Chapter 299 - 300: I Dare Not Speak Aloud, for Fear of Startling Those in Heaven

Chapter 299: Chapter 300: I Dare Not Speak Aloud, for Fear of Startling Those in Heaven

Strictly speaking, Junius Seven hadn’t actually left the Debris Belt.

But compared to the treacherous field of rubble, the environment here was far better.

"A continent drifting through the Debris Belt... Junius Seven. Are we really going to salvage here?" Aboard the engineering vessel, Tolle gazed out the window.

Unlike the "original work."

In this worldline, the Archangel had, one could almost say, come here of its own accord.

"Inori, is this spot alright?"

Since this was a salvage run, Kira wasn’t running the Yuzuriha Inori OS.

But the Strike’s original OS worked just fine in her hands too.

That said, Inori hadn’t left either.

On the contrary, at this moment she was cradled in the Strike’s palm by Kira.

"Mm, right here is fine, Kira."

Inori, clad in a spacesuit, was gently set down by Kira.

"Black Monolith, deploy."

The cloaked Black Monolith revealed itself, then formed a conical region, with a membrane-like substance separating the inside from the outside.

Then air was pumped into the space.

And the spacesuit on Inori transformed back into her original goldfish costume.

The prelude began to play, slow and soft.

But it wasn’t a new song—it was that song, Euterpe.

"咲いた野の花よ..."

The song rang out softly.

And against this background music, the scene cut away to somewhere else.

A pink-haired girl seemed to sense something.

She lifted her head.

Outside the window was a deathly silent world.

"...Why must people fight one another..."

She was murmuring to herself as well.

And then the whole scene cut to ZAFT.

"For the two hundred forty thousand compatriots who died at Junius Seven...!"

This was Athrun’s father, Patrick Zala, delivering a speech on the first anniversary of Bloody Valentine.

Then the scene changed.

This time it was an earlier flashback.

In it, Kira was arguing with Mu.

"But Junius Seven... there were hundreds of thousands of people on it!"

"No one is happy about something like that, but the dead are already dead, and those of us still alive have to keep living!"

"If we run out of water, we’ll become the dead too..."

Then the scene cut back to Athrun once more.

At that moment he was looking at a photograph.

"Your family?" Cagalli asked.

"Yeah. My mother. She... died at Junius Seven."

The music was still playing.

Everyone aboard the Archangel had risen to their feet by now, facing the direction of Junius Seven, bowing their heads in silent mourning.

"...Oh friend, slowly withering away."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Conveying love through wordless leaves..."

"The summer sun sinks low... a gentle breeze ripples... the two melting into one..."

"...The proof of life, I shall sing—for the nameless ones."

Miriallia stepped down from the engineering vehicle, then scattered the white flowers she had prepared into the air...

But since this was live, naturally it couldn’t end with just one song.

After Euterpe ended, silence settled over the surroundings once more.

Then Inori began an a cappella passage.

"Budding new green"

"Tiny newborn lives... forever"

After a stretch of a cappella, ethereal music began to rise.

"O revered life, rest in peace..."

That’s right.

If she was going to put on a show, she’d go big.

EXEC_SUSPEND/.

A song from Ar tonelico.

(Part A) "O birds gathering by the water"

"O sun shimmering upon the water"

"The trees glisten in the wind"

"Their branches and leaves resound, singing and dancing"

(Part B) "Budding new green"

(Part C) "O revered life..."

Three vocal parts sang at once.

"Passersby on the streets"

"Children at play..."

"...The stars that adorn the evening sky..."

"O revered life, rest in peace..."

"...What fills the shops is today’s daily bread..."

"Do not grieve; you shall be with God..."

[I dare not speak aloud, for fear of startling those in heaven]

[A requiem...]

[One part sings of everyday scenery, one paints a beautiful vista, and another sings a song of repose]

[All that is beautiful falls quiet within this peace]

[Religious vibes]

[Become eternal!]

[So beautiful]

[Goosebumps everywhere]

[The "drop-to-your-knees the second she sings" genre]

[Feels a little sad...]

While Inori sang, the broadcast even thoughtfully supplied views of the city.

The visuals even included a young Athrun and his mother, as if terrified the audience wouldn’t realize this was Junius Seven.

EXEC_SUSPEND/.

One of Ar tonelico’s legendary songs.

The original song actually carried more of a sense of "suspension," closer to dormancy. But calling it a requiem worked just as well.

Using it to soothe those souls was the best choice too.

"Smiling, I embrace this body’s fate in my arms..."

"Offering prayer to the evening, offering prayer to the morning..."

"Budding new green, tiny new life..."

"O revered life, rest in peace... for eternity..."

At the song’s end, all four vocal parts emerged at once.

Praising life, praising beauty, and returning everything to tranquility.

[Holy crap, four vocal parts!]

[Incredible!]

[How is Inori singing four parts all on her own?]

[A Songstress—magical, isn’t it?]

[Amazing, amazing, amazing.]

[I want the single right now! Now! This instant! Immediately!]

"Huh...?"

The pink-haired girl in that cramped space wiped away the tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.

"I’m... crying?"

A question, innocent yet laced with confusion, anticipation, and contentment.

Someone had just been singing.

She didn’t know why, but Lacus simply sensed that someone was singing.

Faint and very soft, yet she felt as though she could hear it.

—Of course she could hear it, because a cloaked Fyu-Neru was attached to the outside of the escape pod Lacus was riding in.

It was relaying the sounds from the scene via "bone conduction."

Artificial telepathy.

The Silverwind, which Lacus had been aboard, had come under attack by the Earth Alliance Forces, after which Lacus had been bundled into an escape pod by the others and sent fleeing.

Even now she had no idea what the situation outside was.

So all she could hear were these songs.

Inori slowly opened her eyes.

Although she’d done a bit of arranging on Lacus’s end, she always felt that even without Fyu-Neru "cheating" over here, Lacus would still be able to "hear" her voice.

And just then, Kira, who was searching the surroundings, finally noticed the distress signal growing stronger.

It was right ahead.

"Here?"

It definitely wasn’t Cagalli.

An escape pod of this class simply wasn’t big enough to fit a Mobile Suit inside.

But since there was a signal, whoever was inside should still be alive, and she couldn’t just leave them be.

"In any case..."

She’d bring them back first.

Kira flew over to Inori.

By now Inori had retracted the Black Monolith, and her goldfish costume had turned back into a spacesuit.

"Mm, Kira."

Kira realized it really wasn’t easy to hold Inori.

So she simply clamped the escape pod under one arm and cradled Inori in the other hand, then headed back to the Archangel first.

"Again? An escape pod?!"

When Murrue heard that Kira had picked up yet another escape pod, she was dumbfounded.

"Oooh, another escape pod?" The others crowded around to watch too.

With Inori there, it could be opened easily enough.

So Inori simply used Fyu-Neru to open the hatch.

"Haro... Haro..."

"Thank you all for your hard work..."

A pink figure drifted out of the escape pod, accompanied by the mechanical "Haro, Haro"...