𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡 ♥︎

Chapter 71: Counter Attack

"... Okay, okay... I'll just... try to ignore this whole interaction even happened, and so should all of you." Y/n inhaled a deep breath, calming himself down from the unruly sensation he had been struck with, cheeks still red and gaze still not confident enough to look at anyone.

"Fine." Andersen loosened up, laying his back against the comfort of his chair. "I'll ask some other time about what happened. And when I do, you better not spare a detail of explanation, got it?"

"Yes, sir..." The white-haired officer quietly groaned to himself, cupping his cheeks and caving his posture forward.

"Oh! Yours truly will be listening too!" Mustang calls out from his end of the table, raising his hand and waving it around.

"Rapi's a tough nut to crack open and expose like that, I'm curious about what you did to get her acting this way." Ingrid followed up.

Syuen, as the last one to not have agreed, obliged just as much. "It's rare to see the pristine and confident Miracle Commander to go red as a cherry the moment we start teasing him."

"..." The Commander mentally battered himself in embarrassment. Silently, though, can't have any more moments like before leak out.

"Okay, okay, okay! I'll tell you at some other time. Can we just focus on the meeting right now?" Y/n snapped his head upward and looked at all four members. "Wait... Where are Doban and Burningum? Weren't they supposed to be here as well?"

"About that." Ingrid interjected. "Since you have bad blood with the two, we decided to exclude them for another time."

"... And that means?" He raised an eyebrow at her explanation.

"Basically, we told them this meeting would be held an hour from now." Andersen cut in, grasping Y/n's attention. "You have a really bad habit of hurling insults at them, you know. Spared us the circus act."

"One of them turned the entire Ark against me and labeled me as a terrorist, and the other is a nazi. What more do you expect from me?" The Commander deadpanned at his superior, before shaking his head vigorously. "Urgh, I don't even wanna talk about them. Every single thought of being near them makes me angry."

"Let's just get on to more important matters, like Abel for example."

"Hmm." Syuen furrowed her brows, taking her legs off of the table and reeling her chair forward. "It's been, what, a week since you've taken him in? I remember Jien instructing me to gather info about his development before she went back into the Deep Sector."

"I've been doing that constantly." Y/n replied, turning to face her. "Honestly thought I'd be babysitting most of the time, but was proven wrong really quickly. Abel's actually really chill and sensible."

"Heck, the guy's been taking in my habits, so how could I not like him? It's like looking into a mirror for gosh's sake!"

"Uh huh." Syuen nodded her head disinterestedly. "Well, I don't care about that. Gonna need some of that Simulation Room data."

"... Oh, that." His expression falters for a quick moment. "Uhhh, I don't really have it on me right now. But I can tell you everything if that would be okay?"

"... Fine. At least I'll have something to send down."

... Sigh.