'The Prince of Orb' and His Little Friends

January 28, CE71, around 12:15 standard time

Although the Archangel still had a mountain of matters to attend to, perhaps it was precisely because Kira Yamato's identity as the "Prince of Orb" had been revealed that he and his friends were able to sit together and enjoy lunch at this hour.

The Archangel had just received ample supplies at Artemis Fortress. Though none of them had received ranks yet, everyone had been given an officer's meal.

Thanks to his Ultimate Coordinator physique, Kira Yamato had mostly recovered physically from the fierce battle that morning;

but it was clear that his mind—or rather, his brain—hadn't quite caught up yet;

so when he accepted the lunch Miriallia handed him, he merely mumbled a listless "Thanks."

Kira was the center of everyone's attention for the moment, and his subdued demeanor naturally cast a gloomy air over the long dining table.

Under the circumstances, even though Sai had plenty of doubts and worries himself, he still tried to take the lead.

"To everyone making it through safely—cheers!"

Rallied by Sai's words, Kira perked up too and raised his glass of energy drink with his friends.

"Cheers!"

That simple gesture did much to improve the mood at the table;

after taking a sip or gulping down their energy drinks, his friends began to feel more like themselves and got the conversation flowing;

but judging by Tolle's opening remarks, talk of war and combat had inevitably become the new focus.

"Speaking of which, I was terrified when that white mobile armor grabbed Kira.

'That's it—we're all done for!'

That's honestly what I thought at the time.

Thanks, Kira. We got out of there safely again, all thanks to you."

Though Tolle thanked him and everyone nodded in agreement, Kira's mood remained low overall.

"I only did what I could, and the rest of you weren't just sitting around doing nothing. How can I take all the credit?"

In response to Kira's modesty, Kuzzey reached out and gave him a hearty pat on the back.

"There's no need to be modest, Mr. Kira Yamato, Ultimate Coordinator and Prince of Orb!

That La Flaga guy got knocked back as soon as he launched. Without you, Kira, that white mobile armor would've destroyed the Archangel for sure!"

As everyone nodded in agreement, Kira instead revealed the reason for his distress.

"Please don't call me that. 'Ultimate Coordinator,' 'Prince of Orb'—I'm just..."

Kira's voice was quiet, but his feelings were plain to see. For a moment, his friends didn't know what to say;

fortunately, Miriallia soon caught on.

"You're you, Kira Yamato—our classmate and our friend. That hasn't changed, Kira.

Besides, there's nothing wrong with being an Ultimate Coordinator or the Prince of Orb.

At least we've escaped certain death twice now, and both times it was thanks to your abilities as an Ultimate Coordinator, right?

And as for being the Prince of Orb, look—the food's gotten a lot better, and Lieutenant Badgiruel's been much nicer too, hasn't she?"

As Miriallia tried to reassure him, she pointed out two things they could all relate to;

and Tolle, her boyfriend, played along without missing a beat. He cut off a huge piece of black pepper chicken steak, shoved it in his mouth, and said as he chewed,

"Exactly. I don't ever want to think about those damn synthetic meat and fish-paste patties again."

Reassured by Miriallia and Tolle, Kira managed a strained smile and cut himself a piece of red-wine pork rib from his meal;

he chewed it over, and sure enough, it had a much better texture than the synthetic meat and fish-paste patties they'd had over the last couple of days.

Seeing that Kira was feeling a little better, his friends naturally continued chatting as they ate.

Kuzzey's choice of topic, however, was as questionable as ever.

"Come to think of it, that white mobile armor's pilot threatened Kira, saying she'd 'go back and tell Flay and Cagalli.'

How did Flay end up on Celestial Being's battleship?"

At Kuzzey's ill-chosen question, everyone stopped eating, at a loss for words;

after they exchanged glances, Sai, as Flay's boyfriend, tried to break the awkward silence with a guess.

"I don't know what happened to Miss Cagalli either. As for Flay, she was probably in an escape pod in the shelter when Heliopolis collapsed, and then Celestial Being rescued her, right?

In that case, considering their Formation Declaration, Celestial Being probably aren't bad people after all."

Backing up Sai's theory, Kira added,

"Cagalli was probably in an escape pod in the shelter too, and Celestial Being rescued her afterward.

Celestial Being's methods are pretty strange, but you can't simply judge them as good or evil.

Haman—the pilot of the white mobile armor I fought—isn't a bad person either;

if anything, she's rather like Flay in some ways, and she also seems to be in a relationship with that Celestial Being leader named Luther."

Kira had only been candidly sharing some of his impressions, but Miriallia's gossip radar had switched on.

"Wait, Haman appeared in Celestial Being's Formation Declaration too, didn't she?

At the end, besides Luther Deikun, they were all young women. Could they all be his girlfriends?"

"If that's the case, then Flay and Miss Cagalli are in danger in another sense, aren't they?"

Following his girlfriend Miriallia's gossipy lead, Tolle blurted out a "joke";

but it was clearly no joke at all to Sai, Flay's official boyfriend, or to Kira, who had a crush on Flay and was Cagalli's adoptive brother.

"Tolle!"

At his girlfriend Miriallia's protective scolding, Tolle pressed his palms together in apology;

Kira forced another smile to show that he didn't mind;

and after managing a strained smile himself, Sai came up with an explanation that sounded "reasonable."

"If I had to guess, Celestial Being may be trying to make contact with the various factions after appearing so suddenly.

Think about it: Flay's father is the Atlantic Federation's deputy foreign minister, while Miss Cagalli is the daughter of Representative Uzumi himself."

Not only did Miriallia and Tolle find Sai's explanation reasonable, but Kira nodded repeatedly too. But Kuzzey's next ill-timed bit of blunt honesty made everyone's expressions change.

"So is the ship darting all over the place like this now just an excuse for Celestial Being to make contact with all those factions?!"