During the 08th Team's third sortie, they encountered the Apsalus while it was undergoing a test flight.
Eli remembered that clearly.
And the woman Shiro had never stopped thinking about—Aina—was the Apsalus's pilot.
Even after taking three direct hits to its frontal armor from a 180mm Cannon, that massive machine could still take off again and return to the sky, wiping out the advantage they had created.
So Eli needed to use a Beam Rifle to inflict irreversible damage and destroy its Minovsky craft, keeping the Apsalus from escaping for good.
That way, Shiro Amada could reunite with the person he longed for, the Southeast Asian theater could complete its assigned mission, and everyone would have a bright future ahead.
That was why Eli was asking the maintenance crew to calibrate the Beam Rifle.
Meanwhile, he had activated the Mobile Suit's training mode and was repeatedly practicing anti-aircraft drills.
Only after he could shoot down one Dopp Fighter after another with a single Beam Rifle shot did he lean back in the cockpit for a brief rest.
But the commotion below soon put an end to his break.
"Nice hit!"
"Get another one!"
"Place your bets, place your bets!"
Just from the noise, Eli could tell that a fight was going on below.
This sort of thing was fairly common in the military. Even Eli had gotten into fights with people before.
He got up from his seat and looked down, only to find that the fighters were people he knew.
One side needed no introduction: Sanders.
The other was a member of the 07th Team.
"Honestly, after all that was said, they still ended up fighting. Could this world really have something like a force of correction?"
Eli complained as he climbed down to the ground on a rope.
Whether or not such a force of correction existed in the world didn't matter to Eli.
He had already made up his mind to leave the military once the One Year War ended, and use his discharge pay to open a shop somewhere safe on Earth.
Even if the Universal Century was destined to end in tragedy, a thoroughly ordinary Federation man could still enjoy a peaceful life.
Of course, Eli kept that thought to himself.
As a proper transmigrator, he knew better than to trigger a death flag.
Eli pushed through the crowd and looked at the two men fighting.
"How about a little bet?"
Captain Nika held up his cap, which contained a fair amount of cash.
As mentioned before, there weren't many ways to entertain themselves in the military, so gambling like this was always popular.
Things weren't going well for Sanders.
After all, he was facing two opponents, and it was only natural that he was struggling to defend himself.
Even so, Eli didn't step in to stop their fight. Instead, he blended into the crowd and watched.
He still didn't place a bet, though.
The fight ultimately had no winner. Shiro Amada arrived, and Captain Kojima happened to be passing by. Hearing the commotion, he came over to see what was going on.
The two sides had no choice but to break apart at once, making excuses about it being "a friendly exchange between teams."
The 07th Team, however, was assigned an extra round of guard duty by Captain Kojima and immediately sent to the front line.
The 08th Team was also given a dressing-down and ordered to get back to maintaining their Mobile Suits.
"So, what started the fight?"
Only after the crowd had dispersed did Eli approach Sanders, who was checking the condition of his Mobile Suit.
"Yes, Second Lieutenant Eli."
Sanders first saluted him.
Only then did Eli notice the bruise on Sanders's left cheekbone. The 07th Team had clearly given him a sound beating.
Eli gestured for Sanders to lower his hand, then leaned against his Mobile Suit. He offered Sanders a cigarette and told him to go on.
Sanders accepted it, then stared at the cigarette in his hand for a long time.
"When I was still at Luna II, someone gave me the same kind of cigarette."
Eli didn't reply. He simply lit his lighter and held it out to Sanders.
As the flame flickered, Sanders's eyes grew distant.
"Back then, Luna II was under its tightest blockade. Even a single cigarette was a precious commodity. The one who gave me that cigarette was my team leader, but during our third sortie, he died saving me. After that, whenever I joined a new team, I was the only one who made it through the third operation alive."
Sanders took a deep drag, burning through most of the cigarette at once.
"So those guys just called me the Grim Reaper. I got angry and started fighting them."
Sanders sighed, then stubbed out the cigarette on the Gundam's armor.
Meanwhile, Eli's cigarette had only burned halfway down.
"Second Lieutenant Eli, I might not be able to pilot a Mobile Suit in the next battle."
Hearing that, Eli no longer felt like smoking.
"I see... Before you make up your mind, how about hearing my story?"
Without waiting for Sanders to answer, Eli knocked on the armor of the Gundam Ground Type.
"You know, don't you? Our 06th Team has two Gundams that were written off."
Sanders nodded.
"They belonged to my teammates. It happened just after I arrived on Earth. I got too reckless during an operation and charged right into a Zeon encirclement. My teammates came in after me to save me, and we tried to break through together. In the end, I only made it out because the 08th Team came to back us up. But my teammates were badly wounded and had to leave the front line, and their Mobile Suits were left in pieces."
Eli looked west, toward the setting sun.
That day, Eli had been desperate to score his first kill so he could test whether a kill would make the system produce a "Deep Blue Stat Point." He chased after a Zaku relentlessly, and it ended in disaster. The 06th Team was reduced to a skeleton crew, and the 08th Team's captain at the time was forced to retire.
That day, too, had ended beneath a sunset like this one.
"Just as you'd expect, people at this base called me the Grim Reaper, a jinx, and all sorts of things... To be honest, their words really hurt back then."
"Second Lieutenant..."
Sanders stared at Eli in disbelief as he laid bare his past.
Seeing how popular Eli was around the base, Sanders had assumed that his teammates had left the front line because of their own mistakes.
"Later, Karen punched me and told me to take responsibility for the two teams being forced off the front line. That was what got me back into the fight and kept the 06th Team from being disbanded. Little by little, people started seeing me differently. I became a hero at this base."
Eli smiled as he said this.
"I'm not bragging. I'm just saying that's how the military is. People don't care what kind of person you are; they care about what you've done. I believe you survived not because you got your teammates killed, but because you had the strength to survive. So use that strength to put an end to the Grim Reaper label."
After the sun went down, the cigarette in Eli's mouth glowed on and off in the darkness.
A moment later, the base lights came on again.
Eli watched Sanders silently return to maintaining his Gundam.
He stubbed out his cigarette and went back to his own Mobile Suit.
As he passed his teammates' battered machines, he placed the last small stub of his cigarette at the foot of one.
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