Chapter 355 - 356: Athrun: You Two Aren’t Sisters, Are You?

Chapter 355: Chapter 356: Athrun: You Two Aren’t Sisters, Are You?

"There are a lot of reasons." Athrun did not know how he should explain it.

Actually, compared with Lacus, Athrun wanted to sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with Kira even more.

But up until now, there had never seemed to be a chance.

"Athrun," Kira said. "It’s about time we went to find Lacus."

It was Kira who brought up Lacus first.

On the one hand, Kira really was concerned about Lacus. On the other hand, Kira did not know what kind of expression she should wear when facing Athrun.

So for now, going to see Lacus was probably best...

"You’re leaving already?" Cagalli asked anxiously.

"This is Earth Alliance territory, after all." Athrun looked around.

Everyone from engineering had gone to the other side to make emergency repairs. Everything here was running automatically.

But it was easy to imagine what would happen once the other Earth Alliance personnel came over.

"So where exactly is Lacus?" Athrun asked.

"She was near the Archangel earlier, but because we were worried a battle might break out, she’s hiding for now." After Kira finished speaking, she looked at Athrun and fell into thought.

"What is it...?"

Athrun grew a little uncomfortable under Kira’s stare.

"I... um... no, it’s nothing." Kira did not say anything more.

"Is it because... you were piloting the Strike?"

Athrun finally asked the question.

"I really regret it. If I’d known it was you inside the Strike, Kira..."

Athrun lowered his head.

[Come to think of it, when Athrun first met Cagalli, wasn’t it because he mistook Cagalli for Kira?]

[That’s right. Those two really do look a little alike]

[Wait a second. Back then, Athrun thought Kira was a boy, right?]

[Huh?]

[Holy crap]

[That’s actually true]

[Isn’t this basically hard proof?]

[So that means Athrun’s first impression of Cagalli was—this guy’s a man, right?]

[Cagalli: Do you have any manners?!]

"Ah!"

While the audience was making fun of Cagalli, Cagalli herself finally realized it too.

"Athrun, back in Heliopolis, you mistook me for Kira, didn’t you?!" Cagalli finally blurted out.

"Ah, yes, that’s right. I really am sorry about that." Athrun was genuinely embarrassed now.

Kira and Cagalli, the two people involved, were both standing right here.

"I thought Kira and I looked pretty similar before too." Cagalli did not make a fuss over it. Instead, she gave Kira a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Could you two be sisters?" Athrun asked.

"How could we be? I’m an only child," Cagalli said.

"We should get going," Kira said.

"Mm." Athrun nodded.

Then Kira turned around and entered the Strike again, with Athrun following close behind.

Cagalli looked over at Inori. "Just the two of them?"

"Mm." Inori nodded. "Just leave it to Kira."

After saying that, Inori headed deeper into the Archangel.

The Archangel was in terrible shape right now. With the entire bridge destroyed, the ship was not functioning very well.

But that was fine. For Inori, this was excellent news.

[A man and a woman all alone together, huh? All alone together...]

[Cagalli sure is trusting]

[I always feel like if those two dare do anything out of line on the way, Inori will come flying over immediately]

[Stop selling ship-bait. These two are just friends. Go look at the official relationship chart—they’re close friends]

[Lmao, is there really such a thing as pure friendship between a man and a woman?]

[Athrun used to think Kira was a guy]

[That was then, this is now. If your childhood friend suddenly turned into a cute girl, what would you think?]

[Honestly, I think Athrun’s feelings toward Kira back then might not have been entirely platonic, but now they might genuinely just be close friends]

[Athrun: If you’re going to be sarcastic about me, just say it to my face]

[The SEED main cast is seriously bizarre. Pick any three out of these five and you’ve got an amazing love triangle]

[Grass (a type of exclamation), now that you mention it, that’s actually true]

[Rearrange any three of the five and you can make a remarkably stable love triangle]

Inori’s ship-bait business was proving extremely successful.

After dropping Inori back off at the Archangel, Kira set out again.

"Kira... have you always lived in Heliopolis?" Athrun asked.

"Mm."

"Then why... are you aboard an Earth Alliance ship?"

"Because there are a lot of civilians aboard. My classmates and friends are here too. I have to protect everyone," Kira said. "They’re all Naturals, innocent civilians who lived in a neutral nation."

"But you’re a Coordinator, Kira. Why don’t you come to ZAFT? You should help us!" Athrun still wanted Kira to stand on his side.

"If..." Kira’s voice was quiet, but Athrun still heard her. "If I weren’t a Coordinator, Athrun... would you still be saying that?"

"—!!!"

[That’s not just killing him, that’s twisting the knife too]

[Killing him isn’t enough—you have to crush his heart too!]

[Yeah. Does Athrun care about Kira’s identity, is he after Kira herself, or does he genuinely just want to be friends with Kira? lol]

[Fatal question]

[Pick the right answer and you enter the Kira route. Pick wrong and the route closes]

[Athrun really is the male lead of a galgame now, huh? lol]

"Kira is my friend! That has nothing to do with who you are!"

Athrun answered.

But after Athrun finished speaking, Kira’s eyes dimmed.

[It’s over!]

[Bro, that kind of generic answer is way too perfunctory]

[He’s cooked. He’s really cooked]

After giving his answer, Athrun suddenly remembered what Inori had once said to him.

Athrun wanted Kira to join PLANT, and even join ZAFT.

Then Kira could fight alongside him and take revenge on the Naturals.

Hundreds of thousands of Coordinators had been killed, and there were even people still suffering now.

And yet... the number of people indirectly killed by the Neutron Jammers seemed to make even the victims of Junius Seven look like only a fraction of the total.

What made it even more insidious was that ordinary people did not even realize deploying the Neutron Jammers amounted to a massacre.

He was inviting Kira to join his side because he clearly wanted her to fight alongside him. Yet what he had just told Kira was that it did not matter whether someone was a Natural or not...

"Sorry."

Only then did Athrun realize just how flippant and disrespectful his words had been toward Kira.

"Athrun, are you going to keep fighting?" Kira asked.

"Ah, of course."

"For what?"

"Revenge... I guess... probably revenge."

Athrun fell into confusion.

Revenge?

But the Naturals his side had killed... no, the people of Earth they had killed had already exceeded the number of victims at Junius Seven.

Was what he was doing really just revenge?

As he reflected on himself, Athrun gradually began to understand.

It seemed like... something was wrong.