Or it's just because my head feels like it weighs a ton and my eyes are teary, and I can't stay awake for long.



Actually it would be two Eastern cultures clashing, if you consider modern sensibilities. Liu Xi likely looks up to Chiaki as an example, since Chiaki comes from the most similar culture - and Chiaki is strong, independent, irrepressible, and impossible to push around, while still being polite, friendly and while she denies it, somewhat heroic.



Even so, Lara remembers him as being a little creepy. She doesn't really push that much, though, because she also senses that nobody really agrees with that assessment. It's one of those things where you feel like something isn't right, but say nothing because nobody else seems to notice.

Though because of that, Lara will most likely let him go about his business and watch quietly until he does something to justify the 'creepy' vibe.



This is where I get to tell a little story of how Lara realizes these things: Back home, while she's not exactly a full cosmic being, it's like she's in the back seat watching cosmic beings drive the universe.

That means she's been trained to recognize things, to see very large, complex plans in action and sometimes figure them out.

In this case, Lara probably recognized the constant Shee-Yar escalation every time they've been defeated by the Lair Legion, and their obsession with destroying Earth. It's quite simple to "do the math" at that point - sooner or later, the Shee-Yar would get some kind of edge and destroy Earth.

That's why Lara, while she might not like the solution the Carnifex had, she might reluctantly agree with it. The currently Lair Legion strategy with the dangerous Shee-Yar was to occasionally defeat them somehow and then turn a blind eye to their military advancement until they tried to hit Earth again. Lara sees that as an unsound strategy, because sooner or later it'll be too late. Of course, that's where Lara's biggest fault comes into play - she doesn't really have the heart to do drastic "necessary" things like wiping out an empire.



Chiaki never needs to lie - the truth hurts more, after all. And if someone asks her a question she doesn't want to answer, she just ignores it.

She might make excuses in certain cases though, that aren't lies. For instance instead of "we're rifling through your files" she could have said "I needed to use your computer" and dispense with the detail.