Chapter 378 - 379: Desert Tiger: If You Can’t Win, Just Lie Flat~

Chapter 378: Chapter 379: Desert Tiger: If You Can’t Win, Just Lie Flat~

After the concert ended, Inori headed backstage.

The audience, meanwhile, began filing out in an orderly fashion.

"She already released an album? How fast is that? Even a Coordinator couldn’t pull that off, could they? Or was it prepared in advance?"

Andrew muttered to himself.

On the way, he also bought the digital album.

He would buy the physical edition too, of course. That one was for collecting.

"Mm... I could listen to this forever... Hm?"

At first everything seemed normal, but when Andrew reached the chorus near the end of the digital album, he sensed something was off.

"So that’s the game she’s playing..."

It was a North African folk song.

But to ZAFT, it was very obviously a "protest song."

"What an arrogant little songstress. I like it."

Andrew set down his tablet and went backstage.

"What a marvelous performance, Songstress-san."

Andrew clapped as he walked over to Inori.

"It was nothing."

Inori said.

"I already bought the album, and I preordered the physical version too. Can I reserve an autograph in advance?" Andrew asked with a smile.

"Mm."

Inori dug out a copy from behind her, signed her name, and handed the record to Andrew.

At the same time, a message arrived on Andrew’s personal terminal.

His order had already been completed.

"What a mysterious method." Andrew muttered.

It truly was mysterious.

At first, PLANT had considered blacklisting this uninvited "guest."

For one thing, she was a songstress from a third country. For another, she really had affected Lacus’s popularity.

Naturally, the number-one songstress had to be one of their own.

A "celebrity" like this normally was not that important, but it would be wrong to say they did not matter at all. Sometimes they could play a major role in rallying people.

PLANT had tried several times, but Inori’s "fanatical fans" seemed extraordinarily capable, and in the end they could not erase any trace of her at all.

Andrew vaguely felt, however, that this was probably not as simple as a few so-called "fanatical fans."

They could not delete the information, and they could not block it. Everything simply passed through unobstructed.

Impossible to guard against. Completely impossible.

"As a small gesture of hospitality from your host, how about we all go have dinner together?"

When Andrew saw Kira climb down from the Astray Red Frame, he casually extended an invitation.

"Phew, I’m done over here... Wait, haven’t I actually become a staff member now?!"

Cagalli was helping out in the back.

Only belatedly did she realize that she had somehow genuinely turned into concert staff.

"You young ladies want to come have dinner too?" Andrew called to Cagalli from a distance.

"Hah? Dream on!"

Cagalli had a fiery temper.

On this side, Cagalli, Kira, and Inori were all girls. On the other side, Andrew was one burly man.

One man inviting three young girls to dinner together...

Cagalli did not even dare imagine what he might plan to do after dinner!

"You’ve got a few other companions too, don’t you? They can come along."

Andrew gave them a thumbs-up.

"Sai and the others?" Cagalli looked at Kira.

Sai, Tolle, and the others had come as well.

They had not left the Archangel yet.

Going straight back to Orb aboard the Archangel seemed safer than returning through ZAFT territory. Besides, they wanted to help Kira.

Flay, however, had not come.

Walking around in a city full of Coordinators would only make her feel sick.

So Flay had simply asked Miriallia to buy some personal items for her.

Sai and the others were not at the concert right now, though. They were out shopping.

Mu had previously given Kira a procurement list, and those jobs had now been handed over to Kira’s classmates.

They were operating on enemy territory, after all, so everyone had chosen to move together.

Over here were three girls and one grown man, while the other group had three boys and Miriallia, the only girl.

Kira had originally wanted Miriallia to stay here too, since it would at least be safer, but there was no helping it—some feminine hygiene products were simply much easier for a girl to buy.

"You’re surprisingly generous." Cagalli still found this Tiger annoying, but he was certainly broad-minded.

"It’s a thank-you, a thank-you," Andrew said. "After all, Inori helped me catch some Blue Cosmos members."

"Blue Cosmos?!"

The moment they heard that, Kira and Cagalli both tensed.

"I was planning to use the concert to lure those Blue Cosmos people out, but I didn’t expect them to have already been taken down."

Andrew spread his hands.

This concert had not merely been a concert. It had also been a "fishing operation."

This area did not only have a resistance organization. It also had the even more extremist Blue Cosmos.

Andrew had originally planned to use the concert to draw those Blue Cosmos members out all at once.

But Andrew’s plan had fallen through.

Because every last one of those fish had already been "knocked flat."

"They would have interfered with the concert. Bad livestream. Hurts album preorders," Inori said.

—You’ve got to be kidding me. You want to launch a terrorist attack at my concert?

Inori was very greedy.

She wanted Popularity from the viewers outside this Stage world.

And she wanted Popularity from the viewers inside this Stage world too.

"Kira, you decide." Cagalli patted Kira on the shoulder.

"Mm." Kira nodded. "Then let’s take a little break."

Piloting a Gundam Astray without fighting, purely for a performance, felt wonderful.

That feeling allowed Kira’s tightly wound nerves to relax a little.

Taking a short break should be fine, right?

"Ohhh, that’s wonderful!"

"You almost ruined the concert, you know." Cagalli sounded very dissatisfied.

"Don’t worry. I was planning to close the net right as the concert started anyway. It wouldn’t have affected anything," Andrew said with a smile.

But Cagalli’s eyes plainly said, "Like hell I believe you."

"However..."

Andrew turned to look at Kira.

"Little lady... you’re a Coordinator, aren’t you?"

"Mm?!"

Kira had not been involved in the conversation at all up to that point, so Andrew’s sudden pivot unexpectedly made her the center of attention.

Cagalli moved in front of Kira protectively.

"Hey, hey, don’t get so worked up," Andrew said. "Judging from what happened to those Blue Cosmos people, I’m pretty sure I can’t beat you."

If you can’t win, then just lie flat.

With almost any other commander, the Archangel probably would have been attacked the moment it came down.

But despite the fierce reputation of the "Desert Tiger," his personality was open and easygoing.

If he could not win, then there was no point fighting.

Getting some information out of them would be good enough.

Besides... the two sides did not necessarily have to remain enemies forever.