Ray's unusual behavior made Athrun more cautious. After all, he was certain Shinn Asuka came from Orb because he had personally seen Xiao Ran receive Shinn and his family at Akatsuki Works. Shinn had also foolishly revealed his identity right in front of him.
As for Ray, after spending several days getting to know all the MS pilots aboard the ship, Athrun had determined that Ray was from PLANT. Ray also gave Athrun an inexplicable, faint sense of familiarity. The feeling was completely baseless, but it did not affect Athrun's judgment of him.
But how could someone who had never had contact with Orb and had grown up in PLANT start watching him, especially in connection with an Orb "spy"? This left Athrun puzzled. He even suspected that Ray might have already seen through Shinn's identity and had kept it secret only to use Shinn Asuka to uncover more spies.
Athrun had also learned from Shinn that, aside from tossing him into ZAFT, Xiao Ran had never asked him to do anything or obtained any intelligence from him. There had been no purpose and no orders. In other words, Shinn's background was questionable at most; he did not truly qualify as a "spy."
Then how had Ray noticed Shinn, and what connection was there?
With these doubts in mind, Athrun found Shinn when no one else was around and told him about Ray's surveillance. He reminded Shinn to be careful not to expose his identity and to minimize contact with him. After hearing Athrun's words, Shinn gave him a strange look before finally saying:
"Ray is one of us too. I just wasn't at ease about you, and sometimes I really couldn't get away, so I asked Ray to keep an eye on you."
"Cough, cough." Athrun could not suppress