"Xia Ya!"
"...Uh, ah... Wh-what is it?"
As Xia Ya considered the worst possibility, his body trembling with a chill, Jiliang shouted his name from beside him. Her voice pierced through the layers of deductions and assumptions piling up in Xia Ya's mind, abruptly pulling his consciousness back from those dark thoughts. Xia Ya blinked and realized that, at some point, he had clenched his fists so tightly that his nails had sunk deep into his palms, leaving a row of crescent-shaped marks.
"What do you mean, what is it? We've been calling you for a while, Xia Ya, but you were just staring into space..."
"You don't look well either... Do you have any thoughts about this situation?"
Jiliang studied Xia Ya's expression, her amethyst eyes full of concern. Lacus also rose from her seat, walked over to Xia Ya, and looked up at him worriedly.
Their gazes were like warm sunlight, trying to drive away the ever-thickening gloom in Xia Ya's heart. Their fingers lightly touched his arm, their warmth passing through the fabric with a tenderness that nearly made him want to cry.
He had made them worry. A stab of guilt pierced Xia Ya's chest. These two people—his two most beloved people—were worried about him. Yet here he was, thinking about Rau Le Creuset, thinking about those dark possibilities, thinking about things that might still be in time to stop—or might already be too late.
At the same time, he thought about what he should do.
Could he really say what he had just considered here? After all, he had no basis for it.
Mr. Muruta had sent no intelligence saying that the information had been leaked, Mr. Siegel Clyne had left behind no clues regarding the Neutron Jammer Canceller, and Rau Le Creuset was hardly