"So you just let Luo Shu go into space like that?"
In the reception room on the third floor of the Hidden Management Department.
La Folia held a cup of hot cocoa, her eyes smiling as she gazed at Yukino Yukinoshita, who sat opposite her, reading a light novel.
"Is there a problem with that?" Yukino brushed aside the hair obstructing her vision before asking coolly.
"Because it's inherently quite problematic."
La Folia set down her hot cocoa with a smile, then leaned back into the sofa and said playfully:
"Going to the SDS space base at this time carries very high risks, you know~"
Yukino looked up at La Folia and replied:
"I get the feeling you're not talking about physical risks..."
"Is it a personal risk for Luo Shu?"
Hearing this, La Folia tilted her chin up against the sofa and said pensively:
"Well, if you calculate the timing carefully, Lacus should be in her ovulation period recently."
Yukino froze for a moment, her expression barely contained as she blurted out:
"So you're talking about that kind of danger?"
"Isn't that dangerous enough?" La Folia looked at Yukino in surprise. "Women in ovulation are extremely clingy~ Plus it's the most fertile and dangerous period."
"If I were Lacus, I'd definitely try something at this time!!"
"..."
Yukino couldn't comprehend. Yukino was utterly shocked.
Do you princesses and top brass of organisations normally live your lives calculating these dates?
Normal women would only pay attention to their menstrual cycles...
La Folia's remarks somewhat broke Yukino. After a moment's silence, she said:
"Even if it's the dangerous period, even if something happens between the Director and the Chairwoman, it doesn't really matter, does it?"
Observing Yukino's perfectly indifferent expression, La Folia nodded in sudden realisation:
"I see, so your ovulation period isn't around this time..."
"I thought when you agreed to let me add some details to the educational material, you might have similar intentions yourself."
Hearing this, even Yukino was driven to exasperation by La Folia's eccentricity:
"Can't you talk about something serious for once?"
"You specifically ditched your guard knights and came to the garrison this early morning just to check if I was around during the dangerous period?"
"It's because Luo Shu isn't here~"
La Folia flopped onto the sofa with a pout, like a lazy koala:
"I timed this perfectly before ditching Justina to come here~ Yet somehow Lacus got here first. Why didn't anyone tell me Luo Shu went to space last night?"
Listening to La Folia's coquettish complaints, Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but feel that the figure before her wasn't a person, but a lazy, luxurious Persian cat in heat.
'So actually, it's your own ovulation period, isn't it?'
'And you're blaming the Chairwoman? Don't you find your behaviour utterly shameless?'
Though mentally criticising La Folia, the usually blunt Yukinoshita kept these thoughts to herself. Voicing them would be pointless - this seemingly noble yet internally chaotic princess wouldn't listen anyway.
"The reason no one informed you or explained in the main group is that this space trip was the Director's sudden whim."
Yukinoshita spoke to La Folia in a tone that was both explanatory and questioning:
"The Director seems to have been provoked after learning someone he knows among the Hell Sect's Sin Council members has potential Familia qualifications."
"He plans to establish a large virtual gaming conglomerate based on the Research Department's virtual reality technology. Through this industry, he'll collect citizens' basic data to identify ordinary people with Familia potential in advance."
"Of course, the specifics of how to find and confirm them are the Director's business. We just need to provide sufficient citizen privacy data through the virtual gaming industry."
"Sounds perfect to me~" La Folia reclined sideways on the sofa, smiling. "Compared to giving privacy data to private enterprises, I'd rather hand my information to Luo Shu~"
"After all, he wouldn't sell my data like corporations do~"
"At most... he'd just look at my private photos himself..."
"Wait, thinking about it, that actually sounds nice~"
"Can we add features to the Familia group chat? Like selecting specific recipients for messages? Then I could send private photos exclusively to Luo Shu?"
"He'd be delighted, wouldn't he?"
Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita finally couldn't resist retorting:
"Is your brain completely occupied by men?"
La Folia flopped face down weakly, complaining with evident frustration:
"What can I do? It's my ovulation period~"
"Without a boyfriend, I could distract myself with work. But now that I have one, if I still focus on work, what was the point of getting a boyfriend?"
Her logic sounded so reasonable that Yukinoshita found herself at a loss for words.
After a pause, she couldn't help suggesting:
"The underground Hidden Management Zone has a direct spatial corridor to space. You could go find Luo Shu directly."
"No way~" La Folia refused without hesitation. "Interrupting Luo Shu and Lacus during their alone time would be terribly immoral."
"My principles won't allow such behaviour!"
'Now you're talking about morals?'
Yukino Yukinoshita was too exhausted to even retort.
This princess could do whatever she wanted.
After delivering her righteous speech, La Folia asked with some curiosity:
"Speaking of which, where's Aunt Kanon? Has she not woken up yet?"
"Unfortunately, she's already up. Right now, she's probably training on the rooftop under Maya-san's guidance."
At the mention of Maya Natsume, Yukino suddenly recalled the woman's exaggeratedly large bust.
Could martial arts training really develop... that?
Yukino was genuinely curious about this.
"Maya-san..." La Folia seemed surprised. "I don't recall seeing that name on the main group list."
Hearing this, Yukino replied calmly:
"That's because Maya Natsume is the only employee in the Hidden Management Department."
"The only employee..." La Folia instantly understood and smiled. "That sounds rather harsh."
The entire Hidden Management Department consisted solely of Familia members except for Maya Natsume.
Wasn't this basically being ostracised by the entire Familia?
From La Folia's perspective, for someone from Japan who valued fitting in, this would be a form of torture.
"So when will Aunt Kanon's physical conditioning be sufficient for us to compete on the same stage?"
'You'd better mean actual competition...'
Yukino paused briefly before answering:
"She should receive the Adjuster Drug injection tomorrow. With about a week, she should be ready."
"Eh... that's quite fast..."
La Folia closed her eyes as if drowsy.
Yukino initially thought she'd quietened down, only to realise she'd logged into the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System's main group and started spamming Sharon, demanding a one-to-one transmission feature.
'This girl... couldn't wait to send the Director some sexy photos, could she?'
'Are women at that age always this terrifying...?'
Yukino fell into deep contemplation.
...
Space Colony Copernicus.
In Tabane Shinonono's laboratory.
"Luo Shu, why the sudden distraction?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu lifted his gaze from the messages in the main group and turned towards the voice, to Tabane Shinonono.
And at the azure cube, encased in a silver-white lattice-like metal, beside her.
Seeing the cube, Luo Shu hesitated before asking curiously:
"So this is where you brought me for our date?"
"A date is about spending time alone somewhere both parties find interesting~ And I find this place absolutely fascinating~"
Tabane pressed a finger to her lips, smiling playfully at Luo Shu.
"When you suggested yesterday about using virtual reality technology to establish a company for collecting public data, it gave me an idea."
"Though it took me all night to realise this idea, I've finally completed it."
Tabane turned and stroked the lattice metal, gazing at the cube within as she smirked:
"Using the Wisdom Cube as the core to construct a virtual reality network, with tens of thousands of human minds as fuel—under continuous infusion of mental energy, might we awaken the special race you mentioned, Luo Shu? The one with Wisdom Cubes as their true form?"
"Tabane is super curious, you know~~"
After listening to Tabane Shinonono's explanation, Luo Shu was stunned.
During last night's meeting, had Tabane actually taken his suggestion about gathering civilian information and developed it into this method of awakening Wisdom Cubes and shipgirls?
At this thought, Luo Shu fell silent for a moment before speaking:
"Tabane."
"What is it?"
"Genius-level creativity!"
"Thanks for the compliment!"