One of the Mikuru waitresses scampers over to the LovelyAngel, who provides instructions in a low voice. "Hai!" the waitress acknowledges sweetly and runs off.
The LovelyAngel then returns her attention to Shinigami. "I do owe you a story, don't I? Fair is fair.
"I could start my story 'Once upon a time that has not yet happened.' Time is a very complicated thing, and I am connected to one of many possible futures for planet Earth. In this future, Earth is at war with the <i>Uchuu Kaijuu</i>, or Space Monsters. There's a shortage of good pilots -- and an extreme shortage of psychic ones. I am one of three pilots whose psychic signatures were detectable in the future and were recruited to assist in the battle. Due to some quirk in the nature of my powers, my abilities weaken the longer I stay in the future, and I have to return to my own time to recharge. So I'm the only pilot who commutes across time, as it were. I won't explain the mechanics of how that works; I hardly understand it myself.
"I have a nice base of operations here so that I can train using my own mecha -- a highly-modified version of a mass-produced Gunbuster. My Sizzler Black is specifically tuned to my psychic wavelengths."
Shin listens attentively, but the LovelyAngel wonders how much of this can make sense to anyone who hasn't been privy to the future. Then again, a God of Death surely has seen many unusual things, so perhaps this isn't too far outside of his experience.
Hustling towards the conversation, a Mikuru waitress carrying a tray of refreshments scurries... stumbles... and spills the tray contents all over the LovelyAngel.
"WAAAAAH!" the waitress cries, <i>"Gomen nasai! GOMEN!"</i>
The LovelyAngel takes her bar towel and wipes off her catsuit, the beaded drops of liquid being absorbed with ease. "No worries," she says calmly and smiles at the waitress who is on her hands and knees, frantically gathering shards of broken ceramic and dropping them onto the tray. The waitress wipes up the spilled liquid then hurries back to the kitchen.
The pilot resumes her story. "There is apparently one other reason I'm wanted by the military in the future -- and why they're willing to expend such incredible resources to include me in battles.
"No one understands the mechanism... no one has an explanation... but there is something about me -- or my relationship with the Universe... that causes chaos to flourish. I'm some sort of magnet for disasters. One might think that's a really bad thing in military operations, but there are times it comes in handy -- particularly when the odds are astronomically against us -- and chaos disables the enemy's organization."
Shin raises an eyebrow but also displays the glimmer of a smile. <i>Is there something he knows about this?</i> The LovelyAngel makes a mental note to ask the death god later. With her hands she sweeps her long hair back behind her shoulders and continues her story.
"This Chaos Factor is genetic somehow, as I've been told that one of my distant descendants also has the trait. Her name is Yuri, and she also has taken the name Lovely Angel. I don't know how much she actually knows about me.
"I'm rather used to having chaos break out all around me, but it can be disconcerting at times. Witness the chaos I've attracted in The Initiation Fight, The Never-Ending Party, and this very own Bar & Grill. Fortunately, people are often not aware that I'm a common denominator." The LovelyAngel grins.
The Mikuru waitress returns, moving much more carefully this time. From a ceramic teapot the waitress pours green tea into the tea cups she has placed before Shin and the LovelyAngel. She leaves the teapot and a dish of Chidori sesame cookies and chocolate Pocky™ between the conversationalists. With a slight bow, the waitress excuses herself and returns to the kitchen.
Looking at Shinigami, the LovelyAngel takes her teacup and raises it before her in the manner of a toast. "To new acquaintences... and a brief, co-mingling of our journeys... may we find friendship and peace along the way."
|