Narita International Airport. Located within Japan's Chiba Prefecture, the airport consisted of three terminal buildings meant to handle domestic and international flights, making it an essential location for those coming into the land of the rising sun. The commonly-chosen methods of transportation towards Narita Airport were either designated buses, railway services, or taxis if money wasn't going to be an issue. With a combined number of 88 cafes, bars and restaurants, it was easy to find yourself distracted by a dozen sights and luxuries right after arriving from overseas. And it was here in Narita Airport where Lanfen and Ayano awaited the imminent arrival of none other than Yukine Chris.
Soft, winter sunlight shone down on one of the open observation decks as Lanfen stood before its high fences with a hand on its cold, metal railing. Purple eyes half-heartedly gazed past the barrier to wistfully view each aircraft that took its metallic mass into the skies, keeping the Adaptor occupied even if her mind had been wandering aimlessly for the past half-hour now. Lanfen barely paid any attention to all the other nearby civilians making themselves comfortable in the relaxation spot. The only reason she even noticed them at all was because of the audible exclamations which would arise from awestruck children whenever a plane took off from the airport's runway.
A sensation Lanfen almost found to be nostalgic even if she couldn't put a finger as to why.
"Lost in your thoughts again?"
Turning her head at the appearance of Ayano's cheerful jest, Lanfen saw her approaching teammate carrying a pair of coffee cans in both hands, and a typical smile on her face. The Adaptor almost wanted to entertain the thought that Ayano could somehow read minds. "If you're expecting me to start singing, you're better off not holding your breath, Ayano," Lanfen dryly said, taking a gloved hand off the deck's railing so she could be handed a fresh can of iced caffeine. "I take it that Yukine's flight is almost here?"
"In a bit," Ayano replied, standing at Lanfen's side with one eye closed in a wink. "I told Chris where to find us once she's arrived, so I think she'll be perfectly alright."
There was no doubt that senior Wielders like Yukine would be used to all the intricacies of air travel. Lanfen couldn't exactly say the same for herself while the sharp popping of tins being opened momentarily pierced the cold air. After taking their first sips of afternoon coffee, Lanfen dropped herself onto the nearest available bench, and crossed her legs in an attempt to actually relax her tense body. Even if a S.O.N.G. communicator was still strapped to her wrist, Lanfen's relic pendant wasn't on her person. So, if the Distortions decided to appear, they would have no choice other than to evacuate like all the civilians she could see on the observation deck. They couldn't go against the Commander's orders, after all.
Fascinated by the sight of the departing aircrafts, Ayano took an empty seat next to Lanfen on the bench, a merry tune quietly streaming out of her the entire time. It had been a moment since the last time Team-04 was allowed to experience a day-off. There were still no updates from Professor Elfnein regarding the Sword of Damocles so far, but the mere thought of its eventual return made the Adaptor's sword-hand itch. Lanfen would have found it easier to set aside the thought of the Armed Gear if it wasn't for the known presence of Clan Hida operatives laying undetected within their surroundings.
The suggestion came from Tsuchiya Kagero himself. The moment Lanfen received word regarding her mysterious attacker during her uncontrolled rampage with the S.W.O.R.D., nobody within Team-04 wanted to argue against the idea of implementing a level of security for the duration of the Sword of Damocles' maintenance. Still, the whole thing gave Lanfen a strange sensation of reassurance. Almost any one of the mingling civilians within their sights could be an agent of Clan Hida. A skilled operative who would be ready to intercept anyone they deemed to be a threat towards one of S.O.N.G.'s seven Wielders. Even if one of Lanfen's own teammates had personally trained underneath them, Godai hardly measured herself to be the same as a full-on agent of Clan Hida.
At least two or three more airplanes had descended down onto the airport by the time Lanfen was halfway done with her canned coffee. At some point, her eyes subconsciously drifted over to her left wrist, shifting Lanfen's attention away from the civilian aircraft, and onto the standard-issue communicator she had been given when Lanfen was recruited into S.O.N.G.'s Adaptor Corps. The rectangular device was completely silent, and yet, she still expected it to light up with new orders the moment her guard was allowed to be fully let down.
"Jiang," Ayano formally addressed her, causing Lanfen to flinch before she awkwardly looked over to her senior. The disapproving wag of the finger Ayano showed was somehow simultaneously playful and serious. "We're on standby, remember? If S.O.N.G. has any work for us, it's going to be me who will hear about it first," she said, taking an exaggerated, lady-like sip of her coffee can. "Besides, you've already got an order to fulfill, and it's to take it easy after everything that's happened recently. It shouldn't be that hard, right?"
The sheepish apology which poured out of Lanfen was about as inelegant as it could have been. "R-Right. Sorry, Ayano." Hiding her wrist device beneath the sleeves of her civilian winter jacket, Lanfen let out a small sigh, and returned to the mundane sights around them, milk coffee still in one hand.
'Mundane'. It really was the perfect word to describe their day so far. Christmas was tomorrow and there were still no signs of the Distortions world-wide ever since the defeat of the Category-3s nearly two days ago. An optimist would have considered the Distortion conflict to be over by now, but Lanfen could never hold on to that sort of mindset for long. Even so, the Adaptor managed to find a part of her who could at least observe the deck around them, all in an attempt to draw out a couple nostalgia-tinged memories of this particular airport.
"It's been a while since I last came here," Lanfen quietly said, leaving a half-empty coffee can between her and Ayano. "Nothing's really changed much since then, I guess?"
Ayano gave a curious lift of an eyebrow and held her drink in both her hands, tentatively replying, "When was the last time you've stepped foot here?"
The Adaptor's answer was calm and straight-to-the-point. "It was with my parents. Right before I enrolled in Lydian." Just like Lanfen anticipated, the sudden mention of her family wedged a sharp silence right into their conversation, leaving the faint chatter of nearby civilians to fill-in the ensuing void. Lanfen then placed her chin in the palm of a gloved hand and shattered the proverbial ice before Ayano herself could. "They had just come back from an overseas assignment at the time. Mei and I came here by train to welcome them. She wouldn't stop running around the place until our mother scolded her, too. Before that, I managed to save Mei from falling right on her face at one point."
While Lanfen faintly snickered at that last particular detail, Ayano remained quiet and listened on intently with an amused smile. To be able to talk about something as mundane as her old trips to Narita Airport somehow felt relieving. Lanfen didn't understand why, but she didn't desire to know the reason anyway.
"We had dinner here before heading over to our old house in Tokyo. I think it was even the first time I got called 'ma'am' by a waitress. Felt almost like a dream when it happened." Grasping her coffee can between two gloved fingers again, Lanfen downed the rest of its contents in one go this time before pulling her chapped lips away from the polished tin. "... I'd be lying if I said I never thought about reliving those memories. The fact that it's getting harder to even remember them all isn't exactly great, but..." She narrowed her eyes and set her sights on the fourth descending aircraft Lanfen witnessed thus far. "I can at least say that all of it still happened, can't I...?"
Ayano allowed the silence between them to last for about a minute before the older woman nodded at what was supposed to be a rhetorical question. "Your family sounds like they were amazing, Jiang," she said, carefully finishing her own can with one last sip. "Your parents were able to be there for the two of you, even when they were busy with S.O.N.G.'s assignments. Meanwhile, I'm finding it hard to even regularly visit my own parents in-between all of our missions together. And as for Kai," Ayano briefly stopped herself, "she was a great kid... She had an amazing smile, too. The short time where I was able to talk with her was especially fun."
Ayano's parents. Lanfen noted that they had yet to meet the Adaptor thus far. No info of Ayano's parents could also be found within S.O.N.G.'s database of personnel, so they were probably outside of the paranormal business unlike their daughter. It almost made Lanfen wonder if they were fully aware of the dangers Ayano regularly got herself involved with without the aid of any supernatural abilities. Whatever was the case, Lanfen quietly wished them well in continuing their lives as an unbroken family. Nobody else within Team-04 could experience such a simple luxury.
Over the course of the next few minutes, the coffee within their cans dried up along with their conversation, prompting the pair to leave the bench and dispose of their garbage within the designated bins nearby. Once the empty tins were placed where they should be, Ayano dusted her palms, and looked over to Lanfen who was still watching the descending airplanes beyond the observation deck's high fences.
"Jiang?" Ayano called her, bringing the brown woman's attention over. "This may sound a little out of the blue, but at this point, should we really be staying on a last-name basis?"
Lanfen could only soundlessly balk at the sudden question. Placing one hand on her hip, Lanfen scratched a scarred cheek with her other hand, unsure of what to say since she had become rather used to referring to everyone by their surnames. Other than Maria - who was neither Japanese nor Chinese to begin with - Lanfen could not remember a single person she actually knew whom she referred to by their first names. Nobody in Lydian Academy was close enough to warrant it. The same could be said for every other person Lanfen subsequently met after her own graduation.
"I won't push it if you're not comfortable with the idea," Ayano continued, clapping her hands together with another cheerful smile. "But if you don't mind it at all, then maybe you can start by first bringing up this idea with Shinonome?"
This time, the Symphogear-Wielder felt her face warm up considerably from the unexpected mention of their fellow teammate: Shinonome Aiko. The amnesiac, silver-haired woman who had witnessed Lanfen's inability to restrain her tears within the room of a public hospital. The person Lanfen had rescued from the Distortions beneath the light of a shattered moon. "Why are..." Lanfen habitually clicked her tongue and turned away from the smiling brunette. "... Why bring her up all of a sudden?" she muttered, barely managing to even form a coherent reply.
The cat-like grin which grew on Ayano's face initially felt like the only answer Lanfen would actually receive. "She's the one you should be taking that step with first, isn't she?" she teasingly responded, using the fingers on her hands to form the crude outline of a stylized heart. Lanfen's only response to the flamboyant gesture was to wordlessly fiddle with the tip of her braided hair. "Or is there something that's making you - a maiden who can bench-press a truck if you wanted to - a little hesitant about the idea?"
The physical capabilities that were granted by Lanfen's Symphogear were completely irrelevant to anything Ayano was proposing. It was obvious Ayano knew it for a fact, but it didn't stop the brunette anyway from continuing to smile at Lanfen with that frightening, cat-like grin of hers. The simple sight of it made the Adaptor shiver beneath her jacket even though she had faced down creatures like the Distortions numerous times by now. Thankfully, the conversation between the two was interrupted when a familiar voice began calling them from afar.
"Oi! Komichi! Rookie!"
Turning their heads in perfect unison, Ayano and Lanfen looked in the direction of the observation deck's entrance, and spotted Yukine Chris strolling over to them in a winter coat with her luggage bag rolling behind her. Lanfen could not be any more relieved to see the arrival of another person - let alone another Symphogear-Wielder - as the older but shorter woman halted a couple steps before them. The confident smile Yukine wore was to be expected of someone who had been in the paranormal business years before Lanfen's fingers even brushed against the Sword of Damocles.
Unlike Lanfen though, Ayano evidently regarded little for her resume as the brunette greeted the white-haired woman by practically throwing her arms around Yukine in an excited glomp. "There's my little snowball!" Ayano exclaimed with absolutely no regard for their surroundings.
A subsequent, bewildered yell understandably arose from the crimson Adaptor, earning the trio a few looks from some of the mingling civilians around them while Yukine desperately attempted to fight off Ayano's bear-like grasp. "H-Hey! Not this again, c-come on!" She unsurprisingly looked over to Lanfen, clearly desperate for some sort of miracle. "Rookie! Help me, would ya?!"
"Aww, don't be like that, Chris!" Ayano cheerfully insisted, eagerly rubbing her cheek against Yukine's like she was some sort of touch-starved puppy. "It's not every day I get to see you, after all!"
Lanfen let loose a simple sigh and coughed into a closed fist. "Maybe we should-?"
"A little personal space would be nice, dammit!" Yukine barked, unable to free herself from imprisonment within Ayano's arms.
Unsure of what she could even contribute at this point, Lanfen simply chose to let the entire thing diffuse itself naturally as she stuffed her gloved hands inside the pockets of her winter jacket. She then shook her head at Ayano's carefree invasion of Yukine's privacy and slowly tuned out the loud noises coming from them. The last time Lanfen remembered being with another Adaptor in-person was nearly two weeks ago, right after they all had learned of Lanfen's true duty as the Sword of Damocles' designated Wielder. The her of yesterday would have hesitated to even stand this close with Yukine, but after going through the sentimental messages the other Wielders had sent in response to Lanfen's hospitalization, she now felt capable of doing more than just standing by with her feet magnetized to the ground out of sheer trepidation.
When Ayano finally released Yukine from her grasp with a teasing smile, Lanfen took a single step towards the senior Adaptor and greeted the snow-white woman with a formal bow. The sheer sharpness of the gesture could have sliced a tree in half. "We're honoured to have you watch over us in the meantime, Yukine," she said smoothly and politely. "I hope there were no problems with your flight."
Yukine gave Ayano a quick, exasperated elbow shove and the brunette grinned back at her before the short woman returned to Lanfen with a raised brow. "Well, you can relax as long as I'm here, Rookie." Confidence returned to Yukine's voice the moment she was allowed to recollect herself. "It'll take a lot for those tin cans to slow me down if they ever come knocking again. Doesn't matter if they're a Category-1, 2, or 3. I've got plenty of bullets to go around, for sure."
Lanfen lifted her head back up and nodded in appreciation at the woman's unfaltering boast. If they were being technical, it's not like this was going to be the first time Lanfen needed to rely on other people like Yukine to protect them. Her and all the other Wielders had been doing exactly that for at least five years now. The only difference was how Lanfen was even aware of it nowadays.
"Feeling better now?" Yukine asked this time, her voice somewhat lowering itself.
Lanfen needed a second to even realize what she was referring to before she curtly nodded in response. "I'm... doing my best," Lanfen murmured, brushing the tips of her fingers against the surface of her sword-hand's itching palm. "Ayano and the others have been especially helpful. I don't think I would be doing as well as I have been if it... weren't for them." No point in hiding such a fact, Lanfen thought to herself. Even Captain Yaiba and Tsuchiya knew full-well that her team was the only reason Lanfen had yet to dig herself into a hole far too deep to climb out of.
Crossing her arms over her chest in a rather familiar fashion, Yukine looked back at Ayano again, saying, "Well, I guess it wasn't such a bad idea when I recommended Komichi and Yuki to be your teammates, huh?" A playful scoff accompanied her dry words. "They're not exactly some of S.O.N.G.'s best and brightest. But I guess they can be useful sometimes."
Ayano dramatically placed one hand over her chest in a faux display of wounded pride, only to then wink back at Yukine with her tongue stuck out. The few stares she was getting from some of the children around the deck weren't exactly undeserved. "Oh, come now, Chris. It's the day before Christmas! Santa isn't going to give you a present if you keep acting like-" Lanfen loudly cleared her throat and Ayano trailed off into a different sentence entirely. "Ahem. What I meant to say is: Oh, I can't wait to celebrate Christmas together! It's been so long since we-!"
"Stop blubbering about things everyone knows already, Komichi!" Yukine barked, causing Lanfen to slightly wince at the intensity of her voice.
Lanfen was rather grateful that she was never once the target of Yukine's fiery tongue. From what she was able to remember of the interactions between Ayano and Yukine back at Lydian Academy, there was practically no difference in the way the pair chatted with one another even though it's been nearly five years since their graduation.
Yukine Chris. A soon-to-be 23-year old woman who wielded the SG-r02 Ichaival. She was the first enemy Symphogear-Wielder to be brought into S.O.N.G. partially due to Tachibana's desire to reach out to others, or so Ayano claimed. If any of it was true, then the pedestal Lanfen initially placed all the other Wielders on top of was an aspect she surely needed to tear down over time. Because as far as she knew by now, every one of the Symphogear-Wielders were hardly any different from the people they fought to protect. They were human, just like everyone else. With all the good and bad which came with being born into this world.
After securing the scarf around her neck with a brief tug of its black-and-white fabric, Aiko returned her half-hidden eyes back to the terminals in front of her, resuming her digestion of an introductory manual prepared by Ayano Komichi herself. The light rumbling of the moving van barely distracted her as Aiko familiarized herself with S.O.N.G. communications etiquette, the control panel's numerous command inputs, and the utmost basics of being a team operator. Godai was at the front of the vehicle, hands on its steering apparatus like usual while the ponytailed woman navigated the rural roads ahead. If Aiko wasn't so busy with her digital manual, she would've gladly admired the fields of endless white beyond the van's windshields.
The terminal's designated chair was certainly comfortable to sit on. Even though Aiko hadn't stood up from it for about 2 hours now, she could tell that a considerable amount of thought went into the ergonomic design of having an entire computer terminal inside the back of a van. And with the introductory manual prepared by Ayano, Aiko found it perfectly easy to consume every bit of information a S.O.N.G. operator was expected to remember over the course of their journey towards northern Japan.
The prospect of becoming Team-04's new operator was Jiang's own idea. With the Adaptor having brought it up last night in the middle of a buffet dinner, both Godai and Ayano eagerly submitted the request over to Commander Genjuuro for his consideration, leaving Aiko to wait until the Commander or one of his two aides could respond to them. The entire thing nearly prevented Aiko from even sleeping last night. Because if the request were to be actually accepted, then she would finally be capable of contributing to the protection of this world. A world that contained countless wonders and dozens of beautiful souls.
No longer would Aiko be stuck inside an apartment, unable to do anything but wait for the others to return from their daily missions.
Feeling utterly motivated to read up whatever she could as fast as she could, Aiko focused on the terminal's screens, and took in everything Ayano's manual could bestow upon her, essentially stretching her ability to process incoming information to its limits. But over the following hours, her drifting attention began to tire, leading to it redirecting itself to the scarf around Aiko's neck instead. As one of Aiko's hands caressed the monochrome scarf, the thought of its owner slowly came to mind: Cassandra Jiang Lanfen, Wielder of the Sword of Damocles. The personal debt Aiko felt she owed to her and their two teammates was something which could only be fulfilled by her personal assistance on the fields of battle itself.
Gently, Aiko felt out the borrowed scarf's warm material and smiled at its monochrome colours. The same colours that adorned Jiang's own supernatural suit of armour.
A light judder ran throughout the van's floor. It was a sensation soon followed up by the sound of slowing wheels and the abrupt halting of the vehicle's engine. "Shino', we're here," Godai announced from her driver's seat. "Make sure you leave nothing turned on, yeah?"
The clock within the corner of one terminal screen stated that it had been 3-to-4 hours now since their van departed from Yamaku City. Through a few designated inputs into the control panel, Aiko dismissed the introductory manual spread across the screens before shutting off the van's terminal entirely, letting her get off its comfortable seat and open up the vehicle's backdoors. Needless to say, the sights that awaited her outside took Aiko's breath away in an instant.
As piles of gathering snow crunched beneath her boots, Aiko cupped a pale-white cheek in one hand and gazed around her surroundings, practically twirling her body around in an awkward dance. The still-open backdoors of the van no longer registered in her thoughts. Everything Aiko could see was a stark contrast to the concrete jungles of Yamaku City. There wasn't a single towering building in sight, for the town's traditional architecture almost never went higher than two floors. Stretches of tall trees could be seen surrounding the town's borders, practically secluding this winter haven from the bustling nature of the cities beyond. To conclude it all, white snow fell from the skies above, covering everything in a blanket of purity.
The sound of closing metal suddenly resounded in the air. Aiko quivered and turned around to notice Godai looking at her with one hand on the van's closed backdoors. The amused smirk the ponytailed woman was wearing subconsciously made Aiko twiddle her fingers in embarrassment.
"Welcome to my hometown," Godai said, taking a single glance around them the same way someone would look at a decades-old photograph. "The sights here ain't as impressive as what you'd see in a city, but it sure as hell feels a lot quieter around these parts." She took out a bunch of keys from a pocket of her jeans and locked the van up behind her with the press of a button. "Let's get going. We got better things to do here than freeze our asses off outside."
Taking no issue with Godai's rather crude suggestion, Aiko hid the lower half of her face within the comforts of a borrowed scarf, and followed her teammate from behind while they strode through the snow-laden streets. Unlike Yamaku City's crowded, urban roads, it was easy to stroll through the town without seeing another soul for some time, ensuring the presence of an unceasing quiet which was only interrupted by the duo's crunching footfalls. If Aiko's assumption was any bit accurate, the town must have been completely untouched by the devastation wrought by the Distortions' global attack. Still, Aiko knew that S.O.N.G. would never disregard the chance of future rifts appearing in even the most secluded of areas.
The path towards their destination barely required anything more than a brisk walk. When the pair eventually stopped before one of the many two-floor, wooden buildings lining the streets, Godai rapped her knuckles on its front door in a particular pattern, summoning the sounds of rushing footsteps from within the household. "Here she comes," Godai said, now wearing an anticipatory grin as Aiko responded with a tilt of the head. "Komi' didn't tell you who we were visitin', did she? Don't worry. You'll find out soon enough."
Curiosity immediately welled up within Aiko's mind, forcing the silver-haired woman to calm herself down and diligently wait for whoever was on their way.
After several more footsteps clambered from within the household, its front door slid to one side, unveiling a bespectacled woman who was half a head shorter than Aiko herself. Her inviting smile shined like the beaming gaze her green eyes acknowledged the two with, and the bob-cut style of the arriving woman's hair gave the brunette a stylish flair on par with the flowery dress she wore. "Honey!" the woman exclaimed while Godai stepped forward to embrace her without another word. "You should have called if you were going to arrive so early!"
"What can I say?" Godai responded, casually planting a quick kiss on the woman's forehead. "I can't keep my darling waiting too long for me now, can I?"
As Godai and the arriving woman obviously enjoyed their apparent reunion, Aiko felt this sudden warmth gathering within her cheeks, and subconsciously felt them out with both hands. Whether or not the sight in front of Aiko was the reason for her body's reaction, she couldn't find a confirmation, so she just continued staying silent until the pair were done with their extravagant greetings. The energy Aiko sensed within their mannerisms was completely different from what she usually felt between Godai and Ayano, so it would only be rude to disturb the little bubble they two had made for themselves.
"Shino'," Godai said, turning to Aiko with one arm wrapped around the arriving woman's waist. "Meet Kaburagi Otome. She's an old classmate of Komi' and me, and as of a year ago, my dear fiancé." She flashed a pearly-white smirk and Kaburagi proceeded to excitedly wave at Aiko even if her outfit was ill-suited for exposure to the current weather. Kaburagi was almost akin to a bright sun in human form if the comparison made any sense. "Darling, this is Shinonome Aiko, the gal I've been mentioning in our little chats lately."
Fiancé. Aiko wracked her Japanese vocabulary for a moment to remember the unusual term, and when a rough definition finally came to her, the words Aiko initially intended to speak transitioned into astonished muttering. "G-Greetings, Kaburagi." Aiko's hands grasped the monochrome scarf around her neck this time. "It's a pleasure to m-meet you. I hope my presence won't be too troublesome for you two." An informal term existed to describe being a detrimental presence between such a close pair. Unfortunately, Aiko's mind was too busy registering the fact that one of her teammates was going to be carrying out the ceremonial bonds of marriage one day.
"Come in, come in!" Kaburagi told them, grabbing on to the pair by their wrists before excitedly pulling them into her opened household. "Honey's been telling me about how you've been a lot of help lately, so it's nice to finally meet you like this, Shinononome!"
"It's 'Shinonome', Kaburagi-"
The sound of the front door slamming itself shut behind them cut off Aiko's timid correction. Regardless, she appreciated the invitation into the personal abode now that they were free from the winter's icy grasp. And to Aiko's surprise, the inside of Kaburagi's household appeared far more modern than its exterior would imply: Electrical heaters, modern lighting fixtures, and appliances with holographic interfaces like the ones Jiang owned in her apartment all blended together with traditional Japanese design and Christmas decorations to form a memorable feast to her senses. Of course, Aiko soon brought herself back to reality and started following typical etiquette by taking off her snow-covered footwear.
"Welcome to the Godai household!" Kaburagi exclaimed with a bow while the arriving duo placed their boots on one side of the house's entrance. "Tonight is the night of Christmas Eve! And since it's rare for us to be having so many people later, I swear to concoct the grandest dinner a Symphogear-Wielder could ever enjoy!" She then gestured over to the nearby living room in a grandiose fashion. "Don't be afraid to make yourself comfortable for now!"
Mildly taken aback by the uncontrolled excitement within Kaburagi, Aiko hesitantly glanced over to where the kitchen presumably was, asking, "Do you require any assistance preparing for dinner later? You must have quite the task on your hands if you intend to cook for so many people."
"Not at all!" Kaburagi bravely exclaimed, pushing her spectacles up the bridge of her nose. "A Kaburagi's pride is always their tenacity in the kitchen and their skills with a knife! Have no worry and relax instead, Shinononome!"
Aiko wasn't particularly keen on standing by when she could possibly help, but the small nudge Godai gave her encouraged Aiko to follow the house owner's suggestion in the end. While Kaburagi and Godai promptly made their way up the house's staircase, Aiko went inside the living room, and allowed her curiosity to run her gaze over practically everything in sight. Santa decorations, reindeer toys, and even a small tree with flashing lights wrapped around it enforced the image of a typical Christmas household as Aiko looked to the nearby shelves and noticed several framed photographs lining their wooden racks.
Making sure she didn't bump into anything fragile, the silver-haired woman observed the framed photos up-close with eye-sparkling interest. The first one she saw was of a man and woman standing inside a church for what was obviously a marriage ceremony. If Aiko squinted her eyes hard enough, the woman in the white dress would've been a splitting image of her teammate, Godai Yuki. The second photograph next to it instead portrayed a man on a motorcycle with another taller man standing beside him in a police uniform. A number on the second image dated the photo to as far back as 49 years ago, roughly two decades before the photograph Aiko first spotted.
Aiko was then about to take a peek at Godai's graduation photos when she suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind. She instantly whipped around and saw Godai looking past Aiko to also take her own glance at the framed photographs on the shelves. The sense of wistfulness in the ponytailed woman's eyes appeared for only a second before Godai spoke up. "I'm guessin' you wanna know their names?" A curt nod of the head was Aiko's answer to Godai's laid-back question. "Well, the married couple over there are my parents: Godai Ono and Godai Natsume. And the two guys in the other photo? My great-uncle Yusuke and a friend of his. I usually just call him 'Uncle Yusuke', though."
Looking around the large household at the mention of Godai's parents, Aiko found the place to be far quieter than what the photographs would imply. "Where are-?"
"They're gone," Godai instantly told her, prompting Aiko to immediately freeze up at the nonchalance of the statement while Godai slowly scratched the back of her head with one hand. Godai then took a seat on the living room's large sofa and gave a mild shrug to ease Aiko's visible, growing tension. "Car accident. Just happened one night when I was still studyin' in Lydian. Didn't even hear about it till Uncle Yusuke gave me a call."
Pursing her lips at Godai's surprisingly succinct explanation, Aiko couldn't immediately untangle the rising, twisting sensation in her stomach just with her teammate's easy-going attitude. "Godai..."
"It's fine," Godai insisted with another casual shrug of the shoulders. "Uncle Yusuke's been the one takin' care of me since then. Otome and Komi' were also there to help me get through the worst of it. God knows I wouldn't have wanted anybody else backing me up at the time." Godai's carefree smile didn't leave her face for even a split-second. "Sometimes, the grim reaper just decides to take away people when you're not looking, Shino'. But even if they're gone, I know that I still got plenty of other folks around me to count on."
"That is... true," Aiko quietly said, stepping away from the shelves to sit down next to Godai with a pair of stiff hands on her lap. Her teammate's affable nature was sometimes just incomprehensible to her. "... Even if I still do not understand what it means to have a family, I'm sure it must have been difficult at the time."
Soundlessly, Godai drummed her fingers on the couch's armrest, her gaze once again back on the photographs on the nearby shelf instead of the colourful decor around them. "You're not wrong there," she admitted in a hush tone. "Again... I was never by myself after what happened. And because of that... I guess ya could say I wanna treat Jiang to the same thing Komi' and Otome did for me. No matter what pace we need to go through." The sudden mention of the Adaptor made Aiko perk her ears. "Jiang didn't have many folks around her when she lost her parents. So, the least I could do for her now is to be a friend of hers. It's what being teammates is for, right?"
A sense of sincerity soon returned to Godai's smile, and Aiko returned it by attempting one of her own before gazing upwards at the flashing Christmas lights above their heads.
This was going to be her first ever night celebrating Christmas, and all of it contributed to the mental healing of the Team's designated Symphogear-Wielder. Aiko couldn't describe how she felt about being able to partake in such a thing, but if there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that Aiko was determined to be one of the few who would stand by Jiang's side without a sense of regret. Aiko made herself clear to the Adaptor yesterday on how willing she was to assist with the burdens Jiang forced only onto herself, and if Jiang needed more time to feel comfortable doing so, then it was time she, Godai and Ayano were all willing to wait for.
As per requested by the group, a S.O.N.G. escort vehicle had arrived in Narita Airport, giving Lanfen, Yukine and Ayano the ride they required to head far northward where Godai's hometown resided. It was the same type of black vehicle Lanfen had already ridden in twice now, even if its passenger compartment was visibly altered to accommodate twice its carrying capacity. Just like the previous vehicles, a physical barrier sat between the passenger seats and the drivers upfront, preventing the trio from even interacting with the vehicle's operators. This wasn't something Yukine nor Ayano seemed to actually care about compared to the hours-long trip they were expecting to endure.
While Lanfen rested in her seat with her chin in the palm of one hand, Ayano sat next to her, eyes closed shut with her head leaning on a cushion as the vehicle wouldn't be arriving for about another hour or two. Sitting opposite of the pair was Yukine, a plastic cup of boba tea held in one hand with her smartphone in the other. Absolutely nothing was going on right now, and yet, Lanfen could still feel flickers of proverbial fires dancing within her eyes, forcing the greenhorn Adaptor to extinguish them by gazing out of the tinted windows to her left. The expansive, open fields of white Lanfen witnessed were almost something one would only see from a well-regarded painting within a museum.
A painting which could instantly wither away from the unpredictable arrival of a Distortion rift.
"Ease up, Rookie," Yukine spoke up, one hand still typing away on her smartphone. The sheer suddenness of her words made Lanfen almost jump where she sat. "Spending your free time worrying about when an enemy could appear ain't exactly advisable. You'll just run yourself ragged at some point."
Silently agreeing with the far-more experienced Wielder sitting across from her, Lanfen brought one hand into her jacket's pockets and slowly drew out her own smartphone. The toy that was attached to it by a silver chain momentarily seized Lanfen's gaze before she unlocked the device's screen for a glimpse at recent world news. Unsurprisingly, the first headline she saw involved Kazanari Maria and Kazanari Tsubasa. The pair were apparently handling a large charity run in London with the assistance of their humanitarian front. Even if it had been some time now since the global attack, efforts were still being made to help the world recover from the casualties it inflicted and the lives it irreversibly changed.
It was an admirable effort, Lanfen quietly admitted. Combating Noise and Distortions was undeniably a boon for the world, but it was another level entirely to help others without needing the swing of a blade.
Panning her gaze upwards from her smartphone, Lanfen looked over to Yukine, and saw the veteran Wielder emptying her drink before leaving it inside a nearby cup holder for convenience. Casual conversation had all but died out after the first hour of their drive, so Lanfen intended to change that, albeit by introducing a far more different topic this time. "Yukine," Lanfen said, her hand still holding on to her phone, "would you mind answering something I've been wondering about?"
The snow-white woman glanced over to the sleeping Ayano, dryly replying, "Don't tell me she's been giving ya embarrassing secrets about me." Lanfen made sure to ease her understandable worries by curtly shaking her head. The sight of relief which escaped Yukine was palpable even from where they were sitting from one another. "Go ahead then."
Lanfen took a second glance at the news image of the Kazanari couple on her smartphone before returning to Yukine. She hoped that the question she had in mind wasn't going to be too personal for someone like Yukine. "How were you... and the others like when you all first started working together?"
Immediately, Yukine crossed her arms defensively at the question, practically the same way Commander Genjuuro would often do whenever he stood at his post in the S.O.N.G. submarine's command center. "W-Well," Yukine sputtered, suddenly looking everywhere except in front of her, "we were sort of a mess, I guess?" Lanfen could sense the restrained pain in her answer. "There were plenty of times where things just got chaotic but, like, it would always turn out well in the end, if that makes any lick of sense." Leaning against the headrest of her chair, Yukine weakly threw her arms upwards. "I guess that's just how S.O.N.G. gets by in the end? A lot of luck and a lot of improvisation."
The sound of a shuffling seat made itself known and both Adaptors deviated their attention to notice Ayano peering at them with half-open eyes, and a small, cat-like grin on her face. "In the end," Ayano said, hiding a small yawn behind the palm of her hand, "none of it ever stopped you all from being wonderful schoolmates, huh?"
"Go back to sleep, Komichi," Yukine practically ordered her with an accompanying pout. "None of that ain't really relevant to the Rookie's question, ya know?"
The feline-esque grin Ayano wore only grew wider with a rising sense of mischief as Ayano nestled herself within her corner and closed her eyes again. Lanfen still chose to believe that she was still listening in on them regardless. After returning to the experienced Adaptor on the other side of the passenger compartment, Lanfen's eyes pinpointed the straps of the ruby-like pendant Yukine was undoubtedly wearing beneath her winter outfit, quickly reminding her of the system both of them operated in order to protect the world: The Symphogear. Yukine wielded the crimson SG-r02 and Lanfen wielded the black-and-white SG-r04. Despite being a next-generation Symphogear, the SG-r04 could never contend with its predecessors when it came to unleashing raw devastation against hordes of enemies.
It couldn't, for the Sword of Damocles was ultimately designed with the primary focus of engaging lone combatants and eliminating them with extreme prejudice.
Sensing the hairs on the back of her neck immediately stand up from the memory of a crimson blade howling relentlessly within the palm of her hand, Lanfen tightened her grip around the smartphone she held before taking in a practiced breath. "Yukine," Lanfen called her again, her voice lower than before, "can I ask you another question? You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to."
Yukine stared right at her and answered in an equally-serious tone, "Sure."
Almost instantaneously, Lanfen's readied words lodged themselves right in her tightening throat. It was silly of her. She had been practicing to ask this question since last night, and yet here she was, suddenly unable to spit it out. Carefully, Lanfen slid her smartphone back inside her jacket, and gripped the leather seats she sat on with both hands. "... Yukine, do you personally think it would have been better," her fingernails dug deep into tanned leather, "if the Sword of Damocles had chosen someone else...?"
Silence expectedly followed suit. It was probably the best thing that could have come in response to such an abrupt question.
Focusing her attention on Yukine alone, the snow-white woman subtly tensed up within her seat while Lanfen maintained unwavering, unbroken eye-contact. When Yukine finally decided to answer her question, the far more experienced Adaptor was as straightforward as she could have been. But what Lanfen didn't expect was for Yukine's answer to be in the form of her own armour-piercing question. "Rookie, would you give up your Symphogear if you had the chance?"
None of the words Lanfen readied in her mind were designed for the response she actually received.
Now unsure of what she should even be saying next, Lanfen's purple eyes simply widened as the greenhorn Adaptor's fingernails dug themselves deeper into the car seats. 'Give up'. Lanfen honestly never once imagined a situation where she had any true agency with being chosen by her Armed Gear. "... I wouldn't," Lanfen admitted the first thing that came into her mind. "Even if I... have to endure the possibility of following an order where I'd have to take someone's life... I can't deny the fact that my Symphogear still gave me the chance to save countless lives. I failed to save... my sister. But I also succeeded in saving others who I..." Her next few words trailed off, leaving Lanfen's admission without a conclusive end.
But within Lanfen's swirling mind, she knew that her tied tongue was just about to bring up Shinonome Aiko.
The woman whom Lanfen had saved - and had been saved by - in the measly timespan of nearly two weeks.
Once a couple minutes had passed by without another syllable from Lanfen, Yukine leaned forward in her seat, and pulled out the red pendant which rested beneath her winter coat. "None of us had any choice when it came to wielding our Symphogears, Rookie," she bluntly admitted, catching Lanfen off-guard. "The Chairwoman got picked for her sword when she was just a little kid. The Dummy ended up with one being lodged inside her. Maria, Scythe and Rabbit? Treated like beakers and test tubes in a lab experiment. I had mine forced on me at some point just 'cause I was compatible." Yukine waved the tiny pendant between her fingers before giving the same carefree shrug Godai would always do.
Absolutely nothing of what Lanfen listened to sounded pleasant. But it didn't stop Yukine from wearing that confident grin on her face.
"Even if we can't figure out why someone gave ya that thing-" Yukine released her pendant and allowed it to fall back onto her chest. "What matters in the end is what ya choose do with it, right?"
Lanfen gave no audible answer, and yet, Yukine somehow understood the rising acknowledgement the greenhorn Adaptor felt within her beating chest, letting the older of the two lean back in her seat again while Lanfen slowly pried her fingers off the car seat beneath her. For a second, Lanfen swore she could see a bit of a smile appear on Ayano's face again in the corner of her eye. If Ayano had been listening, Lanfen didn't mind, for none of the feelings she wanted to convey were anything she desired to keep from everyone else at this point. There was nothing to hide by this point, she thought.
Nothing except the feelings Lanfen was still attempting to navigate when it came to a certain silver-haired member of Symphogear Team-04.
With the conversation between the trio having once again died down, the rest of the ride towards Godai's hometown went on in silence as Lanfen watched the sun slowly sink into the distant horizon. Yukine was going to be staying in Kaburagi's household for the duration of her stay in Japan, so she unfortunately wasn't going to be coming with Team-04 back to Yamaku City after their later celebrations. There was plenty Lanfen could ask of an experienced Wielder like Yukine, but with the Distortions still posing a worldwide threat, all of those questions were best saved for another time. The ride through these snow-covered roads was draining on the mind, and by the time they were in front of Kaburagi's household, the trio were simply glad to be back on their feet.
Bright lights illuminated the traditional architecture of the entire town while Lanfen, Yukine and Ayano stood outside the front door to their destination. Their escort vehicle was already well out of sight, leaving Ayano to declare their arrival by giving a small knock on the wooden entrance.
Without her usual black-and-white scarf on hand, Lanfen needed to endure the dropping temperatures of northern Japan with what she had on her person. Unlike Ayano and Yukine who were seemingly unaffected by the cold winter, Lanfen was shivering relentlessly beneath her jacket. To her immediate relief, the front door they were waiting in front of slid open, and the group was greeted by the arrival of Kaburagi Otome, another senior of Lanfen during her days in Lydian. The bespectacled woman's greetings towards Ayano and Yukine were as warm as a shining sun, but Lanfen couldn't register any of it when she was too busy worrying about her body temperatures falling far too low for her liking.
"Welcome to the Godai household!" Kaburagi exclaimed after the trio hurriedly entered the warm comfort of her abode. "Honey and I are almost done preparing dinner, so you don't have to wait long till everyone can start filling their stomachs!"
After warming up her shivering palms with a simple breath into them, Lanfen placed her boots inside the entrance's footwear cabinet, and observed the ecstatic hugs Kaburagi gave to both Ayano and Yukine. The former gladly returned the gesture with double the energy, but the latter unsurprisingly reacted with an assortment of yelling and a face that was as flushed as a tomato. Kaburagi Otome. She too had not changed much since graduation and Lanfen welcomed such a thing in tense times like these. With her sword-hand still twitching at her side, Lanfen waited for Yukine and Ayano to head upstairs with the former's luggage before she finally approached Kaburagi and greeted her with a precise bow.
"... It's nice to see you again, Kaburagi," Lanfen formally said, lifting her head while Christmas ornaments and lights flashed all around them. "The dinner invitation was an honour to receive."
To Lanfen's surprise, Kaburagi seemed to be restraining her usual brimming energy in the presence of an arriving past-junior. "It would only be right to invite you alongside everyone else, Jiang," she insisted, pushing her spectacles up the bridge of her nose in a matter-of-fact way. "Still, it's definitely amazing to see one of my juniors as a Symphogear-Wielder now! That makes you the seventh person from Lydian Academy to become one, huh?"
The seventh and hopefully last one to become a Wielder, Lanfen mused to herself, already finding it rather coincidental how so many Candidates derived from Lydian Academy. "It's a job at the end of the day," Lanfen simply told Kaburagi, stuffing her still-shivering hands into the pockets of her jacket. "In the end... I'm just doing whatever I can to help both myself and everyone else."
Kaburagi nodded respectfully at Lanfen's statement before politely gesturing towards the living room where the voices of Shinonome and Godai could faintly be heard. "I hope you can enjoy yourself tonight, Jiang. There's no better day to take it easy than Christmas Eve. So," she snapped her fingers and flashed a smile which was almost too blinding for Lanfen to witness directly, "just leave all your worries at the door and make the best memories you can while you're here, okay?"
Sensing the flickers of proverbial fires dancing within her purple eyes again, Lanfen rested one hand on her hip, and extinguished the blinding heat within her vision with one glance at the living room nearby. There, she could spot Godai presenting a display of extraordinary dexterity to Shinonome by showing off her skills with a bunch of playing cards. To the silver-haired woman's amazement, mere swipes of Godai's hand caused the cards she held to disappear in a flash, earning Godai a respectable clap of applause beneath the colourful lights of the Christmas decorations around them.
This was going to be Lanfen's first Christmas without her little sister.
But it was also going to be her first ever Christmas with the members of Team-04.