Chapter 291 - 292: Have I Gotten Weaker—Is It Because of Flay?

Chapter 291: Chapter 292: Have I Gotten Weaker—Is It Because of Flay?

[E-pic. Set. Piece.]

[That was a blast to watch]

[That explosion was insane]

[The way the Red Frame’s coiled around the Aegis is way too seductive lol]

[Not for good kids to watch]

[Just a bit creepy with no head though]

[Those two didn’t just die, did they?]

[I don’t think so]

[Hint: Chekhov’s gun]

[What’s that mean]

[The hunting rifle shown in Act One is sure to be used by the end]

[Oh right, Cagalli’s pilot suit apparently has deep-space survival capability]

After completing its maneuver, the Archangel didn’t fully "right itself."

Because there was no gravity in space, orientation meant nothing to the Archangel; the only thing that mattered was the load generated during a maneuver.

"Cagalli?!"

Kira’s eyes went wide.

"Athrun!"

Nicol and the others panicked too.

"What a sorry mess."

Le Creuset furrowed his brow.

In the shockwave just now, the two remaining GINNs and the CGUE had completely lost their combat ability. The three G-weapons had PS armor, true, but they were probably running low on power by now as well.

With no other choice, Le Creuset could only order the one remaining Laurasia-class to turn back.

"But what about Athrun? I didn’t see any wreckage of the Aegis—he must have been blown away along with the rest of the debris!"

Yzak was shouting.

"Calm down, Yzak—all of you."

Le Creuset said.

[Absolute chaos, world flipped upside down]

[I can’t, I’m dying laughing]

[hahahaha]

[Did they just bump Athrun and Cagalli’s storyline up early?]

[Laughed till I cramped]

[Consortium B really knows how to play it—I thought SEED had nothing going on, turns out it damn well does]

[Is this Kira? This IS Kira!]

[Inori’s the best! I hereby declare her my new waifu!]

[Holy crap, back-to-back episodes right from the start? Sick! Explosive!]

[I hereby declare Kira my wife, I said it!]

[Is the Songstress of the Void Inori?]

[Holy crap, are they about to open up an outer-space arc?]

[Cagalli’s actually with the main cast now?]

[That see-through battle suit reeks of Cross Ange—are you Cagalli or freaking Ange?]

Huh?

Why had the danmaku suddenly changed flavor?

While everyone else was still in a flustered state, Inori had spared some attention to watch the danmaku over here.

Just then a new row of danmaku appeared.

"This familiar, ridiculously-low-bar goofiness, this familiar waifu-shouting danmaku..."

It was the veteran audience from the first world!

In the second world, everyone shouted "Inori, Inori"; they rarely called any girl "waifu," and when they did, they were just being unhinged!

And people from the GBN world generally had a higher bar for laughs!

More importantly, they hadn’t seen SEED!

[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Songstress of the Void—review approved.]

[An under-the-table deal has been concluded.]

[The danmaku agreement has been signed.]

Putting on Gundam SEED in this world had, in fact, been meant to open up the Naruto market.

Unexpectedly, before Naruto could be broken into, Gundam SEED here had already exported itself in reverse.

—Ahh, my adorable chaos-gremlin audience, I’ve missed you to death!

[Popularity Points from non-primary markets fall outside the Client’s requirements. The Popularity Points an actor earns are subject to differing exchange rates and revenue splits depending on the market. The current split for side markets is seventy-thirty.]

"Why only seventy percent?"

[The seventy percent is theirs.]

"Huh?"

[Current Popularity Points split: 30%. Fan acquisition rate: 30%.]

Well then.

"Mm, I’ll just treat it as pocket money."

A bit of a shame, but thirty percent it was—pocket money beat nothing.

It couldn’t be used to hit the Client’s KPI, but Popularity Points were "hard currency."

Her own character inheritance cards still needed fan points to level up.

"Where’s Cagalli?!"

Kira was looking frantically in every direction.

"Cagalli-san and the Aegis were pushed away on the debris."

—I did that.

In the end, the AI prompts for both Cagalli and Athrun had been Inori operating them by hand.

The aim was to have Athrun use the PS-armored Aegis as a cushion.

Otherwise the Red Frame would have had no way to escape the impact.

"Is she... is she going to be all right?" Having asked, Kira was afraid to hear Inori’s answer; her voice trembled.

"Judging by her posture when she was pushed clear, Cagalli-san will be fine."

"Th-thank goodness..."

Kira was almost in tears.

"The kid’s all right?"

Since the channel hadn’t been closed, Mu had heard what was said over here too.

"Yes. Cagalli-san’s pilot suit has the ability to survive in a deep-space environment, so she can hold out for a while yet."

"Le Creuset has pulled back." Mu had seen the situation over on that side.

Though Yzak kept roaring, the Duel Gundam itself had reached its limit as well, and an unwilling Yzak had no choice but to withdraw along with the main force.

"In any case, let’s head back too."

Though Cagalli seemed to be all right, Kira was still uneasy.

After climbing down from the Strike, she returned to her room and pulled the blanket over her head.

Her body was trembling faintly.

"I’ve gotten weaker... is it... because of Flay?"

Kira murmured.

"Kira, are you okay?"

The hatch opened.

Flay sat down at the head of Kira’s bed and gently patted her head.

Flay had noticed the earth-shattering upheaval the Archangel had just gone through.

After getting word from the others, Flay had worked out what had happened.

The Archangel had been pursued by ZAFT.

For now they were safe, but they’d lost an MS, and its pilot seemed to be an Orb girl as well.

And the other pilot, Kira, wasn’t in a good state either.

Flay used to look out for Kira, but for some reason, Kira had later begun to grow distant from her.

Still, her impression of Kira remained a good one—a timid, delicate girl.

"Kira, thank you for protecting us. It wasn’t your fault."

"..."

Kira’s body shuddered.

"Mm..."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Cagalli had woken from her faint.

The P.A.R.A. protective suit’s survival capability was absolutely first-rate; Inori had taken out a very large insurance policy on Cagalli.

"The Astray?"

The shock of the collision and explosion had blacked out every instrument in an instant.

The cockpit hatch seemed somewhat warped as well.

"Ugh..."

On the other side, Athrun too had come to; he had already climbed out of the Aegis’s cockpit ahead of her.

"To think it turned out like this..." The impact had slammed the two Gundams into the debris like marbles; the Aegis’s right leg joint had been completely deformed in the second collision.

Their Aegis and the Red Frame were all but embedded in a mass of rock, wrapped up in it, drifting through the silent cosmos.

"Damn it..."

And at this moment, on the other side, Cagalli finally got the Red Frame’s hatch open, and her eyes met Athrun’s.

The two of them looked at each other.

And then...

the ending theme began to play...