Chapter 285 - 286: You’ve Got to Lose With Artistry and Creativity

Chapter 285: Chapter 286: You’ve Got to Lose With Artistry and Creativity

[Explosive twist!]

[Twist, exploded!]

[The stage of destiny that no one can predict!]

[Oof—hearing Inori say that line in her flat, expressionless voice, my heart just melted]

[Roar! Roaaar! This is exactly what I came to see!]

[Is she jealous?]

[She’s jealous~]

The bloodthirsty audience was always itching for chaos.

"I-Inori, what are you even saying?!"

Kira trembled, unable to get the words out.

—Wait. Was this Kira’s feeling for Flay really just admiration?

Who said that just because Kira was a girl, she couldn’t like girls?

But wouldn’t that make things even more twisted?

Still, since it was interesting, might as well roll with it.

"Kira, do you like Flay?" This time Inori was genuinely curious.

"Are you... angry?"

Kira lowered her head.

"Of course not. Kira is my manager. Kira is my master. Whoever Kira chooses to like is Kira’s own freedom."

[Is she angry?]

[She’s angry.]

[Said "Kira" four times in a row lol]

[I don’t think it’ll happen]

[Flay’s obviously straight, and she hates Coordinators]

[This landmine’s gonna blow one day]

"I, um..."

Kira floundered, unsure what she was supposed to say.

"Kira. Get some rest."

Inori headed toward the hangar.

"Um, you—"

"Per Kira’s authorization, I’m currently boosting the Earth Alliance’s combat strength. At present I’m modifying MBF-P03."

She fitted the pods from the Moebius Zero onto the back of the Astray Blue Frame.

At a stretch, you could call it a knock-off DRAGOON System.

Simply put: drone laser cannons—but the wired kind.

The modification itself had precedent.

[Honestly, better to convert both units into sub-drones]

[Gundam Aerial?]

[Sub-drones are more like Gundam X, right? One unit hauling a bunch of unmanned G-Bit drones]

[Gundam Aerial’s a piloted unit, come on]

[That comment’s a little cursed]

[Inle one-shots it]

[Then I’ll bring out Phenex—what’ve you got?]

[Phenex is piloted too, isn’t it?]

[Grass (a type of exclamation), another cursed joke]

[Who is it, seriously, that keeps cramming human souls into Gundams]

[Wetware’s part of sci-fi—don’t like it, don’t play]

[Real talk, this world’s got Coordinators and super AI. One pilot running three units is totally doable]

Too bad this world didn’t seem to have any Warhammer folks—or maybe they were just niche here.

Inori found herself missing the chaos-gremlin audience from the first world.

Shame that over here the broadcast went out first, and only then would the other side come online.

Then again, that other world apparently had the actual Gundam SEED as a known work—no telling what they’d make of all this.

The GBN world was a real world too, but it differed quite a bit from Inori’s original world; otherwise there’d be even more memes to play with.

And while the first world likewise had no Naruto and a few other shows, when it came to sheer gremlin energy, they still came out slightly ahead.

"Well now, that’s it done?"

Mu tilted his head back to look at the machine above.

(There really is such a thing)

The Moebius Zero had been dismantled by Inori into spare parts, becoming the Astray’s "backup power source."

"It’s finished. Mu-san, you possess formidable spatial awareness. On the Archangel, you’re the only one who can pilot this machine."

"That may be, but piloting the MS and the Moebius Zero at the same time won’t be easy."

(It’s a Strike Dagger, sure)

(but the Astray can mount it too)

"You can use AI assistance. That should help you adapt."

—Please. The future Mu handled the Akatsuki Gundam like a pro; if he couldn’t manage this, nobody could.

(Just absurdly broken)

The main problem right now was simply a shortage of time.

[The Client has sent a crossover request]

Just after wrapping up things with Mu, Inori suddenly received a message.

"Now what’s this about?"

[GBN launches new event: Black GINN Raid Battle]

In the world of Gundam Build Divers, GBN was an absurdly powerful game—a system capable of linking to a cosmos thirty light-years away. But because the researchers couldn’t find the method to connect, they’d turned it into an online game, using players to find the system’s exploits.

Simply put, these were scientists who understood neither games nor bug-fixing.

In a world without Gundam SEED, GBN’s decline sort of made sense.

This went beyond terrible management—they flat-out had no idea how to run the game.

The "Client’s" identity was closer to something like a "world consciousness," though what exactly it was, Inori didn’t know either.

—What if the Client was actually Company B pulling the strings? Not impossible.

Anyway, the money-minded Client, having taken over GBN, had launched an all-about-the-money operation.

Back when the Gundam anime dropped models and records in sync and the audience bought, bought, bought—that wasn’t clever merchandising either. It was just that the old operation had been an even bigger mess.

"Specifics?"

Inori asked.

[GBN Version 2.0 goes live. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Diva of the Void warm-up event. A warm-up exhibition match against champion player Kujo Kyoya, followed by a player raid battle.]

"Can I win?"

[No.]

"Oh. Got it. It’s a fixed match."

[But you can’t just lose any old way. You have to lose with artistry and creativity.]

"That complicated?"

[Client’s exact words: I’ll pay more.]

"No problem!"

Ten million Popularity Points for Gundam SEED now looked like just a matter of time.

Once the basic necessities were taken care of, naturally the next thing was higher-tier pursuits.

"Wonder how the plot’s going over in that other world."

Without SEED, it seemed the later 00 series was gone too; in that case, though Mercury and Mars still existed, things didn’t look great over there either.

Her own side’s situation was hard to call—but in the world across the way, the plot was simply gone.

Because in the "Build Divers" original world, the GBN system version in Re:RISE was only 1.78.

And this Client seemed to have jumped the version number straight to 2.0.

—You’re relaunching the servers too?

"Then I’ll just wing it."

Since she had to lose anyway, might as well treat it as a side gig.

Just a fixed match.

"Wait..."

Something occurred to Inori.

"Hey, Stage—ask around: is there any way to send people from over here into GBN for, like, training?"

[Only permitted during crossover events; information-masking interference will be applied.]

"No good, then."

Inori tilted her head.

Nothing more to say, then.

Save it for whenever "Inori" was called in for a crossover.

At least that could farm some popularity.

Though in a sense, this counted as "breaking new ground" too.

Down the line she might even get to hold virtual songstress concerts and the like.

"And the reward?" Inori asked.

[One "Virtual Songstress Yuzuriha Inori" concert at Nippon Budokan. Revenue split seventy-thirty—we get seventy.]

[Stage tip: concerts help accumulate fan count.]

Oh?

That worked.

She could even hold a concert in one of the viewers’ worlds!

Just like that, Inori wasn’t sleepy anymore.

"For now, though, better set it aside..."

Because the scene had already cut to the Le Creuset Team.

They too had broken into the debris belt.