Chapter 305: No Coincidences, All Acting

Chapter 305: Chapter 305: No Coincidences, All Acting

Hearing that voice, Kira turned around on reflex.

A pure, innocent-looking girl with pink hair, wearing a long dress, stood there cradling Haro.

"Ah, it’s Inori-san!"

Lacus spotted Inori in the crowd immediately.

"Whoa, the Songstress of PLANT really is a fan of Inori’s." Kuzzey couldn’t help blurting it out. The moment he did, though, a question struck him: how had she even gotten out?

"Did somebody forget to lock the door?" he asked, dazed.

Everyone else just stood there, equally stunned.

Inori tilted her head. "Do you want an autograph?"

"Yes, absolutely!"

—Why was it about autographs again?

Kira stared blankly at the two of them.

Was signing autographs some kind of universal way to bond?

Everyone else was just as thrown by the absurdity of the scene.

"Wait, no!" Flay was the first to snap out of it. "Weren’t you locked up?!"

Lacus looked a little embarrassed. "Well, actually, I got thirsty... and, this is a bit awkward to admit, but my stomach was growling too."

She blinked. "Is this the mess hall, by any chance? I’d be so happy if I could get something to eat..."

"Mm, eat together?" Inori said.

"Sure!" Getting to eat with an idol—what an incredible stroke of luck!

Inori turned to look at Kira. "Kira, join us?"

"Eh? Me?"

Kira looked utterly lost.

—Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to be doing?

"...W-wait a second!" Kira felt like something about this situation was very wrong.

"Ugh, why is someone from ZAFT allowed to just wander around without permission?"

Flay covered her face in disgust.

"Oh, it’s not really ’without permission.’ I did ask properly whether I could come out." Lacus’s wide, innocent eyes blinked.

"They actually said you could come out...?" Kira asked nervously.

"Mm... well, no one really answered me. But I asked three times, so I figured that probably meant yes?"

"...And that’s not what you’d call ’wandering off without permission’?" Kuzzey said flatly.

But Lacus didn’t seem to mind at all, and instead walked, smiling, right up to Flay.

"Also, I’m not really ZAFT. ZAFT is the name of the military—the formal term would be—"

"Whatever, same difference! You’re a Coordinator either way!"

"It’s not the same, actually. I am a Coordinator, but I’m not part of the military." Lacus tilted her head cutely, her innocent eyes fixed on Flay. "You’re not part of the military either, are you? Then you and I are the same, aren’t we?"

Lacus’s smile seemed capable of melting any heart.

Anyone who didn’t know better might’ve thought she really did have some kind of magic.

Well, actually, Lacus really did have a kind of "magic."

She just hadn’t quite realized it herself yet.

Lacus reached out her right hand toward Flay.

But at the sight of that outstretched hand, Flay stepped back.

"What are you doing! Ugh, no! Why would I shake hands with someone like you?!"

Open disgust spread across Flay’s face.

She raised her voice further. "You’re just a Coordinator, don’t try to get chummy with me!"

Kira’s head dropped even lower.

She was the one who’d been hurt the most by all this.

After Flay’s outburst, the whole room fell into an awkward silence.

Inori tilted her head. "Lacus-san doesn’t fit the narrow definition of Coordinator currently in use. She lies beyond that definition entirely, in a category that’s more—"

"Oh my, why’s everyone gathered here?"

Mu and Murrue had arrived together, having come to pick up some food.

With the AI’s help, work on the bridge wasn’t so hectic anymore, and stepping out for a walk and a meal wasn’t a problem.

Except their arrival cut Inori right off.

Hmm... on purpose, of course.

It was precisely because she’d sensed Mu and the others approaching that Inori had timed things so she’d be the one interrupted.

No coincidences. All acting.

[Let her finish!]

[Cutting it off right there, huh!]

[Lacus’s old man seemed to know something too earlier—Lacus probably knows some secret as well]

[What comes after "more," come on, finish the sentence]

[Inori’s no riddler, it’s everyone else around her who won’t let people finish talking]

[Not listening to her is bad enough, and now they’re the ones interrupting people trying to talk sense]

"What are you doing here?" Murrue noticed Lacus among the crowd too.

Mu glanced at Lacus, then at Flay behind her.

"Ugh..."

This was giving him a headache.

Flay’s father was a supporter of Blue Cosmos, practically an important figure in the Earth Alliance military.

As the daughter of a supporter of that extremist "anti-Coordinator" organization, Flay’s views were, unsurprisingly, plain to see.

And one look at the current scene made it obvious what had happened.

Mu walked over to Kira. "Young lady, mind escorting her back?"

"Ah, mm." Kira nodded.

Having just taken a critical AOE hit from Flay, Kira was still a little distracted.

Once the "adults" showed up, the squabbling among the kids came to a quick end.

Everyone scattered off to their own business.

Inori didn’t follow Kira. Instead, she got herself a cup of coffee and sat down in the mess hall.

Miriallia, Kuzzey, and Flay sat there together.

"Flay..." Kuzzey glanced at Inori, then lowered his voice, "...are you with Blue Cosmos?"

"No way!" Flay denied it at once, then added, "But there’s nothing wrong with their ideas, is there? Messing with your own genes when you’re not even sick—that goes against nature. It’s just wrong."

Flay’s voice was loud, and she made no effort to keep it out of Inori’s earshot.

Or rather, she was doing it on purpose.

...And then?

Kuzzey and Miriallia both stayed quiet.

In the "original story," Kuzzey would’ve been jealous of Kira, but since this version of Kira was a girl, jealousy wasn’t really on the table for him now.

And Miriallia had known the truth for a long time already, so of course she wasn’t about to agree with Flay.

Flay shot a glance at Inori.

She’d expected some kind of rebuttal, but Inori didn’t say a word.

Yet somehow, Inori’s silence only made Flay angrier.

She was a little afraid of Inori.

Or rather... jealous.

The girl was Orb’s Songstress, a huge star on Heliopolis.

But as far as Flay was concerned, that voice, that face—it was all artificial.

And yet that very music, that voice—not a single person, herself included, could bring themselves to dislike it.

That fact made Flay feel sick.

"You all think the same, don’t you?!"

Flay turned to Miriallia and Kuzzey.

But the two of them just kept their eyes lowered and stayed conspicuously silent.

"Flay..." Miriallia shot a glance at Inori, silently warning Flay that she was still right there.

But Flay was doing this on purpose now.

Or rather, Inori was deliberately provoking her into it.

Simply by remaining in the area at this moment, Inori was exerting a psychological effect on Flay, stoking her anger.

This too... was induction.

Because only this way could she properly grill Flay.

"Flay-san... are you jealous, perhaps?"