Chapter 7: Confrontation
"C'mon Everybody! Let's eat!" Shion announced as everyone took their seats around the restauraunt area.
After all the guys announced how hungry they were, everyone began to devour the curry that Shion had prepared. From her seat at the bar, Topaz continued to shoot a glance every now and then at chaos to see if he was watching her. To her relief, he wasn't, he was talking with Shion and the others. I really hope he doesn't tell anybody... Well, I guess the sleep didn't do me any good... I seriously need to stop thinking about this! She tried to clear her thoughts by focusing on how delicious the rice and curry in front of her was, while watching Allen's poor attempts at getting Shion's attention. Heh. Poor Allen. I find it funny that Shion never notices him. He should learn to speak up!
Once everyone finished their meal, Topaz accompanied Shion and Allen with the chore of washing the dishes. The two researchers had a conversation about what they should do next with KOS-MOS. Shion wanted to keep KOS-MOS nearby, but Allen wanted to turn her over to the Vector Second Division. Topaz questioned the two about why they were in space onboard a cargo ship, and was shocked to learn that they were survivors of the Woglinde incident. Afterwards, Allen began to whine about having to stay longer since they needed to contact Second Division and ask for instructions. When Shion and Topaz gave him strange looks as if to ask, "What're you talking about?", he decided to fill them in.
Allen explained, "I got a little suspicious, so I checked this ship's registry. Did you know that these guys are with the Kukai Foundation? That place is bad news. I heard a rumor that it's just crawling with mutants."
"Hey, that's kind of a racist comment," replied Shion.
"Uh... Shion? Mutants aren't a race, ya know..." Remarked Topaz with a short laugh. Ignoring the annoyed look she got from Shion, she continued. "So, what's so wrong about the Kukai Foundation? I heard that the director is a really nice guy!"
"Yeah. He's really to be commended. What was his name... Umm..." Shion said while trying to think.
The voice of chaos was heard when he entered the kitchen as he said, "Gaignun Kukai."
After offering to help with the dishes, the four spent the next few minutes on their task. After taking notice of the untouched tray on the counter, Shion decided that she was going to need to search for the Commander. Before Shion left to begin her search, chaos inquired about where KOS-MOS was. After learning that she was being tuned in her service module, he turned to leave the room, but looked at Topaz as if to say, "Follow me.". Topaz ended up following him to KOS-MOS' service room where the questioning would begin.
"Topaz. I had a feeling about it the moment I saw you on the ship, but after seeing your palm, now I know. You're one of the last remaining URTVs, aren't you? Please, don't lie to me. I promise I won't tell anyone, since it seems you don't want people to know about it," chaos told her.
Topaz weakly replied, "H-huh? What are you t-talkin' about? A URTV? What's t-that?" After getting a look of dissapointment from chaos, she decided that she would tell the truth. "Okay. Fine. I've got no idea how you know but, yes, I am one of the... Wait! Whatdaya mean 'last remaining'? You mean, you know other URTVs? ...Do you... know anybody named Nigredo or..." Tears began to slowly flood her eyes as she spoke the name, "Rubedo...?"
Putting his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her, chaos somberly answered, "I'm sorry, but I don't know anyone by those names. I didn't mean for it come out that way and get your hopes up..."
Topaz waved him off and told him it was all right, that she was fine. As she left the room to make her way back to her cabin, she tried to cover up any evidence of her sadness by drying her eyes on her sleeve. Along the way, she saw the Commander walking along the corridors looking fairly despondent, plus he looked to be in a bad mood, so she simply chose to leave him alone.