Track 02: Fighters Unite! Gungnir and Sync Resurface!

Two years had passed since the Zwei Wing Catastrophe. Hibiki had somehow managed to survive her harrowing ordeal after three hours of surgery, and even then they couldn't remove all the debris from her heart. But somehow, she'd managed to survive. It was a lot more that could be said for everyone that had lost their lives, including Kanade Amou, one half of Zwei Wing itself. Tsubasa Kazanari had disappeared from public life since then, but recently had begun to return. Now fifteen years old, Hibiki had enrolled at Lydian Private Music Academy with Miku. And while her first day had started off okay with the singing of the school anthem (despite showing up ten minutes late), there was one problem that she couldn't quite escape in homeroom…

"Tachibana! What are you doing with a cat in the classroom?"

Hibiki winced as she adjusted the small white cat that had taken up residence in her arms at the moment. "Um...this cat climbed up a tree and couldn't get down..."

"And…?" the teacher asked.

"Well, it looked hungry, so..."

This got a few people murmuring at each other. First day of school, and this one girl had the stones to not only show up late, but bring the reason why she was late with her? She was either brave, nuts, stupid, or some combination of the three. Unfortunately, her teacher didn't quite care.

"Tachibana!"

"I still don't know what you were expecting. You really should've just left it with me," Teisuke said.

"But you said your roommate was allergic to cats!"

"I was gonna drop it off at a shelter on my way to work. If I can't take care of it, what makes you think you could've?"

"I at least wanted to help!"

Teisuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's kinda the issue with you, isn't it?"

Silence fell between them as Teisuke put his cell phone down next to a glass of punch he'd poured himself. Hibiki had a heart of gold, but be damned if that heart of gold didn't get her into trouble at least once a day, and there were a lot of times where he was directly involved. Most of the times, against his will. He sometimes wondered how Miku was able to deal with her for as long as she'd known her.

"So, how have you been?"

Teisuke shrugged, looking out over the corporate party going on in front of him. He'd managed to secure himself a small break by plugging in his MP3 player so he could refresh himself when Hibiki called. "Oh, you know. Can't complain. Got a gig for a State of the Company party. Want to really break out the good stuff, but nooooo, keep it simple and inoffensive, they said. Where are you?"

"On my way back my room. My teacher kept me after class because of Shiro."

"Shiro...you named him?"

"Turns out he was someone else's cat from the neighborhood. His owners came for him around lunchtime."

Teisuke sighed. "You're really lucky that turned out so well." He quickly looked back out over the party, and as some men in suits entered the room. "I gotta go. DJ's gotta get the party going."

"Bye, Teisuke-kun!"

Teisuke hung up and pocketed his phone. He downed another shot of punch, then made his way back to his equipment in the corner of the room, putting on his best smile. It was the best he could do to hide just how friggin' bored he was. "Alright, let's give it up for the boss!" Someone just end my life right now...

Hibiki flopped onto the floor of her room, her cell phone clattering out of her hands. "I'm so tired! The first day school was like a hundred explosions in a row! I'm cursed! I'm sure of it!"

"Well, half of the curse comes from you being such a goofball, and the other half is you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"I call it helping others," Hibiki rolled over to face Miku, who was sitting at the desk in the corner of the room. "It's kinda my thing, you know?"

"You're going to have to draw a line someplace. I mean, normal people don't show up ten minutes late to their first day of school to save a cat. And they also don't lend their textbooks on the first day, knowing there'll likely be homework later," Miku said.

"Well, I'll just borrow yours, then!" Hibiki replied with a smile before zipping off to the nearby table where her laptop and a copy of one of her magazines had been left from the day before.

Miku sighed. "You're such a dummy...how Tamori-san puts up with you, I may never know..."

Hibiki ignored her, instead flipping through the magazine to a page that was just about ready to fall out. It depicted an advertisement for Tsubasa Kazanari's new album, her first since the Zwei Wing Catastrophe, set to be released the next day. Tsubasa was still one of her favorite singers, and that was mostly thanks to the backlog of Zwei Wing albums she'd been working her way through since her days in the hospital. "Tsubasa's new CD comes out tomorrow! I'm so excited!"

Miku smiled. Nosy goofball that she was, nothing made her happier than seeing Hibiki happy. "Isn't that why you came here to Lydian? To see her?"

"Well, yeah, but I haven't seen her. I mean, she's famous. I don't expect her to cross paths with little old me, but..." Hibiki took a moment to quickly peek down her shirt. On her chest, the only sign that she'd ever been in any danger at all, was a scar. One of the doctors mentioned it looked like the music symbol "forte."

While it was true Hibiki had been hoping to see Tsubasa because she was famous, there was another reason. When the initial reports on the Zwei Wing Catastrophe came out, it was said that many members of the audience and Kanade Amou, one of the members of Zwei Wing, were killed by the Noise. And yet, with all that she'd seen that day, between Zwei Wing fighting and even Teisuke turning into that armored warrior, she still had to wonder if she'd really seen what she'd seen.

That's why she had to meet Tsubasa, Hibiki reflected, as she climbed into bed with Miku that night. She had to know. If they ever did meet, maybe she'd get some answers from her.

That is, if they ever did meet.

"Chicken ramen, please."

There was a ramen stand not far from Teisuke's apartment that he liked to frequent after a job. The State of the Company gig had turned out okay for him, and he was happy to actually get paid on-site this time. A lot of people tended to be pretty lax with paying their DJs. Or maybe it was just him, he had a bad habit of not following up on his patrons for money. He had a small chuckle as he took the CD player from two years ago out of his jacket and put it on the table next to him. As much as he ragged on Hibiki for being clueless and naive, he really wasn't much better.

"Hey man. Finally punch out?"

Teisuke looked up to find his roommate, Ryou Taigawa, joining him at the adjacent seat, placing a broad-signal transmitter on the counter with his door. Ryou was a guy maybe a few inches shorter than Teisuke, and his black hair was cut short in the typical style for JSDF reservist. Teisuke was lucky to have Ryou as a friend: they'd been together since high school, and Ryou had been more than happy to let Teisuke crash in his apartment, so long as he helped out with rent whenever he could. A reservist didn't make as much money as an enlisted man, but given the recent spree of Noise attacks, the government couldn't afford to be picky and Ryou was more than happy to take up the task. Someone had to, he reasoned.

"Finally," Teisuke grinned. "But if I heard someone say 'insurance for a better Japan' one more time, I swear I was going to start taking hostages."

"Kinda hazardous for your reputation, don't you think?" Ryou turned to the man behind the counter. "Plain ramen, please."

"It also doesn't that Hibiki's already getting herself into trouble..." Teisuke mumbled.

Ryou smacked Teisuke on the back with a force that almost gave the DJ scoliosis. "Has it ever occurred to you how much of a perv you are for hanging around a fifteen-year-old girl like you do?"

"We're not that far apart in age, you know that!" Teisuke countered. "Besides, someone's gotta help bail that girl out of whatever jam she seems to get into, and it may as well be me..."

"Relax, man, it's cool," Ryou said, putting up his hands as Teisuke's chicken ramen was placed in front of them. As Teisuke blew onto the noodles, Ryou's gaze fell onto the CD player. "You've been holding onto that broken thing since you came out of that stadium two years ago with Hibiki. Has it ever come back on since?"

"Maybe once or twice?" Teisuke shrugged. "I don't know, sometimes I think this thing has a mind of its own. Remember that Noise attack last week in the middle of the night?"

"Yup. Still had to report in the following morning, so plenty of us were pissed off when we came in. Why?"

"Well, as I was making a mad dash out of the apartment for the shelter, I could've sworn I'd seen the thing light up again, just like it did two years ago...and then there was this voice in my head, like last time, too..."

Ryou tilted his head as he slurped up his own ramen. "Didn't the psychiatrist tell you those things were probably just trauma from the Noise attack? People hallucinate stuff when things go crazy like that. I've seen it all the time with other victims during cleanup."

"Yeah. And that's what I always thought, too. But if that's all just a hallucination, then how did Hibiki-chan and I have the same hallucination?"

"I don't know. Stuff's always weird when the Noise are involved...the voice you hear isn't telling you to kill people and do weird art projects with their bodies, is it?"

"No, nothing like that," Teisuke wrinkled his nose. "It's just the same thing, every time. 'Do not deny your power. You must embrace the Gift of Sync.'"

"Hm. Spooky," Ryou grunted. "...you did keep the psychiatrist's number, right?"

Teisuke gave Ryou a light shove, but he knew Ryou meant well. Besides, he probably did have the number lying around the apartment somewhere, calling her for a two-year follow-up wasn't a bad idea by any stretch of the imagination. Teisuke figured he'd get around to that assuming he didn't have any gigs coming up for the rest of the week. Which was more than likely, given how unknown he was right now.

Then Ryou's radio went off. "Noise detected. Forest area off of Highway 14. First Division is to report in immediately to gauge enemy strength."

"Crap. Better go," Ryou said, taking his radio off the table and shoving a handful of yen under the bowl. He promptly started making his way back down the street.

"Good luck saving the world," Teisuke called.

"Against the Noise? Trust me, when they're involved, what I do barely qualifies as saving the world."

Teisuke watched him leave, looking back down at the CD player, still lying inactive on the table. Then, his smartphone buzzed in his pocket. As he pulled it out, sure enough, there was a text message from the Japanese government warning of the Noise appearance in the same area. And then, he looked over at the CD player. It had turned on again. Slowly, Teisuke reached out and picked it up again.

Do not deny your gift. You must embrace the Gift of Sync.

Teisuke immediately put it back down and reached for his smartphone. Maybe that psychiatrist was on his contact list and he hadn't deleted it when he cleaned it out a week ago. He didn't need to be going through this whole voice-in-the-head thing again.

Why do you ignore your senses? I am as real as you are.

Teisuke tried to play it cool as he took the CD player and put it back in his jacket and stuck his yen under the bowl, walking the short distance back to the apartment. He figured he was just tired and some sleep was going to make things all better.

I believe your name is Teisuke?

Teisuke froze in front of the apartment door.

Do not be afraid. Go in your home, and I will explain.

Teisuke promptly unlocked the door and tossed the CD player on the coffee table with the accompanying DJ Sync disc. He went into the kitchen, downed a couple rounds of antacid, and flopped onto the couch.

"Ready to listen?"

"Holy-!" Teisuke shot upright and scrambled to the far side of the room. The voice he'd heard in his head had started coming out of the CD player.

"You have not taken leave of your senses, I assure you. I was merely waiting for the right opportunity to speak with you."

"Some opportunity!" Teisuke said. "I was actually thinking my life was normal again!"

"You bear the Gift of Sync. Normalcy for humans has long since passed you by."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. I figured that out once I started talking to a haunted CD player," Teisuke huffed, folding his arms.

"Captain Obvious? My name is Coda."

"Great, the CD player has a name."

"Could you not be so flippant? I'm trying to explain things pertinent to you and you treat me as though I am some figment of your imagination."

"For all I know, you are," Teisuke said, massaging his eyes. "Look. The last time I heard you, it was two years ago, when I was trying to escape with my friend from getting killed off by unkillable monsters from hell that killed hundreds of people and almost killed us, too. And then there's the whole instance of me turning into this cut-rate superhero and..."

"You and your friend thought it was just trauma. And I mean your friend at the food stand, not the young girl."

"...you seem to know a lot. How did you even know about my conversation with Ryou? And how do you know about Hibiki-chan?"

"I am more observant than you think. Just because I am silent does not mean I am not aware. What is the phrase humans use? 'I think, therefore I am?'"

Teisuke groaned, laying back on the couch again. That antacid was taking forever to kick on. "So what are you, then? Are you a ghost? A spirit?"

"Of a fashion. You may refer to me as a spirit. As I said before, my name is Coda. And I am a spirit in this machine called the Sync Driver. And you, Teisuke Tamori, have a rare and powerful gift among other humans, the Gift of Sync."

"Yeah...what is that?" Teisuke looked back at the CD Player.

"It is said that those who have the Gift of Sync have the ability to unite the world through their Sounds."

Teisuke frowned. "That's...not much of an answer."

"But an answer nonetheless."

"Fine...not digging the evasiveness, but whatever," Teisuke sat back up. "What is that you want me to do, Coda?"

"You cannot let your gift go to waste. You must embrace the Gift of Sync and take up the sword as the warrior of sound to defeat the foes you faced before."

Teisuke blinked. What a strange thing for a spirit in a CD player to ask. "You want me to fight the Noise?"

"Even your friend admits that he, a trained soldier, has no means of harming them. Yet you hold the means to fight in your hands and you do nothing. Surely you would not help him?"

"Help him how? The last time I tangoed with the Noise with the whole DJ Sync thing, I had backup from two other people, and one of them died saving my ass. What makes you think I could fight them on my own?"

"You seemed to do well enough on your own the first time. Granted, the first time I was mostly helping you through the motions."

"Wait, stop...I was able to fight because you were helping me?" asked Teisuke. It would certainly make sense. He barely knew his ass from his elbow in a fight, and for him to go from that to flying side kicks to wipe out Noise didn't make sense. But add this Coda spirit to the mix, and… "How does that work?"

"When you don the armor, I have a bit more freedom to act."

Teisuke looked down at his hands, his mind going a thousand places a minute. A spirit inside a CD player who clearly knew more about the whole "Gift of Sync" business from two years before than he was letting on, but also knew about fighting Noise and helped him do so? This was starting to get suspiciously into Saturday morning cartoon territory. And yet, could he continue to deny any of it was real if the proof was talking to him from his coffee table?

"You require additional proof. That's just as well, I suppose. I remember there being Noise somewhere? Go there, and take me with you. You will see with your own eyes the nature of your situation."

Teisuke looked down at his cell phone, which was still showing the location of the Noise from the government text alert. He could tell Coda no. There was no reason to go risking his life just because some talking spirit inside a CD player told him to, especially after dodging death the first time. Few people in the world were lucky enough to survive just one attack from the Noise the way he had. Why bother with two just for kicks and giggles?

And yet…

Ryou, clad in his JSDF fatigues and armed with a machine gun, knew there had to be better ways of spending a Tuesday night than fighting the Noise. At this point, the First Division fighting the Noise was just a formality the government put on. It had been abundantly clear from multiple engagements that the Noise couldn't be harmed by conventional weapons, but here he was, with his fellow reservists and a few tanks that were stationed at the base nearby, uselessly firing bullets into the horde of monsters advancing on them towards the city.

"Stand by RPGs! Fire!"

A few more reservists behind him fired rockets from a couple box missile launchers into the one big Noise, a huge green thing with thin, crab-like arms and a huge rectangular "face," as it were. Ten rockets were fired, and they sailed harmlessly right through the monster and into the forest behind them. A lot of taxpayer money, gone, and nothing to show for it.

"So conventional weapons have no effect at all…!" Ryou's CO said.

"In other news, grass is green," one of Ryou's fellow reservists mumbled.

Teisuke, astride his motorcycle with his helmet on to hide his face, had just arrived in time for the fireworks display, still carrying the Sync Driver with him. He hadn't put it around his waist quite yet, more out of apprehension than curiosity. Ryou had spoken plenty of times about the indestructibility of the Noise. To see it for himself was definitely troubling. Worse still was the fact that he potentially had the means to fight.

Now do you understand? This is no dream or trick of the mind. This is the reality you face. But you have the power to change this, to choose a different path.

Teisuke scrunched up his face. He still wasn't sure about any of this, but at this point, what on earth could he do but at least try? If it worked a second time, then he swore that he'd finish the Noise like he did two years ago, and then check into the nearest insane asylum the first chance he had. He slowly put the Sync Driver back to his waist. At once, the belt wrapped around him.

Yes...embrace your gift...take up the sword, mighty warrior of sound, and be the one to unite humanity!

And then...a song cut through Teisuke's thoughts, followed by the sound of a helicopter, suddenly shooting to the battle. A lone figure leapt out of it as banked away, and Teisuke could've sworn he heard a woman singing. A bright flash of light came from the falling figure, followed by another.

A relic? Here?

"The hell's a relic?" asked Teisuke. Coda didn't answer.

Meanwhile, Tsubasa Kazanari, clad in the same blue and black body suit she'd worn since her days in Zwei Wing, had arrived on the scene, in front of the horde of Noise. The extensions on her ankles extended, forming into a pair of blades as she prepared to engage her old enemy for the umpteenth time.

"Tsubasa. You are to cooperate with the First Division and observe the enemy's movements."

"No need. I can take them myself," Tsubasa replied, her voice calm and flat.

"Tsubasa!"

Tsubasa ignored Genjuro's voice, and instead took up her katana once again. All these Noise, numerous as they were, would fall to her. She immediately dived headlong into the Noise, flipping onto her hands as she spun like a top, slicing through her enemies with her Wight Slayer ankle blades. Getting back to her feet, she jumped high into the air, blue blades materializing around her and then following to the ground like raindrops, spearing through her enemies. As the blades of her Thousand Tears disappeared into the aether, she turned her attention to the big green Noise. Her katana immediately shifted shape into a more broadsword-esque weapon as she leapt high once again, and swung the weapon once. A blue energy wave followed the sword's motion and shot through the air. The Azure Flash cleaved the beast in two and destroyed it in a mighty explosion.

She paused only for a moment on landing as steam came out of her armor briefly, and then she leapt back up into the sky onto the white helicopter, and as quick as she had come, she was gone.

"Well. That happened..." Teisuke said. "Guess we're not needed here anymore..."

Coda didn't reply. In fact, he didn't say anything more the rest of the night. Why, Teisuke didn't know, and couldn't be bothered to ask.

Lunch was fairly lively at Lydian thanks to the news of the Noise attack finally being released to the public.

"So the JSDF was able to successfully evacuate everyone in the district, and they kept the damage in the city to a minimum, somehow!" Hibiki said around a mouthful of rice.

Miku took out her own smartphone and pulled up the original text alert that had been sent out the night before. "It was actually fairly close..."

Hibiki nodded, still wolfing down rice. Then, she heard it.

"It's Tsubasa Kazanari!"

"She's actually kinda hard to approach because she's such a superstar!"

"She's so elegant, and with her singing, she's actually like the school nightingale!"

Hibiki immediately stood up, trying to find where Tsubasa was. As it turned out, she was passing by the table she and Miku were sitting at that very moment, and the two met each other's gaze. For a moment, nothing happened, as nobody was quite sure what would happen should someone's breathing cut through the silence and tip the scales.

"U-um..." Hibiki's mind was going a thousand different places, hands shaking around her rice and chopsticks. What on earth should she say? Say hello? Say thank you for saving her life? Ask if the whole fight was real? What? She should at least say something, but her brain, in that brief space of time, seemed to have gone on holiday.

Tsubasa said nothing. She merely lifted a finger and pointed at her cheek. Hibiki blinked, wondering what she was doing, and then she followed her gaze. On her cheek were a couple grains of rice, stuck to her mouth. By the time she quickly wiped it away, she'd gone on her way, and she was left standing alone with everyone staring at her.

Needless to say, the rest of the day had been ruined.

"What a waste!" Hibiki said, head against her desk. "Tsubasa-san must think I'm some kind of weirdo!"

"Well, she's not wrong," Miku replied, finishing up her notes from her last class. "It actually describes you to a T."

"Are you going to finish that anytime soon?" Hibiki grumbled.

To her credit, Miku did at least drop the subject in favor of something more up Hibiki's alley. "...oh yeah, Tsubasa's CD is being released today. Though seriously, a CD? In this day and age?"

"Come on, Miku! The CD is a limited edition that's jam-packed full of bonus material! CDs are old, sure, but owning one is like having a status symbol!"

"Well, that's all fine and good," Miku started putting away her notes. "But if it's a limited edition release CD, doesn't that mean there's a chance it's gonna sell out at some point?"

Hibiki's reply caught in her throat. She hadn't thought of that. But with school not out until later, how on earth was she going to get to the CD store downtown before it closed or, heaven forbid, it did sell out!?

The moment her last class for the day ended, Hibiki took the train from Lydian straight into town and texted Teisuke to come to the first station right away. When she got out of the station, Teisuke was already waiting on his motorcycle with a spare helmet and a rather irked expression on his face.

"You are seriously lucky that I don't have work tonight!" Teisuke said as he drove them both down the street. "Geez, you'll have me do everything for you, won't you?"

"I just don't want to miss out on getting the CD, that's all!" said Hibiki.

"Well, thank your lucky stars there's not that much traffic. You really don't need to get in even more trouble for missing cur...few..." Teisuke trailed off as he raised his visor. He wasn't quite sure, but he swore he saw something that looked like ash flying across his vision as he stopped at a crosswalk.

"Teisuke-kun?" Hibiki asked. Something was wrong. It was quiet. Too quiet. The only sound that seemed to be in the air was the sound of Teisuke's motorcycle.

"Hibiki-chan...whatever you do, don't look to your right." Teisuke said. He didn't want Hibiki to see the piles of ash that had once been people in the laundromat nearby.

Hibiki didn't. She didn't have to. Next to them on the crosswalk was another pile of ash, the remains of another person covering the bicycle they had been riding. And now she could see the ash flying on the breeze past her. There was no denying it now.

"The Noise...they're here."

"I noticed..." Teisuke said. He looked up, and sure enough, there was a soldier Noise up on one of the rooftops. Then another. And another. In the blink of an eye, there was Noise all over the street, looking down at the two humans that had just walked into their trap.

Hibiki gripped Teisuke tighter. "Teisuke-kun..."

Teisuke revved the motorcycle, putting his visor back down. Unlike last time, they had a more reliable means of escape. "Hibiki-chan, whatever you do, don't let go. This is gonna get rough."

"Okay!"

Teisuke immediately hit the throttle, and they took off down the street. The Noise immediately chased after them, globs bouncing after them as the soldiers followed in their wake, turning to flying bullets to try and cut them off. Teisuke weaved through the Noise as they hit the road around them, showering them in asphalt. But they still kept going as they followed the road straight on into the sunset. All they had to do was hit the open road leading onto the highway, and they'd be in the clear-!

A soldier Noise got a lucky shot, hitting too close for Teisuke to dodge. A piece of asphalt about the size of a softball smacked Teisuke clean across the head, and the impact made him turn too hard. The Kawasaki Ninja 10R lost traction with the road and flew out from under them, skidding further down the road as Teisuke and Hibiki slid to a halt on the road. Teisuke shoved himself up, aching from the fall. "Hibiki-chan! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…!" Hibiki had also gotten up. She'd gotten a lovely case of road rash on her legs, but she was otherwise okay. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a scream, and she immediately ran off to find the source, tossing away her helmet.

"Hibiki-! God, what does it take to get that girl to stop and think!?" Teisuke said, following her.

Tsubasa made her way into the command center, still dressed in her Lydian uniform. "What's the situation?"

"We've picked up multiple Noise signals in the inner city!"

"We're triangulating their signals now!"

Genjuro Kazanari, still at his station, looked over at Tsubasa. She was tense, but not because of fear. That was more her ready for action. But until they could get a proper fix and where the Noise were and where they were going, they wouldn't be able to deploy her. Times like this made him wish they had a second fighter, just so they could scout the situation. But with Kanade gone and Tsubasa already gone against her orders to observe once already, they couldn't take that risk.

Risk had already claimed one of them. He'd rather not make it two if he could.

Still, that was no reason not to be proactive.

"Access the traffic cameras! See if you can't get a sense of their general direction!"

"Yes, Commander!"

Hibiki ran down the alley with the young girl she'd heard, trying to outrun the Noise. Teisuke was not far behind. Much like them, the girl had just stumbled onto the street where the Noise were and Hibiki had managed to pull her away before she got turned to ash. Of course, this now meant that there were three of them trying to outrun the Noise. And Noise don't get tired. They finally reached the end of the alley, but found both sides blocked off by the Noise and one of the canals that ran through the city to the sea in front of them. They were trapped.

"Onee-chan!" the girl said, latching onto Hibiki.

"Don't be afraid, we're here with you," Hibiki said.

"Plan B?" asked Teisuke.

Hibiki responded to the question by taking the girl and immediately diving into the canal. Despite the fast current of the canal threatening to sweep them both out to sea, they made it to the other side. As she looked back towards the other side, she found Teisuke hadn't moved. "Teisuke-kun!"

You know there is no escape, Coda said in his mind. The Noise will continue to chase the three of you until you cannot escape, and you will surely die.

Well, what am I supposed to do, then!?

There is a third option. You must become the warrior of sound again. Only you have the power to fight the Noise and give your friend the chance to escape. She stands a better chance of success if you stand and fight.

And you're certain that I haven't gone insane right now?

You still choose to doubt!? You got proof that what you experienced was real last night! To delude yourself further at this juncture is suicide!

Teisuke looked from Hibiki to the Noise, and slowly reached into his chest pocket. As stupid as this was, he knew that Coda was right: there was only one surefire way to help Hibiki and the girl escape. He pulled out the CD player and held it out at his waist. Once again, it wrapped around his body. "Hibiki-chan. Take that girl and run. Don't stop running until you get to the shelter."

"Teisuke-kun! You don't have to-" Hibiki shouted.

"Don't worry about me!" Teisuke said, flashing her a smile. "Remember what I said? Don't be afraid of what's behind you! Just keep your eyes on the prize! And know that I've always got your back!" He opened the tray and took out the DJ Sync CD. Looking back towards the Noise, he breathed in and then breathed out, his eyes hardened. "Let's see if what happened two years ago really was just a dream…!"

ARE YOU READY?

He placed the CD in the tray, and made the spinning motion once again. "HENSHIN!"

HANDS UP! GET YOUR HANDS UP!

The Noise retreated slightly, and Hibiki and the girl shielded their eyes as the blue soundwaves shot out and obscured their vision of him.

1! 2! 1, 2, 3, 4!

And in a flash of light, Teisuke was gone and in his place was DJ Sync.

DJ SYNC! ON AIR!

"Teisuke-kun…!" Hibiki breathed.

"Onee-chan, he changed!" the girl said.

"Well, I'll be damned..." Sync rubbed his hands together before raising his fists to fight the horde of Noise that seemed to surround him on both sides. "Now then...let's dance, you and I!"

Hibiki clenched her fists. If Teisuke really was Sync, then...it really wasn't a dream. The fight, the scar, Zwei Wing, it was all real. And now Teisuke was fighting a whole horde of Noise without Zwei Wing to help him. Was it possible he would survive this time? She wouldn't be able to take it if he didn't!

"Teisuke-kun!" she shouted. "Don't give up on living!"

Sync blinked. She actually remembered that? When Kanade said that, she was unconscious with blood everywhere and debris in her chest. Nonetheless, he flashed her a thumbs-up to acknowledge the statement, and then stomped his foot. A blue shockwave blew the Noise in all direction, and he immediately dived onto the first Noise he saw with a punch. Hibiki took that as her cue, and picked the girl up onto her back, running in the opposite direction to safety.

"We've got a new energy reading in the inner city!"

"Noise?" asked Genjuro.

"No! It's also not a relic reading, either, but it's really close!"

"We've still got visuals through traffic cameras, right? See if you can't find that source through them!" Genjuro said.

"Roger!"

"Pinpointing source! Cross-referencing with local traffic cameras and...visual obtained! Coming up on the main screen now!"

Tsubasa's eyes widened as the screen showed a familiar face out on the street, trying to fight off a horde of Noise by himself. Between the soldiers that tried to rush him only to run into his fists and the globs that got blown away by soundwaves, she saw the same armored figure. The same figure with pixelated bug eyes and headphones from...that horrible day. "It's him...DJ Sync…!"

"The fighter from two years ago?" asked Genjuro. He'd heard about him, if only through the post-combat debriefing. This was his first time actually seeing the man in question.

"With a look like that, I'd say he's more like a masked vigilante!" Ryoko said. "Like a rider of justice!"

Tsubasa rolled her eyes, knowing what Ryoko really wanted to say but didn't. Still, the fact that DJ Sync was even here after vanishing for two years…well, she wasn't superstitious, but Tsubasa knew a sign when she saw one. The question was, was his appearance a good sign? Or a bad one?

"Down the...river...to the...delta…around that final...bend..."

It was well past sunset, and Hibiki was still running. Hibiki wondered if this was what Miku used to do all the time when she was on the track team back in middle school. Then again, Miku wasn't running for her life with a girl half her size on her back. She hoped Teisuke was still okay, wherever he was. There was a lot a Noise back there.

"Flash and...me...above the great green...sea...'til we got to go – uwah!"

Her legs finally gave out, and they fell to the ground. As Hibiki gasped for air in a desperate attempt to reclaim her energy, she happened to spot something in the distance behind her.

The Noise.

Fear gripped Hibiki and adrenaline made her heart race even faster. They'd followed her all this way? Either there was more Noise than what they had already seen, or...no! There was nothing to suggest Teisuke was dead! But even as the thought of one of her few friends getting turned to ash flashed through her mind, so did another thought.

You can't give up on living!

Kanade's words, seemingly across time and space, galvanized Hibiki to further action. She had to live! Teisuke was fighting for her! Miku was waiting for her! No matter what, she had to live, and save this girl from the Noise. She picked herself up, grabbed the girl once again, and kept running down the road.

"And we go...across the meadow...through the rapids..."

Sync smacked away another glob Noise with his foot, turning it to ash, then fell to one knee, breathing hard into his helmet. He'd lost track of how much time he'd been fighting, but he figured Hibiki should've found shelter with that girl by now. If not...no, no time to be thinking about that. Hibiki was a clueless, naive kid, but she wasn't stupid. Usually. The only problem was, even if she survived, he probably wouldn't. There was just way too many Noise for him to fight alone. Sooner or later, the sheer numbers would overwhelm him. All Sync could do now was just pray that Hibiki had gotten away safely before he met the same fate as-

Teisuke-kun! Don't give up on living!

Sync gritted his teeth and forced himself back to his feet. Hibiki didn't give up, even when all the signs pointed to her dying two years ago. Giving up now was just going to make him look bad next to her. Even if he was going to die, he couldn't leave all these Noise just littering the street. He wanted to take as many of these guys with him as he could.

He still hadn't used the finisher technique from the last time. The kick, however, was probably better served taking out one target. What he needed now was to take out multiple enemies in one go. Could he use the soundwave thing the same way? He took the table from his belt, attached it to the buckle, and gave it a spin.

BREAK IT DOWN!

(BGM: Excite by Daichi Miura)

A new song began, but this time, the ports had opened up on his arm instead. Good start. He raised his fists once again. "Come on! Let's wrap this up!"

Two soldier Noise immediately charged, trying to impale him. He spread his arms, shoving them away even as his arms burned. Two more glob Noise tried to jump on him for the follow up, but he ducked under them, kicking one into the wall before jumping away, trying to maintain his distance as energy gathered in his hands. A soldier Noise attempted to flank him, but he punched through the monster and destroyed it. Then, with a roar, Sync brought his fist down onto the street.

The explosion of sound that followed was definitely bigger than the usual ones, and it flew through the Noise and cracked the road under him. They instantly crumbled and turned to ash, leaving him alone on the street with nothing but ash around him. If there were any more of them, Sync couldn't see them. Mission accomplished.

Now he just had to find Hibiki and her friend. The question was, how was he going to pick up their trail…?

Night had finally fallen, and Hibiki was still running. She'd managed to reach the drug factory near the bay, and thankfully the gate was open. She continued to carry her friend as she jumped across pipes and made her way up to the roof one of the supply warehouses. She'd even taken off her jacket to help keep her friend from falling should she let go of her shoulders, even as she climbed the ladder to what hopefully was safety. The Noise did eventually self-destruct at some point, hopefully she'd bought enough time for that and someone would come to pick them up. Hopefully Teisuke.

As she lay on the roof, happy for a reprieve at last, she couldn't help but think about the Zwei Wing Catastrophe again. She was certain that red-haired warrior had saved her life that day. Teisuke, too, but somehow it was her that was sticking out in her mind. She saved me by singing that gentle, but powerful song…

"Are we gonna die?" the girl asked.

Hibiki pushed herself up and shook her head with a smile. There was no way the Noise would've been able to chase them this far and this long, and Teisuke should've been able to thin out the horde at the very least. It was pretty safe to assume they had managed to escape death (twice in two years, in Hibiki's case).

But there was this thing called Murphy's Law. And it loved to rear its ugly head. As Hibiki turned back to look out at the sea, her eyes widened.

The Noise had followed them to the roof.

The girl quickly leaped into Hibiki's arms as they slowly advanced. Hibiki took the girl in her arms, but she was too exhausted to make another attempt at escaping. And there was no Zwei Wing or Teisuke to bail her out. Trapped again, and this time it might actually stick. And yet, Hibiki's mind was racing for a plan, or maybe a prayer for a miracle.

She had to live. But how?

There has to be something…

There has to be something I can do…!

"No matter what happens…!" Hibiki said, trying to channel Teisuke's bravery for herself. "Don't give up on living!"

And in that moment of defiance in the face of death, she felt a song well up in her. It wasn't any song she knew, but the words appeared in her brain, and her voice responded.

"Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron..."

And something inside Hibiki's chest blazed to life, summoning a bright orange beacon that reached high into the heavens, to the shock of Hibiki, the girl, and even the Noise, sharing a similar reaction to when Sync appeared.

And then she screamed, energy pouring out of her body as she felt something in her body change in a way she didn't know how. Her school uniform blew right off her body, and was replaced with an orange and white body suit. Machinery sprouted out of her back like ersatz wings before it finally settled into a pair of gauntlets and greaves, and a head protector kind of like earphones appeared on her head.

"We've managed to focus the signals! The Noise have been located at the drug factory near the bay!"

"We're also detecting another powerful signal with the Noise as well!"

"Compare it to the records!" Genjuro ordered. "Quickly now!"

Ryoko was already on it, fingers flying across the keyboard. And she immediately noticed something familiar about the signal. "Is this...an Aufwachen wave?"

Genjuro actually started, something one didn't typically see out of the unflappable commander. An Aufwachen wave was a special wave that typically only appeared when a relic was awakened. And those times they appeared, he could count on one hand. "Give me specifics! Which relic is it!?"

"It's...oh my," Ryoko said, quickly hitting a few more keys. And the main screen displayed a single word.

Gungnir. And it was promptly followed by an image of Hibiki in her body suit, courtesy of a drone they had in the air over the area.

"Gungnir!?" Genjuro actively stood up in surprise. "Is she actually an Attuned!?"

The only one more surprised than Genjuro was Tsubasa. Gungnir? The only one who had ever had that relic was…and yet, here it was, two years later, with DJ Sync, the warrior who had fought alongside her that day. The feeling of deja vu was suddenly replaced with a sudden hardness and maybe just a hint of anger. She had to see this for herself. She would not believe it unless she saw with her own eyes. "I'm heading out!"

"Tsubasa!" Genjuro turned around. Tsubasa halted, staring at her commander with a look that probably could've curdled milk. "Hold on a minute. Sakuya! Aoi! Are you still tracking DJ Sync?"

"Yes sir! He's taken off his armor somehow, but we're still tracking him on the traffic cameras!"

Genjuro nodded and grinned. "Take the motorcycle and pick him up on your way there. And try to be quick with it!"

Tsubasa nodded and was immediately out the door. Genjuro sighed, scratching at his head. "Hopefully DJ Sync will try to reign her in..."

Teisuke had been running down the empty streets for hours, as he'd been unable to find his motorcycle. His body was crying out for rest, and at this point trying to find a shelter that they could've ducked into was becoming a fool's errand. But, he hadn't found any indication they'd been killed by the Noise, so that was a good sign. He hoped. He'd just turned the corner on the main street, headed towards the industrial district, when he saw the massive orange light shoot up into the sky. "What in the..."

"This feeling...I've felt it before," Coda said. "But in how long, I don't remember..."

A motorcycle suddenly pulled up next to him. And astride it was none other than Tsubasa, dressed in a black riding suit, black boots, and an orange jacket. "You! DJ Sync!"

Teisuke blinked and turned around. And when he did, he tilted his head, slowly pointing at Tsubasa. "I remember you..."

"Shut up and get on," Tsubasa countered, tossing him a helmet. "And if I sense your hands going somewhere they really shouldn't be, I'm going to throw you off."

Teisuke actually gave an undignified squeak and put on the helmet. "Yes ma'am!"

Hibiki looked down at herself and the armor that had appeared on her body. "What...what did I just turn into!?"

"You look awesome, onee-chan!" The girl said.

Hibiki blinked, not sure why she seemed so happy to see her change into...whatever this was, although it did look, if not feel, vaguely familiar. Almost by instinct, she began to sing as she took the girl by the hand and picked her up, ready for another round of Chase the Humans Across Town. Hibiki didn't have the foggiest idea what was going on, but she knew saving this girl was first and foremost in her mind.

She jumped. And somehow flew a good thirty feet through the air away the Noise. But, Hibiki also had jumped in a random direction, so she was also falling probably the same distance through the air. With seconds to spare, she flipped her body in mid-air and landed on her feet without a scratch on either her or the girl. This was getting kinda weird.

The Noise followed her off the building, diving on her in a massive wave of death. She immediately jumped backward, still singing, but against misjudged the strength she now had and flew back another twenty feet and tripped on landing. But even as she fell to the ground, she still kept the girl safe. The Noise tried to attack her the same way they did when she was with Teisuke, throwing their bodies like bullets at her, but she jumped clear once again.

And promptly crashed into a nearby silo, creating a crater in the metal wall. She grabbed a nearby rail, hanging on while still singing this song from nowhere. Looking to her left, she saw the massive green Noise just standing next to her. As it took its pincer arm and tried to crush her into the silo wall, she leapt clear, landing neatly on the ground.

One enterprising glob Noise tried to jump on her from behind, but Hibiki was ready for it. She clenched a fist and swung it into the body of the monster. It promptly turned to ash and exploded under her strike, just like Teisuke. And Zwei Wing. This whole night had suddenly taken a turn at Fourth and Bananas. "Did I...did I seriously just do that?"

A motorcycle cut through Hibiki's song and thoughts, sending glob Noise flying every which way as it came barreling into the fray.

"Are you crazy!? You're not actually going to drive this into the back of the big guy, are you?"

"Ground's right there if you want to get off!"

"You are beyond insane!"

Hibiki blinked. Did she hear Teisuke just now? Sure enough, Teisuke Tamori flung himself off the motorcycle while its blue-haired driver drove on past her, landing hard on his side. Meanwhile, Tsubasa continued to gun the motorcycle right at the behemoth Noise, leaping off at the last second while it crashed and exploded in flames. She flew through the air like only a trained fighter like her could and landed neatly on her feet in front of Hibiki.

"Don't space out! That'll get you killed!" Tsubasa said.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking…!" groaned Teisuke from the ground.

"Teisuke-kun!" Hibiki said happily, taking a moment to help her friend up off the ground. "You're alive!"

"So are you!" said Teisuke. And then he happened to see what she was wearing, and he added, "What's with the getup?"

"This? I...It's a long story," Hibiki sighed.

"You two protect the girl!" Tsubasa said. And she promptly ran off into the horde of Noise once again, singing a single line. "Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron..."

And just like Hibiki before her, her clothes blasted off her body, and it was replaced with the blue and black body suit she wore against the Noise from the night before with a song on her lips. Hibiki and Teisuke could only watch.

"Tsubasa…?" Hibiki asked.

"That woman is crazy, I swear..." grumbled Teisuke, rubbing at his hip. "Geez, I hurt everywhere..."

Tsubasa, like before, was a veritable hurricane against the Noise. She immediately opened with Azure Flash, clearing out the front line of Noise with a massive wave of energy. Then she launched into the air, firing her Thousand Tears into the exposed horde. Noise continued to fall as she kicked and sliced her way through with her katana and her leg blades, leaving Hibiki and Teisuke amazed.

And then a shadow fell over them.

"Onee-chan!" the girl said, pointing up.

Hibiki looked up, and the behemoth Noise had somehow snuck past Tsubasa and was looming over them. Teisuke prepared his Sync Driver, even though he was probably in no condition for a second round of fighting. But then, a flash of light appeared in the sky, and a sword easily the size of any of the buildings around them speared the beast through its head. And standing atop that sword was Tsubasa, looking as cool and unflappable as any hero deserved to be.

"Okay. Credit where it's due: that's actually kinda cool," said Teisuke.

END TRACK 02

Sync Discs: DJ Sync