This Guy Seems to Be a Genius

On the other side.

Ino shook his somewhat dazed head and slowly got his Mobile Suit to its feet. He clenched both fists, then fixed his gaze on the Mobile Suit Dearka was piloting not far away.

"So like I said, Instructor, you don't need to worry about us—"

"Dearka, look out!"

Bang!

But before Dearka could finish, Nicol's voice suddenly rang out.

The next moment came a powerful impact from outside.

Ino's Mobile Suit had punched Dearka's squarely in the chest.

Unlike Ino, who had gone straight down, Dearka merely slid backward a short distance before coming to a steady stop.

"That's payback for earlier. Come on, let's keep going!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ino charged forward in his Mobile Suit. He couldn't speak for anything else, but he could at least try fighting with his fists.

It wasn't as if getting hit would hurt. At most, he'd be rocked around by the vibrations from outside.

Besides, he'd heard Instructor Kelvin and Dearka talking. If Athrun and the others could train this way, then there was no reason he couldn't.

"Don't go crying if you lose, top student in the command course!"

Dearka finished speaking and charged forward in his Mobile Suit, swinging a punch.

Soon, under Instructor Kelvin's pained, regretful gaze,

the two Mobile Suits were trading punches under Nicol's watchful eye.

Sparks flew as steel crashed against steel, the impacts thundering across the ground.

Nicol and Instructor Kelvin could only watch in silence from the sidelines.

But unlike Nicol, who looked worried,

Instructor Kelvin wore a complicated expression. Good times never lasted long.

He realized there might be nothing left he could teach Ino.

Sure, Ino was getting beaten badly by Dearka right now, but the problem was that this was Ino's very first time piloting a Mobile Suit. His first time.

Thinking back to when he first piloted a Mobile Suit and comparing it with what he was seeing now, Kelvin really wanted to say, "There are so many freakish geniuses in the world. Why couldn't I have been one of them?"

Their battle gradually drew the attention of the others.

"The one fighting Dearka... that should be Nicol, right?"

Inside Unit 28, Michelle Aiman asked uncertainly over the comms.

"If you don't want your eyes anymore, you can donate them."

Inside Unit 29, Matthew Niden ruthlessly crushed his fantasy.

"If I remember right, today is Ino Kamal's first time piloting a Mobile Suit, isn't it?"

Michelle Aiman asked again.

"Yeah. His first time."

"He can fight Dearka like that on his first try?"

"Is this situation even normal?"

"Have you guys forgotten about Athrun, Yzak, and Nicol?"

"Can you call those guys normal?"

"...Naturals always say we Coordinators are geniuses, but why do I feel like I'm the only ordinary one among us?"

"..."

Michelle and the others fell silent at that.

The truth was, there were huge differences between Coordinators, too.

There were roughly five hundred million Coordinators across the world, but only sixty million in PLANT.

That wasn't because the other Coordinators couldn't come to PLANT, nor because PLANT rejected them. The gap here was simply so great that even they, despite being Coordinators, felt stifled and helpless.

The difference between geniuses was something ordinary people couldn't understand.

They knew all too well just how wide the gap was between themselves and the other Coordinators. It was a pain born of knowing the truth but being powerless to change it.

Take what was happening right in front of them, for example.

Ino Kamal had fought Dearka on his very first time piloting a Mobile Suit.

On their first time, the most they could manage was running without losing their balance. The better ones might have pulled off a couple of difficult moves.

But that was already the limit of what they could do.

Yet to people like Ino Kamal, that limit was nothing more than the most basic fundamentals.

Why did Yzak only challenge Athrun? Aside from simply disliking him, Yzak believed deep down that Athrun was the only one worthy of being his opponent.

As for everyone else, aside from Dearka, Yzak didn't even consider them opponents.

Bang!

At last, under Michelle and the others' watchful eyes,

Ino and Dearka's fight came to an end as their Mobile Suits' power was regulated.

"The gap really is huge."

With Nicol's help, Ino got his Mobile Suit back to its feet. Thinking over the fight, he couldn't help feeling a little helpless.

He'd actually lost to Dearka in hand-to-hand combat.

"Are you really piloting a Mobile Suit for the first time?"

Dearka stood where he was and asked uncertainly.

"You saw the whole thing, didn't you?"

Ino replied.

"Mm..."

Dearka fell silent. He'd seen it with his own eyes, which was exactly why it seemed so unbelievable.

Geniuses... Why were there so many?

"You two nearly beat your Mobile Suits to pieces. The maintenance crew's going to yell at us again in a minute," Nicol remarked, looking at the two battered machines.

"Shouldn't they be yelling at the instructor?"

Dearka replied.

"..."

Nicol was speechless.

Instructor Kelvin had heard everything. He'd been about to scold them, but the words turned into a sigh before he could get them out.

He realized he really wasn't in the mood to yell at anyone today.

Before long,

after their Mobile Suits were put away, Ino climbed out of the cockpit, drenched in sweat.

Feeling exhausted in both body and mind, Ino suddenly realized that piloting a Mobile Suit was hard work.

"Ino, over here!"

Ino had just landed when he heard Nicol calling from nearby.

He followed the voice and saw that Nicol, Athrun, and the others had already gathered together.

After a brief moment of thought, Ino walked over. "Nicol, thanks for your help earlier."

"No need to thank me! I didn't really do anything. You're the one with an amazing ability to learn and adapt!"

Nicol quickly waved his hands as he spoke.

"You're Ino Kamal, right?"

Yzak looked Ino up and down before asking.

"Yeah. What's up?"

Ino replied.

"Nothing."

Yzak finished speaking, gave Ino a long look, then turned to Athrun beside him. "We'll call it a draw this time. You won't be so lucky next time!"

Athrun could only smile helplessly. Rather than answer Yzak, he held out his hand to Ino. "Let me properly introduce myself. I'm Athrun Zala. We'll be classmates from now on, so I hope we get along!"

"I'm Rusty Mackenzie. Just call me Rusty."

"My name's Michelle Aiman."

Rusty, with his orange hair, and Michelle, with his long blond hair, introduced themselves with easy smiles.

"I'm Ino Kamal. Just call me Ino."

Ino smiled and shook hands with Athrun and the others. "Though, haven't we already met before?"

"Well, well, that's just how Athrun is. You'll get used to it. And knowing each other before was just because we went to the same school. Now we're classmates, so it's different!"

Dearka stood to the side and explained with a grin. "Oh, right, I'm Dearka Elsman. This white-haired guy is Yzak Joule. He's got a bit of a nasty mouth, but he's a good guy. Hope we get along!"

"Who are you talking about?"

Yzak instantly bristled.

"Who else here has white hair?"

"Then say 'white-haired guy' properly!"

"Sure, sure. This white-haired guy is Yzak Joule. As for his personality... well, as you can see, it's a total mess."

"Dearka!"

"I'm kidding! Don't take it seriously, come on!"

"They're always like this. You'll get used to it."

Athrun couldn't help explaining as the two started getting physical while they were talking.

Then he pointed to Nicol beside him. "This is Nicol. His full name is Nicol Amalfi."

"Hi, Ino. Nice to meet you... wait, haven't we met before?"

Nicol started to say the usual greeting, then suddenly realized he might have said it a little late.

Ino and the others glanced at one another, looking at Nicol's bewildered expression.

"No? Hadn't we?"

Nicol looked at them, suddenly doubting himself.

"Heh."

"Haha."

"...Hadn't we met before?"

Nicol looked at the others, who had suddenly started laughing, and felt his mind go a little foggy.