Cagalli was very eager.
And in her view, since the Astray had been made by Orb, it ought to be her own.
After all, Orb's full name was the "Orb United Emirate"—she really could call herself its "princess."
"This girl..."
Mu sensed something rather subtle.
When Natarle had sought Murrue's opinion, Murrue had looked at Kira.
Kira herself didn't care either way, yet she'd still turned an inquiring gaze toward Cagalli.
"—Could it be that, in Kira's eyes, that Cagalli has the right to decide whether this MS helps the Alliance?"
If you thought about it that way, the situation seemed to make sense.
[Holy crap, this guy's a god]
[The old man's sharp]
[It's over, it's over—setting it up like this again, worrying us again. This character's either going to get sacrificed or defect]
[Defecting's less likely, but sacrifice is very likely. There's some bad blood between Mu and Le Creuset. My guess is those two end up taking each other down in the end]
[A happy ending for the two of them, right?]
[What the hell kind of "happy ending for the two of them" is that?]
[Horror story: the progress bar]
[Grass (a type of exclamation), this time it's really about to end]
[No—!]
Perhaps because they'd seen too many of these tropes, the audience seemed able to faintly guess at a few things.
But unfortunately, this script wasn't the original one—it was Inori's revised version.
"Cagalli has the aptitude to pilot an MS," Inori said. "Mr. Mu does too."
"Oh oh oh, that's wonderful! We people of Orb should protect Orb ourselves!" Cagalli's eyes lit up. She patted her chest in a pledge. "Don't worry, I'll definitely get you all home safely!"
"Inori."
Kira no longer felt such a strong attachment to Orb.
After learning of the "dirty work" done by Orb's upper echelons, Kira had lost interest in this country too.
"Yes, I'm here."
Inori turned her head.
"Let me help too," Kira said.
"No need," Inori said. "Kira, you should rest properly."
Kira was already feeling somewhat worn out in body and mind.
And letting Kira go write that kind of uncommented mountain of garbage code...
Better not.
That sort of thing was pure mental pollution, I tell ya!
"Captain, is it really all right to hand something like this to an outsider?" Natarle continued to ask.
By a soldier's standards, Natarle had her own position.
But the current situation was special, and Natarle wasn't the rigid sort of soldier.
"Mm, it's fine," Murrue said. "Besides, this belonged to Orb to begin with. Though Orb did secretly use data from the G Project—we can take that up with Orb through negotiations later."
Orb itself wasn't a monolith internally. It was bizarre that a measly little country like Orb even had five great families within it.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Rewriting this OS won't take much time, will it?" Mu asked.
"No," Inori said. "For someone like Mr. Mu, with his powerful Spatial Awareness, a general-purpose adaptation will suffice. But Cagalli-san's aptitude is slightly lacking; she'll need some enhancement."
"Enhancement?"
Cagalli couldn't make heads or tails of Inori's situation.
But Coordinators were all versatile—for the songstress to be skilled at programming a Gundam's OS or whatever seemed perfectly normal, no?
Oh, right—didn't this Inori seem able to substitute for an OS herself?
[What's Spatial Awareness?]
[A new term makes its entrance!]
[Should be that brain-jolt-like feeling from before]
[Got it—SEED-version Newtype]
[I think it's Spatial Awareness in the literal sense]
[The one Kira has is the actual Newtype, isn't it]
[Newtype's a UC-universe thing, come on. The Witch from Mercury, Iron-Blooded Orphans—where's any Newtype in those? Even if SEED has something, it's a different ability]
"Yes. Cagalli-san needs a combat suit capable of enhancing her own aptitude. And I need to adjust the OS according to the suit's final output data," Inori said. She paused. "Please rest assured—the whole process is quick. Tuning for the two of them will take about an hour."
"Oh, that really is remarkable." Honestly, Mu was completely unruffled by now.
Though every line that popped out of Inori was more alarming than the last, aside from escaping this place, everything else could wait until later.
Mu had identified the immediate priority; as for the rest, it could all be shoved back a bit.
Just then Murrue received contact from the engineering team.
"Following Inori-san's instructions, the engineering team has located the two dismantled MS. They're carrying out maintenance now. It'll take about an hour for these two MS to reach the Archangel."
After she finished, Murrue thought for a moment.
"In that case, the Archangel will depart in two hours. The Le Creuset Team may call for reinforcements. Two hours is the time we have to complete our final preparations."
If it dragged on any longer, once the Le Creuset Team found reinforcements, it would be even more disadvantageous for the Archangel. Even with the two new MS bolstering their combat strength, the enemy might field even greater numbers.
"Cagalli-san, come with me first," Inori said, looking at Cagalli.
"Mm-hm, so what do I do?" Inori led Cagalli into an empty room.
"Strip."
"Huh?"
"You need to change into the new combat suit."
"Oh oh oh! The same kind as Kira's, right?" Cagalli understood.
"Yes—so, take everything off and put it over here," Inori said.
"Uh, can I take a shower first?" Cagalli suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
"It's fine. This is a spacesuit that can be used in space—not only can it serve as a pilot suit, it also has a built-in filtration system for water replenishment and long-term survival in space—"
Smack!
Before Inori could finish, both of Cagalli's hands landed on Inori's shoulders.
"Wait, wait, wait! What did you just—what?!"
Cagalli's face was flushed red.
"Long-term survival..."
"The part before that..."
"Water filtration..."
Cagalli scratched her head. "Is it the thing I'm imagining?"
"Yes, the cathe—"
Before Inori could finish, her mouth was covered by a red-faced Cagalli.
"The set on Kira isn't like this, is it!" Cagalli wanted to shout, but thinking of the topic, she could only raise her pitch while keeping her voice down.
[Explain the water filtration in detail]
[It's basically the body's water cycle—that's how it works in the real world]
[Let me summarize: urine filtration]
[Hahahahaha]
[How can you put it like that—it's clearly holy water]
[That said, I feel like Inori's messing with Cagalli]
[So, do we keep going or not?]
[Absolutely we do!]
Facing Cagalli's question, Inori nodded. "Yes—that set has a higher level of technology, and it's a two-piece. The external modular armor portion can adopt different systems, so it can do without the recycling system."
"Then let me use that one!" Cagalli said.
"Unfortunately, Cagalli-san, that one was developed specifically for Kira."
"Can't I just not wear it?"
"Cagalli-san, you wouldn't want to be unable to pilot an MS, would you?"
"Uh..."