Chapter 143: Endless Waltz
Laura was pulled up on his heels. Maybe he was not used to shoes, he stumbled forward and was held by Ade before he fell down. Ade held his limp arms to help him stand, and looked up and down at him with interest for a moment.
"Are the clothes picked out by Rhineford for you? I didn't expect him to have unexpectedly good taste." Ade curiously turned his eyes to Laura's chest, "Say, why is the chest bulging? What's stuffed inside?"
"Don't laugh at me, I didn't dress up like this by choice either." Laura covered his chest awkwardly, "There's no time to talk about this now, right? We can just go back and talk about it later."
"There is plenty of time, the wedding ceremony has just begun, let's exchange information first." Ade pointed to the darkening sky outside the window, "It's too abrupt to go out now. Let's wait until the dinner party or when the ball starts in the evening."
"Since you've said so," Laura gave him an apologetic look, "Let's start from the beginning, when I was trapped foolishly…"
The important affairs of the Lunar government and Anaheim are mainly handled by Laura, in addition to major holidays, Diana would come out as a mascot, she usually didn't take over any detailed affairs.
Both Ade and Laura had relatively quiet personalities, and they soon became friends. Although they would never say things like "he is my good friend" or "I am very close to him", in their hearts, they actually trusted each other. Just like this time, Ade would save Laura back at any cost, and Laura was also convinced of this.
"…He did not want me to appear in the public, so he lied that I was not feeling well and let me rest here." Laura smiled brightly at him, "And then you showed up."
"It's a good thing you haven't been done something by him yet, or I wouldn't know what to tell Diana. But there's one thing I don't understand, why is Rhineford carrying you around with him?" Ade asked in disbelief, "If I were him, I would lock you up in my own basement for the rest of your life and not let you out, it would be troublesome if anyone recognized you even with his identity, right?"
"Because I have no way to leave him too far, or this thing…" Laura unwrapped the neck decoration and revealed the black metal ring on his neck, "Will release a strong electric current, and if I try to run away, it is said that it will explode."
"Sickness." Ade circled around Laura, fondling the black ring for a closer look. Laura tilted his neck to let Ade observe it closer, "No interface, no gap, it looks like it can't be physically broken."
"I saw that he was operating it with a remote control-like thing. The remote control was hidden in his own home, but I'm sure you have a way." Laura looked at him with confidence, "Am I right?"
"Do you really think that such a little toy can defeat me? What a joke." Ade pulled out his smartphone and began to drum up quickly, "Well, give me some time… uh, a little trouble, you may have to wait for a little longer… found the author's signature, wow, this habit is really… let me see, the author is… what? Embryo?!"
"Embryo …" Laura mumbled and repeated, suddenly walking quickly to the other end of the room and waving his hand to Ade, "Do not come over, you just operate it over there. In case this thing really explodes, I don't want to get you involved."
"How little confidence do you have in me? It's just a collar, how complicated can the procedure be?" Ade walked to Laura's side in good humor and amusement, grabbed one of his arms, and continued working with one hand, "If I can't handle this little thing, I might as well get blown up too."
Laura hesitated for a moment, inclining his head, "I believe you, I will not run. So can you let go of my arm?"
After a while, the sky gradually darkened, and the sound of cannon salutes rang out of the window, followed by colorful and brilliant fireworks in the sky. Laura looked out in fascination and sighed, "Diana and I only had a very simple wedding, so I always felt a little envious of such a wedding."
"You can make up it on your wedding anniversary." Ade responded casually, "You can hold it as grand as you want. The moon government can certainly afford to spend the money."
"But it's always bad to be wasteful, let's forget it." Laura shook his head sagely, "You didn't have a luxurious wedding with Lacus too, right? Don't you want to make up for the wedding? It's ok to have a wedding for you and her and the other girls. The lunar government can even grant a special marriage license for you."
"Why are you all thinking about this? I'm not even 30 yet, do you think I have a long life? We can discuss this after I have eaten the SuperSolenoid." Ade heaved hard on the phone, "Done!"
As he said, the collar around Laura's neck opened up in response. He carefully removed the collar and put it aside, then carefully wrapped the decoration around his neck in front of the dresser mirror. A few moments later, after doing everything, Laura raised his head in front of Ade and slowly turned around, "How is it, does it look the same as before?"
"No breakage, exactly the same." Ade gave a thumbs up, "But it's too early to go down there, let's see the fireworks first?"
"Sure." Laura smiled faintly at him and walked alongside him to the window to look up at the night sky, "It's good to be home, I'm lonely on Earth all by myself."
At mealtime, surprisingly a maid brought over dinner. Ade came out of hiding after the maid left and ate the food together with Laura. Char stayed below to watch for them and report on Rhineford's movements. Only when the evening ball began did Ade take Laura downstairs.
To be honest, now Laura was already being saved. The only thing they needed to avoid was causing trouble at the wedding.
When the two arrived at the brightly lit open-air venue, the bride and groom were talking to people on the sidelines. Big shots were whispering with their glasses, and the dance floor was dominated by the young people. Ade found Saji in the crowd and led Laura toward him, intending once again to use Saji's identity as a coverup to slip away.
"Lingus." Char suddenly said in the NT char room, "Rhineford has seen you and is moving towards you."
It actually didn't matter if he was spotted, the other party couldn't do anything but yell impotently towards him. But this was after all the Halevy family's wedding day, and Ade didn't want to offend anyone, so he tried to think of a way to avoid the conflict.
Laura also saw Rhineford. If they played the "chase and run" game at this time, it would be too suspicious. He thought for a moment and decisively took Ade's arm and dragged him into the dance floor.
"Let's take the dance to move to the other end of the square, he will not rush into the dance floor to make trouble." Laura's left hand took Ade's hand on his waist, his right hand held Ade's hand, put his head to Ade's ear and whispered, "I have never seen you dance. If you can't, just follow my movements."
"A long, long, long time ago, I learned a little theory, but never really danced. If I step on you, I apologize in advance." Ade trembled and gently put his hand on Laura's smooth waist and said apologetically in his ear, "You may not believe me, but this is my first time …"
Laura gave him an encouraging look and guided him to dance slowly. The waltz now being played had a slightly faster tempo, and Ade could barely keep up the rhythm with Laura's help.
The silky gloves, the bare spine, the light perfume, and the hair that occasionally brushed against his neck made him a little distracted, almost stepping on Laura several times.
"Don't get distracted." Laura reminded him in a low voice, "We're friends, it's a normal thing, don't get carried away."
"Yes." Ade hurriedly collected his mind. Laura did it because he trusted him, and he couldn't let his trust down, "You're right, we're friends."
In the midst of the dance, he glanced at Rhineford and met his jealous, frenzied eyes. The blazing hatred in Rhineford's eyes made his scalp tingle a little and he immediately misplaced his eyes.
"Nice dance, you're very talented. This tune is actually quite difficult for a novice." Laura smiled approvingly, "It seems that smart people are able to learn quickly in everything they do."
"Thanks to your teaching." Ade kept prompting himself in his head to stay awake, "When do we leave?"
"At least… at least until this tune is over, it seems I've brought bad memories for you." Laura bowed his head sadly, "I'm a man, I'm sorry …"
"I don't care!" Ade blurted out, realizing the ambiguity when he finished, "I didn't mean that, I meant there were no bad memories, and I didn't mean to be upset that it was you, and I didn't mean to rush you, no, I was talking about—"
"Don't explain, I understand." Laura raised his head and gave him a faint smile. There were some complex meanings inside his eyes, "Finish this dance, finish it and it's over."
As the tune came to an end, Ade was already completely familiar with the routine, and could even make slightly more complicated movements in line with Laura. Just a few bars into the last few bars, an ear-splitting boom suddenly interrupted the sound of the music and three MSs appeared above the venue. The band members dropped their instruments and scattered, and the guests also scattered in alarm, rushing to nearby buildings.
Char calmly followed the crowd and evacuated, observing the three MSs from time to time. Saji subconsciously shielded himself in front of Louise, which was watched by Louise' father. There were cursing, screaming, pushing, and shoving. Between life and death, all lives are equal; under the beam gun, everyone is equal.
The few MSs in the sky did not launch a rash attack, but looked like they were looking for someone. Soon only Laura, who was held back by Ade, and Rhineford, who was staring dead at the two not far away, were left on the field.
"One ZakuⅢ, one RGM-79GMⅢ, one Jegan, it's not easy for them to put these MSs together." Ade joked, "Huh? Why are you so calm?"
"Because you're calmer than I am." Laura replied with a soft smile, "You must have been prepared for this, right?"
"Laura, why? Why!" Rhineford, as if he didn't see the MSs in the sky at all, snarled with a fierce look at the duo who were whispering, "I love you so much! Why, why did you betray me! You will die. For him, you don't even care about dying?!"
Laura showed a sad smile, shook his head firmly at Rhineford, and stood behind Ade to turn his face sideways.
Ade pulled out the black collar from his jacket pocket and threw it at Rhineford's feet, saying icily, "It's not called love."
At that moment, the MSs in the sky finally confirmed the targets and fired at the three people below at the same time. In the nick of time, a blue MS suddenly appeared between Ade and the MSs. The bullets crackled against the MS's own beam shield, while the other side wasn't so lucky.
"Rhineford…" Loran glanced over there quickly and grabbed Ade's sleeve, closing his eyes uncomfortably. Ade took his hand and squeezed it gently as a comfort.
The Villkiss in the sky has turned from blue to red at this time. Its ten meters height looks slightly comical in front of the MSs. Ange took the beam rifle from Villkiss's back and fired three shots at random. Her movements were so swift that ZakuⅡ and RGM-79GMⅡ had their cockpits blown up before the pilots could react, and only Jegan's pilot, who was clearly an ACE, escaped the shot.
Jegan's pilot found Villkiss's shooting was too powerful, so it took the initiative to start a melee with Villkiss, fighting Ange while relying on his rich driving experience. But after all, the gap between Jegan and Villkiss was too big, it was only a matter of time before the Jegan was crushed.
"The pilot seems to be an ACE?"Ade pulled out the phone, surprised to find a missed call from Ange. He connected to Villkiss immediately, "Ange, talk to him, maybe it's an acquaintance?"
"I recognize these movements, one of the three people who bullied you when we were on the desert island." Ange said indignantly, "This bastard dares to bully you, I haven't even bullied you! I must kill him today!"
"I knew it was Scirocco again." Ade took the phone and continued to operate it remotely. Not long later, the Unicorn Gundam flew to the clearing and landed. He turned his head to Laura and said, "Shall we go up?"
Laura lifted the long hem of his skirt with both hands, and looked at the white high heels on his feet, showing a distressed expression. Ade sighed, said "Excuse me," and picked him up by the waist. Laura stiffened slightly for a moment, but immediately relaxed.
"Ade!" As they entered the cockpit, Alice's avatar showed up, "Another one! This is the—"
"Male!" He immediately interrupted, "He shouldn't be counted!"
"Took it out. His driving skill is pretty good." Ange's voice rang out at almost the same moment, "Ade, I'm jealous!"
"Male! This one doesn't count!" He helplessly spoke again, strapping Laura by hand, "Don't be unreasonable, we are ordinary friends, what are you thinking in your head?"
"Was I unreasonable? You haven't even danced with me! I just called you and you didn't answer, so how engrossed you were!" Ange shouted unhappily, "I! Am! Jealous!"
"Hey, there are people here!" Ade felt a little embarrassed under Laura's gaze, "Let's talk about it later. Let's go back first."
Before the hatch closed, Ade hesitated, leaned down and took off Laura's high heels, and threw them towards the outside of the cockpit. Laura was first shocked, then immediately reacted, cooperated with him.
"Thank you. You are so attentive." Laura looked at Ade's movements with a clear gaze and smiled coyly, "Speaking of which, we haven't finished that waltz yet, do you think we should find a chance to continue it when we get back, or just leave it like this and never end?"
