Chapter 280 - 281: The Two Songstresses

Chapter 280: Chapter 281: The Two Songstresses

The battle was over.

But this was only intermission.

Unlike the "original work."

In the "original," Le Creuse acted on his own—striking first and reporting later, only informing the Supreme Council after the fact, and specifically sending Athrun to explain.

But this time was different.

Because the intelligence had come earlier, there’d been more time to react, and the operation only proceeded after the Supreme Council approved it.

At a time like this, there was no need to have Athrun and Le Creuse return to the homeland—they just had to "wire in" a request for support.

A temporary withdrawal didn’t mean this was over.

But during this "intermission," the scene cut away again.

This time it moved to somewhere resembling an administrative hall.

"If I hadn’t seen this data, I’d never have imagined the Earth Alliance’s weapons had reached this level."

"According to the report sent back, these five MS are actually all about the same spec, while the other two MS are clearly a tier below."

"So the difference is in the pilots?"

"Damn it, those Coordinator traitors!"

"They say that onboard AI is a huge help in combat. According to Le Creuse’s report, it boosts the G machines by somewhere around 30 to 50 percent. It seems it can be ported to the GINN too, where the boost would be even greater."

"Mm, we can roll it out—but the Earth Alliance’s AI won’t do, we’ll have to use our own..."

This was PLANT.

Those discussing the intelligence were the upper echelon of the Supreme Council.

During a break midway through the meeting, Siegel Clyne walked to the window and looked outside.

Just then a staff member came over. "Chairman, Lacus-san’s itinerary has been decided."

"Mm."

"Um, at a time like this, isn’t it a bit too dangerous to send Lacus-san to Junius Seven?"

"We may be at war, but the Earth Alliance wouldn’t be deranged enough to attack a civilian memorial delegation."

[You never know]

[A flag has been raised]

[I don’t know who you are, but with a jinx like that, you’re definitely doomed]

[The environment on PLANT is really nice]

[Chairman? So this guy’s basically PLANT’s president?]

[We don’t know the political system yet, but close enough]

Siegel looked out the window again. "Lacus is a smarter child than I am. Sooner or later the Clyne Faction will have to be handed to her to lead..."

As Siegel spoke, the camera moved outside.

Then, music softly rose.

"Since when did your smile become so fragile..."

On a street, the figure of a young girl appeared on the screen.

"One misstep, and it’s gone for good"

The sky, the grasslands, people at their leisure—everything here was so beautiful and serene.

"Turning only what you cherish into light"

In the exquisite, picture-perfect scene appeared the figure of a girl with pink hair.

Lacus Clyne.

The Songstress of PLANT.

(The goddess of those days)

(Once the most popular of all)

And at this moment, she was covering her mouth in surprise.

"...Heliopolis has collapsed?" She stared, startled, at the red-haired officer before her.

"Yes." The officer nodded.

"What about Yuzuriha Inori-san...?"

Lacus turned to look toward her own room.

Her room was filled with Inori’s posters, records, and merchandise, with one of Inori’s MVs playing.

And all the while, the background music was still playing.

(The Songstress of ZAFT)

(Shame the MV isn’t flashy enough)

"With the power to journey across the starry sky"

"Toward the place where the stars fall"

"I wish only to convey my feelings to you"

"I will forever be by your side"

"Taking your coldness into my embrace"

"Even worlds apart, we’re sure to meet again"

[Pretty pretty pretty!]

[Oh geez, another pink-haired one]

[So this is the new character the OP had hidden behind effects]

[Gorgeous, absolutely amazing, good good good good]

[Looks like she’s even a fan of Inori]

[PLANT is playing Lacus’s MV, and in Lacus’s own room she’s playing Inori’s MV]

[Wait, both of their songs are love songs!]

[Huh? Don’t tell me these two are the real CP?]

[Shocking—Kira and Inori are a fake pairing! The real CP is Inori and Lacus! And Kira’s with me!]

[Your Map of Yan is way too short—showed your true colors instantly]

[But the Songstress of PLANT being a fan of the Songstress of Orb, that’s pretty fun]

[Holy crap, wait—wait! Who exactly does the "Songstress of the Void" refer to?!]

After Lacus appeared, some sharp-eyed audience members suddenly hit on a big question.

Behind the name Gundam SEED there was another title—"Songstress of the Void."

Everyone had defaulted to assuming the songstress was Inori.

But now a second superbly elegant pink-haired girl had appeared.

Suddenly the matter wasn’t clear at all!

—Don’t tell me this one is the songstress in the title?!

"You’re all overthinking it."

Inori, who’d been helping Murrue with the Archangel’s AI retrofit ever since coming down from the Strike, stole a moment to glance at the screen.

That the Stage would give Lacus screen time this early was something even Inori hadn’t expected.

But thinking it over, it was roughly on schedule.

The first episode ran over ninety minutes—four or five episodes’ worth of content—plus half of the second episode. That was actually about the same as Lacus’s debut in the "original."

It was earlier, but not by much.

As for the so-called Songstress of the Void...

That was just a suffix the client had tacked on to ride the hype.

Who could blame them, with girl idols being all the rage now?

And now it was proven: this client might not understand mecha combat, but they definitely understood hype and making money.

After Lacus’s appearance, the discussion among the audience heated up at once.

A flood of heated comments began filling the screen.

[This song’s really good too, is there a title?]

[It’ll be listed in the end credits, right?]

[Check the official site—the single "Shizuka na Yoru ni" is already open for pre-order]

[They get it!]

[That’s what I love most about it—the merch drops crazy fast]

[Say what you will about Gundam SEED, but for moving merch, it’s definitely the strongest]

"They say Heliopolis has completed its evacuation—the collapsed colony was empty," the officer said.

"That’s wonderful."

Lacus breathed a sigh of relief.

After saluting, the officer left.

Lacus returned to her room and went on watching Inori’s MV.

This was that song Aimo—but not the "Bird Human" version everyone could understand; it was the other one whose lyrics no one could make sense of.

"Aimo, Aimo... you, oh you..."

Lacus didn’t know the meaning of this song, yet from these lyrics she felt that strange emotion.

That strange sensation of something rippling in her heart.

"Who are you, really?"

[The foreshadowing’s right here]

[See, that’s why they mentioned earlier there were two Aimos]

[This song really is nice]

[It’s completely incomprehensible, but Lacus seems to understand something]

[This is the psychic resonance between songstresses!]

"Smack!"

Lacus lightly slapped her own cheek.

"Time to set out."

And with Lacus’s words, the scene shifted again, cutting straight to Inori.

There actually wasn’t supposed to be a shot of Inori here.

But since Lacus had appeared, she, as a fellow "songstress," naturally had to grab a shot to echo it—so Inori used a Camera Shot Card.