Terra
The enchanting trap
"What are you doing here? And how did you get into my room?" Natsuki roared.
Nagi smiled at her, comfortably seated in a couch with his elbow resting on the arm, head placed on his hand, and eyes fixed on Natsuki.
"I didn't expect you so soon. It's surprising that Shizuru didn't invite you to stay. Did you upset her?" he asked mockingly.
Those words brought a scowl to the Headmistress' face and she quickly retorted with a snare. "What about you? Was Nina busy with her husband tonight?"
He straightened up looking excited. "Oh, Natsuki, It's a pleasure to finally see that you do have guts."
"You never lose the bad habit of appearing uninvited and unwelcome. Get out of my room immediately" she shouted, pointing at the door.
"You are so mean to me, Headmistress, to think that I'm only here to save you." The white-haired man crossed the arms behind his head, relaxing again in the couch.
"I won't listen to you, not even a word. You are nothing but a shameless liar."
'Your schemes had nearly destroyed my life. I won't let you hurt me again.' She clenched her fists, knuckles white with tension.
Nagi shrugged playfully. "Perhaps I was but not tonight. I'm truly here to help you, Natsuki Kruger."
She turned on her heels, refusing to lose her temper.
"Headmistress, sadly this time I can't play with you. So, don't listen if you don't want to, but I'll tell you anyway."
His voice crawled like a captivating snake along her spine. "Can't you see that Shizuru is maneuvering you like a marionette?"
Natsuki closed the laptop with a loud bang. "Why should I believe this obviously made-up accusation, Nagi?"
"Why? I admit that humans are wonderful toys to play with but, you know, only a true masterful puppeteer can recognize another of the same kind and these days, Shizuru's ability is rivaling mine. I'm impressed. Although… I don't usually mix business with pleasure."
The icy cold words hit Natsuki like a slap. Her lip twisted in disgust as her attention returned on the Colonel. "Don't you dare say her name again."
Nagi's fake smile, now, could barely hide the evil smirk. "Poor Natsuki, don't you understand what is going on? And you call yourself a fine politician? Wake up, this is not your pastel color world anymore," he said smoothly.
"All I know is that you hate Shizuru and it wouldn't surprise me if you were the one who was behind the President's murder."
Nagi's smile didn't falter. "So what? You have to sacrifice less important things in order to achieve something more significant."
"You disgust me…" Natsuki growled, suppressing the overwhelming urge to lob something at his head.
"Why? If your world and your friends were in danger, wouldn't you take all the necessary measures to protect them? Don't give me lectures on ethics, Headmistress of a school which trains teenage virgins to be sacrificed in the name of your world's harmony."
"I'm not here to discuss with you the morality of a system that saved Earl more than once," she hissed, holding back a ruder reply.
"Good, because I'm not here for that either. But please do tell me, Natsuki, does Shizuru want you to stay?" Nagi asked her.
"Yes. And the fact that staying would annoy you is alone a reason good enough for me to say 'yes' to her request."
Nagi carefully looked at Natsuki, crossing his legs. "Incredible. You really believe everything she says. Don't you see that General Viola chose you because of this? Because she knew what you felt for your friend, the Graceful Amethyst, and that you would never have said no."
It was probably the first time ever, on Terra or on Earl, that Natsuki heard such a so serious tone in Nagi's words. Surprised, she slackened her tense shoulders, while the light headache that had been haunting her since she left Shizuru's apartment was becoming excruciating.
"What do you want, Nagi?" she tiredly mumbled.
"I'm just here to warn you. You must return to your world within two days, because this technology is not stable, and the temporal window that allowed us to get you here is closing. If you tried to cross the gate later that said period of time, the likelihood of you returning to the desired location and time would be reduced."
Natsuki took a step back, shivering despite the warmth of the room. "I don't believe you."
He shrugged again. "Do you think I care? I'm just giving you the information that Shizuru quite conveniently 'forgot' to mention."
"Good. Now go away, I'm very tired."
"Natsuki, Natsuki," Nagi repeated, his merry tone back. "That was only a small, insignificant detail. The really important thing is that tomorrow you must refrain from ending that speech declaring war to the East Coalition."
It took her a moment to comprehend his words. "What?" she asked, totally taken aback.
"I know that it is strange coming from me. But we don't need that attack, and what General Shizuru thinks is only an illusion. The conflict will destroy the East Coalition but also ourselves."
"Interesting," she replied sarcastically. "This afternoon you seemed quite supportive of the whole idea."
"I can't fight her directly; she's always the boss in the end. Nonetheless we tried with every means to stop her. And everything was unsuccessful. You are the last option we have."
"You are being too sincere, Nagi, I don't recognize you anymore."
"With stubborn people like you, sometimes sincerity is the only choice I have. You are so boring" Nagi declared, raising his eyes to the ceiling. "Anyway, do you want a reason? I'll give you exactly that."
He stared at her, and Natsuki found impossible to look away.
"We have assessed that their counterforce cannot disarm our first-strike weapons, so the attack has ninety five percent possibilities of succeeding. Their centers of command would be destroyed. But then what? The causalities will be low, but half of our world would then be left leaderless and anarchy will reign supreme. We cannot afford that. We are a prosperous, secure country, and we are only nominally at war, but unless you count some skirmishes on our borders, no bullets have flown in the last fifty years."
"Still, you consider the other part your enemy," Natsuki insisted. "And the structures of your government are those of a country perpetually mobilized. If a peace treaty was signed, there would be no reason anymore to have the military ruling this country. You'd lose your power."
Nagi laughed. An unnerving high pitched sound that she found exasperating. "Details. You are an intelligent woman; would you really think that the form of the leadership is the main concern of the citizens? This is a nation of three billions of happy people, because they have a goal in life and a target for their frustrations."
"In your opinion. But to human beings who are born on another universe, what you are saying is insane."
Nagi grinned as if he was going to tell her his best joke. "I would call it wise. Because three hundred years of stability has been built on the doctrine of the mutual assured destruction, who are we to unbalance this perfect system?"
Natsuki bit down hard on her lips as Nagi's explanation painfully dropped into the places where gaps had been in Shizuru's tale of motivations. 'What am I doing? I'm listening to the man who almost destroyed my world. Yet I can't deny that some of the things he's saying made sense. Could it really be that I've judged the Shizuru of Terra too quickly?'
The Colonel seemed to read the hesitation on her face. He rose from the couch, looking extremely calm. "And surely," he added sweetly. "You don't want a thermonuclear bomb to explode on the head of your dear friend Mai Tohika."
Natsuki felt her heart sank. A sharp, sickening pain ran down her throat while blood was distinctively drained from her face, leaving her looking ghostly pale.
A pure expression of surprise appeared on Nagi's face, as he walked a couple of steps towards her. "Don't tell me you were so deceived by Shizuru's allure that you forgot to find out who our enemies actually are? The East Coalition is lead by Zipang, and Mai Tohika is the Queen there."
Natsuki tried to move back but her legs were so weak that she had to lean on the edge of the table for support. 'No, I asked, but she hesitated, and I didn't insist.'
"Headmistress, I'm shocked. What did she do to you? But you can find all the required information on your laptop. Do I have to show you personally?"
"Don't you dare to come any closer," Natsuki hissed.
With his androgynous aspect and his white hair Nagi was bizarrely attractive but she had always found him absolutely repulsive. And the situation was not better on Terra where, moreover, he was an adult and taller than her. The Headmistress took a deep breath, refusing to be intimidated by his physical appearance. 'You can't maneuver me. I'm not an overly emotional teenager in love with her father.'
"I thank you for your concern but I've had enough of your political advices. Now leave me!" she ordered.
"One last thing. I bet you are wondering why they sent me instead of Mashiro, knowing well enough how much you despise me…" He paused and a sparkle of sadism lighted up his scarlet eyes.
"…that is because they knew you would not have taken her seriously if she had told you that, in case you decided to stay, someone is prepared to go back to Earl instead of you armed with a bomb ready to detonate."
He tilted the head on one side, smiling cordially. "Your lovely Shizuru and the capital of Windbloom will be reduced to ashes. What do you think, Natsuki, are you ready to spend with General Viola the rest of your life?"
Natsuki's eyes widened in horror. "I won't let you do that! I'll have you arrested and your killers won't do anything without my consent."
A mischievous look emerged on Nagi's face. "There is one thing that I learnt from Archduke De Artai's fall. It's that soldiers can be willing to fight for money, hierarchy or fear, but it is love and faith that truly turn them into unstoppable killing machines. You are the President and your orders are law, but remember that this won't prevent people to die for what they think is right, for them and for the ones they love."
He waved a hand. "Have a good night, President."
Natsuki watched the doors closed behind him and only in that moment did she allow herself to collapse onto her knees. Her hands held the fabric of the dress she had worn with pleasure only a few hours before, desiring to tear it apart.
"What have I done?" she asked. Then Natsuki closed her eyes, starting to frantically think of a possible way to escape that trap.
'I can't allow them to harm my Shizuru and my friends. Though... Though… I can neither abandon General Viola to her destiny. She asked for my help, and even though she misled me, I can't just let her die.'
Slowly rising on her trembling legs she reopened the laptop.
'There is only one thing I can do.'