"Listen to this, Tachibana." Tsubasa muttered with a slightly confused face. Chris shot her a wary glance while Miku and Hibiki just stared at her in question. Tsubasa turned to face Chris while she talked to the two other girls in front of her. "Ever since then, Yukine has refused to call me 'senpai' again."
Chris looked away at this declaration then turned to the blue-haired idol when she finished talking, all the while with a glare in her eyes. "And I keep telling you-!"
A sly grin started to form on Hibiki's face and she leaned in closer to Chris, and then covered her mouth in a suspicious way. "What's this, what's this? Chris-chan, you've really been calling Tsubasa-san 'senpai'?" Chris gave Hibiki a surprised glare, and Miku moved over to try to scold the Gungnir user.
"Now, now, Hibiki…"
Quickly recovering, Chris straightened up and gave the two younger girls an annoyed smile, while her left eyebrow twitched occasionally. "This is a good opportunity, so I'll tell you now…" The white-haired girl suddenly grabbed Hibiki by her chin, and formed a fist with her other hand, a glare manifested in her eyes. Meanwhile, Hibiki struggled in her grip. "I'm actually older than you, so I'm your 'senpai'!" Miku and Tsubasa released a sigh simultaneously. Chris looked at Miku from the corner of her eye. "That goes for both of you!"
Tsubasa turned away and grabbed Chris by her arm, locking her elbow around hers, and successfully separated the two sixteen-year-olds. "Let's leave it at that, you two." At those words, Chris only kept struggling to get her hands on the two freshmen. "The bonds between you aren't just expressed through words."
Chris sighed and pressed her cheek further into her palm. She stirred her soda with the straw, eyes looking at the swirling ice cubes but not really seeing them. ''Senpai'…huh?' A blush crept up her cheeks when she realized what she was thinking about and she aggressively slurped at her drink. 'Geez, it's not that big of a deal! Why am I thinking about that? And now, of all days?'
The Ichaival user glanced over in the direction of her school, where a certain blue-haired swordswoman was probably receiving her graduation certificate at that very instant. Chris scoffed and turned to look around in the restaurant she was eating at. 'Gah! So what if I don't call her 'senpai'? So what if I don't call her by her name? So what if she's graduating? So what if she's…leaving on tour for a couple of months…?' Chris' gaze fell onto the table at that last thought. Her forefinger started tracing the Ame no Habakiri wave pattern on the table unconsciously. 'It's not like it's the end of the world. She's coming back. It shouldn't be such a big deal.'
So, why did it feel like it was a big deal to her?
Senki Zesshou Symphogear
"You are so awesome! I'm so glad you graduated! Congratulations, Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki grabbed the newly-graduate's hand and started shaking it furiously. Tsubasa stared blankly at her as she continued her very energetic praise.
"Thank you, Tachibana. And thank you, Kohinata." Tsubasa muttered gratefully when Miku was finally able to pry Hibiki from Tsubasa's arm and convince her to keep her excitement at a minimum. This resulted in a grinning Gungnir user jumping up and down on the soles of her feet. The blue-haired pop-idol chuckled slightly at this then turned to her uncle when he approached.
"Congratulations on graduating, Tsubasa."
"Thank you, Uncle." A small smile grazed Tsubasa's lips as she gazed at the three in front of her. A sudden thought struck her, though, and the smile disappeared. "Huh? Where's Yukine?"
The grin Genjuro had on his face faltered slightly but it was back on a millisecond later. "She'll be waiting at headquarters for when you leave, Tsubasa. Now say goodbye to your friends. I'll be driving you to the interview. Ogawa is waiting for you there."
Tsubasa nodded curtly, a frown now marring her face.
Senki Zesshou Symphogear
"Congratulations, Tsubasa." Maria shook Tsubasa's hand with a small grin on her face. Tsubasa smirked at her in gratitude before a blonde bombshell bumped into her from behind, making her stagger into Maria slightly.
"That's so awesome, Tsubasa-san!" Kirika grinned up at her while Shirabe stood behind the blonde with a small smile. Tsubasa patted Kirika's hair and smiled at Shirabe.
"Thanks, you two."
Maria smiled at the scene then turned to Tsubasa again. "Shall we get going, Kazanari Tsubasa?" Said girl turned to her and frowned, looking around the room and observing the people present. Hibiki was eying the small table filled with snacks while Miku looked over her shoulder. Kirika had gone into her story-telling mode on Shirabe, who seemed to enjoy it, despite having heard the story a zillion of times before. Genjuro and Ogawa were discussing something at a corner; probably something related to Maria and Tsubasa's international tour together.
Tsubasa sighed, 'I can always call her later. Heh. Knowing Yukine, she's probably scarfing down food somewhere and making a mess.' She turned to Maria again and nodded. Maria gave her a reassuring smile and they walked towards the waiting car together. Ogawa noticed this and excused himself from his conversation with Genjuro. He ran over to the car and went inside the passenger seat. Having said all of their goodbyes already, Tsubasa and Maria got ready to get in the car when a voice stopped them.
"Wait!"
Everyone turned to the entrance of the garage, where a panting Chris was leaning against the frame of the door. A smile made its way onto Genjuro's face as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling proud for a reason known only to him.
Chris straightened up but her gaze never left the floor, even after she had made her way over to stand in front of Tsubasa. "You-.." She lifted her purple eyes to meet dark blue ones, only to freeze when she saw that she had their complete attention. She looked back down to the floor, getting her teeth. Now that Chris was here, she had trouble finding the right words to express her feelings. 'Damn it! I had a whole speech prepared for this and when the chance comes, my tongue gets tied? The hell is wrong with me?!'
Seeing that Yukine had trouble finding her words, Tsubasa decided to wait in silence. If her kouhai needed time, then that's exactly what she'll give her.
Chris snapped her eyes shut, and felt a heavy blush creep up her neck, to her cheeks and reach the tip of her ears. She bit her bottom lip in exasperation. She chanced a glance up into Tsubasa's face then quickly looked back down to the ground when she found her senior waiting patiently for her. Taking a deep breath, Chris tried to say something but nothing came out of her lips.
Seeing her friend's struggle and wanting to help somehow, Hibiki took a step forward. "Chris-chan-…Eh?" A hand on her arm stopped her from saying more. When Hibiki looked up to the owner of the hand, she found Shirabe shaking her head and signaling for her to stay quiet.
Getting fed up with her inability to mutter a word, Chris bit down on her tongue to try to make it wake up and say something. Anything.
"Tsubasa-senpai!"
Everyone in the room blinked in surprise. Tsubasa stared at Chris in amazement. Not only did she call her 'senpai', but she also called her by her first name, not by her last name like the first time. On top of that, that simple phrase held so much loneliness, so much gratitude, and so much emotion. If Tsubasa couldn't ignore her plea that first time, it was absolutely impossible for her to not respond to that.
Chris held her head down, hiding her extremely red face with her hair. She couldn't believe she just said that, much less something so…personal. She was just ready to bolt out of the room when she felt a delicate hand fall on top of her head. A surprised look overcame her face when she saw the shadows on the floor, and when she looked up, her suspicions were confirmed. Tsubasa was ruffling her short hair, a small smile plastered on her lips.
"You're welcome…Chris."
The Ichaival user's eyes widened considerably at the mention of her first name. Moreover, she was completely shocked to see that Tsubasa had understood her with only that simple phrase. She was elated that Tsubasa knew she was talking about when they took her in. Granted, Miku and Hibiki were the first ones to accept her but Tsubasa was the first one willing to throw all previous problems they had in the beginning aside to protect and cover her. The simple 'Tsubasa-senpai' was all it took for Tsubasa to know how grateful Chris was for taking her under her wing.
The fact that the swordswoman knew what she was referring to filled her with something she hadn't felt since that time on stage during the Fall Festival at Lydian Academy. She felt home.
Chris snapped out of her thoughts when Tsubasa stopped rubbing her head. The smile still in its place, Tsubasa turned to the car and motioned for Maria to get in before her. Tsubasa sent Chris one last glance before she herself got inside the car and closed the door.
The car's engine roared to life and it left the garage. Those who had been present watched the car leave with the two world-famous pop idols.
Chris watched the car get smaller and further away from her. A smile tugged at her lips and the back of her eyes started burning.
'Thank you…Tsubasa-senpai.'
(A/N: Oh, my goodness. I freaking love Symphogear. The music. The action. The story. The yuri subtext. Everything. I'm hooked and I can't wait for the OVAs to come with the DVDs next year. Anyway, this is my first time writing for Symphogear. There aren't a lot of fanfics about them (bummer; it's amazing), and I just love the interaction between Tsubasa and Chris in the second season. Names seem to be a subplot between them two, along with the senpai/kouhai relationship. The last five minutes of the last episode of Symphogear G inspired me to write this. It's also kind of my wish for Tsubasa and Maria to keep performing so, they do so here. I really do hope they aren't too OOC. I tried to keep them in character and my apologies if I didn't succeed. I wasn't going for any yuri here (Subtext, I tell you!); just more of a family/friendship thing. I only rated it T because of Chris' potty mouth. Well, I hope that whoever read this enjoyed it, and tell me if you want more. I'm always up for a challenge. See ya next time,
7th Creature)