Kira Yamato and His Friends

Kira Yamato was chatting with his friends, filled with anxiety, when he felt the violent shudder caused by the Archangel changing course.

"Where on earth is this ship heading..."

Facing the question posed by Katz Buskirk, Sai Argyle—the "popular social butterfly" who had always been the leader of their little group—responded.

"That tremor just now must have been us changing course. I wonder if ZAFT is still pursuing us..."

"Their target is this ship and the mobile suit Kira is piloting, right? Then they must still be chasing us."

Tolley Koenig chimed in to agree with Sai's deduction, prompting his girlfriend, Miriallia Haw, to add her own thoughts.

"That's true. Looking at it that way, I'm afraid we're still in danger. But Kira, thanks to you, otherwise those of us who couldn't evacuate in time would likely be corpses among the ruins of Heliopolis by now."

"It's nothing..."

To Miriallia's gratitude, Kira, still trapped by Athrun's words and the reality of Heliopolis's disintegration, appeared quite distracted.

Although Miriallia wanted to show some concern, Katz threw out a topic that was even more pressing at that moment.

"Are our parents going to be okay?"

"Evacuation orders were issued for the entire colony. Aside from the factory district, everyone should have been able to evacuate safely in time, right?"

Sai's analysis was quite logical. As Miriallia tightened her grip on her boyfriend Tolley's arm, she felt a sense of relief, but just as she was about to say something, a rather unfamiliar voice reached their ears.

"Kira Yamato."

"Yes?"

For Mu, figuring out how to "request" the help of Kira and these young boys and girls was a difficult topic to broach, so he chose to open with a "joke."

"Sergeant Murdoch is currently furious, saying, 'We're so short-handed, how can the pilot not be at the maintenance site!'"

"Pilot... are you talking about me?"

Faced with the "fait accompli" Mu had presented, Kira was clearly bewildered, while Mu attempted to strike while the iron was hot to settle the matter.

"That's exactly how it is. After all, you're the only one who can handle that Strike Gundam, so the pilot obviously has to be you."

To this, Kira, whose mindset had not yet shifted, naturally would not accept it just like that.

"Please wait a moment! Even if that's true, I am neither a soldier, nor do I have any intention of participating in this war!"

Mu shook his head, looked at Kira, then at Kira's friends, and asked a rather serious rhetorical question.

"So, when the enemy attacks again, do you intend to tell them that and hope that you and your friends will all remain safe and sound?"

Mu's statement immediately drew the attention of everyone present. Seeing the group waver, Mu "pressed his advantage."

"On this ship right now, we are the only ones who need to pull together. And as for who can protect this ship, Kira-kun, it is only you and me. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the enemy will attack again, and we have no intention of surrendering. So, since you have this power, you should do everything in your power. After all, neither time nor the enemy will wait for us to be ready."

After saying this, feeling that the dosage for this time was sufficient, Mu intended to leave; but before he could, Sai, acting as their representative, called out to him.

"Excuse me, where is this ship heading now?"

Mu did not hide anything, not even the potential problems they might face.

"We are heading to the Eurasian Federation's military fortress, Artemis. We expect to be sailing under radio silence and inertia for one to two days. It's just that not only might the enemy catch up during this time, but whether we can successfully dock and resupply our materials and personnel is also uncertain."

Having said that, Mu left the living quarters, intending to return to the bridge.

After Mu departed, the friends all turned their gazes toward Kira, and it was Sai who again represented everyone in asking.

"Kira, what do you intend to do?"

Facing his familiar friends, Kira had no intention of hiding his thoughts.

"Even though that uncle said those things, just because I have the ability to pilot a mobile suit doesn't mean I have to go to the battlefield."

The friends naturally nodded one after another, but Katz couldn't help but add one more thing.

"But if the enemy attacks, we can't exactly surrender on our own, can we? In that case, wouldn't we at least need Kira to pilot the machine to contact them?"

"Katz!"

Under Miriallia's "angry shout," Katz hunched his shoulders, signaling "sorry" to Kira with his hands; and as Kira forced a smile and waved his hand to indicate it was nothing to worry about, Tolley, as Miriallia's boyfriend, took on the heavy responsibility of changing the atmosphere.

"Whatever the case may be, I'm hungry. You guys haven't had lunch either, right? You must be starving."

Once Tolley mentioned it, the group suddenly realized their hunger, and Sai, the "popular social butterfly," thought of something more.

"There should be pre-made rations we can eat in the cafeteria."

Aside from the need to obtain permission, it was likely that the people on both the bridge and in the hangar bay had no time to eat anyway.

"How about we do this?"

"We go to the cafeteria to prepare lunch, then Miriallia and Tolle can deliver meals to the bridge, while Kira and Kuzzey deliver to the hangar. I'll stay in the cafeteria, and if you run short, you can contact me for more. How does that sound?"

The friends looked at each other, all agreeing it was a good idea, and finally turned their gazes toward Kira.

Feeling the concern of his friends, Kira felt much more at ease. Recalling what Mu had said, although he still had no intention of going to the battlefield, he felt he should do his best to assist Murdoch and his team with their maintenance work.

With the plan decided, they all moved together toward the cafeteria in the living quarters.

The vast interior of the Archangel was empty; although it was brightly lit, there was no one else around.

It wasn't until they reached the cafeteria that they found a crew member frantically busy.

"Are you lot here to eat? Sorry, I really can't handle this by myself. Please wait a moment."

"If that's the case, we can help."

Although it was slightly different from what they had expected, Sai, acting as the leader, responded naturally.

"Really? That would be a huge help!"

"Does anyone know how to operate a forklift? We need to move some fresh water out of the cold storage."

"Two more people to help me carry the prepared meals—we'll just have to eat whatever is available today, is that alright?"

"Is anyone good with electronics? Some of the machine power supplies still need to be checked."

Clearly, this crew member acting as the temporary warehouse manager was truly overwhelmed, and the tasks assigned were, in truth, not really suitable for students.

Fortunately, the reason Kira and his friends had been caught up in the attack in the first place was that they were studying the civilian counterparts to these very tasks;

In fact, after Professor Kato had desensitized them, they had even participated in military work that was disguised as civilian projects.

Thus, the group quickly re-divided the tasks and assisted the crew member in completing the long-overdue lunch for the entire ship, including themselves;

Subsequently, after following the original plan to assist with meal distribution, they found themselves "volunteering" as members of the Archangel crew in a daze.

Although no combat occurred thereafter, as the two days of silent navigation neared their end and Artemis became visible to the naked eye, not only was Kira voluntarily standing by in the Strike Gundam alongside Mu's Moebius Zero, but the others had also become quite accustomed to their roles, performing their duties on the bridge of the Archangel like proper crew members.