| “ | 1. Give people a good greeting./2. Try not to give up./3. Sleep well, eat well./4. If you're troubled, talk to someone!/5. You're likely to succeed if you try./6. Don't push yourself and make sure you're happy as well.
— Hero Club Six Tenets
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The Sanshu Middle School Hero Club was formed by Fu Inubozaki at Sanshu Middle School. While the club's purpose was stated to be "helping those in need," it was actually set up by the theocratic Taisha organization to collect the four Hero candidates attending the school and get them used to working alongside each other. Fuu, an agent of the Taisha, recruits her sister, Itsuki, as well as Yuuna Yuuki and Mimori Togo into the club. They work together in their club activities until they are forcibly transported into the Jukai, an alternate dimension maintained by the Shinju, the Taisha's deity.
There, they fight against the Vertex, enormous monsters that seek to destroy the Shinju and with it their world. As they are in a post-Madoka magical girl anime, however, this comes with significant downsides. Namely that using their strongest moves, frequently needed to defeat the stronger Vertex, has the backlash of losing bodily functions. The girls don't take this well, with Fuu nearly going on a rampage to destroy the Taisha and Togo having to be fought out of ending the world.
Togo snapping and turning against the Shinju causes the tree to reevaluate its priorities, and returns the missing bodily functions. The girls are forced back into fighting the Vertex as the gods behind them are intent on destroying humanity, and eventually manage to defeat them. The Shinju sacrifices itself upon the defeat of the Heavenly Gods to change the Earth back from a lava hellscape into a habitable planet. The Hero Club separates after graduation, but remains in close contact.
Battle vs S.O.N.G. (by Leolab)[]
“Well, this should be fun,” Hibiki says, stretching before giving Miku a hug, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep you safe.”
“From what?” Chris asks, “This is a friendly match, it’s not like they’re actually trying to take her away.”
“Just let the lovebirds sing,” Maria says, squinting at the countdown timer before looking out at the field, half of which is filled with twisting and turning roots of various colors.
“I’m a little worried about the girl in the wheelchair on the other side,” Tsubasa says, looking pensive as the timer nears zero.
“If they brought her here it means she can fight.”
“That’s what I’m worried about, actually. The other four seemed a little nervous around her; she might be the most dangerous.”
“Seriously, you two, chill,” Chris grumbles, “They didn’t seem like they were psychos. Just enjoy the match.”
The device buzzes, signaling that it had reached zero. The six girls on the S.O.N.G side of the field sing their activation chants, summoning their Symphogears. Hbiki plants her feet on the ground, her armor extending massive rails from her heels and elbows. As the rest of her allies jump in, they collapse inward, sending her rocketing past all of them towards the center of the field. Her outstretched fist collides with another at the center of the field, the orange of her armor glancing off the pink of Yuuna’s.
Two of the other four members of the Hero Club land beside her before leaping out, with a laser streaking out from within the tangle to vaporize a missile that Chris had sent into the field. Karin and Fu move together, heading towards Tsubasa and Maria. Fu throws a knife at Maria before spinning, slashing at the blue-haired singer. She blocks, lashing out with a kick that’s stopped by one of Fu’s faeries.
Karin launches off the suspended leg, aiming an overhead slash at Maria as she deflects the thrown knife with ease. The older singer blocks with her gauntlet, and Karin uses the surface to flip back in the air, letting go of her swords and summoning new ones in the air as she arcs back towards her leader.
“Tsubasa!” Maria yells, and the blue Symphogear glances back, and tries to disengage from the blade lock Fu has her trapped in. The Hero refuses to let her, but a rough shove to the chest with her foot allows her to break off, spinning and bringing her sword up to block Karin’s strike. She closes her free hand, summoning another blade to it to block Karin’s second strike, holding the other girl in the air as she tries to use gravity to break her guard.
A split second later, Karen’s arms go limp and she drops, rapidly leaving Tsubasa’s sight and dodging a lash from Maria’s whip. Tsubasa tenses, feeling a gust of wind at her back. Fu then slams the flat of her sword against the singer, sending her flying into Maria and the pair sailing in an arc. They plummet to the ground well away from the boundary line.
Fu drops, landing next to Karin and holding out her fist. The other girl awkwardly returns the fist bump before the two leap into the air again. Fu, looking ahead, grabs Karin and pulls the pair together, twisting in the air to avoid a missile. It explodes past them on a green barrier, and Fu grimaces as she sees a massive purple projectile heading their way. It splits open into several shards, and her working eye grows wide as she sees several smaller bombs within. Karin then taps her on the back, and she looks down at the phone the younger girl holds in front of her; displayed on it is a message from Itsuki:
Stay where you are
A cluster of vines shoots out from the Hero Club side of the field, wrapping around parts of the shiny purple fragments of the cluster bomb’s casing. A blue bolt streaks out from the S.O.N.G side of the field, bouncing between the panels, reflecting and refracting as strikes the bomblets around the pair, blowing them up as they pass. Their fairies absorb the few bits of shrapnel that head their way, leaving them unscathed.
Fu releases a blushing Karin as she kicks off the empty cylinder, using her now-free hand to type a note to Itsuki thanking her. She spots a pair of Symphogears in green and pink behind Karin, and points at them. Karin points behind Fu at the same time.
“I see the blue one,” she says.
“And I see pink and green. Split?”
“Split.”
They put their palms together, and count down in unison. When they hit zero, they give each other a hard shove, sending them both sailing towards their respective opponents. Fu flies over Yuuna, watching her clash with the S.O.N.G. member in orange. She throws her friend a thumbs up as she passes. Yuuna, focusing on her fight, misses the supportive gesture.
Hibiki weaves around a punch, ducking under a kick and rising into an uppercut. A small spectral cow manifests in front of her fist, and while Yuuna is lifted into the air she remains focused and determined. She flips around, her foot wreathed in flame as she tries to kick Hibiki in the head. The older girl slips to the side, grabbing her foe’s leg. Yuuna lashes out with a punch, to little effect as Hibiki throws her skyward yet again.
Yuuna flips in the air, kicking off a green energy barrier that Itsuki formed in the air. She rockets down, fist wreathed in fire. Hibiki jumps out of the way, stumbling slightly as the force of Yuuna’s punch dents the ground. Taking advantage of her foe’s lapse, she sweeps out with her leg, tripping the orange-clad girl. Hibiki rolls out of the way of the follow-up attacks, extending the rails on her feet to strike her foe in the stomach. The Hero is launched back, and retracting the rails gives Hibiki enough momentum to leap to her feet.
The two square off again and look at each other, grinning. It was rare that they got to have friendly sparring matches like this where they didn’t have to pull punches. They charge back in, kicking at the same time. Their shins cross, and Yuuna drops for a punch while Hibiki extends the rails from her elbow forwards, ducking under the strike and turning as the rails retract for a powerful elbow to the solar plexus. A fairy absorbs the damage, but Yuuna is still sent flying by the force of the strike.
She rights herself in the air, landing on a green barrier. Giving Itsuki a grateful nod, she kicks off it, sending her rocketing back to the fight. In a manner of seconds she catches up to and shoulder tackles Hibiki back across the border into S.O.N.G. territory. Her foe skidded back for a second as they start to square off again, before they’re both distracted by a voice.
“HIBIKI! HELP ME!” Miku screams, and a massive blue Morning Glory blooms on the S.O.N.G side of the field. The rest of the fighters stop for a second as a massive blue ship materializes, with Togo standing on the platform at the back. The arms turn and fire, shredding Chris’ attempt at artillery support. Miku stands in front of Togo, hands and feet bound with ribbons.
“I wish that were me…” Yuuna mutters.
“What?” Hibiki asks.
“Oh, nothing.”
“Yeah, anyway, I’ve gotta help Miku, so let’s continue this later,” Hibiki says, turning her back on Yuuna. The Hero vaults over her, placing herself square between Hibiki and Togo. The playfulness in her stance was gone, replaced by pure determination.
“No.”
“What are you…”
“I will protect Togo-san.”
“She’s got a giant ship with lasers! Do you really think she needs protecting while riding that?”
“Yes.”
Hibiki grits her teeth, wanting nothing more than to rush to Miku’s side. But from their sparring session, Yuuna wasn’t someone she could simply brush aside. Which left one option.
“Bakken!” she yells, clicking the sides of the crystal on her chest, removing it. It flies in front of her, hovering, until a blaze of fire comes into her vision.
“HERO KICK!” Yuuna yells, swatting the Ignite Module aside. It flies through the air, halting slightly before Fu and Tsubasa’s duel, which had grown similarly tense, and directly in front of Maria, who had been watching the battlefield and waiting for just such a momentum shift.
“Hibiki, Tsubasa! Join me when you can!” Maria yells, trusting her friends as she leaps towards the lasers and explosions that characterized the newly chaotic section of the battlefield. She knocks aside a thrown sword from Karin as the passes her fight with Kirika and Shirabe, and turns her dagger into a sword-whip which she spins around her to cut away Itsuki’s vines.
She lands, clear of distraction, a few hundred feet ahead of the towering vehicle, its “arms” still firing at the barrage of bullets and missiles Chris was sending its way. Maria collapses her whip into a dagger, stowing it in her left gauntlet.
“Bakken!” she yells, clicking the sides of the crystal on her chest. A split second later, her silver-and-white armor turns black-and-blue as her left gauntlet extends and splits, resembling a tuning fork with a red glow. The transformation spreads up her left arm as she holds it straight, the spikes glowing red and gathering energy. As one of the vehicle’s arms turns towards her she fires, a red-and-silver laser clashing with Togo’s blue one. Maria leaps as soon as she’s finished firing, dodging the laser that matched hers, despite lasting longer.
A series of energy barriers deflect another barrage of lasers as she leaps, landing directly in front of the captive Miku. She jumps over a blast from Togo’s pistol, extending her dagger into a whip. She twirls it over her head, and several copies of it rain downwards, targeting the ribbons holding Miku captive. A cluster of drones flutter around the prisoner, however, shooting down the knives with precision.
She attaches her knife to her left gauntlet again, and this time it extends behind her arm. She dashes in, intending to slice the ribbons directly, as the arms of the vehicle suddenly focus directly on her, firing. She manages to block the beams with her barriers, but is forced to stop her attack. She squints as she looks around, confused as to why Chris had stopped her bombardment.
She gets her answer a few seconds later, as a screaming Hibiki sails in on a missile. The Symphogear punches the paraplegic middle schooler in the face, sending her flying and knocking her out even through the fairy’s protection. The massive vehicle fades as Hibiki carries Miku down to solid ground, her and Maria dismissing the Ignite Module as they fall.
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Miku,” Hibiki says.
“I mean, it’s not like I was in actual danger,” Miku says, “But still. Thanks.”
“It’s not over,” Maria says, interrupting, “Hibiki, protect her.”
Hibiki nods as her comrade dashes off, seeing another large flower – this one a Solomon’s seal – blooms over the Hero Club side of the field. A renewed barrage of missiles and bullets finds itself blocked by layers of vines, which either resist the bullets or catch and redirect the missiles. A bright blue flash sends a small yellow streak flying, which is also caught by the vines.
Maria lands, this time in front of Itsuki in her Mankai form. Tsubasa lands next to her, and they give each other a confident glance as a set of vines lowers a sheepish Fu next to her sister. She looks around, slightly confused.
“Hey, Itsuki, where’s Karin?”
In the jail area on the S.O.N.G. side of the field, Karin Miyoshi sits in the corner, curled into a ball. Her phone shows no signal as Togo, resting in a thoughtfully-provided wheelchair pushed by Yuuna, gives her a severe look.
“So who was it that said they could ‘hold off two by myself, no need to help?’”
“I’m sorry.”
“There!” Fu yells, immediately realizing what was happening as she sees Kirika and Shirabe riding on what seems to be a makeshift Segway towards the border line. A group of blue swords embed themselves into her and Itsuki’s shadows as she goes to jump, pinning them both in place. A yellow flower blooms behind her as she goes Mankai, extending her sword to many times its usual length. Tsubasa flips into the air, summoning a sword massive enough to clash with the new threat.
Maria spins as she ducks under and leaps over the vines sent to attack her, sending her whip out to sever those heading towards the fleeing pair. Realizing that stopping them was hopeless, Itsuki sends a massive cluster of vines towards Miku, travelling in too thick a bundle for Maria to slice through. Hibiki punches forward, stopping the momentum of the vines as they near their pray. A series of punches and kicks stop them from reaching Miku as the two Symphogears cross into S.O.N.G territory with the sapling, securing their victory.
Expert’s Opinion[]
The Hero Club had a better ability to coordinate, the general versatility of their members, and the general power of Togo’s Mankai as advantages, while S.O.N.G. had the general power of most of their members, a number advantage, and the advantage of Miku being able to interfere with her own capture. And a greater willingness to defend it on the part of S.O.N.G., compared to a sapling of the Shinju which the Hero Club treats with distance at best. These small advantages ended up in S.O.N.G.’s favor, giving them the win.