Ino sat on the edge of the bed, his mind in a bit of a muddle.
His memories—or rather, his predecessor's memories—seemed to have a problem.
He had inherited memories and knowledge of "himself" training at a training base.
At the same time, he had also inherited his predecessor's reflexes and ability to imitate and learn, both of which surpassed those of an ordinary Coordinator.
But he had almost no memories of the specific training exercises or methods his predecessor had gone through at the base, only a few hazy impressions.
The only thing he knew was that the training had been exhausting and painful.
And if he fell behind in the rankings or made a mistake, he would be executed on the spot. Yet his predecessor hadn't sensed anything strange about this, nor had it caused him any psychological problems.
After enduring such terrifying training for so long, he had still managed to blend in with the Coordinators like a normal person.
As his thoughts and memories deepened, Ino felt a sudden pang of unease and panic.
Fragments of memory began to flash through his mind for no apparent reason.
The pain and suffocating sensation surged over him like a tide. It was as if the darkness called fear were about to swallow him whole.
Beep, beep—
Suddenly, the tightly shut door made a sound as it began to open.
Ino looked over on reflex.
"Sorry, I—"
Murrue, who had just started to speak, suddenly froze in place. Her body involuntarily took a step backward.
Thud!
"Ow, my nose!"
Mu, right behind her, got stepped on by Murrue and bumped his head against her back.
Ensign Badgiruel was at the very rear. Seeing Mr. Mu stumble backward, she instinctively stepped aside.
Then she looked at Murrue in front of her. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Ah? Oh, it's nothing."
Captain Murrue shook her head, then looked at Ino again.
"What's going on with you?"
Ino sat on the edge of the bed, looking perfectly calm as he stared at Captain Murrue and the others in bewilderment.
"Nothing. Sorry, something came up just now, so we were delayed."
Captain Murrue looked at Ino, who seemed perfectly calm. Though she was puzzled, she didn't say anything more.
As she spoke, she led Ensign Badgiruel and the others into the room.
Mr. Mu rubbed his nose, then followed them inside and pressed the button to close the door.
"You said in the hangar that you had something important to tell us. Can you tell us now?"
As she spoke, Murrue sat down on the bed opposite Ino.
"Before I get to that, I'd like to ask you something."
Ino thought for a moment before speaking.
"What is it?"
Murrue asked in return.
"Are you planning to head to the Umbrella of Artemis next?"
Ino asked them.
"Hm?"
The three of them looked surprised at his question.
Mr. Mu glanced at Ensign Badgiruel suspiciously.
"Why are you looking at me? I only remembered that in the bridge myself."
Ensign Badgiruel replied hastily, taken aback.
"No, no. That was just my instinctive reaction."
Mr. Mu said with a chuckle, watching Ensign Badgiruel's expression.
After a brief moment of surprise, Captain Murrue admitted openly, "Yes, we are planning to head to Artemis. But how did you know?"
She didn't mind telling him the ship's next destination. Even if she didn't tell him, he would find out once they arrived.
The question was, how had he guessed?
"It's simple. You set out in a hurry because of ZAFT's attack, so you must have next to no supplies. The Lunar Base is nearly half a month away from here, and the only other option is to land on Earth. But you don't have enough supplies to last until either destination."
Ino explained with a smile. "Besides, Le Creuset Team is still lurking outside, and the Archangel has almost no combat capability of its own. In these circumstances, your best option is to go to the Umbrella of Artemis and ask for help."
It was easy enough to work backward when you already knew the answer.
It wasn't as if it were a math problem.
"You little..."
Mr. Mu frowned as he listened to Ino's explanation.
Wasn't this just what you'd expect from a ZAFT genius? He'd figured out the best option in such a short time.
And he'd even guessed that the Archangel was short on supplies—
"Don't waste time on pointless things. What exactly did you want to tell us?"
Just then, Ensign Badgiruel stepped forward. Whether he was clever or clueless didn't matter.
What mattered was why he had called them over in the first place.
Ensign Badgiruel's words brought Captain Murrue and Mr. Mu back to their senses.
She was right. Now probably wasn't the time to marvel at how smart he was.
With all three of them watching, Ino rose from the edge of the bed and straightened his clothes. Under their astonished gazes, he gave a crisp military salute of the Atlantic Federation.
"Reporting in! Ino Kamal, identification number 01104X74R4QLD3541, 2nd Squad, 3rd Secret Special Operations Unit, Eurasian Federation, Earth Alliance!"
In an instant,
the room fell silent.
Captain Murrue's mouth formed an O as she stared at Ino Kamal in disbelief.
Ensign Badgiruel and Mu weren't doing any better.
In short, three utterly bewildered people stood before Ino.
"You... What did you say?"
Mr. Mu, who was used to weathering all kinds of storms, was the first to recover. "You said you're with the Earth Alliance? One of us?"
"Yes. Strictly speaking, I'm a spy the Eurasian Federation sent to infiltrate ZAFT," Ino replied with a nod.
Even now, Ino wasn't sure which side he really belonged to.
His situation was just too ridiculous.
You could say he belonged to the Eurasian Federation, but he was loyal to Blue Cosmos—or rather, the people he passed information to were Blue Cosmos, the organization secretly controlled by the Atlantic Federation.
But you could also say he belonged to the Atlantic Federation, even though it was the Eurasian Federation that had trained him. Even his identification number came from the Eurasian Federation.
It was all just so surreal.
"You're a spy?"
After hearing that, Mr. Mu felt even more confused.
The whole thing was just too absurd.
A spy fought against his own side, and then his own side captured the spy they had sent over.
Where the hell was a person supposed to go to complain about that?
Captain Murrue and Ensign Badgiruel were completely at a loss for words.
The news was too shocking and had come out of nowhere.
They'd been fighting each other tooth and nail, and now he was telling them he was one of their own. What was this, some kind of movie?
"Wait. You say you're a spy, but how can you prove it?"
Ensign Badgiruel hurriedly asked.
An identification number alone couldn't fully prove who he was. Besides, they didn't have the files or the relevant identification terminal with them.
"Sorry. Because of the nature of my identity and the need for secrecy, I don't have any specific, direct way to prove who I am right now."
Ino had expected this. He continued, "The only proof I have is my identification number and the related files."
Captain Murrue and the others fell silent.
For a moment, none of them knew what to say.
The thing was... it was just so ridiculous.
Before you continue