Facing the bright gaze of the girl he hadn't seen in a long while, Fred continued.
"How has Miss Murrue been lately?"
"She's been placed in a prison for political detainees—with treatment that's among the best even under the treaty terms."
"Still, Fred dear, have you taken a fancy to her?"
Lacus's eyes narrowed slightly, as if black mist might spill out of them at any moment.
Seeing this, Fred could only give an awkward laugh and hurriedly explained.
"She's one of Halberton's people. She has to be returned to them."
He didn't dare speak any slower, for fear this girl's dark side might flare up.
"Hmph~"
Lacus, of course, had known all this long ago, but seeing that he still showed not the slightest reaction, she gave a dissatisfied little hum and continued.
"On the East Asian side, scientific research cooperation channels and training programs have been established recently. I believe results will come out before long."
"Good. Thank you."
The East Asian Republic's research capabilities had never been weak to begin with—they had simply been constrained by all sorts of twists of fate. Now that an opening had been made, there would likely be more independently developed battleships and Mobile Suits appearing in the future.
And according to the terms of the deal Lacus had made with them, they had probably won over this reliable ally, who would then mediate when the time came for an armistice.
The agreement to be signed would presumably be beneficial to both sides.
The specifics, Fred wasn't so clear on.
After all, all he needed to do was deal with Blue Cosmos.
"When are you going to Earth?"
Lacus, seeing through the boy's thoughts, asked.
"Once the Mobile Suit research is done."
"Oh."
At that point, the room fell silent once more.
And with that silence, the atmosphere in the room gradually grew a little strange.
Lacus looked at him, her expression rather complicated.
She thought—she liked Fred.
She hadn't felt this way before.
But ever since she'd learned he was going to the battlefield in person, the worry she'd felt, and the jealousy upon learning he'd brought back a female prisoner—a female prisoner of considerable ability at that—
None of these were things she could lie to herself about.
Thinking about it carefully, she couldn't even find a single flaw in him.
Research, combat—even cooking and other household chores, he handled everything with ease.
He was gentle, and the two of them shared the same goals.
The only thing was that he could be lazy at times, making one want to tease him.
But even when she'd joked with Fred several times before, he'd never gotten angry or anything of the sort.
When they first met, though she had still been young, the boy's gentle manner that day had remained engraved in her heart.
Now, in this room with just the two of them, her heart would pound faster and faster.
But... was this really something a girl was supposed to bring up herself?
Lacus didn't know—she had no experience, after all.
But from watching TV dramas and chatting with Flay, she could tell.
This sort of thing should probably be left to the boy to bring up first, right?
So—did he actually like her? Or did he just see her as a little sister?
Even with that ability to see through people's hearts, Lacus still couldn't see through him right now.
Or perhaps she simply didn't dare ask—ask him whether he liked her or not.
As she thought this, Lacus's fingers twitched slightly, seized by an urge to lift his mask and take a good look at her own reflection in his eyes—to see just what thoughts lay behind it.
"Lacus?"
Fred's words broke the silence in the room.
"Mm... Then I'll have to do my best too!"
Now probably wasn't the time to ask that question, he supposed.
He'd wait until before his next departure.
But by his own logic, that would be like setting a Flag.
The thought that Fred might be endangered by her words left Lacus deeply conflicted.
Even though all of this was just superstition—she never would have believed it before.
How did merely saying a few words, telling someone to be careful, turn into a Flag?
Wouldn't not saying it make the danger disappear?
But still... whenever she thought about Fred's safety, she grew more conflicted.
"If I follow his logic, then unless the war ends, everything I want to say to him would count as setting a Flag."
As Lacus grumbled inwardly, her gaze toward Fred grew increasingly resentful.
So how long would she have to wait for his possible confession?
Or rather—did this man even like her or not?
"?"
Faced with Lacus's resentful stare, Fred was utterly baffled.
Had he done something to offend her?
But she had no intention of explaining. After shooting him another eye-roll, Lacus rose, dressed herself in her princess attire, and left.
"So sharp about everything else, yet so dense."
Lacus muttered, her cherry lips moving, before an involuntary faint smile appeared on her face.
"Still... that's just who he is."
...
Over the following month, Murrue, he heard, completed the secret handover and was taken back by Halberton, while Fred threw himself entirely into the development of the new Mobile Suits.
With the technological support of the G Project, the development of the Freedom and the other units progressed very smoothly.
Although only a month had passed, the Prototype Units had already been successfully completed, first at the Secret Factory and then at May City.
Of course, as a precaution, Fred had not completed the Providence, leaving it in a half-finished state for the time being.
The Secret Factory wouldn't need to be used for now.
At least not until the Strike Freedom and the Glory Defender.
"Well, it's about time, isn't it?"
Looking at the Freedom before him, Fred felt quite excited.
Everything was ready.
ORB had been quiet lately, with no immediate threats for the moment. That left Blue Cosmos.
But before that, things on Lowe's end were nearly ready too.
He had introduced a few jobs to them using that fake identity, and the two sides had become fairly well acquainted.
Plus, he still had his Golden Finger that allowed rapid mastery of skills.
Soon he would master the Artificial Intelligence technology, which would make sabotaging the Atlantic Federation all the more assured.
As he mused over this, Albert Heinlein beside him was gazing excitedly at the completed Freedom before them.
"Thanks to you, this development was completed so quickly."
"I've gained a great deal as well."
Fred waved his hand.
"Then I'll leave the remaining testing work to you."
"No problem."
Heinlein had grown accustomed to Fred's words.
During this period, the man frequently left his research to train and go on missions.
However, none of the various research efforts had fallen behind in the slightest, and Heinlein could only feel admiration upon admiration for this.
"Hmm, sorry to trouble you."
Fred said with a smile.