"All right, wait a moment. I have no problem making amends. Those self-righteous attempts at concealment went too far and caused you pain you never should have suffered. It is only right that I bear responsibility for it." Xia Ya did his best to keep his voice from sounding too strained, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two girls. "But what exactly do you want me to do as compensation?"
His attempt to ease the close-range pressure through conversation failed completely.
"Do you remember? That night in Orb, when we entered your room together?" Jiliang did not answer directly, instead asking something that seemed entirely unrelated.
"The night before Onogoro faced the Earth Alliance's full-scale assault." Lacus added the exact point in time from beside him. At the same time, the arm around Xia Ya's neck tightened again, nearly pressing his chest completely against her softly rising and falling curves.
"Onogoro..."
Forcibly suppressing the sensory stimulation of their close contact, Xia Ya followed their words and searched his memories. Before long, that not-so-distant night surfaced from the depths of his mind. The Archangel had been docked at Orb Port, the clouds of war hanging overhead as everything underwent its final, overloaded preparations. Those were days that drained both mind and body to the limit. He remembered that the two of them had indeed come to his quarters that night.
His memory of that time was very simple. Fatigue had seeped into his bones that day, and he had practically fallen dead asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. He remembered that although he had slept for only two or three short hours, no nightmares had disturbed him, and when he woke, every muscle in his body had felt loose and light.
"Of course I remember. Why bring