"Kira… are you really Kira?"
"Athrun… are you really Athrun?"
[Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo!]
[Juliet, wherefore art thou Juliet!]
[Hoho, hahahaha]
[They've lost it, they've lost it. Every last one of them has lost it]
[This is it! This is exactly what I wanted to see!]
Kira and Athrun stared at each other.
Neither of them answered the question they had just asked.
Because at this moment, both of them already understood who the other person was.
There was no need to answer.
"Kira… so you… really are a girl…"
Athrun scratched his head.
"Ah…"
Kira, however, lowered her head in self-consciousness.
"Sorry. I'm a girl…"
[???]
[What does that mean?]
[Don't tell me Athrun really is gay…?]
[No way, no way]
[I think she probably means she feels like she deceived her friend or something]
[Grass (a type of exclamation), we've got an honest person here]
[??? What are you people talking about?]
[The people above are playing around with surreal ship-bait. If you take them seriously, you lose]
[Huh?]
Ship-bait could be pretty potent.
This was exactly what the audience wanted to see.
Bring on the drama, bring on the drama.
"Right, the key!"
After realizing the door was locked, Athrun hurriedly found an electronic key on the two unconscious Blue Cosmos members.
Once he unlocked the door, Athrun grabbed Kira by the hand.
"What are you doing here?"
"Because I'm a Coordinator…"
Kira could hardly explain that she also had the "claw" of the Black Monolith Inori had left beside her.
Athrun had suddenly appeared here, so he obviously had not been invited by the Earth Alliance.
That meant he could only have been drawn here by the video she had posted.
He… was with ZAFT.
"Damn Blue Cosmos!" Athrun looked ready to blow this whole place up.
"Athrun, you… ZAFT?" Kira shook off Athrun's hand.
"What are you doing, Kira?!"
Athrun badly wanted to talk things through with Kira, but now was not the time.
As long as Kira could leave this place, they would have plenty of time to catch up later.
But Kira cared about this very much.
"Then—Heliopolis—"
"Yeah. I was there." Athrun finally understood why Kira was acting like this.
He had destroyed Heliopolis.
"But we only destroyed Heliopolis after confirming that everyone there had evacuated!"
Athrun said.
[Grass (a type of exclamation), can't you two escape first and talk afterward?!]
[Hurry hurry hurry]
[Oh my god, just get out of there already]
[Kira was fine before. Why is she suddenly being difficult now?]
[This is a detention area, nobody's coming back, and the only people here are unconscious. There's nothing to worry about, right?]
[Sigh, this really does feel dangerous]
[SEED feels kind of strange to me. Kira seems to have the script of a female-led drama, while Athrun has the script of a light novel protagonist]
[But Athrun's comrades are guys]
[Wouldn't it feel more like one if you genderbent Yzak and Dearka too?]
[What about Nicol?]
[Just leave the little blue-haired girl as she is]
[So the fate of a femboy "Southern Liang" is to wind up in the Northern Dynasties, huh?]
[This is getting more ridiculous by the second]
The audience was still having a great time, but Kira was in pain.
"Does that mean, Athrun, you were in that… Gundam?"
"Gundam… the G-series?"
Athrun thought of the opening image of the G-series. Put together, the letters really did spell "Gundam."
"Yeah, the red one."
"Was it… the Aegis?"
Kira seemed to understand something.
Athrun probably also felt they were safe for the moment, so he was in no hurry to leave. Instead he asked, "Kira, you… I remember seeing you in that music video with the Songstress of Orb. Are all of you aboard the Archangel?"
"…"
Kira did not speak.
She really was the pilot of the Strike, but after hearing that Athrun was the Aegis's pilot, Kira felt herself tremble.
She had almost killed Athrun.
—Kira did not know that Athrun's Aegis had been the commander during the battle, but she did know that only the Duel had put more pressure on her than the Aegis.
In battle, the closer two opponents were in strength, the less either side could afford to hold back.
And Kira did not want Athrun to know that the opponent he had fought before was Kira herself.
Kira did not like the Earth Alliance forces, but for the sake of her companions, she had no choice.
Her friends and classmates were citizens of a neutral nation, but they were Naturals, after all, and there was no possibility of them joining ZAFT.
The situation simply did not allow for such a peaceful solution.
"Kira, afterward… come to PLANT," Athrun said.
But Kira shook her head. "My friends are all aboard the Archangel."
"Oh, right—"
At the mention of this, Athrun finally remembered.
"Is Lacus over there too?!"
But Kira shook her head.
"Lacus isn't aboard the Archangel. She's on the Astray."
The Astray.
Athrun knew about that one.
Cagalli had previously been riding the Astray.
"Then where is she?"
"Outside," Kira said.
Athrun slapped his forehead.
So there had never been any need to infiltrate this place in the first place.
No!
After seeing Kira, Athrun felt that being able to sneak in here had been more than worth it.
Being able to see Kira was better than anything else.
It was just a pity that Kira's companions were still aboard the Archangel.
"I'll get you out of here now," Athrun said.
But Kira still shook her head. "No. I need to find Inori."
"The Songstress of Orb… she's here too?"
Inori was very likely not an ordinary person.
But Athrun still could not tell what exactly she was.
"I have to find Inori," Kira said.
"Don't worry. I don't think anything will happen to her." Athrun did not think it was much of a problem.
After seeing Inori fight, he had been completely humbled.
Someone like that probably had formidable combat ability even outside an MS, and besides, she definitely still had that invisible Black Monolith with her.
That thing was absurdly powerful too.
"That's not it." Kira's expression turned strange. "I just don't want her to…"
Inori would obey Kira's instructions and carry out Kira's orders under most circumstances.
But there were exceptions.
For example…
When Kira's life was in danger.
Whenever Kira was threatened, the restrictions on Inori would be greatly loosened.
And Kira also knew that Inori had probably already seen everything that had happened to her earlier.
Maybe she was conducting an assessment right now.
Kira did not like killing people, but even more than that, Kira did not want Inori to kill people.
"If Inori has to come… then I'd rather… do it myself."
Anyone Inori killed was someone Kira had killed.
If that was the case, there was no reason to make Inori get her hands dirty.
"Everything is safe on my end."
Inori's projection suddenly appeared in front of the two of them, startling Athrun.
"A projection? Invisible equipment? A miniature version of Mirage Colloid technology?" Athrun's mind raced.
"Everything is safe on my end," Inori repeated. "The Archangel's crew has returned to the Archangel, but all of them have been placed under house arrest. The bridge is currently controlled by Blue Cosmos…"