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Hibiki Tachibana     The corridors leading out of the lobby-turned-welcome-room are notably more what you'd expect - though there's still the very occasional spot off to the side where you can find small insets and booths inside to relax at, they're for the most part made up of large, streamlined pathways, long with occasional intersections or branches to elsewhere in Second Division's underground base. It's very much the kind of place you really would not be able to navigate easily without a map. Or a guide.

    Fortunately, Muramasa has Tsubasa Kazanari as his this time. Once the sounds of the crowd behind has been left behind, she glances to him as they walk.

    "You mentioned there were things you were curious about?" With things now much more casual between the two of them, her tone is simply inquisitive. "I admit, there are plenty of things I'd also like to ask you myself. Tachibana and Kohinata explained the rough details of your...unique situation to us, but there are also a few other things."

    She faces back forward, reaching underneath her uniform's collar to pull out her own pendant superficially similar to Hibiki's, though obviously it's anything but. "About us 'not knowing what we're wearing'. And..."

    Tsubasa looks back to him with a raised eyebrow. "...'even a dogeza isn't too much', if I heard her right?"
Muramasa This, he supposed, is more in line with what he'd expected when he'd arrived. In a way, that was more comforting than the ruins that this place was built inside of. His white jacket had been removed and slung over his shoulder at some point between when they'd departed from the break room and now, the sleeves of his silk-screen shirt rolled up to his elbows and revealing their gold-patterned lining on the inside, the design differing greatly from what was on the outside of his top.

Their footsteps click quietly along the floor in a moment of silence as they go, before Muramasa smiles easily, "Yes, that's right. There's many things that have caught my interest here; both out of my own curiosity, and concern."

The red-haired teenager winds up awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as Tsubasa continues, "Well ... I honestly can't imagine that she would have been able to explain my situation well. It's a complicated thing, that, and there've been several misunderstandings already."

He laughs lightly at that, more of a chuckle that says, 'what can you do?' than anything.

"But, as the guest here being indulged by you, Tsubasa, I feel obligated to let you go first. I'll answer to the best of my abilities ..."

His cheeks tinge red in boyish embarassment before he puts a hand on his hip, "Ah, hm ... well, if you do want a dogeza after all, then I already said I would, right?"

Maybe Ioanna's advice would be helpful in this situation too, he thinks.
Hibiki Tachibana     Some fluster comes to Tsubasa's expression, matching Muramasa's quite closely. She goes from surprised he'd actually do it to pressing her fist up against her chin and clearing her throat, doing her best to put a stoic look back on. "N-No, that won't be necessary. In the first place, you would not need to go so far to ask something from me. And also, you of all people..."

    She trails off, though it's not especially difficult to tell that the idea of Sengo Muramasa prostrating himself in front of her would be a hard sight to process. She shakes her head.

    "Then I suppose the first question I should ask is exactly what I said - not knowing what we're wearing. You speak in a way that implies you know something you think we do not."

    There's not accusation behind that, but more genuine curiosity, and perhaps some confusion. "And you have made several assumptions about our Symphogears that are too accurate to be wild speculations. On the elevator, for example. You were correct in saying that Tachibana and I could not use each other's pendants. Gungnir resonates with her, and Ame-no-Habakiri with I."

    Leading her to look at hers briefly, and then back to the red-haired Servant. "...I do not know how much she might have told you, but knowing her, it hasn't been anywhere near enough to have the kind of insight you do." Her head tilts somewhat. "Even a legendary swordsmith's intuition can't go that far. So what do you mean when you say that?"
Muramasa The red slowly dulls in his cheeks as the conversation manages to crawl away from his over-enthusiasm; Me and my mouth. But, I really would have, if it meant this meeting could take place.

"I'm not above such things, you know. But, I appreciate your kindness and generosity, that you'd have me here and speak to me even without having to do something like that. It means a lot."

They stop briefly -- coincidentally near a rack of vending machines in the hallway, and a bench situated right by it, along with a trash recepticle to its other side, and several potted plants for decor.

As she holds her pendant out, his eyes seemed to shimmer, like mischievous golden pools -- it was almost a catlike look, or maybe, it could better be described as cheshire, before his face bleeds and falls back into a kinder look. "May I?"

Tentatively, he reaches for the pendant; and if she was comfortable enough to let him mandhandle it, he turns it over in his palm. "Actually, even though she's my Master, Hibiki Tachibana has not told me even a single thing about the Noise, or her work here. She didn't even bring me to that battle, I found out about it secondhand and had to rush all the way there. We had words about it, but, you're correct in your assertion that I know what I know not necessarily because I was told."

I thought so. I knew this was something special. Just like Gungnir, this isn't just any old Noble Phantasm ... this is --

"It's not really intuition, not entirely. It's true that at one time, the fragments inside this were once called that -- just as the fragments inside of Master's was once Gungnir. But, my eye and appreciation for such things is much more than something physical."

He indicates to the pendant with a hand motion, "The experience of its growth and the accumulation of its years."

"I'm a bad teacher and cannot explain things well, so .. maybe it'd be better to think of it this way; I have the ability to understand things very deeply, but swords more so than anything else. Although, I suppose I should apologize to you, in a way, I guess I peeped at your soul by doing this, too."

"Although it came to later be known by that name, these fragments were part of the sword that came from the orochi ... in other words, they are nothing less than the fragments of Kusanagi-no-Mikoto. As well, at a point, it served as the weapon of Susanoo-no-Mikoto; his legendary sword of ten-spans. The fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction used by your Symphogears, they carry an immense amount of history, you know?"
Hibiki Tachibana     Coming to a halt, there's a moment where the only sound is the humming of the nearby machine as Tsubasa considers. It is, in essence, a request for a swordsman to offer their weapon to another. But after a select few moments, she removes the pendant from around her neck, and allows the smith to appraise it. Her look is expectant, curiously searching his expression as he looks it over.

    Which steadily shifts closer towards awe the more he goes on, culiminating in her eventually closing her eyes lightly as if recalling something. "The weapon eventually used by Yamato Takeru-no-Mikoto, taken from the body of Yamata-no-Orochi and offered to Amaterasu before it came into his possession. And the sword of ten spans utilized by Susanoo himself, which was said to have been used to slay the beast in the first place. You say they are one and the very same." Her face is thoughtful for several more moments before her eyes open once again.

    And she's wearing a smile. "You have nothing to apologize for. It's to be expected that gazing so deeply upon one's blade is tantamount of gazing upon their soul. Ame-no-Habakiri has been with me for many, many years now, so it comes as no surprise for one with shocking preternatural deduction like yours." She's certainly taking the soul-peeping comment in stride. "It seems I'll have something to speak of my uncle and grandfather with, later." She does not elaborate on this.

    "To be able to directly view the history of such things, even from the small fragments that we wield--that is an ability beyond any of this world that I know of. Even if this may be your specialty, it is undeniably an amazing skill." Her hand comes out, to take her pendant back when he's finished, to glance down at it reverently in her palm. "...Especially so in this world."

    There is some thought as she says that, before she manages to reign herself in on going on and on about Muramasa's abilities and her own weapon to address something else he had said. "...As for Tachibana, I doubt she had done so intentionally. She takes things on herself, more than I and perhaps even she realizes. But I believe most of you are to thank for helping her learn to work with others again. Please, be patient with her."

    Moving on from that, Tsubasa seats herself down upon the bench. "I believe I have even more questions than before, but it's only right if I allow you to ask something as well now."
Muramasa With a satisfying nod to confirm, he's glad she understands the scope of what he'd said. Honestly, if he'd said something like that to Hibiki, he was sure she'd bobble her head a little and say something like, 'oh, so it's even more special than I thought. I see, I understand now.' while not actually getting it at all.

Her uncle and grandfather, huh. I wonder if they're also enthusiasts?

"I wouldn't exactly praise myself quite like that, but I'm flattered all the same," he winds up saying as she seats herself. In the meantime, he moves to one of the vending machines to acquire a can of green tea for himself, and offers to pay for whichever one of the refreshments she'd prefer for herself, if she wanted one.

With the dull, metal thunk of his drink being dispensed, Muramasa thinks back to his dream several nights prior. " . . . "

Yes, he could see why Tsubasa would say that. His Master sure had it tough, hadn't she? Even after digesting what he'd seen, he wasn't sure how to bring it up with Hibiki herself.

"Of course, it was frustrating, but this it's also my duty as a Servant, as Saber, to take it in stride. I'll be as patient as I have to be, to do my best to help how I can. I'm happy that she's starting to open up to others a little bit more, too ... and to Kohinata-san, as well. They're getting along even better now than before, don't you think?"

Muramasa pauses to consider, though; of course there was one thing he was very eager to see, but he'd need to lead up to that, he figures.

"The Symphogear use things such as that as their core, but, just how is it that SONG came across them? I can only assume there are more here that haven't found suitable wielders, yet. As well .. "

The tab is broken, and Muramasa takes a slow sip of the cool, chilly drink. " ... if you don't mind me asking, I'm also curious about you. How do you feel, about fighting with Symphogear, and about the Noise?"
Hibiki Tachibana     "I agree," Tsubasa says with a warm smile, briefly glancing back the way they came, though the commotion itself is well out of sight and earshot by now. "She's lucky to have people like you watching out for her...and Kohinata as well. I'm glad they're doing well for themselves."

    Back to business, she sits back in her seat and folds her arms. To address his questions in order, "We find them in a variety of ways. My own Ame-no-Habakiri was unearthed in Japan before Second Divison was even formed. Gungnir came into the Japanese government's possession through an old wartime trade. Many others were a result of similar international trades, most of them back when the political situation was less tenuous than it is now, or a result of our teams having discovered them through archaeological digs across the world."

    "...We have many relics in storage, yes. Some, because they're too dangerous to be utilized, some for research purposes. A select few, too fragmented to have any other use, have been converted into Symphogears for compatibility testing, but none have ever found suitable wielders." There's a small inhale, and then a sigh.

    His second query is a bit harder to address. Tsubasa's eyes close in contemplation once again. "...I do not have any regrets in the path I've chosen, if that's what you're asking. I am a sentinel standing upon a battlefield that few others can, and I wish to do everything I can to protect my home. It is a battle that I, too, once thought I had to fight alone."

    Slowly opening them again, her attention falls to her pendant. "...Though I've learned I still have very far to go. And I do not hate the Noise, at least not in the way you would think. Though they took something...very precious to me away before, I've come to terms with it. They are a threat to be defeated, and one day, hopefully stopped."
Muramasa "I see. Really, I just wanted to know a bit more about how you feel, but -- I feel you've sufficiently answered that question, too." he responds, taking her explanation as it is.

"I can relate to what you've said in many ways," he admits, " ... but I'm also glad to know you don't hate the Noise. It's easy to hate because of your pain, because something was taken from you. It's easy to throw everything into fighting your enemy because you hate them, while telling yourself and others that it's all in the name of justice when, in reality, it's nothing more than self-indulgent revenge."

Shifting his drink in hand, he stares at his reflection in the shiny label, before focusing back on Tsubasa's face. "And, in doing so, everything you want to protect will just as easily slip through your fingers."

That was the lesson he'd learned at the very end of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, and that had been reinforced in his battles with Avenger in the Shimousa Holy Grail War afterward. Feeling such a strong resonance with Tsubasa, he couldn't help but feel relieved and happy that despite that, she wouldn't come to make such a terrible mistake.

"You're a kind person, Tsubasa, and I can tell that as far as swords go, you're certainly sharp and deft enough to protect the people you want to protect. I'm almost jealous, really, but .. I think I do admire you." he nods.

"As for the relics, I see ... it seems abnormal to me, is all." he admits. "It's also possible that it is merely a difference between our worlds, but it does stick out to me. However, as unsettling as it is, I also find it very exciting, I mean .. it's the real Kusanagi, isn't it?!"

His composure slips, and his excitement shines, "Oh, oh, I can't wait to see what else you all have dug up. It's a treasure trove~ of really cool things~. Well, between Gungnir and yours, maybe I'm biased, but I like your sword more. Spears, I'll use them, but they don't really click."
Hibiki Tachibana     "...Yes. Losing yourself to your emotions is all too easy." Tsubasa answers solemnly, in the moment of silence as Muramasa regards his drink and thinks back to the past. It's not necessary to speak her thoughts on him saying that from a place of having likely experienced it for himself. It's very evident, and more than that, not her place to bring up.

    There is a moment of contemplation on how the nature of relics between their worlds might function, before the swordsmith breaks off into an unexpected bout of excitement that near-instantly dispels Tsubasa's heavier aura and leaves her glancing up at him with wide eyes and a few blinks.

    "M-Muramasa, you're more like a kid in a candy store than a wizened swordsmith right at this moment..." She says that, and then nigh-instantly realizes that she wasn't that much better not that long ago. Once again, she forces herself to regain her own composure.

    Yes, let's not bring that up. At least one of them needs to be the adult here at all times.

    Wait, he likes her sword more?

    A small smile forces its way onto Tsubasa's face against her will, and her hand comes to her chin again as she nods a few times. "...Indeed! To be honest, I had never imagined there would be an even closer correlation between the two blades than legend said! It brings into question several things I know about, and perhaps the truth behind several more Japanese relics! To hear Muramasa himself fawning over my valued blade is just one of many things I never would have imagined possible until today..."

    Ahem. "A-Ah. Please understand I can't guarantee exactly how many of our relics you'll be able to see. But given your close relationship with Tachibana, and our working together, I can imagine you will not be wanting for sated curiosity. Just be careful Professor Sakurai doesn't get her hands on you and never let go once she learns of it."
Muramasa "Oh? I'm sorry if that ruins your image of me, but I'm just too excited. I got to meet you, and I get to go see all these things and learn a lot, I can't help but get excited. So many good things rarely happen in one day!"

Polishing off his drink in one swig and depositing it in the trash, he nods along with her, "I understand what you mean. People once compared one of my swords to the Kusanagi, but it really had nothing on the real deal, and your sword shows it. Of course, a sword can be super incredible, but it takes a talented swordsman to utilize it well. Ah, but, that's just how it is sometimes."

Cheerfully placing his hand on his hip, he reaches out with no regard for Tsubasa's personal space to start shuffling her off; how did he even know where he's going?

"Of course, of course, since I'm giving a big helping hand around here, they can't be mad if I go sneak a peek, right? You're also curious, aren't you? Or did you already see their stock? Ah, I'm jealous. It's not fair to be able to be around so many great pieces, even if they're stuck collecting dust. Maybe I can take the time to polish everything up and make it presentable, while I'm here."

It seems he's going off the rails into his own world, and she's the one along for the ride, now.
Hibiki Tachibana     Really, seeing Muramasa falling over himself in excitement isn't doing Tsubasa any favors in pulling herself back, much as she knows she should. She's halfway into starting up a tangent on the nature of swordsman and sword and being humble about her Symphogear compared to what the sword must have been like in its heyday.

    And then she's getting pulled along and up out of her seat before she knows it. "Ah--hold on, polishing is going a little too far!" Trying to stop Sengo Muramasa when he's in full sword-fanatic mode is a lost cause. This, Tsubasa intuitively understands, more than perhaps anybody else who has known him for such a short period of time.

    "Honestly...there's lenience given your relationship with Tachibana, but non-personnel still can't just go doing as they please in a military facility..." She says that, but it's with the air of a heavy sigh and reluctant acceptance. There are places he won't be able to go, but at least some of the labs dedicated to study probably won't be too much of a problem to visit...

    And as long as she's personally overseeing him, it's probably fine. All of the especially dangerous things are either off-site or at levels they won't be going.

    She just hopes he realizes that a lot of things they work with are not, in fact, weapons, and not everything here is as amazing as Ame-no-Habakiri and Gungnir. That enthusiasm is something else.
Muramasa "Ah, but, it's not like they can keep me out?" he says, in a flippant but straight forward tone, "Even though it's a military facility. It's not like I'm doing anything bad ... really, who else would want to go and treat those things with proper care? Everyone wins."

And so, as they continue visiting the different "above board" places, he found quite a number of interesting pieces. Of course, none of them came close to Hibiki or Tsubasa's Symphogears, but they still gave him a lot of material to work with in the forge of his soul, later.

No, the real problems may begin to start once they start running into places that are off-limits and on certain lockdown. "Trace on."

Magical energy crackles in his hand as he concentrates, wrapping around itself and shaping into the form of a giant key, with a golden hilt and smoothly wrapped, black tassel, and the an iconic charm trapped off the butt of the armament.

It looked downright cartoonish, and without saying a word, he uses it to unlock the secure, thick steel door barring the path. How it accomplishes this is not only unclear, but perhaps more succinctly, visibly impossible.

"Ah, you really are handy, aren't you?" he mentions to the Kingdom Key, before looking to Tsubasa, "I won't say I was disappointed. If anything, it was a good appetizer for the really cool stuff! Especially the other, user-less Symphogear units. Ah, I really want to get a good look at the cores for those."

It's as if in his mind, there's no problem with what he's doing. Then again, that's probably the truth.
Hibiki Tachibana     Things are fine when they're staying where they should be. Second Division, as if it wasn't obvious enough from the sight when they all came down here, does run a fairly casual ship as far as military organizations go. 'Ooh'ing and 'aah'ing at some of the harmless or mostly useless things they have while Muramasa effectively window shops isn't that bad.

    It gets slightly less fine when they go that far, and Tsubasa's immediate mention that things past this point are a turnback point that he wouldn't be able to go past /anyway/ falls silent halfway when he quite literally just unlocks the way in with a massive brightly-colored key.

    The multiverse is a very strange place.

    Tsubasa, after she closes her mouth from where it was left slightly hanging open, pinches her nose in between her fingers briefly. She processes that just happened. Maybe he's even more like a kid in a candy shop than she thought...?

    She catches up to him before he gets too far. This particular section of the base is clearly less constantly active than the places visited before, where very regular research occurs. Even just as the entrance, the atmosphere is much more similar to something like a warehouse than anything else. The halls ahead are darker than the previous ones, and most of the rooms that can be seen branching ahead from this point are under similar levels of lockdown.

    Notably, this seems to be where a section of the facility that reaches the edge of the massive cyndrilical ruins seen on the way down here, as the corridor visibly has to part into 'left' and 'right' when it hits that point, with an expansive window out into the view stretching the entire way - most of it dark, given how close to the bottom they already are. Before Muramasa gets a chance to go that far, however, Tsubasa places a hand on his shoulder to slow him up.

    "...Good grief. If you'd like to see things like that, there's still permission to ask for. Most things past this point are here for a reason--and it's not exactly where we keep the unused Symphogears, either. But if you'd like to see those, we can go back and ask the commander. Tachibana should probably know what you're trying to get up to, as well."
Muramasa "Eh? Well, I'm sure they are, but I'd like to know what they are. Especially after what I learned earlier."

What, precisely that is, is ambiguous. Rather, it seems like he doesn't even understand that he's being cryptic when he says things like that, but knowing that he learns most of the things he does how he does would go a long way to explaining why he's like that.

The dank and foreboding atmosphere in this part of the facility was enticing .. or rather, it felt like he was on the 'right track'. That feeling in his gut that to answer his questions, all he had to do was advance. But, the brief hesitation that Tsubasa causes expands slowly.

It's clear that he has to work very hard to hide most things on his face, as he's as easy to read as an open book in this instance. The excitement and intense desire to go further, as well as a certain "something" -- perhaps a visible form of suspicion, or intuition, if you could call it that, as well as guilt and consideration flashing through his features.

In the end, it seems he didn't want to cause her to get in trouble; or at least, not if there were alternative options for him to take.

But, nothing prevents me from just coming here on my own, later. I have a counter that can bypass all of their security measures, and I already have a mental map of the facility's layout from my uses of Structural Analysis. ... actually, maybe this really is espionage? Is it? I didn't really mean to treat it that way, though.

" ... well, I don't mind going back to ask for permission. After all, I want to protect you and Hibiki, and fight to protect the things you want to protect. As far as I'm concerned, I'm SONG's ally, as long as they're your allies, too. It seems I got carried away."
Hibiki Tachibana     Tsubasa gives a reasonably exasperated sigh, but it's not one that sounds actually mad at the swordsmith. In a sense, it feels a lot like someone having to explain to a kid that 'you can't do that'.

    More than that though, it's because she can tell it's not out of any real malicious intent, he really is just curious. It's hard to get upset at something like that. In a sense, he has airheaded moments rivaling Hibiki's when she lets herself slip, and it's rather uncanny to watch.

    ...That kind of untamed excitement can be dangerous in a different way though. But the fact he actually stops and reconsiders when he's snapped out of it is a good sign. He's not ill-natured. This might be a different impression if she had the ability to know his thoughts right then, but you know.

    "You have my every confidence that you're our comrade, Muramasa. Tachibana has placed her trust in you, and that trust, from her, does not come as easily as it appears." Tsubasa's hand leaves his shoulder, and a smile returns to her face. "I understand your passion, so don't worry about it. As much as it pains me to see that look on your face," said smile gets a bit apologetic. "There's still procedure to worry about."

    She gestures back the way they came, and starts that way. They ended up walking quite a way, actually, and it'll take them some time to return. But with some not-completely-restrained enthusiasm in her own voice again, she asks on the way. "...But that trick you used to open the door. I don't suppose it's a technique that can be taught!? Ame-no-Habakiri allows me to create blades from thin air, yes, but that was quite something else--"

    That's one way to change the subject on the way back. She'll be on about this for a bit.