Chapter 325: After the War
Murrue stood to the side, watching Kira slowly walk over in his ZAFT red pilot suit, and said in disbelief, "Is it really you… Kira?"
Kira smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's me."
Everyone immediately gathered around him, scrambling to hug Kira one after another.
Meanwhile, over on Tolle's side, only Miriallia and Sai were with him.
Tolle pretended to be a little jealous and said, "Sigh, the difference in treatment is huge. I've only got you two over here, while Kira's got a whole crowd rushing to hug him."
Sai spread his hands helplessly. "We'd like to give you a welcome hug too, but the moment you showed up, you wouldn't let go of Miriallia. How were we supposed to hug you like that?"
Miriallia blushed and said shyly, "Yeah, yeah, that's all your own fault, Tolle. You can't blame anyone else."
"Well then, that really is my fault," Tolle said with a deliberately aggrieved look. Then he immediately put on a playful grin again, wrapped an arm around Miriallia, and walked toward Kira. "Come on, let's go celebrate Kira's return—and while we're at it, celebrate that I'm back too."
Everyone gathered around Kira, fussing over him and asking how he was.
Denim even grabbed Kira by the shoulders and got straight to the point. "Kira, what exactly is going on here? And what's with this ZAFT red uniform you're wearing?"
Rommel also reached out and touched Kira, then said in disbelief, "Really… really not a ghost?"
Tolle stood off to the side, smacking his lips and saying, "If he were a ghost, would he let you touch him like that? And Kira has a shadow—he's obviously alive."
"Hahaha, yeah, you're right. Exactly."
Kira looked at Tolle, couldn't hold back anymore, and tears fell again. He stepped forward and grabbed Tolle's hand excitedly. "Tolle… I never thought you'd really be okay. That's great. I thought I'd never see you again—"
"Stop right there, Kira. We're all fine, so no need to get sentimental. We should be happy—we all just barely escaped death, after all."
Sai also said to Kira, with a hint of sadness, "Welcome back, Kira."
Miriallia followed along. "Welcome back, Kira."
"Thank you, Sai. Thank you, Miriallia."
After looking around, Kira asked Miriallia, "Where are Katz and Flay? Aren't they here?"
Miriallia suddenly realized something. She hadn't seen Katz at all. "Katz hasn't been around since the fighting started. Maybe he got scared and hid somewhere? We'll look for him later.
"But… Flay was transferred by the Earth Alliance to another base's unit. As for which base, I don't know."
Hearing that Flay had been transferred elsewhere, Kira looked a little down, but he quickly regained his composure.
He pulled Tolle along and walked over to Murrue and Mu, smiling as he said, "You probably have a lot you want to talk to me and Tolle about."
Murrue smiled back. "Yes, there really are a lot of things we want to ask you."
"Good. I've got a lot I want to talk to you about too."
Mu stepped forward and asked Kira directly, "Kira, are you with ZAFT now?"
"Yes, but I'm not a ZAFT soldier," Kira nodded as he answered, then looked at Mu and Murrue and continued, "At the same time, I'm no longer a soldier of the Earth Alliance either."
The moment he said that, everyone fell silent. The surroundings became eerily quiet.
"Ahem." Tolle coughed once, then followed Kira's example and said, "Same here. I'm no longer an Earth Alliance soldier either."
Murrue looked at the two of them and replied helplessly, "I understand. In short, it's a long story. Then what about your machines… what should be done about them?"
Kira and Tolle exchanged a glance, and Tolle spoke first. "Kira, you go ahead."
"If you're talking about maintenance and resupply, there's no need to worry for now," Kira nodded as he answered Murrue's question. Then, with a serious expression, he continued, "Because this machine is equipped with an anti–neutron jammer canceller."
Mu said in shock, unable to believe it, "You mean an anti–neutron jammer canceller? Then…"
Chatre cut in before he could finish. "Then it's powered by a nuclear reactor?"
Denim also popped up with a question. "Kira, where did you get something like that?"
Kira's expression grew solemn. Although he had been taught some ideals of peace by Mentor Malchio, he was not politically naive. Kira had his own judgment.
He wasn't foolish enough to be easily manipulated like Rau Le Creuset, handing over crucial data on the anti–neutron jammer canceller just like that.
"If you want to extract data from it, I'll refuse and leave here," he said, then continued with a troubled look. "Even if everyone becomes my enemy, I'll still protect it.
"That's the responsibility I must shoulder for accepting this machine."
Once again, silence fell over the group.
"Ah, my machine's a lot simpler," Tolle said, breaking the deadlock. "As for maintenance, it uses a standard high-performance electromagnetic power system. The backpack is the same type as the Strike Gundam's, and the weapons should be compatible too."
He then continued to everyone, "This was manufactured at Orb's Sky Pillar, but it doesn't belong to any country. I bought it with my own savings—it's my personal machine."
Miriallia whispered softly, "Tolle! Do you really have that much money? How could you just spend it like that?"
Tolle immediately lowered his voice and explained obediently, "Honey, listen to my—uh—explanation.
"Didn't I help Orb train pilots and design equipment before? I was paid from that.
"Don't worry, there's still plenty left—enough for us to live on for the rest of our lives.
"Besides, I had to buy it. Otherwise, how would I have come to save you?"
"…Fine. Since you did come to save us, I won't argue with you about it."
Hearing the exchange between Tolle and Miriallia, everyone laughed.
Murrue also smiled as she looked at Tolle, then at Kira. "I understand. Don't worry, Kira. We promise we won't touch that machine."
She then turned and said loudly to everyone around her, "You all heard that, right? No objections."
Looking at Murrue like this, Kira smiled with relief. "Thank you very much for your understanding, Miss Murrue."
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