Chapter 72 - Deep Space Voyage

This is my first time wearing a white-and-blue space bodysuit, and the moment I slip into it, I feel how snugly it clings to my body. The soft cyber fabric molds itself to every contour, wrapping around me like a second skin. Though it looks sleek and form-fitting, the material is surprisingly comfortable, allowing me to move freely.

Embedded in the back are padded compartments, housing a deployable jetpack that hums faintly with potential energy. Completing the ensemble is a sleek helmet, its aerodynamic design reminiscent of a high-tech motorcycle visor, its tinted glass reflecting the bright lights of the KAWAII fitting room.

Stepping out, my eyes immediately lock onto Myrrh, who stands confidently in her own version of the space suit—though hers is even more revealing. Designed like a futuristic one-piece, the suit leaves her long, slender white legs bare, exposing her toned shoulders and smooth underarms.

She wears detached gloves that reach above her elbows, and her boots, which extend past her knees, gleam with a cybernetic sheen. The design accentuates her figure in a way that seems almost intentional, the fabric sculpting around her ample curves with an almost artistic precision.

“For some reason, this fits better than my school bodysuit,” Myrrh muses, stretching her arms before placing a hand on her hip. “But it’s a lot more revealing. Not that I mind, though. It's a good way to display my perfect body.”

She speaks to Agent Feena, who stands nearby in the same bodysuit—though hers is a white-and-pink variation. The uniform hugs Feena’s slim figure just as snugly, and though she has a different body type, the effect is just as alluring. Her natural grace, combined with the suit’s bold design, gives her an undeniable charm, one that borders on dangerously seductive.

Whoever designed these suits is a pervert. A genius pervert. They definitely deserve a raise.

“Wow, you really are sexy in that suit,” Agent Feena remarks with an approving smile before shifting her gaze to me. “Oh, you too, Zaft!”

When Myrrh turned to look at me, her lips parted slightly, eyes widening in what I could only describe as stunned silence. She gave me a slow, deliberate once-over, her gaze sweeping from my head to my toes like a fashion critic sizing up a runway model. I braced myself for a snide remark—something sharp and teasing—but instead, she just stood there, quiet.

“How do you feel about our KAWAII space suit?” Agent Feena asked, breaking the silence.

I flexed my arms slightly, feeling the suit’s tight embrace. “Rubbery,” I muttered. “It fits perfectly, sure, but I don’t think it’s breathable. My buttcheeks are already sweating because it’s so airtight.”

Agent Feena let out a light laugh. “Don’t worry about that, Zaft. The vacuum of space is freezing, and this cyber fiber suit is designed to retain body heat. You’ll be fine.”

I sighed, adjusting my stance. “Now I know what WAIFU feels like in those ridiculously tight bodysuits,” I muttered with a forced smile.

“Damn right you do.” Myrrh finally broke her silence, her tone laced with sass.

Agent Feena clapped her hands. “Anyway, we need to board our KAWAII spaceship. Let’s go.” She turned, leading the way to the hangar.

As we walked, I noticed something odd—Myrrh was deliberately keeping pace just behind me, her footsteps light but constant. I glanced back at her, catching the slight curve of her lips—a smirk, mischievous and knowing.

“What?” I narrowed my eyes at her, scrunching my face in suspicion.

“Nice ass,” Myrrh scoffed, her voice dripping with smug amusement.

“Stop looking!” I yelped, instinctively covering my backside with both hands. “I feel violated!”

Myrrh folded her arms, tilting her head with a smirk. “Oh, please. You’ve spent more time staring at my breasts and crotch than you’d ever admit—during our practical exams, during the tournament, even during the rollerblade test. I caught you every single time.” She leaned in slightly, her grin widening. “This is just payback.”

“Stop looking, pervert!” I cried again, stepping away from her prying eyes.

“You’re one to talk,” Myrrh shot back with a playful glint in her eyes. “It takes one to know one! And by the way—there’s a pretty big bulge on your front.”

“What!?” My voice cracked as panic surged through me. Without thinking, I clapped my hands over my crotch, suddenly hyper-aware of the suit’s tight fit. Was it actually noticeable? Was I imagining things? Either way, there was no way I’d give Myrrh the satisfaction of seeing me flustered.

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I needed to counterattack. My gaze darted downward, and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Your thigh gap is even wider than before.”

Myrrh gasped. “Why you—!” Her hands shot down to cover her own vulnerable spot. Her face turned red as she glared daggers at me. “You are a certified sexual harassment professional, you know that?”

“Now, now, settle down, kids,” Agent Feena interjected, stepping onto the hovering platform with the patience of a weary mother dealing with unruly children.

I turned away hastily, my face burning, doing everything I could to avoid seeing Myrrh’s triumphant smirk. She and I stepped onto the same platform, the anti-gravity system humming softly as it lifted us toward the main hangar.

When we reached the top, three sleek, triangle-shaped spaceships stood waiting, their reflective surfaces gleaming under the hangar’s bright lights. Without hesitation, Agent Feena entered the nearest one, Myrrh following close behind. Taking a deep breath, I was the last to step inside.

“I bet this will be your first time operating in space,” Agent Feena remarked, her voice carrying an amused edge. “But trust me, once you get used to floating in your WAIFU form, you’ll start hating gravity. It just feels restrictive after this.”

She turned to me, her expression shifting to something more serious. “As for you, Zaft, you’ll have to stay inside this ship. Make sure the cable to your suit is always connected. If you lose that tether…” She gestured vaguely to the vastness outside the ship’s reinforced glass window. “You’ll drift endlessly into the void of the universe.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine. “That’s… comforting.” Then another thought struck me. I frowned. “Wait, are we the only ones going to the asteroid belt? Just the three of us?”

“No. Four.”

A new voice cut through the air just as the bridge lights flickered in synchronized pulses. At the center of the cockpit, a sleek captain’s chair swiveled around, revealing a slim man in his late twenties. He wore a baseball cap emblazoned with the Superman logo, its brim casting a shadow over his sharp features. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he leaned forward, resting an elbow on the armrest.

“Hello, fellow kids,” he greeted, his voice laced with an unmistakable air of self-satisfaction. “I’ll be your pilot for this mission.”

Agent Feena gestured toward him with a weary but resigned expression. “This is Agent Steve Nawakita, one of our pilots in the KAWAII division. He’s a graduate of Orbital Tech Applied Kinetics University, specializing as a support unit.”

“Are you kids excited?” Agent Steve clapped his hands together, his grin widening. “We’re about to go to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism… SPACE!”

A thick silence followed.

“Uh, haha…” Agent Feena let out a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of her head. “Agent Steve had an undercover assignment against a corrupt communist politician in Yerax, and, uh… he’s still in his deactivated sleeper agent mode. So, please bear with him.”

I exchanged a look with Myrrh. She raised an eyebrow. I sighed. This was going to be interesting.

“I am not brainwashed,” Agent Steve insisted, adjusting his Superman cap as he leaned forward. “You see, capitalism is really the source of all evil—”

A loud smack echoed through the cockpit as Agent Feena delivered a sharp slap to the back of his head. Leaning in close, she whispered, just loud enough for Myrrh and me to catch, “Don’t embarrass our office in front of the interns.”

Agent Steve stiffened, immediately snapping into a salute. “Y-yes, ma’am!”

Myrrh and I stood there in stunned silence. The reality of our situation slowly settled in, like an old operating system booting up. Little by little, the word “regret” is being registered into my brain.

We really should have taken the Vanguard’s offer. Hell, we should have just thrown the last match in the Licensure Examinations Tournament and called it a day. This intelligence division called KAWAII was so weird.

“A-anyway!” Agent Feena clapped her hands together, her previous outburst erased as if it had never happened. “We will now fly to the Void Box, so please take a seat and strap in.”

Without hesitation, Myrrh and I found the nearest seats and buckled ourselves in. Agent Feena took the seat beside me, securing herself as well.

Agent Steve, regaining his composure, switched to the radio and began rattling off military aviation callouts—half of which sounded like complete gibberish to me. I didn’t even bother trying to understand. The only thing that really registered was when our spaceship was moved to the launching bay, revealing the brilliant afternoon sky beyond the hangar doors.

“Runway clear. Catapult clear. Thrusters clear. KAWAII Land Orbital Logistics Interceptor launching in three… two… one…”

A sharp, high-pitched beep rang through the cockpit.

And then—BOOM!

The ship exploded forward.

No, launched wasn’t the right word. It tore through space, propelled by tachyon technology that made light-speed feel sluggish in comparison. My body was forced back into my seat as the sheer force of acceleration gripped me, my vision blurring at the edges. Even though the inertial dampeners were absorbing most of the pressure, I still felt like I was being shot out of a railgun.

And just like that—mere seconds later—we had escaped Xyraxis' gravity well and reached the void.

Darkness stretched infinitely in every direction, vast and overwhelming, save for the shimmering glow of distant stars scattered across the abyss. The KAWAII spaceship pulsed with a soft luminescence, its advanced lighting system illuminating a five-kilometer radius around us, casting eerie reflections off the metallic debris of abandoned satellites and space junk.

I inhaled sharply, pressing my palm against the cold glass of the viewport. “W-wow…”

And there it was—right before us.

The asteroid belt.

A sprawling, endless field of ancient celestial bodies, each tumbling lazily through the void like frozen remnants of a long-forgotten war. Some asteroids were small as pebbles, others as large as entire cities. Their jagged, craggy surfaces shimmered under the distant starlight, casting deep shadows that stretched for kilometers.

This was my first real deep-space voyage—well, aside from my initial trip from Earth to Xyraxis. But this… this felt different.

For the first time since stepping aboard, I truly felt like I was in space.