Chapter 283: A Shining Moment 2
"Archangel, leave the combat zone immediately. Maximum speed—head toward the Alaska base."
On the bridge of the Archangel, after the Sword Strike and the High-Performance Ginn returned, Murrue immediately issued the retreat order to Neumann.
Back in the hangar, Nami followed Tolle's instructions and reconnected the android-control link to her real body, just in case she slipped up somehow… though on second thought, nothing seemed likely to happen anyway.
But Tolle shook his head—might as well take the opportunity to experience remote-control consciousness again.
After they stepped down from the mobile suits, Marrod and the maintenance crew swarmed around Kira and the android Tolle. Thanks to Kira's combat performance, the Archangel had finally shaken ZAFT's pursuit.
Murdock, excited by Kira's "excellent" record, said, "That's great, Kira—good work. You finally took down a Gundam. Next time ZAFT attacks, we'll have a much lighter load to bear."
"You took out the Blitz!"
"Awesome!"
"You've gotten stronger and stronger lately."
"Yeah, practically unbeatable!"
"From now on, we're counting on you!"
Chattering nonstop, the maintenance crew praised him while rubbing his hair affectionately as if petting a favorite animal.
Seeing Kira's empty, dazed expression, Tolle sighed and pulled the maintenance crew aside, stepping protectively in front of Kira. "Alright, alright, make way—give him some space.
"That's enough. Kira's completely exhausted. He needs to rest. Clear a path and let him go lie down."
The crew immediately stepped aside. Tolle then took Kira by the arm and slowly led him toward the lounge.
On the way, he said, "Kira, don't be sad. Everyone has their fate. I know you didn't mean for any of that to happen.
"And Murdock and the others didn't mean anything bad. They don't know the details.
"And they see you as one of their best teammates. They're just happy you won, that's why they were all patting your head like that."
Kira muttered, hollow-eyed, "Yeah… I know. But I just killed someone. And he was Athrun's friend. I can't feel happy at all…"
Tolle gently patted his back. "Hey, don't overthink it. You had no choice.
"It's the battlefield—kill or be killed. We're all soldiers serving different sides.
"And being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to yourself.
"Whether it's you, me, or Athrun and the others—we're all just helpless pawns.
"If you want to blame something, blame this twisted world, and the people who started the war. Those bastards in Blue Cosmos, for example."
Hearing that, Kira only drooped further. "I know… but I just can't get used to the feeling of killing someone…"
"Same here. But to stay alive, there's no other choice.
"I'm not trying to lecture you—but if you don't kill him, he'll kill you. Only one side walks away.
"In the end it's just pointless overthinking. Don't get stuck there.
"We're still too weak!
"Once we get stronger—strong enough to crush the warmongers, and those Blue Cosmos bastards—then the war between Naturals and Coordinators will pretty much end."
"Tolle… do you really think that day will come?"
"Yeah. As long as we're still alive, it'll come."
"…Thank you."
Kira's mood finally eased a little under Tolle's distraction.
Seeing him relax, Tolle slung an arm over his shoulder and said with a grin, "What you need right now is to go find Flay and let her comfort your fragile little heart in bed.
"Vent all those bottled-up emotions, then sleep until noon. Everything'll feel better afterward."
Kira gave him a look of pure disgust, but still couldn't help laughing. "You're still such a pervert. Sounds more like you want to go find Miriallia for comfort."
Tolle patted his shoulder with a wicked smile. "Well… you know me."
The two of them walked along joking and laughing.
When they arrived at Kira's room, Flay came over, took his hand, and went in with him.
Maybe she'd overheard part of their conversation, because once they were inside she kissed Kira fiercely, then comforted him in her own way from above.
Tolle could only shrug and hurry back to his own room—not about to eavesdrop on that.
Too bad this body wasn't his, or he would've gone to see Miriallia for some comfort of his own.
The next morning, a ZAFT submarine chased the Archangel again.
Using the neo DG cells, Tolle created a bioengineered whale and had it carry Nicol along the Archangel's route to a nearby island.
With some free time, Tolle used the downgraded scouting eye from the Shadow Plane computer to check his own abilities.
The result was extremely simple—just a comparison of ordinary humans:
Physique: S
Reflexes: B+
He couldn't tell whether to feel happy or weird—those two letters together gave him a strange feeling.
But after checking Nicol beside him—Physique: B, Reflexes: B—the fact that Nicol was double-B gave him a little comfort.
He then used the android Tolle to check the Archangel crew. Most had Physique and Reflex ratings around C.
Only a few were stronger:
Kira: Physique A-, Reflexes A- (Seed-mode S-)
Mu: Physique B+, Reflexes B+
And, of course, Miriallia—whom Tolle had enhanced—Physique A, Reflexes B.
As for the Orb personnel who had received the rapid-transfer training, most Naturals had Physique and Reflexes between B- and B+.
A few Coordinators like Mina and Yulia reached double-A, roughly one small tier higher than before.
Then he used the DG cells attached to Athrun's group to check Yzak, Dearka, and the others.
As expected, Athrun's readings were:
Physique A-, Reflexes A- (Seed-mode S-).
Not bad at all for the second male lead.
Yzak was slightly lower: Physique B+, Reflexes B+.
Dearka matched Nicol with double-B.