Chapter Text
"Believe in the song in your heart." Her last words to Hibiki. Not even a single word to Chris, whom she manipulated and abused under her care.
There's some sort of sick irony going on with how now she can understand those words. Those words repeated so many times by the idiot that she can even hear it in her dreams.
Chris truly believes in those words with all her very being, but she doesn't share that trust with the person who said it.
It's the fact that she of all people got to pull one over them. After pretending to be all nice, she dragged a piece of the Moon hurtling to Earth! Although Chris and the Second Division Symphogear users did stop that shard from destroying Earth, she got to leave with her dignity intact despite her thorough betrayal of everyone and everything. Like the cats.
Chris could never look at cats the same way after her time with her. Everyone at this point knows about her thing with cats. Genjuurou would especially know since he led a raid into her desolate castle. He would have seen that cage filled with the victims of her.
Chris really needed to stop getting lost in her thoughts or one day it will bite her in the ass.
Speak of the devil and it will appear.
There was a cat standing there. It possessed haunting amber eyes. Just like that one. Its black fur was short and matted.
How unlucky must Chris be to find a cat that looks similar to that one.
It's almost like it wanted her to find it. Did it want revenge for what she did in the past?
That's impossible, that cat had definitely died.
There's no way it could have been resurrected. If you and Kazanari Tsubasa were resurrected through the power of music, then why wouldn't an animal also be brought back with that same power?
It's not the same cat! It can't be.
She saw it. It was just like crab meat after her 'special treatment' of it when she noticed Chris' attachment to cats.
Chris had to get away before the cat got to her. She doesn't deserve to be around cats after what she let her do to them. Her feet were already taking her away before she knew it. They thudded against the cement like her heart.
She wouldn't—no couldn't stop. If she doesn't stop running, her past will catch upon again. This isn't the kind of problem she could solve by talking it out or tossing it in a portal. She can only run from the boogeyman—more like a boogeycat— in her past.
So she ran–for a total 10 minutes. It wasn't like she was known for her stamina or anything! For a gunner like her, this was perfectly normal! Normal like running from a stray cat.
No. She has to stop thinking. As Genjurou sometimes remembered to say, "Always have a cool down after the real intense workouts!" or at the very least that's what the one in her head would say.
Chris walked from her spot on the sidewalk into an alley. And she sat behind a trash can. She can't stand the feeling of people's eyes on her. It makes her uncomfortable.
Meow. The cat was here. The same exact one as earlier with its matted black fur and orange eyes. Its head was tilted as if to say "Orange you glad I'm here".
She doesn't know what to say, except she does.
"How did you follow me all the way here?!" She may have exclaimed a little too loudly because the cat decided to beat a hasty retreat then and there. However, a different animal had been attracted by her yell.
An animal named Tachibana Hibiki who quote on quote "will tell Chris her weight when they are better friends".
An animal that ran into the alleyway a little too quickly for someone who shouldn't be there.
"Chris-chan, are you okay with being hugged right now?" Hibiki asked surprisingly softly.
"Sure, idiot." Chris couldn't help but add that. She doesn't want to feel pitied but other than that she doesn't know what she wants.
Hibiki took the opportunity to jump at her when she was given consent for a hug. Chris could feel her heartbeat through their connected chests.
It was too fast. But it could have just been her own heart.
The idiot was really warm. It was almost like she had a fever. Wait, the only time Hibiki had been this warm was when the Gungnir shards still were spreading through her body. This idiot must have a fever or something. But it's always better to check.
"Hey idiot." It was either the Chris way or the high way.
"What is it Chris-chann?" She was definitely not doing too well if she is starting to slur her words now.
"Do you have a fever or something because your body feels really hot right now?"
"Awww. Chris-chan that's so nice of you to sayyy!" She couldn't be drunk or anything, right? Chris would probably better of calling Miku to help her get Hibiki home.
With one hand steadying Hibiki as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, she wasn't expecting Hibiki to wrap her arms around Chris' neck. Hibiki even started breathing on her neck. This felt weird. Was it getting warm in the open, cold alleyway or was it just her?
So, in this strange situation she was in, Chris decided to immediately call Miku. After she laid Hibiki on the floor, of course. It wasn't a her laying Hibiki down as much as her dropping her on the floor.
"Hey Miku. Is Hibiki sick?" Time to get that question answered.
"Yeah, she's been sick all day, Chris-chan. I keep telling her to stay in bed and let me take care of you, but she chased after you when she saw you running past Lydian." Even Miku saw such an embarrassing sight.
"Yeah and she caught up to me. Your girlfriend's here with me in some alleyway. Wait, I'll get out of the alley and tell you where we are. I'm going need some help carrying this idiot." It's a good thing she dropped—no, laid Hibiki on the floor, or Hibiki might have been still breathing on her neck during the call and that would get awkward fast.
Once Chris walked out the alley, without the idiot, she saw the okonomiyaki place that Hibiki and her friends liked to frequent. Chris thinks it was called Flowers. Either that or it was a type of flower like Lilies.
Chris put her phone up to her ear after calling Miku again, "Hibiki and I are near that okonomiyaki place you guys love so much. Can you come over and help me lug your idiot around?"
"I'll be there soon. It'll only take a few minutes."
Chris had almost forgotten that Miku used to be in track and field. She didn't expect Miku to come here so fast, so when Chris saw her, she definitely didn't scream.
"Ahh—oh it's you Miku." Chris almost thought that it was the cat that snuck upon her.
"Yeah, it's really me this time." Chris didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that joke, so she did both.
"Gack" If, for some reason, Chris ever meets Shem-Ha again, she's definitely going to blow her into bits.
"Sorry, sorry. My joke was a little bad, wasn't it?" What was Miku looking for in this question?
"It's okay. I'm glad that you're in better spirits after what happened. Do you want a hug?"
"Yes." Miku may never fully get over her problems like Chris hasn't, but each step to overcoming them has been meaningful to the both of them.
When they hug, her heart seems to be having a race against her brain on how fast they're going. Since Miku was a little taller than Chris, she could put her head on the other girl's shoulder. It was comfortable. She wanted to hug more tightly until there was nothing left. But that will only serve to hurt both of them.
Hibiki seems to have gained more coherence during all the hugging, "Miku, I don't feel so well after running so much, so can we go home?" Her face was greener than Chris thought possible, but the idiot was talented in doing the impossible.
"Sure! Chris, do you want to come with us to our home?" Miku asked gently with a smile.
"Yeah, I will. It's only fair after all those times you guys hung out at my place." This may be the first time I ever been to their shared room in months.
"Yay! Chris is going to sleep with us!" Wait, that doesn't sound right.
"Uh, Hibiki, you might want to phrase that differently." Miku says with a slightly fond grimace on her face.
"Idiot, you're supposed to do those things at home!" Chris feels like she's back in school again with these two.
"But we are going home to them?" Hibiki didn't get it, did she? Classic Hibiki.
Hibiki may be an idiot, but she is Miku's and Chris' idiot.