Out to Sea

"Scared me to death..."

On the jeep ride back, Shiro Amada glanced at the fairly straight road ahead and let out a sigh, wanting to say something to Eli.

"You know, those military police kept asking me the same questions over and over. If my answers were even slightly different, they'd immediately interrogate me about it. It's made me not want to answer anyone's questions anymore."

Shiro sighed repeatedly as he reached under the jeep seat, pulled out an energy bar, and started chewing on it.

It was clear that the interrogation had worn him out.

"Serves you right. That's what you get for saying those things on the battlefield."

Eli didn't play along with Shiro's complaining.

"You got lucky this time. They recognized you, and that flying Gouf was only trying to drive us off. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been surprising if you'd gotten yourself killed."

Eli covered his face with a magazine to shield himself from the tropical sun.

"But if it happened again, I don't think I could accept it. Fighting Aina..."

Shiro naturally knew Eli was right.

Acting that way on the battlefield had been downright irresponsible.

"...What kind of person is Aina, anyway, that you can accept her?"

Out of the blue, Eli asked Shiro.

If someone asked what Aina was like, Eli could form his own opinion based on the episodes he'd watched.

There was no doubt that Aina was a kind person.

Unfortunately, because Ginias had fallen ill, she had willingly become his prisoner, helping him realize his ambitions and restore the Sahalin family.

That was because Aina was too kind.

Even though she realized that completing the Apsalus would cause countless deaths, and knew that Zeon's war against the Federation was wrong, she still became a puppet with no will of her own.

It was hard for Eli to hate Aina. He could tell that, in the end, she was a victim swept up in the war.

But when the time came to pull the trigger, he wouldn't hesitate.

"What kind of person is she? I don't know, either... Strange, isn't it, Eli? Aina and I only spent a few hours together. I didn't even learn her name until we were parting."

Shiro drove the jeep one-handed while reaching into his jacket pocket with the other to take out the pocket watch he kept there.

During the interrogation, the watch had been found and thoroughly inspected.

When Shiro was cleared of suspicion and got it back, the military police had given him a knowing smile.

"Click."

Shiro opened the watch's outer case. A photograph was carefully tucked inside.

It showed a man and a woman. The woman was Aina, whom Shiro knew well.

The other man was, naturally, Ginias.

But Shiro didn't know what their relationship was, so he could only sigh to himself again.

"Yeah. Why is that?"

Shiro couldn't explain his own feelings. With a self-mocking expression, he lowered the pocket watch in his hand.

Still, he carefully put it away in his pocket.

"Actually, that was Aina's brother."

Seeing Shiro like that, Eli amusedly let the dejected man in on the truth.

"Ha?!"

As Shiro cried out in disbelief, the jeep's front wheel struck a rock by the roadside.

The vehicle went airborne, and Eli wore a rare, delighted grin.

"You! Don't go making assumptions like that again. Make sure you say, 'Thank you, sir!'"

"Do you know how dire things are right now? Even a jeep is a valuable resource that needs to be treated with care!"

Captain Kojima rarely lost his temper, but this time he let them have it.

Though Eli was a newly recognized ace pilot whose name had even reached Jaburo, he could only hang his head like an ostrich and listen obediently to Captain Kojima's scolding.

After the two of them had gotten carried away, the jeep had gone airborne and overturned.

Fortunately, neither of them was seriously hurt, but the jeep's transmission was wrecked, leaving it undrivable.

In the end, Captain Kojima had happened to be returning from the base as well and picked them up, bringing them back with him.

"Forget it... From now on, your squads will be merged, and you'll need a new callsign. I was thinking of calling you 86. Any thoughts?"

Captain Kojima poured himself a glass of water and drank to soothe his throat, sore from scolding them.

He glanced at the two of them and waited for their response.

"86... Huh, that's a pretty good name."

Shiro looked at Eli, who had inexplicably broken into a strange grin. Shiro had been about to suggest switching the order of the two numbers, but silently swallowed the idea.

"Can we call ourselves Vanguard Squad from now on?"

"No."

"Oh."

After his suggestion was rejected, Eli reluctantly signed his name on some official documents.

After all, Vanguard Squad could cause too much confusion during actual operations, so it really wasn't suitable as a callsign.

"...Eli, be careful out there."

When Eli handed over all the documents he'd signed, Captain Kojima pinched one corner of the stack and spoke to him with an unreadable expression.

Kojima's remark seemed to come out of nowhere.

Eli looked at the document Kojima was holding.

His finger was pressing down on Colonel Ethan's signature.

After he and Captain Kojima held each other's gaze for a long moment, Eli finally nodded.

"I know. Don't worry."

Neither of them said anything more or named anyone.

It was nothing more than a superior showing concern for a subordinate.

"Good. Then, 86 Squad, attention!"

Eli and Shiro immediately stood at attention.

"I'm issuing 86 Squad its first mission. You'll head east to carry out your orders!"

"East of here... Does that mean Burma?"

Eli asked without breaking his stance.

"No. Farther east than that."

Captain Kojima lifted his glass with a hint of amusement.

"Head out to sea and meet up with another unit sent by headquarters. As it happens, that unit has some connections to you two."

As they stared at him in surprise, Kojima drained the rest of his water.

"The Medea will arrive soon. You have two hours to assemble your squad. A friendly reminder: be sure you're ready to parachute in."