"Do I really have to stay here alone again?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
The room Lacus had been given wasn't an ordinary room—it was an officer's quarters.
Lacus was the daughter of PLANT's highest authority, and she wasn't military personnel, so naturally they couldn't just throw her in a cell.
But letting her wander around freely wasn't an option either.
The Archangel was short on plenty of things, but rooms weren't one of them.
Lacus looked a little downcast. "What a shame, not getting to have lunch with Inori-san."
Kira set the food tray down on the nearby table.
Kira lowered her gaze, looking even more downcast than Lacus.
But when she turned to look at Lacus, Kira still made an effort to force out a smile.
"I wanted to sit and chat with everyone while eating too~ It would've been so nice to hear one of Inori-san's new songs~"
Kira looked at Lacus.
Even with that expression, Lacus still managed to look indescribably cute.
Kira looked away, as if she'd caught sight of something too dazzling to face directly.
Compared to Lacus, someone as gloomy as herself…
"This is an Earth Alliance warship, after all—it's only natural some people wouldn't be too fond of Coordinators…"
Kira murmured.
She seemed to be trying to cover up some inexplicable ache in her chest, or maybe just trying to convince herself.
So Kira added, "Besides, we're on opposing sides right now… so, I guess there's nothing to be done about it…"
But the moment she said it, Kira froze in place.
She wasn't even with the Earth Alliance—why was she defending them like this?
If Flay ever discovered that Kira herself was a Coordinator, what would any of these words even mean?
"What a shame…"
Lacus looked up at Kira's face.
There always seemed to be a lingering trace of melancholy on Kira's face.
That melancholic air made Kira look all the more adorable.
—This girl was probably a Coordinator too, wasn't she?
Lacus remembered the way Kira had visibly flinched when Flay said the word "Coordinator" earlier.
"You're very kind, though." Lacus gently took hold of Kira's hand. "You're about my age, aren't you… are you a Coordinator too?"
"…Ah. Yes."
Kira's expression grew even more complicated.
And Lacus's face broke into another smile, the kind that seemed capable of embracing and healing anything. "That's wonderful, then."
"Flay-san doesn't know you're a Coordinator too, does she?" Lacus asked.
"..."
Kira stayed silent, but her expression made it obvious enough.
If Flay really had known Kira was a Coordinator, her attitude earlier definitely wouldn't have been the same.
"Ah!" Lacus suddenly covered her mouth. "I just remembered."
She gave Kira's hand an excited little shake. "You were in Inori-san's music video, weren't you!"
"Ah… mm." Kira looked a little puzzled.
"You always played the boy roles in those, right?" Lacus said, smiling.
"That's right. All the boy roles in the MVs—that's me," Kira said.
"I knew it~ Well then, I'm Lacus Clyne, a devoted fan of Inori-san's. May I ask your name?"
Lacus smiled gently. That smile nearly left Kira staring, and it took her a beat too long to answer. "Kira… Yamato. I'm… Inori-san's manager."
"How impressive," Lacus said, sounding genuinely admiring. "What a shame, really—if Heliopolis hadn't been attacked, we might have met each other sooner."
"Met sooner?" Kira looked a little confused.
"Mm. I'd originally planned to send a letter asking whether Inori-san might be willing to join me for the memorial ceremony at Junius Seven."
[Grass, using public funds to fangirl over an idol]
[Shocking! A nation's princess goes to such lengths just to chase her idol!]
[Even the tabloid "SHOCKING" headline writers are shocked by you guys]
[Dying laughing]
[Using public funds to fangirl, wow]
[At first glance I thought it was a joke, but thinking it over, this is literally just stating a fact]
[PLANT has a Songstress, Orb has a Songstress. Got it—the Earth Alliance, having no Songstress, is the enemy!]
[You've got it all figured out]
"I see…"
Kira understood as well.
If there had been any official business dealings, an invitation like that really would have come to her first.
If Heliopolis hadn't been attacked, Inori would probably be over at Junius Seven right now, singing a memorial song alongside this Lacus-san.
If that had been the spark, maybe their business could've expanded into PLANT too.
Maybe there could've even been a concert in PLANT…
If only things had gone that way.
But that peaceful future had been stolen from them.
"Speaking of which…" There was something else on Lacus's mind. "Kira, do you always wear that pilot suit?"
"Mm." Kira nodded.
"Doesn't it get stuffy?" Lacus really did seem curious.
"It's basically a spacesuit too—it can be worn for long periods, very convenient."
Really, it was just laziness…
"Sounds interesting." Lacus blinked her big eyes.
"I-is that so?"
"Mm-hm!"
What Lacus actually wanted to ask was whether walking around in public dressed like that felt embarrassing or something.
But judging by everything so far, nobody else around here seemed to think anything of it.
—If I bring this up now, will it just make me look silly?
"Kira… you actually already know who I am, don't you?" Lacus suddenly said.
"Ah. Mm." Caught out, Kira scratched her head awkwardly. "Inori-san said she wanted to expand into overseas markets, so I looked into Lacus-san's songs a little. Lacus-san's songs are really good, by the way."
Since no one else here seemed to recognize Lacus, Kira hadn't let on that she already knew who she was.
But Kira's knowledge of Lacus had only ever gone one way.
As Inori's manager, Kira had actually familiarized herself with the profiles of major singers all around the world.
That information hadn't been easy to gather—it was wartime, after all, and even a single piece of news could take days to travel.
Still, Inori's MVs had circulated widely, and her name was known across the internet, worldwide.
Even in PLANT.
Lacus, correspondingly, was practically a household name throughout all of PLANT.
Her songs consistently topped PLANT's charts, and her promotional footage played across every screen and projection on every street corner. She was an idol beloved by the whole nation.
But across the wider world, Lacus was somewhat less well known.
—The Earth Alliance certainly wasn't going to let an enemy nation's Songstress perform here.
Inori?
Even though she was a neutral nation's Songstress, neutral nations blacklisted her too. The only reason that ban wasn't in effect now was that they simply couldn't manage to enforce it.
Even all the computing power on Earth in the SEED world, combined, couldn't hope to surpass the combined might of carbon-based machinery plus the Lacia-class quantum computer's power in a domain humanity hadn't even reached, plus Fatima's threefold computing power—that was simply an impossible fantasy.
Both were called "quantum computers," but even computers a full tier below the Lacia-class were already a "black box" beyond human comprehension.
As for Fatima's technology, that belonged to a genuine interstellar civilization.
Both were called "computers," but ENIAC and Sunway TaihuLight still had quite a gap between them.
And just then, the hatch suddenly opened.
Standing outside was Inori, having just finished tormenting Flay.