Editing KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 11===

“…It’s tough to see Ensign Mihiro so depressed like that, isn’t it? She’ll definitely recover if you just tell her that Mr Riddhe’s still alive.”

The extremely hard and large plastic window reflected Takuya’s face as he sighed. The numerous lights of the stars scattered outside the window were blocked by the reflected light within the room, and the stars could not be seen clearly. Banagher recalled Mihiro’s stiff face as she walked out of the infirmary, and muttered, “So that’s the kind of relationship they have…” and his muttering face was reflected on the window as well, resulting in a depressed expression appearing in the eternal darkness of space.

There was no one in the observation room located on the boardside of the battleship. There were three windows on both sides of the room, 5m long and probably 3m wide, creating a wide space that was hard to imagine that it was inside a battleship. The security on Takuya and the rest inside the ship had become a lot more lenient, and Takuya used this time to understand the structure of the ship during these past few days. Before he called Banagher over, it seemed that he had other places to think of as well. Also, as Takuya grasped the positions of the surveillance cameras, he said that they had to look at the windows when talking, and not look back inside the room. If the cameras caught them, someone could tell what they were talking about by the movements of their lips.

Banagher heard all about how Takuya and Micott followed Riddhe’s plan, endured a nerve-wrecking escape process and got here. However, he himself had nothing he could briefly tell them about as he could only stare listlessly at Haro floating in the zero gravity. Takuya used his foot to hook onto the handrail, remained in a floating position upside-down, and said, “I don’t know why especially…”

“It seems that the people on this ship don’t know that Audrey disappeared. Only the 3 of us know about this, so we have to be careful. Right Micott?”

“Yeah…” Micott said on the bench and answered. She met Banagher in the eyes, and immediately lowered her head again. Banagher frowned, and Takuya stood beside him, scratching his hair hard, ''geez'', and showed an anxious expression.

“I’ll get something to drink. Do you two want anything?”

Takuya kicked off the handrail and floated towards the automatic door located at the wall behind. “I’ll go too, Banagher was about to kick the floor too, only to be pushed back by Takuya sternly, “No need.” ''Just stay where you are.'' Takuya moved his hand that was placed on his mouth and gave hand signals, telling Banagher to talk to Micott before moving out of the observation room.

''What was that?'' Banagher grumbled and turned to Micott as he was at a loss of options. Micott sat on the bench facing the window, still unwilling to meet Banagher in the eyes. The daughter of a factory supervisor, studying at a private school, the active confident person who was too dazzling for the students at the Institute, was at this point a stark contrast as she looked utterly depressed.

Suddenly, Banagher recalled the soft feeling he felt resting on the back. It caused him to feel awkward, and he felt a suffocating tightness gnawing at his chest, making it hard for him to stay at this place. He rubbed his nose that was not itchy and looked outside. “It’s amazing that you guys managed to escape from a military ship.” He tried to fill this emptiness with his voice, only for her to answer, “You’re the amazing one, Banagher…”. He thought that her stare was meeting his of the reflected window panel, but she immediately lowered her head again and held onto her hands cupping her knees.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Eh?”

“I’m talking about Mineva…Audrey. If I didn’t tip off…”

Banagher had already half-forgotten about this, and his chest was stabbed by Micott’s lost expression as he turned to her, letting out a mumbling voice as he said, “That’s…”

“I’m the one who has to apologize here. I let you and Takuya get involved in this.”

“We’re the ones who wanted to follow along. You don’t have to apologize for that.”

“But…”

“Besides, I might be the one who egged you on.”

It was unknown if Micott felt a little better as she showed a smile on her lips. Banagher blinked in a puzzled manner.

“If you’re that concerned about her, go get her back…I did say that on the rooftop of the mansion, don’t you remember?”

Banagher started to recall the incident that happened a week ago as it felt as distant as a year ago, and felt his tense chest tightening somewhat. “Yeah…” As he muttered, his lips naturally smiled as he turned his bitterly smiling face to the window. “I’m so stupid for saying such things.” Micott said as she stood up and leaned her body towards the window.

“But since you helped her out once, you have to bear responsibility and help her until the end. That girl’s feeling rather down inside despite making a strong look.”

Micott spoke in her usual tone as she finally turned her stare over at him. Despite sounding rather forced, these words of hers did have her flair. “I understand.” Banagher answered and looked at the space outside the window. He felt the concerns in his chest being undone, and the clear lights of the many stars caused his body to feel comfortable and relaxed.

“I wonder if they reached Earth safely.”

“Ensign Riddhe’s accompanying her, so it should be fine.”

He answered Micott, who asked this question softly, and stared at the darkness that was gathered at the window. They were about to enter the geostationary orbit, but Earth, which was located on the bowside, could not be seen. The moon could not be seen, and the lights of the space colonies could not be seen either as only the endless darkness permeated outside.

The distance from Earth to the Moon could not be measured in lightspeed, and even the term ‘wide’ would be considered too small. At this point, the living area for humanity was limited between Earth and the Moon, and even so, that would be very large. If they broke up both Earth and space, it would be difficult view both living environments as the same world, and there would be a divide. Humans were creatures who were originally supposed to be based on land, recognising their distances and spaces. It had been a mere 100 years since humanity started using space as a place to live in.

''If people don’t become Newtypes, we won’t be able to make up for this divide. However, can humanity really evolve after only 100 years? Doctor Hassan said that a sudden mutation is possible. If I’m one such case, I can sense Audrey’s existence as she heads to Earth—''

“You have an adult expression there.”

Micott, who glanced at Banagher secretly, said this in a muttering-like manner. Banagher did not understand her meaning completely as he looked back at her silently.

“You’re so open-minded now. It feels like it’s not the Banagher I know anymore.”

“Is that so…”

After being told this, Banagher realized that he did not know anything about this person called Riddhe, but unbelievably, he had no sense of insecurity. Through the impression he had when they passed by each other on the ship and when they had their backs facing each other—''it seems like he’s someone I can get along with instinctively.'' If Banagher could believe such a vague feeling, he would feel that he could leave Audrey to him. Basically, she, who had the taboo name of Mineva, was never suited to stay on a Federation army ship in the first place. If Riddhe had a way to break this deadlock, Banagher felt that that it would cause the situation to change.

''If I want to believe in people, I have to be prepared. No matter whether I look like an adult now, I never had this thought 10 days ago. Is it because other people’s thoughts resting within me have covered my thoughts?'' Banagher thought in vain, and with a sharp pain in his body, he recalled Marida’s face. “Banagher…” Micott tapped him on the shoulder, and her voice caused him to recover.

She turned to the door. Takuya was there, holding 3 coffee tubes. There were two tall and husky people behind Takuya, giving stiff looks as they approached Banagher. Banagher met one of them in the eye, and his chest that was feeling relaxed a while ago tensed up again. He got mentally prepared and waited for him to talk.

“Banagher Links, we hope that you’ll come along with us.”

Commander Daguza Mackle said with a knife-sharp unmoving stare. “…What is it?” Banagher responded, but Daguza did not respond to this question as he floated his large body over to him.

Those eyes that looked more artificial than Marida’s showed a cold glow right in front of Banagher’s eyes. Banagher exerted strength on his body that was about to falter in face of the Daguza’s pressure, and took his stare silently.