On the Heated Edge

by lewdwriter13

Summary:

A peculiar problem has plagued Hibiki and Miku ever since the battle with Carol and her Autoscorers, which they have only now revealed to Maria and Tsubasa. Choosing to relieve their burden temporarily, Maria and Tsubasa discover they might have bitten off more than they could chew…

Chapter 1

“Please, have a seat, you two.” Maria gestured to Hibiki and Miku. The couple, after sharing a nervous glance with each other, slowly and stiffly sat down on the couch. Maria shared her own look with Tsubasa, before she and Tsubasa settled down across from them.

It was a delight hearing Hibiki and Miku wanted to drop by their apartment for a chat. But when they showed up at the door blushing, stuttering, and fidgeting, in the short walk between the front door and the living room, that delight had turned into a mix of curiosity and concern.

“So. On the phone, you mentioned you had something you wanted to talk about with us?” Maria asked, once the silence lingered long enough to make clear the other party wouldn’t be the first to speak.

“R-right, that. We want to tell you something, it’s just… really strange, and kind of a lot? And I’m just-” Hibiki, after much shirt-wringing, breathed out a nervous laugh. “Oh boy. Where do we start…?”

“If the conversation is of a difficult nature, please don’t rush yourself,” Tsubasa said, as collected as ever. Hardly a hint of being intrigued.

Maria, for one, had a guess of what they wanted to say. After all, it had been a little over a year since Hibiki and Miku’s big confession. Perhaps it was too presumptuous, but one strong possibility sprung to mind.

While Hibiki was busy tripping over her words, Maria leaned close to Tsubasa and kept her voice whisper-quiet. “Who’d you think got the rings, Hibiki or Miku?” she asked.

A beat passed, then Tsubasa understood. “Maria, they’re still much too young to be engaged…!”

Maria shrugged, smirking subtly. “Everyone knows it’ll happen.”

Hibiki continued with her false starts, until Miku’s gentle hand on her shoulder steadied the poor girl. Miku took over, meeting Maria and Tsubasa’s eyes, and properly starting. “To explain this properly, I think, first we have to take off our skirts.”

Maria blinked. Even Tsubasa wasn’t composed enough to not let her mouth briefly hang open. Not where she expected the conversation to go, frankly.

“I suppose… if you think it’s necessary.” Already, Tsubasa had regained her composure. Maria internally scrambled to keep up. “Go ahead.”

Hibiki and Miku slowly rose to their feet. After a deep breath and a shared look of encouragement, with both their faces redder than Maria had ever seen them been, they gripped their skirts and slid it down their legs.

Neither Maria nor Tsubasa could have ever guessed what was hidden underneath.

A belt tightly circled their waists in a slight curve, with a front piece that went down between their legs and connected with the waistband at the small of their backs, covering their crotches. It wasn’t tailored from leather or fabric like a typical belt, but seemed to be carved from a sort of smoothed stone, with Hibiki’s colored gold and Miku’s silver. With the reveal, suddenly it hardly mattered that Hibiki and Miku stood bottomless in the middle of their living room with their skirts bunched around their feet.

“What… is that?” Maria was entranced, nearly tempted to reach out and touch.

“They’re… alchemic chastity belts.”

Both Maria and Tsubasa sat up straighter at Miku’s answer. Alchemy?

“Remember when we faced Carol and her Autoscorers?” Hibiki asked.

“With crystal clarity.” Tsubasa’s voice dropped to a grim low. “They had all of us abducted. Kept out of the way while they enacted their plans.”

Maria recalled the event well, more than she’d like, frankly. Being kidnapped by Leiur and Phara of the Autoscorers, being rendered so utterly helpless, was one of the most terrifying experiences of her life. Elfnein’s defection was a godsend, alerting S.O.N.G. to the abduction and eventually allowing Ogawa to come to their rescue.

“Back then, that Garie girl was the one who kidnapped me, and Miku got dragged along because she tried to help.” Hibiki’s voice was tinged with guilt, and its reason was obvious. Even among the Autoscorers, Garie was a particularly disturbing and unstable individual. Maria shuddered to think how she treated Hibiki and Miku when she abducted them.

Hibiki continued, “There’s a part of that story that we never told anyone…”

 

---

 

“Comfortable, my pretties~?”

Hibiki glared up at her captor. With her arms tied behind her at the wrists and elbows, and her legs frogtied at the ankles and thighs, there was very little else she could do. Even speaking was impossible thanks to the ball wedged in her mouth, garbling her attempts at speech. Miku wasn’t faring much better, bound the same way as Hibiki. She huddled closer to Hibiki upon her captor returning to where they had been stashed, trying her best to mask her fear.

Their captor, the Autoscorer Garie, clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Eeesh. So grumpy.” A faked smile grew as she snapped her fingers. “I know! A lovely little gift should help lift your spirits.”

In a blur, Garie was upon Miku. Her smile was demented.

“Let’s start with the little meddler, shall we?!”

With one motion, she dragged Miku by the thigh away from Hibiki. With another motion, she tore apart Miku’s skirt. With a third, Miku’s underwear was in tatters. Miku cried, hysterical. Hibiki roared, straining with all her might against the ropes.

Garie cackled, and swung. Miku screwed her eyes shut, and braced. Hibiki couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Breathless seconds passed in silence, Miku waiting for the hurt. When none came, she braved herself to peek down from one eye.

Miku was unharmed, but some sort of belt was now wrapped around her waist and over her bare crotch. Garie leaned back, a mischievous tongue poking from between her lips, her eyes flitting over to Hibiki.

Hibiki tried to crawl away when she realized, but Garie easily caught her. “And for the main star of the show!” Another blur, and suddenly her skirt and underwear were reduced to shreds, and an identical belt now hugged her waist and crotch.

“There, all nice and snug. Pretty, aren’t they?” Garie sat back on her knees while her captives were still looking down in confusion at the belts. “But take it from me; pretty things can be most devious.”

Her tongue uttered an indecipherable phrase. The belts, initially a dull grey, changed color, turning silver for Miku and gold for Hibiki. More alarming, as Hibiki keenly felt with a gasp, was how the belt began to lightly vibrate. Harmless on its own, but when it so tightly hugged such a sensitive area, it resulted in an odd sensation that was… not necessarily unpleasant, but certainly inappropriate for the time and place. Miku must be experiencing the same thing, seeing how she squeaked into her gag.

“Yeees. You’re already feeling it. Nice, isn’t it?” Garie giggled, savoring the reaction of her captives. “Wondering what the hell’s going on? Oh, I suppose I’ll explain. But listen closely. I will only explain once.”

“These are chastity belts, set to always tease the unlucky wearer with light vibrations, like what you’re feeling right now. When you wear it, it locks itself and becomes unremovable.” The gasps from her captives drew another giggle from Garie. “Don’t be so scared. Once seven days have passed, the lock disengages, and you can take it off whenever you want. But! Only one belt can be removed at a time.”

“These belts are paired, you see. When one belt is not being worn, the other locks itself, while its vibrations intensify, set to torment the poor wearer’s pussy as close as possible to a climax without ever bringing them over the edge.” Garie taps the front of Hibiki’s belt with a porcelain finger, grinning. “To end this ‘edging mode’ is simplicity itself. The other belt simply has to be worn again. Of course, whoever wears it next now must contend with the belt for a minimum of seven days.”

Hibiki stared down at her golden belt as it continued to tease her, then locked eyes with a watery-eyed Miku, trapped in the same predicament.

“And if you’re wondering, what happens when your human bodies need to expel… waste, the belt will take care of it. No need for sanitary breaks. Can’t have your human needs literally shitting on the fun, can we?”

Laughing like a winner, Garie rose to her feet and spun on her heels.

“No time for questions, unfortunately. We are about to become very busy indeed.”

Garie moved to leave. Hibiki called out to her, garbled by the gag, but there was hardly a bump in her step.

“I hope you enjoy my lovely gift. I only wish it will always remind you of me,” Garie mused, offering a sadistic smirk with a final look over her shoulder, “even after I’m long gone.”

 

---

 

Maria and Tsubasa spent the next few moments in silence, processing everything that they’ve been told.

Tsubasa was the first to speak again. “So you two have been enduring this in silence, never telling anyone, since our fight against Carol?” she asked. Hibiki responded with a vague nod. “That’s… almost two years ago!”

The two looked almost sheepish. Like they’re guilty of something, when they shouldn’t be. If Maria had to say what she felt, she was impressed by their resilience more than anything. “Did you bring this up with Elfnein at least?” she asked.

“We did, but not even she knows how to remove it.” Miku sounded so defeated, it was painful to hear. “By her account, she guessed the other Autoscorers or even Carol didn’t have any knowledge about this.”

“Elfnein even tried to remove it, once, but it just triggered some sort of security mechanism that locked both belts and set it to its edging mode for an hour.” Hibiki grazed her fingers against the belt’s waistbands, reliving the memory. “Then a recording of Garie played, mocking us, and threatening us that if we mess with the belts again, it’ll lock itself and engage its edging mode for the next twenty-four hours.”

Hearing all this, Maria seethed, digging her nails into the couch cushions. “That woman… damn her…” The cruelty to sully something so sensitive, so intimate. If she could destroy her a second time, she gladly would.

Tsubasa sighed. “Scars of the past haunt us still.”

Maria closed her eyes. Again and again, they were reminded, even if they’d emerged victorious, the conflicts they scraped through had marked them for life. But now was not the time for melancholy. Now, they had friends in need.

Maria opened her eyes with a new light. “It’s very brave of you two to come forward on something sensitive like this. We’ll gladly help you in any way we can.”

Hibiki and Miku shared a reassuring look, before Hibiki continued, “Well… we thought of one way. It’s why we finally decided to come out about this specifically to you two, Maria, Tsubasa.”

“See, it’s been a while since Hibiki and I got together, but because of the belts, we haven’t been able to be… intimate with each other. Not properly.” Miku blushed, powering through every word. “We had to… take turns. Then, we can’t do it again for at least seven days.”

“I see. That can certainly frustrate a relationship.” Maria nodded. Frankly, even the possibility of Hibiki and Miku’s relationship being on the rocks was a frightening thought.

“So… this is super selfish of us, but…” Hibiki clasped her hands together, begging, “Please, Tsubasa, Maria, take these belts off our hands! Just for one week! You two are the only couple we know and trust that can endure this, and we really wouldn’t ask unless we tried everything else, but we’re really at our limit on-!”

“Tachibana, please. No need to beg.” Tsubasa placed a calming hand on Hibiki’s shoulder. “You two have borne this burden by your lonesome for two years. We’ll gladly take this burden temporarily. We’ll do it for longer, if needed.”

“Don’t be so hasty, Tsubasa,” Maria said. “We have that charity concert in eight days, remember?”

Hibiki tried her best to not look like a kicked puppy. “Oh, well… we’ve dealt with it this long, waiting a bit longer is fine…”

“Nonsense. It just means they reached out to us at the nick of time.” Tsubasa softened then, turning to Maria. “Unless… do you have any reservations about this, Maria?

Maria wasn’t entirely absent of worries, but for Hibiki and Miku? “We can remove the belt by the time of the concert, so… none came to mind.” She shrugged.

The way Hibiki and Miku’s face lit up made the decision worth it already. They quickly prepared themselves to make the belt transfer as quickly as possible, namely by having Maria and Tsubasa remove their pants and underwear first. A split-second thought passed Maria then, of how strange of a scenario she’d found herself in – herself, her girlfriend, and her two closest friends, standing around bottomless in the middle of their living room. What a life she lived.

“You take yours off first, Miku,” Hibiki said. “You know I can handle it.”

“Right.” Miku placed her palm against where the waistbands and the crotch piece connected at the front. “To take it off, just put your hand on the front plate here, think about removing it, and…”

With a surprisingly soft hiss, both ends of the waistband disconnected from the front plate, accompanied by a relieved exhale from Miku. A second later, Hibiki drew a sharp breath. Her hand quickly shot out to the nearest couch arm to steady her footing. The red on her face, Maria suspected, was no longer sourced solely from embarrassment. The belt’s dreaded ‘edging mode’ was already at work.

Hibiki clamped her free hand over her mouth, trapping an indecent noise from escaping. “D-don’t worry… I… hnnn… can take it…” she whimpered through her hand.

Hearing Hibiki sound like that, right in front of everyone, snapped Tsubasa out of her daze. She practically snatched up Miku’s belt and, without a second thought, wrapped it over her own waist. The pieces snapped into place, the silver belt turning a fitting shade of blue with a shimmer.

Immediately, Hibiki sighed in relief, panting for a moment or three after. A second later, Tsubasa’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Huh…” Tsubasa paused to adjust her breathing, as the faintest red tint colored her cheeks. “Tachibana… you defeated Carol, Adam, and Shem-ha… while having to deal with this?”

“Hah… well… s’not like I was the only one who fought them.” Still recovering, the always humble Hibiki still chuckled awkwardly.

After a moment of fussing over Hibiki, Miku turned towards Tsubasa. “Okay, Tsubasa, let’s have you take five to get you used to the light teasing, then we can-”

“No need, Kohinata.” Tsubasa exhaled. With the same resolve reserved for the heat of battle, she nodded towards Hibiki. “Tachibana. Whenever you’re ready.”

Seeing hesitation from Hibiki and Miku, Maria shrugged. “You heard the lady.”

That was convincing enough for Hibiki. Still with a ginger pace, she pressed her palm against the front plate. A soft hiss, and the waistbands were detached.

One second passed, then…

“Haaahnnn~…?!”

No one in the room, least of all Tsubasa herself, were prepared for the loud, lewd, utterly indecent moan that escaped her lips. She sank to her knees immediately, breaths labored and heavy, cheeks already seasoned a rosy pink, her hands reaching between her legs from the directive of a primal urge.

Hibiki hastily held out her belt for Maria to take. “M-Maria, quick, please put it on!” she urged.

And yet, a devious thought struck at that moment. Maria made very deliberate motions as she took the belt, letting Tsubasa stew in the pot she so eagerly leaped into. She even took a moment to inspect the golden relic, turning it over in her hands. “For such a wicked device, it’s rather beautiful in its construction.” She barely held back a smirk in her words.

“Ma… haaah…” Tsubasa kept her eyes on the ground, hiding her face. “Maria…”

“Excellent color choice, too. Yours match your hair, Tsubasa. Have you noticed?” The smirk was cracking through.

Tsubasa finally looked up, and Maria was stunned. “P-please… not in front of Tachibana and Kohinata…” she begged, with a voice and face Maria had only ever seen within the privacy of their bedroom.

The image of Tsubasa, on her knees, begging up at her, cheeks red, heavy breaths panting past parted lips, eyes glazed, will forever be burned onto Maria’s mind.

“… -ria?! Maria?!”

Maria blinked. Thank Hibiki for bringing her back to reality. She could’ve spent an eternity lost in that image of Tsubasa.

Maria fitted the belt around her waist and snapped it into place, the gold shifting into silver with a shimmer. Tsubasa made another indecent noise as the edging mode shut off, practically collapsing against the couch. Maria would’ve enjoyed that, too, but something else was occupying her.

“O-oh! Oh my.” The belt’s light teasing had begun. The sensation was, frankly, quite pleasant, if a tad embarrassing due to Hibiki and Miku being present. Not a foreign sensation, either; she’d experimented with toys that do essentially the same thing. But she only used them for minutes at a time. To have this belt on, constantly teasing you for days, weeks, even months… “I can see how this can get bothersome.”

“A-Are you two okay?” Miku asked, voicing Hibiki’s thoughts too.

A couple breaths, and Maria was able to put on a brave face for the concerned couple. “We’ll be fine.”

“No thanks to you.” Tsubasa huffed, staggering to her feet, pouting the entire time. So adorable.

“What about how you two are feeling?” Maria asked. “After two years, you’re finally free of the belts. How is it?”

Very typical of the two that it seemed only then did it sink in what had happened. “We… we really are, huh…” Hibiki said with a growing smile, locking eyes with Miku.

“Free to just… be together.” Miku matched Hibiki, their fingers locking a featherlight link with one another.

Maria smiled too, along with Tsubasa, in respectful silence. Whatever the next seven days had in store, for Maria, this sight alone made it all worth it.

“And now, I believe you two have some… catching up to do?”

Still deeply amusing to watch her cute juniors squirm, though.

And squirm they did. Enough for them to break eye contact, face flushed a deep red. The fact that they hadn’t yet put their skirts back on really added to the moment.

“Maria,” Tsubasa chided.

“What? That’s the reason they said themselves.”

Afterwards, they had a moment for skirts and pants to be worn again. Maria observed that, fortunately, the belts were thin enough that it didn’t show through her pants. One less headache to contend with, at least.

At Maria and Tsubasa’s doorstep, Hibiki spun around, beaming like the happiest puppy in the world. “Again, Tsubasa, Maria, thank you so much for agreeing to this! I can’t say just how much this means to us.”

“We should take our leave. It’s probably for the best for you to… adjust in private,” Miku said.

Tsubasa hid a different, brow-raising noise behind a cough. “Perhaps.”

“We’ll be back to take the belts in seven days, on the dot! We promise!”

“Promise us this, too.” Maria leaned in for a suggestive smirk. “You two have seven days. Make it count.”

“We will.”

Hibiki paled upon seeing the serene smile on Miku’s lips. “M-Miku…?”

Miku linked her arm around Hibiki’s, then dragged her out the door. Maria and Tsubasa watched the couple leave, amused and sufficiently distracted, before the vibration of the belts prodded at the edge of their attention again.

 

---

 

Night fell. Several hours had passed since the belt transfer, and Maria’s respect for Hibiki and Miku had only grown. She and Tsubasa tried their best to go about their day like they normally would, but the teasing constantly grating against their sanity was too much. They hardly got anything done, and ultimately agreed to turn in early. At least they’d be free of it in the comfort of slumber.

Maria returned to the bedroom, freshened up and ready for bed in her cream-pink babydoll, and found Tsubasa already clad in her thin sky-blue camisole, observing herself in the mirror. Or, more specifically, observing how the belt clung to her waist and crotch in the mirror.

“Maria,” she said, sensing her arrival, “do you really think this looks good on me?”

Was it wise, while they’re both in this state, to embrace Tsubasa from behind, nuzzle into the crook of her neck, plant ghost kisses against her lower jaw? Perhaps. “Is this a sufficient answer?”

“Maria…” Tsubasa was heating up, especially when Maria’s hands began to wander, slipping underneath her camisole, exploring her belly, and grazing against the underside of her breasts, “You’re just making it worse”

“Hmmm? Then why are you letting me do… this?” Maria tugged up one end of a ribbon string, the other end snugly tied around Tsubasa’s wrists.

Tsubasa stared at her tied wrists, red creeping up her neck. “I… am distracted.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, now.” Maria pivoted Tsubasa away from the mirror, marching her towards the bed. She spun her around, and gently pushed. Tsubasa fell back onto the covers, flushed and pouting, laying her tied hands against her chest. Maria could stare all day.

Maria climbed onto bed next. She took the dangling ribbon, tugged it up and up to the headboard, and tied it securely there. The light prep work done, she dove in, showering kisses and nibbles against Tsubasa’s neck and clavicle, and moving downwards.

“M-Maria…” Tsubasa squirmed away from the kisses, but the sighs and groans through tight lips told a different story. “Isn’t the whole issue with Hibiki and Miku is that they can’t make love properly?”

“Indulge me.”

One hand snuck beneath fabric to cup Tsubasa’s breasts, kneading and teasing, drawing delightful gasps and whimpers. Muscle memory directed her other hand downwards, only to be denied by cold stone. No matter what she did, she couldn’t slip her fingers under to reach Tsubasa’s simmering heat. She shifted position, Tsubasa’s thigh pressed against her crotch, but no amount of wanton humping was able to make the friction to stimulate her own heat.

Maria pulled away with a frustrated sigh. “Damn,” she said. “Really can’t get past the belt.”

“Did you think they were lying?” With a bit of twisting, Tsubasa undid her wrist restraints. She crossed her arms, rosy cheeks blowing a long breath. “Brilliant. Now we’re all riled up.”

Maria laid down beside Tsubasa, sheepish and defeated. Absentmindedly, a finger began scratching against the crotch piece, longing for the ache underneath. The belt’s maddening tease continued, unbothered and unchanged.

This was going to be a long seven days.

Notes:

This is the first part of a three-part story commissioned by BlueGrandAdmiral over at DeviantArt, who wanted to see the Symphogear girls having to deal with a very peculiar relic. As always, thank you so much for your incredible patience with my slow progress.

This one has less focus on bondage and more specifically on chastity and denial play, which I do like, so it’s been fun getting to do something different. Also, this actually is kind of a sequel to a previous Symphogear commission I did from a different client titled ‘Silenced Songstresses’, which the client of this commission specified it to be. I believe it still works on its own, though.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. For the next two parts, stay tuned.

Chapter 2

Those first few hours, as it turned out, were a grim hint of what the rest of the week had in store for Maria and Tsubasa.

Day one wasn’t too bad. Learning from the first few hours, they figured the smart thing to do was to take it easy. Basic household chores around the apartment to keep themselves occupied, with some light entertainment in-between. But, just before bed, they decided to tune in to a random movie that caught their eye. Big mistake. The movie featured several sizzling ‘exchanges’ between the main heroine and her love interest, and neither Maria nor Tsubasa had the will to look away or switch it off until the credits rolled.

Day two. The previous night’s mistake haunted them. Images of that movie had been burned into their minds. Unfortunately, it was time for a grocery run. They knew they were in trouble when they both sucked in a moan when Maria’s car rumbled to life. Maybe about two blocks later, they both agreed it was far too dangerous for Maria to drive in a state like this, and turned right around. Just for this week, they did their groceries online. Right after a desperate make-out session in the car.

Day three. Going in, they knew it was going to be bad. They already had an important meeting scheduled with their music label. Couldn’t shift it online so late and so abruptly, so they had to leave the apartment. They took the train, because the car was too dangerous, but the train ride came with its own perils. To be in an enclosed space, surrounded by so many people, having to act normally while constantly being teased below. Every stray glance, every odd shuffle, they swore someone had caught on. The meeting itself was somehow even worse. The train only had strangers. The meeting was filled with people they actually knew – professional people, conducting themselves in a very professional manner. Meanwhile, across the table, the songstress duo only half paid attention to the discussion – the other half drifting towards unwholesome fantasies.

Day four was, mercifully, a little better. They had nothing on the agenda – no chores, no meetings, no errands to run. They were also slowly getting used to the teasing, somewhat. Learning from the first day, they weren’t taking any chances when it came to entertaining themselves, and spent most of the day exercising in their personal gym. Physical exertion wasn’t a terrible way to relieve some of the tension, and they were able to take out some of the frustrations on a few unlucky punching bags. Maria, in particular, took great pleasure in plastering the mental image of a certain Autoscorer against every bag she pummeled.

Day five. It got bad again. With the charity concert only a few days away, and having been relaxed by the previous day, they forced themselves to do some light, last-minute rehearsal. There was nothing new in the setlist, but you could never be too prepared. But they completely underestimated how irritating the teasing could get when they were trying to focus on a task. Going through the choreography went smoothly enough, but they swore the vibrations would get increasingly distracting when they practiced their vocals. By the end of the day, neither of them felt the rehearsal had made them any more prepared for the concert.

Day six. The previous day had drained them. They had given up on doing or accomplishing anything. They had resigned themselves to lay in bed all day, wearing little more than their underwear, counting down the hours until they would finally, finally be free of the accursed belts.

“How…?” Tsubasa bemoaned at some point, during her turn to be the little spoon. “How did Hibiki and Miku live like this for almost two years?!”

Maria breathed a humorless laugh, burying her face deeper into Tsubasa’s hair. “Clearly, they’re made of sturdier stuff than us.”

The two fell silent again after that – a comforting silence, or at least, as comforting as possible for the circumstance. Minutes passed before Tsubasa spoke again.

“Maria?”

“Yes?”

A shorter pause, but Tsubasa continued, “There is something I want to say. Something I want to get off my chest, but… I feel like I’d be a terrible person for saying it.”

“Tsubasa. Never think that,” Maria said with a gentle squeeze. “Just say what you want to say. It’ll be fine.”

Tsubasa still had to brace with a deep breath.

“I… can’t wait for them to take the belts off of us tomorrow.”

 

---

 

“What do you mean you can’t take the belts off of us tomorrow?!”

On the night of the sixth day, just as Maria and Tsubasa were about to escape to the land of dreams, a video call came through, and on the other end was a very sheepish-looking Hibiki.

“It’s the earthquake!” she said. “You saw the news from yesterday. S.O.N.G. needs us to provide disaster relief immediately. And not just me and Miku - Chris, Kirika, and Shirabe are coming too.”

All Maria and Tsubasa could muster was a shared look, and a long sigh. Yes, they’d seen the news. The images coming out had been horrific. Frankly, they’d be out there too if not for their obligations to the charity concert tour.

“We’re shipping out tonight.” Hibiki couldn’t quite meet their eyes through the screen. Of course, she acted as if she was guilty. “I’m… really, really sorry it turned out like this.”

Was this sudden? Yes. Disappointing? To a degree. But neither Maria nor Tsubasa were so weak-willed that they’d be upset over this turn of events. Certainly not at Hibiki and Miku.

“Tachibana, you have nothing to apologize for.” Tsubasa spoke for herself and Maria.

“But… we promised it’ll only be for seven days!”

“Hibiki, please. What’s the alternative? Delay you from aiding people suffering through a disaster, just so two grown women who should have a handle on their urges can get their rocks off?” Maria scoffed. “That would be unconscionable.”

“You saved the world, multiple times, while bearing this burden. We can steel ourselves for a couple extra days,” Tsubasa said.

Hibiki pouted. An adorable sight most times, and still was, but the situation dulled it by a certain degree. “But…”

“I swear, Hibiki, if you lose sleep over this…” The dreaded maternal tone started creeping into Maria’s voice, and that finally got through to Hibiki.

“Alright, alright… if you think you can handle it…” she conceded with a sigh.

“We know we can handle it.” Maria’s reassuring smile slanted to a more mischievous angle. “Hibiki, if there’s anything making you lose sleep right now, it should be Miku.”

Tsubasa would palm her face if she wasn’t the one holding the phone. “Maria…”

“Huh…? O-oh…!” Hibiki chuckled as she rubbed her neck. “C’mon, guys… s’not like we’re going that far…”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if you held your phone just a bit further back?” Maria smirked.

Not to give Maria credit, but this entire time, Hibiki had only shown herself from the neck up. Made it all the more apparent when a blush crept up. “U-um… I, uh… don’t think I c-can, um…”

Tsubasa couldn’t stop herself from raising a brow. Then, as a final nail in the coffin, the call picked up a voice from the background, faint but unmistakable.

“Hibiki~ Come back to bed~”

Hibiki paled, an awkward smile frozen on her face. “Y-yeah, one second!”

Maria turned to Tsubasa, looking entirely too smug.

“Alright, Tsubasa, Maria, good luck on your charity concert. Stay strong! And, um…” Hibiki’s face suddenly darkened into a deep frown. “There’s something I have to tell you, but… argh, it’s on the tip of my tongue! What was it again…?”

While Hibiki struggled, that voice in the background returned, unmistakably closer this time.

“Tachibana Hibiki, we only have an hour until we need to pack and we are USING IT.”

“Uhhh, gotta go, bye!”

The call abruptly ended then. Tsubasa put down the phone with a bemused huff. “At least the happy couple is taking their promise with you to heart.”

“Good. Someone better be benefitting from our terrible week.” Maria’s smile was slight, much like this victory. Absentminded fingers wandered downwards, tapping against the smooth stone circling her waist.

“You know what this means, don’t you?”

Tsubasa raised a brow.

“We have to do the concert with the belts on.”

They both fell back on the bed at the same time. Dreading what awaited them, all they could do was let out a miserable groan.

 

---

 

Spotlights on. The audience cheered. Maria and Tsubasa stood center stage, clad in matching blue and white concert dresses, beautiful and elaborate and a perfect fit for a pair of singing divas.

Not a single soul in the crowd suspected anything to be amiss so far. Good.

A single glance across to reassure one another, to stay strong, to stay above the unceasing tease down below. A deep breath. Then, a song.

It was beautiful. It was enchanting. It was like magic – like for this moment, all of the audience’s troubles were a thing of the past. And the source was not exempt from this bliss. They sang, they danced in synchronous harmony, drowning out the audience, the rest of the world, and the terrible week they had. Just the two of them and a song to share with the world bursting out of their hearts.

Up until Tsubasa had to hit a high note just before the chorus.

The teasing, though constant, was ultimately light – possible to be suppressed or even outright ignored with sufficient willpower. So she was completely unprepared when the vibrations’ intensity suddenly spiked - not quite to the intensity of the edging mode she briefly experienced, but still much higher than what they had to deal with all week. She stumbled in her heels, her vocals straying to an off-note, but caught herself from fully stacking it. Across the stage from her, Maria wavered from the still pose she was supposed to strike, and started her next line a measure late. Seemed Tsubasa wasn’t alone in experiencing the sudden spike.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd at the sight of what was clearly some sort of live snafu. But thankfully, the reaction was rather mild – after all, mistakes still happen sometimes regardless of our best efforts. No one was reacting as if their favorite idols were receiving sexual stimulation in plain sight in front of thousands, and regardless of whatever the hell was going on – just from a glance shot between them, they knew – both Tsubasa and Maria were determined to keep it that way.

The vibrations stayed at that much higher intensity for the rest of the song. A part of Tsubasa wished that the spike was just some sort of freak occurrence, and it’d recede back down to its regular light teasing, but she also knew that would be too good to be true. In the end, they had to abandon some of the choreography of the song just to keep themselves focused on not letting any inappropriate noises slip. But it did the trick. As the first song came to a close, nobody in the crowd had caught on that something quite untoward was unfolding right under their noses.

The stage shifted, transitioning in preparation of the next song. Tsubasa and Maria knelt behind one of the stage props, catching their breaths, finally able to communicate for at least a brief moment.

“It- hnnn-” Maria had to bite back a moan. “It got stronger.”

Tsubasa nodded, too frazzled to speak. She was out of breath, too. All her focus was spent on not clutching under her dress.

“Why?! Why did it get stronger?!”

The million yen question. Tsubasa sucked in a breath and clenched her eyes shut. Push back all the tantric stimulus, retreat back to a quiet corner of her mind, and retrace.

Tsubasa opened her eyes with a gasp. “Our last rehearsal.”

A look from Maria prompted Tsubasa to elaborate. “We pu- haaah… pushed ourselves to rehearse. To sing. But we- ghn… gave up halfway because it really felt like the teasing got worse. I thought it was just in our heads, but…”

“If it gets- srk… s-stronger when we sing…” From how her eyes shifted, Maria reached the same conclusion at the same time as her. “… phonic gain?”

“Would be in line for a relic devised by that- a-ahhh… Autoscorer.” Tsubasa shook her head. This half-strength teasing was driving her crazy. Briefly, she flashed back to all the times Hibiki sang her heart out. Knowing this torture to be in store for her, and yet of all the times she’d heard her sing, not once did she detect even a hint of hesitation in her voice. Tsubasa’s respect grew by the second.

Over their hushed whispers, over the anticipant buzz of the audience, the opening notes of their second song began to play. The stage had settled into its next configuration. They had only moments of reprieve left.

“What now?”

“What we’ve been doing all week.” Maria stood up, offering her hand to Tsubasa, doing her best to appear strong. Still, her stony expression wavered. “Hnng. Push it down. Nobody can know.”

Tsubasa accepted her hand, and rose. The soft warmth wrapped around her fingers strengthened her, reminded her that she was not alone staring down this trial.

They stepped out of cover in style, Maria not missing a beat with her opening line. When Tsubasa joined her in the third verse, their voices resounded in beautiful harmony, to the cheers of the audience’s screaming adoration. That became further fuel for the duet as they powered through the rest of the setlist. An additional factor giving her strength was, if she was being frank, spite. To submit to their base desires in a scenario like this meant that that wicked Autoscorer had won, and Tsubasa would never grant her that satisfaction. She also knew Maria well enough to know she would share the sentiment.

But, not even that inner strength allowed the show to progress just as intended. Much of their planned choreography throughout each song ended up being much more muted and subdued, if not abandoned entirely. Tsubasa caught a glimpse of the staff backstage, scratching their heads wondering why the duet kept failing to hit the designated marks of a well-rehearsed show, and to them she could only offer a silent apology.

They strived to stick to the choreo wherever they could, though, but even that caused its own share of problems.  Near the middle of their fifth song, the plan involved them rushing towards each other into a tight embrace - a simple enough maneuver that they quietly communicated should be safe to perform. And so, they rushed towards each other from opposite ends of the stage and leapt into each other’s arms, then stayed there, bodies touching, hot breaths mixing, lingering on the position for far longer than they should. They missed their next lines by a few measures before Maria tore herself away from Tsubasa and chased after the music.

The crowd hooted and whistled. Deeply enthusiastic screams erupted from scattered corners of the venue. But nobody was outraged. Nobody was appalled. Certainly, nobody acted as if their favorite divas were literal seconds away from tearing away each other’s clothes and going down on each other live on stage.

Tsubasa wasted precious seconds wrangling her breathing back under her control before rejoining Maria for the chorus. Thankfully, the makeup did a stellar job hiding how warm and red her face felt.

Eventually, as much of an ordeal as it was, the concert came to a close. They powered through the ten song setlist with zero serious incidents, until they could stand side by side center stage, and take a final bow to a roaring audience who were none the wiser.   

What happened next passed in a blur – they stepped off the stage, rushed through backstage, hastily thanked all the staff for their hard work, dodged any questions about how their performance strayed from the rehearsals, until they entered the dressing room. Tsubasa barely had two feet through the door before she suddenly found herself pinned against the wall, and Maria’s lips crashing against hers.

The kiss was starved, desperate, and in that instant Tsubasa let go of all her inhibitions, kissing back with the same hungry desperation. Maria clutched onto the neckline of Tsubasa’s dress and wasn’t the slightest bit gentle as she yanked it down, stretching and tearing parts of the fabric, freeing Tsubasa’s breasts. She palmed fistfuls in each hand, squeezing with enough force to draw a moan from Tsubasa into the heated kiss. Tsubasa clumsily clawed for Maria’s dress strap behind her neck, leaving red streaks across Maria’s back. Maria hissed each time, but the sting only fueled her, slipping her tongue past Tsubasa’s lips and fully claiming Tsubasa as hers.

But for all their frenzied passion, cold stone blocked their path as soon as their fingers wandered downwards. Cold stone blocked any contact when they slipped their legs between one another. No matter what, the aching heat at their core remained agonizingly out of reach.

Maria broke away from the kiss, out of breath and close to tears. “I can’t… I can’t…!”

By some miracle, Tsubasa had enough clarity to realize Maria reaching down towards the front of her own belt. 

“No! Maria!” Tsubasa snatched Maria’s hand by the wrist away from the belt. Dazed for a moment, Maria came to her senses with a start. She gasped, stumbling back until she hit the vanity desk.

“Tsubasa, I…” Maria clenched her eyes shut in guilt. “I’m so sorry…”

“It’s… it’s fine…” Panting, Tsubasa slid down the wall until she sat on the tiled floor. “We both… lost ourselves…”

These belts – truly an evil invention. With the lock no longer in place, they both were technically free to rid themselves of the belt. But of course, this would come at the cost of the other’s torment – an act neither of them would ever dare stoop to. And yet, the possibility still remained, the temptation of ultimate selfishness constantly clawing at the edges of their better judgement, making the hellish experience even more unbearable.

Minutes passed in silence as Tsubasa and Maria recovered. Concert dress crumpled and hanging loose, leaving bits of their privates carelessly exposed. The mood had been all but ruined, but the fact remained that they both were completely, hopelessly aroused.

“We’re delaying the rest of the tour.”

“Mhmm.” Tsubasa nodded. The next course of action was obvious.

“We are transferring to S.O.N.G. immediately.”

“Yeah.”

 

---

 

“So…” Miku finally spoke, interrupting the steady rhythm of shoes against metal, “… nice flight?”

Tsubasa and Maria shared a tired, blank stare, before Tsubasa wryly replied, “As nice as it gets.”

Tsubasa and Maria had arrived at S.O.N.G.’s submarine a day after their charity concert. Their dear friends welcomed them warmly, and S.O.N.G. certainly welcomed the extra help for the earthquake relief effort. After exchanging the usual pleasantries – during which Tsubasa and Maria did their damnedest to hide any sense of urgency in their actions – the two excused themselves to put away their belongings. As if on cue, Hibiki and Miku had graciously taken it upon themselves to lead Tsubasa and Maria to their cabin, even though they remembered the way well enough. Of course, they were the only four people in the submarine aware of the true reason why Tsubasa and Maria decided to rejoin the group.

The walk had been light on conversation, understandably so, but neither Tsubasa nor Maria would describe the quiet as tense. The look on Hibiki’s face, however, told the other three that she did not see it that way.

Finally, after holding herself back for an impressive two-thirds of the way, Hibiki burst.

“Tsubasa! Maria! I am so, so sorry!” Hibiki bowed deeply, earnestly. Briefly, Tsubasa feared she would go so far as prostrate herself. “I completely failed to tell you the effect phonic gain has on the belts. Elfnein figured this out and told us so long ago, and we’ve just dealt with it for all this time that it completely slipped my mind. I never should’ve let you two do the concert while wearing the belt!”

Tsubasa and Maria, briefly taken aback, shared a gentle smile. This girl truly was one-of-a-kind.

“Tachibana, please, stand straight.” Tsubasa coaxed Hibiki by the shoulder so they saw eye to eye. “Even if you had told us, we still would’ve gone through with the concert anyway.”

“Not being caught off guard would’ve been nice, but the concert’s too important.” Maria averted her eyes slightly as her smile turned sour. “Not to mention, it would’ve been like giving that woman a notch in her win record.”  

Hibiki’s wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights face was, as always, adorable. “See, Hibiki?” chimed Miku as she stepped beside her. “Tsubasa and Maria really are the best people to be entrusted with the belts.”

Hibiki’s stunned expression melted into relieved laughter. Seeing her no longer burdening herself, Tsubasa’s smile grew.

“Besides, you were clearly… occupied when you called us.”

Tsubasa didn’t need to look to feel the smirk in her words. “Maria…”

Instantly, both Hibiki and Miku were beet red. “Y-yeah, that was just… bad timing…” Hibiki rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward laugh, while Miku bore holes into her shoes with her eyes.

“Oh? Was there ever a good time for it?” Maria wasn’t letting up, doubling down on the teasing. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, Hibiki, but this whole time you’ve been walking with a… notable gait.”

Again, not to give Maria credit, and not that Tsubasa would ever point this out, but Hibiki had been walking funny ever since they met up in the submarine.

Hibiki clamped her legs together. “H-have I…?” She held her head in her hands, face aghast. “The others never said anything, so…”

Meanwhile, though Miku remained red-faced and silent, the smile she tried to hide behind her hand all but screamed to the world that she was entirely too pleased with herself.

“Before we talk about this more,” Tsubasa cut in with a pointed look towards Maria, “we should make sure we’re behind closed doors first.”

That did the trick in making the group move again. The pace was smooth and brisk, uninterrupted until they reached Tsubasa and Maria’s shared cabin. The first they’d usually do was to put their luggage away, but a break from the routine seemed warranted on this particular occasion. As soon as Tsubasa locked the door behind them, they got to business.

“No hard feelings if we skip to the main event, right?” Maria asked, hands already on the waistband of her jeans.

“Oh, not at all,” Hibiki said as she fiddled with her pants zipper. “You two already had to endure this for way longer than you should’ve.”

Much like before, they readied themselves for the transfer of belts. Hibiki and Miku lowered the pants of their S.O.N.G. uniform, then the panties underneath. Tsubasa and Maria slid off their travel jeans, revealing the blue and silver belts that had been tormenting them for the past week. The four of them stood pants-less in the cabin, and once again, the absurdity was worth a chuckle.

“Tsubasa. You take it off first this time. It’s only fair,” Maria said. “Especially after what I… almost did.”

The look on Maria’s face said she wouldn’t take no as an answer, so Tsubasa shelved her half-formed argument. Tsubasa locked eyes with Hibiki and Miku – Hibiki appeared the readiest to receive.

Tsubasa hovered her palm just above the belt’s front plate, looking towards Hibiki. Hibiki smiled. “Thanks again for bearing the belts for a little bit.”

“Anytime.”

“Maybe not anytime.”

Chuckling from Maria’s quip, Tsubasa pressed her palm against the plate. With a thought, a soft hiss, and a relieved sigh, the waistbands disconnected from the front plate, and the belt slid down her legs to rest above her knees, then vanished in a flash of light.

The room was deadly quiet, as everyone struggled to process what they had just witnessed.

The belt vanished. Into thin air.

But before anyone could voice their shock, the silence was broken by a crackling cackle. From the front of Maria’s belt, a beam of light projected a visage of a devil in blue, a grinning face no one had ever expected to see again.

“Hello, hello! How’s the happy couple doing?” greeted the head hologram of Garie. “Scared? Shocked? Wondering where the hell the belt just poofed to?”

“If you’re seeing this prerecorded message, then you just hit the one-in-a-million chance of starting a fun little game! Lucky you!” A mocking fanfare followed Garie’s explanation. “You see, every time you take off the belt, there’s always a teeny tiny chance that it’ll teleport itself somewhere nearby. The game is, you’ll have to find it again fast before the edging mode on the other belt drives your little girlfriend crazy!”

“But how far away did the belt go? And what if it picks a spot that’s impossible for you to reach?” Garie’s fake concern gave way to mad laughter. “Well… I don’t care! Your problem, not mine.”

“Have fun with the game… and good luck~”

As sudden as it appeared, the hologram fizzled out, leaving the room in shocked silence.

The first sound to break the silence was the grinding of teeth against teeth, of Maria seething. “You… evil bi-!”

Any insults Maria planned quickly died when the belt’s edging mode activated.

Notes:

The second part of a three-part story commissioned by BlueGrandAdmiral over on DeviantArt, who wanted to see the Symphogear girls having to deal with a very peculiar relic. Always, always grateful for the patience they’ve shown with my slow progress.

Going heavy on the exhibitionist kink this time, which I do enjoy, so this was fun to do, if a bit challenging. The concert scene stumped me for a bit, if I’m honest, so I hope it came out well.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. Stay tuned for the third and final part.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 7 of Commissions