A Self-Serving Piece of Advice

Eli broke into a cold sweat.

He had only thought about fighting alongside Amuro, without considering that Amuro wasn't ready to make up his mind and didn't want to climb into a Mobile Suit.

At this point, Amuro had just gone through his father's departure, a quarrel with his mother, and the experience of witnessing Doan's resolve to give up the power he possessed just so he and the children could live in peace.

Among those children were some close to Amuro's age.

Having witnessed all of this, the young Amuro had probably been harboring resentment for a long time.

But!

Without Amuro, whether the Federation could mount a counterattack against Zeon was anyone's guess.

Amuro had played a tremendous role in the Jaburo operation.

And after returning to space, Amuro's greatest contribution to ending the war was defeating the Zeon Forces' Mobile Armor, the Big Zam. That allowed the Federation Space Forces to carry out Operation Star One—the first step of their counteroffensive—successfully.

That, in turn, led to their victory at the Battle of A Baoa Qu, sealing Zeon's defeat.

Even against Char's Zeong, Eli thought someone else could destroy it or at least hold it off.

But the Big Zam was a job only Amuro could do.

With that selfish motive, Eli gritted his teeth, suppressing his guilt at persuading a child to go to war. Then he stepped forward and spoke.

"It's wrong to say you're being cast aside, Ensign Amuro."

Eli did his best to avoid looking Amuro in the eye, keeping most of his attention on Bright instead.

"Ensign?"

Amuro echoed the same question Eli had asked earlier.

"This is an order issued directly by General Revil at Federation Headquarters in Jaburo."

Eli took a neatly prepared document from inside his flight suit and unfolded it with practiced composure.

"Yes, sir!"

Bright immediately snapped to attention.

Eli noticed that some of the White Base's maintenance crew followed Bright's example, but most of the others didn't seem to understand what the document meant.

Amuro didn't either.

Only Bright looked grave.

"This should really be read aloud somewhere more formal. But since this young man has gotten some troubling ideas, I'd better read the order to everyone now."

Eli shook the fine-quality paper in his hand, stood at attention, and puffed out his chest to project his voice.

"By order of General Revil, the White Base Team is hereby transferred to the command of Lieutenant General Tiam and established as the 13th Autonomous Corps!"

Eli glanced at Amuro out of the corner of his eye and saw surprise and confusion settle over the boy's face.

"Accordingly, Sergeant Amuro is promoted to ensign, and Ensign Bright is promoted to lieutenant. All other personnel will be promoted according to their merits."

Having finished, Eli handed the commission to Bright, who stood at attention.

"Yes, sir!"

Bright accepted it solemnly and saluted Eli again.

"Come on, Ensign Amuro. Take your commission."

Eli turned toward Amuro, who was standing beside him looking a little dazed, and did his best to smile as he spoke.

"...But I'm not a soldier..."

Amuro clenched his fists.

"I only climbed into the Gundam because I wanted to protect Frau!"

The boy suddenly revealed his true feelings, making Frau, who had been watching the events unfold in astonishment, blush.

Amuro, however, didn't think there was anything strange about what he'd said. He had simply voiced what was in his heart.

"Then why not keep that same feeling in mind when you climb into the Gundam from now on? Besides, having an ensign's rank won't change anything for you, will it?"

"Frau..."

Amuro avoided Eli's gaze and turned to look at Frau beside him.

At that moment, an inappropriate thought crossed Amuro's mind.

That uniform really didn't suit Frau.

"Amuro's amazing!"

"He's an ensign now!"

"Amuro's become like Bright was!"

The children's excited chatter instantly broke the still-tense atmosphere in the hangar.

They bounced around Amuro, and he stared at them, still a little dazed.

"Amuro, this may sound harsh, but that Gundam isn't a machine we can pilot. I've seen you fight. The Gundam's performance is far beyond our machines, and with our skills, we wouldn't be able to control it."

Eli quietly stepped over to Amuro and patted him on the shoulder.

"That's a lie. We're all human. You're an adult, so there's no reason you can't pilot the Gundam."

Even though Amuro's Newtype abilities hadn't awakened yet, his words still struck straight at the truth.

Eli fell silent for a moment, then took Amuro by the other shoulder so he could look him in the eye.

"Amuro, you might not understand this, but there are some things only you can do. You're the only one with the ability to do them."

"Eli, Lieutenant?"

Amuro met Eli's gaze. He wasn't sure why, but he found himself wanting to trust the man standing before him.

In the end, he made up his mind.

"I'll do it. But not because I'm a soldier. I'll do it because it needs to be done, because Zeon is in the wrong."

With a slight effort, Amuro pulled free of Eli's hands and walked beneath his Gundam.

He turned around and looked at Eli, then turned away and left the hangar.

"Sorry you had to see that."

Bright had helped Mirai and Frau calm the children, and only now had a chance to apologize to Eli.

"No need for that, Lieutenant Bright. Please head to the Southeast Asia front-line base now. There are people waiting for you there."

"May I ask who?"

"It's Miss Matilda. She was the one piloting the Medea that brought us here. She said she had a gift for the Gundam—for Amuro. You'll have to wait until you get there to find out what it is."

Eli smiled, excused himself from Bright, and walked over toward Shiro Amada.

Bright remained where he was, and at last the weight in his heart lifted.

General Revil hadn't forgotten them. He had continued to support them all along.

Knowing this, the young officer felt deeply relieved, and his resolve hardened once more: he would bring the White Base to Jaburo.

He watched Eli and his teammates begin inspecting the Gundam Ground Type alongside the maintenance crew, then looked at the Gundam that belonged to the White Base.

Suddenly, he felt that he would see scenes like this many times in his life.

These two chapters might have felt a little padded. But when I actually sat down to write about Amuro's state of mind at this point, I realized that the 0079 anime was a little too abstract, and it made my head spin. Also, Amuro's reasons for fighting at this point really weren't strong enough, and unlike Kira, he didn't have a clear turning point. The result was a bunch of aimless writing... Sorry, meow.