G-BEAT

              “Eh? Ah? What’s going on...?”

The mana of the Grail made a decent supplement to Memories. However her Master in truth had little to provide, and the taste just wasn’t the same. Garie wasn’t entirely sure if the memories these almost automatic beings provided were true memories or false implanted ones. It didn’t matter in the end. They provided the energy that the Auto Scorer needed regardless, and kept her from burdening her Master.

Yet this time, she ate not for the sustenance itself, but for the bait. What an amusing twist of ate, she thought to herself. Of all of those idiots, it was the dumbest of them all that would come before her. So she threw aside caution and her presence concealment, all to catch a small bug in her net.

And the bug did indeed take the bait.

“Fufu, it has been some time, has it not my cursed song?”

With a laugh and a spin, Garie stood in a bow, before rising once more. When she did, all form of kindness that may have been there before was gone.

And of course, in her hand were the black gems with a glowing red interior that had tormented those Gears so often. Those gems that had been labeled as so powerful that they were to be sealed as something special.

Those gems that would be the first way to play with her new toy.

“Let’s see if you’re still the weak idiot you were last time, eyahahahaha!”

       She had a few seconds at maximum to respond to the threat. Luckily, while Hibiki Tachibana wasn’t the quickest of wit, she had enough sense to know when a situation had officially escalated. Especially when circumstances like this were concerned.

              “Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron...”

       There were many questions running through her brain at the moment. How had the Autoscorer returned? Why was she here, of all places? Was she a Servant, too? She wouldn’t be able to find an answer to that right now, though.

       Right now, her best choice would be to--

              “ ♪ Cry out! (G-beat!) Hit the meter! (G-beat!) Shake it all off! ♪ ”

【  ❛  gungnirfists ―   】

it hasn’t been too terribly long a stay yet she made it habit once again to sleep, leaving most of the work to her servant as she did previously with a particular shikigami. not that her servant seemed to mind such an amount of freedom but a woman needs her beauty rest. hers just happened to be hard to pinpoint, ranging from several hours to days. maybe even months, if she so felt like it.

she figured ‘pon waking that she might as well gather insight on the area though when she came to a destination … ah, oh my. seems she startled a girl with this method of travel. 

❛  hoh?  ❜  a tired mumble of the word as she stepped fully out of the gap, patting her dress momentarily.  ❛  you look as if you’ve seen something frightening, little one.  ❜ 

              “I-I am seeing something frightening!!”

       She wasn’t sure how the woman in front of her could be acting so nonchalant about this. This was something really supernatural! Sure, Hibiki had seen Noise, Armed Gears, Alchemists, Autoscorers--

       Okay, maybe she had seen some supernatural things before. But this was still really weird! The lady just appeared out of thin air! That was weird!

Kagura’s stuffing her face with absolutely no sense of grace or delicacy.

Though no one is particularly surprised at that revelation, it must still be said for the sake of setting the scene.

“Uwa… Takoyaki, hamburger, ice cream, croissant…”

All of said things had been placed in front of the young yato, and every few moments she tasted a new one.

Next, as if echoing the girl only a few feet away–

“There is so many, yes!”

       Wah, there’s even this scene set up over here?! The mountain of food set up within arm’s length was absolutely horrible. So many different types of delicious food, so many different things that Hibiki could be eating. She was pretty sure Servants didn’t need to eat, but that didn’t necessarily mean she was lacking in want. 

              “...Fuwah...”

Ayano was drawn like a moth to the flames with the sounds of a crying child– however it was soothed and she assumed the best scenario; That the crying one would’ve found their parents, o gotten the snack they wanted. Though, she noticed a young girl with short hair leading around a sniffling child. Eyes puffy and red, oh! It was a kind citizen. However, after a moments notice, the older girl looked a bit,, confused. With a slight smile, she walked over to them.

A small child was there, so she had to word this carefully! “Hm… I think you might want to go over that way! There’s a service counter that way, so maybe your…” What did she hear? Right, right, Papa. “Your papa might be looking over there!” Ayano smiled and offered some friendly advice. Adding on after the sudden realization that those two would get further lost.

“I can help, too, if you’d like.”

              “Eh?”

       Hibiki hadn’t anticipated the girl’s help, but she most definitely appreciated it. She was sure the girl holding her hand appreciated it, too! Her teary-eyed, fearful expression seemed like it was beginning to go away. It was nice that a girl that young could see complete strangers willing to help her. 

              “Yeah, let’s go over there! I’m sure your papa’s gonna be right there!”

       Redirecting her attention to the newcomer, Hibiki’s warm smile was ever-present, as usual. It’s always good to greet everyone with a big smile, isn’t it?

“Aww shucks, thanks!” May beamed back, a neat row of white clear in her bright expression; these sorts of compliments seemed quite meaningful to her, as one could probably guess. 

“I sure do try, that’s what it’s for, right?” Growing up in a musical family quickly gave her insight into the myriad ways the sonic arts could affect and be used by others, for reasons equally as infinite and personal.

“You into music too? You kinda seem like it.” Something about the latter half of the other’s comment felt meaningful; such words weren’t generally spoken light by those who weren’t super into this sorta thing.

       The girl simply nodded, a wide grin across her face. While she was more closely connected to songs than instrumental music, Hibiki had some grasp of what music could mean to people. Songs had the same effect, didn’t they?

              “You could say that! I’m better with singing, though...”

       The discussion made her think about her friends, actually. Tsubasa and Maria were probably the best singers out of her circle of friends. Compared to them, Hibiki was very much just an amateur. There was no way she could compete with professionals, none at all!

       She must’ve been dreaming. This had to be some kind of nightmare. 

       The encounter itself pretty much boiled down to bad luck. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl could’ve sworn she’d seen something strange. A young man, just another one of the random citizens wandering the streets of Utopia. She didn’t know him personally (she wasn’t that sociable), but what she caught in the edge of her field of vision made it seem as though he’d been suddenly pulled from the peering eyes of the public crowd. 

       Hibiki followed, because of course she did. Despite Kawakami’s earlier warnings against getting into trouble, Hibiki’s chronic hero syndrome had a habit of kicking in without her say. And if it was something she could deal with really quickly, given her Gear and skills, why should she ignore someone in need of saving? 

       She moved with haste, following the sight. Down into an alley, hidden away from the public eye, Hibiki went after the young man, making sure to keep just enough distance to where, if she was just seeing things, she could whistle a cheery tune and pretend she wasn’t doing anything. And if she wasn’t, well, the solution was sorta obvious when she had her Gungnir around her neck.

       But something the girl never could’ve predicted was for her to show up. She knew that smug grin way too well for her face to not twist into one of shock and horror. How? Hibiki had heard of the doll’s fate directly from Maria. She shouldn’t be here. There was no way.

              “Y-You’re... But, that’s not...”

“However, you have all been brought to a safe location. You and your loved ones as well.”

       Those words had been sitting in the back of Hibiki Tachibana’s mind for the past week. The world--their world, every world--had torn apart by... something. The fact that she couldn’t recall what bothered her, but what bothered her more was the fact that she hadn’t seen any of her friends yet. 

       No Miku. No Chris, no Tsubasa. No Kirika, Shirabe, Maria, no one. Thus far, from her perspective, she had been the only one to wake up as of then. 

“It will take some time for them to all awaken.”

       If that was the case, when would they wake up? Couldn’t they tell her? Couldn’t they give her even a slight hint? Being away from everyone only felt worse when she knew they could end up meeting again at any moment. It put her on edge, and made her mind constantly play tricks--as though at any second one of them would appear right behind her. It really wasn’t funny.

       One week had passed before she saw the first of them to arrive.

              “...Tsubasa-san?”

       The words came out in a hushed whisper, almost as if she couldn’t believe it at first. The older girl hadn’t noticed her yet, and she wondered if she was imagining things. But Hibiki watched as the blue-haired idol interacted with a nearby shopkeeper, her body language speaking that same tone of cooled steel. Calm, focused, concise. Always speaking with a purpose, making no wasteful actions. There... was no mistaking it, was there?

              “Tsubasa-san!!”

       It had been a few days since her arrival, and the girl was starting to get a feel for the city’s environment. She’d figured out how to get from one district to another, she’d learned which district was which, everything that was essential to adjusting to her new “home”. Needless to say, she was feeling pretty confident in her understanding of the place.

       Cue a random void in space opening up, not even a meter in front of Hibiki, with an older-looking woman sleepily poking her head out. Right in front of the younger girl.

              “--Eh?”

              “Wow... There’s so many...!”

       Shops. She means to say shops. And by shops, she’s mainly referring to restaurants. Cafes. Food stands. Pretty much anything and everything you could imagine, from cultures all around the world. Maybe even more... They did take people from multiple worlds, right? She couldn’t even fathom how many different dishes must’ve been around here.

              “Mm, but I think Sensei has the Triplicata...”

       ...Huh?

             “Um... Mister...?”

       This was kinda weird. The boy in front of her was blindfolded, for some reason. At first, she thought it may have been because he was blind. She heard something about blind people wearing sunglasses to block light from harming their eyes. But he didn’t have a walking stick, and he was walking around just fine, almost like it didn’t even slow him down. Maybe it was a prank, or a dare? But... that didn’t fit either. 

       Maybe she’d save herself a headache if she just asked him.

              “Don’t worry, everything’s okay! We’ll find your papa!”

       The sounds of a crying child slowly settled and calmed, the source being a young girl quite a few years her junior. The younger girl had been lost for the last half-hour, wandering around the Market District bawling their eyes out all the while. With a scene like that, how could someone like Hibiki Tachibana ignore her? 

              “Let’s see... Have we checked...? Wait, hold on...”

       --Though, while her moral compass was definitely still working, her normal one had yet to fully adjust to the new environment around her. She... was still in the Market District, right? 

       Music was a very close friend to a Gear-user, and being able to feel the emotions and feelings behind a song became something of an acquired talent for Hibiki. She was a firm believer in the philosophy that hearing another’s song could teach so much more than words ever could. As such, while she hardly considered herself anything near a professional musician, when she heard a song with someone’s heart poured into it, Hibiki could tell.

              “Wow... You’re really good, miss!! I could really feel your heart in that!”

Hibiki Tachibana | Symphogear

smoll, gay, and ready to play

once made the tallest mountain in the world the 3rd tallest

kind of absurdly gullible, naive, too nice for her own good

which has a tendency to backfire horribly most of the time

loves food, naturally

if you are her friend, you will be hugged. always

warm