Athrun, Unable to Crack the MS

[An eighth-level evacuation order has been issued for all of Heliopolis. Residents, please proceed to the nearest air-raid shelter immediately...]

[Repeat! An eighth-level evacuation order has been issued for all of Heliopolis. Residents, please proceed to the nearest air-raid shelter immediately...]

Within the smoke-filled Heliopolis, the wail of air-raid sirens and the thunderous roar of explosions were incessant.

Ino, who knew of war but had never truly stepped into one, could not help but be shaken by what lay before him.

The earth was scarred and ravaged, with countless lifeless bodies strewn across the ground.

Tanks and armored vehicles, ignited by flames, erupted in deafening blasts.

On the ground, the faces of residents who had failed to reach shelters in time were etched with despair and terror, having no idea where to turn next.

All they could do was flee frantically like ants that had lost their way amidst the roar of artillery.

Is this what war is...

Experiencing the battlefield firsthand for the first time, Ino instinctively froze in place.

Since graduating from the military academy, it wasn't as if he hadn't participated in combat, but that had been in the cold, silent void of space, and those who died were enemies who had stepped onto the battlefield with resolve.

But now, the vast majority of the corpses scattered on the ground were ordinary people caught in the crossfire.

Because this was the site of an industrial school, many of the dead were even young people dressed in bright, vibrant clothes.

Boom!

A series of consecutive roars drew the attention of Ino and Michel.

Not far away, accompanied by violent explosions and tremors in the ground, two MS burst out from the thick smoke, trailing plumes of exhaust.

One of them quickly landed behind Ino.

The other stumbled a few steps on the ground before collapsing.

"Athrun?"

Ino asked instinctively to confirm the identity.

"It's me."

Athrun spoke the grim news heavily: "Rusty... he failed!"

"I... see."

Upon hearing this, Rusty's face flashed through Ino's mind, and he clenched his fists involuntarily.

Was that lively, prank-loving guy never to be seen again?

When they set out, he had even tried to warn Rusty to be careful, but in the end...

But at least, I managed to change Michel's—

"Ino, Athrun!"

Suddenly, just as Ino was thinking that while he hadn't saved Rusty, he had at least altered Michel's trajectory, Michel's voice came from behind.

Turning his head, he saw that Michel had already rushed in from the direction of the port.

"Michel?"

Athrun said instinctively, looking at the face appearing on his screen.

"Athrun, did you complete... where is the other unit? Where is Rusty!?"

Suddenly arriving on the battlefield, Michel realized the situation on the ground did not match what he had expected.

"Rusty... failed."

Athrun repeated his words with heavy grief.

"Failed..."

Michel looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his eyes shifting in shock toward the MS opposite them: "Then that one over there..."

"That unit is currently being piloted by an Earth Alliance officer," Athrun replied.

"Damn Naturals!"

On the screen, the killing intent in Michel's eyes solidified: "If that's the case, I'll be the one to capture that unit! Ino, you escort Athrun back!"

"What?"

Ino reacted to the shock and quickly said: "No, you escort Athrun—"

"Shut up!"

However, the response to Ino was Michel's angry voice: "The mission Rusty didn't complete, I will finish!"

With that, Michel roared and pulled the trigger, firing at the Strike Gundam.

In truth, apart from himself, the other six members of the squad all possessed varying degrees of emotional detachment.

Athrun and Nicol.

Yzak and Dearka.

Michel and Rusty.

Upon hearing that Rusty had died, and at the hands of a Natural, Michel instantly lost his cool.

"Michel..."

Watching Michel rush toward the Strike Gundam the moment he finished speaking, Ino couldn't help but feel a sense of suffocation.

He had clearly left Michel outside to be kept busy by Flaga, so how could he have arrived here?

Could that guy Flaga not even hold back one Michel?

Ino knew that both Michel and Rusty died here; Rusty died while attempting to seize a Mobile Suit, and Michel died at the hands of Kira Yamato.

That was precisely why he had specifically left Michel outside to deal with Flaga.

But now—

Was it truly impossible to change fate?

"Ino, I'm counting on you!"

Just as Ino was debating whether to go and assist Michel, Athrun's voice suddenly came through the cockpit: "It seems I'm having some trouble with the unlocking process."

"Athrun? You—"

Ino wore an expression of disbelief as he listened to Athrun's reply.

Trouble unlocking?

Trouble unlocking his foot, this guy—

"I'm counting on you, Ino."

Meeting Ino's gaze, Athrun, sitting in the cockpit of the off-white machine, spoke again.

Through the screen, Ino could faintly see the flickering uncertainty in Athrun's eyes.

"What the hell are you two doing! Why aren't you leaving yet?"

Watching the two of them chatting away behind him, Michel couldn't help but curse: "Do you not want to complete the mission?"

"We're leaving right now! But Michel, you must be careful. These machines are equipped with Phase Shift Armor. Once activated, the Ginn's weapons won't be able to inflict any damage on them!"

After Athrun finished speaking, he turned back to Ino: "Ino, I'm counting on you!"

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but this time, Ino detected a note of pleading in Athrun's tone.

"Damn it!"

Ino understood what Athrun meant, and he understood his intent as well.

If you don't take me, I won't leave, and I won't even activate that Phase Shift Armor while I'm at it—

In that moment, Ino felt like kicking Athrun away.

Yet, he was helpless; he couldn't exactly tell everyone that he knew Michel couldn't beat that Strike Gundam.

If he said that, he would be thrown into a dark cell by ZAFT by tomorrow.

"Michel, take care of yourself!"

In the end, a helpless Ino made his decision.

After speaking, Ino turned to Athrun: "I'll escort you back first! Then I'll come back!"

Without waiting for Athrun to react, Ino piloted his machine and flew toward the port.

He wasn't sure exactly when Michel died, but he figured he should be able to hold out for a while. After all, no matter how much of a genius Kira Yamato was, he couldn't be godlike the moment he stepped into the cockpit.

So, as long as he was fast enough, he would definitely be able to return before Michel died.

Hearing this, Athrun took one last deep look at the Mobile Suit struggling under Michel's assault, then turned and followed without looking back.

Ino's speed was immense.

Perhaps because he was worried about Michel, this time Ino shot down every Moebius that stood in his way.

In no time at all, he had fought his way out of the port.

He arrived at the Vesalius with Athrun in tow.

"Please, replenish my energy first!"

While eating his flight rations, Ino urged the hangar logistics staff.

Because of the round trip, the Ginn's energy was bottoming out.

Going back in this state, let alone saving Michel, it was a question of whether he could even survive himself.

"Ino, you're still planning on going back?"

Dearka, who was replenishing his stamina inside the Buster Gundam's cockpit, couldn't help but be surprised by Ino's drive.

This guy was acting quite strangely today.

Yzak and the others also looked on in astonishment.

"Michel is still in there; I have to go back and see."

Ino voiced his concerns: "Rusty has already met with an accident, and I do not wish to lose Michel as well."

Ino was actually very grateful to Athrun and the others.

Perhaps it was sentimental, but ever since arriving in this world, Ino had been plagued by a sense of loneliness.

It was unnoticeable when he was busy, but in the dead of night, that feeling of being a stranger in a foreign land, unable to ever return, would well up from the depths of his heart.

Although Ino tried hard to adapt to this feeling and struggled to convince himself to fully accept reality, he failed.

However, some emotions cannot simply be discarded just because you say so.

Unless he could cast aside his past memories, but the very act of wanting to abandon them only made the memories of his previous life clearer, intensifying that sense of loneliness.

It was precisely because of the appearance of Athrun and the others that Ino found a place in his heart to anchor his emotions.

Training together, bickering, playing around... all these things gave Ino a feeling that could be called reality.

Therefore, as long as his own safety could be guaranteed, Ino did not want anything to happen to Athrun and the others.