043 Idol Arc 19 Singing Ship

Slight delay.

The enemy vessel blocking our path turned out to be Ayame.

That made us hesitate before attacking.

Our offensive relies on Naho’s sniping and my control over RIO’s charge.

If both of them hold back, we’re left with only a defensive frigate—completely useless against the enemy.

Seizing the opening, Ayame’s ship (avatar) performs an emergency evasion.

In an instant, a railgun fires from the corridor Ayame’s ship just vacated.

The large-caliber railgun blasts through Saya’s ship (avatar)'s shield.

The enemy fleet seems to have railguns comparable to battleship-grade.

Immediately, Ayame’s ship (avatar) blocks the corridor.

This long-range sniper shot won't hit anything unless we eliminate Ayame's ship (avatar)—gravity field interference makes it impossible.

Then again, eliminating Ayame's ship means exposing Ayame’s naked form to the public.

They can’t possibly know about our connection, can they?

We’re not the kind of people who’d attack Ayame, so they probably don’t realize why we’re holding back.

Which means… getting Ayame stripped bare is already the enemy’s plan.

If Ayame keeps cooperating with them, we’ll keep getting hit—again and again.

No matter how much we change position, Ayame’s still reporting our exact coordinates via radar.

Eliminating Ayame’s ship is unavoidable. But if we attack it, we’re humiliating Ayame.

An idol group doing something like that? That’d be a PR disaster.

"Reasoning is definitely the best approach... Now, how exactly do we pull this off..."

I’d made up my mind to persuade Ayame—but I was stumped on how.

Sending plain text through the comm device would leak straight to the enemy fleet. Might even get Ayame taken hostage.

"Sing it, maybe..."

"Huh?"

"We're idols, remember? If we slip in lyrics only Ayame and us would know, she’ll catch on."

"True. We’ve been through so much since basic training—our avatars probably don’t even register the changes anymore."

"I’ll make up the lyrics on the fly. Saya and Miu, cover me in between."

I fired up the Wide-Area Communication Device Model S at full power, blasting the new song across all directions and frequencies.

"Music start!"

I scribbled lyrics on the spot and sent them to Naho.

“We met in a classroom at the academy. Three of us got along right away, huh.”

Ayame’s ship (avatar) evaded紧急ly, and then a large-caliber railgun fired again.

Direct hit course. Sayaka (Saya) blocks it with her shield—again—but the shield shatters.

“Remember those tough instructors? We’d cry and laugh every day. We fought together, and sometimes we even laughed at the boys’ mistakes.”

A swarm of missiles launched from the enemy fleet.

Sayaka and Miu intercept them with anti-space missiles.

Missiles blooming like flowers in the void. But among them, some exploded, scattering shrapnel.

Shrapnel rained down on Sayaka’s ship (avatar), who’d stepped forward to take the hit.

Armor peeled away. And finally—Sayaka’s ship (avatar) was down to her underwear!

"SA-YA!"

A collective scream ripped from all of us.

"RIO! Be Sa-ya's shield! Sa-ya, fall back!"

"Jaaan! Not underwear—totally fine!♡ Bikinis are standard in glamour shoots, you know?♡"

Sa-ya was in a bikini. But with no room to maneuver, she had to retreat.

"Good. Mission continues!"

"Those happy days... why are we fighting on opposite sides now? Can't you see us, please?"

Ayame's ship (avatar) twitched in response.

Did you notice? Good. One more push.

"Let’s fly through space together again, Ayame!!!"

She definitely noticed now. But the enemy must have too.

"Move! Ayame!"

As I sent a signal to Ayame, Naho-san fired her 30cm Railgun at the enemy behind Ayame’s ship—her avatar.

Ayame’s ship, which had been blocking the corridor, executed an emergency maneuver to clear the way.

The 30cm Railgun Naho-san fired passed through the corridor and struck the enemy vessel—its escort—dead-on, sinking it with a thunderous blast.

"Betrayed me, Ayame? Perfect. I’ll strip you bare too!"

A large-caliber Railgun fired from the enemy flagship.

The massive round grazed Ayame’s ship—her avatar.

The sheer force peeled armor plating off her frame.

Just barely avoided being exposed.

But still… they shot at their own side. They clearly don’t see Ayame as one of them.

I felt a sudden, burning rage.

Time to pull the trigger. Time to use the backup plan.

“Fannell! Finish it!”

Beams lashed out from directly behind the enemy flagship.

A small vessel, wrapped in a shielding field, had been hiding there.

The enemy flagship’s Stasis Field went down.

The unmanned unit known as Fannell shifted position with high maneuverability, peppering it with beams like a tormentor.

‘Enemy flagship destroyed. Victory for the Barlatch Fleet. Victory for the Brushlips Fleet!’

System voice announced our triumph.

“So, about that bet… we’re taking that, right?”