"So where exactly are we, anyway?" Zach pondered, looking around the dark hall. "Are we underground?"
"Close, we're in the 2nd Disaster Relief Squad HQ. And that HQ is a submarine."
Zach stopped in her tacks, gasping. The three other girls looked at her inquisitively. Genjuro just chuckled to himself.
"I guess we have some explaining to do before you join the 2nd, don't we?"
'Join the second? They want ME to join THEM? This has to be some really elaborate joke. Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. I know...' Zach winced as she pinched herself on the arm.
"Of course it's not a dream, dummy. You never see the broadcast the Finé terrorists played?" Chris grinned at her confidently, as if she was the one who bested them herself.
"No... I was back in England when that happened... I'm a pretty heavy sleeper so I missed the whole thing... More importantly, what was that about me 'joining the 2nd'? Do you guys really want me to fight for you or something? I'm just a normal guy, I can't enter a military career..." Zach spoke fast, staring at Genjuro's back. He turned around with a straight face. He was really good at those.
"You expect us to just let you walk out of here with that priceless Relic around your neck? AND after finding out you're the wielder of that Relic? No Zach, I'm sorry. We can't just let you walk away for security reasons. This extends past my reach, so I'm sorry for that. We will, however, inform your parents of what happened. And I will give a full debriefing and answer any questions you have. Life with us isn't bad, Zach, but it's better if you get used to it quickly. You'll be seeing these girls a lot over the next few years. Think yourself lucky, they already have taken a liking to you."
"So I'm supposed to join, just like that? What if I don't?" Zach stared into his eyes with a pleading look on her face.
"Well.. it's not like you have any ID to prove who you are..." Hibiki chimed in. "I'm fairly certain you're gonna have to start a new life anyway... your friends would get kinda suspicious if you turned up looking like that." She scanned over Zach, who was holding down the front of her skirt with both hands.
"But it'll be fun! We can sing together, eat together, have sleepovers, you name it! You're part of our squad now, and don't you forget it missy!" Hibiki launched herself towards Zach, engulfing her in a tight hug.
"We'll protect you Zach-chan, don't you worry."
Zach just closed her eyes and cried into Hibiki's shoulder.
After things had settled, Zach, Genjuro and the girls walked through a couple corridors to a conference room, Hibiki holding Zach's hand every step of the way. Zach was still wiping the tears from her face and cursing to herself about how emotional she was, and Tsubasa and Chris talked to eachother quietly.
The group entered the room, which was just a small room containing a large table and a dozen chairs. There was a projector and a computer at the head of the table, seemingly they used this for presentations and conferences. Genjuro sat at the head of the table tapping away at the computer. The three girls sat down quickly, facing towards the projector screen. Zach stood and looked at the chair, then down at her skirt, then back at the chair. Her face slowly turned red as she switched her view from chair to skirt. Eventually she tapped Chris on the shoulder.
"H-how do I.. How do I sit down in this?" Zach was staring at the floor, her cheeks burning. Chris donned a cheesy grin as she turned around.
"Watch me, ok?" Chris stood up from the chair and looked across the table. She held her skirt and sat down, closing her legs. She put emphasis on the closing her legs part, making sure Zach got the message. Zach simply nodded, and repeated her actions, eliciting giggles from the girls across the table.
"Ready? Alright then.. Let's start by covering the basics. As you probably know, the Noise are a race of unknown beings that started appearing 13 years ago. There was a war with the Noise shortly after the first outbreak, which lasted five years. We lost considerably. The 'war' with the Noise ended abruptly and swiftly, when the Noise vanished out of thin air. Human society had lost millions, but not all. There was time to rebuild, and we used that time effectively. After the war with the Noise was over, Sakurai Ryoko and her team of researches re-instated the Symphogear Project. The project was started during the war, however the project was postponed and resources were diverted to defence operations. It was only after the war that she made any breakthroughs with her research. When the project was initially started, we only had the three-year old Tsubasa as a potential Attuned. Her voice would resonate with the Relics, however no song came to her despite testing on multiple Relics. After re-instating the project, however, we later found a Relic that would respond to Tsubasa to form the Symphogear. This event marked the start of the 2nd Disaster Relief Squad as you see today."
Zach stared intently at Genjuro as he was speaking, filtering the new information through her mind.
'I've gotten myself mixed up in a government program... god damnit, I haven't even been here a year and now I'm stuck here.'
"So what exactly are the Noise? Are they aliens?" Zach questioned, eyes locked on the Commander.
"The Noise, as you know them, are merciless beings. We cannot negotiate. We cannot even shoot them. The Noise are out of phase with everything but the very Earth itself. As their name suggests, they do this by generating noise at a frequency far above anything we thought possible. This high frequency manifests itself by making them virtually impervious to anything. The only weapon we have against the Noise are Symphogear users, three of which are sitting beside you. With you, we have a total of 7 identified Symphogear users in the 2nd. They defend from the attacks of the Noise and are ultimately our way of further research into Relic tech."
Zach leaned back in her chair, taking in all the information. Several expressions passed over her face before she asked her next question.
"So how does the Symphogear work, if you can't shoot the Noise with regular arms, how does a Symphogear pass through them like a hot knife through butter?"
"Excellent question." Genjuro coughed, then cleared his throat. "The Symphogear is powered and activated by songs. This much you already know. However, what you didn't know is that a Symphogear is capable of producing frequencies higher than that which the Noise emit, and passing them through the entire system. Not only does this protect the users from the usual fate which befalls us when we touch the Noise, it means the armaments within the suit and also interact with the Noise. Since such armaments are sickeningly deadly, they usually serve to utterly annihilate anything in their path. Although, there is a trait Symphogear does not share with the Noise. The Noise are made up of solid frequencies. This is how and why they cannot interact with anything but Symphogear. The Symphogear, however, are made of elements available on Earth. This means that the Symphogear can interact with the environment as well as with the Noise. Of course, this also means that if a Symphogear user were to go rogue, a general-purpose weapon will be able to hit the Symphogear user and bring them down. As reassuring as that is to the general public, It will take far more that a bullet to stop such a rogue."
"Wait, does that mean Symphogear users can fight among themselves?" Zach had been pondering this, though she knew she could never hope to beat any of the three here. The fact that they were here signalled that they were hardened veterans at this stuff in the first place. On top of that, three against one. Yikes.
"You're smarter than you look. Yes, if needs be Symphogear users can engage eachother in combat with potentially devastating results." Genjuro rested his arms on the table and interlaced his fingers. Zach looked at the other girls, and noticed Tsubasa and Chris share an all-knowing look. These girls fought eachother once, perhaps? Zach sighed.
"I guess that means I'm stuck here then. I'd never be able to fight off three veterans anyway..." Hibiki stared into the table, looking as if the very thought of fighting Zach troubled her deeply.
"Not that I'd try of course, fighting with your own side is useless." Hibiki lifted her head and flashed Zach a warm smile.
"So where does that put me? Where do I fit in?" Zach fixed her gaze once again on Genjuro.
"You, Zach Lowe, have shown yourself as one of the Attuned. Since most of what we do here is kept under lock and key and protected with an Army regiment, we can't have word getting out. According to anyone but your family, you have flown back to Britain, under the guise of severe family issues. You have been issued a Japanese citizenship, passport and national number, as well as being issued a new United Kingdom citizenship and passport. We will take the pictures for them tomorrow. As for things that directly influence your home life, you have been transferred to a boarding school with Ms. Tachibana, Tsubasa and . We know this won't be much of a problem, since you attended Katai Jimen Academy, another boarding school in the city. We've had your parents collect your things from your room, and they'll be delivered to your new dorm."
'A new school, huh... I guess I can roll with that. Not like I have much say in the matter anyway...' Zach stared up at the ceiling, thinking about her new life. She snapped back to Genjuro, realising he missed something vital.
"Which school am I attending?"
Genjuro looked away as he said this, lowering his voice.
"Lydian Girl's Music Academy."