Chapter 25

**Chapter 25** is the twenty-fifth chapter of the *Astra Lost in Space* manga. It is the seventh chapter of the Arispade Arc and, in the compiled volumes, the seventh chapter of the third volume.

## Synopsis

The *Astra* has returned to orbit around Arispade following their close encounter with the planet's devastating tsunamis. After finishing his bath, Kanata returns to the bridge to thank Luca for letting him go first. Luca suggests that Ulgar bathe next, but Ulgar does not respond to him; he is staring at the floor with his towel over his head, lost in thought. Luca decides to go first and leaves the room, but not before sarcastically offering to share a bath with Ulgar, who yells at Luca in frustration again as the others smile to themselves.

Later, with the rest of the crew in the lounge, Ulgar apologizes to Luca for trying to kill him and forcing him to reveal his intersexuality to the rest of the crew. Luca denies that the latter is Ulgar's fault, stating that he himself decided no to tell the others. This fails to satisfy Ulgar, who tries to explain his feelings further; he tries to specifically cite Luca taking his vest off and exposing his breasts to the crew as something he feels responsible for, but cannot bring himself to say the word "strip"; recognizing this, Luca opts to toy with him, asking him to speak louder and clearer even as Ulgar's stutters worsen. Charce explains what Luca is doing to Funicia, who sits next to him at the table.

Luca explains to Ulgar and the others that the incident on Arispade gave him the chance to come clean to the crew, something he is thankful for, but he adds that he owes Ulgar an apology if his father is responsible for Ulgar's brother's death. He goes on to say that everyone on the crew has experienced some kind of deep-seated emotional pain in the personal lives, and is capable of relating to and understanding the others' pain as a result. Ulgar tells Luca that he is not sure of Marco Esposito's innocence and wants to follow in his brother's footsteps by doing research and having Marco censured, something he cannot do unless they return home.

As the crew celebrates Ulgar's dedication to returning home, Zack asks Luca if he is sure his father would kill someone over something as minor as accepting illegal campaign contributions, allegations of which are a fairly commonplace occurrence. He proposes that Finn found something much more substantial and personally threatening. Luca agrees that Marco has most likely hiding something, and wonders if Finn may have found something connected to their current situation. Ulgar breaks the silence that follows this proposition by asserting that nothing about their situation is accidental and that whoever among them is the killer is taking orders from someone else. Remembering a piece of advice Finn gave him, urging him to be cautious about believing what adults tell him, Ulgar angrily tells the crew that adults are liars and reaffirms him desire to return home and expose them to the rest of the world. He tries to give his gun to Kanata, not trusting himself with it, but Kanata refuses to take it since nobody else on the crew knows how to use it. He trusts the weapon to Ulgar; remembering the trust his brother placed in him, Ulgar happily agrees.

Soon afterward, the *Astra* begins its faster-than-light journey to the next planet, which will take twenty-three days and four hours. In her diary, Aries summarizes the events that occur during this time, the longest journey between planets on their itinerary: the crew opens up to each other even more, and Ulgar, while still silent as usual, has definitely changed. Per Luca's request, the crew opts to treat him as they had before Arispade, even though the boys are somewhat more bashful about things like sumo wrestling; Aries, for her part, feels as though she has found another girl to talk to, something which makes her happy. The new atmosphere of openness created in the wake of revealing himself to the crew has had a liberating effect on Luca, who has become closer to the whole crew and continues to cow Ulgar with embarrassment whenever a confrontation arises between them.

Twenty days pass on the journey. While cooking in the kitchen with Charce, Aries cuts her finger with a knife; Charce insists that she get a bandage from Quitterie to cover the cut. Seconds later, Aries trips while carrying plates out to the main table, but Charce, anticipating her fall, is there to catch her. Quitterie happens to witness his behavior toward her; somewhat unsettled by it, she brings it up in front of the others at dinner, painting it as a negative. He counters that he is nice to everyone, but she persists, convinced Charce has feelings for Aries. When Aries notices Kanata is not paying any attention to the conversation, absorbed with eating, she joins Quitterie, asking what classes Charce took in school.

Thrilled by the potential development of a love triangle, Quitterie drives the conversation forward, and several of the others join in as well, with Luca positing that Charce took all the science classes he could. Charce is unable to confirm for Luca whether or not Caird High School's biology teacher has a toupee, but Aries confirms the detail. Confused by the turn in the talk, Quitterie turns the conversation back to Aries and Charce, believing that they attended the same biology class, as Caird only had one; Aries begins to speak but stops short, her eyes widening, before telling the crew that she does not remember Charce being in her biology class.

Charce tries to shrug the detail off, claiming that no one remembers everyone in their classes, but Aries directly contradicts him; having a photographic memory, she remembers everyone in her classes, down to their faces and names, details that she has made a point of memorizing in the admittedly-small number of classes she has been to since her transfer to Caird. Having established beyond doubt that Charce is lying, Aries hesitantly asks if he is hiding something; he remains silent, staring at her expressionlessly.

## Characters

* Kanata Hoshijima
* Luca Esposito
* Ulgar Zweig
* Charce Lacroix
* Aries Spring
* Zack Walker
* Funicia Raffaeli
* Quitterie Raffaeli
* Yun-Hua Lu
* Finn Zweig *(Flashback)*
* Marco Esposito *(Flashback)*