Omni-Anime: I Stand at the Forefront of Popularity

Chapter 236: Chapter 237: Inori: Kira, I Didn’t Lie

[What is this, Kyubey?]

[Where’d this Kyubey come from?]

[I thought you were going to drop some profound wisdom, young lady]

[Run, Kira! Run!]

”P-please don’t joke around.” Kira stammered, startled by Inori.

”I’m not joking.” Inori’s expression was the picture of innocence.

”Um, you’re—” Kira pulled up the MV again. ”Are you really her?”

She’d only watched it once, but that ethereal song had been captivating, hauntingly beautiful. Kira already felt revived by it.

”I see.” Inori nodded.

”Huh?” I see what? What did you just figure out?

”Would you like to make a contract with me and become my manager?” Inori asked.

”Huh?!” Kira blurted.

[This is supposed to be Gundam?]

[THE iDOLM@STER wandered onto the wrong set]

[The world’s going to hell in a handbasket]

[Don’t tell me this one’s going the idol-Gundam route?]

[I’ve got a feeling there’s something here]

[Probably not that simple]

[Hard to say, hard to say]

”N-no no no, um, Yuzuriha-san...” Kira was about to say something, but Inori reached out a finger and pressed it to Kira’s lips.

”Inori,” she said.

”Inori... I-Inori-chan?”

Kira was visibly flustered, face flushing red, fidgeting.

”I’m not joking.” Inori continued. ”The intrusion has already begun. Only by unlocking authorization can the intrusion be stopped.”

”Intrusion? What intrusion?” Kira was utterly lost.

But Inori only shook her head. ”Unauthorized.”

[Is she a robot?]

[An android?]

[A Gundam world having robot technology seems pretty normal to me]

[But I feel like it wouldn’t be that simple]

”Do you want something to eat?” Kira tried again.

”No need,” said Inori.

”Then... would you like to change clothes?”

This goldfish outfit is probably a performance costume, right?

Kira guessed silently.

But Inori shook her head.

You’ve got to be kidding.

She was here to serve the audience, thank you very much.

Besides, Inori had already checked beforehand—this set was rated for all ages, so even though she was wearing the Goldfish Outfit, the audience couldn’t see anything they shouldn’t.

”Oh, right—the robot.”

Kira suddenly remembered something and brought over the rice-cooker robot from nearby.

The little robot waddled over to Inori’s side.

”Thank you.” Inori nodded.

Kira felt a bit deflated.

She’d asked all sorts of questions, and the other girl seemed to have answered—but also seemed to have said nothing at all.

”So, what exactly is going on?” Kira decided to try one more time.

”ZAFT discovered the Black Monolith that the Doctor had sealed away. A rogue AI invaded ZAFT’s warship.”

Inori explained.

”An AI can do something like that?” Kira wasn’t buying it.

”It’s a super-AI with a physical body—an existence that surpasses Coordinators.”

”Coordinators...”

Kira lowered her head.

[Coordinators?]

[Newtypes?]

[Enough with the riddles already]

”Are you unhappy?” Inori asked.

”Oh, no. It’s nothing.” Kira quickly looked up.

”So what are you going to do now?” Kira asked.

”No scheduled activities.”

Inori said.

”Then... oh, right—at least take a bath? The bathroom at my place is actually pretty nice.” Kira was grasping for conversation.

But then her own stomach let out a loud growl.

Kira lowered her head, face red.

Her hair fell forward, veiling her face.

”Then—food,” said Inori.

”Yeah, okay!”

With that, Kira headed to the kitchen and started cooking.

After she’d finished making breakfast and set it on the table, Kira finally relaxed.

”H-how’s the taste?” Kira asked.

”Mm. Exceeds baseline standards. Assessment: excellent.”

”Oh, that’s great.”

Kira smiled.

”Birdy!”

A mechanical bird hopped onto Kira’s shoulder.

Inori’s gaze was drawn to it.

”This is Birdy. A gift from my best friend.” Kira smiled.

Inori tilted her head.

How cute.

Kira looked at Inori, her heart suddenly beating faster.

”Birdy... Kira... cute.” Inori nodded.

”Oh... I’m nothing special.” Kira buried her head.

And at that moment, the camera cut again—back to the ZAFT warship from before.

The captain had already entered with several ”maintenance personnel.”

”What the hell is the Black Monolith...” The executive officer swallowed hard after seeing the scorch marks throughout the ship’s interior.

”Black Monolith. I don’t know much either. Supposedly it was developed at the Mendel colony. I don’t know exactly how terrifying it is, but judging by the state of things in here—I think the answer’s clear enough.” The captain explained.

”But wasn’t Mendel focused on genetics and hereditary technology research?” The XO was still confused.

”Who knows? In any case, even if we can’t obtain something this dangerous, we can’t let the Earth Alliance get their hands on it either.” The captain said.

”But that girl... what the—?!”

The XO was about to say something when the ship suddenly shuddered.

”The GINN! It’s the GINN! The GINN is moving!”

An unmanned MS, suddenly springing to life—nothing could be more terrifying.

”What’s happening?!” Panicked shouts came from outside—Heliopolis’s local engineers.

The captain rushed out. ”What happened?!”

”The terminal’s been breached! But that’s impossible! By design, our equipment shouldn’t be vulnerable to any form of intrusion!”

The engineer felt like he was losing his mind.

”Is it really that serious?” ZAFT’s XO was stunned.

”This kind of intrusion is like someone hacking a computer that has no network card, no internet connection—through the power cable!” The engineer felt his entire worldview crumbling.

Information science had ceased to exist!

What the horrified engineer didn’t know was that, in reality, someone had already secretly plugged a USB network adapter into that computer...

”More importantly, the GINN in the hangar—”

”BOOM—!”

Before the captain could finish, the hangar erupted in an explosion.

Everyone was thrown off their feet by the blast wave...

”What happened?!”

The massive explosion reverberated through to the colony’s interior as well.

Kira looked out the window.

Something else seemed to be falling from the sky.

A robot?

Could it be a ZAFT MS?!

”It’s here.” Inori suddenly spoke.

”What’s here?!” Kira pressed.

Inori was already on her feet.

”It’s the AI. It’s come for me. With me here, you’re in danger.”

With that, Inori moved to leave Kira’s home.

”No!”

But Kira grabbed Inori’s arm.

”There’s no time. Kira.”

”That thing—no matter how you look at it, it’s dangerous!” Kira shouted.

”Without a contract, authorization can’t be fully unlocked.”

She’d been speaking in riddles the whole time, but Inori truly hadn’t lied.

The AI was coming for her.

Because Inori herself had given the order.

ZAFT had discovered the Black Monolith—because Inori was the one who fed them the intel.

And Inori had invaded ZAFT’s warship.

It was just a small matter of information asymmetry.

But Inori really hadn’t lied.

”But I want to help you!” Kira stared anxiously out the window.

”Then—” Inori looked up. ”Please become my master. Please... use me.”

(EVA plugsuit looks pretty good too)

(Sword cradled in her arms, desu)