir armor, was unable to summon the Gungnir's spear, which prevented her from using some of the powerful attacks released through weapons, and she could only fight with her fists and feet.

In response, Hibiki Tachibana's solution was that since there was no way to conjure a weapon, she would train herself in combat skills that allowed her to fight without a weapon.

This is why she went to find Kazanari Genjuro, because in Tachibana Hibiki's opinion, he was the strongest in unarmed combat. If she became his apprentice, she would definitely be able to master powerful combat techniques and improve her strength.

“Mr. Genjuro is in this room.”

Soon, Tachibana Hibiki, who was already familiar with the structure of the Second Division headquarters, found the door to the room where Kazanari Genjuro was.

"Mr. Genjuro, I apologize for disturbing you, I..."

"That concludes our account of this encounter."

As Tachibana Hibiki pushed open the door to the second section's room, she was about to speak when she noticed that Commander Kazunari seemed to be talking to a large screen with an old man's face on it. Realizing that Commander Kazunari might be working, she quickly stopped what she was doing.

"Is this some kind of meeting? Is that old man some kind of extraordinary person?"

Looking at the many members of Section 2 in the room and the somewhat respectful attitude of Commander Kazunari, Hibiki Tachibana whispered her guess.

"So that's how it is. He was ambushed while resting, fell into the enemy's trap, used power that came at a cost, and ultimately achieved nothing. There's no doubt that this was a complete failure."

Just as Tachibana Hibiki was making her guesses, the old man on the screen spoke up, his face expressionless, seemingly very shrewd.

"Yes, I, as the commander, take full responsibility. It was my failure to coordinate the operation properly, which allowed the enemy to discover the gaps in our plans and led to this defeat."

Faced with the man's accusations in the video, Kazanari Genjuro, the commander of Section Two, stepped forward, bowed, and said the following.

"..."

After Kazanari Genjuro finished speaking, the old man in the scene did not respond immediately, as if he was considering what kind of punishment to give.

"It's so depressing."

Hibiki Tachibana felt that the air in the entire conference room seemed to have become heavy.

"There is no need to blame yourself. The enemy you are facing is one that you cannot defeat."

Just as Tachibana Hibiki felt like she was suffocating, the old man closed his eyes and said slowly, and the heavy atmosphere in the meeting room was swept away.

What do you mean?

Sensing the change in atmosphere, Commander Fengming was somewhat surprised. He had originally thought he would be severely punished because of their consecutive failures.

"Your failures still exist, but you also have merit in this matter, which is to establish what that elusive criminal seeks."

The old man in the picture said this.

"Therefore, I will entrust you with this important task. If you can capture that criminal, your merit will be enough to offset your mistakes. Furthermore, for the purpose of capturing the criminal, I will grant you corresponding authority."

The old man continued, and then the large screen in the second classroom went dark, seemingly indicating that the communication had been disconnected.

"Is that so? I didn't expect it to end like this."

After the screen was turned off, Kazanari Genjuro rubbed his forehead and said this.

“Um, Mr. Genjuro.”

Seeing that the meeting might have ended, Tachibana Hibiki stepped forward to Commander Kazami's side and asked in confusion.

"Tachibana, what are you doing here? School should have just let out a short while ago, right?"

Upon hearing Tachibana Hibiki's voice, Commander Kazaki realized that Tachibana Hibiki had arrived there at some point.

"I rushed over as soon as school was over because I wanted to ask you a favor, Mr. Genjuro. When I arrived, I saw you listening to that old man talking, and I've been waiting here ever since."

Hibiki Tachibana replied.

"Is that so? It seems you've been under a lot of pressure lately."

Upon hearing Tachibana Hibiki's words, Commander Kazaki recalled for a moment before realizing when the other party had entered.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Genjuro, who was that terrifying-looking old man, and what just happened?"

Hibiki Tachibana asked in confusion.

"That old man, oh, Tachibana, you mean Mr. Kazunari Ryodo, right? You might not know the specifics, just think of him as a very important person who is above me."

"As for what just happened, to put it simply, it's because of our repeated failures that the higher-ups are somewhat dissatisfied with us. However, because of this operation, we discovered Zero's target—that is, you, Tachibana. Therefore, the higher-ups hope that we can use this as a basis to organize an operation to capture Zero and make amends. At the same time, in order to increase our success rate, they have given our Second Section the right to allocate some resources."

In response to Tachibana Hibiki's doubts, Kazanari Genjuro said the following.

This was both to answer Tachibana Hibiki's question and to summarize the meeting he had just attended.

"Oh, is that so? Wait, ah, what? Capture Miss Zero?"

At first, Hibiki Tachibana didn't think anything of it, but after listening for a while, she realized something was wrong. Had Genjuro casually mentioned something terrifying?

"Yes, that's right. This is the task assigned to us by our superiors. It is precisely because of this task that our Second Section did not suffer any punitive treatment this time. Instead, we even gained priority in the allocation of some resources."

Kazanari Genjuro covered his forehead and uttered these words in a way that revealed no joy whatsoever.

"..

Hibiki Tachibana felt a little sweaty. She clearly understood Genjuro's situation. She needed to go through an examination just to meet Miss Zero, and she had no idea how to capture Miss Zero.

"Never mind, there's still time to prepare for this. Tachibana, you said you wanted to ask me to do something, so what is it?"

Genjuro Kazanari, who was also sweating profusely, temporarily put aside this seemingly impossible task and instead inquired about Hibiki Tachibana's purpose.

"Ah, it's like this, actually I wanted to ask you a favor, Mr. Genjuro..."

Upon hearing Kazanari Genjuro's question, Tachibana Hibiki temporarily put the terrifying matter aside and began to explain her purpose.

P.S. Good morning!

Chapter Seventy A Quiet Day

I heard it, there was an explosion.

I heard it. Someone is speaking in a language I don't understand.

Don't worry... I'm fine, cough. Also, sorry, it might hurt a little afterward.

I heard it. Jiuling? Liuqi? Baer? Ba? Someone was weakly whispering these words in my ear.

I felt something hot hitting my abdomen.

"!!!"

Awakening from a chaotic dream, a girl named Kohinata Mirai suddenly opened her eyes.

"Was it a dream...? Why am I dreaming about things from that time now?"

The intelligent young woman slowly sat up, talking to herself as she reached for her abdomen, where she touched the scars left from the burns.

"..."

Touching the scar, Kohinata Mirai remained silent for a while, her expression tinged with melancholy, because the dream she had just had reminded her of that unpleasant thing.

"No, that's not how it is. I'm the one who should apologize. I received so much help from you, and I was the one who wanted to help you, but in the end..."

With her hands on her chest, the girl uttered words filled with deep apology and guilt, as if she were speaking to someone, yet also as if she were speaking only to herself.

"call--"

After some time, Kohinata Mirai, whose emotions had gradually calmed down from the nightmare, sighed and stopped her eager narration.

"No, we can't do that. We can't cause her any more trouble."

With these words, Kohinata Mirai closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her eyes showed no signs of distress.

"Is it already this time?"

Returning to her usual self, Kohinata Mirai picked up her phone from the bedside table and turned it on. After seeing the current time, she looked to her side, intending to wake her best friend.

"ring?"

Then, Kohinata Mirai's pupils trembled slightly as she realized that her best friend had left her side sometime earlier.

"...Is that so? So you're going to do that kind of training again?"

Kohinata Mirai thought with some unease.

Ever since that day, when she comforted her best friend who was feeling down for some unknown reason, the friend has been doing the same thing for a week: leaving the dormitory early and not returning until late at night.

The note left behind told her that the other person seemed to have gone to engage in some kind of spiritual practice, but when she asked why, she couldn't get an answer.

"Get up."

Kohinata Mirai thought to herself that way.

No matter how much you think about it, you can't change the fact that the other person isn't here right now.

Afterwards, she tidied herself up by herself, left the dormitory, went downstairs, and walked alone on the way to the teaching building.

"Good morning."

"Good morning. Oh, is Tachibana not here again today?"

"That's right, her cold doesn't seem to be getting better yet."

"I see..."

On this day, she chatted with her classmates as usual.

"Tachibana-san! Tachibana-san didn't come to class again today?"

"Well, she took a sick day today because of a cold."

"Ha, really. In that case, Hinata-san, take these assignments to her, and don't forget to remind her to hand in her report."

"oh, I understand now."

During class, she helped Tachibana Hibiki ask for leave, just like usual.

"Ah, school's finally over. Tachibana-san didn't come again today. What's she doing? Hinata-san, do you know anything about her?"

"I'm not really sure about that either."

"Is that so? Okay then, see you tomorrow, Hinata-kun."

Finally, when school was over, she said goodbye to her friends as usual.

Sunrise and sunset, and just like that, Kohinata Mirai spent another day without her best friend by her side. She ate dinner alone and returned to her dormitory.

"It's a little painful."