“Is there some kind of problem?”
She tried coming out and asking.
Machina looked somewhat troubled as she answered.
“Miss A is hesitating.”
“Miss A… You mean that little kid?”
Ange had fought her once before. Miss A was an old woman of several hundred years who looked like a child. She was Machina’s boss.
“I do not know why, but she will not give me the instruction. She only says to wait and see what happens.”
“Wait and see? After all this?”
Even Ange was puzzled by that one.
They had everything they needed. Given FeTUS’s past actions, they should have been carrying out the rest of the plan immediately.
She could not imagine why they had not.
“She said Fujita-kun and my feelings were of the utmost importance and she left it with me.”
“Your feelings?”
“She said two people should love each other before they make a baby, so she left the decision to me.”
“…Huh?”
This was not just beyond Ange’s expectations. It was completely out of left field.
FeTUS pursued Adam as the representative of the entire human race. Their final objective was to place his child in the womb they called the Holy Grail.
They were a step away from accomplishing that, but this was their reason for stopping?
“Because two people should love each other before they make a baby?”
“Positive.”
“…How romantic.”
Even a hostile angel was shaken by this reasoning. They had been logically sounding out the other’s intentions, yet Machina had suddenly pulled out a textbook on morality.
Machina did not seem to understand either because she fidgeted like a lost child.
“When I asked Miss D what to do, she told me to flirt. So in order to make a baby with Fujita-kun I have been, um…”
“Flirting? …Oh.”
Ange briefly did not understand, but then she saw Machina pressing her lips together.
“That was supposed to be flirting?”
“Flirting is a way of conveying your appeal to the other person. …And Fujita-kun likes it when I do that.”
“…Yes, he does seem to like kissing.”
For the second time, Ange’s shoulders slumped down. She could not believe the recent commotion had come from something so silly.
“But our situation has not changed in the slightest. In fact, he seems bothered by it.”
“Of course he is. You’ve already done far more than kiss him, so being a serial kisser isn’t going to change anything.”
“Really?”
Machina tilted her head.
Ange felt herself relaxing after her recent worries came to such a ridiculous end.
“Then…what am I supposed to do?”
To Machina, this was a serious attempt at baby-making. She was apparently attempting to complete FeTUS’s final objective. Ange went limp.
“I mean, the issue is whether you love each other, right? So don’t you only have to confirm that?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Just ask Mutsuki if he loves you.”
(He’ll obviously say yes.)
She chose to keep that last part to herself.
Machina herself was probably the only person left who had not noticed Mutsuki’s feelings for her. Ange, Lucia, Saya, and their other classmates all knew.
Ange then realized she had forgotten something important.
“Hey, I bet it isn’t just for Mutsuki’s sake that Miss A hasn’t ordered you to do it.”
“Eh?”
Mutsuki’s feelings were so obvious anyone would notice, so FeTUS would have caught on while monitoring him.
The only way they could not “love each other” was if Machina did not have feelings for Mutsuki.
“How do you feel about Mutsuki?”
“…”
Machina’s eyes widened.
“How do I…feel about Fujita-kun?”
She must have never thought about it before. She repeated the words as if pondering them.
“Do you love him?”
“Love is…not quite the right term. I exist for him, so it would be better to say I am his possession.”
She stated that plainly.
And it did not seem to be a way of hiding any embarrassment. She really did think that.
(I see.)
That told Ange what Miss A was trying to do.
Which meant she could have said nothing more. However…
“That possession stuff is only in relation to your position in FeTUS, right? What do you think? What are your feelings?”
Machina seemed to be hesitating, so Ange could not stop herself from saying more. She took a step into the territory Miss A had stayed out of.
“My feelings…?”
It seemed she really had never thought about it before. She once more repeated back the words.
After some hesitation, she seemed to realize that was the fundamental issue.
“What does it mean…to love someone?”
“Don’t ask me. Go check a dictionary.”
“Love. I still do not really understand.”
She apparently had the contents of a dictionary in her head, but that was not
enough for her to make a decision.
“C’mon, you know. It’s like when you feel your heart racing and time passes so quickly when you’re with them.”
“Time always moves at a fixed rate.”
“Not what I meant…”
“…Ah.”
But something must have occurred to Machina because she suddenly held a hand to her chest.
“It is true my pulse accelerates when I am with him.”
“See, your heart races.” Ange stared directly at that expressionless face. “Think about it more simply. Ignore all that FeTUS stuff. How do you, Ibekusa Machina, feel about him?”
“Nn…”
She clearly heard that.
But Machina’s expression remained unchanged. And she spoke as mechanically and plainly as ever.
“He is an important person.”
But that plainness ended there.
“He is a kind person and I feel at peace when I am with him.”
“Then you have your answer. You love him.”
“Do…I?”
“Don’t ask me.”
“I see…”
The tone of her voice kept dropping.
The conversation was rapidly growing more embarrassing for Ange as well, so she too was saying less. She stood speechless in the quiet parking lot for a while.
“…Love.”
The only sound was Machina repeating the word under her breath.
“I love him…”
“…”
“I love Fujita-kun.”
“…”
She spoke quietly in the stillness.
And a few seconds later…
“…~”
“Wait!?”
Machina had been standing straight up like a machine, but she suddenly sat limply down.
Her hips had given out, so crouching Ange quickly supported her.
“What was that all of a sud-…wait.”
“~”
Ange was more surprised by her face than that she had collapsed.
“I love him…”
Machina was still muttering the words and she placed her hands over her cheeks to hide her face.
Her face was redder than Ange had ever seen it.
“I love…Fujita-kun.”
“Did you only just now realize it?”
“…”
She had lost both her plain tone of voice and her expressionlessness. She looked on the verge of tears as she nodded.
(She sure is cute.)
Ange gave an exasperated shrug.
“Then there’s no problem. If you love him, you can make a baby with him.”
“! A baby…with Fujita-kun?”
“That’s what this whole thing is about, isn’t it?”
“…N-not possible. Body temperature rising, pulse abnormal. Continuing the mission would be difficult.”
Her voice was trembling.
Then her voice faded away, she covered her head while practically curled up on the ground, and she tore at her already messy hair.
Ange had no idea how to respond.
This was due to her meddling, but she had no obligation to cheer up an enemy.
Plus, cheering her up would mean getting her and Mutsuki to…
“…I-I am leaving.”
After a few minutes of doing nothing, Machina finally calmed down and turned her back so Ange could not see her.
She disappeared into the darkness on unsteady feet.