Cagalli and Kisaka

What finally "rescued" Luther from Haman's demonstrative displays of affection was a report from the female officer outside.

"Your Excellency, Ledonir Kisaka has arrived."

"Please show him in."

Ledonir Kisaka came in wearing a suit, which struck Luther as subtly incongruous. He had a feeling that either a military uniform or a "Rambo" getup would suit him better.

But Ledonir Kisaka soon dispelled that sense of incongruity through his actions.

"Major Ledonir Kisaka of the Orb Defense Force, reporting under orders from Representative Uzumi."

"I am Major General Luther Deikun, leader of Celestial Being.

Major Kisaka, sorry for the trouble you went through to get here. Miss Cagalli is over there.

If you can persuade her yourself, you may take her back to Orb. And please give my regards to Representative Uzumi. I'll visit him in person if I get the chance."

In response to Major Ledonir Kisaka's courteous manner, Luther stood and returned the courtesy in kind. Haman did the same.

But before Cagalli could shout, "I'm not going back!" again, Major Ledonir Kisaka's words put her in an awkward position.

"I'll make sure the message gets to him. Representative Uzumi has also expressed how much he would like to meet you.

As for Miss Cagalli, Representative Uzumi anticipated that she might not want to return to Orb, so he sent me to cover her expenses and take care of the arrangements.

Would you allow me to come aboard and look after and protect Miss Cagalli?"

Cagalli stared in stunned disbelief, completely unprepared for her "father's rejection." Haman laughed in a thoroughly unladylike manner, and Luther laughed too before replying with a smile.

"Of course. You're welcome aboard Celestial Being's flagship as an observer, Major Ledonir Kisaka."

"Please, just call me Kisaka, Your Excellency."

Luther nodded, summoned the female officer, then "suggested" to Kisaka:

"You must be tired from the trip, and I'm sure there's a lot you'll want to discuss with Cagalli, so I won't keep you here.

Ah, Cagalli is sharing a room with the daughter of the Atlantic Federation's deputy foreign minister. They've become quite close, too. I'll have other accommodations arranged for you."

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Excellency.

Lady Cagalli, shall we go?"

Kisaka naturally had no objections to Luther's arrangements. After calmly thanking him, he went to Cagalli's side.

"Luther, you set me up."

As Cagalli delivered her oddly comical line, Luther put an arm around Haman and waved goodbye to her and Kisaka with a smile.

—A little over ten minutes later, in an upscale dessert shop in the Gwameir's residential area—

Cagalli was channeling her indignation into her appetite, taking on single-handedly a massive parfait meant to be shared by a group and mostly photographed for social media.

In truth, Cagalli had been eyeing this shop—which catered mainly to Celestial Being's mid- and senior-ranking female officers—for a long time. But in the first few days, she had only ended up sharing a double room intended for mid-ranking officers with Flay because she was a young woman. Unlike Flay, she didn't have a plentiful supply of Celestial Being's internal currency to spend, thanks to "special circumstances."

Then, after her identity was confirmed, Cagalli had thrown herself into mobile suit piloting lessons of her own accord, working herself to exhaustion until she had no energy left to visit the residential area.

Today, though, the Gwameir had been on combat alert since morning, so Cagalli and Flay had been stuck with nothing to do in their room. Now that Kisaka was paying, Cagalli had brought him straight here.

In fact, the shop hadn't opened yet, since the combat alert hadn't been fully lifted. But Cagalli had invoked Luther's name, and after contacting a superior, the sergeant in charge of the shop had provided them with service most respectfully.

And with the shop currently empty, it was indeed a good place for Cagalli and Kisaka to talk in private.

"So, what did Father send you here for?"

As she battled the enormous parfait, Cagalli asked Kisaka as if she didn't much care.

"I imagine Representative Uzumi's thinking is the same as yours, Miss Cagalli.

Everyone is very concerned about this 'Celestial Being' that appeared out of nowhere, and that's especially true for Orb.

Although Celestial Being has publicly announced its ideals and demonstrated some of its strength, it remains to be seen whether those ideals are more than just words, and whether its power can live up to such lofty ideals.

Of course, after Heliopolis, the fall of Artemis Fortress should have put any doubts about the latter to rest."

"True. Even if Orb threw the entire nation's resources at it, we probably couldn't do a thing about Artemis Fortress."

Cagalli shoveled spoonfuls of ice cream into her mouth, apparently hoping to finish before her stomach caught on.

She also echoed Kisaka's assessment of Celestial Being's military strength, though she was a little hard to understand.

Just as Kisaka was about to continue, Cagalli suddenly choked and pounded herself on the chest.

Kisaka hurriedly pushed over the soda he had ordered along with his meal but hadn't touched.

Cagalli picked it up and drained it in one gulp, then let out a satisfied belch. At last, she was alive again.

"Thanks. I almost thought the parfait was going to kill me."

With no regrets, Cagalli shoved the cup, still six-tenths full, aside and stretched in a thoroughly unladylike manner. Then she dropped a "bombshell," cutting off Kisaka's polite response.

"Actually, Celestial Being has a stronger card to play than the fall of Artemis Fortress.

Did you know that the mobile suits Celestial Being sent out earlier were all piloted by Naturals?"

"That's impossible!"

Kisaka shot to his feet and hit the table, nearly knocking over the parfait cup.

Cagalli herself had reacted badly when she first learned about it, but seeing Kisaka, who had always been so composed, lose his composure pleased her.

"I lost my composure, Miss Cagalli.

I understand perfectly why you intend to stay with Celestial Being.

Even if it costs me my life, I'll make sure Representative Uzumi gets this information!"

After sitting back down, Kisaka made his solemn declaration in a low voice. Cagalli, however, looked puzzled.

"Uh, Celestial Being wasn't trying to hide this! At least, not from Orb."

Kisaka naturally didn't doubt Cagalli's word, and quickly arrived at a new theory.

"Does Celestial Being intend to join forces with Orb?

Is this the future the Newtypes foresaw?

In any case, please tell me more. I'll have my subordinates pass all the information along to Representative Uzumi."

Cagalli had no reason to refuse, since this was clearly what Luther hoped for as well.

So Cagalli and Kisaka sat in the shop for several hours, only wrapping up when the combat alert was fully lifted and customers began to trickle in.

In the end, the giant parfait became Cagalli's "lunch." After using the "let's take them out one by one, starting with the wafer rolls!" strategy, she polished off every last bit.

But the price she paid was that, after parting ways with Kisaka and returning to her room, Cagalli could no longer hold out. She collapsed onto her bed, groaning, and stayed there until her roommate Flay returned, laden with spoils.

The rest of the afternoon, until dinnertime, passed with Flay rubbing Cagalli's stomach while Cagalli explained and analyzed some of the details from the morning meeting that Flay had been curious about.