With Fred's efforts, a class period quickly passed amidst the lively atmosphere.
Having gained 0.03 ability points, Fred contentedly arrived at Romina's home.
Though Romina didn't live next door to him, the distance wasn't far either.
Nicol went to take a bath, while Fred followed Romina into the study.
Soon after, Romina closed the door and left, and standing before him was Yuri, whom he had been wanting to meet.
The seemingly honest middle-aged man stood up to greet Fred and extended his hand.
"Fred, I'll get straight to the point."
Sitting in the main seat of the study with the setting sun streaming through the window, Yuri spoke directly without any pleasantries.
"I've reviewed your renovation plan for the Central Hub."
"There are a few points I'd like to ask you about."
Clearly, this was one of Yuri's test questions.
"Of course, please go ahead."
Fred took a deep breath and focused completely.
With Fred's permission, Yuri didn't hesitate and immediately brought out the renovation blueprint.
He pointed to one of the renovation facilities for a Hidden Missile Silo.
"How do you plan to handle the heat dissipation structure here?"
This was the Central Hub after all. While not the main power supply system, it contained numerous computing units, making heat dissipation extremely important.
Yuri's question had hit right at the most crucial point.
"I've already written about this in as much detail as possible in the proposal."
As Fred spoke, he opened the virtual screen before him, and a three-dimensional diagram of the Central Nexus immediately appeared.
"The cooling facilities can directly cover the area below the launch bay. With slight structural modifications, it won't raise suspicion."Moreover, the cooling facilities can just cover up the traces of the launch bay.""
Fred explained with full confidence.
Yuri, who already knew this, showed no surprise and simply followed up.
"Did you come up with this yourself?"
"Yes."
"You're very familiar with these structures?"
"Yes."
"Quite confident."
Yuri's expression remained unchanged as always.
"Then there's no problem entrusting the Central Nexus renovation work to you?"
"Of course, I'll be serving as the main person in charge."
Current agricultural research was progressing steadily, with costs gradually decreasing.
It was feasible to pull Fred away now.
After all, they couldn't immediately announce that they had developed self-sufficient agriculture anyway.
"Understood."
Fred didn't ask why the May City representative had so much free time, nor did he have any reason to refuse such an obvious opportunity.
...
True to his word, without any delay the next day, Fred took leave and headed toward the Central Nexus.
Being the center connecting the upper and lower lands, getting there was quite simple - just take the Central Elevator.
For security reasons, Fred even took the highest-authority Special Train to the Central Elevator.
Sunlight streamed through the reinforced glass windows into the special train compartment, with scenery outside rapidly passing by.
Fred leaned back in the extremely comfortable leather seat, squeezing his well-used grip strengthener with one hand while reading engineering-related books with the other.
Quite content and at ease.
However, the Alec beside him clearly didn't share the tranquility of this place.
"Fred, what are you going to the Central Nexus for?"
Alec couldn't help but ask again.
"Brother Alec, you've asked three times already - once before boarding and twice after getting on."
Fred snapped out of his focus on the tablet and looked at the other man helplessly.
"But..."
Aren't you fucking an agricultural researcher?
Why would you suddenly go to the Central Nexus talking about modifications? Could it be that those important figures up there want to grow vegetables in the nexus?
Anyone could tell that was impossible.
"You'll know when we get there."
Fred didn't elaborate further.
He couldn't very well say he was an all-round expert.
And boasting about himself wouldn't be cool at all.
So he just pretentiously adjusted his mask.
His attention returned to the screen before him.
With security here handled, he still needed to find Creuset's whereabouts eventually.
Unfortunately, there hadn't been much progress on this matter since he arrived.
Of course, Fred wasn't in a hurry - he still had five years.
Even if he found the target now, he wasn't confident he could kill him anyway.
Never mind his own capabilities, Creuset alone wasn't someone who could be easily killed.
Even if he were shot, he likely wouldn't survive.
But he couldn't just shoot someone in PLANT - such matters could escalate quickly.
So even if he found the person, he would need to plan carefully and devise a thorough strategy.
This kind of thing truly couldn't be rushed.
Just as Fred was thinking this and refocusing on the screen before him, he heard faint footsteps coming from the sealed compartment behind them.
The sound was very light - if Fred's hearing hadn't improved, he might have missed it entirely.
Alec beside Fred also noticed the abnormality. The previously simple-looking burly man placed one large hand on Fred's shoulder while drawing his gun with the other and standing up in one fluid motion.
"Who's there?!"
"Um... could you open the door...?"
What followed was a young girl's soft voice.
The voice was sweet - excessively so, even from a Coordinator's perspective.
The key point was, while others might fake their sweet voices, this girl's voice felt like a clear spring in the mountains.
It made sweetness seep from the bottom of one's heart.
Most importantly, it somewhat resembled Rie Tanaka's voice.
Without turning around, Fred already had a guess about who was coming.
Though seeing it was a pink-haired little girl, Alec didn't immediately put away his gun.
But this wasn't really his fault. While the train appeared ordinary on the outside, it was actually a Special Train with the highest defense specifications.
In his previous life, it would have been comparable to the train the Sun rode.
When a VIP's guard suddenly discovers an unfamiliar presence on the train, their reaction would likely be even more tense than Alec's.
"Brother Alec, she's not a suspicious person."
Hearing the interaction between the two, Fred patted the large hand Alec had placed on his shoulder.
While it felt secure, it also prevented him from even standing up and turning around.
Otherwise, he would have turned to look at that future central figure of the world long ago.
"...Alright."
Seeing Fred's confident demeanor and the little girl's adorable appearance, Alec finally lowered his pistol.
With Alec letting his guard down, Fred finally had the chance to turn and behold Lacus's charming face.
Then... his racing heartbeat quickly calmed down.