"Spectrum is fighting against a prototype?" Mwu asked through the communication link as he jockeyed his Skygrasper into a series of aerial rodeo to shake off two aircrafts on his tail. "That's really worrying." He mentally counted through the number of enemies he was facing. It seemed that there were six pilots who wanted to paint his Skygrasper as a very pretty kill logo on their respective aircrafts. A stream of bullets missed his cockpit mere centimeters and he had to revise his count to seven pilots out to get him. "Okay, I'm working on it. Tell them to hang in there."

"But they're in trouble," Abby, the CIC officer whom he had pegged as having very slim body, said in a worried manner.

Mwu exchanged shots with what seemed to be the leader of the group but none of them hit each other. He engaged the airbrake, feeling the full force of deceleration hit his body. A Thunderstrike behind him overshot; the pilot seemed to be a rookie. A short burst and the aircraft's tail caught fire. Mwu barely saw the canopy being blasted away and the ejection seat being deployed as he was busy acquiring the next target. "I'll be there shortly, I think." The computer screamed warnings as somebody had managed to lock on to his aircraft. "Or maybe you can send someone to bail them out first?"

"Archangel is under attack and we're having our hands full defending it," she said her image shook a bit.

"Oh, that's pretty troublesome," he said as Skygrasper's active missile defense calculated the projected path of the missile and fired off few small canisters into the surrounding area where the missile passed through. They then exploded, saturating the area with fragments just as the missile was passing through. Damaged by the fragments and thrown of course but the resulting shockwave, it ceased to function and its electronic brain decided to commit suicide to prevent accidents.

A smug look appeared on Mwu's face for a long time; as long as for him to find out that there were another two missiles on his tail which after the first missile exploded. "Archangel, can you tell them that I'll require some time to get there?"

"How long?"

He barely shot down the missiles before they got close enough. "Dunno, maybe for a long, long time?"

The bridge of Archangel shook from time to time as its complement of Skygraspers and Spitfires fought off a squadron of fighters in the airspace above it but as the leader of a fully-trained crew, Murrue knew that calm was of utmost importance.

"We have multiple SSMs bearing our course," Romero Pal announced while tracking multiple red triangles denoting surface to surface missiles on the ship's radar. "Tracking eight of them."

"Shot them down!" Murrue commanded.

"Aye, aye, ma'am."

One by one, eight Orb-built Raiya interceptor missiles blasted out of the recently installed revolving launcher onboard the ship. While Archangel still had its CIWS operational, experience gained fighting against Minerva revealed the inadequacy of the system. While its designers had believed that the CIWS could function well in space and in earth, it was proven to be otherwise. Software recalibration carried out had improved its accuracy but the lack of ability to engage multiple targets hampered its effectiveness. Hence Morgenroete upgraded it and added the ability to launch its 'Lightning Arrow' missiles.

The missiles met their hostile counterparts and explosions blotted the sky.

It was as she had predicted: the CSG's admiral would attack Archangel using its fighters while sneaking in a few surface-to-surface missiles while Archangel's defenders were busy fighting against the fighters. As much as she wanted to retaliate using the same attack, she was wary of doing so. While Archangel could fire all of its missiles at the fleet in a saturation attack thus have a high chance of hitting few of the ships if not the carrier itself, doing so was tantamount to an invitation for the fleet to do the same thing, which would certainly guaranteed her ship's destruction.

Somehow the strategy to escape the CSG seemed valid when she and Mwu considered it but she could see it slowly falling apart.

"Captain," Abby called out. "Allster is in the starboard hangar, requesting permission to launch."

Murrue could see a pattern forming. Last time it was the same thing; the only difference was that she would be flying a Skygrasper. She let out a defeated. "Send her the coordinates."

"Roger."

It was an interesting fight going against the mobile suit but in the end Sven had managed to outthink its pilot. It moved pretty well for a mobile suit but it wasn't enough to prevent him for slowly chipping away its defense. It would be a matter of time before he would have it on his crosshair and when that happened, the beam minigun his plane was carrying will tore it into shreds, even if it had the so-called invincible Phase Shift armor.

He engaged the airbrake just in time to avoid a beam blast from above him. Frowning a bit, he went through a series of maneuvers to prevent his assailant from getting a lock on him. However, what seemed to be an enemy Skygrasper managed to follow his aircraft all the way. A shot managed to singe his left wing but didn't cause any critical damage to it. The attack, however established the fact to him that the newcomer was not to be taken lightly; that meant he couldn't pursue the retreating white mobile suit, not without risking being shot down himself. No matter, he decided. His primary instruction was to prevent it from attacking the carrier so as long as it was achieved he wouldn't push the matter.

Sven kept dodging but the Skygrapser was still on his tail. Deciding to go on offensive, he locked on unto the Skygrasper and selected an anti-air missile equipped with a radar seeker. A weapon pylon beneath his Raven opened and released a missile. As it cleared away from the pylon, Sven fired off multiple flares. The missile's engine came to life just as the flares started burning, obscuring its presence from the pursuing aircraft.

If Sven had hoped to surprise his opponent with the missile, the hope was for a naught as it was shot down just after it passed through the curtain of flares. But Sven was already moving on to the next movement by engaging airbrake in order to cause the Skygrasper to overshoot. The enemy pilot responded by decreasing the Skygrasper's airspeed as well and in the moment that resulted from that, Sven caught a look at the pilot. It was a young male, probably around his age. The pilot also seemed surprised to see him, judging from the expression on his face.

Then both fighters broke away from each other to resume their dogfight.

"I thought you're the one who were in the Skygrasper,"Murrue said in an undisguised irritated look.

Flay shrugged. "I asked for the clearance to launch the Skygrasper, not for me to be there."

"But Yamato…"

"War knows no innocence, Captain. It was him who requested to assist Promethe… sorry, Spectrum and…" Flay glanced around her, "you know the reason why he does it."

Of course Murrue knew that Yamato would be flying the Skygrasper to save Tolle's girlfriend who was in quite a danger at that time but that felt wrong. He was a civilian and wasn't supposed to be involved in the whole situation. Yet she sent him out to battle. Sure, she could blame some of it on Allster but Murrue wondered whether she really wanted to stop Kira in the first place, not when the lives of everyone onboard the ship could be forfeited if she refused to let him fight.

"Captain, we have Minerva on radar," Romario announced.

Minerva? What a time to appear, Murrue thought desparingly. Then it hit her.

"Captain Talia," Bart announced in an excited voice. "We've the Archangel on the radar."

The announcement was supposed to make the captain of Minerva happy but it failed to do so. The ship had received an order to investigate the presence of Archangel in the area. The intelligence provided along with the order stated that ship would be in the approximate location where Bart had located it. While another commander would have been satisfied, Talia was a paranoid woman to simply accept it. It was too easy.

Due to the ongoing war, both Alliance's and ZAFT's intelligence had been eroded greatly. Any satellite that didn't belong under the control of Deep Space Survey and Development Organization or referred to as DSSD, a neutral organization that had observers from both sides, would be quickly shot down, often before they could get into proper orbit. While ZAFT could spy on Earth from observatories built on PLANTs, the colonies being suspended in the Lagrange orbit prevented them for yielding highly detailed information.

Hence, there was no way normal intelligence could have provided such information. Yes, it could be gained through conventional clandestine method but then there was the problem of communicating it in a timely manner.

"Captain," Meyrin called out. "Archangel is trying to establish laser communication with us. What should we do?"

'Laser communication? Why would they use laser communication and for what reason?' Talia thought to herself, confused by what was happening. The answer slapped her hard. "DAMN IT!" she swore as she slammed her fists on the armrests.

"Captain?" Meyrin asked, confused by the outburst.

"We have been screwed," Talia said with gritted teeth. "Put it through and broadcast the whole transmission throughout the ship. I want everyone to listen to it."

"Good afternoon, Captain Talia," Murrue greeted her.

"Just get to the point," Talia snorted.

"Very well. We would like to request for your help in the fight against the Alliance CSG."

"And why will we help you? The last time I remember, we're trying to sink each other."

Murrue smiled but the smile was mirthless. "At the present rate of the enemy attack, Archangel will only last five minutes more before I'm forced to seek another alternative."

Talia growled. "You… you… dare do such a despicable thing?"

Murrue's expression turned serious, but there was a tinge of regret in her eyes. "Yes. If there is no answer from you in the time given, or your ship changed your vector, then I consider you rejected my offer. Good day," she said as she signed off.

"Captain Talia?" Arthur asked, not understanding what transpired between the two captains.

"Meyrin, put me through to Commander Zala."

"Athrun, have you listened to the communiqué?" Talia asked him.

"Yes, but…"

Yzak's face appeared on another screen. "Captain, don't tell me we're going to help those bastards? I would never accept it even if you throw me into the brigs."

"I agree with you, Joule," Talia conceded, "I can order you to sortie but if you wouldn't do it, it wouldn't happen."

"Damn right you are."

"So, that's why I'm letting all of you, the Redcoats decide whether we help Archangel or let it destroy us."

"Huh?"

Dearka's face replaced Talia's on the screen. "I think I got it. Yzak. Archangel is an Alliance ship, right?"

"So? That doesn't mean anything since it was fighting against its own faction."

"Think about it, Minerva arrives here while the two are fighting so what do you think can happen?"

"I got it!" Nicol chimed in. "They will have a common enemy!"

"Bingo!" Dearka said.

Athrun also understood what Dearka was trying to say. "Basically, Archangel offered to join up with us in order to fight the CSG. If we don't accept it, then the only course of action left for it is to join up with the CSG to attack Minerva. I think Captain Talia already realized this judging from her response." There was another alternative that he could think of which was for Archangel to surrender but he didn't dare think about it. Archangel and that white no-face must be destroyed.

Yzak's face turned raging red. "Those bastards!"

"And," Dearka added. "If the two joined up, we have a hell's chance of escaping."

"But by helping Archangel, wouldn't the Alliance think that it is one of ours?" Nicol asked.

"Yeah, you got that right but maybe that's why it was attacked in the first place."

"It wouldn't matter because we know the truth. In fact the situation wouldn't be to the ship's advantage anyway because all Alliance would then shoot upon detection." Athrun added.

"This changes nothing between us and Archangel," Yzak remarked, his eyebrows narrowing. It seemed that he had decided to agree to whole operation but there was no mistaking the anger in his eyes.

"It will not," Athrun concurred. "This simply means that we work with them together to escape today; doesn't mean we'll be allies tomorrow." His Aegis changed color from dull grey into bloodstain red and moved to the catapult system. The light changed into green and it blasted away.

Sven had to respect his opponent. A minute into the two's fight, he already came to an understanding that the pilot wasn't properly trained and relied on pure instinct to fly against him. The Raven pilot counted at least six situations where the pilot had perfect chance to maneuver into a position to shoot him down but failed to do so. Sven even wondered if the pilot even knew that he was performing a Cuban Eight maneuver. He initiated a High Yo-Yo defense maneuver and as he predicted the Skygrasper overshot his fighter.

He had also predicted correctly that the pilot was stunned by what happened and that gave him a precious moment to line up his gun sight against the Skygrasper.

A threat warning tone caused him to abort the attack as a new opponent arrived at the scene. Twice already he had his sight on his targets and twice he had been foiled. Unlike the first time however, the Skygrasper didn't break away and he had two opponents to fight against, which was a bit too much since he had expended much of his munitions as well as almost exhaust the energy storage linked to Raven's beam cannons.

There was no helping the situation he was in so Sven discarded the used pylons connected and left the place at full military power, engaging afterburners just in case the Skygrasper's pilot decided to pursue him. After all, those who fights and run away will live to fight another day.

"Astroboy had broken off from the fight, sir."

Philip simply nodded. He would have ordered the same thing. The arrival of ZAFT had thrown a wrench into everything. The ship that he had pegged as belonging to a Blue Cosmos was working with ZAFT. That didn't make sense. He had expected ZAFT to attack the ship. After all, wasn't that was the reason for all the stalking being done in the area?

At the present moment, he had to really consider the unlikely possibility that the two were in cohorts and thus react accordingly. If that assumption was true, then taking a defensive approach was the better choice in the current environment. It would allow for the currently engaged fighters to refuel and rearmed while the others would be scrambled to intercept any attempts to attack his CSG.

Philip was a good tactician enough to realize that his fleet wasn't invincible and could be defeated but he still yet to play all his cards on hand even though his opponents had brought out theirs. Excluding the 'wild cards', each one having a nice yellow circle with black three-bladed fan logo painted on it, he still had his submarines. Sure, his ship America could end up being sunk but he would make sure that his opponents would be blown out of water as well. "How about the enemy's movements?"

"They're maintaining a defensive perimeter around their respective ships. As for the ones engaging Second Lieutenant Bayan, they're currently maintaining their position."

Both sides were playing wait and see, with the enemy slowly retreating from the area. "Very well, let them be. We'll react accordingly if required."

"Sir?" his loop asked.

"The whole thing stinks. Phantom Pain' in bed with its mortal enemy, something less likely than the sun rising from the west and setting in the east but yet we're seeing the two working together." It was through experience that Philip learned not to speak up his mind and mention Blue Cosmos instead of Phantom Pain; there was no telling that a crew member might be a member of that wretched elitist group sent to snitch on him.

It was an open secret that Phantom Pain is a highly elite Special Operation team being commandeered by arrogant and smug bastards who seemed to have nightsticks stuck up their rears but very few knew it being a lapdog team for the higher echelons of Blue Cosmos, including normal members of that said organization. Hence, it wasn't that hard to find Blue Cosmos members who hated Phantom Pain for being full of shits as it was.

"Loop, Prepare a fully sanitized report for higher ups,"

"Aye, aye, sir." A report would find itself in the hands of the higher command would contain all information about what happened that day except those that will incriminate everyone on the bridge.

"Skygrasper pilot," the pilot of Aegis announced through open channel as it hovered in its place astride a Guul flyer. "Archangel and Minerva are temporarily allied so I'm here to provide support to you."

Kira barely made out what was being said as he was being overwhelmed by the fact the Aegis pilot sounded like his best friend. "A… Athrun?" he asked in a shaky voice.

The pilot didn't respond immediately. "Kira?"

Kira felt his heart gripped by a tight vise as the voice merely confirmed what he was dreading to hear. The small image that appeared on the communication screen cemented that fact even further. Athrun Zala was Aegis' pilot. But that meant he was fighting against his own friend all this while.

"My god, Kira. It is you!"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you attacking us?" Kira asked, feeling betrayed. Images of the two of them spending the time together in Orb few weeks prior came back, along with

"What are you talking about? You attacked us first!"Athrun countered. "We're going after Archangel because you launched the attack on us!

"I did not!"

"Yes you did! I should have known that they could never field Natural pilots to control the mobile suits! God, this is twisted! Kira, have you realized what you had done by being involved?"

Kira had to look away as he still couldn't come to grips with what happened to Father Malchio and the orphanage at the Marshall Island. "I didn't have a choice…" he muttered.

"You were forced? Alliance scum!" Athrun spat. "Kira, listen! Listen to me! It's not too late. You can join us!"

"You would do well rather than to say something that you don't know of," a female voice interjected.

"Flay!" Kira uttered as Spectrum stood hovering behind Athrun's mobile suit. Spectrum had changed pilot when it returned to Archangel and Flay had came to get him. It was irrational feeling but he couldn't help feeling happy at that thought.

"You!" Athrun growled.

Aegis turned to attack Spectrum with a beam saber but the latter held out a hand on the pivoting shoulder, preventing Aegis from completing the turn and completing the attack move. "You don't grasp the current situation, do you?"

"Situation? Oh, I know very well about your mobile suit being a nuclear-powered one,"

"Yes and we already know about that and both sides know why you're here. And also…" Spectrum delivered a very kick to Aegis, knocking it off its Guul unit and at the same time using the momentum to push itself away. Athrun shouted in alarm but he stopped midway when a very powerful blast pass through the exact spot where the mobile suits were hovering seconds before.

"What happened?" Athrun asked after Aegis regained control and its Guul unit moved to support it again.

"Someone shot us from orbit," Flay answered as Spectrum turned to look upward.

"Impossible! There's no way a shot could be that accurate. Besides, no one could put such a weapon in orbit without being destroyed!" With both sides searching for any kind

"There's another mobile suit similar to Spectrum firing at our position," Kira interjected.

"Huh?" Athrun asked, puzzled. "How do you know?"

Kira didn't have the answer himself.

"Kira, Flay, return to Archangel at once. We're retreating from the area," Abby's voice entered the airwave.

"Kira," Flay said in a meaningful way.

Kira wanted to say more but in the end went along with the flow.

Rey Za Burrel let out an annoyed sigh as a clip ejected from his mobile suit's beam sniper rifle. He had a perfect chance but the mobile suit's pilot somehow had known he was attacking. That would be the only logical explanation to how it reacted at an impossible rate despite being aimed at from behind.

The radar beeped as a nearby Alliance patrol had converged on his area.

No matter, he decided. There would be chances in the future, chances that he wouldn't fail to seize. Gilbert had made it clear that he would let him do as he wished without any interference. So, if he was to destroy the key to Gilbert's plan, the man wouldn't stop him.

However, Rey couldn't help shake the feeling that despite him having control of his own actions and being able to act independently, Gilbert was still manipulating him from behind the shadows.

Athrun walked along the hangar, watching the repair work being carried on the mobile suits. Captain Talia had deemed that although they had to let Archangel get away, it wouldn't be long before Minerva had another crack at bringing it down.

Just as he was passing through a particle compressor unit, he accidentally tripped on a pair of legs beneath it and fell down face first. There was another crashing sound as the person underneath the compressor had bumped into the unit.

Half an hour later, he found himself withering under the stare from the woman in front of him. He gestured toward an unconscious female on the bed nearby. "Look, Ms. Hawke, it was an accident! I was walking around and tripped on her legs. Then she tried to get up and knock herself up."

"Oh?" Lunamaria responded, eyebrows raised and her hands on her hips. "It looks like you're blaming my cute little sister,"

"No! No! No! I'm just saying that it's the circumstance that led to me causing her to knock herself out."

The elder Hawke sister squint her eyes. "I don't care if you're Zala the Hunk or Attila the Gunk; you do anything to my sister and you're dead meat. Now, since we agreed that it's your fault, you're going to stay here and watch over my little sister while I go and work my murderous intent out of the system."

She then marched out of the room, leaving Athrun with her sister. The man glanced around the place, noting that it wasn't often that he ended up at the infirmary since he and other Coordinators weren't prone to getting sick anyway. As for being injured, well, the chance of him being blown up was marginally higher than being injured.

"Doctor…" he called out but there was no answer. Right, he forgot that Lunamaria chased the doctor and her nurses out with her murderous look when they told her that her sister was only suffering from mild concussion and there wasn't any real reason to worry about.

"I have to apologize for my sister's behavior," a voice from the bed startled him.

Athrun turned his attention at Meyrin. "Can't say I blame her since it's my fault in the first place. Besides, you're acting the same at that time."

Meyrin giggled a bit. "We probably have mother hen trait in our genes."

"Wait… you were conscious all the time she was berating me?"

"Yes."

"Why? That would have lessened the chewing out that I got from your sister."

"Not that much but I would have been chewed out for being clumsy. So, in the end, I decided to remain still and let you get all the blame."

"That's mean of you," Athrun uttered as he allowed himself to slump on a nearby plastic chair. "Wait, now you're awake, what were you doing under the compressor unit?" His face scrunched a bit. "Now that I think of it, that unit belongs to Aegis."

"Oops?"

"No oops, please."

"I'm tinkering with the overall output. If we can get it increased, then we can fix on of the spare Striker units we have onboard to it."

"But Rusty…"

"Please don't say that since your friend is that we shouldn't be using his stuff."

"I have to say it…"

"I don't mean disrespect to your friend, sir but Strike was built by ZAFT for use by ZAFT. Your friend was assigned as its pilot but someone else could have assigned to pilot it."

"But…"

Meyrin hesitated. "This… this is not about your friend Rusty, isn't it? This more about your friend who's onboard Archangel."

She got an accusing stare in return and fidgeted nervously. "It's my duty." Meyrin then collected enough courage to look at him. "You forgot to take care of it. If I didn't snoop around the system, other people would have found out."

"So you admit snooping around…"

Meyrin put a hand on her mouth guiltily.

Athrun sighed. "Did anyone else know about it?"

"No."

"Including Captain Talia?"

Athrun got a nod.

The young man leaned against the wall of the infirmary, relieved. He felt bad having to hide the whole thing about Kira from everyone but he really wasn't prepared to answer to questions that would be inevitably asked if that piece of information ever came to light. In fact, he was still facing self-denial over the whole thing. A close friend whom he had met few weeks ago was working for the enemy responsible for Rusty's death; Athrun couldn't even deny the possibility that Kira was involved in that matter. "Thanks for not telling anyone, Meyrin."

"But how long you're going to keep this as secret?"

"I don't know."

Kira opened his eyes only to find out that his vision was obscured by strands of hair. He was about to move his right hand to get them out of the way when he realized that he could barely move it. Someone was sleeping on his right side and used his arm as a make shift pillow.

The memory of what transpired the night before returned to him.

Slowly, his shifted his body so that he could look at the person's face. Flay. The enigmatic woman was sleeping peacefully which contrasted the wreck that was her the previous night.

The revelation that Athrun was fighting on ZAFT's behalf had been too much to take and he had been wallowing in depression for more than a day until Murdoch kicked him in the rear. It was a hard kick that sent him stumbling to the floor. He remembered standing up and grabbing the head mechanic, asking what hell the old man thinking.

Murdoch coolly answered that since Kira was feeling sorry for himself, the man was trying to help by giving him even more reason to be more miserable. After all, if Kira really wanted to become an emo, he might as well do it better than his redhead crush.

That piece of information caught Kira's attention swiftly. Seeking clarification, he found out that Flay was acting really weird ever since the battle with the Alliance fleet. Then, someone found her huddled inside Spectrum's cockpit in the middle of the night, muttering gibberish. Whatever it was with her, no one knows. One stray voice even ventured that she was misusing some substance and was suffering from withdrawal symptom since there was a hard line policy on that matter onboard the ship.

Pushing his own personal problem aside, he searched for her in her room and found her lying on her bed, shivering. When he approached her, Flay threw herself into his arms and held him tightly, all the while telling him that she was scared. Kira continued holding to her while cooing softly and saying comforting words. He wasn't sure how long had passed but he must have been holding her for a long time. In the end, she managed to calm down.

And then she kissed him.

The kiss had more passion in it compared to the first one, but had an undertone of desperation and loneliness mixed into it; he wasn't sure why he could feel that way but it was there. While it didn't progress beyond the kiss, the two of them ended up sleeping together at Flay's request.

It really felt nice, waking up to her by his side. Enough to dull the his own heartache over his friend's betrayal.

Andrew handed a folder to Lacus who opened it to digest the content. "Sorry for taking a long time to get the information but you know how hard it is with the whole war going in. The result is just as you suspected: those two meteor's disintegration level weren't normal. I got them checked and it turned out the particles suggested that they were manmade."

"Manmade?" Lacus asked absently.

"If not because of the shape, I would have said that they're drop pods."

"ZAFT has technological advantage in atmospheric reentry," the pink princess commented as she leafed through a page.

Basically, whatever they saw few weeks belonged to ZAFT and Andrew doubted that the things, whatever they were, were for peaceful purposes; else they would have been sent to Earth through normal methods. "So, this is where you're going to decide on something that will make me cringe due to the unreasonableness of the situation but I will agree to it anyway?"

"We need to search for them," Lacus said with a determined look on her face while snapping shut the folder.

Andrew mock shrugged. "I should think changing my job and become a psychic."

Kira looked around nervously, feeling out of place.

Everyone who somebody onboard Archangel was there, all seated except one who was standing near the projector screen. The day finally came when the real nature of Archangel's mission would be revealed to them. However, not few had their misgivings since the one doing the mission briefing was one Flay Alster, the Blue Cosmos spy whose real allegiance was suspect.

Kira could see that she had recovered enough to put on her mask when with others but he still that it wasn't enough. Whatever issue that she was experiencing was still affecting her and even if she hadn't broken down since that day, he could feel it. Whatever it was, it was very big.

"Everyone's here?" the woman asked, breaking him out of his own thoughts. "If so, then we can proceed with our briefing."

"Wait," Murrue said while raising her hand. "Before you continue on…"

Flay cocked her head. "Are we going to have that conversation again?"

"No, but I would like to know something."

"Hm? And what would that be?" One moment the captain of Archangel was smiling but the next one found Flay swerving to avoid something thrown at her face. There was a metallic clang behind her as the thing hit the wall. Flay turned her head behind to see a slightly bent can of baked beans coming to a stop after rolling on the floor a bit. "You want to know how to kill me?" she asked drolly.

"Perish that thought," Murrue replied with mirth in her voice. "After all, even before I throw the thing I already know that you will avoid it."

A frown marred the redhead's face. "What are you trying to suggest here?"

The smirk that was forming on the older woman became larger and larger. "Why, Miss Alster, the way you're saying, it's as if you suspect that I'm going to accuse you of being a Coordinator."

1

Author's note (8th October 2010)

1. I've put in a poll on my profile page to collect to collect some information about the readers' match-up preference, i.e. which person they would like to see Kira end up with. Now, I'm going to flat out say that the poll result will not totally determine this story's final matchup but it would have a significant influence. This poll had been put online since last month and will end when I come out with the next chapter, which would be a milestone of somesort. So if you want to make yourself be heard, please do so.