'Ahh I'm so bored,' Tsubasa thought while leaning back against her chair and polishing her katana. Not that there was much to clean since it had been sparkling like Tsubasa's forehead for several months now. What? There was nothing unusual about polishing one's forehead, although Anju and Erena thought otherwise. They'd been constantly teasing her ever since they caught her polishing it. At the time, Tsubasa, embarrassed and in attempt to shut them up, proudly stated, "The chicks dig the forehead." This proclamation just led other two to roll on the floor and laugh their asses off while they said things like, "Of course they dig the forehead, it's the only thing they can see when the three of us are on TV!"
Tsubasa pouted. Life just wasn't fair. Why couldn't she have been born tall and large chested like her group-mates?
The sound of cicadas chirping snapped her out of less pleasant memories and onto more recent thoughts… which were of nothing. She sighed. Being at the top definitely wasn't all as glamorous as everyone said it was. Sure they were given money, fame, glory and more money, but Tsubasa felt like life had lost its spark. Maybe if they weren't in a time of peace things would have been a bit more interesting. Japan would probably have had her head if they knew what she was thinking.
After an era of peace for over a century, Japan, in an attempt to maintain its militant strength, set up an "organized" fighting program where regionalized sectors could battle one another in "friendly matches" in exchange for government support. Anyone could set up a group to represent their sector and the more successful a group was, the more government aid their sector was given. Success was determined by the number of battles a group won against the others.
It was all bullshit of course.
Organization and friendliness pretty much ended there. Battles began spontaneously and surprise attacks were encouraged. Assassinations were fair game. Killing one's opponent was seen as a symbol of strength. "It helps keep soldiers on their toes," people said. Anything was fine, as long as nonparticipants weren't harmed.
Tsubasa was pretty certain that Japan's upper class wanted entertainment and decided some good ol' gore was just the thing. Oh, and seeing attractive young men and women swinging weapons. She was also pretty sure the higher ups ripped the idea of the whole program off of some manga or anime, but she wasn't going to complain. It was entertaining.
…Well it was entertaining until her group, A-RISE, overcame hundreds of screaming men, women, children and elderly folks all clambering for their heads and became the number one fighting group in Japan. It was fun at first. Meeting Erena and Anju in middle school and discovering their mutual love for swordplay. Deciding to form a group and entering the competition in order to give their families and peers a better life. Getting swept up in the adrenaline and fervor of battle. Every day was different. Every day they had a new goal. One more group to fight and conquer. Another group to defend from. It was blood, sweat and tears until the day they reached the top.
They had done it. Every citizen in UTX was living in relative comfort. Not too long after, A-RISE had not only become heroes in the eyes of the citizens of UTX, they had also become the idols of Japan. TV shows, commercials, and concerts began flooding their schedules, which left them with less time to fight. Not that there were many battles coming their way, which was the real reason behind Tsubasa's lamentations. Being declared Japan's number one fighting group by the Prime Minister himself simultaneously gave A-RISE a crown on their heads and a target on their backs. After battling to the top, many groups acknowledged A-RISE's power and did not dare to engage in battle head on with them. The other groups who tried to take A-RISE down by surprise were laughably predictable. Tsubasa applauded their courage and always told those groups that they were "welcome to try again" with a smile on her lips and a fist to their faces.
Tsubasa frowned. She'd been feeling jittery and decided that the feeling might be cured by punching someone in the face. Come to think of it, there wasn't even an assassination attempt today. She contemplated leaving her window open while she slept to lure in a fighter. On second thought, she could open it now. She had nothing better to do. Might as well wait for her prey to fly through…the win…dow…
Tsubasa bent over and examined the arrow that she had just dodged. 'Hmm, I've never seen an arrow like this before.' She squinted and noticed a blinking light that was accompanied by a sudden beep. Her room was engulfed in bright light. "Holy shi-!"
Eyes wide, Tsubasa frantically sprinted to her desk, when the arrow went off. Windows shattered and debris flew all around her. Tsubasa let out a small sob when she saw the head of her teddy bear, Mr. Fluffy, fly across the room.
'It exploded! The fucking arrow exploded!'
She waited for a few minutes, wary about another explosion or unsteady debris. Tsubasa coughed and reoriented herself. After crawling out from under her reinforced desk that had been specially modified in case of bomb threats like this, she examined her room…or what was left of it.
"Kssh..TSUBASA!...kssh…ARE YOU THERE? Kssh… TSUBASA! ARE YOU OK?" Erena's voice came through Tsubasa's earpiece.
Tsubasa pushed a button on her watch. "Yeah. I was able to dodge it before it went off. It was an exploding arrow!"
"How the hell did an arrow get through your bulletproof window!?"
"Ahah..hah..hah..because I opened it?"
"YOU OPENED YOUR FUCKING WINDOW!? HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU-"
"But I was bored!"
"BORED!? ONE DAY YOU AND YOUR STUPIDITY WILL GET OUR ASSES MMFFHH"
"Kssh…Tsubasa? This is Anju."
"Yes, Anju?"
"I'm glad you're okay, but it seems like more arrows oncoming so we're going to regroup in the living room and determine our plan of action there."
"Do you have a visual on the archer?"
"Not yet, but I'll update you when I do."
"Copy that. I'll meet up with you guys soon. Thanks for interrupting Erena by the way. My ears felt like they were going to explode."
"I can hear you guys you know and don't think that just because we're being shot at by exploding arrows means you won't hear from me about it later."
Tsubasa smiled, "Looking forward to it."
She dusted off her white UTX battle uniform and grabbed her hat and trusty katana. Just as she was about to leave the room, the wall behind her exploded and a figure with ginger hair flew through the window. The girl landed several feet away from Tsubasa and pointed her katana at her. "My name is Kousaka Honoka, leader of μ's from Otonokizaka! Kira Tsubasa of A-RISE, would you please listen to our song?"
Tsubasa's eyes widened and her heart pounded rapidly. "Anju, Erena. I think I'm going to be a bit late." She smirked and got into battle position, hand over the hilt of her katana. "I would love to."
Honoka smiled. She took out a whistle and blew it, its sound echoing through the building. "One!" Honoka shouted.
"Two!"
"Three!"
One by one, more voices from various distances shouted a number.
"Four!"
"Five!"
"Six!"
As the voices counted, Tsubasa waited with trembling excitement. Her heart was beating louder by the second.
"Seven!"
"Eight!"
"Nine!"
This was it. This was what was missing.
Honoka beamed at Tsubasa, her eyes sparkling. "μ's, music start!"
A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading my fic! This was inspired by the awesome A-RISE fanart by sizuka (on pixiv). Link: 軍服A-RISE | sizuka [pixiv] member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=44804582
Even though they didn't have a lot of screen time, I fell in love with A-RISE (specifically Tsubasa) in season two. I then began to ship Tsubasa x Honoka and they were just cemented as my OTP after reading Ooshima Tomo's awesome doujin on the two. There's a severe lack of TsubaHono and A-RISE stuff in general that my cravings couldn't be satisfied and so I decided to come out of fanfic writing hiatus to make one of my own. I didn't know what to write about until I saw sizuka's masterpiece and was instantly inspired. Like come on, idols with weapons right?
Anyway thank you again for reading and reviews are welcome! It's been a really long time since I wrote something so feel free to point out my mistakes and offer suggestions! It's going to be a light hearted and slightly cracky fic, but I'm going to do my best to keep them mostly in character.
Until next time!