Chapter 359 - 360: We’re All Just Human, Too

Chapter 359: Chapter 360: We’re All Just Human, Too

"Birds gathered by the water"

"The sun swaying on the water"

"Trees glitter in the wind"

"Branches and leaves ring out, singing and dancing..."

The song softly rang through the Vesalius.

Lacus had not been able to finish her memorial for Junius Seven, but someone had finished it in her place.

Back when she was aboard the Archangel, Lacus had asked Inori to record this song for her.

Lacus had been picked up by Le Creuset’s flagship, the Vesalius.

She would not be staying here for long, though. She would only remain for a few hours before taking a shuttle back to PLANT.

Right now, Lacus was resting in the dining hall, waiting for lunch.

Yzak and the others were here as well.

After that long and grueling battle, everyone was exhausted.

"To think the Songstress of Orb could sing a song like this."

Yzak and the others listened quietly too.

"It’s a completely different style from Lacus-san’s songs. No, it feels completely different from the songs at her previous concert too." The sensitive Nicol had noticed how different this song felt from Inori’s others.

"What song is this?" Dearka asked.

"EXEC_SUSPEND/."

"An operating function? No, is it the title of a song? Suspend? Go idle?"

Athrun looked a little puzzled.

"Return life to tranquility. That is the meaning of this song."

Depending on the situation, the song could carry different meanings.

But at Junius Seven, what it expressed was obvious.

"Tch. That Songstress of Orb sure likes sticking her nose into other people’s business."

She was only an outsider, yet she had involved herself in PLANT’s affairs. Yzak found it rather irritating.

"I think grieving for the dead is a right everyone should have," Lacus said. "Besides, Inori’s songs are actually very consistent."

"They’re pretty different, aren’t they...? Hmm, if I had to say, most of them are... love songs?" Dearka had bought two of her records out of boredom while they were undercover at Heliopolis.

But the moment he finished speaking, Dearka himself realized something was wrong.

Because the song Lacus was playing now certainly was not a love song.

"—Actually, not a single one of Inori’s songs is a love song."

"Eh?!" ×4.

The boys here had not known much about Inori before. But during Heliopolis and afterward, they had learned a little about the Songstress of Orb.

It was easy enough to look her up, since her songs were widely circulated in PLANT too.

And everyone generally agreed that her songs were about love.

So what did Lacus mean?

"To be precise, Inori’s songs do not describe love between people."

That only confused everyone even more.

Lacus herself fell into thought as well.

Inori had once told Lacus what the song Aimo meant.

But after understanding the meaning of that song, Lacus had only become more puzzled.

Yet when Athrun and Kira had been discussing Coordinators and Naturals earlier, Lacus had vaguely sensed something.

"What if... what if humanity itself were treated as a single whole..."

Lacus murmured.

She felt as though she had grasped something.

"Everyone." Lacus looked at the people around her. "What exactly is the difference between Coordinators and Naturals?"

"Obviously we’re far superior to those Naturals," Yzak said. "Higher, faster, stronger, and smarter too. Naturals are nothing but barbarians."

"Then... suppose an alien were here right now. In that alien’s eyes, what difference would there be between Naturals and Coordinators?"

Lacus continued asking.

This time, even Yzak was momentarily speechless.

"In an alien’s eyes, Coordinators would naturally be the superior species, while Naturals would merely be inferior beings." Le Creuset had walked over at some point.

"Is that really so, Captain Rau Le Creuset?" Lacus looked at Le Creuset. Instinctively, she felt that he was somewhat dangerous. "In an alien’s eyes, all of us would simply be ’human.’"

"But if Naturals were mixed in among us, I’m afraid the aliens would think less of us as a whole." Le Creuset smiled.

[Something feels more and more off]

[Captain Creuset isn’t actually the villain, is he?]

[Captain Creuset feels like the Coordinator side’s "Blue Cosmos"]

[That makes sense]

[I think something’s off]

[Pretending to be loyal while sabotaging them?]

[He can’t possibly be an Earth Alliance mole, right?]

[Let it play out for a while. Maybe we’ll get an even bigger reveal later]

[I think there’s a good chance the Coordinators and Naturals each have one BOSS]

The audience did not know that Le Creuset had said those words deliberately.

Le Creuset was very intelligent, so he fully understood what Lacus was trying to say.

But precisely because he understood, he deliberately twisted Lacus’s meaning and distorted what she was trying to express.

The result proved remarkably effective.

"All right, Lacus-san, that’s enough chatting. Your shuttle is ready. Congratulations—you’ll be able to return to PLANT very soon."

Whatever else happened, the first thing to do was send her away.

"Mm, all right." Lacus stood up.

"Athrun, go see Lacus-san off."

"Yes."

Athrun walked over to Lacus.

Lacus smiled and said goodbye to everyone else, then turned off the player and left with Athrun.

"Hmm...?"

Lacus noticed that Athrun had been looking at her strangely the entire time.

"Athrun, what is it?" Lacus asked.

"It’s nothing. It’s just that spacesuit..."

Lacus was currently wearing her own uniform.

That was rather strange.

Because Athrun could not see the spacesuit she had been wearing earlier.

"Oh, I’ve been wearing it the whole time," Lacus said.

"Wearing it? You’re kidding, right?"

Athrun did not believe her.

"Mm, because it can hide itself. It seems the concealment effect is quite good."

Lacus stretched out a hand and flexed it.

Then a red latex membrane appeared over her smooth arm.

"Pretty amazing, right? Inori said it can be worn like body armor."

"Mm... it really is... incredible."

It had been completely invisible.

Just what kind of technology was this?

"Athrun, are you still going to fight afterward?" Lacus drew her hand back, and the red latex turned transparent once more.

"Mm." Athrun nodded.

"Even if... you still have to fight Kira?" Lacus asked.

"I don’t have a choice either." Athrun clenched his fist.

"But fighting like this won’t accomplish anything," Lacus said.

"Of course I know that. But..."

There was nothing Athrun could do about it, either.

Was it me... who still hadn’t made up my mind?

Athrun fell into thought.

Captain Le Creuset’s words in particular pushed Athrun into even deeper contemplation.

Le Creuset himself never expected that those words of his had actually nudged Athrun another step forward...