Chapter 301 - 302: Bloodthirsty Audience—I Want to See Rivers of Blood!

Chapter 301: Chapter 302: Bloodthirsty Audience—I Want to See Rivers of Blood!

[So! Intense!]

[Bloodthirsty audience: I want to see rivers of blood!]

[I usually hate it when someone claims to speak for me. But this time? Full marks!]

[This is it, this is exactly it!]

[Too bad Kira isn’t a Songstress]

[Lacus is Athrun’s fiancée, and Athrun is literally connected to Cagalli, while over here Lacus is with Inori and Kira... this fandom’s a real mess]

[So exhilarating!]

[Way more twisted than a girls’ band!]

[Gravity! I’m here for the gravity, dammit!]

[I want anime hot-takes—rebuild the glory of Gundam! It all rides on our Gravity Girl!]

"Haro! Haro!"

The Haro robot chirped away in Lacus’s arms.

Across from Lacus, Murrue and Natarle wore speechless expressions, and Mu, standing at the doorway, had a hand over his face.

Besides them, Sai, Tolle, and the others were crowded at the door too. The Archangel’s crew were all watching as well.

"Inori says she seems to be a Songstress too—just one from ZAFT’s side."

"That song, Mizu no Akashi—I’ve heard it, it’s amazing!"

"I still think Inori-san’s songs are a bit better. That memorial song she sang earlier at Junius Seven healed my very soul..."

Inori hadn’t come over, but Kira was standing at the back of the crowd.

That girl just now had seemed so warm toward Inori...

As they were talking, Natarle suddenly opened the hatch.

"Your loading and unloading isn’t finished yet, is it? Get back to your posts!"

The moment Natarle stepped in, everyone else scrambled to slip away.

Only Kira and Lacus, not far apart, met each other’s eyes.

Then Lacus gave Kira a small smile.

Kira lowered her head.

Then she walked away.

"Kira?" Flay’s voice came from the other end of the corridor.

"Flay?!" Kira was a little startled.

"I heard we can shower now?!" Flay’s eyes were shining.

"Ah, mm. The water system is a top priority," Kira said.

"Wonderful! Kira, let’s go bathe together."

"Eh?!"

Flay put her hands on her hips. "Kira, you’ve been wearing this same outfit for days now—how can a girl be so scruffy~"

"B-but I still have work to do..."

"It’s just the time for one bath—the Earth Alliance Forces won’t hold it against you, and besides, the one protecting everyone here is you, Kira!"

Kira looked troubled, but in the end she let Flay lead her away by the hand.

Meanwhile, the questioning of Lacus had already begun.

"Lacus Clyne. If I recall, the Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council is Siegel Clyne, isn’t it?" Once again, Mu was the first to speak.

"Oh my~ yes, that would be my father. Do you know him?" Lacus said.

"Sigh... are all Songstresses like this?"

Murrue felt a little worn out.

Was the thought process of a big star always this... special?

[Hahaha, dying]

[Confirmed—the Songstress in the title refers to the two of them together]

[Honestly, I don’t think it’s impossible that Kira will sing in the future too]

[Kira should just stick to piloting Gundams]

[Let Inori and Lacus form a band—I bet even MyGO and Mujica wouldn’t last a single round]

[Hey OP, then I’ll bust out Bocchi the Rock 2—how’re you gonna counter that?]

"Why would a lady like you turn up in a place like this?" Murrue asked.

"I came to prepare for the Junius Seven memorial ceremony. It’s just that we later ran into an Earth Alliance Forces warship. They said they wanted to board and inspect us, but once they learned our purpose, some unpleasantness broke out. Then the people around me pushed me into an escape pod."

Lacus kept gazing at Haro.

More precisely, at Inori’s autograph on Haro.

"Good heavens." Murrue couldn’t help exclaiming.

Mu, too, said nothing.

In fact, they had found a civilian ship in this area that had been destroyed only very recently, but there was no longer any need to bring that up. As for the traces of shelling on that ship—there was even less need to mention that.

Even so, the broadcast still showed the flashback footage.

[Brutal]

[The Earth Alliance really don’t seem like the good guys—blowing up even civilian ships]

[Murrue didn’t even want to keep Kira and the other third-nation people at first—now they’re stuck tagging along, nothing to be done about it]

[ZAFT acts inhuman, the Earth Alliance acts inhuman too—this world is just too tragic]

[This too is recorded in the annals of the U.C. era]

"Although my purpose was the memorial ceremony, while I was inside the escape pod, I seemed to hear a voice." Lacus pressed her palms together. "It seems someone had already completed the task in my stead."

"Would this count as a tacit understanding between Songstresses?"

Mu muttered.

And the scene now shifted once more to Kira.

"Mm, like this... like this~"

Kira and Flay had gotten thoroughly "squeaky clean."

Kira had put the Muv-Luv fortified suit back on.

And Flay was now helping Kira fix her hair.

She added two hairclips to Kira’s head, and Kira’s whole air took on a fresh new look.

[Whoa, gorgeous, who are you?]

[So Kira’s this pretty too]

[Isn’t she just awesome!]

[I’m done for—I was already torn between Inori and Lacus, and now Kira’s been added to the combo meal]

[Only kids choose—adults take them all]

[Only kids take them all—adults know they can’t handle it]

[Gotta say, Kira’s outfit doesn’t show any skin at all, but it really is super great]

[Fantastic, heh heh heh heh]

"There, all done~" Flay adjusted Kira’s hair a final time, thoroughly satisfied.

"Well then, I’ll get back to work..." Kira stood up.

"Hey, good luck, Kira!"

"Mm..."

Kira lowered her head.

She knew Flay was very kind to her, but that kindness was built on Flay not knowing she was a Coordinator.

If Flay ever found out about her Coordinator identity...

Would everything before her eyes turn into nothing but a fleeting dream?

Kira didn’t dare to think about it.

After Kira left, the scene turned once again to Cagalli.

By now the two of them had finished resting.

"What are we doing today?" Cagalli asked.

"Staying as still as possible to conserve is best. But we should also try to save ourselves."

What Athrun was rather grateful for right now was that his ZAFT pilot suit was fairly advanced, so certain physiologically embarrassing situations wouldn’t arise.

A day or two, even a month or two, and there’d be no problem.

It was just that Athrun’s side had no way to recycle it, that’s all.

But carrying on like this wasn’t a solution either.

"So what should we do?" Cagalli asked.

"That thruster over there isn’t completely wrecked yet. The Aegis can’t move, but it can still be of use."

Athrun pointed at a thruster that had drifted over the day before.

"Repairing this thing will take two or three days, but if it really can be put to use, we’ll be able to leave here on our own..."