Episode 2: Two Years Later
-June 16, AD 2072-
More than two years had passed since Fleet 35's first major victory against the Daat and the Shinomiya couple's arrival and integration into the fleet. The Star Singer had proven to be a great boost for the fleet's morale and combat strength as it became easier to fight the Daat in their subsequent attacks, even repelling another major offense last October which forced Kazumi himself to sortie when the Macross was damaged in a sudden attack.
But with her knight protecting her, Mikumo managed to sing without worry as Kazumi would not let any enemy get even remotely close to his wife. Despite having Macross Vanaficus crippled, the second Daat major offense with the aim of kidnapping or killing Mikumo was thwarted.
But the battle is far from over. While they have managed to thwart another massive attack from the alien forces, their fleet incurred a massive loss that they can't easily recover from. The longer the war drags on, the worse their situation will be. By their estimation, the fleet can only handle one more major offense. Any more than that, then they will surely crumble.
It was in the middle of this major crisis that another story began.
"Raise, bow!"
The bell that signaled the end of class and school day had just rang. Following the instruction of the class representative, every student in the class got up and bow to the teachers. With that, another school day ended, the same as yesterday and the day before, a normal, boring everyday life. And it is something that Shu Ouma like. A day with no surprises.
The moment the teacher left the classroom, the brown haired boy pick up his bag and silently left. He paid no attention to his surroundings as he passed by other students, walking with even steps towards the school gate to go home. Since school is over, he has no reason to be around unless he's on cleanup duty, which he is not today.
Once he's out of the school, he headed straight back home. With no club activity to bother him today, he has no obligation to stay anywhere near the campus and can enjoy some peace and quiet. He took a tram that would drop him off close to where his apartment complex is.
His apartment complex is located close to the center of the city, allowing him easy access to nearly everywhere. It is also one of the newer apartment around and is quite expensive. He went up to the fifth floor where his apartment is. Putting his hand on the scanner beside the door that scan his whole handprint, the scanner confirmed that he is one of the residents and opened the door for him.
Once he has entered and locked the door behind him, he went straight down the hall and towards the living. When he entered the living room which is also attached to the dining room and kitchen and saw that it is empty, he threw his bag to the sofa. His mother is not around, which is not unusual in this past month since he heard from her that she is working on some incredible breakthrough.
His mother, Haruka Ouma, is one of the fleet's top researcher, especially in regards to fold technology as well as the Daat. Many people are counting on her in the battle against the hostile alien race. It sometimes kept her at work for hours, even days, and sometimes even to the point that he did not speak with her for a whole week due to missing each other.
That is fine. He doesn't mind it much. Haruka's work is important and she is very good at it. By now he is used to being left alone anyway, and he even find it calming. If he is alone, there is no need to interact with people. There is no social expectation he has to meet. Those things are a pain after all.
Without his mother around, Shu devolve into his usual habit when he got his peace and quiet. Sitting on the sofa and taking out his tablet, he started browsing through the internet for anything interesting. Usually there are funny videos people posted or some MV he could listen to.
One of the top-rated video he found is the video of Mikumo Shinomiya's latest live concert with the popular Walkure song 'Koi Halation The War'. It's a bit strange to hear the song being sung solo without the rest of the Walkure but it is still performed incredibly well by the lead singer of the famous group who followed her husband to Fleet 35.
The second most popular video online is an older but more familiar MV of the fleet's own singer, Mana Yuzuriha, who was abducted by Daat during the event known as Lost Christmas, the event in which he lost his father. It is a bit surprising that the old video still retained great popularity with Mana's signature song, Euterpe, but many people wanted to remember the singer they lost and who back then was their main deterrent against the forces of Daat. No singer had met as much success as her in influencing the Daat until Mikumo Shinomiya herself came.
Shu continue to scroll down to the third video. But when he saw the third most popular video online, he was surprised. It is a song cover of Euterpe. Now, he is not surprised that someone is doing a cover for the well-known song since he had seen a few of them before but no cover had reached the top hundred in terms of video popularity. This one did. He looked at the date it was posted and was surprised to see it posted only two days ago. That was a great raise in popularity and unprecedented.
He clicked on the video out of curiosity. How could a simple cover get so much popularity? When the video finally loaded, he started hearing the familiar instrumental intro of the song followed by the camera panning outward, showing the figure of a young girl dressed only in a costume made out of black feathers sitting on a ruined landscape.
It is amazing. The first few seconds alone had showed him how well-made the video is as the scene is made with high definition from a very high quality camera and taken by a skilled cameraman as there are no vibration that came from trembling hand as the camera pans out. Not only that, the instrumental intro is very clear too. But what captivated him the most is when the girl in the video began to sing.
'Saita no no hana yo
Aa douka oshiete okure
Hito wa naze kizutsukeatte
Arasou no desho.
Rin to saku hana yo
Soko kara nani ga mieru
Hito wa naze yurushiau koto
Dekinai no desho.'
Her voice is clear and in tune with the instrumental. The pink haired young girl sang the song without any off key or missed timing almost as if it's like Mana herself is singing the song. Out of curiosity, he checked the video's description. What he read surprised him. The first line simply said 'In memoriam of Mana Yuzuriha'. But the second line is what surprised him more. It was made by Inori Yuzuriha. Inori Yuzuriha!
'Ame ga sugite natsu wa
Ao wo utsushita
hitotsu ni natte
Chiisaku yureta watashi no mae de
Nanimo iwazu ni'
He immediately look back at the video itself. Now that he took a closer look at the girl in the video, he could see it. That pink hair is definitely the same shade of hair as Mana's. Their facial feature is also a close match. It made sense. The girl in the video is related to Mana and she must know Mana's song so well that she can replicate it perfectly. The singer's relation with Mana is the source of its massive amount of views.
"Inori Yuzuriha huh?"
Her voice is really beautiful. Not as energetic as Mana's but gentler and very soothing. Without thinking any further, Shu immediately subscribed to her channel and continue listening to the song, several times in fact as he kept pressing the replay button whenever the song ended.
He finally stopped when he heard his stomach growl. He looked at the clock and saw that it's around six and it's almost dark out. Sighing as he obeyed nature's demand, he went to the kitchen to check what food is available. When he opened the refrigerator, he groaned. They had run out of food. Which means he has to eat out. He could just order from phone but he's not in the mood for waiting. He should've checked the fridge earlier. Sighing once again, Shu prepare to go out for dinner.
Inori Yuzuriha blinked when she saw the amount of views and subscribe she received from her first video. It is a video she made on a whim to both remember her sister and to celebrate getting into the planned team of singers that will support Mikumo Shinomiya on stage during battle against Daat.
Ever since her parents' death and Mana's abduction during the events of Lost Christmas, she had been living a lonely and aimless life with her sister's fiancée, the only thing as close to a family she has left who is now acting as her legal guardian. Lost Christmas had not simply taken her family but her whole life. Sometimes she wondered why she even kept living.
She even wondered why she joined Chaos and participate in the program to form a new tactical sound unit. One might think that she did it partly out of the desire for revenge for the loss of her family since songs can weaken Daat but that reason does not resonate with her. She joined simply because she has nothing to do. Heck, she didn't even expect to be picked or try her best to be picked!
Unlike others who tried and really wanted to join the new unit, she only applied for the audition because she felt like it's a good idea at the time. And unlike those who practice hard until the day of the audition, she didn't put more effort than when she usually did when she sang. Though she did sing a lot every day. More than any normal person who's not an actual singer.
It's really the only thing she has left that she felt even the slightest bit passionate about. When she sings, she feels calm. She feels as if she's free from the shackles of the world. If only she could continue singing forever without stop. It would've been great.
"Miss Yuzuriha? Mrs. Shinomiya is ready to meet you."
"Yes."
Inori nodded when a woman in business suit came out of the room she's waiting outside of and mentioned her name. Early in the morning, she received a message from Mikumo herself to ask her whether they could meet for an interview. She came to find that there are very few others who were invited for an interview. No more than five others in fact with herself being the sixth. She's also the last one to be interviewed so she spent her time checking her channel while waiting.
A girl, one of the other participant of the audition, exited the room while exhaling her breath. Perhaps she got accepted into the new unit. Inori wouldn't know until she's done with her own interview. The pink haired girl stood up and walk into the room. Strangely though, the moment she entered, the woman in suit left, not entering the room together with her.
When she got inside, she saw an empty chair about a meter away from a desk. Seated behind the desk is Mikumo herself, and she's all alone. Inori took the empty seat and silently look at Mikumo, waiting for her to start speaking. There was around a minute of silence until Mikumo finally smirked and began speaking.
"Impressive. The other girls would be sweating and feeling nervous about now, but you didn't. I was right about you."
Inori tilted her head. Is this another test?
"Let's begin, shall we? Inori Yuzuriha, sister of Mana Yuzuriha. I heard your song during the audition. I have a good feeling about you."
She heard her singing? She didn't know that Mikumo was personally judging the participants. Nobody saw her in the venue. Though she's likely watching from a hidden room somewhere. Mana had mentioned that that's how artists usually judge contestants in such auditions while remaining incognito.
"The purpose of this interview is simple. I will be judging the contestants personally face-to-face. Please, sing any song you wish. It goes to say that there won't be any music accompaniment but that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
That is simple enough. So she's meant to sing and be judged directly by Mikumo. The lack of accompanying music is not a problem to her. She's used to it anyway. Inori nodded to Mikumo's request and stood up. Taking a deep breath, she began singing the song most familiar to her.
'Saita no no hana yo
Aa douka oshiete okure
Hito wa naze kizutsukeatte
Arasou no desho.
Rin to saku hana yo
Soko kara nani ga mieru
Hito wa naze yurushiau koto
Dekinai no desho.
Ame ga sugite natsu wa
Ao wo utsushita
hitotsu ni natte
Chiisaku yureta watashi no mae de
Nanimo iwazu ni'
Euterpe, the first song she ever learned to sing perfectly as well as the first song her sister had written. It is without a doubt her favorite and best song. While she had written other songs that she has mastered singing, she felt that Euterpe is the best song to sing in this moment.
As she finished her singing, Inori turn to Mikumo who showed no change in expression, only her usual mysterious half smile that everyone who had ever seen her is familiar with. There's no paper or tablet on which she would evaluate her performance. The Mysterious Venus simply stared at her.
"…Interesting song to pick. And refreshing. Out of everyone else I asked to sing today, you are the only one who didn't sing one of our songs. That is interesting. Thank you for your time today, miss Yuzuriha. You may leave. The result of your evaluation with be mailed to you later."
Inori bowed to Mikumo and turn back to leave. It's… a rather unusual interview. Granted, she's never been in an interview before but she thought that an interview usually consists of the interviewer asking questions before telling the interviewed to do something. But Mikumo simply told her to sing before sending her away. That was very unusual.
Inori shook her head. Maybe that's how Walkure always do their auditions. She wouldn't know. Whatever happens next, whether she's accepted or not, is not much of a concern to her. Either way is fine. What changed will simply be where she sings and for what purpose.
Feeling her stomach growling, Inori remembered that she hadn't had lunch. It's too late for lunch though. Last she checked her phone before she's called, it was already five. It seems she's going to eat out before going home.
As Inori left, Mikumo walk out of the interview room. The Walkure member looked at the pink-haired girl's back as she made a turn towards the exit. Closing the door behind her, Mikumo head towards Macross Veneficus.
On the bridge of Macross Veneficus, the captain of the mighty Macross battleship sat on his seat. It took a while but his ship is finally fully operational once more. Not that he's been idle when his Macross was damaged but it feels good to finally have the ship you captained be at full combat capacity once again.
As he stare into deep space from the bridge, he received a transmission from one of his pilots out on a mission of great importance. It's the one he's been waiting for and the reason why he's feeling antsy. He accepted the transmission and a line was established. The pilot's face appeared on the main screen of the bridge. The pilot in question is a young girl with brown hair wearing Chaos' pilot suit colored red.
'This is Ensign Shinomiya. I've received the package from the doctor. I'll be arriving soon.'
The girl reported. Kazumi breathe out in relief. He smiled at the apparent success of the mission. It's actually just a simple retrieval and delivery mission but the cargo the girl is carrying is extremely important. After all, it might just determine the course of their war with Daat.
"Good. Just be careful and keep out for trouble."
'You don't have to worry about me. I know how to stay out of trouble, dad.'
The girl replied. Kazumi rolled his eyes. The pilot on the screen is Ayase Shinomiya, the girl he rescued more than two years ago. Somehow, for one reason or another, he ended up adopting her after getting Mikumo's approval. He blamed Ozma Lee for this. Eventually, he smiled and told her.
"Just stay safe."
"Of course dad."
Ending the transmission, Ayase leisurely push the lever that control the output of her thrusters. Her custom red VF-31C with dove emblem equipped with Super Pack sped up and move ever closer to the fleet, carrying with her the item that will hopefully be the thing they need to end this war.
So... it's been a while since I last updated this one. Well, I have no excuse other than negligence. Anyway, I finally have something worked out for this story. So I finally introduce the obvious main triangle in this Macross Crossover. Took me a while to work out Shu and Inori for this one. They won't be completely the same as they were in Guilty Crown though due to the different setting but I try to make them as close as they are to their original version. Inori in particular will be a piece of work considering she has actual family history and not a clone or whatever. I feel that if I made her a clone of Mana, who is not an Ouma here and not Patient Zero of the Apocalypse Virus, it would be a repeat of Mikumo who is a clone of the Star Singer. Though it might be interesting to have two cloned singers interacting with each other but I'm too lazy to change that now. Either way, Inori will be apprenticed by Mikumo. This takes place about five years after Macross Delta so if Mikumo is a bit different and more worldly-wise, it's because she's older, married, and probably pregnant... nah, just kidding.