Chapter 151: Ketsui No Asa Ni
On the morning of the weekend, Ade slept until he woke up naturally, and by the way, he picked up the phone on the bedside table to check the time. Now it's past breakfast, but it's still early to eat lunch, so he can take it easy.
He carefully sidled up and looked at Lacus' calm sleeping face. Getting up late is a normal thing for C.C. or Ange, but it is very rare for Lacus who lives an extremely regular life.
Is it because she is too tired? He thought silently with a bit of heartache, but did not know what Lacus was busy with. For a moment, he even had the urge to look through her phone while Lacus was asleep, but that was just an impulse that was immediately restrained.
Everyone needs personal space. Even C.C., who always felt insecure, would only check his phone when she expresses her happiness or dissatisfaction, and she will always ask for his opinion before she does that.
They are important, living, breathing people to him, not dolls without their own wills. He himself said that he encouraged everyone to pursue their own hobbies and lives, so now he shouldn't suspect them.
Ade figured this out and stopped stewing, staring at Lacus's sleeping face and admiring it. Her genetically adjusted delicate face was like a flawless artwork no matter how long he looked at it, and if he moved his sight down, he would see a more wonderful view. But Ade stopped himself — Lacus was already tired, and he didn't want to make her more tired early in the morning.
He didn't know how long it took, but the young girl — should she be a young woman now? Anyway, her eyelashes moved slightly, and the next second, her eyes opened and the beautiful aquamarine pupils met his gaze. At such times, C.C. would normally ask what you were looking at, and Ange would perhaps pout, but Lacus said nothing and just smiled tenderly at him.
"Good morning, Ade." She asked softly, "What time is it?"
"It's a long time before noon, and I don't want to get up." He yawned falsely, "You're not working today anyway, so lie down with me for a while."
Lacus could easily figure out that this was an obvious lie, but she just straightened her hair, pretending not to notice anything. She snuggled into Ade's arms and responded briskly, "Well, since you say so, I can't help it."
Ade felt the warmth in his arms and hesitated for a while, then he decided to sidetrack, "Did Loran promote you too fast? It's not even two years since you were promoted from spokesperson to director. If this goes on, after another two years, won't you become a minister?"
"With my ability, I'm more than capable of being a minister, right? Or do you also believe those rumors on the internet that I'm just a useless vase?" Lacus put her index finger on his lips and smiled to stop his explanation, "Don't worry about it, I'm having a great time. I can achieve my ambition and do something for this family, there's nothing happier than that."
Since Lacus had said so, Ade had to stop. Of course, he could force her to tell him the truth, but that would only be self-satisfied behavior and does not make sense.
"Actually, you're the one who should take a rest." Lacus changed the topic, "Since you've been busy planning Celestial Being's curtain call performance lately, you should put the lab matters aside for a while. Mineva is complaining that you're spending less time with her."
"I have SuperSolenoid, I'm already invincible." Ade said in an indifferent tone, "Even if I don't sleep for a month—"
"No. Even if your body won't get tired, your spirit will get tired." Lacus corrected him seriously, "Speaking of which, have you considered the possibility of Ribbons Almark coming out to stir up trouble?"
"Isn't he too busy looking for the box?" Ade frowned and thought along her lines, "But that also makes sense. I'll change my plan this afternoon in case any accident happens.."
"Don't go bald before you're thirty." Lacus twisted up a bunch of her own long hair and gently tickled up on his chest, "But the box, ah, hiding by a genius in the vast and large solar system a hundred years ago, it seems impossible to find…"
"Yes, even Aeolia is clueless. Laplace's Box? It's not like you're playing according to the script…" Ade's voice stopped abruptly, "Why can't you just play it by the script?"
Lacus did not understand but did not say anything either, just quietly watching him.
"No matter how things go on, these scripts will always happen. Since it's called Laplace's Box, why wouldn't it circle back to the Unicorn Gundam's storyline?" Ade set up from the bed, "Char threw the satellite, and Stella still sank into the lake. Since these things happened, why couldn't Laplace's Box be still related to Vist?"
"Vist?" Lacus repeated, "That Cardeas Vist of SEELE?"
"Vist, as one of the three founders of SEELE, didn't play any role in all the events recently. This does not make sense." Ade kept muttering to himself, "Thinking again, how could E.A. Ray keep it a secret to Aeolia? There must be helpers. Since that was to keep it a secret to Aeolia, it makes sense that Vist still plays dumb now. All because of Ray's last orders."
"So the box is most likely in Vist's possession?" Lacus only cared about the conclusion. Ade's reasoning is often unintelligible, but the conclusion is always correct. She believes Ade, "I remember rumors of his divorce not long ago."
"What?!" Ade grabbed his phone to search for relevant intelligence, but only found some gossip news according to netizens and so on, without any formal news reports, "That makes sense, Ribbons' movement was too big, he deliberately divorced in order to protect his wife and children. It's not a rumor, it's probably true."
"Then hurry up." Lacus said impatiently, "We must get ahead of Ribbons."
"But Celestial Being is also very important." Ade counted the days, "It's the day after tomorrow, and after we get done with Scirocco, Aeolia and I will come and talk to Vist in person. Vist is theoretically one of our own, so don't make him an enemy."
Lacus did not say more, but simply got up and dressed.
Ade was still thinking about the plots that happened recently. The more he thought about it, the more he felt frightened. First of all, there is a very serious problem, Aeolia made Gundam00, Scirocco made The-O, these were reasonable, but TurnA was clearly made by Yang Wen-li. Therefore, is Loran's existence in this world just a coincidence?
Thinking deeper, since the plots will circle back no matter what he does, was everything he had done so far out of his own choice, or was he just going through the plot? He thought he had rejected Yang Wen-li's memory because he has free will, yet is he really free? Is there a way to prove it?
"So I said, you are free. Your existence, your Geass, your life … Ade, you must not understand it."
"Ade? Ade!" Lacus's exclamation rang out around him, "Your eyes!"
He woke up from his dazed state and blankly took the small mirror handed to him by Lacus. In the mirror, one of his eyes lit up with a blood-red bird pattern. Geass had activated itself without him turning it on. It was then that he suddenly realized that he could not feel anything in his NT sense. Then he tried to control Geass and found that he could not turn it off.
"Geass storming is a normal phenomenon, marking my ability enhancement, it will be fine after a while. Please ask C.C. for details, she sold me the stuff." He gave Lacus a reassuring smile, "But I seem… to have silenced my own NT sense as well?"
At this time, the bedroom door was suddenly knocked on, the frequency was so fast that the knocker's frantic mood was clearly conveyed. Lacus opened the door in a panic, and there was Mineva at the door. The little girl was crying so hard that her eyes were heartbreakingly red.
She did not even cast a glance at Lacus, ran quickly to the bed, flew into Ade's arms, and sobbed, "I, I suddenly could not feel Uncle Ade, I thought, I thought Uncle Ade disappeared, I, I…"
Ade gently hugged the little girl, while stroking her little head while softly said, "Sorry, scared you. I recently had a small problem, and it will be fine after a few days. Don't worry, Mineva, I won't leave you behind."
"Yeah." Mineva sobbed and nodded in his arms, "Even if I can't feel you anymore, I know Uncle Ade won't lie to me."
Although the scene was heartwarming, Lacus still had to ruthlessly interrupt them, "Ade, put your clothes on first. Mineva isn't just a little girl anymore, and this is bad for her growth."
Coming back to his senses, Ade let go of the little girl and awkwardly pulled the quilt towards his body. Mineva smiled and stretched her neck to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, turned, and ran away.
Ade's thought was also interrupted by Mineva. He gave up continuing to think, and he felt that if he continued to think, he would certainly go crazy.
"When I was so young, I didn't know anything, but she already knows how to read people's minds and see what's going on. Ade, are all NTs this precocious?" Lacus continued to dress while speaking, "I heard C.C. say that although you were also precocious, you weren't this early. It's actually a little scary when I think about it."
"You're thinking too much, how old is Mineva?" Ade shook his head and smiled, "The little girl is just acting on instinct."
Lacus thought about it and didn't retort, just shook her head silently.
"By the way, I just decided to go and watch Celestial Being's curtain call live." Ade shook his head, "Since I've silenced myself, Scirocco won't be able to find me too."
"Why?" Lacus asked in disbelief, "Don't they always handle it well?"
"It's for Kamille's sake" Ade sighed breathlessly, "Since there's a possibility that all scripts are doomed to happen, I'm afraid he'll go crazy and no one will be able to control him at that time. Although I still do not like him, if he really died… Shinn said that he wants Kamille to be his best man at the wedding, I don't want to disappoint him."
"What's that word you always use to describe C.C.?" Lacus inclined her head in a thoughtful manner, "Well… tsundere?"
"Not at all!"
Two days later, early in the morning, on Iserlohn.
In the briefing room, Chang Wufei was doing the final rally speech, "… Shinn once asked me, what is the meaning of Iserlohn? I had also asked the doctor about this. The doctor said so, 'Iserlohn is the symbol of solid as gold, indestructible, implying that as long as we unite as one, believe in our companions, and adhere to justice, we will never be knocked down by foreign enemies.'"
"Wait, is there a moral?" Ade, who was standing next to Chang Wufei, asked in surprise, "Then how did he explain the magic conch and SpongeBob SquarePants to you?"
Chang Wufei replied seriously, "The magic conch symbolizes endless knowledge and is urging the warriors to train hard while not forgetting to learn the culture. SpongeBob SquarePants, on the other hand, is some kind of creature in the deepest part of the ocean, unnameable and unimaginable, and is encouraging the soldiers not to stick to stereotypes."
"He… is worthy of him." Ade silently gave a nod to Yang Wen-li in his heart, "Sorry to interrupt you, please continue."
Chang Wufei was not a man of many words, and the pep talk was soon over.
"Wait, I have a question!" Kamille raised his hand before Ade could speak, "I can understand why Dr. Lingus is here, but why can't I sense you through my NT sense anymore? And why are you wearing sunglasses this early in the morning?"
"Don't ask unrelated questions! We can discuss it in private after the meeting." Ade decisively chose to ignore him, "It's my time to say something."
"Tsk." Kamille lowered his head in disinterest, "I've been working so hard, and you're still treating me like this."
"This is our last operation, so I hope everyone will stand their last watch. Be sure to go happily and come back peacefully, and never make strange FLAGs," Ade looked at the ACEs' young or mature faces with mixed feelings, "Thank you all very much for your hard work, I assure you, everything we do is meaningful."
At this time, even Kamille also did not make a strange face, listening to Ade's words in silence. Chang Wufei can not help but reveal a pleased smile.
"Take out Scirocco is the highest priority of this operation, and I will personally sit in command. Next, I'm going to talk about everyone's specific task." Ade said seriously, "Kira Yamato."
"Present."
"You have only one mission — have a fierce battle with Amuro. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, the only thing you need to do is to make the battle time as long as possible."
"Yes!"
"Uraki Kou."
"Yes, sir!"
"You are in charge of controlling the battlefield situation, cleaning up ordinary soliders, and protecting the mothership. I know the task is heavy and stressful, but you are the Phantom ACE, I believe that you can do it. Besides, the guys on the Londo Bell side have very good shots, they won't hit us for sure, just focus on TITANS."
"Yes!"
"Shinn Asuka."
"I'm here!"
"You are in charge of sniping Scirocco, only win, not lose."
"… YES!!!"
"Kamille Bidan."
"Can I drive the Banshee Gundam?" Kamille asked with anticipation, "I've been training for a while and have become very proficient at operating it!"
"You did use the Unicorn Gundam's NT-D." Ade looked at him calmly, "Do you think you can handle the NT-D now?"
"… No." Kamille suddenly became very upset, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You never expected anything from me, I know that…"
"You're in charge of being a firefighter. I'm not worried about Kira, and you'll support Kou and Shinn." Ade gave him a light smile, "Just don't use NT-D if you can't use NT-D."
Kamille's eyes slowly widened bit by bit, finally letting out a moving glow, "Yes, sir!"
