After remaining in the Jovian region for only an hour, the Lunar-class cruiser began its return voyage. Its enormous silhouette vanished from that universe and returned to A2's world.
They had originally planned to remain in this world for only an hour, just long enough to explain the Parallel World Human Salvation Organization and induct this world as its seventh member.
Instead, the visit had run three hours over schedule.
Two of those hours had been spent traveling between Earth and Jupiter. The remaining hour had gone toward investigating and scanning the Jovian moon.
Their preliminary analysis produced two possibilities.
The first was that the winged whale-like creatures and the three-legged alien civilization had not been enemies.
The whales might have been domesticated by the aliens, perhaps even used as guard dogs.
It was somewhat reminiscent of the Predator franchise, where the Predators bred Xenomorphs and hunted them purely for sport.
The second possibility was that the whale-like creatures were themselves intelligent, while the alien civilization had been the prey.
After the creatures devoured something, they could break down nearly all of its metallic components, reconstitute them into soil-like minerals, and excrete them.
The investigation had uncovered what appeared to be fossilized waste, and its composition was almost identical to the material covering the moon's surface.
Either possibility was bad news for humanity on Earth.
Fortunately, the scans found no living organisms anywhere on the moon.
The worst discovery was a lingering signal that appeared to have been transmitted several decades ago. It had been sent from that moon toward a destination outside the Solar System.
It was unquestionably artificial.
In this case, "artificial" meant the signal might have been transmitted by the whale-like creatures or by the aliens piloting what could only be described as compact mecha.
Too much time had passed, and the signal had degraded so severely that they could no longer decipher its meaning.
In the blink of an eye, twenty-four hours had passed since the destruction of GENESIS and Messiah.
PLANT and Earth's representatives formally signed an armistice agreement. Both sides also began reflecting on the war that had raged for the past year.
Many of the hidden forces behind the conflict were exposed, allowing both Coordinators and Naturals to understand that someone had deliberately orchestrated the war.
Neither Coordinators nor Naturals could thrive without the other. The two sides needed to stand together and face the future as one.
As a result, the proposal to establish an Earth Federation began gaining momentum again as a means of promoting greater integration between Coordinators and Naturals.
"PLANT is joining the Earth Federation too?"
"Is the entire world finally going to unite?"
"That would be wonderful. We wouldn't have to hate each other anymore. We'd all be one family."
"Hmph. The Coordinators are only joining because of their genetic defects! They can barely produce children, and even when they do, their babies could be born with serious abnormalities. They need Natural genes to stabilize their own so they can keep having descendants!"
"Once the Earth Federation is established, the Coordinators might seize all the power. Then we Naturals will become an underclass living beneath their rule, nothing but tools for them to use."
"I wonder what the people on Mars think about all this?"
Similar discussions could be heard everywhere.
Many people looked forward to the day when everyone would become one family, but plenty of others remained pessimistic.
Overall, however, everything appeared to be moving in a positive direction.
"By the way, have any of you heard the more secretive rumors? The ones about that special warship?"
"Which warship?"
"The starship that was almost five kilometers long. There's no way anything from this era could have built it."
"I knew I wasn't hallucinating. I saw it too, but it vanished almost immediately. I don't think it used optical camouflage. It might have performed some kind of spatial jump."
"It definitely exists. We Coordinators built it."
"What nonsense. I could just as easily claim that we Naturals built it. I have a relative who served aboard the Eighth Fleet's flagship. He was invited aboard that warship when it appeared."
"A relative? Sure you do."
"Could it have been an alien warship?"
"If it were an alien warship, do you really think things would be this peaceful? Besides, I saw Arabic numerals, English lettering, and Chinese characters on its hull. It was definitely built by humans."
"You might as well claim it came from a parallel universe."
"That's the secret I heard. Apparently, it really was a human warship from a parallel universe."
"Let me guess. Next, someone will claim it traveled through time and came from the future."
The mysterious warship became one of the most fiercely debated topics on the internet, spawning countless theories.
Meanwhile, at a private villa in Aprilius City, the capital of PLANT, an artificial sea stretched alongside the property and provided the villa with its own private beach.
Two figures occupied the beach.
One was a man lying on the sand and reading a book.
The other figure beside him still possessed a youthful air, but her extraordinary beauty was enough to catch anyone's eye.
The girl was the chairman's daughter, making her something akin to a princess of old. She was also PLANT's foremost songstress and was adored by countless people.
At the moment, she was playing a beautiful piece on the piano. She had composed it herself for a concert scheduled for the following day.
The girl was not wearing a swimsuit, but her light, gauzy dress gave her an almost dreamlike appearance.
Beneath the artificial glow of approaching dusk, she and the surrounding scenery resembled a masterpiece painted by one of the world's greatest artists.
After finishing her performance, the girl studied the sheet music again and considered whether the composition still needed improvement.
Just then, her pink-and-white Haro announced that the delivery had arrived.
"Mr. Kain, it's here. Come try it out so you'll be ready to serve as my guardian knight tomorrow."
As she spoke, her smiling face leaned into Kain's field of vision.
He put down his book and stood, allowing Lacus to take his hand and lead him away.
Right now, Lacus resembled a child who had found something wonderful and could not wait to share it with him. Her excitement was completely innocent.
This world's major problems had essentially been resolved. Kain could either leave immediately or remain until the following afternoon.
Naturally, he chose the latter.
Most of his remaining time in this world could now be spent relaxing and enjoying himself.
However, Lacus was scheduled to hold a massive concert the next day and would be moving among the crowds of fans. Kain needed to protect her in case any surviving extremists attempted an attack.
Lacus claimed to have prepared the perfect solution, one that would allow him to remain close enough to protect her at all times.
She had not explained exactly how it would work.
When they entered the villa, two delivery workers were carrying a large box inside.
The two delivery workers were none other than the Hawke sisters, Lunamaria Hawke and Meyrin Hawke.
As for the others, Cagalli had been brought along by her father to attend talks between the nearby Orb delegation and PLANT. He wanted her to become more familiar with such diplomatic occasions.
Put simply, Cagalli was receiving practical training so she could eventually succeed him.
Murrue had returned to the Earth Alliance delegation.
Lacus was naturally one of the members of PLANT's delegation, but her meeting had ended more than an hour ago.
"Wow, this is adorable."
"Isn't this a puppet modeled after you, Miss Lacus? Why does it look like a Mobile Suit?"
Lacus opened the box, revealing exactly what the sisters had described: a large puppet.
It was not an exact replica of Lacus. Instead, it was a chibi mascot with a Gundam-inspired design, and it stood slightly taller than Lacus herself.
Tomorrow's concert would clearly have a cheerful and playful style, much like the musical segments in a children's animated series.
That was quite a departure from the style of Lacus's previous concerts.
Come to think of it, the song she had just played on the piano had possessed the same child-friendly tone.
"If you like it, I can have ones custom-made for you," Lacus offered with a gentle smile.
She then took a special outfit from another box.
It had not been brought by Luna and Meyrin. Lacus had ordered it separately from A2.
"Here you are, Mr. Kain. This is your pilot suit."
"A pilot suit?"
Kain unfolded it and examined the material. It looked like one of the thin, form-fitting protective suits from A2's world.
In fact, it was based on exactly that design. This version, however, had undergone several modifications.
Magnetic plates had been added to the front of the arms and legs, as well as the abdomen and chest.
Lacus had clearly commissioned A2 to customize it.
"Please try it on. Then we can connect everything and make sure it fits properly."
Connect everything?
Something about that sounded strange.
When Kain emerged after changing, Lacus was nowhere to be seen. Only the Hawke sisters remained, their cheeks faintly red as they avoided looking directly at him.
Like the fortified suits from the Muv-Luv world, the outfit was embarrassingly form-fitting.
Then another figure stepped into his field of vision.
Lacus had changed into a matching combat suit.
Its design was almost identical to the movie-version combat suit worn by the other "Lacus" in Asuna's world.
She walked directly toward him.
"Please stand still, Mr. Kain."
After speaking, Lacus stopped in front of him and turned around, presenting her back to him.
That was when Kain noticed the magnetic plates attached to the back of her suit.
They perfectly matched the plates on the front of his.
The next moment, Lacus stepped backward and rose onto her toes until her back rested against his chest.
The magnetic plates connected, holding their bodies firmly together.
This was already beginning to feel like a terrible idea.
"Now then, Mr. Kain, please work with me while we try getting inside the puppet."
Kain finally understood Lacus's plan.
In a sense, he had become Lacus's external exoskeleton, while her innocent mind served as the one controlling it.
Once they entered the puppet, no one outside would realize that there was another person inside with Lacus.
This was Lacus's idea of perfect close protection.
It was also a plan that severely tested Kain's willpower.
Was she doing this deliberately?
No matter how he examined her expression or behavior, she appeared completely sincere.
Was she simply innocently devious?
She looked harmless on the surface, yet somehow ended up doing the most unexpected things without realizing it. Perhaps it was because she was guileless, naive, or simply oblivious to the atmosphere around her.
Or was all that pink merely hiding a darker core?
Did Lacus actually possess an impish side?
(End of Chapter)
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