Pulling her hat down lower, Cagalli did her best to keep anyone from seeing her face.
She looked like she was worried about being recognized, and in truth, she really was.
Because she was the princess of the neutral nation of Orb, the daughter of Orb's Chief Representative, Uzumi Nara Athha.
Right now, she had slipped away from her father and from everyone else, secretly coming to Orb's colony satellite Heliopolis to investigate something.
Because she had received a terrifying piece of intelligence. A report so shocking she could hardly believe it.
If it was true, then the image of her father in her heart would completely collapse.
All that talk about upholding neutrality would be nothing but hypocrisy.
So she did not want to believe it. But too many things felt suspicious, suspicious enough that she had no choice but to disguise herself and investigate.
She was here to find out whether her father was really cooperating with the Earth Alliance in secret to develop mobile suits.
That would be a complete betrayal of Orb's neutral principles.
"Hm?"
She suddenly noticed that something was off about the people on the street.
From the excited reactions around her and the fragments of conversation she overheard, Cagalli quickly understood what was going on.
"What a coincidence."
Lacus Clyne, the daughter of the current PLANT Supreme Council Chairman, Siegel Clyne, had actually come to Heliopolis.
Had she really come here purely to perform? Or did she also suspect that Orb was hiding something?
Of course, that princess, more like a princess than Cagalli herself, might not know anything.
But the bodyguards accompanying her might very well be here to investigate in secret.
And if that was the case, Cagalli felt even more uneasy.
That would make it much less likely that this was just a baseless rumor. It might mean Orb really was working with the Earth Alliance.
No. Impossible. Father would never do that.
Or perhaps there was another possibility. Maybe the people from PLANT had come to Orb with schemes of their own.
Orb's neutrality did not mean it was truly safe.
Both PLANT and the Earth Alliance had been pressuring Orb to choose a side, and their attitude had been growing more forceful by the day. In some areas, they had already begun making life difficult for Orb.
Now, perhaps PLANT had sent people into Orb to carry out some plot, forcing the nation into a corner where neutrality would no longer be possible and it would have to choose one side or the other.
At that thought, Cagalli bit her lip and decided to secretly get close to Lacus and observe both her and the people around her.
In the blink of an eye—
"Was I overthinking it?"
She had followed them all the way to the place where they were staying, yet she had not seen anything unusual.
No, that just meant she was being naive.
Who would make a move the moment they arrived and act in a way that suspicious?
Lacus was the daughter of the Chairman, a princess even more important than someone like Cagalli from a small neutral nation. Countless eyes would be watching her every move.
Naturally, the people accompanying her would also be under close watch.
So she needed to be patient.
Before she knew it, night had fallen. The place where Lacus was staying had gone dark.
So she had gone to bed, probably to rest up and be ready for tomorrow's performance.
Since she had not found anything, Cagalli figured there was no point in continuing to watch and exhausting herself from lack of sleep.
Just as she turned to leave, however, she sharply caught sight of a suspicious figure and immediately followed.
Had that person just come out from where Lacus was staying?
The figure did not seem very tall. Slender too. Around the same build as Cagalli.
And looked a lot like Lacus—
No way!!!
It really was her.
Cagalli caught a glimpse of pink hair slipping out from beneath the hood before the girl quickly tucked it back in.
What was this pampered princess doing, sneaking around all by herself?
Cagalli followed her the whole way until they arrived at a place with an excellent vantage point, somewhere that offered a clear view of the satellite's scenery.
She had come out here instead of sleeping... to admire the view?
No way it was that simple.
"Haro, I'm a little nervous."
The princess said that to the spherical robot beside her. Nervous about what?
"Haro, Lacus nervous. Haro, Lacus nervous~"
"Hehe."
The princess smiled softly, then picked the thing up in her arms.
"Sorry, Haro. I'll have to switch you off for a bit~"
She shut the robot down just like that, making Cagalli narrow her eyes from behind the stone pillar where she was hiding.
Lacus closed her eyes, slowly took a breath, and let it out. Then she opened them again, her expression tightening slightly as she stared ahead.
In the next instant, Cagalli's pupils shrank, and her whole body turned rigid.
Wh-What was that?!
Right in front of the songstress princess, no more than two meters away, a person appeared out of absolutely nowhere.
Wait. Maybe it was some kind of hologram.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kain. Welcome to our world~"
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Lacus Clyne."
The two of them reached out and shook hands.
That proved the man was not a hologram. He was real.
Then how had he appeared?
Cagalli was certain she had not blinked. He had simply appeared.
Hm?
Was it her imagination?
For a split second, she felt as though the mysterious man had glanced in her direction.
Probably just her imagination. At this distance, there was no way she could clearly make out the movement of his eyes.
"You really came out here alone to a place like this? That's pretty reckless."
After saying that, the mysterious man snapped his fingers.
At that moment, Cagalli's eyes trembled, and her body stiffened even harder. A cold, crawling dread ran through her.
Because beside him, three more figures appeared out of nowhere.
All three wore the same black uniforms. Their eyes were covered with visors, and they stood there motionless.
So who the hell were these people?
Overwhelmed by fear, Cagalli instinctively took a step back. But because she was so frightened, her legs went weak, and she stumbled backward—
Clang!
She accidentally kicked an empty can, and in the stillness of the night, the sound rang out absurdly loud, draining all color from her face.
Without a second thought, Cagalli ran.
She jumped onto the smooth sloped surface beside a steep stairway and slid rapidly down to the bottom.
But the moment she reached the base, a glance from the corner of her eye made her face go even paler.
In her field of vision, a silver-haired woman in a black uniform leaped with utterly absurd agility and landed in front of her within a single breath.
That was not something a human being could do.
If a human body tried to move like that, the bones would never hold. It would break itself apart.
Just as Cagalli was about to turn and run to the right, another one dropped down there.
And one more landed to her left.
Then she heard footsteps behind her, calm and unhurried.
At that moment, cold sweat drenched her body.
Biting down hard, she spun around and faced the two people walking down toward her: Lacus Clyne, and that eerie young man.
She had to face them head-on and find out who they really were.
And if possible, she had to find some way to get word out.
(End of Chapter)
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