Sunday, the day before the collaborative event officially began.
Clara and Lucia got up early to start packing their luggage.
According to the schedule, the two of them, along with Fran, would take the Lunar Bus to the Lunar Sea Resort, 340 kilometers from Central City, together with staff from Sigma Heroes.
“Lucia, have you finished packing everything you need?”
Clara said this as she walked into Lucia’s bedroom, only to see her sister sitting on her suitcase, trying with all her might to close it.
She had packed so much that the zipper simply wouldn’t close.
“Really, do you have that much stuff to bring? You only need to bring the winter clothes you’re wearing for the trip over. After all, the resort’s theme is summer beach, so the temperature under the dome should be pretty high…”
“It’s not mainly clothes~”
Lucia stood up and plopped back down, and Clara couldn’t help but admire the quality of the suitcase.
“What exactly did you pack?” Clara asked.
“Oh! I brought my graduation project~ The maintenance staff at Sigma are definitely very familiar with exoskeletons, so I want to build a good relationship with them and learn some practical skills.”
Having such a dedicated little sister made her older brother feel gratified, but…
“Honestly? Even if you manage to zip it up, I still recommend you bring another bag. Otherwise, even if you close it now… after we arrive, there’s no way your winter clothes will fit back in once you take them off, right?”
“Uh, hehe?” Lucia scratched her head and stuck out her tongue.
But she could be pretty silly at times.
“I’m here!”
A call came from the entryway. Clara went out of the bedroom to see Fran coming in from outside, carrying and shouldering a bunch of bags.
“Good morning, Fran.”
“Good morning, dear Clara! You look as adorable as ever today! Let me have a bite!”
Fran dumped her luggage by the door, then rushed up to grab Clara’s cheeks and gave them a good rub—since she’d just come in from outside with the luggage, her hands were freezing. This move was just to warm them up on Clara’s face.
“Your hands are so cold…”
The shuttle that would take them to the Lunar Bus station would be waiting directly downstairs at the dorm, which was why Fran came up to join them first.
Since none of the three were going to the company, even the little president didn’t have to pretend to show up at the office. Win-win for everyone.
Clara looked over Fran’s outfit again and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you really going dressed like that?”
Even if they were going to a resort, Fran was still wearing her white lab coat over a JK uniform. The coat was thin, and though she had a knit sweater underneath, it probably wouldn’t stand up to the current temperatures.
This girl, was she really sacrificing warmth for fashion?
But Fran just flicked her bangs and answered, “What? A white lab coat is the symbol of a researcher!”
“…Alright, anyway, it won’t be cold once we get there.”
Clara had wanted to persuade Fran to put on more clothes, but after thinking about it, she gave up.
She knew Fran wouldn’t listen anyway.
“You two don’t need to hurry. The car picking us up is still on the way~ Clara dear, pour me a glass of milk~”
Fran bossed Clara around, then plopped herself down on the sofa and started flipping through TV channels.
[Due to increased solar activity, there will be a prolonged, intense solar storm. High-energy particles will bombard the lunar surface. Influenced by the sun’s activity, lunar organisms may also display aggressive tendencies. All citizens are advised to suspend lunar surface activities and not to leave the dome casually.]
The weather forecast sounded pretty bad.
Lucia finally dragged her suitcase and backpack out of her bedroom. Hearing the news, she couldn’t help but ask, “A strong solar storm? Even Earth will be affected, right? Is it really safe for us to go out now?”
High-energy particles could fry electronic equipment, causing all sorts of malfunctions and burnouts. But the advanced gas dome system should be enough to shield them from the solar storm.
“It won’t really affect us~ We were planning to stay at the resort for a week anyway. As long as we stay inside, we’ll be fine. It’s exactly because of this forecast that Producer S was in such a hurry to launch the event!”
If they waited for the solar storm to pass, the hype for “Magical Girl Clara” might already be gone. The Sigma group was only here to ride the wave, so of course they wouldn’t let that happen.
But hearing Fran say this, Clara’s left eyelid started twitching uncontrollably.
She brought the glass to Fran and tried to persuade her, “Fran, please, stop talking.”
Fran sipped at the hot milk with cocoa, but burned her tongue and stuck it out.
But she didn’t believe in jinxes. As a researcher, she trusted in science, so she continued, “As for the lunar organisms, there’s nothing to worry about. They’re just animals humans released to improve the lunar ecosystem. And we’ll have a full five heroes in our car!”
As she spoke, Fran pulled Clara into her arms to keep warm.
She wanted to look cool, but she’d never miss a chance to warm up.
But Clara couldn’t let Fran use this as an excuse to get sentimental.
She used a tentacle to grab the remote from the coffee table and changed the channel.
[In mid-next month, the annual ‘Lunar Pioneer Day’ will be held to commemorate humanity establishing a foothold on the moon and building this proud mega-city.]
“Huh? Lunar Pioneer Day is almost here?” Clara sounded pleasantly surprised.
A festival commemorating the moon’s pioneering era—it existed on Earth too, but it meant much more to Central City. The entire city would hold events, and there’d be a festival at Memorial Park.
As long as you bought a ticket, anyone could go in and eat, drink, and play to their heart’s content.
Of course,
for the tireless corporate slaves, the main point of the day was finally being forced to take a day off.
“We should really take Lucia out to have fun then.”
Fran said this, and Lucia nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, it’ll be my first time attending Lunar Pioneer Day in Central City… We should invite big bro too, and go check out Memorial Park together~”
Take Lucia to see Memorial Park?
Clara really wanted to go herself, but that wasn’t possible.
When the time came, she’d have to ask Mostima to play “Squirrel” instead, while she could only tag along as Clara…
She sighed in dismay and glanced again at the suitcases and backpacks by the door.
“Speaking of which, Fran, what did you pack to have so many bags?”
“Clothes, makeup, wireless surveillance, x-ray scanner, optical stealth drone, force field generator…”
Fran’s list grew more and more outrageous, and Clara finally had to stop her.
“Wait, wait… We’re just filming a show. What do you need all that stuff for?!”
“My mission is to secretly steal the exoskeleton armor technology from Sigma Heroes without anyone noticing, okay? You don’t expect me to blatantly go mess with their exoskeletons, do you? I’d get reported for sure!”
Clara looked at Lucia and Fran’s bulging suitcases and backpacks, then glanced at her own small backpack.
She finally understood.
In the end, she was the only one actually going there for a vacation.
Thank you all for the votes!
I’m just happy to stay on the monthly ticket rankings~
There’s no way I can thank everyone one by one!
Ahh, thievery!